CHAPTER  10

Cell Phones and Hanna Montana: Signposts for the Linkster Generation

“It is all that the young can do for the old, to shock them and keep them up to date.”¹

—George Bernard Shaw

Critical Events in the Lives of Linksters

1998 TiVo first launched at CES

2000 Survivor reality show debuted

2001 New York becomes first state to ban handheld cell phone use while driving

2001 The Netherlands becomes first nation to grant same-sex marriages

2004 Janet Jackson “accidently” exposes her breast at the Super Bowl

2007 Washington becomes the first state to make texting while driving illegal

2008 Financial meltdown

2009 President Barack Obama takes office

2009 U.S. Airways Flight 1549 crashes into Hudson River

2009 Swine flu outbreak

2009 Death of Michael Jackson

2009 Jay Leno moves to prime time

2009 First AIDS vaccine shows promise

Generation Linkster

Welcome to Generation Linkster, so called because no other generation has ever been so linked to each other and to the world through technology. Born after 1995, they are currently in their teens and preteens. There are approximately 20 million Generation Linksters in the United States,² and they represent 18 percent of the world’s population.³ As of this writing, they are entering the workforce as part-time employees, working after school and during the summers.

Most Linksters don’t remember the O. J. Simpson trial, the disputed 2000 presidential election, the dot-com collapse, or the 9/11 attacks. Their vocabulary lessons included words like “terrorism” and “Google.” The nice lady who gives you directions from your GPS is an icon for them and as trustworthy as a police officer. In fact, the people they trust most are their parents, who are, for the most part, Generation X.

Signposts for Generation Linkster

Signpost: Parental Involvement

Baby Boomer parents wanted their Gen Y children to grow up with a strong sense of self-esteem and an advantage in getting into the best schools. Generation X parents, although caring about self-esteem, are rejecting some of the overscheduling and overparenting tactics of their Baby Boomer parents. Remember from Chapter 3 that these are the folks who waited until their mid-30s to marry and then embraced familyhood with relish. They’re involved, caring, and willing to devote the time to be good parents. Generation X includes more stay-at-home dads than the Boomer parents of Generation Y. And more Generation X moms than Boomers are staying home or working part-time to be with their kids.⁴

On the other hand, they have often been criticized for overindulging their children. In her article on child-centered parenting, Kathi Alexander complains that many parents today are so “child-centered” that they’re afraid to deny their children anything.⁵ She uses the example of, “Okay, but honey, that’s your last package of Twizzlers before breakfast,” to brilliantly paint a picture to which many of us can relate. She goes on to say:

It’s not just that many American parents are under-parenting by not setting reasonable limits. Paradoxically, we are also over-parenting by making every effort to ensure that our children are not given the opportunity to fail. At the same time our pediatricians are urging us to cut back on the excessive use of hand sanitizers and antibiotics (kids need exposure to some germs if their immune systems are going to successfully fight the really bad ones), our child development experts are telling us to stop excessively slathering our children with the word “Yes.” Our kids’ emotional “immune systems” need exposure to life lessons that involve at least the risk of disappointment, failure, or emotional turmoil if they are going to be able to withstand the bigger setbacks and losses they will inevitably face in adulthood.

Dr. Michael Brody, a child psychiatrist and chair of the Television and Media Committee of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, explains that Gen X parents “are trying to heal the wounds from their own childhoods through their children.”⁶ Remember, Gen Xers were the latchkey kids who often watched their families dissolve in divorce.

The parents of Generation Linkster seem concerned with creating a more rational, traditional family atmosphere than did their Baby Boomer predecessors. By traditional, we mean having dinner together and spending more connecting time in activities that bring everyone closer. By rational, we mean that it’s okay to let their children be themselves. The result is a generation that remains close to their parents. According to Youth-Trends.com, a marketing and research company in Ramsey, New Jersey, 70 percent of this generation call their parents their best friends.

Linksters and their primarily Gen X parents participate in similar activities from skateboarding to snowboarding. Nickelodeon is a U.S.-based television channel with programming aimed at children between the ages of 6 and 15. The number one song on Nickelodeon’s 2009 Kid’s Choice Awards was “Single Ladies” by Beyoncé, which was also listed on the Rolling Stone list of 100 Best Songs.⁷ Linksters and their parents are turned on by the same music.

Linksters React: Keep Things Flexible

As of this writing, the majority of working Linksters are doing so part-time while going to school. Since they are essentially still kids, if they work for you, expect their parents to be heavily involved. They may be relying on their parents for transportation to and from work. They may have other obligations at school. They may be involved with volunteer groups or they may need to study for a test. So keep their stage of life in perspective when dealing with them.

We were in a hotel recently and had to catch an early morning flight. The young man who loaded our luggage said he’s a high school student who works part-time. We asked him what he likes best about the job, and he replied that he really appreciates the free reign the hotel gives him to arrange his schedule around his classes. If he needs to study for a test, he can move his hours around or even work fewer hours. We couldn’t help noticing that he did a terrific job: courteous, friendly, helpful, and efficient. Just the kind of customer-oriented employee every hotel wants.

If you want to hold on to Linksters, providing a schedule that reasonably accommodates their needs and the needs of their parents will improve your chances.

Signpost: Connecting Through Technology

As grade school children, Generation Y embraced technology and brought online social media into the mainstream. Linksters have been online since they were toddlers. Today, 62 percent of American homes have access to the Internet and 82 percent of those homes have a high-speed connection.⁸ If there is a Linkster in the home, you can be sure he or she is using that high-speed line to connect with friends and cruise the Web. According to a study by Pew Internet, 50 percent of American Linksters go online every day.⁹ We think it’s likely that most of them pity anyone who only has dial-up!

These kids have been accessing email, putting pictures on their own Web sites, and making calls on cell phones since they were three or four years old. In an informal survey of several hundred teenagers, 100 percent told us they had access to the family computer or owned their own laptop. When asked at what age they started using a computer, several said, “I don’t remember. We’ve always had one.”

For this generation, the computer is just another appliance. They use it to do homework, visit social networking sites, surf the Web, and chat with friends. In fact, sending traditional email has become passé for Linksters. They much prefer to text friends using a cell phone or PDA.

Linksters React: Cell Phone Addiction

In the United States, 63 percent of teens have a cell phone.¹⁰ Jason, a 14-year-old Linkster, told us he takes his cell phone with him wherever he goes—not to make calls but because he wants to stay “connected.” (His record is 8,569 text messages in one month.) When he got his first cell phone at 12 years old, his agreement with his parents was to stay at or below 1,500 texts per month. If he went over, he had to pay the difference. Consequently, every month he knew exactly how many texts he had and how close he was to going over the limit. He told us that part of his criteria for texting his buddies or pursuing a potential girlfriend was (1) Were they part of his network? and (2) How many texts did he have left before going over his limit? He explained this was somewhat limiting when he would receive a text but couldn’t respond, hoping the person on the other end didn’t think he was ignoring him or her. Thank goodness now for unlimited texting, which is what many Linksters have. Jason tells us, “Now we don’t talk on the phone. We just text.”

According to a Nielsen study, 83 percent of U.S. mobile teens use text-messaging and 56 percent use MMS/picture messaging. The average U.S. mobile teen now sends or receives an average of 2,899 text messages per month compared to 191 calls.¹¹

Currently, one 13-year-old girl holds the record for number of texts in one month at 14,528. That means she sent 484 texts per day, or an average of three per minute. Her father’s cell phone bill was over 440 pages long.¹²

A study by Jan Van den Bulck, PhD, on mobile phone addiction found that only 38 percent of Generation Linksters never used their cell phone after going to bed.¹³ As many as one in five are awakened in the middle of the night because of an incoming text message or the anticipation of one.¹⁴ Another study found that teenagers who have high cell phone usage are more aggravated, have a harder time falling asleep, and are more prone to other addictive behaviors such as drinking or smoking. According to the study’s author, Gaby Badre, MD, PhD, “Addiction to the cell phone is becoming common. Youngsters feel a group pressure to remain interconnected and reachable round the clock.”¹⁵

Many Linksters describe their cell phones as extensions of their hands, their lifeline, and the only thing they cannot live without. The jolt of energy someone gets from a friendly text has been compared to the buzz a gambler gets from winning. According to a UK news article, two Linksters were taken to a treatment center for their cell phone addiction after their parents discovered they were swindling money from their relatives to pay their cell phone bills.¹⁶

Not every member of Generation Linkster is so far gone, but there is no denying that Linksters have incorporated technology into the way they communicate with each other and the world.

A downside to all this virtual interaction has been a deterioration of face-to-face communication and social skills. As children, we were told not to chew food with our mouths open. Linksters are told not to text during dinner. A survey by Computerworld identified poor interpersonal communication as a common problem among this age group.¹⁷ One of our clients who runs an amusement park said he has to remind his Linkster employees to look patrons in the eye, smile, welcome them on the ride, and even to not spit in front of them. Otherwise, they often don’t know any better.

Another told us about Madison, who works as a cashier in a grocery store. She was upset because her manager told her it was impolite to wait on customers while she listened to her iPod. She said, “I don’t know what the big deal is. I had one bud in my ear and the other bud out. Anyone could see that by having only one bud in, I was accessible. I mean, it’s not like I can’t listen to the customer talk and listen to music at the same time.”

Signpost: Dearth of Face-to-Face Contact

All this reliance on technology and lack of face-to-face contact has resulted in diminishing opportunities for Linksters to learn how to deal with life’s difficult encounters. It’s so much easier for a teen to break up with a love interest by texting him rather than facing him, but by avoiding the encounter, the teen never learns how to have those kinds of tough conversations. Texting your parents to ask them if you can stay out beyond your curfew may be less intimidating than calling them, but it robs you of the chance to practice your powers of persuasion. Writing negative thoughts about someone on MySpace may be easier than confronting her directly, but it cheats you out of learning to temper your criticism with compassion.

In all of these cases, you never get to see the other person’s face and sense his or her response. You only see the words. Texting and email may be convenient tools for sending messages, but they lack the richness and subtlety of face-to-face communication.

The good news from the key signpost “connecting through technology” is that kids are communicating more than ever. The bad news is that their communication skills may be suffering as a result. The implication for managers is this: If you place these people in any situation where they must interact with others, provide them with the training to overcome their inadequacies. If you work or live with them, try to engage with them in face-to-face conversation as much as possible, even if it means asking them to put down the PDA and give you their full attention.

Signpost: Environmental Awareness

Baby Boomers remember when the government drained the Florida Everglades to create more farmland. Gen Xers remember the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989—and many are still boycotting Exxon. Generation Y made Green the new Black (i.e., fashionable) and is playing a part in bringing natural water flow back to the Everglades.

Generation Linkster is growing up knowing An Inconvenient Truth. (An Inconvenient Truth is a book and movie featuring 45th Vice President Al Gore. The movie demonstrates the damage humans are causing to the planet with pollution, and the imperative need to stop global warming.¹⁸) They are keenly aware of problems facing our world like global warming, melting ice caps, thinning ozone layers, and depleting oil reserves. They often know their own carbon footprint before they know their own shoe size.

According to a survey by American Camp Association (ACA), over 80 percent of resident camps offer at least one type of environmental program or activity for teens.¹⁹ PEAK (Promoting Environmental Awareness in Kids) is a program developed by the partnership of REI (Recreational Equipment, Inc.) and the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics. PEAK coaches both urban and suburban kids in how to enjoy the outdoors more responsibly and respectfully. Since 2002, PEAK has taught over 550,000 children how to treat and take care of the wilderness and hiking trails. In 2009, PEAK received the Special Recognition Award from ACA for its outstanding efforts in educating the next generation about the great outdoors.²⁰

Examples of Linksters acting on their environmental awareness regularly appear in the news.

A group of kids in Maryland Heights, Missouri, completed a project at their local school to turn garbage into methane gas that now heats all the classrooms and two gymnasiums.²¹

Two third-graders in Gloucester, Massachusetts, were so moved by the decimation of the rain forests for commercial purposes that they wrote a play about it and, with 11 of their friends, performed the play in front of classmates and teachers.²²

Green Children’s House is a Green Montessori School located in Pompano Beach, Florida. Its curriculum focuses on being green and teaching children how to reuse and recycle. Children’s reports can be printed on recycled paper at the parents’ request, but the goal of the school is to be totally paperless. All the food that is provided to the students is organic and comes from Whole Foods Market or is grown on a sustainable farm. According to the school’s Web site, its mission is to develop student EQ (Environmental Quotients) along with IQ (Intelligence Quotients).²³

Green Children’s House is not alone; the number of ecofriendly pre-schools is on the rise. According to the U.S. Green Building Council there are 127 preschools that have been certified as Green.²⁴

Linksters React: Environmental Passion

Linksters tend to care deeply about the state of the world. They assume greenness should be a priority for all companies. Being so connected to the Internet, they are aware of events and conditions all over the world. It turns global issues into backyard issues for them and gives them a sense of urgency to do something to make the world better. In preschool, Baby Boomers were told to finish their lunch because there were starving children in Africa. Linksters held food drives in preschool to help solve world hunger.

As teenagers, Linksters are moving to make the world a better place. According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, in 2004, 55 percent of American teenagers volunteered, which is almost twice the rate of adults.²⁵

They are directing a great deal of that energy toward the Green Movement. The movie The Graduate made a lasting impression on Boomers because it defined their alienation from their parents’ values. The Breakfast Club had an impact on Generation X because it celebrated their independence from adults. Generation Y will long remember Napoleon Dynamite because it reflected their desire to be unique. Linksters will likely remember Hoot, Happy Feet, and Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth because these and other “green” movies helped define their mission for the future.

Smart companies are capitalizing on this eco-inclination. Whole Foods Grocery Market, the world’s largest retailer of natural and organic foods, recently created a line of body care products targeted at teens called Teens Turning Green. The products are unique because each is chosen by a committee of teens that evaluates and compares how different skin products affect the changing conditions of teenage skin.

A portion of all sales is donated to Teens for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition of young women dedicated to educating peers and the public at large about using cosmetics free of pollutants and toxic chemicals. Sponsored by Whole Foods and other ecofriendly corporations, their projects include campaigning for the adoption of green laws. They played a major role in the passage of California’s Safe Cosmetics Act in October 2005 and the California Toxic Toys Bill in 2007.²⁶

On a smaller scale, Linksters are organizing to make a difference at the local level. Green Teens is an environmental group in northeastern Connecticut founded by three high school freshmen. Their mission is to spread environmental awareness through education and simple, positive lifestyle changes. Accomplishments include operating cloth bag booths, running lightbulb swaps, and attending community events to spread their message.²⁷

The good news is that Linksters care about causes outside themselves and are willing to work hard to make a difference, especially around environmental issues. The bad news, which isn’t really bad, is that as they enter the workforce, their expectations of similar sentiments from their employers will be very important to them. If you haven’t started recycling your scrap, reducing your energy consumption, and cleaning up your carbon footprint, you’d best start. The Linksters are coming and their reactions to eco-unfriendly companies will likely be harsh.

A Great Workplace for Linksters

Hot Topic is a retail store that sells music and popular, culture-themed clothing. The majority of Hot Topic shoppers and employees are under the age of 20. Staff is encouraged to turn the music up. Employees are outfitted in Hot Topic ultracool wear. The store wants its employees to look hip but not be too cool to wait on customers.

To remain current, Hot Topic encourages employees to go to as many concerts as possible. The cost of the ticket is reimbursed as long as the employee fills out a fashion report after the show.²⁸ Retail staff are encouraged to call or text store buyers with their opinions about fashion, a highly unusual practice in an industry where buyers and retail staff are traditionally kept separate. Linksters love this because it’s just how they’re treated at home: as equals. The company benefits because no one knows and cares more about Linkster fashion than Linksters.

The Bottom Line

As Generation Linkster enters the workforce, managers and coworkers face new challenges to integrate young people who have been shaped by the attitudes of their Generation X parents, by technology, and by a growing environmental awareness.

Linksters are close to their parents, whom many in this generation consider their best friends. Managers need to be aware of the influence parents have and the Linksters’ need to affirm their decisions with their parents. As much as possible, schedules need to be flexible to allow Linksters to fit work into their busy schedules.

A generation defined by white cords hanging from their ears while their thumbs fly across keypads inches from their noses understand technology. They’re comfortable with computers. They love video games. They can’t live without their cell phones. Most Linksters can easily handle job requirements that involve technology, but they will have a tougher time with face-to-face communication with customers and coworkers. Managers will need to help them develop these skills.

Generation Linkster recognizes the impact we all make, individually and collectively, on our environment. They want to contribute to creating a better world, and they expect their employers to want the same thing. Corporate social responsibility is fast becoming a new emphasis for companies that wish to compete for talent—and business—in the future.