Generation 'Look at Me' caught in a catch-22

Life with Lindsey

By: Lindsey Pruitt

Posted: 4/29/09

It's that time of year. Finals again. The library is so full its like hunting season in the jungle trying to get a computer. I was actually attacked by a woman the other day. Everyone is so stressed you can almost see cartoon bubbles over their heads with exclamation and question marks. It's always this end-of-the-semester rush that gets me thinking about my future. Once I get done with finals, what's next?

I began thinking about the catch-22 that I have found my generation stuck in since the beginning of the recession and how it will begin to affect my friends and I in our job search for summer. In a world that expects our generation to fail, if we go after jobs this summer we will likely be rejected by the millions of Americans who are stealing summer jobs out from young people because of the recession. If we proceed with our partying habits and hope for better luck next summer, we will be the lazy, unproductive generation they say we are. Seems to me we're screwed this summer.

According to experts, our generation has got it all wrong. Growing up with computers, cell phones and the Internet, which are all designed to make our lives easier, has made us a lazy group with no work ethic and little toleration for the blue-collar market. We have been called "spoiled" and "unrealistic" about our futures, judged by generations before us that lacked these modern amenities. These analysts say that "getting rich" is the main goal of our pathetic generation and that we are too hopeful and relaxed on the subject. We drink, have casual sex and have brought on a rise of drug use and violence surpassing any generation before us.

Wow, what a portrait.

As much as I would like to tell you all this is a clever stab at reverse psychology, I would be lying. With odds like this before us, it's a wonder any of us try at all.

If it isn't enough that we are facing an economy rejecting us for lack of work experience now and ready to crush us when we graduate, we have to worry about the less-than-bright future that psychologists and analysts have doomed us to.

A little optimism would certainly be nice.

But wait! There's more!

Not only are we airheads that sit back and let the world roll over us obsessed with fame and fortune, we are also vain. Called the "Look at Me Generation," instead of recognizing the networking benefits of MySpace and Facebook, analysts only see us staring into a mirror of a page all about ourselves.

While all of this is bothersome and daunting, the blame cannot lie completely on us.

We weren't the ones who created these convenient technologies and multimedia that have blasted into a world of laziness, sex, drugs and violence. We were born, innocent and pure, and these were handed to us on a silver platter. Sure, our parents could have locked us up, but the world around us would have influenced us eventually. So yes, technology might have bred negativity, but we are correct in that there is still hope because this technology has also bred success, and now it is up to us to use it effectively.

We also weren't the ones responsible for the downfall of the economy and the fact that we can't get jobs because bitter, generation has-been job losers have taken them.

So while we are being blamed for belonging to a generation of hopelessness, we are caught in a catch-22 fueled by recession. Of course employers will want adults before us. They are too worried about our dependability and flakiness, and while they are trying to keep their own heads above water, they can't rely on the common irresponsibility of young people.

So what are we supposed to do?

The answer is to continue our education.

Some say this is the best time to be in school because ideally good ole Obama will have the job market open for us soon and we will have endured the recession while safe in our college town. Summer school or internships can never hurt, and while neither of these generates income, they do contribute to a fatter résumé, which might help us out when the recession lifts.

As for the bad attitudes of analysts and psychologists studying our generation, I think we are going to have to rest on Mommy's favorite proverb, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

Lindsey Pruitt is the assistant lifestyles editor for The Arkansas Traveler. This is her last column for the semester.