I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about what is driving people to use Foursquare. Now, I must admit that I’m a little bit of a convert, and I do use Foursquare pretty regularly. So the basis of our discussion turned to what emotional needs Foursquare was serving, When I think of human needs, I often refer to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. For those that don’t know, Maslow created a pyramid structure that shows our basic needs by broken down by the categories: Psychological, Safety, Love/Belonging, Esteem, and Self-Actualization. The basic principle is that people look to satisfy their needs from the bottom of the pyramid first. So food, water, and sex, which are psychological needs, are generally our first priority. After this level of needs is satisfied, we look to satisfy our needs for safety of our health, property and so on. I think you get the point.
Gen Y - “Because children born during this time period have had constant access to technology (computers, cell phones) in their youth, they have required many employers to update their hiring strategy in order to incorporate updated forms of technology.”
While looking at Maslow, the conversation took an interesting turn toward Gen Y, and how they differ from Gen X and the Baby Boomers. We came to the quick conclusion that Gen Y seems much more interested in achieving Self-Actualization needs such as creativity, spontaneity, and lack of prejudice. This says that on some level, Gen Y isn’t as concerned with the first four levels of the pyramid. However, I couldn’t help but think about my Gen Y friends (because I’m technically Gen X) and their patterns of behavior. Many of my Gen Y friends believe strongly that the path to happiness is through Self-Actualization. The funny thing is that many of those same friends seem to be missing several important pieces of the pyramid. For instance, they don’t take care of their Psychological needs to eat and sleep, their Safety needs for health and employment, their Love needs for sexual intimacy, and their Esteem needs for self-esteem and confidence. They strive so hard to reach the top of the pyramid that they seem to be missing the foundation of their needs. So I put the question out to you, Is Gen Y upside down?
