NEWSWIRE: 5/1/17
- In 2016, just 24% of 18- to 34-year-olds were in the labor force, living away from parents, living with a child, and had ever been married—down from 45% in 1975. Thanks in large part to a weak economy, Millennials are taking their time reaching all the adulthood milestones compared to previous generations. (U.S. Census Bureau)
- NH: In 2016, remarkably, a higher share of this age bracket was living with their parents (31%--this includes residential living at college) than with a spouse (27%). Back in 1975, those figures were 26% and 57%, respectively. Today, living with parents is least common among Asians (26%), then whites (32%), and then hispanics (32%). The rate is highest among blacks (37%).
- Over 50% of the 60+ are “very interested” in a self-driving and self-flying car. Even though this technology is just a pipe dream today, it’s fitting that Boomers, the generation that has always prized independence, would prefer fully autonomous flying taxis as they enter old age. (University of Michigan)
- NH: Talk about risk aversion among Millennials! Only 35% of them expressed interest. When Gen-Xer Peter Thiel wrote that "we wanted flying cars; we got 140 characters," he clearly wasn't speaking on behalf of the next generation.
- Verizon suffered a net loss of 289,000 cell phone subscribers over the first four months of 2017, its first ever net loss within that segment. Stronger competition from discount carriers has hit Verizon hard; the company would have lost more if not for its reintroduction of unlimited data plans. (The Washington Post)
- An Xer mom worries that she’s hurting her kids by not having family dinners every weeknight—and reassures other parents who are in the same boat that it’s okay. This mom’s concerns reflect Xers’ desire to maximize “family time” with their young Homelanders and Millennials. (The Washington Post)
- NH: Many Gen-X parents feel a false nostalgia for the "American High" childhood they never actually experienced--and worry about failing to provide it to their own children. Gen Xers are much more likely than Boomers to aspire to being "traditional" moms and dads. And a whole spate of parenting books try to address the guilt of not fulfilling that ideal--for example, Even June Cleaver Would Forget the Juice Box: Cut Yourself Some Slack (and Still Raise Great Kids) in the Age of Extreme Parenting.
- On Tuesday, Uber outlined plans to have a network of flying taxis in Dubai and in the Dallas area by 2020. Even if Uber could develop a flying car in three years, the logistical and regulatory hurdles that continue to plague drones would certainly keep flying vehicles grounded for quite some time. (The Washington Post)
- Fully 85% of Millennials had been with their current employer for at least 13 months as of January 2016—higher than the share of Xers at the same age in 2000 (82%). These data reaffirm that “job-hopping” is merely a function of life stage, and that if anything, Millennials are more committed to their jobs than earlier generations. (Pew Research Center)
- NH: Pew makes clear that part of the explanation is that Millennials are better educated than Xers (that is, a larger share have high school or college degrees) and that job tenure is strongly correlated with educational level. Over the last fifteen years, job turnover has been declining to some degree among all age groups.
- Fully 16% of Australian Millennials report feeling lonely every day, compared to 7% of Xers and 8% of Boomers. Perhaps the biggest side effect of the social media boom—especially among the young adults who use these platforms the most—has been the growth of surface-level friendships at the expense of deep, meaningful relationships. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
- Xer Patrick Lawlor praises his generation as the perfect mediator to bridge the gap between Boomers and Millennials. But he’s quick to note that this task isn’t as hard as it looks since “generations are often a lot more alike than we think.” (Businesslive.co.za)
- Google is reportedly planning to update its Chrome browser with a preloaded ad-blocking feature that filters out certain types of ads. Even ad-dependent media companies are looking for a way to please consumers who are tired of intrusive ads. (The Wall Street Journal)
- Xer undergraduate student Jennifer Plain lays out what she has learned about her Millennial classmates. She dispels many of the criticisms levied against them (i.e., that they are lazy)—and importantly, she recognizes that these criticisms are the same ones she heard from older people when she was young. (Baldwin Wallace University)
DID YOU KNOW?
Educating Families on Rejection. College decision season is a pressure-filled time for Millennials hoping to receive an acceptance letter from their dream school. But many will end up disappointed—leaving experts to debate the best way to approach the situation. The parents of 19-year-old Anisha Shah softened the blow when their daughter was rejected by Yale, emphasizing that the school simply wasn’t the right fit for her unique talents. Priscilla Sands, head of the Marlborough School, urges parents to stay medium: “They need to understand the pain, but also not rob their child of an opportunity to use it as a growth experience.” Others like psychotherapist Diana Barth are in favor of tough love: “There are a lot of disappointments in life and this is an important one to help kids learn that, while painful, they aren’t the end of the world.” Sands tells parents and kids that each disappointment in her own life put her on a new path forward—an uplifting message that young optimists will surely take to heart.
