Frankie Says Relax
Written for our company’s blog, here are a few of our thoughts on our generation and some of the press we’ve been reading recently.
So apparently, somewhere between Oregon Trail in computer class, our Nick shows in the ‘90s, finding our identity via super rad screen names on AIM, middle school, high school and college… something went horribly wrong. Somewhere along the way, we became a lost generation - the most desired and somehow also the dumbest generation to date. From a prophetic perch, publishers looked down and warned, “Eeeek! The Millennials are coming!” “They can’t read non-verbal cues!” “They’re headed on a path to downward mobility!” “They think they all deserve a trophy!” “Watch out for generation meeeeee!”
Sex, drugs, workplace shakeups…
We’re not entirely sure how this happened but somehow, here we are. Three kids circa ’84 and ’85 trying to figure out where exactly we fit into all of this.
Yup, we’re entitled. Our parents told us that we are brilliant and that’s why we love them; it’s why we’re still cool with answering the gillions of texts they send (out of <3!) when they’re thinking of us. We have a lot of tools and opportunities at our disposal (i.e. all the wonky little widgets, the access, the community that the World Wide Web provides). We could go on. Some of us take advantage of that and do something cool like these kids who inevitably make us all feel altogether unaccomplished. Some of us don’t.
Oh and we’re quite attractive, if we do say so ourselves. We’re sure you know that stat about our spending power, our pending explosion in 2010 when we will take over the world, or at least surpass the size of the Boomer Generation, and didn’t someone just confirm that young hipsters are going to save the economy?
We will also shake up the workplace…possibly… if we’re smart and know that it’s a great time to speak up with clever ideas and push our passion with all we’ve got.
And sometimes, just sometimes, we struggle with nonverbal cues.
But here’s the thing. We’re completely a mixed bag. In fact, the most random mixed bag to date. And these silly little labels that cast us all in a crazy light do nothing to actually describe who you’re dealing with. Lots of press, lots of promotion geared towards us… lots of pressure and pointless banter. Frankie WE say, relax. Chill out. Engage us, talk with us, hear us. We’re real people. We’re really different and we respect people, brands, ladies and gents of the press who take the time to get to know us for who we are rather than preach or promote based on the punky little label that’s out there.
Y2K became a campy (and still hilarious) anecdote we lived through. Chaos! Panic! World domination! Cheesy promotional memorabilia! “Millennial,” “Gen Y,” “Gen Me”…. Don’t get caught up in this either.
Ok, phew. Now that we’ve said our little rant, let’s have a real chat. We’ll be posting here on a regular basis to share bits of our lives, our ideas, our thoughts, our stories, our completely brilliant and sometimes altogether unqualified perspective. We hope you enjoy it and we hope (hope!) that somehow we can shed the label or at least shed some light on our little “lost generation.”
I’m Matthew. I grew up in the mega-suburbs of Indianapolis and now live in Chicago. I can’t believe I ever lived without mass transit. When I’m not ideating on the future of media or PowerPoint-ing at work, I’m usually nose-deep in a Tumblr. It’s magical wire mirrors my identity: politics, art, fashion and all things LGBT. Being out since my junior year of high school, many of my core interests and activities surround lesbian, gay, bisexual & transgender equality and culture.
I’m Jeanette. Hey y’all. (I live in the core of the southern United States, so I believe that can pass as a grammatically correct salutation). From the outside it may look like I am playing grown-up. A home owner that takes care of two dogs, me and my equally as young husband try to balance our budding careers and home life. Make no mistake though, I am true child of the 80’s and 90’s. I went to one of the top art schools in the world, my purchasing philosophy is always quality over quantity and I will participate in almost anything with free food.
I’m Amanda. I grew up on the Web. I was born right around the time one of the first community networks went live. I started middle school with AIM and Google, high school with Napster and college with MySpace, Flickr and the first video blog. On my first day of college, my R.A. told me and my dormmates that we had to join a new site called “The Facebook” and, as I attended one of my last panel discussions in college and was caught Twittering in the front row, I happily realized that I had graduated into a total, steadfast geek. In fact, Stowe Boyd says my media habits have left me with a tabbed cerebral cortex. I’m a nerd… nope, better… I’m a digital kid.
