Current Events > It's Generation Hopeless!: Gen Y lacks basic life skills

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http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/weve-raised-generation-hopeless-millennials-who-lack-basic-life-and-workplace-skills-and-its-a-big-issue/news-story/f3256c05c19c356002103eb50e50cee1

FORGET lazy, self-centred or cocky — the truth about most millennials is they’re absolutely hopeless when it comes to basic life and workplace skills, experts say.

Research shows young adults are comfortable putting themselves ‘out there’ online, but all that time glued to screens has raised a generation incapable of small talk, critical thinking and problem-solving.

And that’s not to mention their staggering inability to cook, draft a personal budget or change a tyre.

“There’s been a very steep decline in interpersonal skills and it means that regardless of their school results, young people are going to struggle to get a job,” educator Michaela Launerts said.

Launerts has written the book #Girlcode, which she describes as a guide to interacting properly on this side of a screen.

“It teaches people how to prevent potential disasters in their professional and personal lives that may occur because of the consequences of their online and (online-influenced) behaviour.”

Topics canvassed include the basics, from shaking hands, to more advanced areas like how to convey positive body language, grooming, the art of conversation, dinner etiquette and managing intimate relationships.

The blame for many of these personal inadequacies lies with the internet, she believes. A number of other sociologists agree.

Technological advances has made verbal communication redundant in many parts of life — ordering a pizza, taking part in a university class, planning a holiday and even gym personal training can all be done via an app.

What this means is young people aren’t used to speaking to someone in person or on the phone, and the thought of doing so terrifies them.

A survey of American millennials by One Poll found 65 per cent don’t feel comfortable engaging with someone face-to-face, and 80 per cent prefer conversing digitally.

As a result of this they’re less likely to understand how they’re perceived by others in real life.

They struggle to strike up a conversation and can’t navigate tricky problems like workplace conflict.

Their time management is shocking and they desire senior roles they can’t possibly hope to hold down.

“They’re so used to being able to filter themselves before they post something on line that they get stuck in a kind of real life stage fright,” Launerts said.

“I’ve spoken to teenage girls who are more frightened of eating in public than putting a provocative picture of themselves online. That’s so frightening to me.”

Oh no!
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they're talking about teenagers in this article.... the youngest millennials are like 17 and 18 now

AlternativeFAQS posted...

they're talking about teenagers in this article.... the youngest millennials are like 17 and 18 now

That matches what the article talks about. Most of it is about young adults.
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arent millennlials people born in 99 or 00?
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all i know is I get pissed off when i see people taking pictures of their food before they eat

lol what a joke if you walked past the person that wrote the article and said hi and smiled she would call the cops on you for sexual harrassment!

Bashing millennials is a cash cow for the media.
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AlternativeFAQS posted...

all i know is I get pissed off when i see people taking pictures of their food before they eat

Guilty of this sometimes. .. but only because I want to try making it myself and the pic provides reference!
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AlternativeFAQS posted...

all i know is I get pissed off when i see people taking pictures of their food before they eat

Why?
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So what happens when those hopeless people are the ones in charge.

Maybe they'll learn and grow up or some nonsense like that. But naw, people stay exactly the same over time, right?
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Verdekal posted...

Bashing millennials is a cash cow for the media.

Well yeah. It gets clicks from smug baby boomers and pissed off millenials
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Sonicblack35 posted...

Well yeah. It gets clicks from smug baby boomers and pissed off millenials

i mean, who else clicks on this tripe
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wdlp posted...

arent millennlials people born in 99 or 00?

Millennials are technically people who came of age (graduated High School/turned 18) on or after the year 2000. So 1982 until now.
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thats the stupidest thing ive ever heard
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Launerts said millennials have grown up in online worlds where they make their own rules and don’t learn the social conventions that are still expected of them.

“I think it’s because of the time they’re spending online, which promotes an inward-facing attitude,” Launerts said.

Eye contact, not interrupting, a proper handshake, social engagement — they struggle with what older generations consider basic niceties.

“Body language and creating a good first impression shape how someone sees you. I think most young people lack the concept of what body language is. They’re not equipped with the skills to make a good first impression and that’s a real problem.”

This lack of interpersonal skills results in often awkward encounters, university professor Elwood Watson noted in an essay for Diverse Education.

“They engage in behaviour that previous generations would consider weird or outright rude, Watson, an academic at East Tennessee State University, wrote.

“I see this inability to converse directly with other human beings. I’ve seen students on campus walking next to one another and texting, as opposed to speaking. They’re also terrified of directly confronting problems or fears.”

Leave us alone Jesus Christ. Maybe we don't want to speak to each other all the time.
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M-Watcher posted...

So what happens when those hopeless people are the ones in charge.

Maybe they'll learn and grow up or some nonsense like that. But naw, people stay exactly the same over time, right?

We're finding that out right now, actually.
Seems to me like insecure Boomers have made a cottage industry out of complaining about millennials. Maybe they should try taking some responsibility?

Darmik posted...

I’ve seen students on campus walking next to one another and texting, as opposed to speaking.

Bullshit!
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Darmik posted...

The blame for many of these personal inadequacies lies with the internet, she believes. A number of other sociologists agree.

Really? You're sure about that?
Y'sure it isn't that the parent bought the kid a phone to shut them up and then decided to use it as a scapegoat for their own inability to give enough of a fuck to try?
It's well within a parent's power to do something about it, and they don't.
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Yeah well baby boomers don't even know how to re-shoe a horse, or fix a carriage or start a revolutionary war

They are so lazy

Romes187 posted...

Yeah well baby boomers don't even know how to re-shoe a horse, or fix a carriage or start a revolutionary war

They are so lazy

Or how to raise children. Otherwise this might not be such an issue.

I also hate how it assumes all millennials are like this. I do better talking in person than texting. It's so fucking boring seeing lifeless text on a screen. I can't see body language, facial expressions, anything. I have no real way to know what mood or anything they're in and it sucks.
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Gen Z here

Git gud Gen Y
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dave_is_slick posted...

Darmik posted...

I’ve seen students on campus walking next to one another and texting, as opposed to speaking.

Bullshit!

At first I read that as texting each other instead of talking. But then I realized how on Earth would he even know that? So maybe he means they're just on their phones not talking to each other.

Dumb point either way though.
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Sounds like me.

Though I at least have the excuse of being autistic unlike most millenials.

That said I have successfully held down a job in customer service for over three years.
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Millennial = 1980-1996
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