The Kids are Alright: Connecting with Youth

1. The Kids are Alright: Connecting with Youth Provincial Dialogue 2008May 14–16, 2008 A Presentation by: Michelle Dagnino www.michelledagnino.com info@michelledagnino.com

2. Demographics

3. Population stats

4. Changing Home Life… • 80% are from families with 1-2 children at home • 60% of mothers work out of home • 67% of unmarried 20-24-year-olds live at home

5. Psychographics

6. Different experiences of “adulthood” • Average age of 1st menstruation = 12 • Average age of 1st cigarette = 13 • Average age of 1st intercourse = 16 • Average age at graduation = 26 • Average age of 1st marriage = 29 • Average age of 1st childbirth = 29

7. School impact • 1 in every 2 young people (20-24) attending post-secondary school • More students working part-time and taking longer to graduate

8. The Millennial Learner • Exposure/Experimentation with “grown up” activity • Exposure to vast information but less in depth • Different patterns of social connection and intimacy • Increasingly high levels of stress and anxiety • Technological proficiency • More entrepreneurial employment from a younger age • Ambitious expectations • Well aware of community rules, regulations and political correctness.

9. Defining Characteristics • Special—It has been communicated by the culture to the Millennials that they are special and vital to the future of the nation. • Sheltered—Since the 1990s, there has been a major youth safety movement. We now see kids decked out in helmets and pads to ride bikes and strapped into elaborate car seats that would survive a nuclear explosion. • Confident—Millennials have a high level of trust and optimism in comparison to previous generations. They are hopeful of the future and enjoy strong connections with their parents. • Team-oriented—The Millennials have spent much of their time working and learning in groups. As such, they have established tight peer bonds. • Achieving—This generation may well become the best-educated generation. • Pressured—Millennials are pushed to study hard and avoid personal risks, pressured to succeed. • Conventional—Millennials, as a generation, will support conventional social rules and standards of behavior.

10. Totally Stressed Out! According to a recent study from Statistics Canada, a typical Canadian teen clocks 50 hours of paid and unpaid labour each week, including volunteer hours. Not surprisingly, the majority of teens find that it's difficult to cope with all the competing demands on their time. • Sixty-four per cent admit to cutting back on sleep in order to get things done. • Thirty-nine per cent report feeling under constant pressure to accomplish more than they can handle. • And 16 per cent describe themselves as workaholics.

11. Issues to Address • Diversity of needs, experiences and backgrounds • Different understanding of “customer service” – want more things available to them from a greater variety of sources • Everything fast, everything now • Expect to be able to do everything through/with technology • Need specific direction and guidance

12. The Greatest Influences Peers Pop Culture/Media Parents Siblings Mentors

13. “I feel like I have a lot to contribute, but I don’t know where to start, or whether anyone cares.” “I feel like my [favorite] musicians understand me better than anyone else does, even my friends.” I wasn’t going to buy it, but then two of my friends showed up with that same brand, and I felt like I had to get it too.”

14. Influences: Pop Culture • Millennials are exposed to pop culture in ways no previous generations could have dreamed possible. • They are bombarded with conflicting images and sound bites of, for example, Britney Spears, Iraqi prisoner abuse, Tiger Woods, Mickey Mouse, George Bush, Quinton Tarantino, the atrocities in the Sudan, Pamela Anderson, Michael Jackson’s child abuse court case, MTV, Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, Lacy Peterson, and JLo, in no particular order or organization.

15. Keepin’ it Real • The “hip hop culture” has permeated popular culture in an unprecedented fashion. Because of its enormous cross-over appeal, the hip hop culture is a potentially great unifier of diverse populations. Although created by black youth on the street, hip hop's influence has become worldwide. Approximately 75% of the rap and hip hop audience is nonblack. It has gone from the fringes, to the suburbs, and into the corporate boardrooms. Indeed, McDonald's, Coca Cola, Sprite, Nike, and other corporate giants have capitalized on this phenomenon.

16. Hip Hop “Music has been a bridge for young people for a long time, they have a tendency to be going through heavy things emotionally, and music reflects that. It seems to make an impact for them.” • Although critics of rap music and the hip hop culture seemed to be fixated on the messages of sex, violence, and harsh language, this genre offers us a paradigm of what can be. The potential of this art form to mend ethnic relations is substantial. Hip hop culture has challenged the system in ways that have unified individuals (particularly youth) across a rich ethnic spectrum.

17. Good Omens for the Millennials Statistically, today's teens are less likely to smoke, drink, do illegal drugs, get pregnant, commit a crime, or drop out of school than their counterparts in the 1970s.

18. The Dark Underside of Millennials • Millennials is one of the most medicated generations in human history.“Pharming parties” where youths trade, share, and try each other's prescription medications. • Even with increased use of antidepressants & other behavior-altering drugs, Millennials are more depressed than any generation previous. • Childhood obesity is another health problem that has plagued Millennials as well as Gen X before them.

19. Being left behind? • Faced with a variety of challenges that are tougher than those faced by young adults over the past few decades. • Projected to be the first Canadian generation to do less well economically than their parents • Among the challenges are worsening job prospects, and higher levels of debt.

20. Root Cause Analysis The Rewiring of Millennial Minds • Video Games • 24/7 everything / time shifting • Personalized entertainment • Media designed for high bandwidth, short-term attention

21. Just Different – Not Defective Millennials know what you expect from them but often you don’t have anything they want.

22. Understanding their Fundamental Differences • A voracious appetite for choices • An expectation for “having it all” • Non-linear • Not ADD • Multi-tasking • high capacity for bilateral processing • High speed visual download capability

23. Factors to Engage Youth • Building young people’s connections to their own identity, culture, and community; • Recognize that young people are assets to and experts about their own communities; • Engage young people as community leaders on issues that matter to them; • Bring young people and adults together to work as equal partners. • Provide mentorship and role modelling

24. Accelerated Transience Change is a given • Millennials are becoming more immersed in and increasingly adapted to very rapid and constant transition • Their capacity for radical shifts in context and environment are significantly higher than any preceding generation

25. www.michelledagnino.com Thanks for your time today! Questions? Comments? info@michelledagnino.com