Millennials are the least religious human generation since the days of Adam and Eve. According to a Pew Research report in 2014, it seems that one of every three people on earth of this generation prefers not to affiliate with any faith. Only 10% of them are still looking for the universal truth.
However, other sociologists think that this generation does not give up their spiritual feelings but tend to reject the Conventional approach (Robert Putnam and David Campbell). The study of 100 urban Millennials has shown that they are not “the spiritual consumers of their parents’ generation, rather they are seeking both a deep spiritual experience and a community experience, each of which provides them with meaning in their lives, and is meaningless without the other.” Hence, they are actively looking for certain level of creed under which they can not lead a meaningful life (The Embodied Spirituality of the Post-Boomer Generations).
Who are the Millennials? Choose your own adventure.
- This generation might be considered a the "Generation of the Internet". They are in their early adulthood at the moment (18-34 years of age now in 2015).
- Almost all of them do not remember well how was the life before the internet
- They do not acknowledge the "American Dream" anymore. They were all in their teen years when the Twin Towers went down. They lived through the greatest financial crisis in 2008 and they do not trust their parents' stories about the importance of having a system to live by.
Millennials believe in value-led governments, sustainable organizations, and quickly measurable results. They are more individualistic than generation X, Y or their parents. You can see them looking into their smart phones almost everywhere. Try to ride on the metro and look around for any face to smile to. Almost none !!!
What kind of social life will exist 10 years from now? Can you greet your neighbours?
It 2015, it is much easier to send a txt message to a younger fellow than calling her/him or meet face to face. Virtual interconnectivity offers more confort to our younger fellows and kids. They prefers sending a quick email without any greetings or formality than coming to shake a hand and show a confident smile. They might prefer to donate via paypal to a stranger than offering a meal to a next door neighbor.
Kathleen Shaputis, a prominent American sociologist, prefers another title for this generation: The Boomerang generation or the Peter Pan generation because they want to delay growing up as much as they can. They like to live longer with their parents as well instead of jumping out as soon as possible as with Generation X and generation Y.
So? What does it mean?
It means a lot. How can we keep a strong communications channel with our future generations? How to harness the power of technology to keep close to them and motivate them to maintain a good level of engagement in order to keep the humane community experience alive in front of their eyes?
