Month: June 2010

Generation Grad

I haven’t received a membership card for Generation Y. Or any other generation for that matter. How do I know which group I’m in? Maybe I’ve been blocked because I didn’t play by the rules.

I wonder if I can get a fake ID somewhere…

What is Generation Y? Or, if you prefer, who are millennials? Or what is the Net generation? They are all terms for the same thing.

Generation Y is a huge group of diverse people. Many current students and recent graduates are apparently part of this group. A conversation about Gen-Y can begin and end however you want. You can do the same with any group of loosely matched individuals.

Gen-Y is social, Gen-Y is closed off from everyone else. Gen-Y hate politics, Gen-Y are increasingly political. Gen-Y don’t like to get on with Gen-X, Gen-Y don’t know why Gen-X has a problem with them. Gen-Y are all about creativity, Gen-Y are all about practicality. Gen-Y don’t specialise, Gen-Y set their attention on specifics. Gen-Y aren’t using new tactics to get jobs, Gen-Y aren’t using traditional tactics to get jobs.

photo by xflickrx

Can a proper definition be agreed upon? Nope. Even a general level you can’t find complete agreement. Look more closely and the water muddies further. Were Gen-Y born from 1978, 1980, 1982, 1983…? What year did the next generation begin? Does the term cover everyone, or a particular part of society? What elements of a person does the term Gen-Y cover? Do they live with technology or are they truly tech-savvy?

Many self-help books and management guides offer ‘answers’ and ‘rules’ to problems, as if there’s no other way to succeed. It’s as if these ‘answers’ and ‘rules’ are magic bullets that explain all.

The same applies with stories of Gen-Y. Personality traits are described as truths, behaviours are spoken as the norm. This is hardly useful except as a generalisation.

I’m not suggesting that the ever-growing collection of writing on Gen-Y has no value. Far from it. The ability to think critically, however, is of the utmost importance when digesting it. Without critical engagement, contradictory detail only confuses. The information, like the grouping of people, needs to be taken together as many things.

Gen-Y is a subjective term. Gen-Y is a term to debate, not mould into a definitive shape.

When debate starts, it’s all too easy to pick a mould regardless. People are likely to seek advice they already follow. What feels like critical engagement could be self-affirmation. No matter how immune you think you are, we’re all susceptible to a bit of ego-stroking.

No generation is fully understood. This is no surprise when you realise that the term Gen-Y rests mainly on a range of birth years and little else. You cannot place any group of diverse individuals in a single, rigid definition.

That’s why debate about Generation X and older generations still prove just as worthy of debate. As life changes, so do behaviours. Until a generation disappears, history is still being recorded within that group.

As for younger generations, you get an idea of how such a large group can only ever be described through sweeping generalisation. For instance, Gen-Z is still making a name for itself. Even good old Wikipedia states, “Relatively little is firmly established about its composition, character, and even name”. Since this generation has only been around since the mid-90s, perhaps we’re asking for too much. Rather confusingly, they are sometimes called the ‘Net generation’, just like Gen-Y has been known. Yay…

Why am I still banging on about all this? Well, let’s go back to those self-help books and their magic bullets of advice.

A lot of productivity advice is aimed at people within Generation X. The focus is very much on ‘Getting Things Done’ (GTD) and managing time as a bunch of tasks you can check off a list. While there’s nothing wrong with a to-do list, we have so much information hitting us from all angles and so much vying for our attention that a GTD approach doesn’t always cut it for younger people.

Productivity is a different beast in an information age. I wonder this:

Is there a method of working productively that can be used collectively throughout Generation Y?

I believe that we’re all learning new techniques to get through a disruptive world. However, as with all generations, what works for an individual is more important than generalised ideas. We need generalisations and helpful ideas to give us a jump off point, but those magic bullets will never explain everything.

My tagline for TheUniversityBlog and my Twitter account is the following:

“Celebrating university life in all its diversity. Helping to achieve a full, entertaining, productive, and successful experience”.

I can only give general support and opinion. I don’t write for Gen-Y or any other collective. I write for you. Yes, you! I don’t follow all the advice I link to, but I won’t withhold that information if I think it will speak to a reader.

You know the real reason why your generation is so great? Because you’re in it.

That’s what matters. Enjoy your generation.

And let me know where I can get that fake ID.

Simplicity

You have too much music available, too many books lying around, too many status updates to stay on top of, too many things vying for your attention.

photo by visualpanic

Simplicity broadens the mind. Minimalism is big. Less is more.

See what I did there?

Really, it’s too easy to collect too much stuff and never make enough use of it all. It’s hard to value belongings when there are so many vying for your attention. Yet it’s hard, nearly impossible perhaps, to discard what *could* be useful later or what you have enjoyed in the past and *may* enjoy again. Attach a tiny value to something and the value seems to grow tenfold as soon as you think about getting rid of it.

Do you need all the things you have?

What about your music collection? Do you really need all those files on your computer, phone, player…? Are you quick to click the next track on shuffle, or search a list of your favourite bands and still not know who to listen to?

Variation is great, but some restriction is also healthy. Sticking with music, we all have different tastes and we’re happy to take recommendations from others. You need never buy another song again with all the free stuff available legally. You don’t even need to turn to piracy to hear the latest music in full and for free. On a computer or a mobile, you have the ability to stream almost any song out there. As for radio, there are so many stations that even picking one of those is a chore!

Choice doesn’t come cheap. The more choice you have, the harder it is to choose. So you don’t choose at all. Annoying, huh?

There comes a point when you could get rid of everything you’ve got and start from scratch. As a student, you may not have a vast library of books and may not own the biggest collection of (legal) music, but you may still have more than enough.

But it never *seems* enough. A new product comes out and it’s just what you want. So you get it. The process happens again and again. And again. And again. And it never ends.

Do you really need it? The answer is almost always ‘no’.
Do you really want it? That’s a different question.

The ease with which we can buy things in an instant adds to our impulse buying. It’s there for the taking, it’s cheap, it’s instant satisfaction…you might as well. But will it truly make a difference to you? There’s something to be said for patience. We don’t see enough of it now.

I may sound contradictory here, but simplicity is difficult. We naturally edge toward complexity at any given moment.

Shun complexity. Move toward simplicity. It seems so far away, but it’s closer than you think.

EduLinks – Real, Minimal & Private

It’s that time again. As always, happy reading!

Psychology Today – Ten Top Tips to End Writer’s Block Procrastination

Procrastination is something we’ll be revisiting until the end of time. Academic writing brings out the procrastinator in many of us:

“If you view writing as arduous, frustrating, or ego-threatening, you may “automatically” sidestep the writing.”

Writing an essay takes a lot of effort (arduous), takes you down lots of dead ends and blank points (frustrating), and requires a good standard to be graded highly (ego-threatening).

Clearly, it’s a good idea to check these tips.

onlineschools.org

All sorts of infographics. From world hunger to striptease, from farts to orgasms, this site covers a lot of interesting stuff. Stats are U.S. focused, but still good fun.

Ben Casnocha – If You Want to Know How Things Are in Reality

People are different and nothing is certain. What is your truth?

Minimal Student

I’ve just discovered Minimal Student and I’m impressed. Written by Jessica, there’s already a wealth of goodness in the archives, such as:

If that’s not enough, check out the ‘Most Popular Posts’ page for even more. And don’t forget to subscribe to the site for updates!

BPS Research Digest – Memory performance boosted while walking

Walking gets a good press and now it’s getting better. When walking at your own pace, mental ability appears to improve over sitting down or walking at a set speed.

Why should the secondary task of walking aid, rather impair, mental performance? The researchers aren’t sure of the mechanism, but they think the attentional pool tapped by a sensori-motor task like walking is likely separate from the attentional pool tapped by working memory. Moreover, physical activity increases arousal and activation, ‘which then can be invested into the cognitive task,’ they said.

Resourceshelf – Concerns Over Facebook and Privacy Continue

Facebook may have introduced a simpler set of privacy settings, but a lot of worry remains. Check this for detail of issues still causing concern. Facebook also responds to some questions regarding the current set of privacy settings that have caused confusion for users.

Users should take care and make sure they know exactly how much of their information is going out and who it’s being made available to. How aware are you?

The ‘Harrods’ degree: Gimmick or great idea?

Harrods are introducing a degree in the art of sales. Staff will be able to take a 2-year part-time course while they work at the store. But will it be recognised as a true degree by other employers?

Staff who take the degree, in conjunction with Anglia Ruskin, will pay no tuition fees or any other costs. Other than agree to remain working at Harrods throughout the degree and for a period after completion, there are no other major barriers to gaining the qualification.

photo by raindog

What would other employers think of the degree on a person’s CV?

Lisa Harris teaches online marketing at Southampton and she told me that this type of degree will become more popular. She said, “Two-year degrees look the way of the future to me. They are more attractive to business sponsors and combine work and study”.

Community Manager, Jas Dhaliwal is also positive about these degrees. He said, “I suspect that other firms will continue this trend”.

They may have a point. More degrees like this would be a needed source of income for universities. And with the student population ever growing in diversity, people want greater flexibility in how they can study. Business based degrees are a feasible alternative route.

The Harrods association gives the degree a reason to talk about it. For now, a big brand association is a newsworthy gimmick. I’m sure graduates would state their degree as a BA in Sales from Anglia Ruskin and only make the Harrods link beyond that.

There are already vocational degrees that work with local businesses to produce graduates who are relevant to that workplace. For instance, Bucks New University runs a foundation degree in Business Management for staff at the bed specialist Dreams. Ruth Farwell, vice-chancellor at Bucks New Uni, said: “Whilst we recognise the impetus behind the decision to allow companies such as McDonald’s to award their own qualifications, we believe that it is better for employers to partner with universities in initiatives such as this one.”

The first graduates of the Dreams foundation degree came through in 2009. This type of vocational qualification is, therefore, not new. Over four million vocational qualifications were awarded last year alone. And today is VQ Day, especially for vocational qualifications. There is clearly a big market.

Some of these degrees are not for everyone. Indeed, Harrods and Dreams only offer the degrees to their own staff. However, universities need to diversify and attract business sponsors, as Lisa Harris has mentioned. Interest in alternatives to current degree routes will come from both prospective students and from businesses.

What of the future? These are specialised vocational qualifications. If more businesses took these degrees on, would current graduates need to work toward another degree once in employment? Would any degree be enough, or would we begin to see people in the workplace with several degrees due to obligatory business training?

I don’t think there are any proper answers to those questions yet, but we may need to start thinking about it soon.

Do you see these business degrees gaining in popularity or are you convinced they are still a gimmick?