Spring Break...What's the deal?

Just fresh off winter break college ( & graduate students) all across America start to think of the illustrious one week off known as spring break. This intermission from academia is what most students needs, especially those who hale from the 4 season climates. From keg stands in Florida to Tequila shots in Mexico Americans all over consume more in alcohol that any bachelor party.

How and why did the spring break phenomenon begin? It is not a recent concept promoted by Bacardi and the big three brewing companies. Rather, some date it back to the Greek and Roman periods in a B.C. period for men and women to meet as it was fertility season. Well then I take it back, after all Spring Break is a big hook up session with wine. I guess as time evolved our society modified this concept to turn Spring Break into a destination. So does that mean the airlines and hotel companies are to blame? I don't think so. I think this just boils down to the concept that we as Americans like to be a mobile society that enjoys consuming alcohol in great amounts. I mean last year I was stuck in Dallas for a night with a friend. With no one to call and no clue what to do we decided to get drunk. Yes the night is a blur and I spent at least $100. But for this blur I have some good memories.

With that I think our marketers have done a great job in creating an artificial need to our nation. We tell spring breakers they need to be in a warm place, they need alcohol and lots of it, they need to have the right clothes, they need to have the right tan before arriving (huh? aren't you going to a warm place to get tanned), they need to have the right accessories (IPODS and beach games). The point here is that all these needs have been built on a simple premise that goes back to the B.C. period. Our marketers have done a fine job telling me what do to.

For spring break I am going to Peru. Do I need to NO. But, some marketer made me believe that this one week off is a great time to do something in a warm place. I love it!

Are Millennials the new Hippies?

While reading the book Millennials and the Pop Culture the author seems to draw a lot of indirect parallels in my opinion. Although Millenials are much more wired and are able to multi-task a lot better. It seems in their deep underpinned sets of values are in line. Both groups to me appear to value the benefit of society/peers more versus personal benefit. Both groups seem to be open to alternative methods of thinking or living. This is all in contrast to Generation X. That group seemed to value their own benefit and glory.

Recently I saw a few of my high school cousins and they were talking about how when they lose stuff at school like a thumb drive or IPOD they have a great chance of getting it back. I remember when I was in high school during the 90's if you lost say a graphing calculator you had no chance of getting it back. In fact, there was always a group of students looking to steal those calculators in order to sell them. I asked my cousins about this and they said they have not experienced such a act.

I think what has happened is that media has promoted good behaviour so much that younger kids today feel like doing the right thing. Rather 10-15 years ago when I was growing up doing the right thing was more of catch phrase. As I think about it I feel like sitcoms had a lot to do with this. In the 90's the last few minutes would be reserved for an apology or learning lesson with some cheesy music being played to signify this event. Today's shows have the lesson learned embedded throughout the episode and poke humor. I believe the witty and spontaneous format has aided this new generation.