Generation Y: What community do you belong to?

Community as defined by Google “is a set of people (or agents in a more abstract sense) with some shared element”. Generation Y is “the generation following Generation X, especially people born in the United States and Canada from the early 1980s to the late 1990s” (Answers.com). The Generation y period is also referred to as the “the Millenials and the Internet Generation” (Answers.com). There is some uncertainty with the range of age that qualifies some one as generation y or generation x. But obviously generation y must come after generation x, this period of time is referred to as “1970’s to 1990’s” (Answers.com) but “due to the flexible nature of such demographic terms, two people of the same birth year can identify as either Generation X, Y, or something that follows Y, such as the New Silent Generation and neither is wrong” (Answere.com). Because of the nature of demographics the time someone is born does not necessarily mean they are part of that generation, but it is in the way some one acts.

There are many sub-groups of Generation Y which include “The Net Generation, Reagan Babies, Millennials, Hip Hop Generation, Echo Boomers, IGeneration, Second Baby Boom, the D.A.R.E. Generation, Google Generation, MySpace Generation, MyPod Generation, Generation Next, Grand Theft Auto Generation, Nintendo Generation, the Halo Generation, Me Generation and the Cynical Generation” (Answers.com). I have grown up through all of theses generations and have friends that are in most of them. I myself am part of a few of these generations. The reason that I believe I’m part of the Y Generation is because; I am part of the Nintendo Generation, the Internet generation, and the Halo Generation.

When I was younger I was part of what was known as the Nintendo generation. This was a short generation that consisted of people who were born into the start of video games. I remember when my father brought home the Super Nintendo. I had been sick for a few days and was lying on the couch. He came in with this box, brought it to the TV, and hooked it up. It came with super Mario world and two controllers. I played that game all day every day for a long time. I began to save money from helping my father and mother around the house to by more games. The Nintendo Generation was a generation for the young kids. As I grew my place in the Nintendo Generation vanished and I succeeded to the internet generation.

When I was younger my family did not have a computer until around 1995. It also took us a while before we got the internet. I remember when I had to use encyclopedias to do research for projects at school. The internet was a foreign technology to my family, until the schools were hard wired with it. I believe that the Internet Generation is probably the largest generation of people there is. Almost every country in the world has the internet and any one with a computer has the internet. It is a generation that I think has the widest age range since everyone has come to depend on it. The internet is a commodity that we have grown so attached to that we cannot live with out it. I think that I am part of this generation because I have also grown to depend on it for almost everything. I cannot do research with out using the internet it is so easy to sit down and surf the web for answers. I also do much more than just work on the net, for instance I talk to friends with instant messenger. I download computer games to play from websites. With the internet there are infinite possibilities with no boundaries.

The worlds young have become a generation of video game players. There are many systems to choose from when it comes to video games, such as the computer, Gamecube or Wii, Xbox or Xbox360, Plastation2 or Playstation3. Each system with very many games ranging from puzzles, to first person shooters, and even strategy games. It does not matter what system you have every one knows that the greatest game of all time is the halo games 1 and 2. When halo came out on Xbox it brought gaming to a whole new level. My friends and I use to sit around and play halo all the time even at school we would play, by hooking a few Xboxes together with a network cable and hooking them up to the TVs. Halo was so successful that Microsoft came out with halo for the computer.

When Halo 2 came out the gaming got even greater so many people played halo 2 multiplayer that Microsoft made another halo 2 just for multi play. This outbreak of Halo playing has become known as the halo generation. This sub generation is pretty new but contains very many people with a pretty wide range of age. I have been playing halo for a long time and bought an Xbox 360 so I am ready when Halo 3 comes out, which is pretty soon.

When I began researching I did not know what community that I belonged to if any. I was unsure that there was a community that I had been part of all this time, but I have found that I have many sub communities that I am or was part of at one time. These communities were The Nintendo, Internet, and Halo communities. Being part of these communities is something that I did not know about myself but it is something that I will not forget. Because I am part of these communities lets me know that I am part of something, part of Generation Y.

Work cited

Answers.com. 2005. Answers.com 29 July 2007. .

Wikipedia. 2007. Generation Y. 29 July 2007.