in the eisenhower 50s and post-war americas where our institutions seemed to click and everything seemed to be glorious and wonderful. millennials grew up with contested 2,000 presidential election. the next year september 11th. the next year, in iran. the next year iraq. the next year, abu ghraib. the next year, katrina. i could go on and on and on. i would guess a deep dissolutionment with institutions as john heilemann said has to run straight through the heart of this generation. i think that s right. i think, frankly, the most important difference between how this generation is coming of age and earlier generations are their economic circumstances. this is the first generation in modern history that is doing less well at this stage of their lives than their parents were on any indicator you want, on employment, on unemployment, on wages, on wealth. and they feel that and that is
afraid of that. i remember in the first gulf war i was afraid i was going to get drafted. right when i was getting out of high school and going into college. there was talk of whether or not president bush was going to enlist a type of draft for that. we didn t go through that but it was certainly a big concern and i fall right in that sweet spot for gen-x. another side is paul talked about the notion a lot of people have not attached themselves to the traditional institutions we think are associated with adulthood. political parties, religion and others. part of it those institutions have been in the state of long-term collapse for a while and so there s the most of the big institutions in american life are having various kinds of crises whether in the political system, the catholic church, the mainstream media. there is a thing going on that is a response in this generation to what it sees as these institutions losing a lot of legitimacy. paul, let s talk about that. boomers gr
part of the reason they are slow to adulthood. they are somewhat disillusioned with institutions. they actually the first generation who are digital native and create their own personalized networks on social media, we have a finding about 80% of them are on facebook, their median friend count is 250. they engage with their friends by taking pictures, the selfie. got a big moment the other day on the oscars. it s part of who they are. it s part of the way they are neve navigating passage into adulthood. younger adults are taking longer to cross the milestones into adulthood. frankly, middle age and older adults are taking longer to retire because they have economic worries and keeping them in the job market longer. the very old, this is very happy story, are taking longer to depart this veil of tears.