The Kids Are Alright

The 18 to 25 year olds, GenY, at SXSW were extremely polished, goal oriented, and big thinkers for their age. The have an air of been there, done that. Veterans of the world’s circuses - the Disney trips, the overseas semesters - they know many of the methods of media influence and flashy ad displays. They want to talk about ideas, how they connect, and how they benefit.

Perhaps it is growing up with odd numbers of success obsessed parents, or perhaps absorbing so much technology makes them adapt faster, but every one I spoke with could think on their feet, stay on message like a White House Press Secretary and see opportunities from a distance. It is obviously a small sample of the population, and the youth attending SXSW include both top students from acclaimed universities and current employees of Google, Facebook, and funded startups, but I was impressed.

I don't remember myself and my college classmates being so ready to take over the world in the mid-1990s. We just wanted jobs, and we had few cheap tools with global reach. Today's grads make jobs for themselves and assume the infrastructure will be there. This vast, generation wide experience in building companies will serve them well in the coming years, and perhaps benefit all of us.

Posted via email from Fear and Loathing at SXSW Interactive