Sure, I agree. On the other hand, I'm a member of a narcissistic generation so I need to feel special somehow.

In the immortal words of Van Wilder, we're "still waiting for that dare to be great moment."

Having a kid is pretty cool though, so there's that. Also, the info-tech era will likely be more significant when we get the other 5B people on Earth online.

Is that so?

Sorry, just giving you a hard time

This is interesting. You could argue that many of the people graduating college in 2009 and beyond are part of a lost generation. Most of them are capable enough of making some sort of positive impact on society, but due to the economic destruction of the past few years, they will probably spend too much time trying to scrape together a living and paying off debt.

On top of economic malaise, you could also blame the way we were raised. Our generation (speaking a little more broadly here and referring to Americans) was taught how to play. We're better at partying, playing video games, and filling out college basketball brackets than we are at solving the energy crisis, for instance. We were raised on the promise of the American Dream and lead to believe we would prosper simply because we lived in the most powerful nation on Earth.

On the other hand, many people from previous generations, those who were raised by hard-working immigrants or Depression-era sufferers, were most likely taught never to take anything for granted.

Yes I think historical data will be more accurate on our current generation as a result of the internet. But I think that also leaves room deemphasis of events because of the sheer volume of information that we will have on this era we live in as a result of the internet. Many different people will have many different accounts of what happened.

This "era" you speak of is in the eye of the beholder. Some would say this era began in the early 1900's, or even post 9/11. Another person said post cold war (mid 1980's) which I tend to agree with because it also correlates with the internet and computer boom.

In 100 years they'll have classified our era in some way or another and that will be what we'll be commonly referred to from there on out. That is usually when eras are classified, long after the fact.

Bearing in mind the complete availability of evidence i.e. internet!! maybe we can also say that "our" generation is also in the eye of the beholder now; and instead we have many generations, with many social groups; all of whom will have much information stored- and as such the opinions will be biased

Being smart we udnerstood the tru importance of spelling. Some mistake this for apathy though it may be overdetermined

Another thought regarding the lost generation:

Many of us were not introduced to computers and internet until we were in our teens. The latest generation, however, is born into this kind of technology. I have a little cousin who can already read and write and is probably smarter than me even though he is 5 because he has had an iPad stuck in front of his face since he was born.

Maybe this is an overblown fear, but is the younger generation going to overtake us in terms of intelligence and render us all irrelevant?

oh i dunno, relevance isn't derived from intelligence. Hopefully, if their increased intelligence doesn't come with apathy, and amorality it'll be ok.
I'd say a further worry would be only fact retention; not the ability to be creative, analyse etc..

In regards to being remembered as a lost generation, only time can tell. Also, as a pure assumption, I reckon someone has called all generations "lost" at some point in their development.
When it comes to chatting about it, people will specify on certain things and act as if the generation as a whole was awesome because of this

Are you really equating Coldplay to the Beatles?

The scientific and technological advances that have taken place during the past few decades will be way more meaningful historically than 9/11 or any of the cultural stuff.

What time frame are we talking about here?

this is kind of a stupid question, because it all depends on the perspective of new generations and how we are recorded in history

As discussed in thread. Also; discussing these things is interesting. I mean we can talk about how we're being recorded and what light it sheds.
Obviously the future is unknown; but that doesn't make the exercise interesting.

Every successive generation gets us closer to the one illustrated in Huxley's "Brave New World".

Apathetic, worships death, is created by the government and has no parents. "Natural" reproduction is looked upon with disdain. Rampant fornicating with no bonding, and soma is used to keep one disassociated from much free thinking or rebellion. People are quite out of tune with nature in a highly advanced technological society.

Butnahh

I think it's impossible to imagine how we will be judged in a couple hundred years. Right now my generation (y) seems to be defined by very high expectations of ourselves, a ridiculous sense of self importance (I'm special!), and a complete lack of desire to do anything worthwhile.

So many of my friends have gone off to college and returned home with virtually worthless degrees. Now they are wondering why they haven't been handed 100k jobs. One of my closest friends has a dual bachelors in Spanish and Theater, and she can't figure out why the best job she's been offered is in a call center for $12 an hour.

i really think "our" generation will be defined by the introduction of human social networks. bc of facebook and smartphones you can communicate with anyone you've ever met instantly; the long-term ramifications of this are huge and will completely redefine society imo.

i think bush and obama will both be quite significant historically, as will the current revolutions going in the "middle-everywhere" as Colbert calls it, haha

thoughts on how the recession will be remembered?

wanted to quote this, as it's simultaneously poignant, creepy, and spot-on (imo)

also, as a further thought.. i think our generation is being a little bit underrated in this thread. far from apathetic (imo), it's impossible to get into any private colleges because everyone is so smart, we've invented a ton of **** (facebook etc) that will revolutionize history, and we got the first black president elected. it wasn't us but the generations older that destroyed the economy, and in many ways our accomplishments are in spite of their ineptitude and not because we were born with a silver spoon

Our generation is no more apathetic than any other. I swear the apathetic generation, is just like "it was much better in my day," its just selective memory

Looks like I'm a generation Y-er according to the classifications put forth here.

Far more than 9/11 or any other singular event of that nature, I'd say the defining flavor of my particular travels through time has been the encroaching expansion of computer, information, and media technologies.

If I look back and compare what times were like during my childhood in the eighties with how they are now, it's amazing how much more mediated and internet-intensive my present day interactions have become. Everywhere I go, there are screens and portals distributed across a variety of objects that pull me towards virtual content and spaces.

And from what I'm hearing, today's young kids are essentially tethered to smartphones and texting, spending upwards of six hours a day IMing each other through various devices, with some significant ramifications on their social and mental development.

This... Big time. I don't think many people are aware of just how much the world has changed due to this technology.

About the same as the 300s, I would have thought.