Meet Katie, Our Gen Yer
What was being a “Gen Y” like?
I look at this question and think, is my generation all that different from others? As I think back to my childhood I’m sitting in the York College library listening to Bowling for Soup’s Almost… talk about a Gen Y band. I was born in 1991 and thank God I have changed since then; what a trip I’m taking back 20 years…
I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and went to elementary school with kids that I later took college prep chemistry with in high school. We played four-square on the playground at recess and literally ran from our classrooms when the bell ran because we wanted to be first on the swing set. I remember sitting in class in 6th grade and passing notes with my best friend during math. We thought it was fun to staple the sides of the note just to give us something to do. We had sleepovers and watched Boy Meets World as we drooled over Shawn because he was the “bad” boy, and jammed out to The Spice Girls dancing in our pj’s.
A year later we went to 7th grade and our friends drastically changed. We changed our clothes, hair, and probably many more. We were 13 and thought we were cooler than anyone, and no one could tell us no. I was one of the first kids in school who wore converse, pink no less, and thought I was awesome because I saw Bowling for Soup in concert. I jammed out to them on my CD player; wow, we’ve come so far since then. I had my first serious boyfriend in junior high, going along with my first kiss, and thought it was so cool to go to the movies on a Saturday afternoon on a “date.” But my mom drove, so in the large scheme, not so cool.
I got to high school and molded into the group of friends that I would stick with for the next four years. I remember being beyond stressed about who I would sit with at lunch, because no one wanted to be that awkward person sitting by themselves in the back corner for 46 minutes. I watched Pretty in Pink and wanted to find someone like Andrew McCarthy. Now, instead of passing paper notes in class, we secretly texted on our flip phones during movies and whenever our teacher had their back to us. We roamed the halls during study hall with friends and told the freshman to go to the 4th floor, knowing that they would get stuck on the 3rd floor science wing. What jerks we were back then.
I’m now in college and looking back to my childhood I’m amused just thinking about it. I’ve come a long way since the 90’s, but some days I wish I could detour back to simpler days. I have two email accounts on my BlackBerry and check it about a thousand times a day, am on Facebook and Twitter, and living on coffee because eating simply takes too long to do. It’s been fun roaming back memory lane, but now I’m jolted back to 2012 sitting in the library listening to Bowling for Soup and doing more homework… there’s still not enough time in the day.
