Here come the echo boomers

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• Byron Y. Newman, O.D.

Remember the baby boomers? There were a lot of them born between 1946 and 1954, and they're aging…all getting into the bifocal age. World War II ended, and all the servicemen began coming home and raising their children. Now the boomers are all over 50.

And, here come their children born between 1982 and 1995, currently between the ages of 14 and 27 and the largest generation of young people since the ‘60s. “They're called the echo boomers because they're the genetic offspring and demographic echo of their parents, the baby boomers…there are nearly 80 million of them,” according to a report by Steve Kroft on the CBS News Web site and written by Rebecca Leung. So far, most of them are healthy, and “only a small percentage are eligible to vote, yet they are already one of the most studied generations in history—by sociologists, demographers and marketing consultants.”

According to CBS News, “Echo boomers are a reflection of the sweeping changes in American life over the past 20 years…and whether you call them ‘echo boomers,’ ‘Generation Y’ or ‘millenials,’ they already make up nearly a third of the U.S. population and spend about $170 billion a year of their own and their parents' money.”

“Almost none of it,” says the CBS News report, “is spent on boring things like mortgages and medication, and the world is falling all over itself trying to sell them things.” Their favorites so far, says the report, are Sony, Patagonia, Gap, Gillette, and Aveda.

They are also entering their peak household formation years, with close to 6 million more of them than the baby boomers had during the ‘70s, reports Dan Faulkner, a real estate broker. “Households are expected to increase by 1.25 million annually over the next decade.”

Nick Summers, a graduate of Columbia University and former editor of the school's newspaper, states, “I would say that my generation tends to be very overachieving, over-managed, very pressured.” Adds CBS News, “And, it's no wonder they feel that way. From when they were toddlers, they have been belted into car seats, and driven off to some form of organized group activity. After graduating from Gymboree and Mommy and Me, they have been shuttled to play dates and soccer practice, with barely a day off, by parents who've felt these kids needed structure, and a sense of mission.” Adds Mel Levine, M.D., professor at the University of North Carolina and a well-known pediatrician, “They have been heavily programmed. The kids who have had soccer Monday, Kung Fu Tuesday, religious classes Wednesday, clarinet lessons Thursday; whose whole lives have really been based on what some adult tells them to do. This is a generation that has long aimed to please.” They have replaced rebellion with convention winning out over individualism and traditional values. “They are also the most diverse generation ever: 35 percent are non-white, and the most tolerant, believing everyone should be part of the community.”

The report by CBS News adds, “They are the first to grow up with computers at home, in a 500-channel color TV universe. They are multi-taskers with cell phones, music downloads, and instant messaging on the Internet. They are totally plugged-in citizens of a worldwide community.”

Historian Neil Howe studies different generations. “All the research on echo boomers always reflects the same thing: They are much different than their self-absorbed egocentric baby boomer parents.” Howe believes they are more like their grandparents—more interested in building things up than tearing them down. And, some results are evident: violent crime among teenagers is down 60 to 70 percent, and the use of tobacco and alcohol are at all-time lows, as is teen pregnancy. “Five out of 10 echo boomers say they trust the government, and virtually all of them trust their mom and dad…They are the most sophisticated generation ever when it comes to media. They create their own Web sites, make their own CDs and DVDs, and are cynical of packaged messages.”

“They've affected clothing. They've affected beverage. And now, they're just about to affect the car business,” says Jim Farley, head of Toyota's Scion division.

Pediatrician Levine talks about how they have always been rewarded for participation, not for achievement. When young people show up for work at their first job, “they expect to be immediate heroes and heroines…they expect to be told what a wonderful job they're doing, that they're going to be allowed to rise to the top quickly…And, boy, are they naïve. Totally naïve, in terms of what's really gonna happen.” Dr. Levine points out that everything for the echo boomer has to be immediate, like a video game, “and they have a lot of trouble doing things in a stepwise fashion, delaying gratification.” He calls this phenomenon “visual motor ecstacy,” where any cultural accoutrement that doesn't produce instant satisfaction is boring.

So why learn about this generation? Though many heath care practitioners have already seen a huge contingent of these echo boomers flowing into their offices, they will continue to be a large portion of optometry practices for years to come. They need to be treated with some deference, and taken especially good care of, since they will be influencing their aging parents and their own future children when determining to whose practice they want their family members to be seen. And some members of this generation might even end up working in the practice in which they were evaluated.