Generation Y

What do we mean by Generation Y? For starters, what did we mean by Generation X anyway? I grew up in the 90's... well the 80's too but at that time I was mostly learning to walk, talk, read & write.. :) So in the late 90's we started hearing that we are supposedly the MTV generation, or Generation X. In India, where I come from, we suddenly got exposed to a whole lot of TV channels in the early 90's. These channels included a lot of American & European channels. It gave us new insight into what is going on in the rest of the world. Alien concepts started becoming commonplace for us. To be frank the channels even helped improve my spoken English! India has a rich cultural history & the older generation believed that our generation was changing much faster than previous generations. The reason? TV ! Yes! TV, and not even computers! Because we were getting all these various novel ideas from TV. Back in the 80's the only pop star I knew was Micheal Jackson. We now knew who George Micheal & Elton John was.. yes the connection might have been deliberate ;), but you get what I mean.. And we used to watch Baywatch & MTV Grind... which gave the "Elders" all the more reason to condemn these channels. But what they did not realize is that we also learned a LOT of stuff that was never taught in School. We also watched National Geographic which showed dolphins & sharks & migrating habits of salmon... stuff that we never cared about! But we were so excited!

That was Generation X. Then came computers... and the Internet. Thank God for that! And hence this generation is now Generation Y. Let's not even go into what happens after Generation Z. Will that be the end of progression??? Ok let's think about that later, or in the next blog post :P

So Generation Y progressed faster than Generation X. But it is great, is it not? People learned about so much stuff by just surfing random sites or even checking their email! Now when I come to think of it, so much can be taught & so well! My work involves Medical Imaging. If instead of teaching these concepts from big fat books, if the professors showed us videos of interesting concepts, we would have learned much faster! Yes well, work is in progress I must say. I have attended some trainings where we are assigned personal computers & we go through various interactive software to learn. But its still not there yet.

In the next 10-30 years the regular classroom will be out. Our Web Skills class was by far the most interesting course I've ever had in my lifetime - hands down! We learned to CREATE things. Most of my college assignments were copied from my friends. Plagiarism you say? Not if you didn't actually photocopy them! But this particular homework for example? Would I dare copy it? Are you kidding? This is the very FIRST assignment I've done where I'm supposed to speak my mind! Hope this is a first of many classes to come. If so, the world will be a better place for students... :)

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What's your 'thing'?

I was wondering… right now all of us are doing something – working or studying in their chosen field of interest …but when u come to think of it, is it really THE field of interest for you? Did the thought ever strike you 'Given the choice, what might I rather be doing?' No, I don't mean like if u got better marks in such and such subject in your HSC/SAT, then maybe you would've been doing Computers rather than Mechanical or something like that – I don't mean that. I mean like your other passions, interests.. Many of u might have been good at say, singing or playing an instrument, or sports, or writing etc. But u didn't make a career out of it because u didn't see a future in it (And more so, nor did your parents). You didn't even take it seriously, did you? And somehow, u never really gave it too much thought, and within no time, it ceased being a genuine interest and became something you 'used to be good at'.

Most of us never even stopped to think what it is that we are good at. We never asked ourselves, 'What's my thing?' But right now just take a moment and think about it. Can u think of an alternative profession?

I have given it some thought. If things would have turned out differently, I might have been a good psychotherapist/psychiatrist or u know, one of those things. Now I will sound a bit immodest here but what the hell. Among other things I consider myself to be good at connecting with people at an inter personal level. I'm not exactly a first impression kind of guy I'm sure, but the more I've gotten to know most people, the better the relationship has been. In retrospect, I have always been lucky with friends. I have always had good close buddies around me. That has contributed heavily in my having had a happy childhood and a happy & fun filled college experience as well. Now you're probably thinking, what the hell, there are a lot of people with loads of friends. But here is where the 'thing' comes into the picture.

I'm still thinking about it. I will think more on the subject and get back on this blog. AS of now I think this will suffice for my homework! :)