With this generation of young adults coming into its own, we look at who they are and what motivates them. Some say they’re entitled, obsessed with technology, and have short attention spans - but others say Millennials are highly creative, dynamic and more open to new ways of looking at society.
This show was originally broadcast on May 27, 2014.
GUESTS:
- David Burstein – a writer and filmmaker, and author of “Fast Future: How the Millennial Generation is Shaping our World.” A Millennial himself, he also founded and directs the youth voter engagement organization Generation18.
- Paul Harvey – associate professor of management at UNH who has written widely about Millennials in the workplace.
- Paul Taylor - executive vice president of Special Projects with the Pew Research Center. His book is “The Next America: Boomers, Millennials and the Looming Generational Showdown.”
LINKS:
- Paul Taylor on NPR's Morning Edition: "Things are out of balance. Our Social Security and Medicare systems, which, in the public's mind, have done brilliantly in doing what they set out to do, they were based on the demographics of the 20th century. You had, literally, at the beginning, 150 workers per retiree, by the time all the baby boomers move into taking those programs, we'll only have two workers per retiree."
- research by UNH's Paul Harvey on 'entitlement-minded' Millennials: "Managers have reported a lot of problems associated with this – primarily that these employees have unrealistic expectations and a strong resistance toward accepting negative feedback. Basically entitlement involves having an inflated view of oneself, and managers are finding that younger employees are often very resistant to anything that doesn’t involve praise and rewards."
- David Burstein on Millennials in the Huffington Post: In time, history will come to recognize the Millennials as much more than the apathetic, self-involved, generation they have been alleged to be. I expect that the Millennials will be understood as what they are, a generation of pragmatic idealists, living thoughtfully in our own ever-changing times, using the technological and social organization tools we have pioneered to find meaning in our own lives and to have a positive impact on our world.
David Burstein's Ted talk on Millennials:
Paul Harvey discusses his research on Millennials:
Paul Taylor on The Daily Show talking about his new book:
