Fundamentals of Interactive Journalism

I’ve got no promising internship prospects.  I’ve got an in-box that reminds me each day, that there is an internship requirement. I’m reading about papers crashing and unemployment rising, and this has all been making me think lots about the whole idea of WORKING. Jobs. Employment. I don’t think I’m a particularly lazy person and I hope it doesn’t seem that I’m just whining about doing work and making excuses about why I haven’t secured an internship.  I really think that our generation has it a TON harder than generations before us.

Now we might not all fit snugly under the title Generation Y, but for the purposes of this blog post, and because I don’t know what other term to use to describe our generation, I will refer to all of us in this program and those our age as Generation Y-ers for the remainder of the post.

Generation Y has been getting slammed by the media for the past five years or so. I can’t argue much with what they’re saying. In a USA today article from ‘05, sources said Gen Y-ers were pampered from birth, and therefore not accustomed to shutting up and taking orders. They said Gen Y-ers bounce around from job to job…no loyalty, no consistency, no commitment. Newsweek put out an article in ‘07 that said Gen Y-ers had no qualms about quitting a job and moving back in with mom and pops when the job wasn’t fun anymore. Other articles pointed to flip flops at work, ipods at the desk, facebook chatting on the clock, and this attitude of “I wanna do what I wanna do.”

I’m not going to argue too much. I’m on my second career. I was a teacher and now I’m getting my masters in journalism. And to be honest,  I’m not so sure that I’m going to pursue journalism full time (oh, with the disgusting job market and this idea that I can’t shake: that a job in journalism might mean me working 100 hours a week for a starbucks salary minus the job security).  BUT, in my defense, and in the defense of all generation Y-ers, JOB, EMPLOYMENT, WORK today, is not what it used to be.

We work more hours than ever before. Stakes are higher. Debt is bigger. The clean line that used to divide home and work has been washed away with blackberries and the internet. I just think things used to be much simpler. Finding a job. Keeping a job. Supporting oneself. Supporting a family. I think most families were supported by one breadwinner. Moms stayed home. Weekends were free time. It’s a different world now, and I think Generation Y-ers are searching out something sustainable. Maybe we can bust our asses for a couple years at an intense job. But everyone has a breaking point. We might need to step back and reassess. And reassess again. And maybe again, until we find something we can manage. Something, I don’t believe older folks were faced with. Am I wrong?