Children Today Are the On Demand Generation

Grouping people into generations is a way to describe how a portion of our population grew up. When you hear the term Baby Boomer or Gen X, you get a visual of what that person looked like growing up and what they look like now.  Everything from the technology of the time to the entertainment they grew up with.  It groups us together.

There is debate about the years and if the lines should be blurred, but all of us fall into one of these groups.  You may think you don't fit with those "damn Millennials", but if you were born after 1981, sorry...that is the group you are stuck in.

I'm happy I was born in the Oregon Trail generation.  What the hell is that you say?  Only the greatest blog I've ever seen written about the short window that is people like me.  1977-1983.  Those of use born during that time could fall into either Gen X or Millennial, but we really aren't either.  The more commonly used term is "Xennial", but when you are done reading this, check out that story about why we should be called the Oregon Trail generation and you'll understand more of the nonsense I do and say.

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After Millennial came Gen Z which are those born after 1997.  But somebody born in 1998 vs. 2018 are growing up in totally different worlds.  There are numerous reasons why, these kids are growing up in totally different worlds, but at the end of the day, it's one main reason they are different.  On Demand.

Some "experts" (I want to find these people) have started calling those born after 2010 Generation Alpha.  I don't what the hell that means but it's dumb.  Let's go to that kid born in 1998.  They started their very early years with technology.  Computers, cell phones, social media.  They are growing up with it.  But in 2008 when that kid was 10 they still had to wait for a song, a video, a commercial or OMG...a package that would take longer than a day.

My child was born in 2015, and now here we are in 2021 and everything for her is On Demand.  She wants to hear a song, she tells Alexa to play it.  She wants to watch a video, she goes to Disney Plus and watches it commercial free.  She wants to learn something, she Googles it.  She needs new shoes, she orders them (with my credit card!) on Amazon.  She wants to eat...ok, pizza rolls have been on demand for quite awhile.  But you get the point.  Everything is now.  The satisfaction is instant.  Nothing is worth waiting for.  Everything is On Demand.

What will this do to our young children as they get older?  No clue.  I'm not a shrink.  I don't know what this lifestyle will mean for them.  I mean, our parents thought we were spoiled and destroying the world.  Their parents thought the same thing.  Someday parents will be right about "these damn kids".  But hopefully that won't be for my kid.  Hopefully they'll use all this instant technology to do something good for the world.  Or maybe, the On Demand generation will be so happy getting everything they want instantly that they'll get bored having to sit through a 15 second ad on YouTube and give up on their hopes and dreams.