Is it possible to identify the characteristics – at least in the collective imagination – that define the younger generations? And what are those of adults? The LaST (Laboratory on Society and Territory) study compared the different generations with one another. It did so not only by asking respondents to highlight the distinctive traits of young people, but also those of adults, thereby holding up a mirror to the assessments of the different generations. Respondents were presented with a series of characteristics and asked to assign a score to each (on a scale of 1 to 10). The final result is a ranking that outlines the distinctive features of the different generations, offering many interesting insights.
An initial finding suggests that young people have more pronounced and distinguishable characteristics than adults. In other words, it is the adult generations that lack the distinctive traits seen in younger people. One need only glance at the scores assigned in the two rankings to see that the older generations are less visible. Whilst the average score for young people’s traits is 6.4 overall, this drops to 5.7 amongst adults. Therefore, it is adults rather than young people who are invisible, less easily defined. This is because we struggle to define their contours. Perhaps this is because today’s adults, when they adopt behaviours similar to those of young people, lose their ability to serve as a point of reference: they become indistinguishable.
A second finding shows that, compared with adults, younger generations define themselves in terms of both positive and negative aspects, but that the latter carry slightly more weight. Younger generations are decidedly digital (8.6) and seen as an asset for the future (7.5) compared with adults (5.1 and 6.1 respectively). However, this is immediately followed by negative traits such as bored (7.3), spoilt (7.1), frustrated (7.1), addicted (6.9) and isolated (6.1). The positive traits, such as ‘quick’ (6.7) and ‘innovative’ (6.5), are the only ones to achieve a passing mark. So, whilst young people are indeed more easily defined than adults, these characteristics are viewed more negatively than positively. For their part, adults also define themselves as being active (6.7) and a resource (6.1). But, above all, they are defined by a sense of frustration (7.3).
