Meet the Generation iY (Part 3)

Some of us are wondering why the Generation iYs are slow at "entering" adulthood. Parenting and peer influence apart, this is part of the "marketing plan" of corporations.

Today, our world has been increasingly sliced up into demographic sectors. Each "slice" is a market that sellers want to control...and the most-desired slice by far is the young. "They are the optimum market to be going after for consumer electronics, Game Boys, flat screen TVs, iPods, couture fashion, exotic vacations and so forth," says David Morrison, president of TwentySomething Inc., a marketing consultancy based in Philadelphia. "Most of their needs are taken care of by moms and dads, so their income is largely discretionary."

Corporations, in other words, have a real stake in keeping young people in a tractable, exploitable, preadult state - living at home, spending their money on toys. This economic reality is yet another reason why, like it or not, adolescence is now a prolonged season of life - and the tollbooth has become a roadblock. Retailers not only don't expect iYers to grow up; they don't want them to.

Taking a look into these four areas of growth among Gen iYs:

• They are advanced biologically. They reach puberty one to two years earlier than previous generations.
• They are advanced cognitively. Most can handle multiple messages rapidly and digest visual information more quickly than adults.
• They are advanced socially. They are constantly linked to hundreds of friends via the internet.
• They are not as advanced in emotional maturity.

"Easy money" also comes into play:

America is drowning in the quicksand of easy credit and the accessibility of credit cards. The problem of course is that students not only can enjoy products and services long before they can afford them - but they finish college with huge debt and no way to pay it off except to move back home - delaying their own maturation and independence. While many may argue for the importance of establishing credit in young adults, it seems they're rarely able to delay gratification to use that credit wisely.