My thoughts on generation Y

Personally, I don't feel like I belong to this generation--especially after listening to the podcast and reading 'Generation Y'. I'm not a huge fan of social networking sites and Levis are my favorite jeans. Are these articles outdated? Or are they just trying too hard to label and understand the group of kids that grew up with regular access to the Internet? I'm going to say yes and yes.

First, I'd like to comment on 'Generation Y'. This article implied that Pipes, which I'm assuming are similar to JNCOs, were cool. If those jeans don't epitomize the lengths that companies can and will go to capture the teenage market, I don't know what does. JNCO jeans were the ugliest and least functional pants I have ever seen in my life, and, if I recall correctly, they did not last more than 2 years. Thank God. Guess Lee wasted their resources marketing them afterall. I understand that these hideous jeans were not the main point of the article, but I still can't get over the fact that they were even mentioned! Now that I got that out of my system, I can focus on points of agreement. The most effective and successful companies foresaw the importance of the Internet and began launching website campaigns with their products. In retrospect this move is a no brainer. Almost everything and everybody has their own website nowadays, but, in the early 2000's launching Internet campaigns must have been pretty scary. No one had really done it before. Kudos for those companies who paved the way (yes, even you, Lee Jeans). I also believe that recognizing the new celebrity icons of the Y Generation and focusing on more realistic topics was the right way to go. I loved MTV's idea to showcase practical information rather than broadcast the latest celebrity styles. Back when I was in middle school, MTV was the only channel I watched. I connected with kids my age more than snobby celebs. Targeting the coolest kids and using them to spread information about new products or companies is also a great way to reach teens. Everyone wants to know about new stuff before his or her friends do.

Some of the things from the Podcast also bothered me. Business Week got a 30 year old to pretend like she was 19. I'm all for investigative journalism and I loved Drew Barrymore in 'Never Been Kissed', but this story weirded me out. Wasn't there another way to gather data on these 19 years olds? Like getting someone younger than a 30-year-old woman to create a My Space profile? I've never been a huge fan of My Space, so this could also be my bitterness shining through. I will, however, give My Space credit for developing the Internet music scene. I believe that music is an excellent way to reach a difficult and aloof market segment. There are countless products and companies that I enjoy just because of the music they use in their commercials. On another note, the Buzz Oven media site sounded pretty interesting. I checked out the website, and it was a little boring, but the concept is there. Who doesn't like new, free music?

Now, a little about myself and why I don't really belong to this generation. As I mentioned before, I'm not a big social networker. I never created a My Space account because I had seen way too many special reports on 60 minutes about Internet predators. In high school, my self-proclaimed mission was to convince my parents to force my sisters to delete their accounts. I would scour the Internet for articles declaring the evil of My Space, make copies for my parents and post these links in my AIM profile for the rest of the world (or my buddylist) to see. Why did I use AIM and not My Space you ask? I felt like My Space was more invasive. I was never truly comfortable with publishing and posting pictures for everyone to see. I never really wanted to be friendly with people that were only my digital friends. It felt too fake. That's one of the reasons I deactivated my Facebook account as well. I caught myself looking at pictures of people I didn't know, and, since I have no self-control, I completely removed the temptation. Once I opted out of the social networking world, I lost all connection to the rest of the Internet world. I don't have a social life anymore either. I no longer know when my friends' birthdays are or who's throwing a party this Friday night. Although it's depressing, I feel liberated. I hated wasting time on Facebook. Furthermore, the companies that aggresively promote their products via Facebook or My Space can't reach me. I guess they will either have to forget about making a profit off of me or find a new way to find me.