A Bold New Generation? (Yawn)

Forget the Yuppies, the Scuppies and the Guppies. Forget the Dinks and the Bobos.

The Yawns are here.

Yawn

n., Young Wealthy but Normal. A 2007 Sunday Telegraph of London coinage, Yawn refers to the generation of young people who consume less, and save and donate more. They are socially conscious, particularly about having a light footprint on the Earth. Imported to America in Spring of 2008.

"They drive hybrid cars, if they drive at all; shop at local stores, if they shop at all; and pay off their credit cards every month, if they use them at all," in the words of the Associated Press. "Yawns are like Yuppies Version 2.0 – updated for an environmentally-conscious, philanthropy-crazed age. Whereas yuppies were materialistic, shallow and elitist, Yawns are supposed to be altruistic, down-to-earth and globally aware," in the words of the Wall Street Journal.

It's a "do what you want, I'll quietly show the way" generation. Entrepreneurial, they see merit less in bureaucratic government or entrenched environmental groups and more in micro-loans, social networking for social gains and other smart, distributed forms of charity. It's a generation sick of being over-stuffed, and tired of over-working. It's a generation ready to do more than just doing well by doing good. They want to live right.

They're responding to a world that's straining under the weight of 6.66 billion people, but they favor viral solutions that work one person at a time. They're using the global economy and Web 2.0 to recycle the "think global, act local" message in ways that haven't been seen before.

In that, they have revolutionary potential for obese suburban America. But, as their label suggests, they are often dismissed as being merely boring as they pursue their version of happiness. This revolution certainly won't be televised, but it might need a louder IM chime.

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