Yawns & Twixters

Young adults have been getting a lot of pub on in the blogs and newsstands lately, possibly because those entering this workforce also grew up with the internet. Makes some of this happen quicker. A few articles of note:

Fast Forward notes that YAWNS are the new chique. Young adults who have money but are light on consumption and care about the planet are a growing cohort within Gen-X & the early Millennials. This will cause quite a stir for Greed Wall Street.

We’ve now named the era of life for 18-25. It was bound to happen. Lets look at an updated chain of life:
0-2ish — Infant
2-5 — Toddler
5-10 — Kid
10-12 — Tween
12-18 — Teenager
18-25 — Twixter
25-40 — ?
40-50 — Middle Age
50-65 — ?
65+ — Old

Twixters are thought to be an in between age where things are really uncertain, life is moving fast, and anything is possible. Twixters progressively don’t really want to grow up (thanks Toys ‘R Us), don’t want responsiblity, and aren’t as quick to move out as was once the case.

Time Magazine, the bread and butter of journalism, dropped a cover story on this, but seems to have taken a position that this is a generation that is selfish in not wanting to emerge. Not that I’m too much an expert on this, but I think there are other cultural forces causing this than just selfishness (though it does contribute). American culture does a horrible job of educating its young adults, so it is that either graduation from school or marriage is typically the only way a young person is suddenly old enough to make decisions. Even in high schools, we still treat these like children.