Behold -- Now We Present: the iGen
The generation coming in behind the millennials is nearing adulthood. If we take 1995 as the end of the millennials -- and opinions vary wildly here -- they're already 50 million-strong. The oldest will start turning 16 in just 10 weeks. The youngest are already shaping their parents' spending patterns. How many 4-year-olds have iPads before -- or as an excuse for -- their parents?
So meet the iGen. Ad Age is credited with coining the term Generation Y in an August 1993 editorial, according to no less an authority than Wikipedia. In retrospect, the name didn't age well and seemed to presume that the generation was an iteration of the Gen Xers we called "cynical, purple-haired blobs watching TV." As the oldest turn 30, we tend to call them millennials now.
Ad Age isn't the first to plant this flag; the Wikipedia page for iGen exists already. But we've looked at a lot of choices and think this one is the best fit, so henceforth iGen it is . Perhaps we should just say we're doing it in honor of the late Steve Jobs, who will have done a lot to shape this group even if he's no longer around to see the full impact.
The "i" can stand for many things. Interactive, naturally: These kids were born after the rise of the internet. They're not just accustomed to it, like the millennials, they know no world without it. They're immersed in more media than any generation before them. They're international -- those being born today are already a majority-minority population, according to some of the leading demographers.
The "i" can also grow with them. It could stand for their self-reliance (all about "I") or their independence -- a counter-punch against their helicoptered predecessors. Perhaps they'll be iconoclasts or idealists. Maybe they'll all just seem like idiots. It could stand for, well, something we haven't thought to apply to them yet. But however you want to fill in the variable, they're here.
And now they're identified. -- Matt Carmichael