The First Year Student at SRU Our Millennials

1
The Millennial Generation
2
Who Are They? Characteristics (as they define
themselves at SRU)

• Optimistic
• Cooperative
• Team Players
• Accepting of Authority
• Rule-Followers
• Civic-Minded
• Service-Oriented

• Sheltered (Protected)
• Diverse (racially/ethically, gender,
  socioeconomic class)
• Healthy
• Academically-Focused
• Family-Oriented
• Fast-Paced Lifestyle
• Stressed
• Depressed

3
Use Generational Generalizations with Caution!
I dont know what my future holds, but Im sure
its something great. SRU First Year Student
4
Shaped by Their Times A Generation surrounded by
digital media, Babies on Board, Have You
Hugged Your Child Today, mommy-and-me tumbling
classes, and sideline cheering for karate,
soccer, piano, and elite travel teams

• Focus on children and family
• Scheduled, structured lives
• Cute childhood movies
• Multiculturalism
• Growing up digital
• Terrorism
• Heroism
• Patriotism
• Parent advocacy
• Globalism
• Stress

5
The Millennials
And, it is uncommon for children today to be told
to out and play.
6
Cultural Memorabilia Heroes

• Cultural Memorabilia
• Barney
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
• Tamagotchi other virtual pets
• Beanie Babies
• Pogs
• American Girl Dolls
• Oprah and Rosie
• The Spice Girls

• Heroes
• Michael Jordan
• Princess Dianna
• Mark McGwire
• Sammy Sosa
• Mother Theresa
• Bill Gates
• Kerri Strugg
• Mia Hamm
• Tiger Woods
• Christopher Reeves

7
Millennials Defining Events
Events That Made the Biggest Impression on SRUs
Fall 2004 Entering First Year Students

• Columbine
• War in Kosovo
• Oklahoma City Bombing
• Princess Dianas Death
• Clinton Impeachment Trial
• OJ Simpson Trial
• Rodney King Riots
• Lewinsky Scandal
• Fall of Berlin Wall
• McGuire-Sosa Homerun Derby
• 9-11
• Iraq War Peace-Keeping Mission

8
Compelling Messages

• Be smart-you are special
• Leave no one behind
• Connect 24/7
• Achieve now!
• Serve your community

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7 Core Traits of Millennials

• Special
• Sheltered
• Confident
• Team-oriented
• Conventional
• Pressured
• Achieving

• Preferred Names
• Millennials
• Generation Y (Why?)
• Generation Text
• Generation Next
• Generation.com
• Internet Generation
• Generation 2000
• Echo Boom
• Boomer Babies
• Generation XX
• Generation Wired
• Dont Label Us

Source Millennials Rising, the Next Great
Generation, Neil Howe William Strauss
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Special

• A special child also wants to go to a special
  institution, where he or she will be prepared to
  play a special role.
• The Team College choice is a co-choice and
  co-purchase.
• ¾ of incoming freshmen have never shared a room.
• High expectations of the college experience and
  services offered.
• Own lots of stuff in the residence halls
  refrigerators to laptops and many electronics
• Number of children served under individuals With
  Disabilities Education Act (birth to 21)
• 1990 1991 4.7 million
• 2000 2001 6.3 million

• Very earnest, humorous, and to the point
• Professional childcare is there for them
• Support and protection from parents
• It is believed that this generation WILL solve
  our problems
• The happiest and most confident generation
• Often referred to as junior citizens of politics
• Feeling of being vital to the nation
• Recycling back to the Veterans and the Civic
  Generation (G.I. and Traditionalists)
• Desire to be around their parents have strong
  friendship and family ties
• The media has closely followed this generation
  and it caters to them

11
Sheltered

• They do things together with their parents.
• Many more curfews have been enforced.
• The parents established FERPA and are now
  frustrated because they cannot gain access to
  their adult children's records!
• This generation has never been healthier or
  wealthier but struggle with new problems ranging
  from obesity, diabetes, asthma to ADD, ADHD,
  depression, drugs, alcohol.
• Campus security issues
• Colleges are addressing the issue a safe
  environment
• Reluctance to attend school far away from home
• In loco parentis making a comeback
• The neglected latch-key Gen-Xers contrast with
  the hovered-over Millennials seeking a
  close-knit community

• On the one hand, parents will want their
  collegiate children to inhabit ivy-wrapped gothic
  buildings on the other, they will worry about
  the healthfulness of whats inside, from water to
  ventilation.
• Structure is important
• Zero-tolerance
• Helicopter parents
• FERPA waiver

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Well-being of children dominating U.S.
legislation since 1982

• Child Restraints, helmets, home products
• New TV, movie, and video rules/ratings
• Zero Tolerance
• Blanket Medicaid for low income children
• Laws targeting dead beat dads

• Graduated Drivers Licenses
• Tougher punishment of child offenders
• Intervention in abusive families
• Tougher Child-labor enforcement

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Confident

• Tell me youre proud of me
• Dreams and wonders
• Confidence in themselves AND their peers
• High levels of trust
• Very optimistic
• Expect the ideal job
• Girls are outpacing the boys as leaders
• Unrealistic expectations relating to college
  issues, including employment
• Grade inflation is a key issue

• The logic of the new message is positive
  reinforcement Tell teens about the great things
  that will happen if they make the right choice.
• RAH-RAH spirit of campus life
• Generational identity and sense of collective
  destiny
• Confidence in conformity

14
Conventional

• Tend to go with the group
• Mixed feelings about individualism
• Like blending in with the crowd
• Social rules can help
• Increase in their interest in religious
  activities
• Beer binge drinking is decreasing
• 82 indicated no relational problems with their
  families
• Comfortable with parents values
• Conservative values

• If there were ever an archetype for the
  conventional side of the Millennial generation,
  its Harry Potter
• New traditionalism
• Willingness to accept values of parents
• Necessity of rules and standards
• Importance of brandingthe HYPs

15
Team-Oriented

• Value going to the same college as their high
  school buddies
• Dominated by girls
• Value racial and ethnic diversity
• Team colors rather than brand identity
• Service community orientation
• Classroom emphasis on group learning, school
  uniforms, tighter peer bonds
• This is the least Caucasian generation in history
• Greatest increase in Asian and Latinos in U.S.
• Money is the biggest divide
• Class differences will be an issue
• Believe institutions can solve their problems.
• A huge cultural shift from "I" to "We

• Millennials love group work, cooperative
  activities like
• volunteer service, and participation in something
  larger than
• the individual.
• Conformity is a motivator
• Collaboration in and out of the classroom
• Transracial vs. Multiracial

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Pressured

• Theres a new arms race among todays teens,
  and its called Getting Into College.
• The Right College
• Effort Planning Success
• Organization Kids
• Providing a balance

• Making the grade to get into college
• the best educated youths in American history,
  and the best behaved young adults in living
  memory
• Yearn for a refuge from the pressure.
• They are stressed, ambitious, sleep deprived
• Pressure to excel in many areas
• Grade-driven
• Motivated by positive treatment of society
• CONSTANTLY going and doing
• An increase in cheating is necessary to push them
  toward a life plan("I need to cheat to succeed
  cut and paste)
• Need help planning time management for the long
  term due to immediate pressures.
• Barriers of time and space appear to be less
  absolute for them (i.e. e-mailing Internet and
  pen pals in Asia)

17
Achieving

• Smart (highest SAT scores in history)
• Want to participate in strong and diverse
  community life
• 1st and 2nd year students want early leadership
  roles, like in high school
• Civic Minded
• Many toys, electronic games are getting
  increasingly harder
• They have much more homework than previous
  generations.
• They have more knowledge, but less creativity
• They will change the academic institutions in the
  next generation
• There will be an increasing dependency upon
  counselors

• They Millennials are probably the most
  all-around
• capable teenage generation this nation, and
  perhaps the world,
• has ever seen.
• Quality of students Individual and
  Institutional competition
• Objective vs. Subjective
• SAT score is highest ever

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Millennial s Use of Technology

• How are students using technology in their free
  time?
• For grades K-6
• Online gaming
• For grades 7-12
• IMing over E-mail
• Internet over TV

Source NetDays Speak Up Day 2003
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The Millennials

• Millennials and technology . . .
• The Internet is not an extra for most students
  but an
  essential component of every aspect of their
  lives.
• 81 of the students said that losing access to
  the Internet would impact their personal lives
  and their schoolwork

Source NetDays Speak Up Day 2003
20
The Millennials

• Millennials and technology . . .
• IM is changing the way students
  are
  communicating with each other.
• 54 of students in grades 7-12 know more of their
  friends IM screen names than their home phone
  numbers.

Source NetDays Speak Up Day 2003
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IM-ingINSTANT MESSAGING

• afk away from keyboard
• a/s/l age/sex/location
• brb be right back
• cul8r see you later
• gtg gotta go
• idk i dont know
• lol laughing out loud
• np no problem
• ppl people
• pots parents over the shoulder
• rofl rolling on floor laughing
• ttfn ta ta for now

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Are we surprised???Think for a Moment .The
History of the Internet

• 1969 Internet invented
• 1977 E-Mail invented
• 1985 Apple computers in classrooms
• 1992 World Wide Web invented
• 1993 DOOM is released
• 1995 Windows 95 released
• 1996 Instant Messaging created
• 1996 AOL in wide release
• 1997 Internet widely used in businesses
• 1999 dotcom craze
• 2000 Y2K craze
• 2001 dotcoms burst
• 2002 P2P networks arise (w/ fall of NAPSTER)

Millennial Life Span
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Millennials and TechnologyAttributes of an
Information-Age Mindset (Jason Frand Educause)

• Computers arent technology. Students have never
  known life without computers and the Internet.
  To them the computer is not a technology-it is an
  assumed part of life.
• The Internet is better than TV. In recent years,
  the number of hours spent watching TV has
  declined, being supplanted by time online.
  Reasons for the change include interactivity and
  the increased use of the Internet for
  socializing.
• Reality is no longer real. Those things that
  appear real over the Internet may not be.
  Digital images may have been altered. E-mail send
  from someones address may not have come from
  that person. And the content may or may not be
  accurate.
• Doing is more important than knowing. Results and
  actions are considered more important than the
  accumulation of facts.
• Consumer and creator are blurring. In a
  file-sharing, cut-and-paste world distinctions
  between creator, owner and consumer of
  information are fading.

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Millennials and TechnologyAttributes of an
Information-Age Mindset (Jason Frand Educause)

• Learning more closely resembles Nintendo than
  logic. Nintendo symbolizes a trial-and-error
  approach to solving problems losing is the
  fastest way to mastering a game because losing
  represents learning. This contrasts with
  previous generations more logical, rule-based
  approach to solving problems.
• Multitasking is a way of life. Students appear
  to be quite comfortable when engaged in multiple
  activities simultaneously, such as listening to
  music, sending instant messages, doing homework,
  and chatting on the phone.
• Typing is preferred to handwriting. Students
  prefer typing to handwriting. Many admit
  handwriting is atrocious. Penmanship has been
  superseded by keyboarding skills.
• Staying connected is essential. Cell phones,
  PDAs, and computers ensure they remain connected
  anyplace and anytime.
• There is zero tolerance for delays. Having grown
  up in a customer-service culture, todays
  students have a strong demand for immediacy and
  little tolerance for delays. They expect that
  services will be available 24x7 in a variety of
  modes (Web, phone, in person) and that responses
  will be quick.

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Internet is the Medium of Choice

• The time spent with the Internet
  now exceeds the time
  spent with TV
  
  for ages 13-24.

SourceUnited States. Dept. of Commerce.
Economics and Statistics Administration. . A
Nation Online How Americans are Expanding Their
Use of the Internet.  
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The Millennials

• Millennials and technology . . .
• Todays tech-savvy kids are using technology in
  ways that surprise their teachers.
• Assignment to write a report?
• 67 of students in grades 7-12 go online to
  research their topic first,
• 10 go the library to find a book
• 9 ask their teacher for help
• 5 look in a textbook

Source NetDays Speak Up Day 2003
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Teens and young adults are searching
for independence and
control,
and the Internet gives it to them like
no other media can. Millennials vividly
expressed
excitement, freedom, immediacy, and most of
all control over their experience
where
they go, what they learn, what they buy, whom
they talk to, and how they live their lives.
Source Yahoo Born to Be Wired
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Millennials Using Technology to Learn
Millennials are arriving on our campuses with
higher expectations than any generation before
them and theyre so well connected that, if we
do not match those expectations, they can tell a
few hundreds instant messaging peers with one
click of the mouse.
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How a millennial would spend a tech budget???

• If students were in charge of designing a new
  school their number one tech demand would be . .
  .
• Fast, wireless access throughout the school

Source NetDays Speak Up Day 2003
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Theyre variously called the Internet Generation,
Echo Boomers, the Boomlet, Nexters, Generation Y,
the Nintendo Generation, the Digital Generation,
and in Canada, the Sunshine Generation.

• Millennials are arriving on our campuses with
  higher expectations than any generation before
  them and theyre so well connected that, if we
  do not match those expectations, they can tell a
  few hundreds instant messaging peers with one
  click of the mouse.

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Values
80
96
Think it is cool to be smart
Get along with their parents
75
Share their parents values
Source Millennials Rising the Next Great
Generation.
32
The Millennials

• Values of Millennials . . .
• 96 get along with their parents
• 75 share their parents values
• 78 believe religion is important
• 60 engage in community service
• 80 think it is cool to be smart

Source Millennials Rising, the Next Great
Generation, Neil Howe William Strauss
33
Family is Important

• 91 of students felt they have at least one
  family member they can confide in.
• If they could, 50 of students would spend more
  time with their family.
• 74 get along with their parents extremely or
  very well.
• When picking one person as a role model,
  44 of students pick a family
  member.

SourceThe State of Our Nations Youth. Horatio
Alger Association of Distinguished Americans,
Inc. 2003. 7 Aug. 2003    
34
Baby Boomer Parents have been their Biggest
Cheerleaders

• Millennials expect and need praise.
• Will mistake silence for disapproval.
• Millennials expect feedback.

Lancaster, Lynne C. and David Stillman. 2002.
When Generations Collide. HarperCollins
Publishers, Inc. New York.
35
Parental Care in the Millennial Era

• Todays typical family is spending more, not
  less, time with kids.
• Smaller families mean more time with each child.
• Fathers are spending more time with children.
• Less housework is being done.
• There is a strong connection between the social
  lives of parents and kids.

36
Millennials Are Ambitious

• 88 of students report that attending college is
  critical or very important to future success.
• 94 plan to continue their education after high
  school.(64-71 plan to attend a four-year
  college) (Boomers-33 and
  Generation X-54)
• 90 feel being personally satisfied is very
  important for success.

SourceThe State of Our Nations Youth. Horatio
Alger Association of Distinguished Americans,
Inc. 2003. 7 Aug. 2003    
37
True Multi-taskers

• Millennials have lived programmed lives that make
  them true multi-taskers. They are already quite
  capable of learning several jobs simultaneously
  and performing them admirably.
• Futurists predict that Millennials will change
  careers as many as ten times. That means
  retooling, recycling their skills and talents.
  Smart employers will recognize this and try to
  encourage Millennials to try out different
  careers within the same company.

38
Communication is Key

• Millennials have expectations that the
  information they want will be provided in a
  timely, fast efficient manner.
• Communication, suggestions, feedback- positive
  and negative- need to travel in both directions
  for Millennials.

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Have Substantial Purchasing Power

• In 2002, teens (ages 12-19) spent 170 billion.
• 15.6 million college students (ages 18-30) spend
  almost 200 billion annually.
• Two out of three students report influencing
  their parents buying decisions.
• 20 of teens own stock.

Source Interprise Poll on Personal Finance
2002. Junior Achievement, Inc.
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Millennials
influence the present and are the
future. Pay close attention to them,
as their usage of media
influences other
demographic groups and they literally represent
the world to come.
Yahoo Born to Be Wired