By Luis Eduardo Obregon

Young people between the age of 18 and 24 represent new languages and behaviors, are in the top of the influence pyramid and have a direct influence on the consumer habits as they are aspirational for the ones that are younger than them and inspirational for the ones older than them. On a global perspective, the generation known as Millennials, Globalists or Generation Y is the largest in absolute numbers with approximately 2,3 billion people and their purchasing power doubles the ones of their parents when they were young.

However, the power of the youth generation in not only justified by this information. The empowerment of the young people started after the Second World War, with those who were born in the 40s and 50s. This generation called Baby Boomers was insecure and impatient and pushed to make big changes in the world. They were the first generation to receive the keys from the house and the freedom to come and go by car. They conquered the right to be young, with their youth lifestyle, illustrated among other things, by their innovative way of clothing. This attitude and profile nicknamed them as the Liberated Youth and still influence our culture nowadays with concepts such as “peace and love”, “flower power” or sexual liberation.

After them emerged the Generation X, with people born in the 60s and 70s. This generation enjoyed the rights conquered by the Baby Boomers, living a guilt free search for pleasure. Just as the previous Generation, they made big changes in society. Not only did they receive the keys of their houses, but they were also the masters of their rooms. Moreover, they characterized themselves for being extremely influenced by the boom of marketing and publicity, loving stereotypes and being very competitive.

Finally, today’s generation, the Millennials, is the Global Youth. They don’t have just the key of their houses and bedrooms, but they have taken the whole world thanks to the advance of the Internet. Their identity transcends the place they are as they receive influences from many different cultures and habits thanks to global consumption. Furthermore, the personal content can have stratospheric dimension and what happens one day in one place can turn the whole world and reach millions of people in a few days.

However, this huge amount of information has some direct consequences in the Global Youth: they have chronic anxiety and have to make sure they have the right filters to select the information they receive and to organize the contacts they make every day. Besides, the risk of getting lost in the crowd makes many young people communicate through comments in Facebook and videos in Youtube in a way that older people consider hyperbolic as they probably have problems to understand the “Internet language”.

Nowadays, it is not a problem to know many different things at the same time and to start working on something and end up doing something else. In opposition to previous generations, Millenials can be at the same time DJs, skateboarders, lawyers, rockers and nerds. Indeed, it is the most plural generation of the history. Additionally, the extended social networks increase the number of short term style relationships and in business, it is very visible how hierarchical systems and traditional careers are losing strength in favor of models that reunite work with pleasure. Nevertheless, the Global Youth is not focused on a hedonistic lifestyle search as they are pragmatic and realistic. Their big idols are not idealized figures but instead, common people who manage to realize their small dreams.

Young people are the faces of the new economy, ruled by open sources, crowdfunding and independent initiatives, which with the power of internet have an immensurable impact. This collective conscience is the way of living of the future, leading to a reality of opportunities. But nothing is easy and every new thing intimidates. Moreover, something that we didn’t know in the past now is considered to be a natural behavior: so, you can understand and take part, or comfortably sit and follow the law.

Be young comes together with questions and ambitions but to understand the world and its evolution is necessary to understand youth, as they are the catalysts of the big changes.

References:

We all want to be young video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAn-Qm1aMxU)

Luís Eduardo Obregon is a Brazilian Business student who is currently working in Europe as Ambassador of Brasil Júnior, the Brazilian Confederation of Junior Enterprises.