Generation Y

Generation Y, also called the Millennial Generation in the "Generations" system of authors Strauss and Howe[?], is the generation of Americans born from 1982 to 2003 (assuming that this generation has an average length). Their typical grandparents are from the Silent Generation; their typical parents are of the baby boomers and Generation X. The Millennial name of this generation represents the fact that its birth years span the year 2000; in that regard, Bimillennial may be a better name. The Y comes from the X of the previous generation.

This generation includes such wholesome celebrities as Leann Rimes[?] and the Olsen twins. Their peers include Princes William and Harry of the United Kingdom and Oscar winner Anna Paquin[?].

This generation first arrived when "Baby on Board" signs appeared. In the 1980s, as divorce and abortion rates ebbed, the popular culture began stigmatizing hands-off parenting styles and recast babies as special. Child abuse and child safety became hot topics, while books teaching virtues and values became best-sellers. Politicians began to define adult issues (from tax cuts to deficits) in terms of their effects on children. Hollywood replaced child devils with child angels, and cable television and the Internet developed 'child-friendly' havens. With adults viewing children more positively, American students are apparently faring better in international comparisons.

It has been claimed that the so-called 'Millennials' are emerging as something of a generational public property. Where child Generation Xers had once been the castoffs of Awakening-era euphoria, Millennials have become symbols of an Unraveling-era need to prevent the social hemorrhaging before it could damage another new generation. However there is a feeling that the new focus has not yet reversed the Awakening-era damage to the child's world. The child poverty rate is still high. The crack babies[?] of the 1980s are growing up with severe emotional disabilities. Dysfunctional families are still a problem, and murderers of the age of the two Columbine assailants or younger still make the news. Certain issues such as television sex and violence prompted few complaints from adults in the Awakening, but infuriated them in the Unraveling.

According to Strauss and Howe, as this generation grows, it is hoped that it will inherit the mantle of civic responsibility that the generation that fought World War II had. Time will tell what these "wanted children" grow up to be.