Plurals

According to this MediaPost article, the newest generation is the Pluralist generation. The oldest of this group is 15, the youngest are newborns.

I had always wondered what my boys’ generation would be called. I’m a Gen Xer, the generation younger than me is Gen Y or Millennials. My parents are Baby Boomers.

So why “Plurals”? According to the article, “it reflects the lack of majority in today’s American society… based on immigration projections, Plurals will be America’s first generation to be pluralistic, or have no majority race…Plurals are being raised in the environment of change and, in their 30s and early 40s, they will be the ones managing the transition into a truly pluralistic society.”

This generation only knows the consumer-centric Internet (Amazon, Google, YouTube and Facebook). They are (or will) experience the changing definition of marriage and family.

Now, my observations based on my boys, ages eight and nine. (I know some of these apply to Gen Y…)

• Mom and Dad have always carried a cell phone and have always been able to take a picture or video, text, email, play games and browse the Internet on a phone.
• They learn to type in 2nd grade. (I learned in 9th grade.)
• Their school projects involve a laptop and multimedia dimensions.
• Watching “live” television is not the norm for them.
• It is second nature to “swipe” something…and I’m not talking about a credit card.
• They just “know” how to use an iPad, play Angry Birds and “Google” something.
• There has always been an app for that.
• The school state tests are taken on computer, not with a #2 pencil (fill in the bubble COMPLETELY).
• Their school lunches are electronically deducted from their account. There is no need to carry lunch money.
• They only know Promethean or smart boards in the classroom. School is not taught using chalkboards, whiteboards, overhead projectors, film strips or a big TV and VCR.
• Pictures have always been digital. And take as many as you want! We can always delete them.
• They use the Internet to research, not the Dewey Decimal System.
• Encyclopedia? Don’t you mean Wikipedia?
• A cassette tape plays “old-fashioned music.”
• You have always been able to “Broadcast Yourself” on YouTube.
• They have always been able to email Santa and “track him” via NORAD on Christmas Eve.