Generation Y

Mapping out Generation Y's placement would put its members' formative and adolescent years through the late eighties until the millennial bug brouhaha of 2000. Generation Y represents the juniors of the MTV Generation (See entry), who by and large grew up influenced by the youth culture movement of the 80's and early 90's, further encouraged through a savvier approach by broadcast media (through film, TV, music, and literature) to promote talents, showbiz, and commercial ideas. The age of household Internet access in the 90's allowed Generation Y to initiate and sustain the convergence of broadcast media content with accessible information. As Generation Y kids were introduced to the World Wide Web through basic dial-up Internet, so did the shaping of their lifestyles and approach to socialization. These were significantly influenced by online connectivity's relatively primitive Etiquette in technology and the inevitable results of self-discovery by the users who were interacting online. These formative years of Internet technology was coincidentally the formative years of Generation Y members. Online etiquette and protocols of social and legal interaction were yet to be fully established and formalized and it was during this period that much of the landscape of the Internet was influenced and shaped by how Generation Y used the Internet as a platform for communication.