Choice. One little word, many implications. We live in a society where many of us have access to any information we want at the click of a mouse. Technology is moving faster than you can say Google and we are always striving to be better, faster, and stronger in all that we do. So where does this leave Generation Y who are now in a position to begin shaping the world?
Too much choice is not necessarily a bad thing. Especially when mapping out your life. Generation Y is our most educated generation yet, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The majority of young people are finishing high school and nearly half of those are going on to further education. Employment rates are steady and new jobs are constantly being created thanks to a growing economy. The future looks bright.
So is it all good news? Economic growth may bring choice. But does it provide young people with financial security and a sense of wellbeing? Writer and social researcher, Rebecca Huntley, doesn’t think so. In her book,
The World According to Y, Huntley explains that Gen Y will actually be denied access to many of the choices normally associated with adulthood. Permanent work, marriage, children and owning a home won’t come easy to this generation, making their ‘transition into adulthood slow and difficult’.
So does that leave 20-somethings floating from job to job without any real direction? Will they be unhappy without marriage and children and will the dream of one day owning a home be just that? Hardly. The majority of young people like the idea of having options.
Sydney Morning Herald journalist Adele Horin discovered that young adults ‘think a job for life is a form of imprisonment’ and that they don’t have ‘their parents’ anxieties about economic change’. Seeing choice as part of your career, Generation Y knows that being adaptable will work for them rather than against them—it will allow them to make their own decisions about where they work rather than letting society dictate it for them. Besides, they know that if they are unhappy at work, they can always find a new job.
Young people have flexibility on their side. They believe in change. They grew up with technology. They are able to adapt to it as quickly as it takes to download a new song onto their iPod. It would seem that they have learnt from their parents' mistakes. They are not content to settle for a long-standing career when they know their loyalty could be ignored in 20 years time. Leading expert in workforce trends and generational change, Peter Sheahan, tells his clients, ‘if you had seen your parents right-sized and down-sized, even when they dedicated their life to the corporation, would you be prepared to make the same sacrifices for the same empty promise?’. Instead Gen Y are using their access to education, technology and globalisation to travel, study and learn.
In an attempt to predict the future, some of our universities are trying to change the face of education in Australia. They are broadening their students’ skills sets in an attempt to prepare them for whatever changes they may face in the ‘real world’. The University of Melbourne and Macquarie University in Sydney now offer degrees that force students to take subjects across a wide range of disciplines. Professor Steven Schwartz, Vice-Chancellor of Macquarie University, explains, ‘we don't know what the world's going to be like in 2015, so what we want to do is prepare [students] for a world of change and for a world in which they will have to keep on learning’.
So while there is an abundance of choice on offer, this isn’t a bad thing. From education to the workforce, these times are a-changin’ but Generation Y, with all their educated wisdom may even be the first generation to figure out how to have their cake and eat it too.
This opinion piece, exploring issues relating to mental health and wellbeing, was commissioned by ActNow as part of Margins 2 Mainstream: 5th World Conference on the Promotion of Mental Health and the Prevention of Mental and Behavioural Disorders. We are grateful for the support of VicHealth and the Victorian Government in undertaking this initiative.
How do I know this?
The Australia Bureau of Statistics,
www.abs.gov.au viewed 16 August 2008.
Santow, S, ‘University of New Ideas’, The World Today,
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2008/s2236969.htm
viewed 16 August 2008.
Patterson, B, ‘A-Z of Generation Y’, Herald Sun, 8 July, 2007.
Hodgson, R, ‘Why Generation Y?’, Origins,
www.cdu.edu.au/newsroom/origins/edition2-2007/origins-2-07-29-30.pdf 2007, viewed 26 August, 2008.
Horin, A, ‘The generation that chases no rainbows’,
Sydney Morning Herald, 30 September, 2006.
Huntley, R (2006)
The World According to Y, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
McCrindle, M, ‘Understanding Generation Y', McCrindle Research,
www.learningtolearn.sa.edu.au/Colleagues/files/links/
UnderstandingGenY.pdf 2001, viewed 26 August, 2008.
McCrindle, M, ‘New Generations at Work – Attracting Gen Y’, McCrindle Research,
www.mccrindle.com.au/wp_pdf/NewGenerationsAtWork.pdf 2007, viewed 26 August, 2008.
