Wednesday, January 30, 2008

New Research re the Millennial; Brain

This is an excellent article on teen neurology. It isn't necessarily specific to teens born after 1982 (Millennials) but it does point to why their neurological issues are further compounded by contemporary cultural factors.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21997683/?GT1=10645

Teens’ brains hold key to their impulsiveness
Recent research may not excuse adolescent mischief, but it does explain it

NEW YORK - The teenage brain, Laurence Steinberg says, is like a car with a good accelerator but a weak brake. With powerful impulses under poor control, the likely result is a crash.
And, perhaps, a crime.
Steinberg, a Temple University psychology professor, helped draft an American Psychological Association brief for a 2005 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed the death penalty for crimes committed before age 18. (click on link above for full article)

Monday, July 23, 2007

Sunday, July 8, 2007

My Millennial Book

I've been struggling for a while with what tone I want to take in discussing the Millennial issue. More accurately, I guess you could say, I'm resisting taking the tone that in my heart of hearts I feel would be most appropriate. I suppose the simplest way to give you a sense of what this tone would be is to tell you the title I expect NO publisher will embrace: "Generational Apartheid; The Silent Massacre of Millennials in America."

Everyday, in my work I witness how most of the generation of Americans born since 1982 are systematically ostracized from participation and contribution in society and business at large. I think all of us understand what it feels like at some level to be excluded from membership in a dominant or popular group. On one level, this could be considered the default condition of adolesence. For Millennials, however, it is a much more systematic and insidious denial., easily as heinous and unforgiveable as racism or sexism. The pervasive bias against an entire generation that, through no fault of their own, thinks and behaves very differently is damaging all parties involved in ways that are just beginning to be reckoned with.

My purpose here will be to consider and discuss the nature and implications of the widespread cultural bias against a generation that could and should be considered "Human Beings v.2.0!" They are not lazy, ADD, spoiled or self-indulgent. They are not broken and they don't need fixing.