NEWSWIRE
- Employers are starting to screen candidates and conduct early-stage interviews via text message. This is a win both for recruiters, who can juggle multiple conversations, and potential Millennial hires, who generally dread phone calls and want time to carefully craft their responses. (The Wall Street Journal)
- NH: I tell Gen-X and Boomer managers this all the time: With 3 million+ more Millennials entering the workforce every year, what are the odds that the workplace isn't going to become more like them and less like you? Having said that, I have two reservations about this particular innovation. First, do I want an employee who can't interact with my customers and clients on the phone? And second, should I hire recruiters so devoid of EQ that they would rather run an word algo on a text message than actually listen to a human voice?
- Columnist Alex Williams contends that America has transformed from “Prozac Nation” into the “United States of Xanax.” He’s correct to point out that the downbeat, disinterested experience of Gen-X young adults has given way to the anxiety-fueled, pressure-ridden lifestyle of Millennials. (The New York Times)
- NH: Depression was the debility of choice back in the mid-90s among young grunge-binging Xer "slackers" who wondered if life was worth the effort. That made prozac, which promotes a glow of well-being by triggering the release of serotonin, the decade's theme drug. A generation later, anxiety is the debility of choice among smart-drug addled Millennials who wonder if all their effort makes them worthy enough. Prescriptions for amphetamines (mainly ritalin and adderall) have recently skyrocketed among young adults--having jumped a decade ago among teens and college-age kids. Focus, focus, focus...and you might just make it to the next level. Feeling jittery? OK, sure, slow down with xanax.
- In a Congressional race that was seen as a litmus test for both parties, Republican Karen Handel defeated 30-year-old Democratic hopeful Jon Ossoff in Georgia’s 6th district. The loss sheds doubt on the presumption that President Trump’s poor approval rating will boost the Democratic candidate even in red states. (Salon)
- Fully 56% of Boomers support same-sex marriage—up from 46% in 2016. While Xers and Millennials are far more likely to support same-sex marriage overall, this year marks the first time in history that Boomers have come around on this social issue. (Pew Research Center)
- Just 42% of girls and 44% of boys ages 15-19 say that they’ve ever had sex—down from 51% and 60%, respectively, in 1988. Over the past three decades, risk-averse Millennials have brought down rates of teenage sexual activity—along with teen birthrates, unplanned pregnancies, and STDs. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
- NH: Much has been written about Millennials' more nuanced views toward sexual orientation--not just regarding LGBTs, but also asexuals, gray sexuals, demisexuals, and other rare breeds. Less has been written about how Millennials seem to have less interest in sex overall--a behavioral fact amply demonstrated by CDC data. According to the CDC's newly released 2015 youth risk surveillance survey, in fact, the last two measured years (from 2013 to 2015) saw the biggest two-year decline ever in sexual activity in the history of the survey. Much of the decline among all Millennials can be attributed to later marriage. Among high-school age kids, it is driven by the growing perception that sex is risky. (See: "Where the Wild Things Aren't.")
- About half of consumers would think twice about buying a brand’s products if that brand’s ads ran alongside offensive content. This finding reveals why companies are so quick to pull their products from potentially unfriendly channels for the sake of “brand safety.” (CMO Council)
- NH: See our recent note on brand safety ("Do Brands Need Safe Spaces?"). Keep in mind that almost everything on the Internet is ultimately paid for by advertisers, so the growing fear of "dangerous" sites will have far-reaching implications not just for branding but for content. We are going to see a greater pablumization of the Web--with ever-more ads echoing Reebok's new line ("Be Your Best Self") next to edgeless and conventional messages. You Boomers and Xers looking for transgressive content will have to go to asocial corners of the Web not supported by ads--like behind paywalls. We wrote about the onset of this trend back in 2014 (see: "All Aboard the Smile Train").
- Coal companies have a new message for their young recruits: No hard labor required. According to industry consultant Douglas Blackburn, continued technological advances in the field mean that today, “If you do PlayStation, you can run a 300-ton truck.” (Bloomberg Business)
- NH: The world is becoming gamified. If we can run deadly predators on the other end of the world through a video interface, we can sure do it for ore transporters.
- Media outlets have dubbed those born between 1977 and 1983 “Xennials,” a so-called microgeneration that shares the characteristics of Xers and Millennials. While the term may generate buzz, the truth is that individuals born near the tail end of their generation (which we call “late-wavers”) tend to share characteristics with members of the next generation by virtue of their age location in history. (UPROXX)
- NH: No big deal here. Even if generational breaks are typically discontinuous, "cusp" cohorts near a generational border inevitably acquire some of the attitudinal and behavioral characteristics of their neighbor. Example: Late-wave Boomers and early-wave Xers who are sometimes called "Generation Jones"--a group who came of age with disco and the Reagan-Volcker recession (Barack Obama among them)--often see themselves as a mix of Boomerish and Xerish traits.
- Nestlé has acquired a minority stake in Freshly, a meal delivery company that specializes in healthy fare. In an age when ever-more consumers are buying fresh food (and getting it delivered rather than going to the store), the move makes sense for the sugar-dependent Big Food giant. (Reuters)
- Fully 53% of Millennials believe that more money means more happiness—compared to 38% of Americans overall. Saddled with student loan debt and stuck with low-paying jobs, many Millennials undoubtedly believe that money could cure much of what ails them. (Mintel)
- NH: This is a huge contrast to young Boomers back the in late 1960s, who defiantly claimed to revile materialism in the name of loftier goals. Back then, over 3 in 4 Boomer freshmen claimed to seek "a more meaningful philosophy of life" than "being financially better off." That ratio rapidly reversed in the late 1970s with Gen-X freshmen--and has stayed tilted steeply in favor of money through Millennials, according to the most recent releases of the massive UCLA College Freshman Survey.
DID YOU KNOW?
Baby Boom Times Two. Twins are in the news lately: A-listers Beyoncé and Jay Z just welcomed the two newest members of their family, while George and Amal Clooney did so earlier this year. It’s not just happening in Hollywood: Recent CDC data show that the U.S. twin birth rate hit an all-time high in 2014 before ticking down ever-so slightly in 2015. What’s going on? Rising maternal age is one factor. Childrearing after age 30 comes with a higher chance of a twin birth—and the U.S. mean age at first birth keeps on rising, powered by generational trends. As we’ve mentioned (see: “U.S. Fertility: Down for the Count”), Millennials are putting off childbirth until later in life, while women in older age brackets are having more babies. Another contributor is the growing acceptance of in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatment methods. (See: “In Vitro is In.”) Roughly 40 percent of pregnancies resulting from fertility treatment produce twins, vastly higher than the national average of 3 percent.
