NEWSWIRE: 2/12/18
- Courts and lawyers face a new quandary: how to interpret emojis used in critical communications. The informal brand of digital-age communication ushered in by Millennials poses a problem for legal experts faced with decoding the true meaning behind a text or e-mail. (The Wall Street Journal)
- NH: The courtroom has always had to interpret nonverbal gestures like winks or shrugs in determining a person's intent or frame of mind. A new challenge is posed by the emergence of dozens of emoticons (and some 1,281 emojis as of the last official count) that present as part of the court's official text or email record. There is no consensus about what meaning these symbols are supposed to convey. The most troublesome are the sarcasm or wink emoticons, which may or may not exculpate a defendant who appended one of these to a death threat, for instance. More broadly, the spread of emoticons and emojis may reflect the growing emergence of a "post-literate society"--predicted back in the early days of television by Marshall McLuhan and Neil Postman. In a literate society, people construct a public self out of indelible words and arguments that can be tested and cross-referenced over time for consistency. In a post-literate world, people live more "in the now" using images and symbols that derive their emotional meaning from the immediate context and create no coherent or consistent public self. The civic implications of this relativistic shift are clear. As Neil Postman wrote in Amusing Ourselves to Death (over 30 years before the Age of Trump): "A great metaphor shift has taken place in America, with the result that the content of much of our public discourse has become dangerous nonsense."
- Since 2010, the 65+ population in the outer suburbs (+5.7% annually) and exurbs (+4.3%) has grown more than twice as fast as the population in the inner urban core (+2.2%). Clearly, given the size of the Boomer cohorts now moving past age 65, reports of suburbia’s death are greatly exaggerated. (Newgeography.com)
- NH: Yes, it is true that a certain high-socioeconomic subset of retiring Boomers are being enticed into core urban areas--where they sometimes compete with Millennials for condo purchases or rentals. (See: "Boomers Splurge on Luxe, Urban Apartment Rentals.") In terms of overall numbers, however, this trend has been exaggerated out of any proportion. And stories with titles like "Millions Of Seniors Are Moving Back To Big Cities" are just dead wrong. In fact, the net increase in seniors in core urban areas from 2010 to around 2014 (the latest data available from the rolling 5-year Census ACS survey) was less than 200,000. See chart below. We will have to wait to find out about more recent age trends. But we do know that, among all ages, urban growth is now trending down and suburban growth is trending up.
- The king is dead: Budweiser has fallen out of the top three best-selling beer brands in the United States. Like its peers, Budweiser is mostly an afterthought to Millennials who prefer wine and craft beer—if they’re not abstaining from alcohol consumption entirely. (Fortune)
- NH: Even craft beer consumption has lately been flagging. So the relative decline of Bud is coming at a time when overall beer consumption is also sinking. Yes, Millennial wine consumption remains strong, along with some spirits (e.g., vodka, tequila). Overall, though, there's definitely a turn away from alcohol--which some observers link to the rise of cannabis.
- Columnist Laura Bliss says stepping into a WeWork location is “like entering the Millennial id.” It’s not just craft beer and cucumber water that makes co-working spaces a good Millennial fit—it’s the collaborative energy created by WeWork’s very business model. (The Atlantic)
- NH: Worth $20 billion, WeWork is obviously doing something right. International Workplace Group (IWG, formerly Regus), headquartered in Brussels, manages five times more office space around the world yet has only one-eighth the market cap. The difference? IPG uses corporate-speak to market to big business. WeWork uses Millennial-speak to market to individuals. Now even their big "enterprise clients" (like Facebook and KPMG) want to acquire more space from WeWork because it enables them to attract better talent and rub shoulders with more potential clients.
- Boomers are asking their grandkids to call them by distinctive names like “Faux Pa,” “Z,” and “Grandude.” It comes as no surprise that individualistic and youth-fetishizing Boomers can’t let their grandchildren call them “Grandpa” or “Grandma.” (The New York Times)
- Dr. Perri Klass discusses how true “playtime” has eroded among today’s kids. While Boomers and Xers were let loose to play outside until it got dark, Millennials and Homelanders have been increasingly asked to perform structured tasks like studying and “constrained tinkering.” (The New York Times)
- NH: The strong trend during the Millennial childhood was for parents to pare back on unstructured play in favor of more rigorous pursuits--like homework, studying, exam prep, and summer tutorials. The emerging trend of the Homelander childhood is a move back toward play, but structured play, aka gamified education or "serious play," which mixes role-playing and fun with important lessons not just about academic concepts but also about impulse-control and interpersonal relationships. With Homelanders, even play has to have a point. (See: "'Homelander' Kids Are Spending Lots More Time...at Home.")
- The recent stock market plunge has given Millennials, who were already skittish about stocks, even more pause. While Millennials are in the prime life stage for shifting toward risky, high-upside stocks, this generation can’t forget the financial turmoil the stock market caused when they were young. (The New York Times)
- NH: Let me paraphrase an old maxim among financial historians. Generations that start saving for retirement in an era of high yields can look forward to a future of high returns. Generations that start saving for retirement in an era of low yields can look forward to a future of low returns. First-wave Boomers (who reached their mid-30s in the early 1980s) were blessed in this regard. Theirs was a future of multiple expansion. First-wave Millennials (who are reaching their mid-30s today) will probably have to reset their expectations repeatedly. Theirs may be a future of multiple compression. Impact on politics? As Boomers grew older, they warmed to free-market capitalism. Millennials... well, we'll find out.
- The majority of Australian Millennials and Gen Xers (51% of women and 68% of men) don’t care about Valentine’s Day. Younger generations are more interested in experiences than things—which likely dampens their enthusiasm for this consumerist holiday. (GiftFlick)
- Columnist Lorraine Zago Rosenthal reviews the re-release of The Breakfast Club and notes its quintessential Gen-X flair. He hits the nail on the head: This movie captures the misunderstood, beaten-down, and thrown to the curb persona of Xer teens. (PopMatters)
- NH: We all know the memorable line by the high school teacher, played by Paul Gleason: "Now this is the thought that wakes me up in the middle of the night. That when I get older, these kids are going to take care of me." (To which the janitor answers, "Don't count on it.") In the new version, with the floor cuts added back, apparently the janitor makes pretty vicious predictions about what the each of these five young miscreants will become by the time they hit their forties. Time to self-assess, Xers!
- Fully 81% of Millennials are saving money in some capacity, compared to 74% of Generation X and 77% of Boomers. Whether they are saving for a home or a vacation, Millennials have learned from previous generations’ financial mistakes and taking proactive steps as they plan for the future. (Discover)
DID YOU KNOW?
#Vanlife Revs Its Engines. We’ve written about how consumers of all ages are finding something to love about recreational vehicles. (See: “Rec Vehicle Sales Soar.”) The same sense of wanderlust that is buoying RV stocks has also manifested in a booming market for van rentals. Vintage Surfari Wagons, which launched in 2005 with two Volkswagen Westfalias, will have a 25-strong rental fleet by summer 2018. Meanwhile, since opening its doors in 2009, Escape Campervans has expanded to 500 vans spread across eight U.S. locations. While nomadic Xers and adventurous Boomers may be more likely to buy vans, renting hits a sweet spot for Millennials who want a small taste of “#vanlife.” Indeed, Katie Hubbard, director of marketing at Escape Campervans, says that the company’s primary consumer market is 24- to 35-year-olds. In the words of Basecamper Vans cofounder Matt Wolski, “The reality is, full-time [van life] is kind of a pain. But having a little nibble for a week or two every year is really fun.”
