NEWSWIRE: 4/3/17
- Designers have created “smartphone-friendly” women’s blazers that hang naturally, hide bulges, and enable easy phone access. The garments could be a hit among young working women for whom a smartphone is a necessary part of the ensemble. (The Wall Street Journal)
- Congress has repealed Internet privacy protections that would have forced ISPs to notify customers about the types of information they collect and share. The move is a big win for telecoms like AT&T, who can use vast quantities of consumer data to build up lucrative targeted advertising operations. (CNN)
- NH: This is a big win for the telecoms, which helps secure all four ways they hope to profit from ISP consumers (that is, from just about all of us). Next up comes net neutrality, and early indications are that it will be neutered by the Trump White House and the GOP in Congress. Finally...approval of the AT&T-Time Warner merger, something that Trump once claimed to oppose. It seems not to matter to the GOP that telecoms are just about the least popular industry in the opinion of most Americans.
- Millennial contributor Alexandra Petri is sick of so-called “Millennial pink,” and attempts to assign the color to other generations. Some best hits include her description for G.I. pink (“This pink is the color of the stripy part of the American Flag when seen from far away”), and Gen-X pink (“If anyone paid attention to it, we would discover that it is actually more like black”). (The Washington Post)
- NH: Androgynous pink--meant to indicate nice, soft, friendly nonthreatening, tolerant, etc. It's the color equivalent of a smiley face or a thumbs up. Few other youth generations would have tolerated all this pink, but apparently most Millennials (this writer excepted) are OK with it.
- Columnist Paul Harasim urges Boomers to overcome the stigma and get tested for hepatitis C. Although this disease is often associated with drug abuse, Harasim argues that most Boomers contracted the “Yuppie Flu” from donated blood and organs and shouldn’t be reluctant to talk to their doctors. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
- NH: To be sure, hep C (like HIV) can be contracted without engaging in high-risk behavior. Maybe 10-15% of infected Boomers got it through vaccinations and transfusions. The evidence suggests, though, that the vast majority got it from intravenous drug use, high-risk sex, or tattooing/piercing earlier in their lives. (Hep C infection takes about 20 years to become clinical.) The prison population is estimated to account for roughly one-third of all U.S. hep C infections.
- New data show that U.S. home prices in January accelerated at the steepest rate in three years. Rather than signifying a vastly improved housing market, however, these figures reflect extremely limited supply (housing inventory is at its lowest level since data tracking began in 1999). (The Wall Street Journal)
- Critic and designer Phineas Harper argues that young Homelanders aren’t allowed to truly play on playgrounds anymore. He makes a solid point: Today’s hyper-protective Gen-X parents are doing everything short of bubble-wrapping their children to keep them safe (even on the playground). (Dezeen)
- Contributor Hunter Harris recounts the most Millennial attributes of the new Power Rangers reboot. Making the cut: the movie’s upbeat, campy atmosphere, its liberal use of sponsored content, and even an anti-cyberbullying pitch. (Vulture.com)
- Xer Philip Matthews traces the trajectory of his peers as they enter their 50s. Although Generation X was saddled with low expectations, plagued by too much debt, and hit hardest by the housing crisis, the author makes it very clear that his generation has always rolled with the punches, and will continue to do so in the years ahead. (Stuff.co.nz)
- On average, Millennial parents are saving more per month for their children’s college education ($310) than for their own retirement, a down payment on a home, or unexpected medical bills. Millennials clearly don’t want their kids to fall down the same student loan rabbit hole that has eaten away at their own savings. (TD Ameritrade)
- In the face of a retail slump, mall owners are marketing to health care providers to fill vacancies and boost foot traffic. This is a smart move, thanks to an impending wave of aging Boomers who will increasingly push up demand for health care services in the coming decades. (The Wall Street Journal)
- NH: The "new mall" will still feature high-end boutiques and "experience" retail as anchor stores--but otherwise all the new space will go to in-person services (health, exercise, spa, food) and community meeting places.
- Senior citizens are increasingly auditing college courses—and universities have been developing retirement communities on or near campus to keep up with demand. Instead of sequestering themselves in retirement communities, Silent and Boomers will continue to develop individual pursuits in the outside world, whether as students, instructors, or volunteers. (The Wall Street Journal)
- Americans are having less sex—and 20-somethings are having sex the least often compared to their elders at the same age. While the study’s author argues that Millennials aren’t happy and therefore aren’t rolling in the hay, it’s more likely that risk-averse Millennials are more focused on their academic and professional pursuits. (Archives of Sexual Behavior)
- Just 20% of Americans would trust a self-driving car to transport them safely, while 75% would be afraid of handing over control. On top of these concerns, automakers face myriad technological hurdles preventing them from bringing self-driving cars to the masses. (AAA)
- NH: Interestingly, the share of Boomers afraid of self-driving cars (82%) was not that much higher than the share of younger Americans (69%).
- Last year, one in five homebuyers ages 52 to 61—and 14% of homebuyers ages 62 to 70—purchased a multigenerational home. To the extent that Boomers are moving, many are on the lookout for a home that will comfortably fit themselves and their adult children. (National Association of Realtors)
- Millennial contributor Caroline Beaton argues that young people today have trouble forming deep relationships—and that their attachment to technology only enhances their loneliness. She misses a major point: Millennials are the most social generation in recent history, and are (by and large) using their devices to stay connected. (Forbes)
- NH: Later marriage does push more Millennials to worry more about loneliness and engage in other forms of companionship. But Millennials are managing this pretty well. Beaton is wrong to imply that a rising share of single Millennials are living alone or moving more frequently. (The opposite is true.)
DID YOU KNOW?
Teens Cash in on the Sharing Economy. Are you in the market for a used sweater? It’s likely that 18-year-old Kaimi Quipotla has something for you. As The Wall Street Journal reports, Quipotla is one of a growing number of Millennials who are turning their wardrobes into online storefronts using sharing economy apps like Poshmark. Quipotla, who first started using Poshmark to add unique used goods to her collection, reportedly has earned nearly $4,000 on the app since 2013. Such apps have become runaway hits among Millennial consumers at the expense of traditional teen apparel retailers: Fully 36 percent of 14- to 19-year-olds say they’ve used online resale apps before—higher than the share who have patronized a specialty retailer in the past six months (35 percent). Why? Many Millennials simply want unique clothing that can’t be found on store shelves—like 17-year-old Genevieve Stunkard, who says she doesn’t shop at traditional retailers because “I don’t want to look like everyone around me.”
Up, Up, and Away! We’ve written before about how today’s parents are using social-emotional learning to train their Homelander children in the art of self-regulation. (See: “Children, Behave Yourselves.”) Now, parents are trying a novel tactic to teach these traits: superhero dress-up. One parent, Kristen Ramm, says that she allowed her young son to wear a Spider-Man costume to the grocery store to motivate him to dress himself. Her son was also encouraged to don superhero attire in order to better cope with stressful situations—like flying. Another parent reports that her son summoned resilience after cutting his forehead by thinking about the healing powers of Wolverine. These unconventional tactics are backed up by research. In one study, children impersonating a superhero were able to stick to a tedious task longer than a control group. In another, preschoolers wearing a Superman cape were seven times more likely to delay gratification (in this case, waiting 20 minutes for a snack).
