tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/generations-1777/articlesGenerations – The Conversation2024-02-02T03:59:39Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2222882024-02-02T03:59:39Z2024-02-02T03:59:39ZAustralia’s young people are moving to the left – though young women are more progressive than men, reflecting a global trend<p>Recent research suggests <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/29fd9b5c-2f35-41bf-9d4c-994db4e12998">a growing gender gap in political leanings</a> around the world. In Gen Z, the youngest voting generation, young women are becoming more progressive than men.</p>
<p>Young Australian women, too, are significantly shifting towards the political left – but so are young Australian men, although at a relatively slower rate. </p>
<p>I’ve analysed data from the Australian Election Study, spanning 1996 to 2022, to find out what’s happening.</p>
<p>Just 24.3% of Millennials born between 1980 and 1994 – 21.9% of men and 25.7% of women – said they voted for the Coalition in 2022, representing the lowest level of support for either major party among younger people in the 35-year history of the Australian Election Study. </p>
<p>A slightly higher proportion of Gen Z voted for the Coalition: 24.6%, with a gender breakdown of 34.0% of men and 19.8% of women. </p>
<p>(These numbers will slightly vary based on exact generational definitions – birth-year boundaries – and whether non-voters are excluded from the analysis.)</p>
<p>I found that Australian Millennial and Gen Z men are more conservative than their female counterparts, but are more progressive than men of previous generations at the same stage of life. Across genders, these generations also report being in the political centre less than previous ones.</p>
<p>This runs counter to <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/29fd9b5c-2f35-41bf-9d4c-994db4e12998">reported trends in most countries</a>, where women have been shifting left “while men stand still”. In fact, in some countries like Germany, signs suggest young men are moving right.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-explained-the-seismic-2022-federal-election-the-australian-election-study-has-answers-195286">What explained the seismic 2022 federal election? The Australian Election Study has answers</a>
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<h2>A global youth political gender gap</h2>
<p>A substantial global gender gap has opened in the past six years, following decades of roughly equal ideological distribution. Young American women aged 18-30 are now 30 percentage points more liberal than their male peers, according to US Gallup data.</p>
<p>Germany reflects a similar 30-point divide, while the UK sees a 25-point gap. </p>
<p>In 2022, almost half of Polish men aged 18-21 supported the far-right Confederation party, in contrast to just a sixth of women in that age group. In Germany, there are signs young men under 30 are moving towards <a href="https://theconversation.com/german-election-continuing-popularity-of-far-right-afd-has-roots-in-east-west-divide-167844">the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD</a>), actively opposing immigration more than their elders.</p>
<p>The pattern is reflected beyond the West, too. It is evident in China, Tunisia and South Korea – where, in the 2022 election, young men backed the right-wing People Power party and young women backed the liberal Democratic party.</p>
<p>In all these cases, the dramatic divide is either exclusive to the youngest generation or is far more pronounced than the gender gap in older generations. </p>
<h2>How I reached my findings</h2>
<p>After each federal election, the Australian Election Study survey asks respondents to place themselves on an 11-point ideological scale, where 0 is extreme left, 10 is extreme right, and 5 is often interpreted as neither left nor right (the political centre). </p>
<p>I analysed this data, using <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10361146.2021.1899131?scroll=top&needAccess=true">six generational categories</a>.</p>
<p>They were: </p>
<ul>
<li>War generation (born 1920s and came of age during WWII – 1,305 participants)</li>
<li>Builders (born between 1930 and before the end of the WWII – 4,133 participants)</li>
<li>postwar Baby Boomers (born 1946–1960 - 6,651 participants)</li>
<li>Gen X (born 1961-1979 - 5,229 participants)</li>
<li>Millennials or Gen Y (born 1980–1994 - 1,672 participants)</li>
<li>Gen Z (born after 1994 – a smaller size of 264 participants, which requires caution in statistical conclusions).</li>
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<p>A person’s position on the ideological scale is influenced by their age, gender and education.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/young-australian-voters-helped-swing-the-election-and-could-do-it-again-next-time-184159">Young Australian voters helped swing the election – and could do it again next time</a>
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<h2>Women’s move to the left</h2>
<p>In Australia’s 2022 election, the Coalition received its lowest-ever share of the women’s vote – <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-explained-the-seismic-2022-federal-election-the-australian-election-study-has-answers-195286">just 32%</a>. Conversely, the Labor party attracted more women than men (albeit to a lesser extent).</p>
<p>Reasons included a fierce rise in feminist views following the global #MeToo movement, the Liberal government’s poor response to sexual assault claims, and the mistreatment of women within the Liberal party and the parliament.</p>
<p>This reflects the global analysis reported by <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/29fd9b5c-2f35-41bf-9d4c-994db4e12998">The Financial Times</a>: the #MeToo movement has empowered young women worldwide to embrace fiercely feminist values, influencing their political outlook.</p>
<p>But the Coalition’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-explained-the-seismic-2022-federal-election-the-australian-election-study-has-answers-195286">loss of support among women</a> is not isolated to the 2022 election: it’s been happening since the early 2000s. </p>
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<h2>Men moving left too – but in lower numbers</h2>
<p>My analysis showed women are significantly more likely to be progressive than men. Across generations and political views, the gender gap has widened.</p>
<p>The most recent generation, Gen Z, appears to be the most progressive, with women in particular starkly preferring the left and placing themselves at the centre in dwindling numbers. </p>
<p>However, while Gen Z has more men than women on the right, it has less right-leaning men than any other generation – so it would be wrong to say our young men are rushing to the right, like in <a href="https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/knLPC0YKANCgN1Y8UOBOPl?domain=ft.com">South Korea or Germany</a>. </p>
<p>The Australian data mirrors international trends, with a slight twist. Over the past decades, and across generations, Australian men and women have been moving to the left and away from the right. At the same time, they have moved away from the centre (though this is more pronounced for women). </p>
<p>Despite the gender gap, they are heading in the same direction.</p>
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<p>Exploring the connection between gender and generation, I tailored my analysis to see what happened when other factors that influence political leanings were taken into account, like educational attainment, marital status and home ownership. </p>
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<p>Gender remained a significant influence, though this varies depending on the generation, with some generations more gender-divided than others.</p>
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<p>Tertiary education was also significant. Women with a tertiary education are likely to be more progressive than those without one. The same applies to men, although to a lesser extent.</p>
<p>Men and women who are married and own a home are more conservative in their political views. Income itself is neither substantial, nor significant in its effect.</p>
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<h2>Implications for Australian politics</h2>
<p>The gender gap, along with many other factors, is reshaping how young Australians engage with politics. Acknowledging and addressing this divide is a vital step towards fostering an inclusive and representative democracy.</p>
<p>As better educated, younger women become a formidable force in shaping political landscapes, political parties risk losing touch with this influential segment if they fail to address gender-specific issues, such as those related to education, healthcare, childcare, and workplace equality.</p>
<p>The Coalition is definitely on notice, but all political parties must adapt their strategies to align with the evolving demographics. </p>
<p>The move to the left may not stop at left-of-centre parties, but continue further left, towards the Greens for example. Generational replacement may not necessarily continue to favour the Labor party if their party positions do not speak to young women in the next election.</p>
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<p><em>Note: I wrongly synonymise “sex” and “gender” in my analyses, because survey research is yet to properly acknowledge and capture the gender diversity that exists in our society. However, I note it is impossible to truly understand the gender gap (and the progressive direction of younger people’s leanings) in politics if we continue to discuss the “modern” gender gap while still “traditionally” defining gender as a binary concept.</em> </p>
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<p><em>Correction: this article originally stated 29.8% of Gen Z females voted for the Coalition, but the correct figure is 19.8%.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/222288/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Intifar Chowdhury does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Worldwide, young women are becoming more progressive than young men. It’s happening in Australia, too – with a twist. An analysis of the Australian Election Study yields surprising results.Intifar Chowdhury, Lecturer in Government, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2034662023-04-27T12:31:45Z2023-04-27T12:31:45ZWhy Kurt Vonnegut’s advice to college graduates still matters today<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522654/original/file-20230424-2206-l2hfz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C23%2C3631%2C2469&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A generation told not to trust anyone over 30 nevertheless adored Vonnegut.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/american-author-kurt-vonnegut-poses-while-at-home-on-the-news-photo/81810832?adppopup=true">Ulf Andersen/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Kurt Vonnegut didn’t deliver the famous “Wear Sunscreen” graduation speech published in the <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/chi-schmich-sunscreen-column-column.html">Chicago Tribune</a> that was often mistakenly attributed to the celebrated author. But he could have. </p>
<p>Over his lifetime, he gave dozens of quirky commencement addresses. In those speeches, he made some preposterous claims. But they made people laugh and made them think. They were speeches the graduates remembered. </p>
<p>Having studied and <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Critical_Companion_to_Kurt_Vonnegut.html?id=G9l0LaJlcZkC">written about</a> Vonnegut for years, I wish he had been my commencement speaker. I graduated from Austin College, a small school in North Texas. I don’t even remember who gave my class’s graduation speech, much less a single word the speaker said. I suspect many others have had – and will have – similar experiences.</p>
<p>Young people, college students especially, loved Vonnegut. During the early and mid-1960s, he commanded an avid and devoted following on campuses before he had produced any bestsellers. Why was a middle-aged writer born in 1922 adored by a counterculture <a href="https://www.freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/FreedomArchives.DontTrustAnyoneOver30.article.pdf">told not to trust anyone over 30</a>? Why did he continue to appeal to younger generations until his death? </p>
<h2>Their parents’ generation</h2>
<p>Vonnegut, who died just before commencement season in 2007, was nearly 50 years old when his groundbreaking anti-war novel, “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/184345/slaughterhouse-five-by-kurt-vonnegut/">Slaughterhouse-Five</a>,” was published in 1969.</p>
<p>A cultural touchstone, the novel changed the way Americans think and write about war. It helped usher in <a href="https://bpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.cofc.edu/dist/8/830/files/2017/02/Vonnegut-and-Postmodernism-15f9fyz.pdf">the postmodern style of literature</a> with its playful, fragmented form, its insistence that reality is not objective and that history is not monolithic, and its self-reflection on its own status as art. Like Andy Warhol’s soup cans, “Slaughterhouse-Five,” with its jokes, drawings, risqué limericks and flying saucers, <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/kurt-vonnegut-and-the-american-novel-9781441130341/">blurs the line between high and low culture</a>.</p>
<p>Cited as one of the top novels of the 20th century, “Slaughterhouse-Five” has been transformed into film, theatrical plays, <a href="https://www.openculture.com/2020/02/the-graphic-novel-adaptation-of-kurt-vonneguts-slaughterhouse-five.html">a graphic novel</a> and visual art. It has inspired rock bands and musical interpretations. Vonnegut’s recurring refrain, “So it goes,” used 106 times in the novel, has entered the popular lexicon. The book has been <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/08/the-neverending-campaign-to-ban-slaughterhouse-five/243525/">banned, burned and censored</a>.</p>
<p>In many ways, though, Vonnegut had more in common with the parents of the college students he addressed than with the students themselves. Father to six children – three of his own and three nephews who joined the family after his sister Alice and her husband died – Vonnegut had studied biochemistry at Cornell and had worked in corporate public relations. He continued to believe all his life in the civic virtues he learned as a student at Shortridge High School in Indianapolis. </p>
<p>He had the credibility of a World War II veteran, a member of what journalist Tom Brokaw would later call the “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/18729/the-greatest-generation-by-tom-brokaw/">Greatest Generation</a>.” Captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge, <a href="https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/kurt-vonnegut-slaughterhouse-five">he was sent to Dresden as a prisoner of war</a>. There he was starved, beaten and put to work as a slave laborer. He survived the Allied firebombing of the city in February 1945 and was forced to help excavate hundreds of bodies of men, women and children who had been burned alive, suffocated and crushed to death.</p>
<h2>Fool or philosopher?</h2>
<p>If Vonnegut was, like the students’ fathers, a family man and a veteran, perhaps he also embodied the dad that students in 1969 dreamed their own fathers could be: funny, artistic, anti-establishment and anti-war.</p>
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<img alt="Man in striped suit holding cigarette." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523036/original/file-20230426-402-ciipbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523036/original/file-20230426-402-ciipbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523036/original/file-20230426-402-ciipbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523036/original/file-20230426-402-ciipbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523036/original/file-20230426-402-ciipbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523036/original/file-20230426-402-ciipbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523036/original/file-20230426-402-ciipbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Kurt Vonnegut at Bennington College in 1970.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://crossettlibrary.dspacedirect.org/bitstream/handle/11209/16874/1970June19Kurt_Vonnegut1.jpg?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">Bennington College Archive</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Vonnegut had the look – sad, kind eyes under that mop of uncontrollable hair, the full droopy mustache. <a href="https://crossettlibrary.dspacedirect.org/bitstream/handle/11209/16874/1970June19Kurt_Vonnegut1.jpg?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">A photo taken</a> just before he delivered a commencement address at Bennington College in 1970 shows him wearing a loud striped jacket, reading glasses tucked neatly in its pocket, with a cigarette dangling at his fingertips.</p>
<p>Looking like a cross between Albert Einstein and a carnival huckster, Vonnegut had his contradictions on full display. </p>
<p>Was he a clown or a wise man? A fool or a philosopher?</p>
<p>The literary establishment did not quite know what to make of Vonnegut, either. A writer frequently dismissed by critics for his flying saucers and space aliens, for the simplicity of his prose, for pandering to what <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1976/10/03/archives/slapstick-slapstick.html">one reviewer called</a> the “minimally intelligent young,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1969/03/31/books/vonnegut-slaughterhouse.html">he was also praised</a> for his inventiveness, for his lively and playful language, for the depth of feeling behind the zaniness, and for advocating decency and kindness in a chaotic world. </p>
<h2>A forceful defense of art</h2>
<p>As the U.S. was fighting what most college students believed was an unjust and imperialist war in Vietnam, Vonnegut’s message struck home. He used his own experience in World War II to destroy any notion of a good war. </p>
<p>“For all the sublimity of the cause for which we fought, we surely created a Belsen of our own,” <a href="https://www.npr.org/2008/06/03/89276309/excerpt-armageddon-in-retrospect">he lamented</a>, referencing the Nazi concentration camp.</p>
<p>The military-industrial complex, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/184353/wampeters-foma-and-granfalloons-by-kurt-vonnegut/">he told the graduates at Bennington</a>, treats people and their children and their cities like garbage. Instead, Americans should spend money on hospitals and housing and schools and Ferris wheels rather than on war machinery.</p>
<p>In the same speech, Vonnegut playfully urged young people to defy their professors and fancy educations by clinging to superstition and untruth, especially what he considered the most ridiculous lie of all – “that humanity is at the center of the universe, the fulfiller or the frustrater of the grandest dreams of God Almighty.” </p>
<p>Vonnegut conceded that the military was probably right about the “contemptibility of man in the vastness of the universe.” Still, he denied that contemptibility and begged students to deny it as well by creating art. Art puts human beings at the center of the universe, whether they belong there or not, allowing people to imagine and create a saner, kinder, more just world than the one we really live in.</p>
<p>The generations, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/240511/if-this-isnt-nice-what-is-even-more-expanded-third-edition-by-kurt-vonnegut-edited-and-introduced-by-dan-wakefield/">he told students at the State University of New York at Fredonia</a>, are not that far apart and do not want that much from each other. Older people want credit for having survived so long – and often imaginatively – under difficult conditions. Younger people want to be acknowledged and respected. He urged each group not to be so “intolerably stingy” about giving the other credit.</p>
<p>A strain of sorrow and pessimism underlies all of Vonnegut’s fiction, as well as his graduation speeches. He witnessed the worst that human beings could do to one another, and he made no secret about his fears for the future of a planet suffering from environmental degradation and a widening divide between the rich and the poor. </p>
<p>If Vonnegut were alive and giving commencement speeches today, he would be speaking to college students whose parents and even grandparents he may have addressed in the past. Today’s graduates have lived through <a href="https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2021/one-year-pandemic-stress-youth">the COVID-19 pandemic</a> and are drowning in social media. They face <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2022/08/17/money-and-millennials-the-cost-of-living-in-2022-vs-1972/">high housing costs and financial instability</a> and are more <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/student-union_gen-z-studies-show-higher-rates-depression/6174520.html">depressed</a> and <a href="https://www.ualberta.ca/folio/2020/01/millennials-and-gen-z-are-more-anxious-than-previous-generations-heres-why.html">anxious</a> than previous generations.</p>
<p>I’m sure he would give these students the advice he gave so often over the years: to focus, in the midst of chaos, on what makes life worth living, to recognize the joyful moments – maybe by listening to music or drinking a glass of lemonade in the shade – and saying out loud, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/240511/if-this-isnt-nice-what-is-even-more-expanded-third-edition-by-kurt-vonnegut-edited-and-introduced-by-dan-wakefield/">as his Uncle Alex taught him</a>, “If this isn’t nice, what is?”</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Kurt Vonnegut delivers a lecture at Case Western University in 2004, three years before his death.</span></figcaption>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan Farrell is a founding member of the Kurt Vonnegut Society, which works to promote the scholarly study of Kurt Vonnegut, his life, and works.</span></em></p>A strain of sorrow and pessimism underlies all of Vonnegut’s fiction, as well as his graduation speeches. But he also insisted that young people cherish those fleeting moments of joy.Susan Farrell, Professor of English, College of CharlestonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1984812023-02-08T18:43:39Z2023-02-08T18:43:39ZThe pandemic played into ageist stereotypes, but intergenerational contact and co-operation can overcome them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508476/original/file-20230206-13-t4itv6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=63%2C40%2C3810%2C2532&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Stereotypes about the elderly having more than their fair share can be heightened during times of crisis when resources are seen to be scarce.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the COVID-19 pandemic spread around the world, <a href="https://news.ontario.ca/en/statement/56348/enhanced-measures-to-protect-ontarians-from-covid-19">stringent public health regulations</a> were imposed to protect vulnerable individuals, with older people seen as a particularly vulnerable group.</p>
<p>In response, some argued the pandemic was just a problem for older people and that they should be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbaa102">locked away</a> so younger people could get on with their lives. Others showed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000699">increased concern</a> for older people, with dedicated shopping hours and food deliveries for seniors organized. </p>
<p>We are a team of researchers in psychology, sociology and political science with expertise in intergroup relations. Our research on ageism during the pandemic shows that the group-based beliefs and values people endorse have an impact on how older people are viewed. </p>
<p>This is important because it tells us what beliefs and values need to be targeted to create a more inclusive society, especially when facing a public health emergency like the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<p>In August 2020, we <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/josi.12554">conducted a survey</a> to gauge the attitudes and opinions of Canadians and Americans who were 18 to 65+ years old. The survey relied on nationally representative samples of 2,110 Canadians and 2,124 Americans. The goal was to assess how North Americans perceived older people during the pandemic and what factors explained these perceptions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508434/original/file-20230206-23-8gea8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A younger woman and an elderly man in a wheelchair place their hands on a glass barrier separating them." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508434/original/file-20230206-23-8gea8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508434/original/file-20230206-23-8gea8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508434/original/file-20230206-23-8gea8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508434/original/file-20230206-23-8gea8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508434/original/file-20230206-23-8gea8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508434/original/file-20230206-23-8gea8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508434/original/file-20230206-23-8gea8d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People talk through a plexiglass barrier at Lynn Valley Care Centre in North Vancouver in July 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Intergenerational tension and its basis</h2>
<p>The survey results showed that younger respondents were especially likely to say that older people were using more than their fair share of societal resources, such as those related to health care. This was the case for both Canadians and Americans, and demonstrates <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032367">ageist consumption stereotypes</a>. These stereotypes can be heightened when resources seem to be scarce.</p>
<p>The degree of concern younger North Americans felt in terms of their own health and finances did not predict ageist consumption stereotypes. Instead, their beliefs and values about group relations were key.</p>
<p>Younger North Americans who endorsed the statement that some groups of people are simply inferior to other groups were more likely to endorse ageist consumption stereotypes. The same was true for those who held values emphasizing competition. In contrast, younger North Americans who valued collective goals and believed in personal sacrifice for the collective good were less likely to hold ageist consumption stereotypes.</p>
<p>At the time of the survey, social distancing measures were in effect, so we also asked survey respondents about their opinions about social distancing. We found that younger North Americans who believed social distancing carries too many problems were also more likely to endorse ageist consumption stereotypes.</p>
<h2>What can we learn?</h2>
<p>To reduce ageist perceptions of older people, we should encourage collectivist norms and the importance of acting for the common good, while downplaying competition and group-based dominance. This benefits all of us. First, it promotes social cohesion in society. In addition, most of us will be old people someday and would prefer not to experience ageism at that time. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508531/original/file-20230207-17-4dzrzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An elderly black woman with grey hair looking out of a window." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508531/original/file-20230207-17-4dzrzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508531/original/file-20230207-17-4dzrzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508531/original/file-20230207-17-4dzrzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508531/original/file-20230207-17-4dzrzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508531/original/file-20230207-17-4dzrzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508531/original/file-20230207-17-4dzrzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/508531/original/file-20230207-17-4dzrzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">To reduce ageist perceptions of older people, we should encourage collectivist norms and the importance of acting for the common good.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the context of the pandemic and similar health emergencies, one way to do this is through public health messaging that emphasizes how people of all ages share both the risk of diseases such as COVID-19 and the responsibility for co-operating to overcome it. This way, the emphasis is on society as a whole and less on broad age categories.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbaa051">Another strategy</a> to reduce ageism is to encourage intergenerational contact to promote solidarity and relatedness across age groups. This could, for example, include more frequent quality contact between family members of different generations, personal contact with older neighbours and participation in volunteering programs that bring people of different ages together. </p>
<p>There is also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02701960.2020.1737047">evidence</a> that if intergenerational contact is coupled with education on aging, ageism can be successfully reduced. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12545">recent study</a> conducted during the pandemic found that exposure to online information that shows positive intergenerational contact and provides education that challenges ageist stereotypes effectively reduced ageism and perceived intergenerational conflict among young adults.</p>
<p>Intergenerational tension exists but it is not inevitable. To overcome it, we must understand where it comes from and implement a variety of strategies that bring together people of all ages in order to promote co-operation in solving common problems, rather than competition and dominance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198481/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victoria Esses receives funding from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. She has previously received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Choi receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrick Denice receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alina Sutter, Joanie Bouchard, and Mamta Vaswani do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>To reduce ageist perceptions of older people, we should encourage collectivist norms and the importance of acting for the common good.Victoria Esses, Director, Network for Economic and Social Trends (NEST); Co-Chair, Pathways to Prosperity Partnership, Western UniversityAlina Sutter, Postdoctoral Associate, Network for Economic and Social Trends (NEST), Western UniversityJoanie Bouchard, Assistant Professor in Political Science, Université de Sherbrooke Kate Choi, Associate Professor, Sociology, Western UniversityMamta Vaswani, Postdoctoral Associate, Network for Economic and Social Trends (NEST), Western UniversityPatrick Denice, Assistant Professor of Sociology; Affiliate, Network for Economic and Social Trends (NEST), Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1895912022-09-18T20:15:12Z2022-09-18T20:15:12ZWhat do we owe future generations? And what can we do to make their world a better place?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483125/original/file-20220907-20-kl1u00.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C0%2C5725%2C3802&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/iRAvvyWZfZY">Markus Spiske via Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://artlibre.org/licence/lal/en">FAL</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Your great grandchildren <a href="https://whatweowethefuture.com/">are powerless</a> in today’s society. As Oxford philosopher William MacAskill says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They cannot vote or lobby or run for public office, so politicians have scant incentive to think about them. They can’t bargain or trade with us, so they have little representation in the market, And they can’t make their views heard directly: they can’t tweet, or write articles in newspapers, or march in the streets. They are utterly disenfranchised.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But the things we do now influence them: for better or worse. We make laws that govern them, build infrastructure for them and take out loans for them to pay back. So what happens when we consider future generations while we make decisions today?</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Review: What We Owe the Future – William MacAskill (OneWorld)</em></p>
<hr>
<p>This is the key question in <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/what-we-owe-the-future-9780861542505/">What We Owe the Future</a>. It argues for what MacAskill calls longtermism: “the idea that positively influencing the longterm future is a key moral priority of our time.” He describes it as an extension of civil rights and women’s suffrage; as humanity marches on, we strive to consider a wider circle of people when making decisions about how to structure our societies.</p>
<p>MacAskill makes a compelling case that we should consider how to ensure a good future not only for our children’s children, but also the children of <em>their</em> children. In short, MacAskill argues that “future people count, there could be a lot of them, and we can make their lives go better.”</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-i-feel-my-heart-breaking-today-a-climate-scientists-path-through-grief-towards-hope-188589">Friday essay: 'I feel my heart breaking today' – a climate scientist's path through grief towards hope</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<h2>Future people count</h2>
<p>It’s hard to feel for future people. We are bad enough at feeling for our future selves. As <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-simpsons-are-needed-more-than-ever-in-the-age-of-donald-trump-99330">The Simpsons</a> puts it: “That’s a problem for future Homer. Man, I don’t envy that guy.”</p>
<p>We all know we <em>should</em> protect our health for our own future. In a similar vein, MacAskill argues that we all “know” future people count.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Concern for future generations is common sense across diverse intellectual traditions […] When we dispose of radioactive waste, we don’t say, “Who cares if this poisons people centuries from now?” </p>
<p>Similarly, few of us who care about climate change or pollution do so solely for the sake of people alive today. We build museums and parks and bridges that we hope will last for generations; we invest in schools and longterm scientific projects; we preserve paintings, traditions, languages; we protect beautiful places.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>There could be a lot of future people</h2>
<p>Future people count, and MacAskill counts those people. The sheer number of future people might make their wellbeing a key moral priority. According to MacAskill and others, <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/longtermism">humanity’s future could be vast</a>: much, much more than the 8 billion alive today.</p>
<p>While it’s hard to feel the gravitas, our actions may affect a dizzying number of people. Even if we last just 1 million years, as long as the average mammal – and even if the global population fell to 1 billion people – then there would be 9.1 trillion people in the future.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LEENEFaVUzU?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The future of humanity could be unimaginably large, so those people deserve some moral weight.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We might struggle to care, because these numbers can be hard to <em>feel</em>. Our emotions don’t track well against large numbers. If I said a nuclear war would kill 500 million people, you might see that as a “huge problem”. If I instead said that the number is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-022-00573-0">actually closer to 5 billion</a>, it still feels like a “huge problem”. It does not emotionally <em>feel</em> 10 times worse. If we risk the trillions of people who could live in the future, that could be 1,000 times worse – but it doesn’t <em>feel</em> 1,000 times worse.</p>
<p>MacAskill does not argue we should give those people 1,000 times more concern than people alive today. Likewise, MacAskill does not say we should morally weight a person living a million years from now exactly the same as someone alive 10 or 100 years from now. Those distinctions won’t change what we can feasibly achieve now, given how hard change can be. </p>
<p>Instead, he shows if we care about future people at all, even those 100 years hence, we should simply be doing <em>more</em>. Fortunately, there are concrete things humanity can do.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/labors-climate-change-bill-is-set-to-become-law-but-3-important-measures-are-missing-190102">Labor's climate change bill is set to become law – but 3 important measures are missing</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>We can make the lives of future people better</h2>
<p>Another reason we <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0749597818302930">struggle to be motivated</a> by big problems is that they feel insurmountable. This is a particular concern with future generations. Does anything I do make a difference, or is it a drop in the bucket? How do we know what to do when the <a href="https://80000hours.org/articles/cluelessness/">long-run effects are so uncertain</a>?</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483645/original/file-20220909-23-lt88ri.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="book cover of What We Owe the Future" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483645/original/file-20220909-23-lt88ri.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/483645/original/file-20220909-23-lt88ri.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=930&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483645/original/file-20220909-23-lt88ri.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=930&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483645/original/file-20220909-23-lt88ri.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=930&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483645/original/file-20220909-23-lt88ri.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1168&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483645/original/file-20220909-23-lt88ri.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1168&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/483645/original/file-20220909-23-lt88ri.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1168&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>Even present-day problems can feel hard to tackle. At least for those problems we can get fast, reliable feedback on progress. Even with that advantage, we struggle. For the second year in a row, we <a href="https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/chapters/executive-summary">did not make progress</a> toward our sustainable development goals, like reducing war, poverty, and increasing growth. Globally, <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/much-better-awful-can-be-better">4.3% of children still</a> die before the age of five. COVID-19 has killed about <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/excess-deaths-cumulative-economist-single-entity?country=%7EOWID_WRL">23 million people</a>. Can we – and should we – justify focusing on future generations when we face these problems now?</p>
<p>MacAskill argues we can. Because the number of people is so large, he also argues we should. He identifies some areas where we could do things that protect the future while also helping people who are alive now. Many solutions are win-win.</p>
<p>For example, the current pandemic has shown that unforeseen events can have a devastating effect. Yet, despite the recent pandemic, many governments have done little to set up more robust systems that could <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/22983046/congress-covid-pandemic-prevention">prevent the next pandemic.</a> MacAskill outlines ways in which those future pandemics could be worse.</p>
<p>Most worrying are the threats from engineered pathogens, which </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] could be much more destructive than natural pathogens because they can be modified to have dangerous new properties. Could someone design a pathogen with maximum destructive power—something with the lethality of Ebola and the contagiousness of measles? </p>
</blockquote>
<p>He gives examples, like militaries and terrorist groups, that have tried to engineer pathogens in the past.</p>
<p>The risk of an engineered <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-virus-families-that-could-cause-the-next-pandemic-according-to-the-experts-189622">pandemic</a> wiping us all out in the next 100 years is between 0.1% and 3%, according to estimates laid out in the book. </p>
<p>That might sound low, but MacAskill argues we would not step on a plane if you were told “it ‘only’ had a one-in-a-thousand chance of crashing and killing everyone on board”. These threaten not only future generations, but people reading this – and everyone they know.</p>
<p>MacAskill outlines ways in which we might be able to prevent engineered pandemics, like researching better personal protective equipment, cheaper and faster diagnostics, better infrastructure, or better governance of synthetic biology. Doing so would help save the lives of people alive today, reduce the risk of technological stagnation and protect humanity’s future. </p>
<p>The same win-wins might apply to <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-clean-energy-grid-means-10-000km-of-new-transmission-lines-they-can-only-be-built-with-community-backing-187438">decarbonisation</a>, safe development of <a href="https://theconversation.com/irony-machine-why-are-ai-researchers-teaching-computers-to-recognise-irony-185904">artificial intelligence</a>, reducing risks from <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-vladimir-putins-nuclear-threats-a-bluff-in-a-word-probably-187689">nuclear war</a>, and other threats to humanity.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/even-a-limited-nuclear-war-would-starve-millions-of-people-new-study-reveals-188602">Even a 'limited' nuclear war would starve millions of people, new study reveals</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Things you can do to protect future generations</h2>
<p>Some “longtermist” issues, like climate change, are already firmly in the public consciousness. As a result, some may find MacAskill’s book “common sense”. Others may find the speculation about the far future pretty wild (like <a href="https://www.cold-takes.com/all-possible-views-about-humanitys-future-are-wild/">all possible views</a> of the longterm future).</p>
<p>MacAskill strikes an accessible balance between anchoring the arguments to concrete examples, while making modest extrapolations into the future. He helps us see how “common sense” principles can lead to novel or neglected conclusions. </p>
<p>For example, if there is any moral weight on future people, then many common societal goals (like faster economic growth) are vastly less important than reducing risks of extinction (like nuclear non-proliferation). It makes humanity look like an “imprudent teenager”, with many years ahead, but more power than wisdom:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Even if you think [the risk of extinction] is only a one-in-a-thousand, the risk to humanity this century is still ten times higher than the risk of your dying this year in a car crash. If humanity is like a teenager, then she is one who speeds around blind corners, drunk, without wearing a seat belt.</p>
</blockquote>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Sam Harris talks to William MacAskill about longtermism and effective altruism.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Our biases toward present, local problems are strong, so connecting emotionally with the ideas can be hard. But MacAskill makes a compelling case for longtermism through clear stories and good metaphors. He answers many questions I had about safeguarding the future. Will the future be good or bad? Would it really matter if humanity ended? And, importantly, is there anything I can actually do?</p>
<p>The short answer is yes, there is. Things you might already do help, like minimising your carbon footprint – but MacAskill argues “other things you can do are radically more impactful”. For example, <a href="https://eatforum.org/eat-lancet-commission/eat-lancet-commission-summary-report/">reducing your meat consumption</a> would address climate change, but <a href="https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/cause-areas/long-term-future/climate-change#3-what-are-the-most-effective-charities-and-funds-working-on-climate-change">donating money</a> to the world’s most effective climate charities might be far more effective. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Beyond donations, three other personal decisions seem particularly high impact to me: political activism, spreading good ideas, and having children […] But by far the most important decision you will make, in terms of your lifetime impact, is your choice of career.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>MacAskill points to a range of resources – many of which he founded – that guide people in these areas. For those who might have flexibility in their career, MacAskill founded <a href="https://80000hours.org/">80,000 Hours</a>, which helps people find impactful, satisfying careers. For those trying to donate more impactfully, he founded <a href="https://www.givingwhatwecan.org/">Giving What We Can.</a> And, for spreading good ideas, he started a social movement called <a href="https://www.effectivealtruism.org/">Effective Altruism</a>.</p>
<p>Longtermism is one of those good ideas. It helps us better place our present in humanity’s bigger story. It’s humbling and inspiring to see the role we can play in protecting the future. We can enjoy life now and safeguard the future for our great grandchildren. MasAskill clearly shows that we owe it to them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189591/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Noetel receives funding from the Australian Research Council, National Health and Medical Research Council, the Centre for Effective Altruism, and Sport Australia. He is a Director of Effective Altruism Australia.</span></em></p>Your great grandchildren are powerless in today’s society, but the things we do now influence them, for better or worse. What happens when we consider them while we make decisions today?Michael Noetel, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1822262022-05-15T20:15:14Z2022-05-15T20:15:14ZHook-ups, pansexuals and holy connection: love in the time of millennials and Generation Z<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462196/original/file-20220510-12-8t3is2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C71%2C5955%2C3916&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> </figcaption></figure><p>“That Love is all there is,” wrote Emily Dickinson, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Is all we know of Love;<br>
It is enough, the freight should be<br>
Proportioned to the groove.<br></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Does what we know of love still apply to Australian relationships today – particularly among millennials and Generation Z, whose partnerships and dating behaviours are charting new territories? </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Review: Heartland: What is the future of modern love? by Jennifer Pinkerton (Allen & Unwin).</em></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462191/original/file-20220510-22-dgjg6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462191/original/file-20220510-22-dgjg6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462191/original/file-20220510-22-dgjg6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462191/original/file-20220510-22-dgjg6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462191/original/file-20220510-22-dgjg6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=918&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462191/original/file-20220510-22-dgjg6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462191/original/file-20220510-22-dgjg6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462191/original/file-20220510-22-dgjg6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1153&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Online dating, hook-ups, increased access to porn. Chastity movements. Romantic partners across (or regardless of) gender orientations. <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-romantic-partners-means-more-support-say-polyamorous-couples-125867">Polyamory</a> and a still-prevalent belief in <a href="https://theconversation.com/monogamy-cheating-on-what-nature-intended-or-a-simple-choice-7147">monogamy</a>. It’s all part of the modern landscape. Many committed relationships strain and break under the burden of meeting the hopes and dreams of what we imagine to be love. </p>
<p>Are the intimate and dating relationships of recent generations making more of what we traditionally understand as love, or are they creating something different, something new?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/men-are-from-mars-women-are-from-mars-how-people-choose-partners-is-surprisingly-similar-but-depends-on-age-161081">Men are from Mars, women are from... Mars? How people choose partners is surprisingly similar (but depends on age)</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Researching love</h2>
<p>Such questions are explored in <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/general-books/health-fitness/Heartland-Jennifer-Pinkerton-9781760878405">Heartland: What is the future of Modern Love?</a> by Dr Jennifer Pinkerton, a Darwin-based writer, photographer, producer, academic and Gen X-er. </p>
<p>Drawing on extensive research into more than 100 “heart-scapes” of young Australians – from transgender Aboriginal sistagirls in the Tiwi Islands to conservative Catholics living in Sydney – Pinkerton’s findings break new ground in an old landscape. </p>
<p>The complex modern dating world scoped in Heartland reveals a lack of rules, something that brings with it both loss and liberation. </p>
<p>Of course, love’s essential passion and pain remains unchanged across millennia. And some aspects of sexuality that seem new have always existed, albeit with different labels or levels of social acceptance. </p>
<p>“I desire. I crave,” wrote the Ancient Greek poet <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/sappho">Sappho</a>, whose name is now immortalised in the description of female-only relationships. Shakespeare’s famous sonnet that begins “<a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45087/sonnet-18-shall-i-compare-thee-to-a-summers-day">Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?</a>” was penned to another man. </p>
<p>Pinkerton shows the “who” is not what makes love complicated today. Millennial and Gen Z attitudes are inclusive to the point of being perplexed as to why a fuss was made (and for so long) about who can love whom. </p>
<p>It is the why, how, what, when and where that are currently making dating and relationships difficult – particularly post-pandemic – despite the ease of speedy internet access to potential partners.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462198/original/file-20220510-12-u8mp23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462198/original/file-20220510-12-u8mp23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462198/original/file-20220510-12-u8mp23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462198/original/file-20220510-12-u8mp23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462198/original/file-20220510-12-u8mp23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462198/original/file-20220510-12-u8mp23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462198/original/file-20220510-12-u8mp23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462198/original/file-20220510-12-u8mp23.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There are ‘lots (and lots) of labels’.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are also lots (and lots) of labels. They go beyond LGBTQ+. There’s sistagirl (an Aboriginal <a href="https://theconversation.com/supporting-trans-people-3-simple-things-teachers-and-researchers-can-do-149832">transgender</a> person). Vanilla (people who don’t do kink). There’s pansexual (someone who is attracted to all gender types: male, female, trans, non-binary); demipansexual (someone who seeks a deep connection); polyamory (multiple lovers) and more. Much more. </p>
<p>Without such labels, explains demipansexual Aggie (29), she couldn’t explore sexuality, her gender, or even polyamory itself. “These words describe things to other people and describe things you haven’t experienced before.” </p>
<p>The labels also function as an age dividing line. It’s a “generation thing”, says Aggie. There’s even a 14-year-old who identifies as “non-binary goth, demiromantic pansexual” who asks her Gen X aunt how she identifies. “I love who I love,” her bemused aunt replies.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-ghosting-to-backburner-relationships-the-reasons-people-behave-so-badly-on-dating-apps-179600">From ghosting to 'backburner' relationships: the reasons people behave so badly on dating apps</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Love, romance and liberation</h2>
<p>Yet as the interviews in Heartland reveal, it is impossible to generalise within (or about) any age group. While some find labels liberating, others shun them. And some shun dating altogether. </p>
<p>According to Pinkerton, many young people have stopped dating – and some never start. Some look askance at apps and some have tired of them. Others are simply tired of it all: Pinkerton describes them as an “army of disappointeds”. </p>
<p>One “disappointed” is Saxon (23, straight), who has spent hours chatting with potential matches, yet never met up with any of them – almost as if <a href="https://theconversation.com/tinder-fails-to-protect-women-from-abuse-but-when-we-brush-off-dick-pics-as-a-laugh-so-do-we-147909">Tinder</a> were a computer game.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462207/original/file-20220510-12-3avq0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="woman in bed looking at phone and smiling" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462207/original/file-20220510-12-3avq0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462207/original/file-20220510-12-3avq0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462207/original/file-20220510-12-3avq0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462207/original/file-20220510-12-3avq0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462207/original/file-20220510-12-3avq0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462207/original/file-20220510-12-3avq0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462207/original/file-20220510-12-3avq0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some young people don’t like using dating apps; others are tired of them.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For Charlotte (22), there are hook-ups and there are dates. “There’s a big difference between dating and hook-ups for me. I agonise and stress over dates.” </p>
<p>By contrast, art student Stump (30) wants friendship with extras. “To be friends and fuck and be able to talk about shit and have that cordial thing going on.”</p>
<p>“I don’t care what they do, as long as they have a job,” says Lisa (27): “He needs to have life goals.” Her friend Kaylee (25) agrees. “If they can pay half the bills, I’m happy.”</p>
<p>Yet love and romance aren’t out of the equation. “I thought it would be more liberating to sleep with someone else than it was,” says 19-year-old law student Kami. “I suppose it didn’t feel great because there was no romantic connection.” </p>
<p>We meet Ryan (25), a shy security guard, who is reading Erich Fromm’s classic <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14142.The_Art_of_Loving">The Art of Loving</a>. He is not alone in wanting to learn how to love. Pinkerton notes that many under-40s read love and sex texts, including Gary Chapman’s popular <a href="https://www.5lovelanguages.com/store/the-5-love-languages">The Five Love Languages</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-3-ways-philosophy-can-help-us-understand-love-155374">Friday essay: 3 ways philosophy can help us understand love</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Holy connection</h2>
<p>Pinkerton sees the experiences and concerns of millennials and Gen-Z as shaping a new approach to modern love. Genuine love, she writes, demands courage, and extends beyond the narrow confines of the couple. It’s about much more than romance. </p>
<p>Pinkerton noted her surprise at how often, for example, millennials would end conversations to friends with “I love you”. At first, she thought it was a bit intense, but she soon discovered the importance young people place on their friendships is the key to what they consider holy: connection.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462201/original/file-20220510-12-dgjg6f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="woman smiling, looking down" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462201/original/file-20220510-12-dgjg6f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/462201/original/file-20220510-12-dgjg6f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462201/original/file-20220510-12-dgjg6f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462201/original/file-20220510-12-dgjg6f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=608&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462201/original/file-20220510-12-dgjg6f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=764&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462201/original/file-20220510-12-dgjg6f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=764&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/462201/original/file-20220510-12-dgjg6f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=764&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Author and researcher Jennifer Pinkerton.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pinkerton’s reflections on the complexities of committed relationships are embedded in the context of her own story, which she willingly shares. While from a different generation, Pinkerton has experienced the anxiety of online communication (she particularly regrets sending a rather embarrassing haiku). </p>
<p>But it is the heartbreak of her own relationship breakdown with the father of her newborn son, and the loss of her mother, interwoven with the interviews, that contextualises and humanises the book. Heartland is not cold case research: it’s a genuine search for understanding, of self and others.</p>
<p>There is also a sense of authentic place evoked in Heartland: the “thick Red Centre heat that lifts off the road in ribbons and sends chalky-pink galahs hurtling from the sky.” Pinkerton identifies generational trends in dating and relationships that are by no means unique to Australia, but imbues them with a uniquely Australian sensibility. You can feel the heat as she writes about the Top End, a landscape clearly in her heart. </p>
<p>Heat – or rather, too much of it - is also an anxiety-provoking and distressing concern for Pinkerton’s millennials and <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-research-shows-australian-teens-have-complex-views-on-religion-and-spirituality-103233">Gen Z</a> interviewees. </p>
<p>Take the usual stressors of young life and add the thought, “Maybe the planet is going to burn, and we’ll have nowhere to live”, says Helen Berry, Honorary Professor of Climate Change and Mental Health at the University of Sydney. Add dating, love, romance […] it can become too difficult to contemplate connection, in the face of so much potential risk and loss. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/love-academically-why-scholarly-hearts-are-beating-for-love-studies-104697">Love, Academically. Why scholarly hearts are beating for Love Studies</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Heartland takes love seriously, as a subject worthy of research – at a time when interdisciplinary research about love is growing. In the School of Arts and Humanities at Edith Cowan University, the new Love Studies network includes academics from every discipline. Mapping the field, we have discovered a diversity of research about love with multidisciplinary connections that are often surprising, ranging from popular <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-the-mattresses-a-defence-of-romance-fiction-72587">romance</a> studies to criminology, sexology and peace studies. </p>
<p>There is also a new Australian cross-university initiative, <a href="https://www.jcu.edu.au/this-is-uni/health-and-medicine/articles/exploring-the-heart-of-the-matter">The Heart of the Matter Health Humanities Project</a>, which aims to </p>
<blockquote>
<p>deepen our understanding of the heart and improve human well-being through fostering dialogue and innovation across the fields of health, medicine, engineering, philosophy, literary studies and the humanities.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The initiative brings together academics and scholarship from across the country to explore the intersections between medical understandings of the heart, the role of the humanities, and the heart as a symbol and vehicle of emotion, from research on artificial hearts to <a href="https://theconversation.com/bloody-hunting-slaughtermen-sieges-and-lechery-what-does-shakespeare-tell-us-of-war-181474">Shakespeare</a>.</p>
<p>Heartland maps both the agonies and ecstasies of today’s relationships. “Among millennials and Gen Zs there’s a fluidity to life and love, and an openness to testing out alternative options,” Pinkerton concludes. “Sure, this can add to the anxiety load. Equally, it might just create more rewarding sex and love.” Labels may change, yet the search for love remains. A heavy weight, worth carrying.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/182226/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Reid Boyd does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research suggests that for millennials and Generation Z, a lack of rules around love and dating brings both loss and liberation.Elizabeth Reid Boyd, Senior Lecturer School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1731312022-02-08T13:34:23Z2022-02-08T13:34:23ZMidlife isn’t a crisis, but sleep, stress and happiness feel a little different after 35 – or whenever middle age actually begins<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444431/original/file-20220203-15-u5dii3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C29%2C4885%2C3884&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When midlife begins can vary from person to person.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/portrait-of-five-women-laughing-and-having-fun-royalty-free-image/901670548?">Flashpop/Digitalvision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fewer than <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141521">one-fifth of Americans</a> say they actually experienced a midlife crisis. And yet there are still some common misunderstandings people have about midlife. </p>
<p>I <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=ag1U45UAAAAJ">study midlife</a>, and especially how people in this stage of life experience sleep and stress. In my research, I have also found that midlife brings both opportunities and challenges. </p>
<h2>Are we there yet?</h2>
<p>Exactly when midlife begins is hard to pin down. Compared with other developmental periods – like childhood, adolescence and older adulthood – midlife lasts longer and includes more diverse social roles. There are fewer published studies on midlife than studies on childhood and older adulthood. So researchers still know little about the timing and unique experiences of this stage of life.</p>
<p>Midlife may begin at different times for different people. </p>
<p>In the 1990s, people generally agreed that midlife <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-012757230-7/50020-1">begins at age 35</a>. This has shifted toward an older age. Now Americans might say midlife begins at age <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000591">44 and ends by 60</a>. An increased life expectancy and medical advances may have contributed to this shift. </p>
<p>Today’s adults are living longer and healthier lives than previous generations. Also, the demands of establishing a career while building a family have increased. That’s why some researchers have started referring to the period occurring roughly from age 30 to 45 as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000600">“established adulthood,”</a> distinguishing it from midlife as it was previously understood. </p>
<p>Chronological age is only one way to define the beginning of midlife. Psychologist Margie Lachman emphasizes looking at certain life transitions and social roles that commonly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141521">occur in midlife</a> as a way of coming up with a definition.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman with light-colored hair and dark eyes looking up and to the side, as if seeing her own thoughts, with her chin resting in her hand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444432/original/file-20220203-17-yrpgly.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444432/original/file-20220203-17-yrpgly.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=303&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444432/original/file-20220203-17-yrpgly.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=303&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444432/original/file-20220203-17-yrpgly.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=303&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444432/original/file-20220203-17-yrpgly.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444432/original/file-20220203-17-yrpgly.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444432/original/file-20220203-17-yrpgly.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Longer lives and changes in social roles have shifted people’s thinking about when midlife begins.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/looking-upward-royalty-free-image/172168828">bobbieo/iStock via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>So many roles, so little time</h2>
<p>Midlife is a time when individuals occupy the greatest number of social roles. The average U.S. adult in midlife typically has four key roles – paid worker or homemaker; spouse or partner; parent; and adult child. Having multiple roles may provide more opportunities to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.56.10.781">build resources</a> such as income, self-esteem, relationships and success. But people must also divide their <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2092933">time and energy</a> across these multiple roles. </p>
<p>[<em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>Risk factors for later-life diseases also show up in midlife. Slower metabolism, weight gain and hormonal changes are common. Also, women experience menopause, which involves hot flashes and emotional ups and downs. Men in midlife are more likely than younger men and women to develop <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.12770">sleep apnea</a>. </p>
<p>All these factors are closely related to sleep, so it’s no surprise to find <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/27.7.1255">poor sleep among midlife adults</a>. Sleeping less than six hours a night, getting poor-quality sleep and other <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113800">sleep issues are prevalent</a>. </p>
<h2>Sleep, stress, happiness</h2>
<p>Age-related physical changes are not the only threat to sleep, however. The struggle of midlife adults to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2092933">juggle multiple often incompatible roles</a> also causes stress. Stress has negative consequences on sleep, such as chronic insomnia. What’s worse: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.12488">Stress can result from poor sleep</a>. So sleeping poorly or being stressed out can create a vicious cycle and cascading <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.1304">health problems</a>. </p>
<p>Both sleep and stress affect emotions, so you might expect low levels of happiness in midlife. Research backs this up. Fewer people <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1003744107">are happy during midlife</a> than older and younger groups. Yet it is important to note that midlife also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-006-9026-7">involves growth</a>, including peaks in work productivity, better financial decision-making and greater wisdom.</p>
<p>Although researchers have been able to identify overall patterns of degraded sleep, increased stress and lower happiness in midlife, experiences vary from person to person. For some people, there may be more growth than decline, or a balance of both. Indeed, some research shows that personal growth is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00688.x">related to well-being</a> during midlife. </p>
<p>For now, it is already clear that midlife is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000591">a pivotal time that determines the trajectory of aging</a>. That’s why self-care during midlife is especially important, despite the busy schedules brought on by a greater number of roles. It’s hard to overemphasize the value of getting enough sleep and managing stress. Doing these things could help individuals turn a “midlife crisis” into “midlife potential.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173131/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Soomi Lee receives funding from NIH/National Institute on Aging (R56AG065251). </span></em></p>Age is no longer the only definition of midlife. An expert in aging explains why.Soomi Lee, Assistant Professor of Aging Studies, University of South FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1671382021-09-03T10:21:54Z2021-09-03T10:21:54ZBoomers vs millennials? Free yourself from the phoney generation wars<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418870/original/file-20210901-23-1w0c1m4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=77%2C38%2C4203%2C1944&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">There are real differences between generations – but none of them relate to avocado toast.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Generational thinking is a big idea that’s been horribly corrupted and devalued by endless myths and stereotypes. These clichés have fuelled fake battles between “snowflake” millennials and “selfish” baby boomers, with younger generations facing a “war on woke” and older generations accused of “stealing” the future from the young. </p>
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<iframe id="noa-web-audio-player" style="border: none" src="https://embed-player.newsoveraudio.com/v4?key=x84olp&id=https://theconversation.com/boomers-vs-millennials-free-yourself-from-the-phoney-generation-wars-167138&bgColor=F5F5F5&color=D8352A&playColor=D8352A" width="100%" height="110px"></iframe>
<p><em>You can listen to more articles from The Conversation, narrated by Noa, <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/audio-narrated-99682">here</a>.</em></p>
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<p>As I argue in my book, <a href="https://atlantic-books.co.uk/book/generations/">Generations</a>, this is a real shame. A more careful understanding of what’s really different between generations is one of the best tools we have to understand change – and predict the future.</p>
<p>Some of the great names in sociology and philosophy saw understanding generational change as central to understanding society overall. <a href="http://dhspriory.org/kenny/PhilTexts/Comte/Philosophy2.pdf">Auguste Comte</a>, for example, identified the generation as a key factor in “the basic speed of human development”. </p>
<p>He argued that “we should not hide the fact that our social progress rests essentially upon death; which is to say that the successive steps of humanity necessarily require a continuous renovation … from one generation to the next”. We humans get set in our ways once we’re past our formative years, and we need the constant injection of new participants to keep society moving forward. </p>
<p>Understanding whether, and how, generations are different is vital to understanding society. The balance between generations is constantly shifting, as older cohorts die out and are replaced by new entrants. If younger generations truly do have different attitudes or behaviours to older generations, this will reshape society, and we can, to some extent, predict how it will develop if we can identify those differences.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418949/original/file-20210901-17-n03tna.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418949/original/file-20210901-17-n03tna.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418949/original/file-20210901-17-n03tna.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418949/original/file-20210901-17-n03tna.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418949/original/file-20210901-17-n03tna.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418949/original/file-20210901-17-n03tna.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418949/original/file-20210901-17-n03tna.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The changing generational balance of the UK.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But in place of this big thinking, today we get clickbait headlines and bad research on millennials “<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-hate-napkins-2016-3?r=US&IR=T">killing the napkin industry</a>” or on how baby boomers have “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/06/boomers-are-blame-aging-america/592336/">ruined everything</a>”. We’ve fallen a long way.</p>
<h2>Myth busting</h2>
<p>To see the true value of generational thinking, we need to identify and discard the many myths. For example, as I outline in the book, gen Z and millennials are not lazy at work or disloyal to their employers. They’re also no more materialistic than previous generations of young: a focus on being rich is something we tend to grow out of.</p>
<p>Old people are not uncaring or unwilling to act on climate change: in fact, they are more likely than young people to boycott products for social purpose reasons.</p>
<p>And our current generation of young are not a particularly unusual group of “culture warriors”. Young people are always at the leading edge of change in cultural norms, around race, immigration, sexuality and gender equality. The issues have changed, but the gap between young and old is not greater now than in the past.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, there are real, and vitally important, generational differences hidden in this mess. To see them, we need to separate the three effects that explain all change in societies. Some patterns are simple “lifecycle effects”, where attitudes and behaviours are to do with our age, not which generation we are born into. Some are “period effects” – where everyone is affected, such as in a war, economic crisis or a pandemic. </p>
<p>And finally, there are “cohort effects”, which is where a new generation is different from others at the same age, and they stay different. It’s impossible to entirely separate these distinct forces, but we can often get some way towards it – and when we do, we can predict the future in a much more meaningful way. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two young people holding a tiny paper house." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418905/original/file-20210901-15-pom937.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/418905/original/file-20210901-15-pom937.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418905/original/file-20210901-15-pom937.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418905/original/file-20210901-15-pom937.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418905/original/file-20210901-15-pom937.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418905/original/file-20210901-15-pom937.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/418905/original/file-20210901-15-pom937.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=465&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Millennial home ownership in practice.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are many real generational differences, in vitally important areas of life. For example, the probability of you owning your own home is hugely affected by when you were born. Millennials are around half as likely to be a homeowner than generations born only a couple of decades earlier. </p>
<p>There is also a real cohort effect in experience of mental health disorders, particularly among recent generations of young women. Our relationship with alcohol and likelihood of smoking is also tied to our cohort, with huge generational declines in very regular drinking and smoking. Each of these point to different futures, from increased strain on mental health services to declining alcohol sales. </p>
<p>But lifecycle and period effects are vitally important too. For example, there is truth in the idea that we grow more conservative as we age. One analysis suggests that this ageing effect is worth around <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0261379413000875">0.35% to the Conservatives each year</a>, which may not sound like a lot, but is very valuable over the course of a political lifetime.</p>
<p>And, of course, the pandemic provides a very powerful example of how period effects can dramatically change things for us all.</p>
<h2>Reaching beyond the avocado</h2>
<p>When there is such richness in the realities, why are there so many myths? It’s partly down to bad marketing and workplace research – that is, people jumping on the generation bandwagon to get media coverage for their products or to sell consultancy to businesses on how to engage young employees. </p>
<p>This has become its own mini-industry. In 2015, US companies spent up to US$70 million (£51 million) on this sort of “advice” <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/helping-bosses-decode-millennialsfor-20-000-an-hour-1463505666">according to the Wall Street Journal</a>, with some experts making as much as US$20,000 an hour. Over 400 LinkedIn users now describe themselves solely as a “millennial expert” or “millennial consultant”.</p>
<p>Campaigners and politicians also play to these imagined differences. Our increasing focus on “<a href="https://www.kcl.ac.uk/policy-institute/assets/culture-wars-in-the-uk.pdf">culture wars</a>” often involves picking out particular incidents in universities, such as the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-45717841">banning of clapping</a> at events or the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-57409743">removal of a portrait of the Queen</a> to exaggerate how culturally different young people today are. </p>
<p>Maybe less obviously, politicians such as former US President Barack Obama repeatedly lionise coming generations as more focused on equality, when the evidence shows they’re often not that different. These assertions are not only wrong, but create false expectations and divides.</p>
<p>Some have had enough, calling on the Pew Research Center in the US, which has been a champion of generational groups, to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/07/07/generation-labels-mean-nothing-retire-them/&data=04%257C01%257C">stop conducting this type of analysis</a>. I think that misses the point: it’s how it’s applied rather than the idea of generations that’s wrong.</p>
<p>We should defend the big idea and call out the myths, not abandon the field to the “millennial consultants”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/167138/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bobby Duffy receives funding from the ESRC, Horizon 2020, British Academy, Barrow Cadbury Trust and the Cabinet Office.</span></em></p>Tropes around woke warriors and their heartless parents get us nowhere.Bobby Duffy, Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Policy Institute, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1614482021-06-01T15:10:14Z2021-06-01T15:10:14ZKenya’s civil service is ageing, but adjustments aren’t being made<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402847/original/file-20210526-17-pxn9sj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The demographic profiles of countries like Kenya, where a <a href="https://www.unfpa.org/demographic-dividend">high percentage</a> of people are young, would suggest that it’s swiftly renewing its workforce with fresh talent. </p>
<p>But this doesn’t seem to be the case.</p>
<p>We conducted a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-01-2015-0002">study</a> in a public sector organisation three years ago. We found that the bureau had an ageing workforce. More than half of its staff were 50 years old and above. The majority of employees were aged between 51 and 60. This suggests that, in general, Kenya’s civil service is skewed to older people. </p>
<p>The problem hasn’t been helped by the fact that <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/money-careers/article/2001394826/no-extension-of-retirement-age-from-next-year-says-psc">Kenya changed the retirement age</a> from 55 to 60 years in 2009. </p>
<p>Our analysis focused on the <a href="http://www.knbs.or.ke/">Kenya National Bureau of Statistics</a>. The study presents a microcosm of the wider Kenyan public sector environment. </p>
<p>Our study broke new ground because it explored diversity in the workplace from the perspective of age rather than gender and ethnicity as has been the case with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/01425451311320477">prior studies</a>.</p>
<p>The main focus of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-01-2015-0002">our study</a> was to look at the recruitment and retention strategies at the bureau. </p>
<p>We concluded from our findings that the bureau faced a serious demographic challenge in the makeup of its workforce and that the problem could be addressed by developing a strategic workforce plan for employees. This included having a clear understanding of recruitment, progression and retention processes that are all inclusive – taking into consideration demographics such as age, gender and to some extent ethnicity. </p>
<p>But this would need to be developed collectively by key parties within the organisation.</p>
<p>More broadly, our research shows that there’s an urgent need for Kenya’s public service to address the problem.</p>
<h2>What we found</h2>
<p>The main purpose of the study was to investigate organisational sub-groups at the bureau and to tease out the multiple team perspectives as experienced in their everyday lives within the organisation. </p>
<p>We asked a sample of employees the following questions: how had the bureau managed the ageing workforce within its ranks? To what extent could it develop a plan to deal with the challenges posed by an ageing workforce within the organisation? And finally what were the current (recruitment) strategies for developing sustainable employee relations within the inter-generational workforce at the bureau? </p>
<p>At the time of the survey more than half of the bureau’s staff was over 50 years of age. Those aged 40 and below accounted for just over 15% of the workforce while 34% were between the ages of 41 and 50. </p>
<p>This demographic profile was far from optimal. We found that it was affecting the day-to-day activities in the organisation, in particular how people communicated with each other and shared information. For example, older people didn’t regularly use the internet and email, but younger members of the workforce did. The implication of this is that important work updates and news on social media could be easily missed.</p>
<p>The age profile also suggested that the bureau urgently needed to put in place recruitment and retention strategies. We found that most of the older workers at the bureau were retiring. This meant a loss of talent and skills because experience and skills hadn’t been passed along to younger workers. </p>
<p>We found that the bureau had not put in place opportunities for younger members of its workforce to learn from work shadowing, mentorship or apprenticeship as well as leadership development. This is important for continuity.</p>
<h2>Some answers</h2>
<p>Undoubtedly, workplaces face challenges, even with the best laid out plans.</p>
<p>One of the biggest is the question of ensuring that there is a talent pool to replace the current workforce as they approach retirement. This is also known as accession of the younger generation into the workplace. This is particularly pressing in the context of an ageing workforce.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/Understanding+Y-p-9780730313816">Research</a> has pointed out that management should be aware of the characteristics of the different generations (notably <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/17/where-millennials-end-and-generation-z-begins/">Generation Y</a>, also known as the millennials, which refers to a group of people born from the early 1980s through to the turn of the millennium) even though it may also bring about inter-generational conflict in the workplace. </p>
<p>The answer lies in making sure that each generation’s unique values and office expectations are managed. This can be through job rotation, team-bonding, equality and diversity training sessions and the opportunity and space for sharing experiences.</p>
<p>Organisations should also have clearly defined roles and responsibilities to all staff without discrimination to ensure that all employees work in harmony.</p>
<p>For its part, the bureau needed to design a future workforce composition through detailed succession planning and talent management.</p>
<p>There seemed to be some degree of optimism about this among the respondents in our research. Many believed that the bureau would indeed make headway in recruiting in ways that ensured the percentage of young people – as well as women – would increase. They also believed that this would lead to a greater tolerance for minorities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161448/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Professor Nnamdi Madichie is affiliated with the Unizik Business School, Awka, Nigeria, Coal City University, Enugu, Nigeria and the Bloomsbury Institute London. His is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.</span></em></p>Kenya faces the dilemma of an ageing workforce. The problem can be addressed by developing a strategic workforce plan for employees.Nnamdi O. Madichie, Professor of Marketing & Entrepreneurship, Nnamdi Azikiwe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1568292021-04-26T19:05:32Z2021-04-26T19:05:32ZTrans youth are coming out and living in their gender much earlier than older generations<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393139/original/file-20210401-13-6khgpw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5000%2C3323&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Trans baby boomers typically began living in their affirmed gender around age 50. For millennials, it's age 22.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protesters-listen-to-speeches-and-express-their-emotion-in-news-photo/1228859593?adppopup=true">John Lamparski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There are a few common <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2018.04.006">identity milestones</a> that transgender, or trans, people experience across their lives. </p>
<p>One is starting to feel different than the sex assigned to them at birth. Another is identifying with a trans identity – for instance, as a trans man or <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genderqueer">genderqueer person</a>, meaning they don’t identify with a binary gender such as a woman or a man. There also is the experience of living in line with this identity, which can include disclosing it to others, and changes to a person’s name, pronouns and appearance. And then there’s accessing gender-affirming medical care like puberty blockers, hormones or surgeries.</p>
<p>These milestones can happen at any age in a person’s life, despite stereotypes that trans people must have always known they were trans. Some people may not go through all the milestones. And although these are common milestones, they are not exhaustive, and no singular narrative captures all trans people’s experiences.</p>
<p>As an <a href="https://psychology.msu.edu/directory/puckett-jae.html">assistant professor of psychology</a> at Michigan State University and director of <a href="https://www.trans-ilience.com/">Trans-ilience</a>, a community-engaged research team, I study how stigma and oppression influence mental health, as well as ways of being resilient in the face of such challenges. </p>
<p>Recognizing that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/15538605.2012.648583">there is no “one way” to be trans</a>, I surveyed 695 trans individuals aged 16 to 70. My collaborators <a href="https://hhd.psu.edu/contact/samantha-tornello">Samantha Tornello</a>, <a href="https://www.mss.northwestern.edu/faculty/profile.html?xid=21899">Brian Mustanski</a> and <a href="https://www.mss.northwestern.edu/faculty/profile.html?xid=24419">Michael Newcomb</a> and I explored how common identity milestones for transgender people may relate to mental health, and how generations experience these milestones differently. Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000391">peer-reviewed study</a> was published in early 2021. </p>
<h2>Baby boomers to Gen Z</h2>
<p>Our research showed that Generation Z, born from 1997 to 2012, and millennials, born from 1981 to 1996, are more diverse in their gender identities than older generations. This is particularly true when it comes to identifying as <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/lgbtq-definitions-gender-sexuality-terms">genderqueer, nonbinary and agender</a>. For example, 24.5% of Gen Z participants identified as nonbinary, whereas only 7.4% of boomers identified this way. </p>
<p>The Generation X participants, born from 1965 to 1980, and baby boomers, born from 1946 to 1964, were more likely to identify as trans women compared with younger participants. And overall, trans women reported later ages of starting to live in their affirmed gender and receiving gender-affirming medical care relative to the other gender groups. Trans women were, on average, around 31 when living in their affirmed gender all of the time; other gender groups ranged from 21 to 25 years old.</p>
<p><iframe id="BOPHR" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/BOPHR/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>We found little difference between the generations in when they recognized that their gender felt different than their sex assigned at birth. On average, this happened around age 11, with the youngest age reported for this milestone being 2 years old. </p>
<p>However, the boomers reported reaching the other major milestones later than younger groups. For example, boomers were, on average, around age 50 when they were living in their affirmed gender all the time. In contrast, Gen X was 34, millennials were 22 and Gen Z was 17. </p>
<p>Gen Z and millennials also reported much shorter gaps between reaching milestones. For instance, the boomers group reported an average 24-year delay between starting to identify as trans and living in their affirmed gender. There was just a two- and three-year gap for Gen Z and millennials, respectively. </p>
<p>Notably, there can be many challenges to coming out and living in an affirmed gender that should also be taken into account. These barriers include living with a family that is not supportive, being concerned about violent attacks and not having access to appropriate medical care. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393145/original/file-20210401-15-1ay1ocx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Protester holds rainbow flag during demonstration in Times Square in New York City" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393145/original/file-20210401-15-1ay1ocx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/393145/original/file-20210401-15-1ay1ocx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393145/original/file-20210401-15-1ay1ocx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393145/original/file-20210401-15-1ay1ocx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393145/original/file-20210401-15-1ay1ocx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393145/original/file-20210401-15-1ay1ocx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/393145/original/file-20210401-15-1ay1ocx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gen Z and millennials are more likely to identify as genderqueer, nonbinary or agender than older generations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/protester-holds-a-rainbow-flag-in-support-of-trans-gender-news-photo/1228859341?adppopup=true">John Lamparski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Mental health advantages</h2>
<p>As trans people affirm their genders, our study found there are clear benefits to their mental health. </p>
<p>Regardless of the age at which milestones were experienced, respondents who reported living in an affirmed gender and accessing trans-related medical care also reported less internalized stigma, anxiety and depression, and what researchers call gender nonaffirmation – such as being misgendered, which includes others using the wrong pronouns for the individual or having their gender disrespected by others. </p>
<p>Reaching these milestones is also associated with higher levels of appearance congruence, meaning that a person’s appearance represents their gender identity. This, too, is associated with lower levels of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000391">depression and anxiety</a>.</p>
<p>Given these findings, supporting trans people in affirming their gender identity can benefit their mental health and well-being. This can mean addressing <a href="https://www.facebook.com/parentsupportpsp">family</a>, <a href="https://transequality.org/issues/youth-students">school</a> and <a href="https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/">legal realms</a> so that trans people are respected and supported.</p>
<p>Despite the benefits of affirming one’s gender, the younger generations reported greater stressors – such as internalized stigma or invalidation of their gender – and symptoms of depression and anxiety compared with older generations.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>In other words, it appears younger trans people are facing greater mental health challenges and exposure to stressors, even while they are coming out and affirming their genders at younger ages. </p>
<p>It may be that trans people develop resilience and resistance strategies as they age that help them navigate oppression while improving health and well-being.</p>
<h2>Ongoing violence and discrimination</h2>
<p>It’s difficult for trans people to come out and affirm their gender identity in a society where they – <a href="https://www.ustranssurvey.org/reports#POC">especially trans people of color</a> – are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2009.01.006">targets of violence</a> and <a href="https://www.hrc.org/resources/an-epidemic-of-violence-fatal-violence-against-transgender-and-gender-non-conforming-people-in-the-u-s-in-2020">murder</a>, their <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-lhWEVByZo">histories are erased</a> and their <a href="https://apnews.com/article/arkansas-lawmakers-enact-transgender-youth-treatment-ban-dce1d5ca9450b255caabc18f547f7b9b">rights are under attack</a>. </p>
<p>In light of my team’s findings, supporting and validating trans people is a meaningful way to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2016.10.016">reduce the health disparities</a> in this marginalized community.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156829/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jae A. Puckett received funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number F32DA038557 to support this research. </span></em></p>The survey also found that trans people who live in their affirmed gender report experiencing less stigma, anxiety and depression.Jae A. Puckett, Assistant Professor of Psychology, Michigan State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1569062021-04-09T12:20:07Z2021-04-09T12:20:07ZAt what age are people usually happiest? New research offers surprising clues<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/394082/original/file-20210408-17-iunr2y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C6%2C2114%2C1403&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In an ongoing study, most of those interviewed seemed to recognize that they were happier in their 30s than they were in their 20s.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/composite-of-portraits-with-varying-shades-of-skin-royalty-free-image/1249641728?adppopup=true">RyanJLane via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you could be one age for the rest of your life, what would it be?</p>
<p>Would you choose to be nine years old, absolved of life’s most tedious responsibilities, and instead able to spend your days playing with friends and practicing your times tables? </p>
<p>Or would you choose your early 20s, when time feels endless and the world is your oyster – with friends, travel, pubs and clubs beckoning? </p>
<p>Western culture <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-old-would-you-want-to-be-in-heaven-127410">idealizes youth</a>, so it may come as a surprise to learn that in <a href="https://www.swnsdigital.com/2021/02/average-american-would-freeze-time-to-stop-aging-at-this-perfect-age-if-they-could/">a recent poll</a> asking this question, the most popular answer wasn’t 9 or 23, but 36.</p>
<p>Yet <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=srXTP4QAAAAJ&hl=en">as a developmental psychologist</a>, I thought that response made a lot of sense.</p>
<p>For the last four years, I’ve been studying people’s experiences of their 30s and early 40s, and my research has led me to believe that this stage of life – while full of challenges – is much more rewarding than most might think.</p>
<h2>The career and care crunch</h2>
<p>When I was a researcher in my late 30s, I wanted to read more about the age period I was in. That was when I realized that no one was doing research on people in their 30s and early 40s, which puzzled me. So much often happens during this time: Buying homes, getting married or getting divorced; building careers, changing careers, having children or choosing not to have children. </p>
<p>To study something, it helps to name it. So my colleagues and I named the period from ages 30 to 45 “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000600">established adulthood</a>,” and then set out to try to understand it better. While we are still collecting data, we have currently interviewed over 100 people in this age cohort, and have collected survey data from more than 600 additional people.</p>
<p>We went into this large-scale project expecting to find that established adults were happy but struggling. We thought there would be rewards during this period of life – perhaps being settled in career, family and friendships, or peaking physically and cognitively – but also some significant challenges. </p>
<p>The main challenge we anticipated was what we called “the career and care crunch.” </p>
<p>This refers to the collision of workplace demands and demands of caring for others that takes place in your 30s and early 40s. Trying to climb a ladder in a chosen career while also being increasingly expected to care for kids, tend to the needs of partners and perhaps care for aging parents can create a lot of stress and work. </p>
<p>Yet when we started to look at our data, what we found surprised us. </p>
<p>Yes, people were feeling overwhelmed and talked about having too much to do in too little time. But they also talked about feeling profoundly satisfied. All of these things that were bringing them stress were also bringing them joy. </p>
<p>For example, Yuying, 44, said “even though there are complicated points of this time period, I feel very solidly happy in this space right now.” Nina, 39, simply described herself as being “wildly happy.” (The names used in this piece are pseudonyms, as required by research protocol.)</p>
<p>When we took an even closer look at our data, it started to become clear why people might wish to remain age 36 over any other age. People talked about being in the prime of their lives and feeling at their peak. After years of working to develop careers and relationships, people reported feeling as though they had finally arrived. </p>
<p>Mark, 36, shared that, at least for him, “things feel more in place.” “I’ve put together a machine that’s finally got all the parts it needs,” he said. </p>
<h2>A sigh of relief after the tumultuous 20s</h2>
<p>As well as feeling as though they had accumulated the careers, relationships and general life skills they had been working toward since their 20s, people also said they had greater self-confidence and understood themselves better.</p>
<p>Jodie, 36, appreciated the wisdom she had gained as she reflected on life beyond her 20s: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Now you’ve got a solid decade of life experience. And what you discover about yourself in your 20s isn’t necessarily that what you wanted was wrong. It’s just you have the opportunity to figure out what you don’t want and what’s not going to work for you. … So you go into your 30s, and you don’t waste a bunch of time going on half dozen dates with somebody that’s probably not really going to work out, because you’ve dated before and you have that confidence and that self-assuredness to be like, ‘hey, thanks but no thanks.’ Your friend circle becomes a lot closer because you weed out the people that you just don’t need in your life that bring drama.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Most established adults we interviewed seemed to recognize that they were happier in their 30s than they were in their 20s, and this impacted how they thought about some of the signs of physical aging that they were starting to encounter. For example, Lisa, 37, said, “If I could go back physically but I had to also go back emotionally and mentally … no way. I would take flabby skin lines every day.”</p>
<h2>Not ideal for everyone</h2>
<p>Our research should be viewed with some caveats. </p>
<p>The interviews were primarily conducted with middle-class North Americans, and many of the participants are white. For those who are working class, or for those who have had to reckon with decades of <a href="https://www.raceforward.org/videos/systemic-racism">systemic racism</a>, established adulthood may not be so rosy. </p>
<p>It is also worth noting that the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/18/us/politics/women-pandemic-harris.html">career and care crunch has been exacerbated, especially for women, by the COVID-19 pandemic</a>. For this reason, the pandemic may be leading to a decrease in life satisfaction, especially for established adults who are parents trying to navigate full-time careers and full-time child care.</p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklysmart">You can get our highlights each weekend</a>.]</p>
<p>At the same time, that people think of their 30s – and not their 20s or their teens – as the sweet spot in their lives to which they’d like to return suggests that this is a period of life that we should pay more attention to. </p>
<p>And this is slowly happening. Along with my own work is an excellent book recently written by Kayleen Shaefer, “<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/603770/but-youre-still-so-young-by-kayleen-schaefer/">But You’re Still So Young</a>,” that explores people navigating their 30s. In her book she tells stories of changing career paths, navigating relationships and dealing with fertility.</p>
<p>My colleagues and I hope that our work and Shaefer’s book are just the beginning. Having a better understanding of the challenges and rewards of established adulthood will give society more tools to support people during that period, ensuring that this golden age provides not only memories that we will fondly look back upon, but also a solid foundation for the rest of our lives. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/H-XjAsSttLY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘Established adulthood’ is an emerging area of study.</span></figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156906/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clare Mehta does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A developmental psychologist explains how a period of life that’s often hectic and stressful can also end up being quite rewarding.Clare Mehta, Associate Professor of Psychology, Emmanuel CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1568332021-03-30T11:36:29Z2021-03-30T11:36:29ZIn fish, parents’ stressful experiences influence offspring behavior via epigenetic changes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392309/original/file-20210329-17-9hty67.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1%2C1061%2C795&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sticklebacks, with their complex behaviors, make for excellent study subjects. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source"> Brian Stauffer</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>Parents who are exposed to predators pass on information about risky environments to their offspring through changes in gene expression – but how that information affects offspring differs depending on the sex of the parent. <a href="https://jehellmann45.wixsite.com/home">My colleagues and I</a> showed this using sticklebacks – a small species of freshwater fish whose brightly colored males <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171029">care for developing eggs</a> – in a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13364">series</a> of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13365">papers</a> recently published in the Journal of Animal Ecology. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392295/original/file-20210329-19-1c2lcae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A small, speckled sculpin." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392295/original/file-20210329-19-1c2lcae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392295/original/file-20210329-19-1c2lcae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392295/original/file-20210329-19-1c2lcae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392295/original/file-20210329-19-1c2lcae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=282&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392295/original/file-20210329-19-1c2lcae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392295/original/file-20210329-19-1c2lcae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392295/original/file-20210329-19-1c2lcae.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sticklebacks fear a number of predators in the lakes and rivers they inhabit, including freshwater sculpin, like the one seen here.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jennifer Hellman</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>First, we exposed mothers and fathers to predators. Then we looked at their offspring and measured behavior as well as how genes were expressed in their brains. We found that the sex of the parent exposed to predators matters, but surprisingly, the sex of the offspring also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13364">changed how the information influenced behavior</a>.</p>
<p>Predator‐exposed fathers produced bolder sons that took more risks, but the father’s experiences had no effect on the boldness of daughters. Predator‐exposed mothers, on the other hand, produced more anxious daughters and also more anxious sons. These sons and daughters had different patterns of gene expression, matching our behavioral results. </p>
<p>We also studied whether these changes persisted into a second generation. In grandkids, we again found <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13365">complicated patterns of sex-specific inheritance</a>.</p>
<p>So how does this work? It’s not that experiences have changed what genes the parents pass on. Rather, what changes is how those genes are expressed in the offspring. This variability in gene expression is called epigenetics.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392297/original/file-20210329-21-ua53rr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Stickleback eggs showing embryos growing inside." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392297/original/file-20210329-21-ua53rr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/392297/original/file-20210329-21-ua53rr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392297/original/file-20210329-21-ua53rr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392297/original/file-20210329-21-ua53rr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=629&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392297/original/file-20210329-21-ua53rr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392297/original/file-20210329-21-ua53rr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/392297/original/file-20210329-21-ua53rr.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=790&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Through epigenetics, a parent can pass down information to the next generation of sticklebacks like the ones growing in these eggs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jennifer Hellman</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>My lab is generally interested in how an animal’s experiences influence the development and behavior of its descendants. Biologists call this <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-110218-024613">transgenerational plasticity</a>, and it allows parents to give offspring information about the environment before offspring are even born. For example, in mice, when fathers are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3594">trained to fear a particular odor</a>, their offspring will fear that odor even if they have not been trained to do so.</p>
<p>Researchers have found transgenerational effects in all sorts of species – including in people. In humans, grandparents’ experiences – such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201538">food availabilty or smoking</a> – can have strong, sex–specific effects on weight gain in grandkids.</p>
<p>But studying behavioral changes is much harder than studying weight gain, and our study, albeit in fish, is one of the most careful to date examining sex and behavior in transgenerational plasticity. Studies like ours could help researchers better understand how stressful events today might affect future generations. This could apply to anything, from poverty or PTSD in humans to climate change in reef fish. </p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>Researchers still know very little about the mechanism of these sex-specific effects; how is it possible for paternal experiences to affect sons in one way and daughters in another? Further, do these sex-specific effects have some sort of benefit for future generations? Researchers know this mechanism exists in people as well, but whether these sex differences are harmful or beneficial remains a mystery.</p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>How parents raise their offspring also plays a huge role in determining behavior. My colleagues and I want to better understand how stress in parents’ life might change the way they interact with their kids. For example, if fathers are stressed and pass those effects on through epigenetic changes to sperm, do they change their fatherly behavior as well to magnify or minimize those epigenetic changes?</p>
<p>We are currently running these experiments in sticklebacks and hope that what we learn will be important for humans, too. After all, every human parent knows how stressful life can be.</p>
<p>[<em>Research into coronavirus and other news from science</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-corona-research">Subscribe to The Conversation’s new science newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/156833/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health award number 2R01GM082937-06A1 to Alison Bell and National Institutes of Health NRSA fellowship F32GM121033 to Jennifer Hellmann.</span></em></p>A parent’s or grandparent’s stressful experiences change how their offspring behave. And it turns out that moms’ experiences produce different changes in kids than dads’.Jennifer Hellmann, Assistant Professor of Biology, University of DaytonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1470892021-01-31T18:54:59Z2021-01-31T18:54:59ZMillennials are not the only ‘burnout generation’ (just ask the rest of us)<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379650/original/file-20210120-15-f666ie.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In her new book, <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/cant-even-9781784743345">Can’t Even</a>, American journalist Anne Helen Petersen writes of how Millennials have become “<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/21473579/millennials-great-recession-burnout-anne-helen-petersen">the burnout generation</a>”. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[It’s] feeling that you’ve hit the wall exhaustion-wise, but then have to scale the wall and just keep going. There’s no catharsis, no lasting rest, just this background hum of exhaustion.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The book, recently released in Australia, builds on the <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/annehelenpetersen/millennials-burnout-generation-debt-work">viral essay</a> Petersen wrote in 2019. </p>
<p>At its heart, the book is a critique about the nature of modern workplaces and the modern economy. </p>
<p>As Petersen recently told Vox,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There’s a feeling of instability that’s the baseline economic condition for many, many millennials, and it’s enhanced by these other components of our lives that make it harder to turn away from.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Cover of 'Can't Even' by Anne Helen Petersen." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379424/original/file-20210119-26-f5nvhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379424/original/file-20210119-26-f5nvhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379424/original/file-20210119-26-f5nvhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379424/original/file-20210119-26-f5nvhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=965&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379424/original/file-20210119-26-f5nvhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1213&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379424/original/file-20210119-26-f5nvhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1213&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379424/original/file-20210119-26-f5nvhd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1213&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Can’t Even by Anne Helen Petersen has just been published in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Penguin Books Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Petersen argues Millennials, born between the early 1980s and mid-1990s, have come of age in a world where more and more of their time is being demanded by not just work, but by <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/09/22/915590402/in-cant-even-burnout-is-seen-as-a-societal-problem-one-we-cant-solve-alone">life</a>. </p>
<p>Technology means work follows us everywhere, at all hours, while leisure time happens (or is “performed”) on social media. Meanwhile, homes are turned into Airbnb rentals, cars become rideshare services. </p>
<h2>What’s age got to do with it?</h2>
<p>Peterson tells real and important stories about the frustration, anxiety, and malaise of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/melodywilding/2020/10/13/how-millennials-can-beat-burnout-author-anne-helen-petersen-on-curbing-productivity-obsession/?sh=1621582875ea">herself and her contemporaries</a>. However, she does us all a disservice by framing this as particularly “Millennial problem”. </p>
<p>While Petersen does acknowledge burnout impacts everyone, she assumes Millennials are a concrete group of people whose experience of burnout is exceptional. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Young woman looking tired and stressed." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379649/original/file-20210120-21-lw8bc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379649/original/file-20210120-21-lw8bc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379649/original/file-20210120-21-lw8bc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379649/original/file-20210120-21-lw8bc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379649/original/file-20210120-21-lw8bc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379649/original/file-20210120-21-lw8bc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379649/original/file-20210120-21-lw8bc3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Can’t Even’ describes the ‘background hum of exhaustion’ felt by Millennials.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The idea of clear generational groups, each possessing defining characteristics seems intuitive. It makes sense a group of contemporaries who had similar experiences in their formative years, would come to have similar attitudes, values, and beliefs.</p>
<p>But many scholars are uncertain that the generational groups as we know them — such as Millennials, Gen X or Baby Boomers — are as real or useful as we might think. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-boomers-to-xennials-we-love-talking-about-our-generations-but-must-recognise-their-limits-80679">From Boomers to Xennials: we love talking about our generations, but must recognise their limits</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Empirical research to prove generational groupings has produced <a href="https://academic.oup.com/workar/article-abstract/3/2/209/2623806?redirectedFrom=fulltext">“highly mixed and contradictory results”</a>. So, many academics aren’t convinced birth-year groups even exist — there are too many variables.</p>
<p>For example, if a 20-year-old today doesn’t follow office etiquette, is this a product of them being <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/true-gen-generation-z-and-its-implications-for-companies#">Generation Z</a>? Or because this person is new to the workforce? </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/millennials-at-work-dont-see-themselves-as-millennials-58994">Millennials at work don't see themselves as millennials</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>More broadly, the majority of research about generations have been undertaken across Europe, North America, and Australia/Oceania. Given these three regions combined <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/geography/7-continents/">make up less than 18%</a> of the world’s population, it becomes clear how little we know. </p>
<p>So, while the frustrations of Petersen and her contemporaries are real — it is important to emphasise they are something everyone is facing. </p>
<h2>‘Feelings of energy depletion’</h2>
<p>Burnout has <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279286/">historically been studied</a> in relation to workplace stress, particularly where employees are in a caring role. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Healthcare workers in the USA observe a silence to honour COVID victims." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379654/original/file-20210120-17-1vqzfx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379654/original/file-20210120-17-1vqzfx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379654/original/file-20210120-17-1vqzfx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379654/original/file-20210120-17-1vqzfx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379654/original/file-20210120-17-1vqzfx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379654/original/file-20210120-17-1vqzfx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379654/original/file-20210120-17-1vqzfx9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Traditionally ‘burnout’ has been examined as a form of workplace stress.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Josh Galemore/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is defined by <a href="https://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/burn-out/en/">World Health Organisation</a> as</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(a) feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; (b) increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and (c) reduced professional efficacy.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/iwj.13441">medical experts</a> are starting to see burnout as a society-wide issue, particularly as people find themselves overwhelmed and fatigued by COVID-19. Similarly, mental health groups <a href="https://au.reachout.com/articles/burnout-and-chronic-stress">have identified burnout as</a> a product of long-term, or chronic, stress. </p>
<p>That is to say, scientists and support services are coming to understand burnout is not necessarily a product of the workplace specifically — <a href="https://au.reachout.com/articles/burnout-and-chronic-stress">but everything going on</a> in someone’s life — from how much technology they use, to how many commitments they have.</p>
<h2>Everyone is over it</h2>
<p>In 2020, who of us can say they aren’t feeling burned out? </p>
<p>After a summer of bushfires, we had (and still have) a pandemic. For many, the boundaries between work and life have collapsed as we have needed to work, care, and relax at home — sometimes in the same room. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Dad trying to work on couch with kids jumping over him." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379643/original/file-20210119-28-ge1w6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379643/original/file-20210119-28-ge1w6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379643/original/file-20210119-28-ge1w6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379643/original/file-20210119-28-ge1w6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379643/original/file-20210119-28-ge1w6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379643/original/file-20210119-28-ge1w6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379643/original/file-20210119-28-ge1w6t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">COVID has brought a whole new meaning to ‘working from home’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>COVID has been accompanied by a seemingly permanent state of angst, as we all found ourselves <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/stop-doomscrolling/">doomscrolling</a> for the latest updates. Many people have also lost <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-19/jobs-unemployment-coronavirus-economy-abs/12899560">income and job security</a>. And more than <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/covid-deaths">2 million people</a> around the world have lost their lives. </p>
<h2>Burnout is about more than the pandemic</h2>
<p>But it is not “just 2020”. The past several decades have seen huge changes to the way that we live, and engage with those around us. </p>
<p>For example, social media has had a profound effect — and not always <a href="https://digitalcommons.psjhealth.org/publications/1093/">for the better</a> in terms of our mental health. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Man with his head in his computer." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379655/original/file-20210120-19-1vk2ik0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/379655/original/file-20210120-19-1vk2ik0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379655/original/file-20210120-19-1vk2ik0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379655/original/file-20210120-19-1vk2ik0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379655/original/file-20210120-19-1vk2ik0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379655/original/file-20210120-19-1vk2ik0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/379655/original/file-20210120-19-1vk2ik0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The rise of 24/7 technology has made life easier … and unrelenting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the workplace, an “<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-culture-of-overtime-is-costing-us-dearly-110566">overtime culture</a>” has blossomed. As of 2019, about 13% of Australia’s workforce was working more than 50 hours a week. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-25/australia-sees-increase-in-casual-workers-ai-job-threats/11043772">rise in casual employment</a> may have allowed for more flexibility, but it has increased <a href="https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/business-law/topic-contention-casualisation-workforce">insecurity</a> — with no paid leave, and unstable work schedules. </p>
<p>Here it is important to note, in 2020, those aged 15-24 made up <a href="https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/business-law/topic-contention-casualisation-workforce">less than 40%</a> of all casual jobs. While the casual workforce is skewed towards younger workers - the casualisation of the workforce impacts all of us. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/uber-might-not-take-over-the-world-but-it-is-still-normalising-job-insecurity-127234">Uber might not take over the world, but it is still normalising job insecurity</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>On top of all of this, we have seen rising levels of <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/more-than-one-in-20-people-with-a-hecs-debt-owes-more-than-50-000-20180825-p4zzph.html">student</a> and <a href="https://www.corelogic.com.au/news/could-household-debt-levels-be-trigger-another-round-credit-tightening">household debt</a>, skyrocketing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2021/jan/19/the-gap-between-australian-house-prices-and-incomes-is-only-likely-to-grow">house prices</a>, and the increasing effects of <a href="https://theconversation.com/2020-was-a-terrible-year-for-climate-disasters-but-there-are-reasons-for-hope-in-2021-151434">climate change</a>. </p>
<p>We all have plenty of reasons to feel bombarded by life. </p>
<h2>How do you solve burnout?</h2>
<p>So, what do we do? It goes without saying, widespread burnout due to social, economic, and political forces in the middle of a pandemic is a complex problem to solve. </p>
<p>At an individual level, resources do exist to help us address our <a href="https://mhaustralia.org/">mental health</a> and <a href="https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/topic/mental-health">support those around us</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-day-is-dawning-on-a-four-day-work-week-139587">The day is dawning on a four-day work week</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>However, systemic change is far more complex. <a href="https://theconversation.com/four-day-week-how-workplaces-can-successfully-establish-it-153012">Academics</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/20/jacinda-ardern-flags-four-day-working-week-as-way-to-rebuild-new-zealand-after-covid-19">world leaders</a> have suggested reducing the work week might be an important step. Though, as noted by Peterson, it’s no longer just work demanding our time, energy, and attention. </p>
<p>As Peterson points out, one area that may need reimagining is how much and how often we consume information. Scholars in the 1960s were already <a href="https://medium.com/@maiken_louise/mcluhan-s-global-village-still-relevant-today-1bd4e3792b61">raising concerns</a> about the impact so much information could have on people, and in turn, society. </p>
<p>We as humans are social and curious creatures, but how much news, connection and information is good for us? </p>
<h2>Comparing generations is a trap</h2>
<p>As <a href="https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/01/burnout-millennials-capitalism-buzzfeed-essay.html">Slate journalist Shannon Palus</a> observes, Petersen deserves credit for identifying big problems about a culture that constantly asks for more access to every aspect of our lives. </p>
<p>However, framing this issue as one belonging to, or uniquely impacting Millennials is a trap. It encourages us to compare different generations to see who is the least or most burned out.</p>
<p>Really, our attention should be devoted to working together to reduce burnout for everyone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147089/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven David Hitchcock does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new book presents burnout as a generational issue, but this is a trap.Steven David Hitchcock, Lecturer, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1448072020-09-01T13:02:48Z2020-09-01T13:02:48ZWhy grandparents should talk to children about the natural world of their youth<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355808/original/file-20200901-16-5bo96f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C108%2C4454%2C3259&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/NEIZtZsMCx4">Elisabeth Wales/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>How often do you strike up a conversation with an older relative about the past? You might switch off when someone begins a sentence with “back in my day…”, but that story could provide some very valuable information – particularly if you’re interested in ecology.</p>
<p>It’s hard to fathom how much the natural world has changed within just a few generations. My grandma was born in Lancashire in 1924. In the 70 years separating our birthdays, she saw ecological conditions that I will never experience first-hand. Even my parents, when prompted, recall clouds of insects while they learned to drive, regular snowfall each winter and now rare bird species filling their back gardens. </p>
<p>News about growing environmental issues are often hard to conceptualise, but anecdotes about your <a href="https://news.stanford.edu/2019/11/14/citizens-become-agents-environmental-change/">local area</a> can mean a lot more. Older people hold a rich library of knowledge about the past, and how their corner of the world has changed over the course of their lives. This could be critical for putting ongoing wildlife declines in context, and it’s especially useful for younger people. Our relative lack of experience of environmental change leaves us vulnerable to something called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1755-263X.2009.00049.x">shifting baseline syndrome</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A line of Victorian women stand on a frozen lake." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355814/original/file-20200901-24-omg2iu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355814/original/file-20200901-24-omg2iu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355814/original/file-20200901-24-omg2iu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355814/original/file-20200901-24-omg2iu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355814/original/file-20200901-24-omg2iu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355814/original/file-20200901-24-omg2iu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355814/original/file-20200901-24-omg2iu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Exceptionally cold winters are rare in Britain today, but they were once routine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/female-ice-skaters-lined-photo-191214">Victorian Traditions/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Shifting baseline syndrome describes a collective or personal inability to perceive change over time. What we consider to be normal environmental conditions are consistently downgraded with each new generation, leading us to underestimate how much the environment has changed. Whatever you or your generation grew up with is considered normal, but as species continue to go extinct and wild habitats are erased, your children will inherit a degraded environment and accept that as normal, and their children will normalise an even more impoverished natural world. </p>
<p>If we consistently accept now as normal, do we ever hit a crisis point? As journalist J.B. MacKinnon <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2013/12/09/249728994/what-happened-on-easter-island-a-new-even-scarier-scenario?t=1598953023298">wrote</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you’re waiting for an ecological crisis to persuade human beings to change their troubled relationship with nature – you could be waiting a long, long time.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Resetting the baseline</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/15/its-our-time-to-rise-up-youth-climate-strikes-held-in-100-countries">climate strikes</a> have shown that many young people care a great deal about the state of nature. But youth may prevent us from recognising the signs of ecological decline through our own experience.</p>
<p>Being able to track shifting baseline syndrome requires a long-term dataset against which to compare perceptions of change. In my <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10140">own research</a>, my colleagues and I compared the perceptions of people in the UK with data from a bird survey provided by the British Trust for Ornithology which spans more than 50 years. </p>
<p>We asked people about the past and present abundance of 10 garden bird species in their local area and how they think they’ve changed over time. We found that younger and less experienced people were less aware of their declines than older people, and were less likely to see the need for interventions to help species such as the house sparrow and tree pipit. </p>
<p>The results are worrying, but <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fee.1794">previous studies</a> suggest that there are many ways to combat shifting baseline syndrome around the world. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A father house sparrow sits with three offspring on his right." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355811/original/file-20200901-16-13vadg1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355811/original/file-20200901-16-13vadg1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355811/original/file-20200901-16-13vadg1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355811/original/file-20200901-16-13vadg1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355811/original/file-20200901-16-13vadg1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355811/original/file-20200901-16-13vadg1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355811/original/file-20200901-16-13vadg1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">House sparrows – more common in British gardens 50 years ago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/house-sparrow-male-his-children-family-416523508">Nick Vorobey/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Offering young volunteers the chance to gather data about wildlife and work in conservation projects could help foster meaningful experiences with nature, while providing valuable data and restoring habitats. </p>
<p>Perhaps even simpler, we could try to start more conversations between older and younger people to help break the cycle of normalisation. In the age of social media, not only is it easier to contact family and friends, but we can create online platforms to share photographs and stories about our ecological past.</p>
<p>As a teenager, I probably rolled my eyes too whenever I heard “back in my day…”. But the climate and ecological crisis has left an entire generation of people asking how we got here. Knowledge of how the natural world used to look may be buried in the memories and mementos of older people, but sharing it with entire communities could make young people more ambitious about the world they leave their children.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144807/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lizzie Jones receives PhD funding from the Royal Holloway Reid Scholarship. </span></em></p>Shifting baseline syndrome affects everyone. It’s blinding us to the long-term deterioration of wildlife and ecosystems.Lizzie Jones, PhD Candidate in Zoology, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1413472020-07-10T12:21:41Z2020-07-10T12:21:41ZMillennials drive for 8% fewer trips than older generations<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344620/original/file-20200629-155345-1mhvugg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Millennials are less likely to drive than older generations.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/scenic-drive-with-autumn-color-news-photo/1198877775?adppopup=true">John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346460/original/file-20200708-3983-1t2ogqh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346460/original/file-20200708-3983-1t2ogqh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346460/original/file-20200708-3983-1t2ogqh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346460/original/file-20200708-3983-1t2ogqh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346460/original/file-20200708-3983-1t2ogqh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346460/original/file-20200708-3983-1t2ogqh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346460/original/file-20200708-3983-1t2ogqh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>Millennials – typically defined as those <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/17/where-millennials-end-and-generation-z-begins/">born between 1981 and 1996</a> – have gotten a lot of press, both positive and negative.</p>
<p>Some argue that they are more <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/margueritacheng/2019/06/19/8-characteristics-of-millennials-that-support-sustainable-development-goals-sdgs/#21febde29b75">public-spirited</a> and <a href="https://www.elitedaily.com/life/culture/millennials-minimalists/1256085">less materialistic</a> than baby boomers. Others say they are <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2013/06/millennials-generation-y/">spoiled and entitled</a>. Still others write that they are the <a href="https://hbr.org/2019/08/generational-differences-at-work-are-small-thinking-theyre-big-affects-our-behavior">same as earlier generations</a>, but younger and with lower incomes.</p>
<p>Understanding how millennials behave has important practical implications for urban planning, industry evolution and climate change. For example, if millennials prefer to take a Lyft and skip the hassle of driving and parking, this could spell <a href="https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/demographic-shifts-shaping-future-car-ownership/">big changes</a> for the automobile industry. But if their suburban soccer mom phase has merely been delayed, not skipped entirely, perhaps nothing will really change.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9LVUf-4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">We</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=k6izM-cAAAAJ&hl=en">are</a> <a href="https://sites.google.com/a/umich.edu/thomaslyon/home">scholars</a> of business and sustainability, and our research on millennial driving behavior shows that they drive 8% less than do older generations.</p>
<h2>The millennial meh</h2>
<p>We recently completed a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12606">study</a> for which we interviewed 40 millennials to hear how they really feel about driving.</p>
<p>One quote captured the typical reaction: “I’ve considered getting a car, especially when I was in college. But now it’s like, meh … I mean, like, it doesn’t sound appealing whatsoever.”</p>
<p>To find out if these attitudes were truly representative, we surveyed 2,225 American adults of all ages. On average millennials drive for 8% fewer of their typical weekly trips than baby boomers or Gen Xers.</p>
<p>[<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=experts">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get expert takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em>]</p>
<p>Moreover, this difference does not disappear when we control for demographic information, proving that millennial behavior is not just about being young, single and low-income. Instead, what distinguishes millennials are their attitudes.</p>
<p>Millennials are more pro-environment than previous generations and less likely to believe driving gives them independence. They also see driving as more dangerous and want a travel mode that offers side benefits such as exercise or the ability to read or use social media. </p>
<p>Nobody can say for certain if these differences will persist as millennials grow into middle and old age, but we do know that millennials have been shaped by shared shocks like 9/11 and the Great Recession, and that they are the first generation of “digital natives.” Those <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/heartbreak-and-panic-attacks-millennials-still-deeply-wounded-from-2008-financial-crisis-2018-09-26">shared experiences</a> may leave imprints that are slow to change.</p>
<h2>Other factors</h2>
<p>Of course, the coronavirus throws a wrench into the mix.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/28/us-auto-sales-recovering-but-still-devastated-from-coronavirus.html">Auto sales were down 33%</a> in May 2020 from the previous year. But continued calls for social distancing that make riding public transit or using ride-hailing apps less desirable may prompt a rebound in automobile sales.</p>
<p>Perhaps the biggest COVID-19 question is whether <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/31/after-flocking-downtown-to-woo-millennials-offices-might-move-back-to-the-burbs.html">millennials will buy more social distance</a> by moving from apartments in the city to detached houses in the suburbs.</p>
<p>But millennials are likely better able to work remotely, and may also be more vulnerable to job losses, so socio-demographic factors may work against a buying spree on their part. That infamous millennial meh may prove hard to shake.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141347/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Lyon received funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to complete this research project.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wren Montgomery received funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to complete this research project. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kim Wolske received funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to complete this research project.</span></em></p>Research shows that millennials don’t drive as much as previous generations, largely because of their beliefs.Tom Lyon, Dow Professor of Sustainable Science, Technology and Commerce; Professor of Business Economics; Public Policy Professor of Environment and Sustainability, University of MichiganA. Wren Montgomery, Assistant Professor of Sustainability & General Management, Western UniversityKim Wolske, Research Associate (Assistant Professor) of Public Policy, University of ChicagoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1305192020-04-20T12:26:27Z2020-04-20T12:26:27ZReplacing workers has many costs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/315558/original/file-20200214-10980-1mb1zta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Replacing an employee means taking time and resources to train someone new.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/human-resource-manager-explaining-work-dynamics-766701082">djrandco/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The labor market is changing rapidly with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. </p>
<p>Many organizations are <a href="https://www.dailycamera.com/2020/04/14/boulder-furloughing-737-city-employees-beginning-april-20/">laying off</a> <a href="https://www.ibtimes.com/coronavirus-layoffs-trump-organization-cuts-1500-employees-pandemic-hurts-presidents-2952985">almost all</a> <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/daily-crunch-amazon-fires-two-173214935.html">of their workers</a>, while others are considering which workers to lay off, <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/covid-19-testing-firm-quest-diagnostics-is-furloughing-employees">which to</a> <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/disney-world-furloughing-43000-workers-due-virus-70103647">furlough</a> and which to keep. Alternatively, some are <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/former-cdc-director-says-coronavirus-140000179.html">expanding their labor forces</a>.</p>
<p>When <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/nyc-mayor-urges-caution-reopening-virus-stalled-economy-70161298">the economy starts to open up</a> again, employers will need to consider rehiring or replacing workers, or hiring workers with a different mix of skills. The cost of replacing an employee is high for employers, and being out of work is harmful for workers, who may be replaced with artificial intelligence or contractors and risk losing their skills.</p>
<p>I’m an <a href="https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/business/facultyresearch/facultydepartment/biodetail.html?mail=cheryl.carleton@villanova.edu">expert in labor economics</a>, and my work <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mary_Kelly18">with a colleague</a> investigates the increase in people engaging in alternative work arrangements such as contract or gig work, along with the implications such jobs have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11293-019-09628-3">for all workers’ well-being</a>.</p>
<p>There is no denying that the U.S. was experiencing <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/job-market-continues-crush-expectations-2020/">a tight labor market</a> and a low rate of unemployment before the coronavirus pandemic took hold. For some fields, particularly health care and services deemed essential by local governments, the labor market continues to be tight.</p>
<p>A sudden massive loss of demand for their goods and services is forcing companies to make quick decisions, and some employers may underestimate the cost to replace good employees. Knowing these costs may encourage them to keep more of their workers on the payroll.</p>
<h2>Where are the costs?</h2>
<p>There are costs involved in losing a worker and replacing them, such as completing paperwork when they leave, advertising the open position, reviewing resumes, interviewing candidates and training the new worker.</p>
<p>Once a new worker is hired, others must also spend time training them, and it will take some time for the new worker to achieve the same level of productivity as the worker who left.</p>
<p>Another cost is the loss in <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/socialcapital.asp">social capital</a>. Social capital is the relationships between individuals at work that take time to build and add to the productivity of the firm.</p>
<p>The Society for Human Resource Management <a href="https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/all-things-work/pages/to-have-and-to-hold.aspx">found that departures cost about one-third of a worker’s annual earnings</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://wwww.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/2012/11/16/44464/there-are-significant-business-costs-to-replacing-employees/">The Center for American Progress</a> drilled in deeper. They found the costs of replacing workers who earn less than US$30,000 per year to be 16% of annual salary, or $3,200 for an individual earning $20,000 per year.</p>
<p>For those earning $30,000 to $50,000 per year, it is estimated to cost about 20% of annual salary, or $8,000 for an individual earning $40,000. For highly educated executive positions, replacement costs are estimated to be 213% of annual salary – $213,000 for a CEO earning $100,000 per year.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/CostofTurnover.pdf">The much higher cost for replacing CEOs</a> is partly due to the fact that they require higher levels of education, greater training, and firms may lose clients and institutional knowledge with such turnovers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327014/original/file-20200409-187559-bjch1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327014/original/file-20200409-187559-bjch1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327014/original/file-20200409-187559-bjch1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327014/original/file-20200409-187559-bjch1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327014/original/file-20200409-187559-bjch1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327014/original/file-20200409-187559-bjch1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327014/original/file-20200409-187559-bjch1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">By mid-April, more than 10% of employees in the U.S. had lost their jobs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Virus-Outbreak-Unemployment/8f21d0b7f1714cf4a4e714db4496eac7/5/0">AP Photo/Rick Bowmer</a></span>
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<h2>Employee alternatives</h2>
<p>This high cost of losing and replacing workers has important implications for organizations, consumers and workers, especially now with <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/04/15/the-unemployment-impacts-of-covid-19-lessons-from-the-great-recession/">an estimated 15 million unemployed</a>.</p>
<p>For those workers where the costs to replace them are high, firms will try to accommodate them. Strategies may include maintaining pay, increasing benefits and retraining. These actions are also costly, so firms will <a href="https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/benefits/pages/alter-benefits-attract-retain.aspx">weigh them against the cost</a> of simply <a href="https://www.inproma.com/blog/2018/11/01/what-is-the-real-cost-of-hiring-a-new-employee-vs-retaining-current-staff/">hiring new workers</a>.</p>
<p>This means businesses face high costs to replace workers in the future, and high costs to retain current workers, leading to higher costs for consumers who buy the firms’ goods and services.</p>
<p>While the above consequences might sound great for workers that organizations choose to keep, these are not the only ways in which firms can respond.</p>
<p>The high cost of replacing workers, along with the increased uncertainty about the economy may cause businesses to use <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/jobs-lost-jobs-gained-what-the-future-of-work-will-mean-for-jobs-skills-and-wages">more automation and robots</a>. Though such switches may entail a significant upfront cost, once they are made the firms then have more control over their production processes. </p>
<p>Another alternative for firms is to hire fewer permanent employees and turn instead <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w22667">to contract workers</a>. With contract workers, employers are not responsible for benefits, and they can more simply increase or decrease the number of workers as needed.</p>
<p>While this may increase employment for some workers, it will decrease it for others and it has serious implications for the availability of health and pension benefits as well as unemployment benefits, as the current crisis has revealed. </p>
<p>Businesses might also consider limiting the scope of what some workers do to limit the cost of replacing them. If the scope of a worker’s job is limited, then fewer areas will be impacted by the individual leaving, and the costs to train a replacement will be lower. For workers, however, it means fewer opportunities to gain experience.</p>
<p>For example, instead of training workers on several or all parts of the production process, the business may limit them to one specific aspect. It will then be less costly for the firm to replace them and the worker will have less experience to add to their resume. This also means less bargaining power for employees.</p>
<h2>Some win, but others lose</h2>
<p>The high cost of losing and then hiring new workers along with increased restrictions on hiring nonresidents might mean higher wages and increased benefits for some workers.</p>
<p>However, the high degree of uncertainty in the current labor market, along with the potential increase in <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/04/gig-economy-grows-15percent-over-past-decade-adp-report.html">contract workers</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-results-automation/u-s-companies-facing-worker-shortage-race-to-automate-idUSKBN1X11T9">automation</a> means that some workers will not realize these potential gains, and all of us as consumers will most likely end up paying higher prices for the goods and services we buy.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130519/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cheryl Carleton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As more and more Americans are laid off, employers have to consider the cost of letting their staff go.Cheryl Carleton, Assistant Professor of Economics, Villanova UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1269082020-01-02T13:42:04Z2020-01-02T13:42:04Z3 big ways that the US will change over the next decade<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302271/original/file-20191118-66921-1lzjtc7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The U.S. will undergo some significant shifts in the next decade.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/american-flags-patriots-america-fans-concert-335159885?src=6a1e5dc6-a1a3-4075-b286-9b8e8dd44977-1-9">DenisProduction.com/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The U.S. has just entered the new decade of the 2020s.</p>
<p>What does our country look like today, and what will it look like 10 years from now, on Jan. 1, 2030? Which demographic groups in the U.S. will grow the most, and which groups will not grow as much, or maybe even decline in the next 10 years? </p>
<p>I <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=BWeHM5kAAAAJ&hl=en">am a demographer</a> and I have examined population data from the U.S. Census Bureau and from the Population Division of the United Nations. </p>
<p>Projections show that whites will decline; the number of old people will increase; and racial minorities, mainly Hispanics, will grow the most, making them the main engine of demographic change in the U.S. for the next 10 years and beyond. </p>
<h2>1. There will be more of us</h2>
<p><a href="https://population.un.org/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2019_Volume-I_Comprehensive-Tables.pdf">The U.S. population today</a>, at the start of 2020, numbers just over 331 million people. </p>
<p>The U.S. is the third largest country in the world, outnumbered only by the two demographic billionaires, China and India, at just over 1.4 billion and just under 1.4 billion, respectively. </p>
<p>Ten years from now, the U.S. population will have almost 350 million people. China and India will still be bigger, but India with 1.5 billion people will now be larger than China, with 1.46 billion.</p>
<p><iframe id="87CdS" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/87CdS/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>2. The population will get older.</h2>
<p>The U.S. is getting older and it’s <a href="https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2015/demo/p25-1143.pdf">going to keep getting older</a>.</p>
<p>Today, there are over 74.1 million people under age 18 in the U.S. There are 56.4 million people age 65 and older. </p>
<p>Ten years from now, there will almost be as many old folks as there are young ones. The numbers of young people will have grown just a little to 76.3 million, but the numbers of old people will have increased a lot – to 74.1 million. A lot of these new elderly will be baby boomers. </p>
<p><iframe id="kHhjU" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/kHhjU/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>For example, take the really old folks – people over the age of 100. How many centenarians are in the U.S. population today and how many are there likely to be 10 years from now? </p>
<p><a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030264918">According to demographers at the U.S. Census Bureau</a>, the number of centenarians in the U.S. grew from over 53,000 in 2010 to over 90,000 in 2020. By 2030, there will most likely be over 130,000 centenarians in the U.S.</p>
<p>But this increase of centenarians by 2030 is only a small indication of their growth in later decades. In the year of 2046, the first group of surviving baby boomers will reach 100 years, and that’s when U.S. centenarians will really start to grow. By 2060 there will be over 603,000. That’s a <em>lot</em> of really old people.</p>
<p>I sometimes ask my undergraduate students how many of them have ever actually seen a person 100 years old or older. In my classes of 140 or more students, no more than maybe six raise their hands. Lots more college students will be raising their hands when they are asked that question in 2060.</p>
<p><iframe id="Jb9SM" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Jb9SM/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>3. Racial proportions will shift.</h2>
<p>In 2020, non-Hispanic white people, hereafter called whites, are still the majority race in the U.S., representing 59.7% of the U.S. population. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-us-white-majority-will-soon-disappear-forever-115894">In my research with the demographer Rogelio Saenz</a>, we have shown that the white share of the U.S. population has been dropping since 1950 and it will continue to go down.</p>
<p>Today, after whites, the Hispanic population is the next biggest group at 18.7% of the U.S., followed by blacks and Asians.</p>
<p>What will the country <a href="https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2017/demo/popproj/2017-summary-tables.html">look like racially in 2030</a>? Whites will have dropped to 55.8% of the population, and Hispanics will have grown to 21.1%. The percentage of black and Asian Americans will also grow significantly.</p>
<p>So between now and 2030, whites as a proportion of the population will get smaller, and the minority race groups will all keep getting bigger. </p>
<p>Eventually, whites will become a minority, <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2018/03/14/the-us-will-become-minority-white-in-2045-census-projects">dropping below 50% of the U.S. population in around the year of 2045</a>. </p>
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<p>However, on the first day of 2020, whites under age 18 were already in the minority. Among all the young people now in the U.S., there are more minority young people than there are white young people.</p>
<p>Among old people age 65 and over, whites are still in the majority. Indeed white old people, compared to minority old people, will continue to be in the majority until some years after 2060.</p>
<p>Hispanics and the other racial minorities will be the country’s main demographic engine of population change in future years; this is the most significant demographic change Americans will see. </p>
<p>I’ve shown above how much older the U.S. population has become and will become in the years ahead. Were it not for the racial minorities countering this aging of the U.S. population, the U.S. by 2030 and later would have become even older than it is today and will be in 2030.</p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126908/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dudley L. Poston Jr. does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The number of old people will increase, while the proportion of white Americans will continue to fall.Dudley L. Poston Jr., Professor of Sociology, Texas A&M UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1265512019-12-09T13:42:53Z2019-12-09T13:42:53ZWhy are kids today less patriotic?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305041/original/file-20191203-67011-6xrc7i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Young Americans today are more likely to say that they're dissatisfied with the current state of affairs.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-happy-teen-students-holding-usa-1160956780?src=eaa2f6fe-2767-4b4f-bb4a-1ef4646c2f9d-2-21">LightField Studios/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=293&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281719/original/file-20190628-76743-26slbc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/curious-kids-us-74795">Curious Kids</a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>Why are younger people not really patriotic like me? Why do kids these days not realize why they stand for the flag or the Pledge of Allegiance or the national anthem? – Kim D., age 17, Goochland, Virginia</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>The first bell of the day rings at a local school, and a voice blares over the intercom, asking students to rise from their seats and say the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. </p>
<p>This is a familiar practice to students across the United States, since most states currently <a href="https://undergod.procon.org/view.additional-resource.php?resourceID=000074">require schools</a> to recite the pledge at the beginning of each day. And yet, some students opt out of the ritual, choosing instead to remain seated, or stand but stay silent. </p>
<p>Are these students less patriotic than those who stand willingly and proudly to recite the pledge? As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3KQghq8AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">someone who studies</a> how young people engage with politics, I think the answer may be a bit more complex than you think.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.people-press.org/2011/11/03/section-4-views-of-the-nation/">Some studies</a> suggest that the answer is yes, that young people tend to view the country more negatively than older generations, or that younger generations tend to be less proud of the United States. </p>
<p>These studies often ask young people how satisfied they are with where the country is or where it is going. Younger generations – millennials, born between 1981 and 1996; and Generation Z, those born after 1996 – tend to be <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/05/upshot/younger-americans-are-less-patriotic-at-least-in-some-ways.html">less satisfied</a> with the current state of affairs and less proud to be American.</p>
<p><iframe id="UzV9F" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/UzV9F/1/" height="500px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>However, this dissatisfaction or lack of pride does not necessarily mean that young people are less patriotic; instead, it may point to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/americans-have-shifted-dramatically-on-what-values-matter-most-11566738001">a shift in what matters</a> to young people and what they perceive as patriotism. </p>
<p>For example, a Market Research Foundation survey found that <a href="http://dailytorch.com/2019/08/no-generation-z-is-not-less-patriotic-or-religious/">younger generations still care</a> about the well-being of the United States and policies related to the country’s stability, even though they may not associate it with patriotism. </p>
<p>And a Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement study shows that young voters are <a href="https://civicyouth.org/growing-voters-engaging-youth-before-they-reach-voting-age-to-strengthen-democracy/">showing up more for midterm elections</a>, which suggests that they care more about the future of the country than young generations of the past. </p>
<p>Furthermore, they seem to be <a href="https://civicyouth.org/circle-poll-youth-engagement-in-the-2018-election/">more engaged with politics</a> now than in the recent past, even if they are less committed to particular political parties.</p>
<p>When it comes to the flag as a symbol, a public opinion poll conducted by the Foundation for Liberty and American Greatness suggests that young people see the flag less as a symbol to be proud of and more as <a href="https://www.flagusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/FLAG-Patriotism-Report-11.13.2018.pdf">a symbol of what is wrong</a> with the country. If more students are associating the flag with flaws in the system, it would explain why some students opt out of standing for the pledge of allegiance or other celebratory acts. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2016.1220877">My own work</a> on a project-based high school government course shows that school coursework can help students figure out how to engage with democracy in ways that make sense to them. This means that, even as students report feeling less patriotic about the current system, they are engaging with it in an effort to change it for the better.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305047/original/file-20191203-66986-1iluieq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305047/original/file-20191203-66986-1iluieq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305047/original/file-20191203-66986-1iluieq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305047/original/file-20191203-66986-1iluieq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305047/original/file-20191203-66986-1iluieq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305047/original/file-20191203-66986-1iluieq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305047/original/file-20191203-66986-1iluieq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305047/original/file-20191203-66986-1iluieq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Climate activists participate in a student-led climate change march in Los Angeles on Nov. 1, 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Greta-Thunberg-Youth-Protest/9d96b7216f2f4eff9e144fc0894cdc85/168/0">AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu</a></span>
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<p>In the end, it’s too simplistic to say that young people who are dissatisfied with the U.S. at present aren’t patriotic. It’s likely that the very students who are refusing to stand for the pledge are exhibiting their patriotism by demanding a better tomorrow, as was seen in the student <a href="https://www.tjsl.edu/sites/default/files/files/Student%20Protests,%20Then%20and%20Now%20-%20The%20Chronicle%20of%20Higher%20Education.pdf">protest movements of the 1960s</a> and other current <a href="http://neatoday.org/2019/09/19/the-greta-effect-student-activism-climate-change/">student-led protests</a>. </p>
<p>This might provide all Americans with some hope, since it means young people actually care about the future state of affairs. It may also signal it is time to work together to build a country that we can all celebrate. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to <a href="mailto:curiouskidsus@theconversation.com">CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com</a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Lo has received funding from the Spencer Foundation. She also serves as a member of the board of Generation Citizen. </span></em></p>A teen asks why so many young people don’t stand for the Pledge of Allegiance or the national anthem. The data shows that young Americans today do view the U.S. more negatively than older generations.Jane Lo, Assistant Professor of Education, Florida State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1274832019-12-04T13:27:54Z2019-12-04T13:27:54ZWhy Americans are staying put, instead of moving to a new city or state<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303214/original/file-20191122-74557-92lqgm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A less common sight in the U.S. today.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/children-helping-unload-boxes-van-on-794983378?src=698b3e02-fc92-4fa0-b3c0-e653de87f303-1-23">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The story of America is one of moving. </p>
<p>A total of <a href="https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=bkmk#">13.6% of Americans today were born in another country</a>, and most of us are descended from immigrants. This story of migration also includes moving within the country. Over the last 200 years, Americans have settled the frontier, moved away from cities toward suburbs and migrated away from cities in the Northeast toward the South and West.</p>
<p>This narrative that Americans are constantly moving within the country is no longer true. </p>
<p>Over the last 35 years, <a href="https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/demo/tables/geographic-mobility/time-series/historic/tab-a-1.xls">the number of Americans who have moved</a> – within their county, state or out of state – has steadily declined to nearly half of their previous levels. </p>
<p>Between March 2018 and 2019, only 1.5% of Americans moved from one state to another, and 5.9% moved from one home to another while remaining in the same county. </p>
<p><iframe id="qcoOm" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/qcoOm/6/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Why are Americans more rooted?</h2>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/psp.1844">The decision to move is a complex one</a>. People are often searching for better opportunities but must also take into account factors like family characteristics, lifestyle and community.</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=sn4awyAAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">I have studied American migration for over 20 years</a>, and I see no evidence linking the migration decline to changes in the way people make those decisions. Rather, I see three broad changes that have changed the outcome of those decisions.</p>
<p>First, <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R45090.pdf">real incomes have remained flat for over the last 35 years</a>. Americans have been able to improve their standard of living only by both <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/200720/aftershockinequality-for-all--movie-tie-in-edition-by-robert-reich/">working more and borrowing more</a>. That includes an increase in the number of women working, leading to the growth of dual-income households.</p>
<p>The increase in both family and personal debt both <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2012.724343">makes selling a house more difficult and reduces financial resources available for a move</a>. Meanwhile, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2012.724343">growth of dual-income households restricts moves</a>, because any long-distance move would require both partners to find a suitable job in a new destination.</p>
<p>Second, <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315589282/chapters/10.4324/9781315589282-5">the baby boomer generation</a> has squeezed younger generations out of housing and job opportunities. </p>
<p>Finally, Americans are less likely to move due to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00330124.2012.724343">the widespread adoption of advanced information and communications technologies</a>, such as the internet and smartphones. </p>
<p>My colleague and I investigated the role of these technologies in both <a href="https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P4-2033290907/migration-and-the-internet">the U.S.</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.2111">Northern Ireland</a>. In these studies, we compared people who accessed and used the internet at home, in various ways, to people who did not, and found that internet access was strongly associated with decreased mobility. </p>
<p>We conclude that internet use, and likely all forms of advanced information and communication technologies, allow people to remain in a place, yet access a growing array of remote <a href="https://www.census.gov/prod/2012pubs/p70-132.pdf">employment</a> and <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED541571">educational opportunities</a>. Moving is just not as necessary as it once was. </p>
<p>What’s more, advanced information and communications technologies <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001671851300033X">improves the quality of information available about possible places to move</a>. We believe this makes decisions about whether and where to move more efficient and reduces the chances that people will move to a place that they don’t like. </p>
<h2>Rootedness is the new normal</h2>
<p>The currently low levels of geographic mobility are likely to be permanent. </p>
<p>An important principle of migration is that it is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.2286">self-reinforcing</a> – having moved once enhances the chances of moving again. Moving is expensive and stressful, especially for people who have not migrated before. But having moved once, additional moves become less stressful, new opportunities become available and additional moves become more efficient and less costly. </p>
<p>This self-reinforcing process works in the other direction as well. Having never moved or having moved very little reduces the chances of moving or moving again; migration is viewed as risky, expensive and disruptive. Plus, the longer a person stays in a location, the more attached they grow to their home and job and community.</p>
<p>Since the current U.S. population is more rooted than ever, I think it is likely that the country will continue to have lower migration rates into the future. Young adults who have been raised during the period of declining migration rates of the last 35 years are now less likely to migrate as a consequence. They may then pass this legacy on to their own children.</p>
<h2>The impacts of a more rooted society</h2>
<p>I believe that the migration decline and associated increase in rootedness will have dramatic effects on American society. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/41446817.pdf?seq=1">Rootedness has many positive outcomes</a>, such as greater attachment to place and more meaningful social and community connections. These connections to place may then <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/114/36/E7432.short">serve to provide social and economic support during periods of economic uncertainty</a>.</p>
<p>Second, I suspect that the decline in migration will present a challenge to large corporations and regional economic development agencies, for example, which rely upon migration to attract and retain talent.</p>
<p>Finally, the government’s approaches to resolving regional economic disparities will have to change. Federal and state governments traditionally have not intervened much in regional labor and housing markets, under the presumption that high levels of migration serve to reallocate people from areas with few opportunities and toward areas with many opportunities. </p>
<p>The decline in migration indicates to me that federal and state policy must shift more toward <a href="https://research.upjohn.org/up_press/6/">“place-based” policies</a>, emphasizing training and education, along with developing industries tailored to local skills and resources, similar to what is more common in Europe. </p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127483/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Cooke does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Over the last 35 years, the number of Americans who have moved has steadily declined to nearly half of their previous levels.Thomas Cooke, Professor of Geography, University of ConnecticutLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1273002019-11-19T14:05:07Z2019-11-19T14:05:07ZWhy saying ‘OK boomer’ at work is considered age discrimination – but millennial put-downs aren’t<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302281/original/file-20191118-66921-g49omo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">OK, boomer... </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/male-company-employee-feeling-tired-listening-1512367268">Motortion Films/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The phrase “OK boomer” <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/11/18/779783608/-okboomer-vs-okmillennial-workplace-nightmare-or-just-a-meme">has become a catch-all</a> put-down that Generation Zers and young millennials have been using to dismiss retrograde arguments made by baby boomers, the generation of Americans who are <a href="https://www.careerplanner.com/Career-Articles/Generations.cfm">currently 55 to 73 years old</a>.</p>
<p>Though it <a href="https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/ok-boomer">originated online</a> and primarily is <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/farrahpenn/ok-boomer-jokes-that-prove-gen-zers-are-funnny">fueling memes</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/okboomer?lang=en">Twitter feuds</a> and a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/11/13/problem-with-ok-boomer/">flurry of commentary</a>, it has begun migrating to real life. A New Zealand lawmaker <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/new-zealand-lawmaker-says-ok-boomer-during-parliament-speech-about-n1078066">lobbed the insult</a> at an older legislator who had dismissed her argument about climate change. </p>
<p>As the term enters our everyday vocabulary, HR professionals, <a href="https://law.uoregon.edu/explore/elizabeth-tippett">employment law specialists like me</a> and even <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/15/us/supreme-court-age-bias.html">Supreme Court justices</a> now must ponder the question: What happens if people start saying “OK boomer” at work?</p>
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<h2>Evidence of discrimination</h2>
<p>A lot of the internet fights over “OK boomer” revolve around whether the phrase is offensive or not. But when you’re talking about the workplace, offensiveness is not the primary problem. The bigger issue is that the insult is age-related.</p>
<p>Workers aged 40 and older are protected by a federal statute called the <a href="https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/discrimination/agedisc">Age Discrimination in Employment Act</a>, which prohibits harassment and discrimination on the basis of age. </p>
<p>Comments that relate to a worker’s age are a problem because older workers often face negative employment decisions, like a layoff or being passed over for promotion. The only way to tell whether a decision like that is tainted by age discrimination is the surrounding context: comments and behavior by managers and coworkers. </p>
<p>If a manager said “OK boomer” to an older worker’s presentation at a meeting, that would make management seem biased. Even if that manager simply tolerated a joke made by someone else, it would suggest the boss was in on it.</p>
<p>Companies also risk age-based harassment claims. Saying “OK boomer” one time does not legally qualify as harassing behavior. But frequent comments about someone’s age – for example, <a href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca1/17-1191/17-1191-2018-08-01.html">calling a colleague “old” and “slow”</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=7763968087195450711">“old fart”</a> or <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=5555043418652493543&q=%22age-based+harassment%22&hl=en&as_sdt=2006">even “pops”</a> – can become harassment over time.</p>
<h2>Gen Xers are covered too</h2>
<p>And it doesn’t matter if the target isn’t even a boomer.</p>
<p>Gen Xers were born <a href="https://www.kasasa.com/articles/generations/gen-x-gen-y-gen-z">around</a> 1965 to 1979. That makes them older than 40 and covered by federal age discrimination law. </p>
<p>Yes, I get that the comment is <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/better/lifestyle/ok-boomer-diving-generation-what-does-it-mean-ncna1077261">a retort to “unwoke” elders</a> who cannot be reasoned with. The problem is that the phrase is intended as a put-down that is based, at least partly, on age. If you say it at work, you’re essentially saying, “You’re old and therefore irrelevant.” </p>
<p>Lumping Gen Xers into a category with even older workers doesn’t make it better. Either way, you are commenting on their age.</p>
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<h2>Funny or not</h2>
<p>I recently watched some of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NarX9usjj0Q">“OK boomer” TikTok compilations</a>. </p>
<p>A lot of them were quite funny, like the hairdresser imitating a customer who criticized her tattoos as unprofessional. She responded, “OK boomer,” while appearing to lop off a huge swath of the customer’s hair.</p>
<p>When I was an employment lawyer, I heard tons of hilarious stories of things people said in the workplace. But that’s the point: The story ended with a lawyer on the other end of the phone. </p>
<p>One of the <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2149108217300957983&q=reeves+v.+sanderson&hl=en&as_sdt=2006">most famous</a> age-discrimination cases – which made its way all the way up to the Supreme Court – involved a manager who described an employee as “so old he must have come over on the Mayflower.” </p>
<p>In other words, “it was just a joke” is an awful legal defense. </p>
<h2>Tit for tat</h2>
<p>To millennials who have suffered through years of being called “snowflakes” by their elders, protests of age discrimination can seem a bit rich. Why didn’t HR ban all those <a href="https://jeffjbutler.com/2019/04/12/where-did-the-avocado-toast-millennial-stereotype-come-from/">millennial jokes about avocado toast</a>? </p>
<p>The Age Discrimination in Employment Act only kicks in for workers who are 40 or older, which means millennials aren’t covered. For now.</p>
<p>The oldest millennials will turn 40 later this year. So fear not, the millennial jokes may eventually become a legal problem for companies as these workers age.</p>
<p>Also, a few states, <a href="https://dhr.ny.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/age-discrimination.pdf">including New York</a>, ban age discrimination for all workers over 18, and employers in those states probably should have done something about the millennial jokes.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302470/original/file-20191119-111690-qw4ly8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302470/original/file-20191119-111690-qw4ly8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302470/original/file-20191119-111690-qw4ly8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302470/original/file-20191119-111690-qw4ly8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302470/original/file-20191119-111690-qw4ly8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302470/original/file-20191119-111690-qw4ly8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/302470/original/file-20191119-111690-qw4ly8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Millennials tired of their elders making fun of their love for avocado toast are out of luck.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/healthy-avocado-toasts-breakfast-lunch-rye-1105043105?src=343fd847-5577-4d34-8228-a345bef4f2e9-1-23">By Nelli Syrotynska/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why older workers need protections</h2>
<p>Boomers might seem really powerful, and yes, they might be your boss’s boss’s boss. </p>
<p>But older workers are more vulnerable than they seem. Older workers are expensive – by the time they’ve worked their way up the corporate ladder, their generous salaries start to weigh on the balance sheet. And management <a href="https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/emplrght16&div=6&id=&page=">may have trouble</a> envisioning spectacular growth and innovative ideas from them years into the future, even if they are ready and willing to deliver.</p>
<p>That’s why Congress thought it was important to extend protections to those workers. It wanted employers to treat them <a href="https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=7232159241469569502">as individuals</a> who shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand because of their age.</p>
<p>And in many ways, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/10/31/why-gen-z-millennials-using-ok-boomer-baby-boomers/4107782002/">that’s what young people seem to want</a> as well: a little respect for what they bring to the table. After all, that meme didn’t make itself.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article originally published on Nov. 19, 2019.</em></p>
<p>[ <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=expertise">Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today’s news, every day.</a></em> ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127300/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth C. Tippett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An employment law expert explains why you shouldn’t use an age-related insult at work to demean an older colleague – an issue even the Supreme Court is now talking about.Elizabeth C. Tippett, Associate Professor, School of Law, University of OregonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1234992019-10-22T11:39:28Z2019-10-22T11:39:28ZIf you’re using ‘millennial’ as a meaningful measurement, you should probably stop<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295308/original/file-20191002-49377-wrjr0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Does your mental image of a millennial align with reality?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/friends-chilling-outside-taking-group-selfie-1025803621?src=5KFokPZPTjjFWtdh3rTQ7A-1-28">Jacob Lund/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>What value does the word “millennial” actually have?</p>
<p>Americans have heard the term ad nauseum by now. In <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/05/22/millennials-could-push-american-politics-left-or-totally-upend-them/">politics</a>, public relations or <a href="https://www.inc.com/christina-desmarais/27-expert-tips-for-marketing-to-millennials.html">marketing</a>, it’s a buzzword. </p>
<p>But millennial doesn’t hold nearly as much meaning as Americans pretend it does. Here’s why. </p>
<h2>It doesn’t mean what we often say it means</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.foxnews.com/health/vaping-harming-teeth-study">A recent news story</a> in Fox News was an example of a common problem – though any examination of news coverage would likely show that such a story is not unique. </p>
<p>The segment, which aired Sept. 12, featured a discussion about the teenage vaping crisis. A health expert asked, “Why is the attraction for the young generation, why the attraction for the millennial population that is using these products?” </p>
<p>Similarly, my university students frequently say, “Well, you know us millennials like or do ‘x.’” I’ll ask for clarification on who they’re talking about. They’ll say, “I don’t know, 18- to 24-year-olds.”</p>
<p>The problem? The use of the term in such a context is wrong. The term millennials has become synonymous with “young people,” “college students” or the like. </p>
<p>But, while the term has arguably been used the same way for years, the generation is of course aging. While definitions may vary, <a href="https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/essay/millennial-life-how-young-adulthood-today-compares-with-prior-generations/">according to Pew</a>, one of the nation’s leading research organizations, the term applies to those born between 1981 and 1996. As a new generation label is applied about every 15 to 20 years, millennials are now between about 23 and 38.</p>
<p><iframe id="rFez6" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/rFez6/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>It’s important to use the right term for the right group. A reference to teens or a typical college student is now a reference to <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/true-gen-generation-z-and-its-implications-for-companies">Generation Z</a>, not millennials. </p>
<h2>A big, diverse group</h2>
<p>Okay, fine. If you get the definition correct and use it properly, then you’re good, right? Millennials are still this collective of young working adults, you say. </p>
<p>No. The term is often meaningless because of the group’s size and diversity. As of this year, millennials have become the largest population group in the country, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/01/millennials-overtake-baby-boomers/">over 70 million</a>. That’s roughly equivalent to the number of Americans living in the Pacific and Mountain West time zones combined. </p>
<p>Large numbers of people – be it “millennials” or “Americans” – are put into categorical buckets to simplify and make sense of a large amount of information. But that may lead to troublesome characterizations in light of the diversity within such a big group. </p>
<p>For example, the generation is <a href="https://money.cnn.com/interactive/economy/diversity-millennials-boomers/">far more racially diverse</a> than previous American generations, as it’s just over half white. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/07/30/most-common-age-among-us-racial-ethnic-groups/ft_19-07-11_generationsbyrace_1/"><img src="https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/FT_19.07.11_GenerationsByRace_1.png?w=640"></a></p>
<p>You may have heard some of the stereotypes about millennials. They’re broke college graduates <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/student-loan-debt-i-had-a-panic-attack-millennials-struggle-under-the-burden-of-student-loan-debt/">loaded with school loans</a> living with their parents after school. And they’re all <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/10/08/millennials-tinder-survey-single-life-dating-relationships/1535860002/">single and not having kids</a>.</p>
<p>Perhaps my favorite story that summarized these stereotypes was titled “<a href="https://money.cnn.com/2017/05/15/news/millennials-home-buying-avocado-toast/index.html">Millionaire to millennials</a>: Lay off the avocado toast if you want a house.”</p>
<h2>Myth-busting</h2>
<p>Even a surface-level review of the data busts many of these broad myths. </p>
<p>While millennials are more educated than any previous generation, the majority – about 60% – <a href="https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/essay/millennial-life-how-young-adulthood-today-compares-with-prior-generations/">don’t have a bachelor’s degree</a>. </p>
<p>In the 2020 election, campaigns and news coverage focus on student loan debt <a href="https://www.vox.com/first-person/2019/5/2/18527036/sanders-bernie-millennials-cancel-student-debt-forgiveness">among more educated voters</a>, but data actually show that credit cards are <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/18/student-loans-are-not-the-no-1-source-of-millennial-debt.html">the more common type of millennial debt</a>.</p>
<p><iframe id="gkhkj" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/gkhkj/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p><a href="https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/essay/millennial-life-how-young-adulthood-today-compares-with-prior-generations/">Pew has shown</a> that millennials with bachelor’s degrees are actually doing quite well financially – to the tune of over US$100,000 household incomes. This number is just below Gen X and above late boomers with a similar education. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, households led by millennials with a high school education are making less than $50,000. So <a href="https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/essay/millennial-life-how-young-adulthood-today-compares-with-prior-generations/">income inequality based on education differences</a> continues to be a major problem, just as it was with previous generations. </p>
<p>While it is true that millennials are <a href="https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/essay/millennial-life-how-young-adulthood-today-compares-with-prior-generations/">much more likely than other generations to live with their parents</a>, 90% of those with a college degree do not. </p>
<p><iframe id="HsVVB" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/HsVVB/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The data are similar on the dating and family front. While there is again truth in the broader trend – fewer millennials are married or have kids than the previous generation – about half of millennials are <a href="https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/essay/millennial-life-how-young-adulthood-today-compares-with-prior-generations/">already married or have children</a>. </p>
<p>And, let’s think practically about the age range. How different is one’s life between 23, or the start of the generation, and 38, the end of it? Be it home ownership, family life or job situation, broad discussions are often talking about people in entirely different situations. </p>
<p>Trust me – as an older millennial who has spent most of my university career teaching younger millennials, this becomes clear rather quickly. </p>
<h2>The takeaway</h2>
<p>So, if use of such broad terms can be misleading or inaccurate, why use them at all? </p>
<p>Use of a broad term in a proper context does allow one to make sense of a large group of people. There can still be meaningful trends that are accurate, such as the fact that <a href="https://www.people-press.org/2018/03/20/1-trends-in-party-affiliation-among-demographic-groups/">nearly 60% of millennials lean toward the Democratic Party</a>. </p>
<p>But, even then, that means about 30 million millennials are not in that category. In a world where <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/01/donald-trump-will-be-president-thanks-to-80000-people-in-three-states/">tens of thousands of people can decide who is president</a>, any broad summaries miss important points. </p>
<p>I think that the further away industries – like public relations, advertising or political campaigns – can get from lumping people into generalized demographic buckets, the better. Otherwise, they’ll continue to miss useful insights into the nation’s largest group of people. </p>
<p>[ <em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123499/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joseph Cabosky does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Millennials are now between about 23 and 38 – and the group is more diverse than it often gets credit for.Joseph Cabosky, Assistant Professor of Public Relations, University of North Carolina at Chapel HillLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1230652019-09-18T16:06:29Z2019-09-18T16:06:29ZVideo games can bring older family members’ personal history back to life<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/291831/original/file-20190910-190061-vzc0re.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=49%2C98%2C5494%2C3520&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">History can come alive.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-holding-open-book-two-hands-597317402">Michal Bednarek/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is one thing to learn about history in a classroom. But as any visitor to a living museum or historic site can tell you, a fantastic way to learn is to make a personal connection.</p>
<p>In early 2019, media entrepreneur Mati Kochavi and his daughter Maya brought the stories of Eva Heyman, a Hungarian Jew who was murdered in Auschwitz, to social media with the simple question, “<a href="https://slate.com/culture/2019/05/holocaust-instagram-eva-stories.html">What if a girl in the Holocaust had Instagram?”</a> “<a href="https://www.instagram.com/eva.stories/">Eva Stories</a>” was a one-day project told through Instagram stories that amassed 200,000 followers before the morning it began and reached 1 million by its end the next day.</p>
<p>Regular people care about the past, and can now engage with it in new ways. As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=search_authors&mauthors=bob+de+schutter&hl=en&oi=ao">researcher of games and aging</a>, I’m noticing a trend emerging that has the potential to build even more powerful emotional connections with its audience, through the crackling voices of people who lived through important historical times and events. My fellow game designers and I refer to it as “gaminiscing” – using the tools of video games to share personal history. </p>
<p>These projects, including my own, combine audio recordings of their subjects with modern gameplay, letting players explore a virtual environment to hear – and sometimes even experience – meaningful life stories that are told to them by the older adults who lived through them.</p>
<h2>Connecting generations</h2>
<p>In general, few video games portray older characters accurately. Often they’re presented as a <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aceviral.angrygranrun&hl=en">cartoon</a>, or <a href="https://nerdist.com/article/you-can-become-a-deadly-grandma-in-watch-dogs-legion/">an over-the-top caricature</a> or in a <a href="https://crackyourspeakers.itch.io/grandma">dehumanizing</a> way. Before gaminiscing, there was almost no opportunity for older people to use their own voices to tell authentic, personal stories.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-JXslq_6Muc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">An early trailer for ‘Grandma Game.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“Grandma Game” is the working title of an intergenerational game by brothers and media artists James and Joe Cox, in collaboration with their grandmother, Barbara. The game is a walking simulator, a popular genre of video games in which players trigger stories by exploring 3D environments. In “Grandma Game,” players find themselves inside the watercolor paintings done by Barbara and her grandsons, while hearing her tell stories of what the images and places mean to her.</p>
<p>The game intentionally limits a player’s interaction, to make it more fun for Barbara herself to play it. “We want the game to be playable (and enjoyable) to her, so we have to design the controls and play around what she can understand and handle,” James told me in an email. “She sees it as a way to preserve her family’s history and as an opportunity to share skills with, and learn from, her grandchildren. Both our watercolor painting sessions and audio recording sessions have given us the chance to spend … quality time with our grandmother – time focused on creating work together as artists.”</p>
<h2>Looking at history</h2>
<p>Other games have emerged that take on more expansive historical topics, though still using very personal experiences. </p>
<p>“Memories of Manzanar and Tule Lake” is the working title of a game aiming to recreate the stories of the game designer’s Japanese American grandparents during their time in an internment camp following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. In the game, players will be able to direct their own journey, interacting with other internees and learning about personal experiences with pivotal events in history, like the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/manz/learn/historyculture/japanese-americans-at-manzanar.htm">infamous loyalty questionnaire</a>, and joining the U.S. Army.</p>
<p>Similar to the Cox brothers, game designer Brent Shiohama wishes to honor his grandparents, the bravery of interned families, and the Japanese Americans who served in the <a href="https://www.army.mil/article/68392/442nd_legacy_takes_soldiers_from_enemy_aliens_to_heroes">100th Infantry Battalion/442nd Infantry Regimental Combat Team</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q6tqg__x2P0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A virtual reality game explores one boy’s experience of World War II in France.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6tqg__x2P0">La Peur Bleue</a>” tells the stories of the creator’s grandfather in World War II France. The artist states, “By focusing on specific, emotional moments from my grandfather’s past, you are given the opportunity to experience the context of the war and empathize with the emotions my grandfather felt.” Players interact with objects in recreated locations and hear a grandfather reminisce about his past, adding another layer of historical immersion by using virtual reality rather than just a computer screen.</p>
<p>My own game, the forthcoming “<a href="https://www.brukelgame.com/">Brukel</a>,” uses recordings of my grandmother’s own voice, to tell stories of her childhood growing up on an occupied farm in Belgium during World War II. </p>
<p>As the player, you enter the Brukel farmhouse equipped with your smartphone camera and a vague list of topics that your grandmother told you about. By photographing items that match well with each topic, you unlock audio recordings in which she reveals her past to you. </p>
<p>However, when it eventually gets dark, you find yourself trapped in the house as the ghosts of the past come to life. Through a series of survival-based vignettes, you must try to outlast some of the horror stories that my grandmother lived through as a teenage girl, while slowly learning about how the war deeply affected everyone in the family.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9P-alvHXGnc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A Belgian grandmother tells the story of her childhood in ‘Brukel.’</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A welcoming response</h2>
<p>Even before the release of “Brukel,” I have been able to showcase it, most notably at an event at the <a href="https://americanart.si.edu/events/saam-arcade">Smithsonian American Art Museum</a> in early August 2019. So far, playtesters have told me they appreciate its ability to engage the player through the use of modern technology.</p>
<p>Because of my own research, I had anticipated that older gamers would appreciate “Brukel” for its meaningful engagement and mature story. Those are two qualities that my research has shown are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/commun-2014-0005">paramount to older gamers</a>. In particular, for my qualitative work, I met a number of older adults who deliberately sought out games that would meaningfully contribute to their interest in the post-World War II era.</p>
<p>For example, an 82-year-old Belgian man <a href="https://limo.libis.be/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=LIRIAS1859562&context=L&vid=Lirias&search_scope=Lirias&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US">told me</a>, “I barely remember the Second World War but I was a child back then. What I remember is extremely vivid, though. The lights, the bombings, the noise. Airplanes flying over our house and being shot down. I can still see it. It was an adventure, and I relive that adventure by playing games about it.”</p>
<p>Similarly, another Belgian man, aged 62, <a href="https://limo.libis.be/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=LIRIAS1859562&context=L&vid=Lirias&search_scope=Lirias&tab=default_tab&lang=en_US">explained</a>, “I recently went to Normandy; it is amazing to visit places in games that you can later on visit in real life. You have never been there but you know the place from the game. They can be so realistic.”</p>
<p>However, I had not expected the response that “Brukel” received from children. At the Smithsonian event, people from all age groups – including pre-kindergartners and octogenarians – played “Brukel.” As a group, pre-teens turned out to be most engaged with the game, spending the most time playing it and even returning multiple times over the two-day event to play it again.</p>
<p>When I spoke with the parents of these young gamers, the general theme of their response was that they loved how engaged their children were with “Brukel” while learning about history. One parent told me, “They’re going to play video games regardless, so it’s great that they’re drawn to something educational.” Another parent who said his child was on the autism spectrum and had trouble concentrating in school praised “Brukel” for its ability to engage with his son. He said his son was more comfortable learning through playing the game because he was familiar with using a keyboard and mouse, which he found far less stressful than being in a classroom.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s a coincidence that many of these gaminiscing projects are centered around war. The 75th anniversary of the end of World War II will be in 2020; as those who faced its terrors firsthand die, the stories of their experiences are fading away. The risk – and my concern – is that society collectively will forget the lessons and the promises of “<a href="https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Never-Again-From-a-Holocaust-phrase-to-a-universal-phrase-544666">never again</a>.”</p>
<p>[ <em>Like what you’ve read? Want more?</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=likethis">Sign up for The Conversation’s daily newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/123065/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bob De Schutter owns Lifelong Games, developer of the indie game "Brukel."</span></em></p>A new genre of video games lets players explore virtual environments that recreate actual places and real people’s lives and memories.Bob De Schutter, C. Michael Armstrong Professor of Applied Game Design, Miami UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1198562019-07-05T09:21:07Z2019-07-05T09:21:07ZAnti-immigration attitudes are disappearing among younger generations in Britain<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282682/original/file-20190704-51292-oqx1rr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/success?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.shutterstock.com%2Fgatekeeper%2FW3siZSI6MTU2MjI2Nzg5MCwiYyI6Il9waG90b19zZXNzaW9uX2lkIiwiZGMiOiJpZGxfNDA0NjczOTc2IiwiayI6InBob3RvLzQwNDY3Mzk3Ni9tZWRpdW0uanBnIiwibSI6MSwiZCI6InNodXR0ZXJzdG9jay1tZWRpYSJ9LCJ5RDcyblB3N3FabHowbUhoV2JSWlRQMnAwbEEiXQ%2Fshutterstock_404673976.jpg&pi=33421636&m=404673976&src=co8WheUep9-r4y_lBaFKFg-1-17"> William Perugini/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Britain’s long-running drama of exiting the European Union has revealed stark generational differences. Among some of the explanations suggested for the 2016 referendum result was <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=aNcoDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=goodwin+clarke+whiteley&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwib5p6HyIvfAhUBVBUIHUpcDKQQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=goodwin%20clarke%20whiteley&f=false">how people perceived the issue of immigration</a>. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/eprint/HSXIVRC9CCEGQVXBM28J/full">research</a> looked at how views on immigration change over time among different age groups. Our findings – that there are significant, persistent differences between generations when it comes to their attitudes to immigration – are particularly relevant in the context of the UK’s Brexit referendum.</p>
<p>Long before the Brexit referendum, we began investigating whether people in Western democracies that had experienced large-scale, post-war immigration might be growing more tolerant of living in a more diverse society. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2096296.pdf?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">Some research</a> suggests such a shift is unlikely, as people tend to respond to increases in diversity by feeling threatened and hostile. Others, however, predict that more diversity may lead to more contact between groups of people from different ethnic origins, which may eventually <a href="https://spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/josi.12120">increase tolerance and acceptance</a>. </p>
<p>So far, much of the existing research on attitudes to immigration has largely ignored the potential importance of generational differences. Yet other research has found these different generations have different views on various social issues, including valuing individual freedom over order and environmental protection. Researchers have long contended that <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Nf9ZDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=inglehart+culture+shift&ots=FluuWbDDeN&sig=yIwe2Y4NgkVog1qXcgEYNgxBu9E#v=onepage&q=inglehart%20culture%20shift&f=false">such generational differences are likely</a> because the conditions when people “come of age” politically and socially – generally thought to be between the ages of 15 to 20 – are instrumental in shaping their opinions, attitudes, and behaviours later in life.</p>
<h2>Shifting attitudes</h2>
<p>In our research, we used a public opinion dataset that spans 2002-17 to follow the attitudes of several generations of British citizens. We looked at how their attitudes to immigration shifted over this period and whether the views of some generations were persistently different from one another.</p>
<p>Our statistical analysis shows that those born between approximately 1920 and 1960 are generally among the most negative about immigration, with those born around 1940-5 holding the most negative attitudes to immigration of all. As the graph below also shows, for generations born after 1960, we found a small but steadily significant movement towards more positive attitudes to immigration among younger generations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282662/original/file-20190704-51292-1q4iyns.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282662/original/file-20190704-51292-1q4iyns.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/282662/original/file-20190704-51292-1q4iyns.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282662/original/file-20190704-51292-1q4iyns.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282662/original/file-20190704-51292-1q4iyns.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282662/original/file-20190704-51292-1q4iyns.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282662/original/file-20190704-51292-1q4iyns.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/282662/original/file-20190704-51292-1q4iyns.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The solid line is the average immigration attitudes across birth cohorts, controlling for factors including education, gender, individual economic circumstances, and survey year. The dashed lines are the range of confidence surrounding these averages.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">McLaren et al.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The impact of diversity</h2>
<p>This trend tracks post-war increases in <a href="https://www.migrationwatchuk.org/briefing-paper/48">levels of diversity in the UK</a>. As the country has become more diverse, and more open to immigration, younger generations who’ve grown up with this increased diversity are the most positive about it. So something about the experiences of these younger generations appears to be leading them to different conclusions about immigration compared to their elders.</p>
<p>One possibility is that the younger groups are experiencing far more contact with immigrant minorities than their elders, and our research shows that this is indeed the case. It’s also possible that younger generations came of age at a time when public debates around immigration were changing and social norms along with them – and people were becoming more intolerant of intolerance. Exposure to more affordable international travel and to friends and relatives who’ve worked abroad may allow these younger groups to empathise more with being a “foreigner” than their parents do, or maybe they feel more like “citizens of the world”. <a href="https://www.pippanorris.com/cultural-backlash/">Other researchers</a> are also finding major generational differences in other social attitudes over long periods of time, with younger generations having more socially liberal attitudes.</p>
<p>But society remains dominated by generations born before 1970, where anti-immigrant attitudes are most prevalent. These older generations still make up the bulk of the population, vote in the largest numbers and – whether in politics, media, business, or culture – dominate key positions in society.</p>
<p>Our findings highlight the possibility of growing tolerance of diversity in the UK as a result of “generational replacement”, as those born after 1970 become more central to society in the coming decades. This makes it more likely that continued diversity brought about by immigration could soon be met with more positive reactions. </p>
<p>This is clearly relevant in relation to the promise by Brexiteers to “take back control” of immigration in the context of the UK’s relationship with the EU – and one of the main drivers for the 2016 referendum in the first place. These findings therefore seem crucial to the UK’s impending departure from the EU. In the not-too-distant future, a key element which drove the vote to Leave – concerns over immigration – may carry far less importance. </p>
<p><em>This article was updated in August 2020 with a new link to the academics’ research paper, rather than the original working paper.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119856/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauren McLaren has received funding from the British Academy for some of her research projects.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anja Neundorf has received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council in the past. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Paterson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research found persistent differences between generations of people in the UK when it comes to their attitudes to immigration.Lauren McLaren, Professor of Politics, University of LeicesterAnja Neundorf, Professor of Politics and Research Methods, University of GlasgowIan Paterson, Lecturer, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1146792019-04-04T10:45:18Z2019-04-04T10:45:18ZPet owners want to be masters, not servants – which is why we value dogs more than cats<p><a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/06/13/lion-kings-why-cats-are-the-lords-of-the-internet/">Cat videos may rule the internet</a>, but dogs possess mastery of their owners’ hearts – at least if spending is any guide. </p>
<p>A survey of pet owners found that they <a href="https://americanpetproducts.org/Uploads/MemServices/GPE2017_NPOS_Seminar.pdf">spent an average of US$2,883</a> in 2016 on 22 “common expenses” for their dogs, compared with $1,926 for cats, based on an analysis of the data collected for the 2017-2018 National Pet Owners Survey. The <a href="https://www.americanpetproducts.org/press_industrytrends.asp">extra money went primarily toward</a> vet visits and kennel boarding, but dog owners also spent more on treats, grooming and toys. </p>
<p>My 2019 paper, “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.02.057">Dogs Have Masters, Cats Have Staff</a>,” shines some light on why.</p>
<h2>A growing market</h2>
<p>Americans are spending more on pet care as an increasing share of U.S. households own an animal. </p>
<p>A little over <a href="https://americanpetproducts.org/Uploads/MemServices/GPE2017_NPOS_Seminar.pdf">two-thirds of all U.S. households</a> own at least one pet, up from <a href="https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-pet-statistics">56% in 1988</a>, the first year of the National Pet Owners Survey. </p>
<p>And almost half of households own a dog, while just 38 percent have a cat. Generational trends suggest this divergence is likely to grow, as millennials are more likely to adopt a canine, while baby boomers tend to be cat lovers. </p>
<p>This is resulting in a <a href="https://www.americanpetproducts.org/press_industrytrends.asp">growing market for pet-related products and services</a>, which hit an estimated $72 billion in 2018, up from $46 billion a decade earlier. </p>
<h2>A willingness to pay</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.02.057">My study</a> builds on <a href="https://doi.org/10.2460/javma.232.4.531">earlier research</a> showing that dog owners are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2603652">willing to spend more</a> on their pets than cat owners – including to save their lives. </p>
<p>One reason suggested was that dog owners had stronger bonds to their pets, which prompted them to spend more on things like veterinary care. </p>
<p>My research uncovered a key factor indicating why dog owners feel more attached to their pets: Dogs are famously more compliant than cats. When owners feel in control of their pets, strong feelings of psychological ownership and emotional attachment develop. And pet owners want to be masters – not servants. </p>
<p>Like other marketing researchers, my work uses “willingness to pay” as an indicator of the economic, rather than emotional, value owners place on their pets. It shows – and compares – how much pet owners would pay to save their animal’s life. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267443/original/file-20190403-177178-1n8rfm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267443/original/file-20190403-177178-1n8rfm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267443/original/file-20190403-177178-1n8rfm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267443/original/file-20190403-177178-1n8rfm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267443/original/file-20190403-177178-1n8rfm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267443/original/file-20190403-177178-1n8rfm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267443/original/file-20190403-177178-1n8rfm7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dog owners are willing to pay twice as much as cat owners for a life-saving surgery.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Extreme-Heat-Wave/e4af2fd4aa0242d5917048d208541c9f/8/0">AP Photo/Angie Wang</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Who’s in control?</h2>
<p>So I carried out three online experiments to explore the role of psychological ownership in these valuations. </p>
<p>In the first experiment, I asked dog or cat owners to write about their pet’s behavior so I could measure their feelings of control and psychological ownership. Participants then imagined their pet became ill and indicated the most they would be willing to pay for a life-saving surgery.</p>
<p>Dog owners, on average, said they would pay $10,689 to save the life of their pet, whereas cat owners offered less than half that. At the same time, dog owners tended to perceive more control and psychological ownership over their pets, suggesting this might be the reason for the difference in spending. </p>
<p>Of course, correlation is not causation. So in a second experiment, I asked participants how much they would be willing to pay to save their animal’s life after I had disturbed their sense of ownership. I did this by asking participants to imagine their pet’s behavior was a result of training it received from a previous owner.</p>
<p>As expected, disrupting their feelings of ownership eliminated the difference in valuation between dogs and cats.</p>
<p>Since pet owners like to control their animals, and since cats are less controllable than dogs, the third experiment went straight to the point: Does the owner value the dog or cat for its own sake or for its compliant behavior?</p>
<p>To find out, I again asked survey respondents to describe how much they’d be willing to pay to save their pet’s life, but this time I randomly assigned one of four scenarios: Participants were told they either own a dog, a cat, a dog that behaves like a cat, or a cat that behaves like a dog. </p>
<p>Participants reported they would pay $4,270 to save the life of their dog, but only $2,462 for their cat. However, this pattern was reversed when the pet’s behavior changed, with dog-behaving cats valued at $3,636, but cat-behaving dogs only $2,372.</p>
<p>These results clearly show that the animal’s behavior is what makes people willing to pay. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267433/original/file-20190403-177193-1842prv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/267433/original/file-20190403-177193-1842prv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267433/original/file-20190403-177193-1842prv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267433/original/file-20190403-177193-1842prv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267433/original/file-20190403-177193-1842prv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267433/original/file-20190403-177193-1842prv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/267433/original/file-20190403-177193-1842prv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">When cats act more like dogs, people say they’d spend more money on them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cute-little-bengal-cat-on-leash-198531950">pixfix/shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Master or servant</h2>
<p>These findings establish that psychological ownership is a driving factor in dog owners’ higher valuations. </p>
<p>People feel ownership because they perceive that they can control their pets’ behavior. This research even distinguishes the type of control that probably most stimulates ownership feelings: It’s not just physical control, such as being able to pick up an animal or drag it by a leash. Rather, it’s the animal’s voluntary compliance with its owner’s wishes.</p>
<p>No matter how cute and cuddly your kitties may be, they can’t compete with dogs when it comes to giving pet owners the sense of mastery they seek. </p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to correct how much pet owners say they spend on their cats and explain the data more completely.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114679/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Colleen P. Kirk does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pet owners spend a lot more on dogs than cats, and new research suggests it has a lot to do with how differently canines and felines behave.Colleen P. Kirk, Assistant Professor of Marketing, New York Institute of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1132402019-03-20T17:36:56Z2019-03-20T17:36:56ZTeens have less face time with their friends – and are lonelier than ever<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/264693/original/file-20190319-60956-6picsy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Teens aren't necessarily less social, but the contours of their social lives have changed.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pxhere.com/en/photo/519646">pxhere</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ask a teen today how she communicates with her friends, and she’ll probably hold up her smartphone. Not that she actually calls her friends; it’s more likely that she texts them or messages them on social media. </p>
<p>Today’s teens – the generation I call “<a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/iGen/Jean-M-Twenge/9781501152016">iGen</a>” that’s also called Gen Z – are constantly connected with their friends via digital media, spending as much as <a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/about-us/news/press-releases/landmark-report-us-teens-use-an-average-of-nine-hours-of-media-per-day">nine hours a day on average</a> with screens. </p>
<p>How might this influence the time they spend with their friends in person?</p>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1430162?journalCode=rics20">studies</a> have found that people who spend more time on social media actually have <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/11/28/teens-who-are-constantly-online-are-just-as-likely-to-socialize-with-their-friends-offline/">more face time with friends</a>.</p>
<p>But studies like this are only looking at people already operating in a world suffused with smartphones. They can’t tell us how teens spent their time before and after <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/ppm-ppm0000203.pdf">digital media use surged</a>. </p>
<p>What if we zoomed out and compared how often previous generations of teens spent time with their friends to how often today’s teens are doing so? And what if we also saw how feelings of loneliness differed across the generations? </p>
<p>To do this, my co-authors and I examined trends in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407519836170">how 8.2 million U.S. teens</a> spent time with their friends since the 1970s. It turns out that today’s teens are socializing with friends in fundamentally different ways – and also happen to be the loneliest generation on record.</p>
<h2>Less work, but fewer hangs?</h2>
<p>After studying two large, nationally representative surveys, we found that although the amount of time teens spent with their friends face to face has declined since the 1970s, the drop accelerated after 2010 – just as smartphones use started to grow.</p>
<p>Compared with teenagers in previous decades, iGen teens are less likely to get together with their friends. They’re also less likely to go to parties, go out with friends, date, ride in cars for fun, go to shopping malls or go to the movies. </p>
<p>It’s not because they are spending more time on work, homework or extracurricular activities. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cdev.12930">Today’s teens</a> hold fewer paid jobs, homework time is either unchanged or down since the 1990s, and time spent on extracurricular activities is about the same.</p>
<p>Yet they’re spending less time with their friends in person – and by large margins. In the late 1970s, 52 percent of 12th-graders got together with their friends almost every day. By 2017, only 28 percent did. The drop was especially pronounced after 2010. </p>
<p><iframe id="5ezEn" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/5ezEn/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Today’s 10th-graders go to about 17 fewer parties a year than 10th-graders in the 1980s did. Overall, 12th-graders now spend an hour less on in-person social interaction on an average day than their Gen X predecessors did. </p>
<p>We wondered if these trends would have implications for feelings of loneliness, which are also measured in one of the surveys. Sure enough, just as the drop in face-to-face time accelerated after 2010, teens’ feelings of loneliness shot upward. </p>
<p>Among 12th graders, 39 percent said they often felt lonely in 2017, up from 26 percent in 2012. Thirty-eight percent said they often felt left out in 2017, up from 30 percent in 2012. In both cases, the 2017 numbers were all-time highs since the questions were first asked in 1977, with loneliness declining among teens before suddenly increasing.</p>
<p><iframe id="UmhvG" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/UmhvG/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>A new cultural norm</h2>
<p>As previous studies have shown, we did find that those teens who spent more time on social media also spent more time with their friends in person. </p>
<p>So why have in-person social interactions been going down, overall, as digital media use has increased? </p>
<p>It has to do with the group versus the individual. </p>
<p>Imagine a group of friends that doesn’t use social media. This group regularly gets together, but the more outgoing members are willing to hang out more than others, who might stay home once in a while. Then they all sign up for Instagram. The social teens are still more likely to meet up in person, and they’re also more active on their accounts. </p>
<p>However, the total number of in-person hangs for everyone in the group drops as social media replaces some face-to-face time. </p>
<p>So the decline in face-to-face interaction among teens isn’t just an individual issue; it’s a generational one. Even teens who eschew social media are affected: Who will hang out with them when most of their peers are alone in their bedrooms scrolling through Instagram?</p>
<p>Higher levels of loneliness are just the tip of the iceberg. Rates of <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-mental-health-crisis-among-americas-youth-is-real-and-staggering-113239">depression</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-might-explain-the-unhappiness-epidemic-90212">unhappiness</a> also skyrocketed among teens after 2012, perhaps because spending more time with screens and less time with friends isn’t the best formula for mental health.</p>
<p>Some have argued that teens are simply <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2014/3/13/5488558/danah-boyd-interview-the-era-of-facebook-is-an-anomaly">choosing to communicate with their friends in a different way</a>, so the shift toward electronic communication isn’t concerning. </p>
<p>That argument assumes that electronic communication is just as good for assuaging loneliness and depression as face-to-face interaction. It seems clear that this isn’t the case. There’s something about being around another person – about touch, about eye contact, about laughter – that can’t be replaced by digital communication. </p>
<p>The result is a generation of teens who are lonelier than ever before.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113240/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jean Twenge does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In the late 1970s, 52 percent of 12th-graders hung out with their friends almost every day. By 2017, only 28 percent were doing so.Jean Twenge, Professor of Psychology, San Diego State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1132392019-03-14T13:40:52Z2019-03-14T13:40:52ZThe mental health crisis among America’s youth is real – and staggering<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263488/original/file-20190312-86703-860i6e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Between 2009 and 2017, rates of major depression among 20- to 21-year-olds more than doubled.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/illustration-woman-head-her-hands-356270027">Ana Ado/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The first signs of a problem started to emerge around 2014: More young people said they felt <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/news/poll-finds-many-new-college-students-feel-overwhelmed/">overwhelmed</a> and depressed. College counseling centers <a href="https://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/09/cover-pressure">reported sharp increases</a> in the number of students seeking treatment for mental health issues.</p>
<p>Even as studies were showing increases in symptoms of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702617723376">depression</a> and in <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/mm6630a6.htm">suicide</a> among adolescents since 2010, some researchers called the concerns overblown and claimed there simply isn’t enough good data to reach that conclusion.</p>
<p>The idea that there’s an epidemic in anxiety or depression among youth “is simply a myth,” psychiatrist Richard Friedman <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/07/opinion/sunday/teenager-anxiety-phones-social-media.html">wrote in The New York Times last year</a>. Others suggested young people were simply <a href="https://www.health.com/condition/depression/anxiety-depression-college-university-students">more willing to get help</a> when they needed it. Or perhaps counseling centers’ outreach efforts were becoming more effective.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/abn-abn0000410.pdf">a new analysis of a large representative survey</a> reinforces what I – <a href="https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/138/6/e20161878">and others</a> – have been saying: The epidemic is all too real. In fact, the increase in mental health issues among teens and young adults is nothing short of staggering. </p>
<h2>An epidemic of anguish</h2>
<p>One of the best ways to find out if mental health issues have increased is to talk to a representative sample of the general population, not just those who seek help. <a href="https://nsduhweb.rti.org/respweb/homepage.cfm">The National Survey on Drug Use and Health</a>, administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has done just that. </p>
<p>It surveyed over 600,000 Americans. Recent trends are startling. </p>
<p>From 2009 to 2017, major depression among 20- to 21-year-olds more than doubled, rising from 7 percent to 15 percent. Depression surged 69 percent among 16- to 17-year-olds. Serious psychological distress, which includes feelings of anxiety and hopelessness, jumped 71 percent among 18- to 25-year-olds from 2008 to 2017. Twice as many 22- to 23-year-olds attempted suicide in 2017 compared with 2008, and 55 percent more had suicidal thoughts. The increases were more pronounced among girls and young women. By 2017, one out of five 12- to 17-year-old girls had experienced major depression in the previous year.</p>
<p>Is it possible that young people simply became more willing to admit to mental health problems? My co-authors and I tried to address this possibility by analyzing data on actual suicide rates <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db330.htm">collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>. Suicide is a behavior, so changes in suicide rates can’t be caused by more willingness to admit to issues. </p>
<p>Tragically, suicide also jumped during the period. For example, the suicide rate among 18- to 19-year-olds climbed 56 percent from 2008 to 2017. Other behaviors related to depression have also increased, <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2664031">including emergency department admissions for self-harm</a>, such as cutting, as well as hospital admissions for suicidal thoughts and <a href="https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/141/6/e20172426">suicide attempts</a>.</p>
<p>The large increases in mental health issues in the National Survey on Drug Use and Health appeared almost exclusively among teens and young adults, with less change among Americans ages 26 and over. Even after statistically controlling for the influences of age and year, we found that depression, distress and suicidal thoughts were much higher among those born in the mid- to late-1990s, the generation I call <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/iGen/Jean-M-Twenge/9781501152016">iGen</a>.</p>
<p>The mental health crisis seems to be a generational issue, not something that affects Americans of all ages. And that, more than anything else, might help researchers figure out why it’s happening.</p>
<h2>The shift in social life</h2>
<p>It’s always difficult to determine the causes behind trends, but some possibilities seem less likely than others. </p>
<p>A troubled economy and job loss, two typical culprits of mental stress, don’t appear to be to blame. That’s because <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdp-growth">U.S. economic growth was strong</a> and the <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/unemployment-rate">unemployment rate dropped significantly</a> from 2011 to 2017, when mental health issues were rising the most.</p>
<p>It’s unlikely that academic pressure was the cause, as iGen <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12930">teens spent less time on homework on average than teens did in the 1990s</a>.</p>
<p>Although the increase in mental health issues occurred around the same time as the opioid epidemic, that crisis seemed to almost exclusively affect <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db294.htm">adults older than 25</a>. </p>
<p>But there was one societal shift over the past decade that influenced the lives of today’s teens and young adults more than any other generation: the spread of smartphones and digital media like social media, texting and gaming.</p>
<p>While older people use these technologies as well, <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/14/about-a-quarter-of-americans-report-going-online-almost-constantly/">younger people adopted them more quickly and completely</a>, and the impact on their social lives was more pronounced. In fact, it has drastically restructured their daily lives. </p>
<p>Compared with their predecessors, teens today <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/09/has-the-smartphone-destroyed-a-generation/534198/">spend less time with their friends in person</a> and <a href="https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/ppm-ppm0000203.pdf">more time communicating electronically</a>, which study after study has found <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-might-explain-the-unhappiness-epidemic-90212">is associated with mental health issues</a>. </p>
<p>No matter the cause, the rise in mental health issues among teens and young adults deserves attention, not a dismissal as a “myth.” With more young people suffering – including more attempting suicide and more taking their own lives – the mental health crisis among American young people can no longer be ignored.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113239/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jean Twenge does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some have called reports overblown, with others going so far as to call it a myth. But the data that continues to emerge tell a different story.Jean Twenge, Professor of Psychology, San Diego State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.