What matters to Generation Z? What does life hold for Generation Alpha? - Misc and chat

I understand employers talk about upskilling their multi generational employees in an AI driven society. I hope that means making purposeful alliances across the generations. 

ArchaeC said:

. We ‘should’ be committed, competitive and self-sufficient. 

Well, "committed" can be taken to mean two things, ha ha!

 I'm more Gen X - Resourceful, logical and good problem solver. Although I think that could be attributed to most autistic people?

I don't think a lot of us had the same experiences as those born in the mid to late 1950's either, as you say Thatcher came into power and eveything changed. I'm probably more generation x too, I in my early teens when punk exploded onto the music scene and "alternative" comedy came along, how strange to think it was once Ok to racially abuse people, denigrate women and the disabled in the name of comedy?

I think the other thing with these pigeon holes is the assumption that we all had an equal playing field, when we didn't, if you were poor, working class, non white, female or really anything other than a middle class white male, then the field didn't feel level at all.

I'm a bit confused by this post.  

It is surely a good thing that a 16yr old is aware that financial security may be a problem for her generation.  Doesn't it mean that she's aware of what is going on in the country, and how precarious things are?  

I argued with someone last week that said Trump will cause WW3.  I said he wont because war is bad for business.  Climate change is happening, but the harsh reality that we've not got enough homes is even more pressing.  Nobody fancies living on the pavement (and being arrested for vagrancy) or paying the rents that are being charged now for all eternity. 

We seem to have got side-tracked into this discussion about labelling generations, when the real issue ought to be how are we looking to provide for the needs of our citizens.   All 68m of us and rising.  

Of course your daughter is correct.  More so for this & the next generation than ever before - because that notion of a caring society where everyone looks out for one another is fast evaporating, and in years to come, I think it wont exist at all, sorry to say.  

I thought this was a helpful article - certainly, when integrating personnel of different age groups into a team in the workplace it can be helpful to consider the nuanced difference in life experience, expectations and ambitions which may arise.

Gen Z enter the workforce very much more accustomed (through their education years) to being consulted about things - which can sometimes mean their entering the world of work jarred more harshly for them than they had anticipated.  If the remainder of the team are aware of that dissonance - a more open and early conversation csn be achieved - before a mismatch of expectations or conflict occurs.

TheCatWoman said:

making her a martyr would have been worse

If my reading of history is correct, the IRA did this because they viewed them as the Establishment, and would likely have done the same no matter who formed the Government at the time, because they had a cause.  

I've never seen another British political leader inspire street parties, bonfires and renditions of 'ding dong the witch is dead' when they died though.  

I agree Cat woman, I really don't understand the generation labels. It seems that the US government started labelling people born between 1946 and 1964 as baby boomers just because the birth rate soared during that period, then someone decided to make up random generational periods after it, and now before it too. The generation periods are not all the same length either, which annoys me.

Those of us born in the early 1960s don't have the same life experiences as people born in the late 40s - we became adults as Thatcher came to power, and there were massive changes to society and culture at that time. Jobs changed and became less secure, unions were demonised, the poor became poorer, there was rioting in the streets against the poll tax and people went on demonstrations against nuclear warfare and animal testing. There were big cultural changes too, with punk, new romantic and electronic music and alternative comedy. So although I'm classed as a boomer, I would identify more with generation X. Although I don't really want to be put in any of them.

I think that all generations want financial security, I think that's one thing that doesn't change.

I did read a bit of ArchaeC link, I had heard most of it before, I thik me and my school friends were aware of the changes that were coming due to tech, but our teachers ignored it.

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I remember when the IRA tried to blow up the cabinet and many memebers at thier conference in Brighton and although I hated Thatcher with a passion, I think making her a martyr would have been worse.

ArchaeC said:

I am posting a link as other people might be interested in this piece,

Thank you. 

I found that interesting. 

'The silent generation'.

I'd not heard that before.

My mother often said to me 'children should be seen and not heard' so she continued that delightful tradition. 

The big space was auto removed.

The generation of Baby Boomers is the only generation to be defined by an official government body, the US Census Bureau. We ‘should’ be committed, competitive and self-sufficient. 

I am posting a link as other people might be interested in this piece, but I am leaving a big space to separate it from the body of this post. Sorry CatWoman. Eeeeek.

www.bbc.co.uk/.../zf8j92p

TheCatWoman said:

I can't get my head around all these generations being labled

Clearly you'd have liked to make Thatcher go boom, but let's not go there !  

My nephew (11) - Gen Alpha - is most concerned about the potential for WW3, conservation of otters and UK native birds and looking forward to learning German at secondary school.

Generation Alpha, term used to describe the generation of people born (or who will be born) between 2010 and 2025.

Who's generation alpha?

I can't get my head around all these generations being labled, I did look it up once and got fed up, I'm apparently at the tail end of being a boomer, we're supposed to be a well off generation, who got the best of the post war stuff. I didn't by the time I needed a council house there were none left and a long waiting list, unemployment was growing and it was hard to get a job, Thatcherism was rife and many people my age were rioting. I feel I got the worst of both the generations either side of me and that I fell down the cracks between the generations.

I found this article provided good context for considering the environment of development of generation z and generation alpha:

www.britannica.com/.../Generation-Alpha