Can Gen-Y Overcome Being Called Lazy By Older Generations?
Arguments are popping up everywhere about why no other generation can call Generation-Y anything negative. Gen-Yers have been labeled by Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers as lazy, selfish and useless.
It’s easy to argue with other generations by pointing out their moments of free loathing, but is there a reason for other generations pointing out our shortcomings? History repeats itself, and the Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers negative comments might be their strange way of aiming to improve Generation-Y.
Work Habits
Poor work habits are one characteristic of our generation that the Baby Boomers and Gen-X incessantly point out. Then, a Gen-Yer could easily bring up 1969’s Woodstock Music and Arts Festival. Three days of peace, love and pure laziness. Woodstock may be the event that symbolizes the Baby Boomers, but it is also one they wouldn’t mind forgetting. Imagine (or Google) what Woodstock looked like after everyone left.
It looks like a wasteland filled with trash and shattered dreams. Baby Boomers may not want another generation to be associated with an event like Woodstock. Baby Boomers have done their fair share of doing nothing, and they don’t want other generations to make similar mistakes in terms of their own work habits.
Self-Centered Attitude And Entitlement
Being self-centered is not a category that only relates to Gen-Y. Gen-Y has been also been given a gift of entitlement, and that gift is detrimental. Unlike other generations, our selfishness is on a completely different level.
We’ve all received trophies and awards for average success. Gen-Xers and the Baby Boomers are aware of the consequences that come with either attitude. Gen-Y is still relatively in its early stages, and bringing up these issues gives us a chance to change before it’s an issue.
Reliance On Technology
Remember that time our parents tried to convince us to buy a road map? Instead of listening, we wrote them off and bought a GPS. Technology has made our lives easier, and we’ve taken it for granted.
There will come a time when our cellphones, laptops, tablets, or any other technological device will fail us. Other generations aren’t wrong when they suggest that technology has consumed us. There will come day when our GPS dies and that road map will be nowhere in sight.
Maybe Gen-Y is as lazy, self-centered and useless as other generations say we are. There is still time to change our ways of thinking, working and living. These are not tasks to meet to prove either Gen-Y or the Baby Boomers wrong, but instead to make Generation-Y greater, better and driven.
Gen-Yers don’t have to listen to other generations when they throw condemning comments. But, without listening, we miss the chance to learn from the mistakes of our elder generations and grow as a generation of current leaders.
