Gen Y is the “I’ll Help Everyone” Generation

Gen Y is a product of the Information Age - a generation of problem solvers

Generation- Y is cautiously optimistic, a by-product of our ability to process the huge amounts of information that the world around us is now able to produce. This allows for global events to influence us on a detailed, daily, and constant level. The Challenger Disaster, Persian Gulf Wars, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Columbine shootings, dot-com error bust, 9-11, and the current state of our economy combine to make us cautious of the world around us.

While there is a lot to be cautious about, not one of us is troubled or worried that we can’t make it. Our optimism stems from our ability to use the information we interact with on a daily basis as the root of our problem solving abilities. We take in lessons of the past, compare it to the current state of our society, and produce solutions by creating new products and ideas for the future.

Gen Y has an overwhelming concern for our surroundings

While many argue that Generation-Y is the “Me-Generation,” I have a completely different view of who we really are. Sure a lot of our statements begin with “I” and end with “me,” but it’s a means to get to a point and a position to help “you,” better yet, “we.” I refuse to work for a corporate company in a cubicle making $50,000 a year to merely support myself; I am interested in gaining personal wealth to use as a means of bettering the world around me.

I have little interest in a lavish lifestyle; it’s the positive impact on a portion of society that will be my true wealth.

Don’t measure the success of Generation Y in terms of money

Apple deserves a lot of credit for their latest commercial marketing the iTouch, the lyrics to Brendan Benson’s song is overwhelmingly successful in defining the Generation-Y market: “Well I don’t know what I’m looking for, But I know that I just wanna look some more, And I won’t be satisfied, ‘Till there’s nothing left that I haven’t tried.”

There are no clear paths to adult life anymore, but Generation Y knows this intuitively; achieving conventional goals in unconventional ways is a great way for us to learn. That process of discovery is a pretty cool way to spend life.

Our paths will cross, our ideas will grow, and our access to new ideas and vast information means that our success will be incomparable to anything before us. Just don’t look for all us to be wealthy as a result of money. For Generation Y, wealth will not be in the form of money, but in the form of happiness and contentment from solving problems and contributing to the community.