iGen

by Jean M. Twenge

  So what are these young nonworkers doing instead of working or going to school? Hurst found a simple answer, at least for the men: they are playing video games. Young men had four more hours of leisure time a week than they did in the early 2000s, and they used three of those hours (or three-quarters of it) to play video games. Twenty-five percent played video games three or more hours a day, and 10% played at least six hours a day. “The life of these nonworking, lower-skilled young men looks like what my son wishes his life was like now: not in school, not at work, and lots of video games,” Hurst said. As we saw in chapter 2, video games take up an increasing amount of young men’s time—about eleven hours a week on average by 2015.

  Are young men playing video games because they are not working, or are they not working because they are playing video games? Hurst thinks that the latter might be the case—why work when you can live at home and play video games? “These technological innovations have made leisure time more enjoyable . . . . For lower-skilled workers, with low market wages, it is now more attractive to take leisure,” he said.

  Georgia college student Darnell, 20, tells me he spent a lot of time playing video games during his summer break last year, “which my dad was not pleased with. I was, like, it’s the only break I get, I’m going to enjoy it.” “Did your dad want you to get a job instead?” I ask. “Oh, my God, yeah, every time he got off work he was like, ‘Did you get a job?’ and I was like, ‘Would you go away, please?’ ” Darnell’s father finally insisted that he at least complete one job application a day. A retail chain eventually hired Darnell, but so late in the summer that he ended up not working at the store at all before he moved back to college. There, he says, he has to stay away from video games, because otherwise he’d never go to class.

  Can I Make It?

  Some iGen’ers might be staying away from work because they are convinced that what they do matters little in a rigged system. Take Amber, 20, writing about her generation in what sounds like one exasperated breath: “If we want to have a successful life, we have to go to college, but college is really expensive and we need to either take out loans or work full time in order to pay for it; if we take out loans, that is just going to make our future more complicated and stressful so we try to get a job but most well paying jobs you either need experience or an educational background, so we are often stuck in a minimum wage position, with part time hours because our employers don’t want to give us benefits, which means we still have to take out loans.” In other words, the cards are stacked against us.

  Like Amber, many iGen’ers feel increasingly demoralized about whether they will be able to succeed. Psychologists call such beliefs external locus of control. Someone with an internal locus of control believes she is in control of her life, and someone with an external locus of control believes his life is controlled by outside forces. iGen’ers are markedly more external in their locus of control (see Figure 7.6). More say people should just accept their condition in life, and more say that they keep getting stopped from getting ahead.

  Figure 7.6. 12th graders’ external locus of control beliefs. Monitoring the Future, 1977–2015.

  Thus a growing number of teens think that success is just out of reach. This could be due to income inequality and the aftermath of the Great Recession: iGen’ers saw their parents and older siblings struggling to find good jobs during the economic downturn, and they anticipate having the same issues. The trend may also be connected to iGen’ers’ more negative mental state: as we saw in chapter 4, they report feeling more anxiety and depression, mental health issues that are linked to defeatist attitudes such as an external locus of control.

  Compared to previous generations, iGen’ers also see more barriers in their way to success. More believe that their lack of ability will keep them from getting the job they want, that not knowing the right people will interfere, and that their family background will stand in the way. And, as we saw earlier, more also say that they think getting the job they want will involve too much work.

  iGen sees another possible barrier to success: sexism. Much more than Millennials, they believe that women are discriminated against in jobs. The trend is even stronger for believing that women are discriminated against in getting a college education: compared to GenX’ers in the late 1980s, twice as many iGen’ers believe this (see Figure 7.7).

  Figure 7.7. 12th graders’ belief in gender discrimination. Monitoring the Future, 1976–2015.

  The previous peak in gender discrimination beliefs was in the mid-1990s, when gender issues were at the forefront in several high-profile cases, including the sexist vitriol directed at Marcia Clark during the O. J. Simpson trial. The recent rise in the prominence of gender discrimination suggests an awareness of continuing sexism, perhaps partially due to the recent attention paid to sexual assault on campus and the inequities pointed out in Sheryl Sandberg’s 2013 book, Lean In. However, as women make up 57% of college graduates in the United States, it is somewhat surprising that teens perceive gender discrimination in getting a college education. Progress in the “top jobs in the professions,” however, has been noticeably slower, with equality far from achieved in business, medicine, and politics. For example, a recent study found that female physicians make $20,000 a year less than their male counterparts, even taking specialty into account (some people call this the “Dr. Paid Less” effect). iGen is apparently more aware of these discrepancies and more willing to attribute them to gender discrimination.

  Expectations: Has the Bubble Finally Popped?

  Millennials were a generation of soaring expectations, raised on a mantra of “You can be anything you want to be.” They arrived at their job interviews believing they already knew everything; when asked where they thought they’d be in five years, they answered, “The CEO of the company.” (At least enough of them did for this story to circulate.) Hard data back up this perception: Millennials were strikingly more likely to believe that they would earn college and graduate degrees, while the percentage actually earning those degrees (especially graduate degrees) rose much more slowly. However, iGen’ers’ expectations have moderated a bit and become more realistic: about the same number expect a four-year college degree or a graduate or professional degree as did Millennials ten years ago, while the number who actually earn those degrees has increased (see Appendix E). iGen’ers still have high expectations, but they are a little more in line with reality than Millennials’ were.

  The picture is even clearer for iGen’ers’ expectations for the jobs they expect to work in when they are older. The trend for Millennials is worth discussing first: the percentage of high school seniors who expected to be a professional or a manager by age 30 skyrocketed between the 1970s-era Boomers and 2000s-era Millennials, even though the percentage of people who actually had those jobs stayed about the same. Students are also asked what they think their chances are for getting their chosen type of work. Since getting a job as a professional or a manager is more difficult than obtaining a lower-level job, Millennial 12th graders should have been less confident that they would be able to get the jobs they wanted. Instead, they were a little more confident than Boomers were. Confidence, after all, is the Millennial calling card.

  Then came iGen. After iGen appeared in the 12th-grade samples around 2011, the percentage who expected to become professionals started to slide, and then in 2014 it suddenly fell sharply (see Figure 7.8). iGen took a long-standing trend toward high expectations and turned it around toward more realism.

  Figure 7.8. 12th graders’ expectations for jobs. Monitoring the Future, 1976–2015.

  Students also grew less certain that they could get their chosen type of work, with confidence reaching the 1970s level again by 2014 and sinking below it by 2015. All in all, iGen’ers’ expectations for jobs are more moderate than Millennials’ were at the same age, and they are less convinced that they will get what they want.

  This shift in attitudes could end up being an excellent opportunity for busi
nesses looking to recruit young talent. Compared to the Millennials just before them, iGen’ers are hungry: they know they need to succeed to make it in an increasingly competitive world, but they lack the outsize bravado of the Millennials. They’re not sure they are going to succeed and might be less disappointed with a midlevel job than Millennials were. Their work ethic is a little stronger, too. As they enter the workforce over the next few years, iGen’ers will likely need more encouragement than Millennials did, given their greater uncertainty about themselves and their prospects. iGen’ers are running scared—they want security in an insecure world. Managers who can give them some security, along with some nurturance, may well find themselves with the hardest-working group of young people to come along in a decade or even two.

  What They Want: Marketing to iGen

  What Millennials were to the 2000s, iGen’ers are to the late 2010s: the young people everyone is trying to reach and still trying to figure out. At 25% of the population, they will have $3.2 trillion in purchasing power by 2020. iGen’ers are out there, waiting for the products that will inspire them.

  Even with their doubts about themselves and their prospects, iGen’ers are still fairly confident about their eventual standard of living (see Figure 7.9).

  Figure 7.9. 12th graders’ material expectations. Monitoring the Future, 1976–2015.

  Sixty percent of 2015 high school seniors expected to earn more than their parents, a little lower than the Millennial highs in the early 2000s (64%) but still 28% higher than the less optimistic Boomers. Somehow, iGen’ers thinks, they will make it. They have to: they are acutely aware that they need to succeed in an economy shaped by income inequality, and financial success is very important to them (recall that 82% of entering college students in 2016 said that “being very well off financially” was important—an all-time high in a survey going back to 1967). One out of four says they will be content only if they own more than their parents—about the same as Millennials and GenX’ers and 50% more than Boomers in 1976.

  So this is good news for advertisers and marketers: contrary to some rumors, iGen does want to own stuff. The next question is how to sell to them. It’s commonly assumed that Millennials and iGen’ers are immune to advertising and that young people today are postmaterialistic, focusing more on finding meaning. As we saw in the last chapter, that’s not really true—iGen’ers are very interested in becoming well off and less focused on meaning than previous generations. iGen’ers are also accepting of advertising—more agreed that “There’s nothing wrong with advertising that gets people to buy things they don’t need.” iGen’ers also embrace capitalism, with many more iGen’ers than Boomers agreeing that “People should be encouraged to buy since it helps the economy” (see Figure 7.10).

  Figure 7.10. 12th graders’ materialistic attitudes. Monitoring the Future, 1976–2015.

  So what do iGen’ers want to buy? For several years now, marketers have wrung their hands over Millennials’ reluctance to buy big-ticket items such as cars. Millennials have also parked themselves in their parents’ houses, slowing down the real estate market.

  Apparently, that’s not due to choice: as high school seniors, Millennials were very interested in owning their own homes. iGen’ers have continued this trend: of all the generations, iGen’ers are actually the most likely to think it’s important to own a single-family house (see Figure 7.11). This suggests that real estate should continue to be a good investment as young people grow up and buy houses. Assuming they do, sales of home appliances, furniture, and household goods would soon follow. If young Americans can find their economic footing, they will be more than willing to buy homes and everything that comes with them.

  Figure 7.11. Percentage of 12th graders agreeing it is quite or extremely important to own six specific material goods. Monitoring the Future, 1977–2015.

  It’s also often assumed that Millennials and iGen’ers don’t want to buy cars. The survey question here asks about the importance of having a new car every two or three years—not an ideal measure since cars have become more reliable. Yet iGen’ers are still more interested in new cars than Boomers were in the late 1970s. A 2016 survey supports the idea that iGen’ers are not giving up on cars: 92% of 12- to 17-year-olds said they planned to own a vehicle. This is a one-time survey without a generational comparison, but it does at least show that forgoing car ownership is not the plan of the average iGen’er. iGen’ers’ top reasons for wanting to own rather than ride-share reflect their psychological profile: driving your own car is “safer” and “more tailored to me,” they say. Car manufacturers should take heart: despite the rumors, iGen’ers are not going to rely solely on Uber if they can possibly help it. They are too interested in safety, and too individualistic, to give up on having their own vehicle.

  The largest change appears in clothes: iGen’ers are much less interested in having “clothes in the latest style.” This may be individualism at work: fashion is now much more up to the individual and less of a pack mentality than it used to be. When I was a teen in the 1980s, styles for jeans changed every season—one year they were high, another low, one year dark, another light (or acid washed, or ripped, or faded, or . . .). Get caught wearing the wrong kind, and you were a dork. Things are different now: there are still certain styles that are in and out with jeans, but there seems to be more flexibility. In 2016, Harper’s Bazaar ran an article on “The 12 Coolest Trends in Denim Now.” In the 1980s, it would have been one trend, not twelve. iGen reflects this—having the latest style just isn’t as important anymore.

  The British writer Rachael Dove, 24, calls iGen “Generation Yawn.” She observed that even their fashion choices are safe. “Young hipsters are embracing ‘normcore,’ a unisex trend characterised by bland, functional clothing,” she wrote. “. . . The look dominated the autumn/winter catwalks: tennis shoes at Chanel, comfy nondescript knits at Stella McCartney, Steve Jobs-esque black rollnecks at Lanvin.” Nothing too out there, too strange, or too risky for the new iGen era.

  Although they like material things just fine, iGen’ers don’t really see the point of material goods as messages to others or as a means to compete. Fewer iGen’ers say they care about having what their friends and neighbors have (often known as “keeping up with the Joneses”). Fewer say they care about having the latest fashion in their possession (see Figure 7.12). Even though money overall is still important, iGen’ers are just not as interested in following the crowd.

  Figure 7.12. 12th graders’ attitudes toward shopping, fashion, money, and “keeping up with the Joneses.” Monitoring the Future, 1976–2015.

  The 2016 survey about cars captured this attitude as well. Compared to Millennials recalling what they had liked as teens, fewer iGen teens said that the “style,” “brand,” or “popularity” of a car was important to them. They are just not as interested in fitting in; instead, they are more practical. Just as they just want a job, they just want a car.

  iGen’ers are materialistic nonconformists, interested in using money to stand out instead of to fit in. As Rebecca, 23, wrote, “We like to maintain individuality, so we’re more likely to buy products that other people don’t already use.” Ashley, 16, said she likes to shop, but “I don’t buy things just because everyone else has them.” Marketers have a great opportunity to sell to this generation, just not through telling them to fit in. iGen’ers want products that will be useful to them, make them feel unique, and provide them with the convenience or comfort they want. “I think we are just looking for a product to help us out in our daily lives,” wrote Sophia, 21. “It’s not about trying to keep up with others or fit in, we just need something that works and gets the job done.”

  Businesses have another challenge, however: iGen’ers do not like to shop as much as previous generations did when they were teens. Most teens still enjoy shopping. But they favor shopping in a certain way that caters to their impatience. iGen’ers have never known a world before Amazon.com; they are used to getting insta
nt results online. They prefer to get the shopping over with quickly and get on to owning the stuff. Businesses that can make the shopping experience personal and fast will be most likely to attract iGen’ers’ growing number of dollars. Some iGen’ers say they want experiences and necessities instead of lots of small things: “[We] need money to pay for important things, like housing, food, education, and medical care, and it’s nice to buy experiences like travel, or nights out with your friends, or meals at interesting restaurants,” wrote Daniel, 23. “The extra money isn’t really just about buying more ‘things’ to fill up your place with, it’s about quality of living.”

  A 2016 survey by Waggle Dance Marketing Research provides a further view into iGen’ers’ consumer attitudes compared to those of Millennials. Of all the generations, Millennials (ages 25 to 34) were most likely to agree that “I sometimes go shopping just for the fun of it”—more than iGen’ers (ages 18 to 24). As a one-time survey, any differences could be due to age instead of generation, but you’d expect teens to be more interested in shopping than young adults—which strongly suggests this is instead a generational difference. Millennials were also more likely than iGen’ers to agree that “I trust my heart over my head”—again an attitude more associated with teens and young adults than those over 25. Millennials were also more likely to agree that “If I think owning something will impress others, I am more likely to buy it” and “I am infatuated with someone who is currently famous.” Both impressing others and having celebrity crushes are usually the realm of youth—yet the younger iGen’ers were less interested than the older Millennials. Overall, iGen’ers are more focused on practical things, less attracted to fame, and more likely to favor logic over emotions than the Millennials just before them. The same marketing messages are not going to work on them.