<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" > <channel> <title>Homeland generation – AftertheMillennials</title> <atom:link href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/tag/homelanders/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20</link> <description></description> <lastBuildDate>Mon, 25 Sep 2017 21:44:44 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency> <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.29</generator> <item> <title>Digital parenting tips from the author of Screenwise</title> <link>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2016/09/02/digital-parenting-tips-from-the-author-of-screenwise/</link> <pubDate>Fri, 02 Sep 2016 18:10:26 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Anne Boysen]]></dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Parenting]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Generation Z]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Homeland generation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[parenting]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://afterthemillennials.com/?p=4502</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing a talk by Dr. Devorah Heitner, the author of Screenwise and site Raising Digital Natives. Dr. Heitner has the unusual disposition that she doesn’t believe digital technology and social media will lead our species into an apocalyptic downfall....</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2016/09/02/digital-parenting-tips-from-the-author-of-screenwise/">Digital parenting tips from the author of Screenwise</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>Yesterday</strong> I had the pleasure of seeing a talk by <a href="http://www.raisingdigitalnatives.com/">Dr. Devorah Heitner</a>, the author of Screenwise and site Raising Digital Natives. Dr. Heitner has the unusual disposition that she doesn’t believe digital technology and social media will lead our species into an apocalyptic downfall. Nor does she jump on the technophile bandwagon so often heard among from the futurists who proselytize a future where technology solves everything.</p> <p>Dr. Heitner speaks to parents who feel digital technology has taken off more instantaneously than a toddler’s gag reflex after tasting broccoli the first time. With her no-nonsense, middle-of-the-ground approach to digital citizenship, she advocates mentoring over monitoring. You can’t necessarily control everything that comes in on your kids’ screens, but you can help them process it. Her advice is consistent with other studies on the topic. Says <a href="http://news.psu.edu/story/354373/2015/04/23/research/resilience-not-abstinence-may-help-teens-battle-online-risk">Haiyan Jia</a>: “With online technologies becoming more ubiquitous and a greater part of teens’ social and educational lives, abstinence may actually be less reliable and more harmful.” In parts of my tech-friendly futurist circles there seems to be an almost bottomless belief that technology changes everything and that younger generations don’t care about things like privacy etc. Evidence doesn’t support this. Young people may share <em>more</em> in social media, but it is very often filtered and curated for the intended audiences – audiences that are getting smaller and smaller because teens adjust their content to the format and prune their profiles. And as per danah boyd, they <a href="http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2010/08/23/social-steganography-learning-to-hide-in-plain-sight.html">hide in plain sight</a>. The rise of ephemeral, one-to-one platforms such as Snapchat mirrors generation Z’s need to be private and “erasable”. Talk to a 17-year-old about his mother’s Facebook behavior and he will say <em>she</em> is the oversharer, no he! But then again, it’s easier to know the implicit rules if you are native. And when it comes to digital technology, a 17-year-old is. His mom is not.</p> <p><strong>Since this topic so often gets stuck in the chasm between the technophiles and the luddites</strong>, we end up missing useful and coherent social media guidelines that could influence social media platforms’ policies. Such as when You Tube’s association algorithms lacks filters that would prevent cute panda videos from cueing footage of ISIS beheadings. Instead the Google-owned company carries out a knee-jerk <a href="http://variety.com/2016/digital/news/youtube-slammed-by-creators-about-pulling-ads-from-inappropriate-content-1201850250/">demonetization policy</a> which in effect limits the creative freedom of professional youtubers. Or Facebook, whose nudity policy removes imagery of breastfeeding mothers and even Nick Ut’s famous <a href="https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=napalm%20girl">‘Napalm Girl’</a>.</p> <p><strong>What will be the parenting guidelines when our digitally native children become parents?</strong> ‘No holographic projections of your virtual boyfriend at the dinner table, please’. We can only speculate. As parents we are pioneering new territory. We are going to make mistakes. We are going to regret letting Aunt Berta upload that ‘funny’ picture when our toddler decided to empty their bowels in the tub, with Hershey kisses floating around between rubber duckies and tubwall-alphabets. I can promise you that our grandchildren’s children’s online identities will not be shaped by events like that. But we’re in for an interesting journey.</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2016/09/02/digital-parenting-tips-from-the-author-of-screenwise/">Digital parenting tips from the author of Screenwise</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>How Generation Z Thinks About the Future</title> <link>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2016/07/07/how-generation-z-thinks-about-the-future/</link> <pubDate>Thu, 07 Jul 2016 20:12:56 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Anne Boysen]]></dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Values]]></category> <category><![CDATA[forecasts]]></category> <category><![CDATA[future]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Generation Z]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Homeland generation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[scenario]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://afterthemillennials.com/?p=4481</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>  Do you lead a group of children and want to engage them in future thinking in an effective and meaningful way? Please fill out the contact form for workshops and futuristic game play. You never know what future they will reveal to you, but...</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2016/07/07/how-generation-z-thinks-about-the-future/">How Generation Z Thinks About the Future</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p> </p> <p><em><strong>Do you lead a group of children and want to engage them in future thinking in an effective and meaningful way? Please fill out the contact form for workshops and futuristic game play. You never know what future they will reveal to you, but it can make your job leading them make much more sense.</strong></em></p> <p>The most rewarding way I gain post-millennial insight comes from doing scenarios sessions with children and teens. While scenario methods like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futures_wheel">Futures Wheel</a>, <a href="http://afterthemillennials.com/strategic-foresight/">STEEP brainstorming</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_impact_analysis">cross impact analysis</a> are typically intended to help organizations find strategies and discover new opportunities, they also allow us to discern the thought processes of those who partake in the exercise. Of course, traditional surveys, focus groups and ethnographic research methods continue to have merit, but I find the scenario approach particularly effective in learning how young people think about the future. Providing structure without putting creative limitations on the participants, children or teens explore trends, contemporary events and emerging issues, and are then nudged to combine their observations into plausible, internally coherent scenarios. These exercises tend to convey unspoken attitudes, perceptions and worldviews inherent to a generation that has only seen the world of the 21<sup>st</sup> century. It gives us a preview of a brand new zeitgeist about to unfold, and which will shape our future in the years and decades to come. In other words, while useful for the participants themselves, scenarios can also provide pivotal insights for researchers.</p> <p>I recently did a scenario workshop with a group of 12 year-old girls who first brainstormed various trends and then selected the two most uncertain trend variables. The chosen trends were those the tweens felt could produce very different futures. The variables were given high and low values and coordinated in a 2×2 matrix, which elicited 4 different scenario logics.</p> <p>While I would never claim that these girls represent a whole generation, their insights opened the window into some of the worries, excitements, threats and opportunities young people are facing today. And many of their concerns do in fact reflect observations I find in other sources.</p> <h3><strong> </strong><strong>Main takeaways</strong></h3> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong> 1) Environment and Tech Engaged Less Than Politics and Economics</strong></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">We started with a STEEP-exercise, which is essentially brainstorming a variety of trends categorized as Social (or cultural), Technological, Environmental, Economic and Political. The girls enthusiastically came up with 7 economic trends and 7 political trends. But surprisingly only 3 environmental and 4 tech trends were mentioned. Social or cultural trends were somewhere in the middle. This focus was unexpected at first, but it makes sense when considering which future domains represent the greater uncertainties for these kids. It’s not that kids care <em>less</em> about the environment and tech – quite the opposite. Gen Z’ers care deeply about environmental issues, and take technology for granted, but these domains are already welltrodden paths. Noone in this generation would question the existence of environmental degradation. Noone questions the fact that technology has almost limitless possibilities to solve some of these problems. But that is it. This generation is well beyond “the environment is hurting” and “new tech is cool” narratives. To engage them you will have to get beyond context-less discussions around new technology and environmental degradation. Instead Generation Z will take these discussions one step further, and bring <em>agency</em> and <em>action </em>into the picture. And here is where politics and economics come in.</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">The strong engagement with political trends likely had a lot to do with the election year and that the workshop took place soon after the Brexit referendum. The tweens had likely heard a lot of political buzz, which created an artificially strong interest in this topic. Their interest in economic trends was noteworthy as they seem to sense deep macroeconomic challenges associated with The <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/01/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-what-it-means-and-how-to-respond/">Fourth Industrial Revolution</a>. So again, the heightened interest political and economic issues are effects of deep technological shifts.</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong> 2) Corporate Concentration of Power Undermines Future Entrepreneurs</strong></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">In 2013 a report from Oxford university suggested that <a href="http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf">47% of today’s jobs will be taken over by robots and artificial intelligence</a> in the near future. MIT professors Brynjolfsson and McAfee have popularized these ideas in <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Second-Machine-Age-Prosperity-Technologies/dp/0393350649/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467840152&sr=8-1&keywords=second+machine+age">The Second Machine Age</a>, and suggested that not only will technologically outsourced jobs increase income disparity, but the corporate structure itself will only have room for a few winners and many losers. This has to do with technologically enabled scalability. Network -or platform companies do not necessarily increase their operating costs when volumes increase or markets expand, which makes local competition increasingly difficult. The combination of machine intelligence and diminishing marginal costs abate the demand for, and the relative power of workers and entrepreneurs in ever more industries and professions.</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">The girls had an almost eerily accurate premonition of these trends. While envisioning a future where digitally caused unemployment is likely to increase, they also believed that we would have fewer small businesses because competition from the tech giants is increasing.</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">By contrast, MTV recently surveyed 1000 Generation Z members across the countries and found that if this generation were to name themselves, they would want to be called <a href="http://time.com/4130679/millennials-mtv-generation/">The Founders</a>. And not because of some powderwigged dudes from the Enlightenment Era. This is a generation that has been spoonfed a digital diet of YouTube fame, Instagram memes and inspirational quotes plastered on top of hedonistic images of Richard Branson.</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">But Gen Z consists not only of Silicon Valley hopefuls constantly comparing who can poop the prettiest rainbow and attract the most VCs. Most of these kids have ingested enough recession coal to know that unicorns are fantasy figures – at least most of them. Gen Z watched their older siblings get trophies just for showing up until they entered a job market where neither trophies nor living wages were anywhere to be found. These kids seem to have an intuitive understanding that the mechanisms that once used to lead to a steady accumulation of Volvos, 401K value and white picket fences can no longer be taken for granted.</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">Surveys show that unlike Millennials who remain remarkably optimistic about the future despite current economic set-backs, Gen Z display much more realistic expectations. Viewing the startup bonanza with a grain of salt could mean that they will plan for their careers more sensibly.</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong> 3) Increasing Segregation and Nationalization</strong></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">The tweens weighed in on Donald Trump’s presidential platform as well as the Brexit vote. The group suggested we might see a future with many types of walls rising, both figurative and physically. The parallel between Britain’s decision to withdraw from the EU and Trump’s nationalistic agenda did not go unnoticed. The group suggested that supranational institutions, such as the EU and maybe even UN might become weaker and that we might experience what they called “national bullying” – or bullying between nations. The concept is noteworthy because this is a generation growing up with social and emotional learning in their school curricula along with cultural globalization. The more unsavory rhetoric in the election campaign seems to have very distinct effects on this generation.</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong> 4) We Will Use Technology to Help the Environment</strong></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">The group came up with ideas such as using drone-based watering systems to save on fresh water (yes, it’s <a href="http://ww2.kqed.org/science/2014/04/21/drones-the-newest-water-saving-tool-for-parched-farms/">a thing</a>), increased use of rooftop solar panels, windmills and turbines to generate energy. They even deduced that if people are going off the grid, some of the tax base would disappear because self-sufficiency would dismantle utility based taxes. In noticing the disappearing tax caused by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosumer">prosumerism</a>, the group seems to have identified yet another technologically derived trend that turned out to have political and economic consequences.</p> <h3><strong>Beyond Faster, Better, Cheaper</strong></h3> <p>Embedded in a futurist world where everything seems to be undergoing accelerated change, X-Prize founder Peter Diamandis recently asked in an article in <a href="https://medium.com/abundance-insights/what-wont-change-in-20-years-c9a6956e0ca9#.hmilaajwq">Medium</a>: “What will remain the same?” He quotes a conversation he had with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos where the king of digital distribution answers that people’s desire for lower prices and faster delivery will always persist. Is it really fair to assume the next generation will continue to put “Faster, Better, Cheaper” above all other concerns? In my research and many conversations with young people there is a growing awareness that the products we produce and consume are part of greater system that take many other factors into account. Factors such as environmental impact, automation vs. human employment issues and inclusiveness are issues that matter to younger workers and consumers. In fact, when companies create their young consumer strategy nowadays one of their first checkpoints is to make sure the business fulfills <a href="http://www.iese.edu/en/about-iese/news-media/news/2016/july/conscious-capitalism-the-next-chapter-in-business/">triple bottom line standards</a> (People, Planet, Profit). If kids see this, why don’t turbo-futurists like Diamandis and Bezos?</p> <p>After a decade-long obsession with tech entrepreneurs and narrow-minded focus on technological prowess and new business models, we are starting to ask questions about <em>how</em> we use these technologies can be used to <em>solve</em> problems, and Generation Z is taking a lead in shifting the narratives. It seems that when you grow up between technological abundance on the one side and technological unemployment on the other, you have more important concerns than faster delivery time and pies in the sky.</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2016/07/07/how-generation-z-thinks-about-the-future/">How Generation Z Thinks About the Future</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>What Will Younger Generations Blame Older Generations For?</title> <link>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2016/02/13/what-will-younger-generations-blame-older-generations-for/</link> <pubDate>Sat, 13 Feb 2016 20:27:10 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Anne Boysen]]></dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Values]]></category> <category><![CDATA[future]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Generation Z]]></category> <category><![CDATA[generations]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Homeland generation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Millennials]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://afterthemillennials.com/?p=4402</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>The challenges younger generations face today can at times feel overwhelming. Often the source of responsibility is pointed at older generations who are presumed responsible for the mess younger people now have to deal with. I believe “blameworthiness” is an undercurrent that contaminates, rather than enlighten our ability to understand the dynamic of age...</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2016/02/13/what-will-younger-generations-blame-older-generations-for/">What Will Younger Generations Blame Older Generations For?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="qtext_para"><strong>The challenges younger generations face today can at times feel overwhelming. </strong>Often the source of responsibility is pointed at older generations who are presumed responsible for the mess younger people now have to deal with.<strong> </strong>I believe “blameworthiness” is an undercurrent that contaminates, rather than enlighten our ability to understand the dynamic of age cohorts sharing the contemporary at different phases of their lives. Instead of looking for dynamics in complex systems, scapegoating offers a more direct relief for frustrations. However, holding entire groups of people responsible for a harm presupposes that moral agency can be assigned to groups, which is at best philosophically problematic. I think this is why I think it is misplaced to hold groups based on nation, ethnicity, – even generations – responsible for global problems. Blaming older individuals based on vectors of real or perceived injustices overshadows the upsides of unprecedented opportunities younger generations might enjoy that were not available to their predecessors. In other words, the blame game often leads to a comparison of apples and oranges which is not very fruitful despite the pun.</div> <div class="qtext_para"></div> <div class="qtext_para"><strong>I don’t mean to deny that some behaviors are more typical for one age group than another</strong> as the sum effect of individuals belonging to this group. In fact, I think this is precisely what feeds the inertia that makes us inadvertently cause future harm by not changing our behaviors even when we know the consequences are negative. The problem we are dealing here with is “<span class="qlink_container"><a class="external_link" href="http://www.behavioraleconomics.com/mini-encyclopedia-of-be/present-bias/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer nofollow" data-tooltip="attached">present bias</a></span>” as well as “<span class="qlink_container"><a class="external_link" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">the tragedy of the commons</a></span>.” E.g. if many individuals in a particular time period dump non-degradable waste in frail ecosystems, each small load might seem innocent at the moment, but will cause massive harm later. The incentives to change aren’t strong or clear enough. It’s an irony that the same dynamic that causes groups to perpetuate their “bad habits” is the same that makes it difficult to ascertain specific responsibilities later. If we do hold an entire group accountable, we risk including many people who had nothing to do with the damage or who even tried to combat it. As time progresses and the consequences of these actions become more urgent, laws or sanctions might come around, preventing younger generations from perpetuating the same behaviors. So in this case older generations got to enjoy undue privileges (if dumping trash is a privilege!), that younger generations can’t or won’t use for legal or moral reasons. But along with the changes in behavior there is usually also a change in time-contextual conditions and moral imperatives which we often overlook.</div> <div class="qtext_para"></div> <div class="qtext_para"><strong>The paragraphs above do not mean that “blameworthy” historical events hasn’t happened</strong> in some time periods more than others. It’s just that we can’t accuse whole generations for it because we wouldn’t be able to measure the weight of responsibility at the individual level. Michael Shkreli is a millennial, but it’s not millennials’ fault that AIDS patients no longer can afford their medicine.</div> <div class="qtext_para"></div> <div class="qtext_para">But unfortunately, I think we will still deal with the generational blame game, so I will mention a few things that I think younger generations will blame us for, deserved or not:</div> <ul> <li>Building entire infrastructures around fossil fuels which cause pollution and climate change</li> <li>Putting them through an antiquated educational system based on high-stress learning and standardized testing of memorized facts while failing to teach them critical thinking skills, creativity, adequate computer skills (especially coding and data mining) and entrepreneurialism.</li> <li>Making education and healthcare unaffordable</li> <li>Failing to quickly enough adapt our institutions to the Fourth Industrial Revolution with the consequences that we: 1) train kids for jobs that are destined to be taken over by AI. and, 2) allow markets to become extremely asymmetrical and in effect monopolized by a few digital platform companies based mostly in Northern California.</li> <li>Failing to do enough to protect their digital reputation, data privacy and cybersecurity.</li> <li>Allowing crisis to escalate in war-torn and depleted regions and antagonism among young people to fester to the point where we have chronic terrorist attacks and millions of uprooted people on desperate migratory journeys.</li> <li>Not solving the water crisis</li> </ul> <div class="qtext_para"><strong>The only way out of this is for all generations to work together.</strong> Because all generations bring a specific set of values and insights to the table – often wisdom and past experience from the elders and innovation and new thinking from the younger. This is closer to what could be called “generational anthropology” and is the opposite of ageism.</div> <div class="qtext_para"></div> <div class="qtext_para">This article was first posted in response to a A2A question on <a href="https://www.quora.com/What-will-the-next-generation-accuse-our-generation-for">Quora</a>.</div> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2016/02/13/what-will-younger-generations-blame-older-generations-for/">What Will Younger Generations Blame Older Generations For?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>The Generation Everybody Wants to Name</title> <link>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2015/08/10/the-generation-everybody-wants-to-name/</link> <pubDate>Mon, 10 Aug 2015 18:48:38 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Anne Boysen]]></dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Values]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Generation Z]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Homeland generation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Millennials]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://afterthemillennials.com/?p=3761</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>It’s probably no surprise that “after the millennials” has been one of my key search terms for a while. I first started researching this generation in their infancy in the early 2000s, at a time when very little had yet been written about them. Covering this topic felt very much like entering a...</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2015/08/10/the-generation-everybody-wants-to-name/">The Generation Everybody Wants to Name</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>It’s probably no surprise</strong> that “after the millennials” has been one of my key search terms for a while. I first started researching this generation in their infancy in the early 2000s, at a time when very little had yet been written about them. Covering this topic felt very much like entering a land where no man or woman has ever been.</p> <p>Then a few years ago relevant search criteria started to yield other results than just “Let’s go after the millennials!”, which of course has a different semantic meaning. I suddenly started to see a slight growth in published material on the topic of the next generation.</p> <p><strong>Only recently have web searches on the post-millennial generation variety started to <a href="http://afterthemillennials.com/2014/10/22/its-official-the-white-house-calls-them-homeland-generation/">yield significantly more results</a>.</strong></p> <p>One reason for this growth is that younger millennials are now often thought of as ‘post-millennials’. It used to be that millennials would stretch into the early 2000s, but now post-millennials are more often thought of as kids born in the 1990s. Why millennials now are “shedding members” to generation Z is a bit puzzling, but I think it has something to do with buzzwords. You see, the millennial-label is getting a bit tired, so if the younger crowd can be jammed into a new, exciting cohort, internet content farms will stay busy. Full disclosure: I am clearly guilty of using generational labels interchangeably myself. But while generational research is not a hard science, the tendency to fudge these boundaries does pose some measuring problems. I have written about generational cut-offs <a href="http://afterthemillennials.com/2011/05/12/mapping-generation-z-forecasts-and-formulas/">here</a> and you can see my generational timeline <a href="http://afterthemillennials.com/generations-archetype-turnings/">here</a>. It is interesting to notice that younger millennials (or generation Z) do differ on important distinctions from older millennials, but I think it’s important we try to be clear which generation we are talking about. Of course in real life there will be no jagged boundaries, but if you compare ‘young millennials’ with ‘generation Z’ you will end us comparing the same cohort with itself.</p> <p><strong>Then there is this peculiar obsession of <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/read/igen-homelanders-the-next-generation-needs-a-name">finding a name </a>for them.</strong> Almost every blog post or thought piece on the topic of generation Z includes a paragraph or two about the absence of an “official name”, which very often leads the writer to make a name suggestion. But why the hurry? Kids often grow up to hate their name anyway, so why can’t we just let them name themselves when the time is right? Yes, I know that the name smith who wins the search engine turf wars will win the gold pot and a whole kingdom. But seriously, who cares? So far I’ve noticed at least a dozen name suggestions for post-millennials, and only one got recognized by Google Trend’s algorithms. This is one reason for why our site is doing so well with most search engines. People typically won’t search for an obscure name concocted at somebody’s co-working space. And after researching this cohort since they were first born, I have yet to see research on post-millennials that digs deep enough or far enough into the future to really capture their essence. So it will be virtually impossible to preemptively find a name that really sticks.</p> <p><strong>After the Millennials’ <em>raison d’être</em> is to find that essence.</strong> This is why our research never ends with a single market research survey or report, but is an ongoing process. While we are starting to grasp the post-millennial uniqueness and the disruptive changes they will have to deal with in their lifetime, we still haven’t made a formal attempt to name them. The youngest generation will emerge on their own terms and baptize themselves. We can study their mores and habits, but they won’t be passively named by their predecessors. In the meantime, feel free to use as many nicknames as you wish. Just don’t expect it to stick.</p> <p><em>Image: Flickr</em></p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2015/08/10/the-generation-everybody-wants-to-name/">The Generation Everybody Wants to Name</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>“Against Generations” or Finding their Place?</title> <link>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2015/06/08/against-generations-or-finding-its-place/</link> <pubDate>Mon, 08 Jun 2015 04:42:37 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Anne Boysen]]></dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Values]]></category> <category><![CDATA[generations]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Homeland generation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Millennials]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://afterthemillennials.com/?p=3662</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>I recently came across an article in Aeon called “Against Generations“, which is one of the harshest, yet most eloquent critiques of generational research I have read. Author Rebecca Onion disagrees with the epistemological justification for segmenting people based on age cohort, and (rightly) contends...</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2015/06/08/against-generations-or-finding-its-place/">“Against Generations” or Finding their Place?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I recently came across an article in Aeon called “<a href="http://aeon.co/magazine/psychology/we-need-to-ditch-generational-labels/">Against Generations</a>“, which is one of the harshest, yet most eloquent critiques of generational research I have read. Author Rebecca Onion disagrees with the epistemological justification for segmenting people based on age cohort, and (rightly) contends that much of the research is arbitrary and the categories skewed and insufficient. Generational research is divisive and more often than not, opinion holders seem to either uncritically embrace generational categories or blow it all off as pseudo-science. This particular article was interesting because the author actually takes the time to mention some of the more prominent thinkers of the field. Despite the shortcomings she addresses I believe she is flushing out the baby with the bath water. It <em>is</em> possible to do good generational analysis. But to do so, we should aware of the limitations of our analysis as well as our methods.</p> <p><strong>I wrote a comment to her article which I have copied below. </strong></p> <p>“Social change is a continual process which influences, and is influenced by, people interacting in complex adaptive social systems. It’s almost impossible to assign absolute cause and effect, but this does not mean generational differences aren’t part of this dynamic. Neither does it mean that one cannot glean anything meaningful by discovering generational peer dynamics where they exist.</p> <p><strong>To deny that generational variance exists is to deny cohort effects.</strong> It’s to argue by default that all differences between age group reflect period effect (changes that affect generations uniformly) or life cycle effect (changes are due to aging and life phases). With longitudinal, representative data, controlling for internal variation (always done in serious studies), and solid statistical tools, generational effects can be tested and measured. And generational differences are proven statistically significant again and again. These generationally dependent differences often transcend countries and regional cultures coalescing age peers into common age-based cultures, with their own unique fads, hangups, worries, idiosyncrasies etc. But of course we’re talking about several shades of grey here – <em>at least fifty!</em> Generational effects exist, but no serious social scientist would argue that it is either completely determinant or completely absent. This is why we should aim to test the <em>strength</em> of these relationships.</p> <p>The author’s anti-generalizing stance on social groups might as well be directed against other social thinkers of stature like Abraham Maslow, Ronald Inglehart or any social theory brushed by the era of logical positivism and grand theories. So why not do away with social science all together then? Alternatively, we can reasonably assume (in spite of what the author implies) that social scientists are not motivated by the idea of pigeonholing people just for fun. Rather, the quest is to derive meaningful insights that on the contrary solicits better understanding between people of different age groups.</p> <p>Any subject of study can be used or abused, and there is no doubt the internet is overpopulated with vacuous thought pieces and myopic ideas on generational categories. The topic makes for good click-bait after all. But please look at this with the same nuance afforded other areas of social science. Don’t flush out the baby yet. Millennials aren’t reproducing fast enough that we can afford that.”</p> <p><strong>Adherence to social science methods is the cornerstone of all generational research. </strong>And there is no doubt that our field needs to build consensus on methods as well as defining the boundaries of generational analysis. This is why at <em>After the Millennials</em> we combine social science, data analysis and strategic foresight as three independent schools of thought behind our research. Finding true generational trends is a sifting process. You can learn more on how to sift for good generational research, by visiting my deck on <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/AnneBoysen/sifting-our-way-to-generational-insights-47298357">Slideshare</a>.</p> <p><em>Image: Pixabay.com</em></p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2015/06/08/against-generations-or-finding-its-place/">“Against Generations” or Finding their Place?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>Generation Z and the Future of Food</title> <link>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2015/04/16/generation-z-and-the-future-of-food/</link> <pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2015 13:34:10 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Anne Boysen]]></dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Nutrition]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category> <category><![CDATA[future]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Generation Z]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Homeland generation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://afterthemillennials.com/?p=3624</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Research Chefs Association is the leading professional community for food research and development. Its members are the pioneers of the discipline of Culinology – the blending of culinary arts and the science of food. I recently attended their conference on the Future of Food, where...</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2015/04/16/generation-z-and-the-future-of-food/">Generation Z and the Future of Food</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.culinology.org/">Research Chefs Association</a> is the leading professional community for food research and development. Its members are the pioneers of the discipline of Culinology – the blending of culinary arts and the science of food. I recently attended their conference on the <em>Future of Food</em>, where I held a speech about <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/AnneBoysen">Generation Z and their attitudes toward food</a>.</p> <p>There’s a special place in my heart reserved for the food industry. Not because I believe there is anything saintly with this industry, nor because I’m particularly interested in cooking or eating, but because I believe food is at the center of almost everything that is interesting about the future.</p> <p>Everybody eats. Food entangles every aspect of what we in foresight call <a title="Strategic Foresight" href="http://afterthemillennials.com/strategic-foresight/">STEEP categories</a>. Food is emotions. The early memories of a mother’s love. Or punishment when you’re forced to eat something you don’t like. Food is the glue of celebrations, social gatherings, traditions and holidays. Food represents cultural pride and cross-cultural diplomacy. Food evokes our passion for animal welfare, for health and for the environment. It’s the consternation of imperfect body images. Food is how we display our social tastes and our biological resolve. Or alternatively, our poverty and nutritional misfortune. Food is the manifestation of both gluttony and starvation, and reminds us how unfairly the world’s bounty is distributed. Food is the cause of love and food is the cause of war.</p> <p>So how will Generation Z shape the food industry? And how is food shaping generation Z?</p> <h3 style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>Ethnic cuisine</strong></h3> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">According to Jennifer Zegler, a consumer trends analyst with <a href="http://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/news_home/Consumer_Trends/2014/01/Mintel_identifies_key_trends_f.aspx?ID=%7B6E48AC7C-ED9E-4E72-8F00-28F98A31EB18%7D">Mintel</a>, 62% of adults who have eaten ethnic food say they are confident in their ability to prepare ethnic and international food and some 66% of ethnic food eaters who are parents say their children enjoy eating ethnic or international food. Not only is the U.S. population becoming more multiethnic. Eating “outside” of ones ethnic tradition has almost become a norm. We have come a long way since Italian pizzas or Chinese take-out were exotic peculiarities. Children who grow up in families where ethnic variety as a part of the nutritional landscape will not balk at sushi dinners or hummus snacks. It’s just the new “meat-and-potatoes”.</p> <h3 style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>Natural Foods</strong></h3> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">A white paper from 2012 from flavor researchers at <a href="http://www.fona.com/sites/default/files/whitepaper-6trendsinkidsnutrition-trendresources-040412.pdf">FONA International</a> lists natural foods as the most important trend when it comes to children and food. Natural foods are different from foods that have been “enriched” with nutrients or which have certain properties due to genetic modification. What is natural to food scientists and what consumers perceive as natural can differ significantly. FONA claims that natural foods <em>are understood by consumers to have intrinsic healthful qualities like fruits, vegetables and nuts don’t need health claims because consumers already view them as nutritious</em>. This means no high-fructose corn syrup and no or only natural food dyes. And no GMO.</p> <h3 style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>Obesity Declining – at Least in the West</strong></h3> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">Globally the number of obese people has doubled since 1980, and there are signs that the very obese (and poor) are getting fatter. But there is good news as well. For the past 10 years several countries in the West have seen a leveling off, and even decline in the number of overweight people. The decline is most pronounced in the youngest cohort, a fact which is particularly encouraging since nutritional habits are formed in the early years.</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">During my time as a “food futurist” I made the forecast that junk foods would become the ‘new tobacco’. Today, younger generations in developed countries are far less interested in tobacco products than generations past were. Likewise, with stronger focus on health, Mc Donald’s is quickly taking over the villain throne that used to belong to the Marlboro Man. When more people kick the junk food habits were are destined to see positive results in people’s health. Except for one serious side effect…</p> <h3 style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>Eating Disorders Increasing</strong></h3> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">Sometimes it may seem as if nutritional health shifts are not brought on as much by reason and moderation as they are by a media hype with an almost fetish-like obsession with various types of food and diet fads. The sudden awareness of food intolerance, obsessions with macrobiotic diets, paleo diets, ancient grains and other nutritional peculiarities is greater than ever. This obsession affects how people express their individuality through food, even in the extreme forms of <a href="http://dailyburn.com/life/health/orthorexia-nervosa-eating-disorders/">orthorexia</a>. In fact all types of eating disorders are up, with a whooping <a href="http://www.anad.org/news/hospitalizations-for-eds-on-the-rise-2/">119% increase between 1998 and 2006</a>. This is a serious problems as eating disorder is our mental illness with the highest mortality.</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">But this unfortunate development should not be blamed on efforts at improving health and nutritional awareness among children. A constant media stream depicting underweight models combined with the deep wells of online <a href="https://theproanalifestyleforever.wordpress.com/">pro-ana</a> and pro-mia communities are more likely causes. The last few years have fostered a more curvy female body-ideal, but back in fashion is also the corset and a potentially dangerous new (or old, even presumed extinct!) celebrity trend called “<a href="http://sundial.csun.edu/2015/04/waist-training-the-dangers-behind-the-trend/">waist-training</a>”.</p> <h3 style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>Cradle-to-Grave</strong></h3> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">With a 24/7 unedited news cycle, whistleblowers and a growing sense that our planet is on the verge of collapse, younger consumers make decisions on the whole food cycle, not just flavor and texture. Vegetarianism, locovorism and other ethical considerations are influencing Millennials and post-millennials’ dining experiences, and even those of parents given their childrens’ influence on family decisions. The whole supply chain matters. Food producers must account for the sustainability and ethical considerations of the food they grow and what they are doing to relieve world hunger. If you don’t have a clear answer, be ready for people under 35 to dump you! And greenwashing doesn’t work. Generation Z have strong BS-radars and will judge you on your <em>genuine</em> approaches. The good thing is that they are very forgiving of failure. So if you failed and lost them, you can most likely win them back again if you do right. Which is why McDonald’s still might have a chance if they play their cards right.</p> <h3 style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>Little Food Snobs or Emerging Normovores?</strong></h3> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">Let’s for a minute take a look at other lifestyle trends. When millennials grew up they were constantly told that they are special. And a good type of special. This led many in this generation to exaggerate their uniqueness. We see it in their body adornments and tattoos, hipster styles and quirks handpicked to exude eccentricity in social settings. As with all social trends, there are backlashes, especially from folks who believe this type of “uniqueness” comes across as contrived and superficial. Out of this contention transpires a counter trend, one which conspicuously sports esthetic blandness – or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normcore">normcore</a>. The message with this “back to normal” trend is as clear as it is understated – that truly interesting people don’t need the extra ‘oomph’ for social credit.</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;">What if there is a similar shift in food trends? At SXSW this year, celebrity chef <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Chang">Dave Chang</a> talked about ‘Normovore’ to illustrate the consumers who are tired of expressing social superiority by conspicuously consuming organic chia seeds or matcha-infused 95% dark vegan chocolate or whatever else is the latest food fad. Instead we might see a growing number of kids who yearn for ‘soul food’, grandma’s signature dish and savory stews. And who brags about it too!</p> <h3><strong>So what is the future of food?</strong></h3> <p>Besides in-vitro meats, vertical farming and popup restaurants, you mean? I think we will see a generation that continues to widen the horizon of what is considered edible. One who consumes sushi and ale from bitter hops whenever they want to, not as a contrived way to one-up their peers, but because they feel like it. They will judge the quality of food just as much by how it was raised as how good it tastes. They are multicultural enough to see that questions of morality can be subjective, yet they will hold some values sacred. And oh, give them food trucks and low-key restaurants with experimental recipes, excellent food quality and good atmosphere. Because to Generation Z, the future of culinary art is just as likely to be conceived in a trailer as in a multi-million dollar food lab.</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2015/04/16/generation-z-and-the-future-of-food/">Generation Z and the Future of Food</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>How Will Our Youngest Generation Consume Energy?</title> <link>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2015/02/16/how-will-our-youngest-generation-consume-energy/</link> <pubDate>Mon, 16 Feb 2015 20:20:27 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Anne Boysen]]></dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Energy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category> <category><![CDATA[forecasts]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Generation Z]]></category> <category><![CDATA[green consumption]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Homeland generation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[scenario]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://afterthemillennials.com/?p=3549</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>Ford’s recent report on Generation Z fails to mention the most obvious elephant in the room: Teens don’t care about cars anymore. Statoil recently published three scenarios for energy use in 2040. Not even the most low-carbon scenario envisioned the possibility that fossil fuels could constitute less...</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2015/02/16/how-will-our-youngest-generation-consume-energy/">How Will Our Youngest Generation Consume Energy?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;"><em>Ford’s recent <a href="https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2014/12/29/2015-ford-trend-report-explores-generation-z.html">report on Generation Z</a> fails to mention the most obvious elephant in the room: Teens don’t care about cars anymore.</em></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><em>Statoil recently published three scenarios for energy use in 2040. Not even the most low-carbon scenario envisioned the possibility that fossil fuels could constitute less than 75% of total energy consumption in 25 years.</em></p> <p style="text-align: left;">It is an irony that when it comes to energy and transportation, most generational projections, consumer forecasts and scenarios are carried out by large companies. These quite often have vested interest in keeping status quo. And – surprise – most of these forecasts and scenarios project basically more of the same. Even a neutral institution like the <a href="http://www.energypost.eu/iea-exaggerates-costs-underestimates-growth-solar-power/">International Energy Agency</a> has been accused of failing to see the exponential trajectory in renewable energy. Even the “wildcard scenarios” stemming from these companies are typically conservative, well within the established industrial paradigms, the same paradigms that are starting to crumble around us. But we know changes are coming. And not only because the alternative could be a climatic apocalypse. Not because we are going to run out of oil any time soon. But because deep structural changes could make fossil based energy largely superfluous very soon. Everybody who hasn’t lived under a big rock or in a community of <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/07/rolling_coal_conservatives_who_show_their_annoyance_with_liberals_obama.html">coal rollers</a> for the past few years, have probably seen news reports revealing that the automobiles are quickly losing its all allure as a rite-of-passage object among teenagers today. Likewise, you might also pay heed to projections from architects, urban planners, forecasters in the renewable energy development as well as to signs that the whole infrastructure that underpins the current energy paradigm is awaiting some disruptive changes in the near future.</p> <p style="text-align: left;">Most of the reports from both sides of the energy sector (fossil and renewable) focus on incremental projections of known and linear variables. For example, Statoil seems to base its projections on known demographic and economic trends of growth in population and income in emerging markets. These factors are not wrong in themselves of course, but disruptive forces, and mitigating and often surprising factors are not mentioned in their scenarios. The whole point of using scenarios is to account for complex systems that elicit radically different futures – or futures that differ from the present in kind, not only in degree. If we only make scenarios that are different variations of status quo we risk doing what statisticians call a Type II error, or failing to reject a false null hypothesis, with the null hypothesis being that the forces at play today will be the same forces at play 30-40 years from now. If change was linear, and all we did was perfecting the trends of decades past, imagine what kinds of typewriters we would use and outrageous mullet hairstyles we would sport today!</p> <p>This is why oil companies, auto industry and the IEA tend to grossly overlook cultural shifts, disruptive technologies and the synergies that come out of this. So are a few variables that we believe could change the energy landscape for the next generation <em>beyond</em> considerations already accounted for:</p> <p><strong>1) Younger generations eschew car ownership.</strong></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>Car no longer a status symbol. </strong>We have already seen the new trends with millennials. The sharing economy is all the hype now, and there is a shift towards embracing access to things than ownership. Much of this trend is due to their relative young age and their tendency to postpone adult investments and lifestyles. But some of this effect is generational too. Millennials saw their boomer dads driving their Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry. “What’s the point of having big car loans just to flaunt money you on’t really have?”, will be the recurring question from Gen Z’ers who have much more realistic economic expectations than their parents.</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>Alternative transportation and car-sharing.</strong> Instead they rely on public transportation, car-sharing services and bikes. This is a long-term trend and does not indicate some psychographic blip where Generation Z can be expected to pick up the car-craze their Millennial predecessors didn’t have. (Despite what some biased surveys from auto-companies tend to suggest) From 1998 to 2008 the percentage of young household without cars increased with 20% to 28%.</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>Too expensive.</strong> Not only the recession, but a longterm trend of stagnation in income compromises young people’s ability to buy a car and maintain it. Due to the recent drop in oil prices we might see an uptick in car interest and the sales of cars have indeed been growing. Even with light trucks ahead of personal vehicles. But Christopher Leinberger, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution says low gas prices will not cause a complete bounce back: “Lower gas prices will not change what is a structural change in lifestyle and economic development decision making.”</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><strong>The future of self-driving cars. </strong>We are probably decades away from self-driving cars becoming commonplace. Just getting the logistics together and changing out the fleet will take a long time. But self-driving cars have the potential of solving so many problems, relating to accidents, parking issues, inadequate public alternatives etc. that it seems inevitable. With self-driving cars all rational arguments for car ownership evaporate because door-to-door transportation can be ordered at the swipe of the finger. If you can order a self-driving car pick up with a few minutes’ notice, why store it in your garage – which you now can convert to an extra room? Self-driving cars will reduce a lot of idle time and possibly even the need for traffic lights. Moreover, fewer cars on the road means less pollution.</p> <p><strong>2) Urbanization and industrialization. </strong>Every week over 1 million people move to cities. Urbanization will quadruple within the next few decades. A vast study of 274 cities in China, Africa and the Middle East reveals global urban energy use <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/life/nature-environment/1.637246">will more than triple by 2050</a>. Yet it is uncertain what effect future urbanization will have on energy consumption. On the one hand, urbanization is associated with industrialization and income increases, which traditionally has increased energy use. On the other hand, urbanization increases population density and allows for economies of scale. This is consistent with the findings of a recent report from Perry Sadorsky at <a href="http://faculty.smu.edu/millimet/classes/eco6375/papers/sadorsky%202013.pdf">York University</a>. Urbanization alone is expected to be positively correlated with both renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, partly due to commuting from suburbs. But where will all the cars park in these megacities? Good luck finding parking in Shanghai in 2030! A recent study led by the University of Maryland suggests that urban planning and transport policies can limit the future increase in cities’ energy use by about one-quarter. This would taper off some of the energy demand. Moreover, most urbanization studies are based on previously observed development models which might be obsolete in a post-industrial society. We are beyond the days when new city dwellers commute by car to and back from work in energy intensive factories. Most people now commute from the suburbs to the city for office space, but gradually urban areas are becoming residential and corporations establish campuses on the outskirts of town. Since many developing economies lack basic infrastructure today, they have <a href="http://www.cafamerica.org/africa-energy/">great opportunities for leap-frogging</a>, which would allow them to stake out completely new green trajectories that are difficult to implement in more established markets.</p> <p><strong>3) Growth in the renewable </strong><b>energy market. </b>Germany is currently a leader in renewable energy consumption, and gets around 75% of its energy from renewables. And a recent report from <a href="http://www.nap.edu/catalog/18264/transitions-to-alternative-vehicles-and-fuels">National Academic P</a>ress indicates that technically we should <em>be able to</em> reduce 80% of our carbon dependency for motor vehicles by 2050. While history shows that inertia too often triumphs technological promise, something is amiss when such dramatic carbon reductions are not even mentioned in the petroleum sector’s scenarios. Either we can expect a lot of disruptive changes between 2040 and 2050 or Statoil’s scenarios are simply not visionary enough. Think about it this way, one hour of sunlight has the same volume of energy as a year of the world’s energy use. This means that once the capturing and storage of alternative energy sources is solved, the whole supply chain and access to resources is solved as well.</p> <p><strong>5) * The collaborative economy and distributed energy. </strong>One of the emerging trends we see in developing countries in many areas is the development of self-sufficient energy production. There are many reasons for this. In many regions hooking up villages to the central electricity grid is cost-prohibitive. Microgrids can ameliorate blackouts and grid-failure, and become a better back-up system than generators. Future threats of cyberattacks and the realization that the whole U.S. powergrid system is as obsolete as the fossil-based energy it transmits, is another good reason for people to make the investments. Moreover, microgrids are going through exponential efficiency and cost development similar to what Moore’s Law is for computing, which lowers the barriers to installation. Once installed with integrated smartmeters in either multi-family dwellings or individual residences, it might be possible to sell energy back to the grid, helping people become <a href="http://www.worldwidewords.org/turnsofphrase/tp-pro4.htm">prosumers </a>and gain a much welcome extra income in a market where jobs and wages have stagnated.</p> <p><strong>6) Telecommuting: cloud computing, virtual meetings and online education. </strong>We are living more of our lives online – including our professional lives. When Marissa Myers demanded all of her employees to physically work at Yahoo’s corporate office, this was a move against the trend rather than an example of its reversal. Since 2005 telecommuting <a href="http://globalworkplaceanalytics.com/telecommuting-statistics">increased by 80%.</a> Various studies have indicated that Generation Z is on track to becoming more entrepreneurial, and this too would reduce work-hour traffic since they are likely to work at home, in co-working communities or in local makerspaces. Travel for educational reasons diminishes too as more people take online education.</p> <p><strong>4) Carbon bubble bust. </strong>This is possibly <a href="http://www.energypost.eu/historic-moment-saudi-arabia-sees-end-oil-age-coming-opens-valves-carbon-bubble/">why oil prices have imploded</a>.<b> </b>Oil was believed to be overpriced to begin with, but the dramatic drop in price could actually be a sign that OPEC-countries are trying to cash in before climate regulation and disruptive improvements in alternative energy start paying off. Because once that happens, there is going way back and oil will become obsolete. Or as Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani said: <em>“The Stone Age didn’t end for lack of stone, and the oil age will end long before the world runs out of oil”.</em></p> <p>Neither Ford’s generational report nor Statoil’s oil scenarios reveal details on how they arrived at their projections, so it is possible that they have considered the variables mentioned above. But there are few signs that they did. Nor do they look outside of the conventional framework of expected linear development, when instead the most likely course is one of tipping points and exponential curves. Once we learn how to optimally harness and store renewable energy, the oil economy will go the way of rotary phones and typewriters.</p> <p><strong>* Addendum 10-2015: </strong>The key obstacle toward renewable energy and microgrid conversion has been thought to be in limitation of storage deployment. Few households would accept intermittences that often occur with solar and wind, so storage of energy would become necessary for these systems to reach a tipping point in the market. But storage capacity and the price of lithium ion batteries (that also power EVs) are achieving breakthroughs and undergoing exponential improvements, see image below. Tesla’s Powerwall is already well-known. The Rocky Mountain institute believe storage improvements will make microgrids cost effective with 10-15 years.</p> <p> </p> <p>A “wildcard scenario” should at least consider that possibility. However, signs of such considerations are completely absent. Strategic foresight is about establishing a multidisciplinary 360 degree field of vision where changes occurring in other spheres than your direct industry must be considered, and these are some of the most important methods underpinning <em>After the Millennials’</em> work. To learn more about Strategic Foresight, please read about <a href="http://afterthemillennials.com/strategic-foresight/">Our Methods</a>.</p> <p><em style="line-height: 1.5;">Image: Point & Shoot @ 70MPH by Ellen Jantzen</em></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2015/02/16/how-will-our-youngest-generation-consume-energy/">How Will Our Youngest Generation Consume Energy?</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>A generation of coddled gladiators: a paradox of modern parenting</title> <link>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2014/11/08/a-generation-of-coddled-gladiators-a-paradox-of-modern-parenting/</link> <comments>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2014/11/08/a-generation-of-coddled-gladiators-a-paradox-of-modern-parenting/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Sat, 08 Nov 2014 20:58:36 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Anne Boysen]]></dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Parenting]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Generation Z]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Homeland generation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Millennials]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://afterthemillennials.com/?p=3220</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>One of the most important generationally relevant must-reads from last week is this piece from Dr. Profeta . It was republished at slowfamilyliving, a website that goes against the grain of our era’s current tendency to hyperparent. In his Your Kid And My Kid Are...</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2014/11/08/a-generation-of-coddled-gladiators-a-paradox-of-modern-parenting/">A generation of coddled gladiators: a paradox of modern parenting</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong>One of the most important generationally relevant must-reads</strong> from last week is this piece from <a href="Dr.%20Profeta">Dr. Profeta</a> . It was republished at <a href="http://slowfamilyliving.com/">slowfamilyliving</a>, a website that goes against the grain of our era’s current tendency to hyperparent. In his <a href="http://slowfamilyliving.com/2014/10/your-kid-and-my-kid-are-not-playing-in-the-pros/">Your Kid And My Kid Are Not Playing In The Pros</a><span style="text-decoration: underline;"> </span>Dr. Profeta weights in on the almost unbelievable encounters he has run into with parents of athletic-hopefuls (at least hopefuls for the parents) over his career as an ER doctor. When their children come in for serious, possibly debilitating or even life threatening injury, the parents’ first reaction is not one that reveals concern for their health, but their athletic prospects. Ruptured ligaments, concussions, mononucleosis or alcohol poisoning are not enough for these parents to worry for the wellbeing of their children, or even reevaluate what went wrong in their upbringing. Instead the worry goes immediately to their competitive edge in this fierce world of winners and losers. It’s that black and white. Either you compete toward national championship or your kid ends up unholy and subcultural (gasp!).</p> <p><strong>Dr. Tim Elmore in Psychology Today</strong> calls them <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/artificial-maturity/201406/avatar-parents-and-their-kid-athletes">Avatar Parents</a>. He says, “<a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/sport-and-competition"><em>Sports</em><em> </em><em>Illustrated for Kids</em></a> reported that 75 percent of their readers said they had witnessed out-of-control <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/parenting">parents</a> at their games, ranging from parents and coaches yelling at each other, or at kids or officials, to adults who got violent during a game.” Furthermore that in an informal study “45 percent of kids had been called names, yelled at or insulted by adults when playing. 22 percent said they were pressured to play even when they were hurt, and almost one in five said they had been hit, kicked or slapped while participating.”</p> <p><strong>It’s a strange paradox.</strong> Last year a wrote a piece about <a title="Extreme Sports In The Age Of Fear Fetishism" href="http://afterthemillennials.com/2013/10/22/extreme-sports-in-the-age-of-fear-fetishism-2/">Generation X parents choosing extreme sports</a> for themselves while bubble-wrapping their own kiddos from any potential harm. I suggested that these parents’ tendency to seek danger might be an effect of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_compensation">risk compensation</a>. It would seem logical that parents living dull, boring lives that are even more amputated by their sheltered coexistence with their budding snowflakes feel the need to do risky activities for leisure. But this does not explain the parents who behave completely opposite. But Dr. Profeta as well as Dr. Elmore suggests that parents pushing their kids’ academic performances to the extreme are living vicariously through their children, hence the term “avatar”. Moreover, they worry so much about their progeny’s future that they paradoxically put their children in harms ways (injury, subjection to raucous adult behaviors during matches etc.) to avoid lesser and hypothetical harms, such as becoming a (gasp!) average child.</p> <p><strong>As long as access to higher education and other opportunities</strong> in life are measured in the ability to deal with gladiator-like circumstances (academically as well as athletically!), this trend might very well continue for a while. At least until more families see the counterproductive outcomes in the form of burnouts, poor social skills, emotional detachment and inability to handle failure.</p> <p><strong>As parents, educators, employers and society we must try to overcome our urge</strong> to over-protect, micro-manage and in extreme cases, bully our kids to champion status. We must redefine what skills our children should have that will be most helpful in the future. Are we really willing to sacrifice their ability to cope with defeat, empathize with others and think independently and critically for the pipe dream of an athletic career and ivy league admission? And are these really the employees recruiters will want in the future? We don’t have to give our children trophies just for showing up. But neither should we tell our children or ourselves that their future hinges on the collection of trophies. I already see that a promising move away from this trend is underway, which is why I have forecasted that the next trend in parenting will be Resilience Parenting. Yet, we need to get enough coaches, educators, admissions officers and employers to make the change. If you are in any of these positions, I would love for you to weigh in on the comment section below.</p> <p><em><strong>Image: <a href="http://www.canstockphoto.com/images-photos/coach.html">Can Stock Photo </a></strong></em></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2014/11/08/a-generation-of-coddled-gladiators-a-paradox-of-modern-parenting/">A generation of coddled gladiators: a paradox of modern parenting</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2014/11/08/a-generation-of-coddled-gladiators-a-paradox-of-modern-parenting/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>2</slash:comments> </item> <item> <title>It’s Official, The White House Calls Them “Homeland Generation”</title> <link>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2014/10/22/its-official-the-white-house-calls-them-homeland-generation/</link> <pubDate>Wed, 22 Oct 2014 15:11:51 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Anne Boysen]]></dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Values]]></category> <category><![CDATA[forecasts]]></category> <category><![CDATA[future]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Homeland generation]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://afterthemillennials.com/?p=3198</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>The White House recently released a report where they labeled the youngest generation the “Homeland Generation”. A storm of speculations hit the internet soon after. How could the U.S. government choose such a paranoid and xenophobic-sounding epithet? Was this a creepy joke? Some claimed the...</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2014/10/22/its-official-the-white-house-calls-them-homeland-generation/">It’s Official, The White House Calls Them “Homeland Generation”</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The White House recently released <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/millennials_report.pdf">a report </a>where they labeled the youngest generation the “<a title="Homelanders – Our Youngest Generation" href="http://afterthemillennials.com/2013/05/14/homelanders-our-youngest-generation/">Homeland Generation</a>”. A storm of speculations hit the internet soon after. How could the U.S. government choose such a paranoid and xenophobic-sounding epithet? Was this a creepy joke? Some claimed the White House took the name out of thin air. Others accused the government of deliberately spreading shivers of Orwellian terror. Others again implied the White House had blindly copied the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeland_(TV_series)">Showtime political series</a> with the same name. A little research would have informed them the generational moniker predates the TV-series called Homeland by almost a decade!</p> <p>In post-Snowden America, it is not surprising that such a name would strike a nerve. But the White House’s intents are probably as misunderstood as the generational categories themselves. So before the Twitterati runs amok with conspiracy theories, let’s explore some plausible reasons for why the White House made the name choice they made.</p> <p><strong>“The Homeland Generation” is based on over 400 years of generational progression.</strong></p> <p>Terrorism-paranoia might have had something to do with it, but these sentiments were derived entirely from the grassroot soon after the 9/11 terrorist attack. The designation started showing up in a discussion group among the devoted readers of Neil Howe and the late William Strauss, the historians who coined the name “Millennials”. It was concocted in response to the strong feeling that terrorism had brought on a nascent era that would kick off a new generational zeitgeist, but wasn’t necessarily meant to be a final deal. However, for those of us who are studying this emerging generation and their future, Homelander is a useful placeholder name that helps us address them properly while we wait for something better. Strauss and Howe’s generational theory is not without critics, but it might be the most thoroughly examined of our time. Furthermore, the White House probably decided to use a label associated with their names because of the report these best-selling authors already have established in Washington. Al Gore bought a copy of their first book to every member of Congress. Newt Gingrich called it “an intellectual tour de force.”</p> <p><strong>Generational Cut-offs in Response to Crisis</strong></p> <p>Most generational categories presume the current youth cohort was born as early as 1995, a cut-off point which is rarely explained. In contrast, Strauss and Howe posited that a generational shift occurs when a<a title="Generations Timeline" href="http://afterthemillennials.com/generations-archetype-turnings/"> new historic event kicks off a new social mood</a>. The mood-changing events that caused a generational shift did not occur until the mid-2000s, a decade glum enough to catapult us into a crisis era.</p> <p>The Homeland Generation, now at the cusp of adolescence, is growing up with no memory of life before terrorism, before soccer moms became security moms, and before the recession’s new financial realities evoked more humble and somber attitudes toward money. Ironically, the Homeland generation is the first to experience homelessness rates rivaling those of bygone times. We have to look back to the 1930s depression years to detect a level of income inequality as high as it is today. To this generation the American Dream is a pipe dream and the idea of “upward mobility” an illusion that will be viewed through the lens of vintage nostalgia. Several generations feel the effects, but only the Homelanders grow up in a time after the terror, after the crash and after our trust in the institutions supposed to keep us happy were shattered. From Occupy to Piketty, we are sobering up to the grim realities of a post-meritocratic era, the grueling truth that our children’s economic prospects might not be as determined by their willingness to work hard as by their kin, privilege or chance.</p> <p><strong>48 percent of Americans are poor or low-income.</strong> That’s almost half of all Americans. These are real problems and will not go away by “trimming the fat”. One possible upside is if this new “impoverished normal” relieves some of the social pressures to display material excesses through consumption. And we do actually see <a title="‘I’m Gonna Pop Some Tags’ – Rise Of The Thrifties" href="http://afterthemillennials.com/2013/12/09/im-gonna-pop-some-tags-rise-of-the-thrifties/">the stigma around frugality </a>is reducing among kids today. Polls find <a href="https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/blogs/pay-day-/global-workplace-study-points-to-big-differences-175435668.html">younger generations to be more financially realistic</a> than older Millennials. Gone are the days of easy credit and sub-prime financed McMansions. Instead we get multigenerational households and multifamily dwellings. Gone are gas guzzling Hummers and cars as status symbols. Instead we unveil a new generation of parents who may opt to use the subway or partake in car-sharing networks. And while rich kids celebrate more extravagant birthdays than ever, a new crop of children, sensitized to world problems, often find meaning in hosting charity parties where they ask for philanthropic donations in lieu of birthday presents. Shopping malls, which Joan Didion in 1979 described as “cities in which no one lives but everyone consumes” are slowly turning into empty shells of suburban blight. In its place, a new consumer culture emerges which touts to elevate the human relationship in material exchanges through “the collaborative economy”. Are we returning from a long era of what sociologists called <em>Gesellschaft</em> (modern society) back to the pre-industrial <em>Gemeinschaft</em> (traditional community)? While two decade old trophy kids see their dreams compromised, are we now raising a more grounded, socially connected generation, lending a second meaning to the term ‘homeland’ – or at least ‘home’?</p> <p><strong>The Strauss – Howe theory has been called a grand theory</strong>. It is not without empirical problems. Psychographic data from centuries past are hard to find, and it is difficult to test their hypothesis. Yet some of the generational shifts may be detected in artistic epochs. Some argue that generational categories are arbitrarily chosen and claim the authors shape generations to fit their models and not vice versa. While using the model to establish rigid lines of causation could be problematic, the model is very useful for seeking better intergenerational understanding and recognize the vantage points of people of different age locations.</p> <p>But for all its alleged problems, Strauss’ and Howe’s generational theory is far more solidly founded on academic research than those of competing marketing firms. When removed from social theory, generational nicknames have an odd tendency to be launched right in time for the release of a new gadget, new report or a new TED talk. Human babies are not expected to live up to their names, something <a href="https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080724200047AAzyj61">baby Lucifer </a>and <a href="http://www.today.com/parents/harshit-abass-worst-real-baby-names-6C10141004">little Havoc</a> will be pleased to learn. But generations are different. Naming them before we learn their true character traits is tantamount to labeling a piece of art that has not yet been completed. Nonetheless, creative wordsmiths will continue to weld new monikers; at least until this young generation one day decides to brand itself. The last few years at least half a dozen nicknames from Generation Z, to iGeneration, Plurals, Posts or Wii Generation have attempted to describe these kids. Smiling from the covers of marketing reports and white papers, these tiny ‘consumers’ are now so rich in aliases and marketing lingo, yet so poorly understood as a cohort of dimensions, idiosyncrasies and personalities that go deeper than the glossy stock photos that illustrate them. I believe this lack of scope in the underlying research is why these name suggestions seem so myopic, so industry-specific and even anachronistic. Generational emblems run the risk of becoming naïve predictions if the trends and forecasts giving logic to them fizzle out. For example, the name iGeneration presumes tomorrow’s youngsters will espouse a continued infatuation with the Apple brand. But we already know that kids’ loyalty to Apple is wavering. Besides suggesting greater ethnic diversity, “Generation Plural” is vague. Diversity and tolerance are not generation-specific, but linearly growing trends, so it’s hard to see how today’s generation of “plurals” are conceptually different from future generations of “plurals”.</p> <p><strong>Homeland generation might sound absurd, creepy or dumb.</strong> But it’s not the government’s responsibility to give the next generation a sexy name. Nor should the next generation have to live up to generational labels that sound more like catchy jingles than the gloomy realities that affect them in their formative years. And those formative years are now.</p> <p> </p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2014/10/22/its-official-the-white-house-calls-them-homeland-generation/">It’s Official, The White House Calls Them “Homeland Generation”</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title>What You Need to Know About Marketing to Millennial Parents</title> <link>https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2014/09/10/what-you-should-know-about-marketing-to-millennial-parents/</link> <pubDate>Wed, 10 Sep 2014 04:13:51 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Anne Boysen]]></dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Parenting]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Values]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Homeland generation]]></category> <category><![CDATA[marketing]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Millennials]]></category> <category><![CDATA[New Silents]]></category> <category><![CDATA[parenting]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://afterthemillennials.com/?p=3165</guid> <description><![CDATA[<p>The only other generational topic receiving as much attention as the young Generation Z or Homeland generation is the Millennial parenting cohort raising them. Still held back in life by economic setbacks and lengthy educations, Millennials are nonetheless a family-loving generation and will eventually go for the...</p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2014/09/10/what-you-should-know-about-marketing-to-millennial-parents/">What You Need to Know About Marketing to Millennial Parents</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The only other generational topic receiving as much attention as the young Generation Z or Homeland generation is the Millennial parenting cohort raising them. Still held back in life by economic setbacks and lengthy educations, Millennials are nonetheless a family-loving generation and will eventually go for the parenting life phase with full steam. In fact, they like the idea of having children so much that they believe <a href="http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2011/03/09/for-millennials-parenthood-trumps-marriage/">being a good parent is more important than having a happy marriage</a>. But how exactly can marketers win the hearts of this less than brand-loyal generation?</p> <p>Millennials are known to be<a href="http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2014/03/07/millennials-in-adulthood/"> skeptical of big institutions</a>. No generation does more research before making a purchase. They were children when the FCC relaxed their rules on marketing to children, which might have resulted in the side effect of producing more skeptical consumers. They are savvy buyers who have seen credit bubbles burst and have instant access to information at their fingertips. Listen to them, and you might win the trust of what might become the biggest parenting generation in America’s history.</p> <p><strong><strong>Thou shall not pretend! #1 </strong></strong><br /> With pertinent, unbiased, often user-generated information at their fingertips, empty corporate promises and gimmicks are quickly divulged. So make sure your product can deliver what it claims, whether it relates to quality or standards of operation. On the other hand, this is a forgiving generation. You may have failed in the past, but Millennials won’t hold you in perpetual contempt or view you with the ideological lenses of their Boomer parents if you change.</p> <p><strong>Thou shall not pretend! #2 </strong><br /> In advertising, don’t go for high gloss and glamour. <a href="http://twiniversity.com/2014/07/perfectly-imperfect-parenting/">Be real</a>. Millennial parents are sick and tired of celebrity moms who shed their baby weight the first week after birth. Or the moms and dads who always puree organic celery (which their little tykes always pleasingly devour) on their spotless countertops. This should give a lot of creative freedom. Have fun. And invite parents to have fun by <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/08/29/mom-confessions_n_5738310.html">confessing to the little irks and challenges that go along with the early stages of parenthood</a>. Because parenting is hard. And nobody’s perfect. And you’re not perfect either.<strong><br /> <strong>Be transparent!</strong><br /> </strong>Earlier this summer <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-12/why-elon-musk-just-opened-teslas-patents-to-his-biggest-rivals">Elon Musk released the patents</a> for his Tesla car. Musk is of course motivated by his desire to make the autoindustry go green. And maybe sell some more batteries. But this was also a very strategic PR move on many levels. On the one hand, environmental consumption is becoming the norm, not the exception. Secondly, car buying among millennials is currently abysmal. They opt for zip cars or take the bus. But millennials respect corporate transparency almost as much as they respect green production. So when car-sharing turns out to be too laborious for millennial with growing families, Tesla will own this market. And maybe even unemployed millennials will forgive <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/business/new-wave-of-adept-robots-is-changing-global-industry.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">Tesla’s manufacturing robots that are currently stealing their jobs.</a></p> <p><strong>Know your tribe</strong><br /> No, you don’t have to be liked by everybody. Not every millennial parent will be evangelizing your message across social media platforms. But in the reputation economy you have to know who your mavens are. Maybe they’re not the ubercool hipsters who twirl their staches while discussing Proust over a glass of Kombucha in the back of an urban vinyl record store. If they are parents, they most likely belong to a very different market segment. For<a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140820006100/en/Data-Reveals-Millennials-Conservative#.VAsrFpRdXFo"> millennial parents turn out to be more conservative</a>, even more likely to say they are born-again Christian. This is partly because millennials are depoliticizing the meaning of ‘conservative’. Another possible reason is selection bias because the subset of millennials who become parents in their 20s tend to be more religious and marry and procreate earlier. Just focus on your market segment and make sure they talk about you. Then most is won. And your marketing director doesn’t have to read Proust.</p> <p><strong>Diversify it!</strong><br /> Do your best to appeal to all types of parents, interracial couples, same-sex couples, single parents or other good but different parenting types who evade the traditional straightjacket. Advertisement still to this day is remarkably homogenous. Reflect the true diversity and you will not only win points with the groups that are notoriously underrepresented, but you will also win over the vast majority who sympathizes with them. Here’s how it works: You launch a marketing campaign that is controversial among consumers on the last quartile of the any <a href="http://www.ideacouture.com/blog/innovation-early-adopters-beyond-the-bell-curve/">bell curve indicating adoption of changing values</a>. This will generate publicity for your product by antagonizing the cultural laggards most millennials want to disassociate with. Not saying you shouldn’t choose a more diverse strategy just because it’s the right thing to do, but extra points for aligning yourself with the right “controversial” values is a nice side effect, isn’t it? This is what youth marketing expert <a href="http://www.shapingyouth.org/">Amy Jussel</a> calls outrage-bating.<br /> <a href="http://afterthemillennials.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/outrage-baiting.jpg"><img class="alignright wp-image-3167 size-medium" src="http://afterthemillennials.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/outrage-baiting-300x225.jpg" alt="outrage baiting" width="300" height="225" /></a></p> <p><strong>Quantify it!</strong><br /> It’s possibly our <a href="http://afterthemillennials.com/2014/04/01/generation-y-wants-anonymity-online-homelanders-will-demand-it/">Homelander kids’ 1984-like future</a>, but big data is still in a phase where people are willing to sacrifice potential privacy leaks for convenience. Eventually <a href="http://www.shapingtomorrow.com/home/alert/155481-Millennials-embrace--Resilience-Parenting-">Resilience Parents</a> will shed some of the parental angst that flourished with Boomer and Gen X helicopter parents, <a href="http://ryan-jenkins.com/2014/09/05/drone-parents-the-next-evolution-of-helicopter-parents/">but for now young parents embrace the safety of surveillance</a>. Just wait till baby-related TMI from all sorts of <a href="http://quantifiedbabies.com/">quantified baby devices</a> explode the already exponentially growing curve of the world’s zettabytes. Welcome to the Internet of things. And of babies. Or something like that.</p> <p><strong>Healthify it!</strong><br /> Millennial expert Jeff Fromm of <a href="http://www.thefuturecast.com/">FutureCast</a> says that Millennial parents want foods that are <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/onmarketing/2014/01/13/how-less-bad-food-marketing-is-attracting-millennial-parents/">‘less-bad’</a>. They are still holding on to their pre-kid foodie, locavore identities, but have to adjust to the not-so wholesome realities of limited household budgets. And they are <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-04-25/millennials-are-careful-frugal-shoppers-who-buy-for-the-long-term">frugal</a>. As mentioned, millennial parents learn quickly that their babies might just as well use their lovingly prepared rutabaga stew as orally administered spray paint. So even the self-assured millennial parent will eventually come to accept that the mac’n cheese box is a survival kit, not a culinary choice. The fact that obesity in America is stagnating; even reversing in some places, proves a shift to healthier American families. So food is not an area were millennial parents are likely to skimp on. On the other hand, most of them have modest incomes, so ‘less-bad’ foods will be the sweet spot for many brands.</p> <p><strong>Beware of gender stereotyping.</strong><br /> Not only is the focus on mothers as the default parent implying that raising children is still a woman’s job, but you’re alienating the growing number of fathers who are taking a more central role in child rearing. These men carry a double duty because they often get ostracized on playgrounds and from mom circles. Co-existing with the aforementioned cultural laggards who patronizingly call them “mister moms”, the scorn they receive can be particularly harsh if their sons also espouse “effeminate” interests. These men need some long overdue role models. The hapless, doofus sitcom dad isn’t helping much. Like Coca-cola shows us <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRqUTA6AegA">here</a>, a fair gender portrayal doesn’t have to be preachy nor unfunny.</p> <p><strong>Care.</strong><br /> Care about their children. Care about them. <a href="http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/cadbury-schweppes/the-importance-of-cause-related-marketing/what-is-cause-related-marketing.html#axzz3CYZZhbaY">And care about the world</a>. Your advertisement dollars are only going to get new parents’ attention for a fleeting moment. It’s not going to make them like you. Or just ‘like’ you. To get them to really like you, you have to do something for somebody or something they care about. Whether it’s building drinking wells in drought struck regions or providing healthy foods for the needy, your brand is what you do. And eventually what you do is what the millennials’ kids will remember you for.</p> <div style="position: relative;"> <div style="width: 600px; margin: 0 auto;"><a href="http://www.polyvore.com/back_to_camera_black_white/thing.outbound?.embedder=0&.svc=copypaste&id=43938646" target="_blank"><img title="back to camera, black and white, dark hair, dress, field, girl" src="http://embed.polyvoreimg.com/cgi/img-thing/size/y/tid/43938646.jpg" alt="back to camera, black and white, dark hair, dress, field, girl" width="600" height="600" border="0" /></a></div> </div> <p><small><br /> </small></p> <div style="text-align: center;"> <div><a href="http://www.polyvore.com/back_to_camera_black_white/thing?.embedder=0&.svc=copypaste&id=43938646" target="_blank">back to camera, black and white, dark hair, dress, field, girl</a> (clipped to <a href="http://www.polyvore.com/" target="_blank">polyvore.com</a>)</div> </div> <p> </p> <p><em>Image: Anne Boysem FreeDigitalIPhotos.net, Polyvore</em></p> <p>The post <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20/2014/09/10/what-you-should-know-about-marketing-to-millennial-parents/">What You Need to Know About Marketing to Millennial Parents</a> appeared first on <a rel="nofollow" href="https://afterthemillennials.com/newsite20">AftertheMillennials</a>.</p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> </channel> </rss>