There is an ancient saying that bears much truth: ‘People resemble their times more than they resemble their parents.’ While age influences behaviour and attitudes, greater impacts are made by the culture in which one lives out one’s youth, as well as social markers – significant events during one’s formative years. However, you would not say that those growing up in the 1970s were the same as those who came of age in the 1990s and those who are coming of age today. The 4 | The ABC of XYZ old Jesuit saying holds true: ‘Give me a child until he is seven, and I will show you the man.’5 Of course, youth of all eras demonstrate some similar characteristics such as an experimental lifestyle, questioning the status quo, idealism and pushing the boundaries. As is evidenced by these statistics, delaying the markers of adulthood (such as marriage, having children, getting a mortgage and a steady career) is characteristic of the Y-ers, just as loyalty – to spouse, boss, brand and country – is characteristic of the Builders. For example, the average age at first marriage for Gen Y today is 28 for a female and 30 years for a male.3 In 1982, when the youngest of the Boomers were in their early 20s, the average age at marriage was 22 for females and 24 for males.4 Among the factors deemed responsible for Generation Y’s unwillingness to commit to binding relationships are relaxed moral codes and high divorce rates. National statistics further demonstrate that generational diversity is not just a matter of life stage. While people of various ages are living through the same events, the age at which one is exposed to a political shift, technological change or social marker determines how embedded it becomes in one’s psyche and worldview. However, generational characteristics are not merely a factor of life stage, or a fad that they will outgrow. Generational characteristics: not a passing fad Some may argue that such attributes as the limited attention span of Gen Y, Australia’s current adolescent and young adult population, is a trait of all young people regardless of the time they were born into, or a passing fad and not a generational trait that they will carry through to mid-life and old age. Therefore we define a generation as a group of people born in the same era, shaped by the same times and influenced by Generations defined | 3 the same social markers – in other words, a cohort united by age and life stage, conditions and technology, events and experiences. Today we have the world’s first global generation. From Beijing to Bangalore, from Buenos Aires to Brisbane, we have a generation accessing the same websites, watching the same movies, downloading the same songs and being influenced by the same brands. Even beyond these developed countries young people are logged on and linked up. Due to globalisation, largely made possible through the various technologies of today, the youth in Australia, the USA, the UK, Germany and Japan are shaped by the same events, trends and developments: they are avid users of social media and online technologies, are witnessing an unprecedented ageing in their populations, and are more financially endowed and formally educated than any generation preceding them. More so now than ever, the commonalities of today’s generations cut through global, cultural and socioeconomic boundaries. Our research showed that not all under 30s use all these words, ho To compile this lexicon we surveyed generations Y and Z and asked them for the key words they use – and the meanings. You will also notice that the spelling, pronunciation and even meanings of many of these words have changed or evolved with the younger generations. If you are a Baby Boomer (born 1946–1964) or a member of Generation X (1965–1979), you will notice some words spawned by your own generation that you probably used as a young person (and perhaps still use), that have been adopted by gens Y and Z. The lexicon at the back of the book contains youth slang in current use by generations Y and Z. American culture, multiculturalism and globalisation continue to have a major impact (to be analysed in the second chapter). Technology isn’t the only force shaping language today. Unlike older generations, they have learned to adapt their spoken and written styles to technology. However, generations Y and Z are a product of our technological age, and their language simply reflects this. Many Australians knock young people for the unorthodox ways in which they use language and communicate. Our spoken and written language is changing – and it is our younger people, the “digital natives”, who are leading the way.
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