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Generation Y: The Gen-Why Millennials
Generation Y—those born between 1981 and 1996—has been the
most talked-about cohort in the last few decades. Coming of age in
the new millennium, they are widely known as Millennials. Born
during another baby boom period, most of Generation Y are children
of Baby Boomers. That is why they are also known as the Echo
Boomer generation. In general, they are more well educated and
culturally diverse than previous generations.
They are also the first generation who are strongly associated with
the use of social media. Unlike Generation X, who first used the
Internet in the workplace for professional reasons, Generation Y
learned about the Internet at a much younger age. Thus, in the
beginning, Generation Y embraced social media and other Internet-
related technologies for personal goals.
On social media, they are very open to express themselves and often
compare themselves to their peers. They feel the need to get
validation and approval from their peers. As a result, they are heavily
influenced by what their peers are saying and buying. They trust
their peers more than established brands. Generation Y does a lot of
online research and purchase, primarily on their mobile phones. But
they do not buy products as much as older generations as they prefer
experience over ownership. They do not focus on accumulating
wealth and assets but on collecting life stories.
Due to their higher education, diversity, and exposure to unlimited
content, Generation Y is more open-minded and idealistic.
Generation Y questions everything, which makes them prone to
workplace conflict with older generations who expect them to follow
the norms.
Like their Baby Boomer parents, Millennials are often categorized
into two sub-generations. The older Millennials—those born in the
1980s—entered the workplace during the 2008 global financial crisis
and its aftermath, and therefore had to survive a tough job market.
Some of them ended up building their own businesses. Due to very

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competitive work experience, they tend to have a clear separation
between personal and professional lives. The younger Millennials—
born in the 1990s—on the other hand, experienced a better job
market. They tend to blend personal and professional lives. In other
words, they only want jobs they enjoy—the work should be fulfilling.
The older sub-generation is a “bridge generation” because they
learned to be adaptive to both the digital and physical world—just
like the preceding Generation X. The younger sub-generation,
however, is more like Generation Z. Because they adopted the
Internet at a very young age, they naturally see the digital world as a
seamless extension of the physical world.