Y-Generation's sense of free time.
So apparently I make up the "older" posse of the so-called Y-generation. The Y-generation, rather obviously, is the generation following those baby-boomers that make up the X-generation. There is a lot of rhetoric on what the Y-generation kids are all about, and besides heaps of demographics like how we are "Born between 1981 and 1995" and how, in the U.S. alone, "generation y members are more than 57 million strong--the largest consumer group in the history of the U.S." apparently we differ in motivation, and mind-set from our predecessors.
It is said that this Y-generation is apparently lacking any real direction, concrete or tangible passion--perhaps due to a lack of threat of war or direct pressure that forces humans to take a particular stand and fight for something. Now, this would obviously put a "western" twinge on the whole Y-generation, and is indeed one of the arguments my Japanese boss would invoke about The West in general--how, due to its relative peace and lack of life-threatening situations combined with an importance put on modern day versus culture and tradtion, has created an youth saturated in affluency, where free time and hobbies reign supreme.
However ridiculous all this rhetoric is (and there is heaps of it on the Internet, especially found on Marketing websites--just do a simple goolge search), I've come across a rather main thread that weaves togeher some of my day-to-day thoughts; I've come to notice just how much foreign people working here in Japan value their free time, or play time. The setting, teaching ESL in Nippon, is the ideal scene to show just how different this mind-set can be though. For, the majority of ESL teachers (in my experience) are all fresh out of university, here to make a buck, travel, and experience Japan for one reason or another. But, the glue that bonds all these factors together comes from that fact that these teachers don't really know what next step to take. So why not come out here to teach (I do not disclude myself from such arguments). But, when one is using a profession as a means to an end ("I want to travel and I can speak English, so I'll go and teach"), of course "work" gets put on the back-burner. For me, the reason I am here in Japan (although to gain teaching experience) is to study Japanese, to see more of the country, and to meet more Japanese people. I can readily admit that it is not primarily because I want to pass the register of the past-perfect tense of the English Language to people who live in a different culture. I want to communicate, yes. I want to bridge cultural gaps, make human contact with people who would otherwise be represented by one sort of stereotype or another found on t.v., if I was to stay home.
But, is this emphasis on free time a negative element to the western psyche, if indeed, it does represent the an aspect of the western psyche? For, if one does not make "work" their "life" in the sense of making it their passion, their reason to be here, wouldn't one always end up cutting corners, waiting for tomorrow, looking at one's watch? Perhaps, this simply reflects the universal situation of what it's like doing something that you truly don't want to do--no matter where you're from or what country you live in.
For further info on the marketed generation y, you can check out this link:
http://www.onpoint-ma
It is said that this Y-generation is apparently lacking any real direction, concrete or tangible passion--perhaps due to a lack of threat of war or direct pressure that forces humans to take a particular stand and fight for something. Now, this would obviously put a "western" twinge on the whole Y-generation, and is indeed one of the arguments my Japanese boss would invoke about The West in general--how, due to its relative peace and lack of life-threatening situations combined with an importance put on modern day versus culture and tradtion, has created an youth saturated in affluency, where free time and hobbies reign supreme.
However ridiculous all this rhetoric is (and there is heaps of it on the Internet, especially found on Marketing websites--just do a simple goolge search), I've come across a rather main thread that weaves togeher some of my day-to-day thoughts; I've come to notice just how much foreign people working here in Japan value their free time, or play time. The setting, teaching ESL in Nippon, is the ideal scene to show just how different this mind-set can be though. For, the majority of ESL teachers (in my experience) are all fresh out of university, here to make a buck, travel, and experience Japan for one reason or another. But, the glue that bonds all these factors together comes from that fact that these teachers don't really know what next step to take. So why not come out here to teach (I do not disclude myself from such arguments). But, when one is using a profession as a means to an end ("I want to travel and I can speak English, so I'll go and teach"), of course "work" gets put on the back-burner. For me, the reason I am here in Japan (although to gain teaching experience) is to study Japanese, to see more of the country, and to meet more Japanese people. I can readily admit that it is not primarily because I want to pass the register of the past-perfect tense of the English Language to people who live in a different culture. I want to communicate, yes. I want to bridge cultural gaps, make human contact with people who would otherwise be represented by one sort of stereotype or another found on t.v., if I was to stay home.
But, is this emphasis on free time a negative element to the western psyche, if indeed, it does represent the an aspect of the western psyche? For, if one does not make "work" their "life" in the sense of making it their passion, their reason to be here, wouldn't one always end up cutting corners, waiting for tomorrow, looking at one's watch? Perhaps, this simply reflects the universal situation of what it's like doing something that you truly don't want to do--no matter where you're from or what country you live in.
For further info on the marketed generation y, you can check out this link:
http://www.onpoint-ma
posted by Jamiesan at 10:17 PM
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