I shall coin a new term, and I’m not going to research it right now. I thought just to put my idea out here straight away, and just to define what I think, and later I might read an article or two or three about what I’m talking about here.
Bubble Boys
Definition: Men, of different ages, but who experienced the Tech Bubble of the 90’s and early 00’s. Experienced either as a 1st hand participant: working for companies of the Tech bubble era, or as a 2nd hand observer: studying university and applying for jobs within that era.
I find that the Bubble boys, much like every other group of people labelled by their era, find themselves in a weird struggle today. Against the millennials that have risen up in their companies, or against the current flow of Gen Z’s, the daily demands of what life should be looks entirely different.
Success in itself is also lived differently. For example, I would think that the way a Bubble boy considers what a successful job would be one that allows the freedom to leave the job as and when, but at the same time, giving a great salary with great perks. Something like a win-win-win situation. I think of the Patrick Bateman of American Psycho and the Yuppie era. The Bubble boys are the same, hoping for these different perks. However, few are willing to leave the bubble and to venture into true jobless freedom. Many still hold fast to what they think they ought to keep to, to make their job appear legitimate to the previous generation stakeholders: the Baby Boomers.
The Gen Z and Millennials (G&M), on the other hand, are so comfortable not doing anything, and truly willing to be fired for standing up for what they believe in. This creates risk for the Bubble boys, as they see their next generations floating away from them bit by bit.
Thus arrives the flexible hours, and the extremely well stocked pantries and staff canteen in the major tech companies. Both Bubble boys and G&M’s like the same type of food, of course with the health nut and vegan options too. This becomes a point where the Bubble boys see as a possibility to have common ground, to share that life is indeed good, if you keep working for us.
But after that, the mindsets approaching issues are so different. Where the Bubble boy saw success with tech taking over the world, revenge of the Nerds and the like, the G&M’s saw success as having an enclave, a small group to belong to. The size might not matter as much as the deep quality of the friendships, the relationships that came with it. Authenticity as the main trade value. This was very difficult for both sides to process, and other products of similar thought came along the way.
I have a few more observations, but being a Millennial myself, I shall just end here because I have better things to do than to write more about the Bubble boys.
Just a side note: there are no Bubble girls, because the Bubble boys didn’t know how to play proper with girls. lulz. Reference: Gamergate.