Response to Slate '06 article on "Twentysomethings"

Earlier this week I was forwarded an article from Slate.

The article is titled: The It-Sucks-To-Be-Me Generation: Twentysomethings who can't stop whining about how the economy is screwing them.

Here is the link: http://www.slate.com/id/2134007/?GT1=7641


The article rips on quarterlifers for “ complaining” that life is challenging today--often called called the quarterlife crisis.

The author, Daniel Gross, makes some good points, but he makes one key mistake.

Daniel acknowledges that he felt the same confusion, frustration, and uncertainty back in the 90’ s that quarterlifers feel today. He goes on to say that as he and his friends got older and shifted into a better quality of life the frustrations lessened.

Here is the mistake. It is precisely that quarterlifers don’ t have the life experience that makes the ages between 16-34 so challenging. This is a fact about quarterlifers not a fault. When older generations look back from the vantage point of the future and say, “ Come on… you’ re going to be just fine. ” That is as helpful as teenager telling a 6 month-year-old to just " put one foot in front of the other" to teach him to walk.

The infant needs time and someone to help guide the process. So does the quarterlifer taking his or her first steps into the real world.

This is why I think material written by quarterlifers for quarterlifers is so valuable. Who better to research and find solutions to the biggest questions quarterlifers are facing than someone going through the questions? There is no better market research than life experience. Right?

As quarterlifers is life today harder than for previous generations? No, certainly not across the board, but life today is different. It’ s not as clear cut. There are more decisions to make, more opportunities to choose from.