Never sure what to post on here… This relates to dating because??? Hayley, Miley, Taylor, Dove, my wife and myself are all millennial's? The "Gen Z" girl is cute?
(Moderators: She's college age so she must be at least "18.") The “Younger Boomer” mom is hot?
Anyway, below is something we were instructed by my university to do with prospective students and their families. I’ve already discussed the “millennial” thing in an earlier post (Ronald McDonald’s Millennial Makeover) but I’m amazed at how the media and marketers constantly move everything around to suit their current whims. Especially when it comes to selling the latest crap to kids. “Hell, being a ‘millennial’ these days is cool let’s make them even younger…
Those ‘old fuckers’ born before 1985 or 1987 don’t matter anymore—we’ve already taken their money. They have responsibilities now. Like families and jobs and houses. Shit they’re almost ready for retirement…”
But back to this exercise (Disclaimer: It wasn’t designed by me. Those aren’t even our students!) On the back are “characteristics” and “traits” that describe each generation. The prospective student and his/her family are supposed to select the description most closest to themselves. Hello? Admissions Department? I’ll make this easy. EVERYONE that is an incoming Freshman in 2019 was born in 2001 and is part of “Generation Z.” Simple. Got it?
The first time I tried this with a family the student picked the “Younger Boomer” (1964) card (because of the “strong work ethic” and “professional accomplishment.” Of course! Excellent choices!
His dad turned out to be a “Gen X’er” which was accurate and he even admitted to going to see Nirvana back in the day. And even though I am actually a “millennial” in age, as are almost all my colleagues, I ended up choosing the “Gen Z” card because of “familiarity with and expectations for technology,” “social justice issues” and “meaningful career.” The student’s mom was the smartest of all of us and refused to play. Good for her.
I deal with this “millennial” stuff all the time in my “other career” (owner of a market research firm) this silly card game just served to illustrate how blurred the lines are and how meaningless much of this is. We ended up having a great conversation and I took them on a tour of campus which they loved. Our university has a lot of history in Indianapolis and much to show prospective students and their families. And we have THE best Starbucks around for miles. So despite the silly card game the story had a very good ending.