GENERATION NOW
I’m a Netflix Junkie. I’ll never be satisfied with a TV series again in which I have to wait one week for the next episode. I’m not proud of this, but it is a fact of my life.
If my phone is slow (despite the latest update) or if my office computer takes 10 seconds to load, I yell at it. No cute kitty video is worth the wait.
The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project sums up a recent study about people under the age of 35 and the dangers of their hyper-connected lives with what sounds like a prescription drug warning: “Negative effects include a need for instant gratification and loss of patience.”
But it’s not just GenY. Any generation that is impatient waiting in line at the social security office or at the dentist knows that tolerance for delay is in very short supply.
Since we have grown up in a generation of unparalleled wealth and prosperity, it has led to an entitlement trap of wanting things NOW versus working hard and saving in the hopes of getting in someday.
Despite older generations’ criticisms, it’s exhilarating to see GenY forced to think in entrepreneurial ways versus looking to employers for all of the answers despite the economy and mounting student loan debt. These young adults are digital natives that are adapting in ways that some of us will never be able to understand or relate to. It’s a very exciting journey and I’m eager to be along for the ride (more like a chase)…even if it is from an old-fashioned, digital immigrant perspective.
Attention my (non GenY) colleagues. Don’t despair. Be patient, be strategic, and trend track to achieve unconventional success through value innovation. By eliminating features not wanted by this market segment and discovering unknown market space, competitive advantage will be knocking on your laptop.
Good point, I think that along with high speed access, the information itself about future events, programming create countdowns that make everything seem ‘imminent’ (and if so, why isn’t it here already!?!?). When a new series is available, we can watch it all in one shot, something that was tricky at best ‘back in the day’. Even barely one generation ago, we had dial-up service for the internet. Even at stadiums, banks and highway toll collections, three places notorious for long lines, the digital era has all but eliminated their need.
Sorry I posted too soon, your addendum that the next generation has taken this information and helped accelerate the momentum exponentially in terms of technology and making ideas come to reality is a positive outcome in the ideas of speed and quality in production.