#FILLENIALS

Understanding the
Filipino Millenial
Generation

A Research Paper by Anthropology 225 SCDE under Dr. Chester B. Cabalza

Second Semester AY 2016
2016--2017
Anthropology 225 SCDE
Research Paper Team

Edgilyn Alcasid
Lea Peralta
Mary Anne Pinlac
Elaine Ramirez
Mar Shimada

Documentary Production Team

Lyndon Amaza
Martin Lumera
Marian Magsino
Abigail Mercado
Paige Occenola
Danae Mangalonzo Pantano
Mark Lawrence Quindoza
Lorevel Villanueva
 Abstract
This paper intends to analyze the existing culture of the young
Filipino generation who belong to the so-called “Millennials”. At the
outset, the authors would like to examine if there is a so-called
“millennial culture” in the context of the Philippine culture and
society. In doing so, the authors explore three most common specific
facets of a millennial’s life - their decisions and preferences when it
comes to their careers, lifestyle, and relationship choices. This paper
also aims to analyze these above-mentioned aspects of millennial
culture through a theoretical framework that will be supported by
personal opinions and narratives of some millennials who were
interviewed, including opinions and advices from an expert.
Furthermore, this paper also aspires to shed light on the usual
negative connotations and stereotypes thrown against the
millennials in general, and conclude if these are also rightfully
applicable to the current Filipino millennial group. This paper also
aims to contribute to the knowledge and understanding of the
academic and even the non-academic community about the
Millennials.
INTRODUCTION
Looking at the millennial generation with a curious pair of eyes remains today.
Perhaps it is with the millennial’s different outlook on their goals, careers,
relationships, advocacies, and even notion towards building their own families which
continue to intrigue those from the other generations. However, there has been
scarce literature resources to detail how truly different such new generation is; this
makes it more challenging for others to have a clearer understanding of what
millennials are like.

Many have tried to describe who the millennials are and how different they are from
the previous generations. However, there is still an existing gap on understanding
the new preferences of such generation. This likewise applies to understanding the
Filipino millennials.

So who are the millennials? The millennial generation is identified as a diverse

generation that involves a group of individuals born from 1980 to 2000 (Rainer and
Rainer, 2011). “MILLENIAL/S”, as simply defined in the Merriam-Webster
dictionary refers to a person or group of people who was/were born in the 1980’s or
1990’s (Merriam Webster Learners Dictionary). In another literature of Professor Ky
Hayes of the Georgia State University, she thoroughly defined Millennial as those
born between 1980’s and expanding even to those born in the early 2000’s with
ages ranging from 18-34.

Howe and Strauss (2000) adds, “As a group, millennials are unlike any other youth
generation in living memory. They are more numerous, more affluent, better
educated, and more ethnically diverse (p.4).” In another literature of Professor Ky
Hayes of the Georgia State University, she thoroughly defined Millennial as those
born between 1980’s and expanding even to those born in the early 2000’s with
ages ranging from 18-34.

It is also described that the Millennial generation is the period of time in the Western
Culture recognize and profound developments in the fields of science, philosophy,
politics and the art (Hayes, 2016).

In the Philippines, Rappler conducted a survey in 2016 to have a better

understanding of Filipino millennials. Results from the 612 responses received
nationwide showed that the top five words used to describe Filipino millennials are
“confident”, “driven”, “self-centered”, “ambitious”, and “passionate” (Garcia, 2016).
This echoed the survey results from the World Economic Forum which noted that 70
percent of the millennials surveyed see the world as full of opportunities (Garcia,
2016). Results of the study made by Rainer and Rainer (2011) also noted that about
60 percent of their millennial respondents strongly agreed with the statement “I
believe I can do something great”.

These point to a new generation that has a yearning for new thrills armed with a
positive disposition in life. It similarly underscores a new set of individuals who has
different priorities that.

It is incontestable that the Millennials are the harbingers in the “Information Age”
and “Digital Era”. This generation is popularly known to be experts when it comes to
digital technology, communications, media and the likes. As much as possible, they
try to be visible in all forms of communication and media.

For instance, the emergence of new dating platforms, such as the introduction of
online dating sites and even mobile dating applications, also changed the way
millennials communicated and established relationships. In fact, nowadays, the
internet continues to serve as a platform in allowing individuals to find a haven for
romantic interaction (Lawson and Leck, 2006).The surge of new dating platforms
also gave birth to today’s “hookup culture” which is manifested by casual sex
encounters and hinders the possibility of engaging in long term relationships.
Aside from relationships, there are other areas which has to be explored in order to
fully understand millennials. In the Philippines, it is interesting to also identify
changes in building families, favoring divorce, selecting careers, and even
evaluating lifestyle patterns. Now, what are Filipino millennials today like?

Filipino Milllennials in particular, are known to be very active in social media. It has
been referred that millennials are digital natives and has grown up amidst social
networks and changes in the technology (Rappler 2016). They are the ones who
are highly visible in the all media platforms raising concerns in a lot of socio-political
concerns of the county. They are the same generation which gave rise to
movements such as the Arab Spring and Wall Street. Putting it in the Philippines
setting, the millennials are the same group of people who started
volunteering during the onslaught of typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, the power
that gave rise to the One Million March protest against the Priority Development
Assistance Fund (PDAF)) scandal, the huge voice opposing former President
Ferdinand Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani and majority of them were
also the same people who elected President Rodrigo Duterte as the Philippines’s
16th president (ABS-CBN News, 2016)

Millennials do have contrasting characteristics compared to the previous

generations, given the advancement in technology, the dynamics and rapid
changes in the international community, millennials tend to be more socially-aware
in their surrounding and to the community that they belong to. As they were
exposed to significant societal changes globally, such as the start and peak of
globalism, terrorism attacks such as the September 11 bombing and internet age.
Some of the traits attributed to millennials nowadays are being civic-minded, they
highly value and balance their respective works and lives, able to conduct multi
tasking and team oriented which draws differences with the other generations.

Research Problem
Millennials have been subject to numerous studies and literatures, however, most of
the approaches used in making analyses were based from Western perspectives.
As millennial is a growing subject in the Philippine culture, bearing their significance,
influence and increasing demographics, it is fitting to take a look and examine the
Filipino Millennials and if they also share the same “culture”, characteristics and
traits with the generally accepted concepts of millennials. In the nutshell, this study
would like to answer two important questions: (1) Is there an existing Filipino
Millennial Culture ?; (2) If so, would that entail differences to the general description
of being a millennial vis a vis other cultures and perspectives.

Significance of the Study

This paper in particular will thoroughly discuss the existing Filipino millennial culture
aided by observations and narratives from subjects concerned and field experts.
With this, it will serve as a reference to future researchers and interested parties
who would live to delve on the same subject at hand.

In analysing their respective career, lifestyle and relationship preferences,

administrators and policy-makers may come up with rules and regulations that
might be suitable to the talents and skills of the millennials in which in return would
maximize their capabilities. For example, in terms of career undertakings,
employers may consider “work from home” or other manifestations of schedule
flexibility as more desirable to their millennial employees, without sacrificing the
quality and continuation of the work operations.

Scope and Limitation

As there are numerous subjects discussing the millennials, this paper will only
narrow down the discussion into three most significant factors in one millennial’s life
namely, career, lifestyle and relationships. The students believe that by focusing
into these three factors, this will already present a broad discussion about the
millennial generation. More so in the Filipino community, the term “millennial”
usually rings a bell, as demographically pointing, the Philippines is generally a
young population with high demographics of millennials. This paper then hopes to
be of aid to researchers, academicians, policy makers, employers and other people
in the related fields, as they facilitate further studies, laws and regulations,
employment procedures and other rules which hopes to benefit the general
community.

However, as the term “millennial” is already a diverse topic and is subject to

continuous factors and periodical changes, this paper will not be able to discuss the
future prospects of the millennial generation such as if the current characteristics
and common phenomenon of this generation will transcend into the next generation
and more so. Moreover, the interviewees, referred to as the subjects, though
coming from different social classes and background, are still representing and
located in Metro Manila which might affect their notions and self-interpretations of
the millennial generations and their personal preferences, thus will also affect the
results of this study.

Definition of Terms
The following selected terms are defined based on the usage in this research paper.
These are conceptually and operationally defined for the better understanding and
appreciation of the readers.

 Social Media - refers to the collective of online communication channels

designed for interaction, content sharing and collaboration. Prominent examples
of social media are online sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

 Career - means a person’s progress or general course of action through a

phase of life

 Lifestyle - indicates one person’s interests, opinions, behaviors and

preferences

 Relationship - denotes the relation connecting those involved in the

relationship
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
 Culture, Generations, Cohorts, and Generational Cohorts
Culture has been defined and studied in so
many ways. In layman’s term, we define
culture simply as the way of life of a group of
people. In anthropology, culture is defined by an
English anthropologist and also the founder of
anthropology, Sir Edward B. Tylor (1871), as
"that complex whole which includes knowledge,
belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other
capabilities and habits acquired by man as a
member of society”. Geert Hofstede (2011)
defined culture as “the collective programming of
the mind that distinguishes the members of one
group or category of people from others”.
Hofstede (2011) further stated that culture is
“always a collective phenomenon, but it can be
connected to different collectives”. Hofstede
introduced the Cultural Dimensions Theory,
which sees culture as: collective; observable and
measurable through people’s behaviour; and
shared within a specific group but also
differentiated from other groups (Hofstede, 2001,
as cited in Chen, 2008, p. 8; Hofstede, 2011, pp.
9 - 16). From these definitions, it can be
presumed that culture is shared among
members of a group of people and that it is
something that differentiates between categories
of people. For instance: Group A possesses a
different culture from Group B, Group B is also
culturally diverse from Group C, and so on.
In various cultural studies, one way of
categorizing people is by using the notion of
generations. A generation can be defined
as a group of individuals either born in
the same year or in the same period
of time who share similar attitudes,
lifestyles, and values which are shaped
and characterized by a specific era.
Generations have distinctive characteristics that
attribute them to one group and differentiate
them from another (Rogler, 2002 as cited in
Chen, 2008, p. 4). The classic work of Karl
Mannheim (1952) entitled “The Problem of
Generations” referred to generations by looking
at the unique influences of historical location on
the development of the collective meaning of
events as well as the shared experiences of the
youth. He further wrote: “Even if the rest of one's
life consisted of one long process of negation
and destruction of the natural world view
acquired in youth, the determining influence of
these early impressions would still be
predominant” (Mannheim, 1952 as cited in Alwin
& McCammon, 2003, pp. 23- 27).
Studies on generations lead to a related concept
called cohorts. Similar to a generation, a cohort
is defined as a group of people born during the
same period of time who experience life
together (Schewe and Meredith, 2004 as
cited in Chen, 2008, pp. 4 – 5). Members
of one generation are thus linked
by shared experiences and events
in life which result to a special
type of connection – hence, the term
“cohorts”. A cohort’s common life
experiences form unity in their attitudes,
beliefs, emotions, and values resulting in a
social character distinct from other cohorts. The
idea of cohorts in this context assumes that
individuals are shaped by similar events
occurring during their formative years (Chen,
2008). Thus, people belonging in the same
cohort have similar experiences during their
adolescent or early adulthood years. These
similar external events have historical, social,
and cultural effects and affects the development
of their characteristics and value systems
(Chen, 2008; Caspi, et al., 2005 as cited in
Saba, 2013, p. 1- 2).
As much as the two terms (generations and
cohorts) are being used interchangeably,
another concept called generational cohorts
incorporates essential meanings from the two. It
was first introduced by Renald Inglehart (1977;
as cited in Chen, 2008) when he developed the
Generational Cohort Theory. In essence,
generational cohorts are defined as “societal
subcultures whose value orientations reflect the
significant cultural, political, and economic
developments that occurred during a
generation’s pre-adult years” (Egri & Raltson,
2004 as cited in Chen, 2008, p. 6). Generational
Cohort Theory has two basic assumptions. The
first assumption is the socialization hypothesis
which proposes that the basic values of adults
are reflective of the socioeconomic conditions
during their childhood and adolescent years.
Although these conditions may change and
influence personal values during adulthood,
socialization hypothesis suggests that values
developed in the early stage of life remains
stable and affects a certain generation’s general
attributes. The second assumption is the
scarcity hypothesis which proposes that
generational cohorts tend to place subjective
value on socioeconomic environmental aspects
that are scarce during a generation’s youth.
This means that members of a generation who
grew up during periods of socioeconomic and
physical insecurity are prone to develop survival
attitudes.
These two assumptions dictate that the history
of a nation mirrors the diversity in values and
outlooks across generational cohorts. In return,
the values, attitudes, and lifestyles of a
generational cohort can reflect the
characteristics of a certain society (Rogler, 2002,
as cited in Chen, 2008, pp. 5 -6).
Accordingly, it is important to look at
generational cohorts as powerful factors
in examining and identifying existing
cultures and subcultures within
and among groups of people. This is
simply because members of generational
cohorts share similar experiences and are
similarly affected by events happening in the
world during the period that their consciousness
are being molded.
Inter
Inter--Generational Differences
The assumption that members of a generation
possess a shared cultural identity leads to
another concept called inter-generational
differences. Inter-generational differences
assume that each generation, owing to the fact
that generations are distinguished years apart
from each other, experiences life differently.
Therefore, each generation has their own unique
experiences and problems varied from those
encountered by their parental generation. The
parental generation is said to be often
accountable in guiding the younger generation
and intervening with the effects of social change
on their children (Alwin & McCammon, 2003, pp.
28 - 29).
Pew Research Center (2015), in their report
entitled “The Whys and Hows of Generations
Research”, listed three separate effects that can
yield differences in attitudes between
generations. The first is called life cycle or age
effect which claims that the differences in
attitudes between older and younger people are
brought about by their respective positions in the
life cycle, or are simply influenced by their age.
For instance, political engagement among the
young is lower than older people because the
latter are more likely to know more about
politics. The second is the period effect which
refers to events, situations, and broader social
forces that are simultaneously affecting
everyone, regardless of age. Examples of such
circumstances are the following: wars, scientific
and technological innovations, social
movements, economic booms or busts, and
social changes or transformations. The last one
is the cohort effect. This relates to the concept of
generational cohorts which has been discussed
previously. It claims that the
differences between generations are
caused by the unique historical events
and experiences of members of an age
cohort, especially during a time when they
are starting to form their opinions. These
three effects are helpful in identifying factors
that can produce differences between the
attitudes, beliefs, and value systems of
generations. To put it in simpler terms,
generations can be defined by three things:
age, period, and cohort. Age being the age of a
person at which life events and transformations
happen; period is the circumstances happening
within a person’s lifetime; and cohort is a group
of individuals having shared experiences
growing up which influence and develop their
attitudes and behaviours (DeVaney, 2015, p.
11).
In this context, it is assumed that age groups
experience and encounter life uniquely, causing
members of each group to develop attitudes,
beliefs, characteristics, and values that lead
them to live their lives differently from other age
groups.
The Different Generations Defined
Most literature on generational cohorts are
based on Western countries like the United
States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia,
and New Zealand. Most of these countries have
generally similar experiences in terms of
politics, economy, technology, and social
transitions. While there exists a number of
ways to label and identify generations, such
as the start and end years of each
cohort, there seems to be an
agreement in literature and among social
scientists about the values that can be
ascribed to each generation.
The categorization of generations, which started
from the United States, has also been adopted
by other countries in the world. According to
existing literature on generations, there are five
categories of generational cohorts: Swing
Generation, Silent Generation, Baby Boomers,
Generation X, and Generation Y or what is
commonly referred to as the Millennial
Generation (Perryer and Plowman, 2011, pp.
457-458).
There is still a disagreement among various
social scientists and authors regarding the span
of years that should encompass each category.
Nonetheless, Perryer and Plowman (2011,
p.458) in their paper entitled “Studying
 Generational Cohorts: Conceptual Stances
and Approaches” summarized the
categorizations found in most literatures and
came up with the following definitions of
each generational cohort: the Swing
Generation which includes people born
between 1901 and mid 1920s; Silent
Generation are those born between the early
1920s to the mid-1940s; Baby Boomers are
those born between the mid-1940s and the mid-
1960s; Generation X includes people born
between the early/mid 1960s and the early
1980s; and the last one which is Generation Y or
the Millennial Generation comprising of those
born after the 1980s up to 2000. Each group is
ascribed certain characteristics that are unique
to their own generational cohort.
Furthermore, Reeves and Oh (2008), in their
research entitled “Generational Differences”,
provided a summary of generational labels and
dates reported in various sources and came up
with the start and end dates of the Millennial
Generation as being between the periods of
1980 – 1982 up to 1995 – 2000. Basing from
this summary, the ages of the members of the
Millennial Generation could range from 17-22 up
to 35-37 years of age.
Describing the Millennial Generation
In as much as scholars and researchers debate
on the precision of the start and end dates of the
generations, millennials are mostly defined as
the generation growing up after the Cold War
and in the era of globalization, communication
technology, and wireless connectivity.
Members of this generation are
growing up in a period of cultural
diversity and global exposure
(Codrington, 2008).
The controversial works of Neil Howe and
William Strauss (as cited in Reeves and Oh,
2008, p. 298) invented the term “millennial” in
1987 and predicted a future for the American
Millennial Generation: “As a group, Millennials
are unlike any other youth generation in living
memory. They are more numerous, more
affluent, better educated, and more ethnically
diverse. More important, they are beginning to
manifest a wide array of positive social habits
that older Americans no longer associate with
youth, including a new focus on teamwork,
achievement, modesty, and good conduct.”
While Howe and Strauss have gained a lot of
attention from researchers, social scientists, and
businesses due to their prediction about the
millennials, there are authors who have
criticized their generalizations which are based
only from limited survey data. For instance,
Twenge (2006, as cited in in Reeves and Oh,
2008, p. 298) disagreed with Howe and Strauss’
forecast for this generation: “But I see no
evidence that today’s young people feel
much attachment to duty or to group
cohesion. Instead, as you’ll see in the
following pages, young people
have been consistently taught to
put their own needs first and to focus
on feeling good about themselves. This
is not an attitude conducive to following
social rules or favoring the group’s needs over
the individual’s. …Our childhood of constant
praise, self-esteem boosting, and unrealistic
expectations did not prepare us for an
increasingly competitive workplace and the
economic squeeze created by sky-high housing
costs and rapidly accelerating health care costs.
After a childhood of buoyancy, GenMe is
working harder to get less.” To further support
this argument, Twenge wrote that most of the
American millennials have been raised by their
parents (who are most likely to be from
Generation X) to think that they will grow up to
be highly successful and that they can achieve
whatever it is that they want to. However, as
they grow up, millennials start to face the reality
that they will find it difficult to get into and afford
the best colleges, land into high-paying and
personally-rewarding jobs, and buy decent
homes (ibid).
Moreover, according to DeVaney (2015), some
of the common traits attributed to this
generation are: entitled, optimistic, civic-minded,
values work-life balance, impatient, multi-
taskers, and team-oriented. Tulgan and Martin
(2006, as cited in Altinbasak-Farina and
Guleryuz-Turkel, 2015) also described the
Millennial Generation as a generation of fresh
confidence, full of self-esteem, most educated,
and a generation paving the way to a more
open and tolerant society. Aside from being
tech savvy, members of this generation are also
deemed to be good at challenging and creative
works, loves freedom, flexible, and hates micro-
management (Altinbasak-Farina and Guleryuz-
Turkel, 2015). These generalized descriptions
and conceptions about the characteristics of the
Millennial Generation have endured and are still
being spread in many parts of the world until
today.
Global Youth Culture?
Although there have been various literature and
studies aimed at producing a general portrait of
the Millennial Generation, most of these studies
are conducted in affluent Western countries,
such as the United States. While these could
provide an idea on how to summarize the
description of the Millennial Generation,
it is not always ideal to make an
assumption that such a generation
of various cultures and coming from
diverse nations could be summed up
in general descriptions. Codrington
(2008), in his article “Detailed Introduction to
Generational Theory”, listed three questions to
be kept in mind when thinking about the
applicability of generational theory in a global
context: (1) does it apply equally in different
countries around the world?; (2) does it apply
equally to people from different culture
background; and (3) does it apply equally to rich
and poor, as well as upper and lower classes?
The idea that there is an existing global youth
culture that could describe how millennials all
over the world live their lives can be somewhat
problematic, especially for countries having
diverse social, economic, and political conditions
than those in developed and developing nations.
It may indeed be true that members of the
Millennial Generation experience and encounter
life uniquely than other generations due to the
global events happening while their personalities
are being developed, but the assumption that
their experiences are the same all over the world
must be analyzed with depth.
(1) closeness to family; (2) activeness on
social media; and (3) perception on
social responsibilities. According to this
study, 83% of Filipino millennials rely on
their parents for advice, in contrast to
73% globally. When it comes to social
media, 61% of Filipino millennials
feel pressured to portray the best versions of
themselves in social media, compared to the
global average of 53%. In addition, 96% of
Filipino millennials believe that they are socially
responsible to make positive contributions to the
community, which is higher than the 89% global
average. Similarly, Jorge (2016) of Adobo
Magazine cited the same study and revealed
that 80% of Filipino youth believe that effective
financial management is a key to success, in
contrast to the global average of 54%.
Considering this data, it can be presumed that
Filipino millennials, in general, possess a
different culture from millennials in other
countries. This culture is shaped by the unique
history and current economic, social, and
political conditions of the Philippines.

Millennials in the Philippines

Existing literature on the Millennial Generation in
the Philippines is still very limited. In fact, there
hasn’t been any extensive research conducted
in order to study and come up with a general
cultural description of the Filipino millennials.
Nonetheless, there have been some articles and
studies published which are intended to provide
a general description of the characteristics of the
Filipino millennials.

McCann Truth Central (2016, as cited in

Natividad, 2016), in their global research study
called “The Truth About the Youth”, conducted a
survey of 18 countries including the Philippines
and came up with some unique statistics about
the Filipino millennials. As the surveys of this
study revealed, Filipino millennials differ from
other countries’ millennials in terms of:
FRAMEWORK
To identify the existence of a “millennial culture” in the Philippines requires the assumption that a
“millennial generation” exists, along with an indicative set of values, habits, and attitudes that its
members demonstrate. In 1991, William Strauss and Neil Howe first coined the term ‘millennial’
to refer to individuals born within the years 1982 and 2000. This set of individuals succeeds the
groups referred to as the ‘13th generation’ (which covers those born from 1961 to 1981) and the
‘boom generation’, to include those born between 1943 and 1960. They introduced the term in
their book Generations “which charts American history through a series of cohort biographies. . .
[demonstrating] a predicable cycle where generational personalities form in opposition to their
immediate predecessors but share significant traits with groups they may never meet” (Sharf,
2015). According to Strauss and Howe, they chose the term ‘millennial’ because their research
showed that this generation – which was eight years old at the time – would be “drastically
different” than its predecessor. The millennial generation also goes by several other labels –
Echo Boomers, Generation Y, Baby Busters, Gen-Y, NetGen, and Digital Generation, among
others (Reeves & Oh).

When Howe and Strauss coined the term ‘millennial’ and devised their theory of generational
differences, the assumptions were predominantly based on Western assumptions and historical
events. Their outline of the generations spanning the years 1588 to 2025 are as follows:

ARCHETYPE OF ICONIC
GENERATION BIRTH YEARS ERA OR PERIOD
INDIVIDUALS
Puritan 1588-1617 Puritan Awakening Prophet
Cavalier 1618-1647 - Nomad
Glorious 1648-1673 Glorious Revolution Crisis Hero
Enlightenment 1674-1700 - Artist
Awakening 1701-1723 Great Awakening Prophet
Liberty 1724-1741 - Nomad
Republican 1742-1766 American Revolution Crisis Hero
Compromise 1767-1791 - Artist
Transcendental 1792-1821 Transcendental Awakening Prophet
Gilded 1822-1842 Civil War Crisis Nomad
Progressive 1843-1859 - Artist
Missionary 1860-1882 Third Great Awakening Prophet
Lost 1883-1900 - Nomad
GI 1901-1924 Depression-WWII Crisis Hero
Silent 1925-1942 - Artist
Boom 1943-1960 Consciousness Revolution Prophet
Generation X 1961-1981 - Nomad
Millennial 1982-2005? Millennial Crisis? Hero?
Homeland 2005-2025? - -
According to them, “[a] generation encompasses a series of consecutive birth years spanning
roughly the length of time needed to become an adult; its members share a location in history
and, as a consequence, exhibit distinct beliefs and behavior patterns” (Howe & Strauss, 2007).
Further, generations are formed by how historical events shape the members’ lives, and by how
these events affect members differently depending on the phase of life occupied at the time. To
illustrate this, they developed the ‘Generational Diagonal’. This model of generations and specific
phases within “moves away from the idea that generations are formed only by events in their
formative years, and towards a view that the different generations continue to be shaped as they
grow older.”

This is the “generational diagonal.” Chart each phase of life along one axis and each
historical era along the other. Track each generation’s mind-set and behaviors across
these phases and eras. What you get is a panoramic view of an evolving societal mood.
As one era fades into the next, you can see how and why that mood changes. It’s a
simple matter of generational aging. The generational diagonal can help provide new
answers to historical questions, such as why the Great Awakening and the American
Revolution happened when they did, and why the Gilded Era followed the Civil War. It
can also explain why SAT scores fell through the 1970s, and why attitudes toward
having and raising children became much more positive in the early 1980s. Perhaps
most important, it provides a powerful tool for predicting what to expect from each phase
of life—and from society as a whole—in the decades to come. (Howe & Strauss, 2007)
Through this structure, Howe and Strauss were able to come up with a universal profile of the
members of each generation. They saw the millennials as a generation that has seen “steady
decreases in high-risk behaviors. . .their culture is becoming less edgy, with a new focus on
upbeat messages and big brands, and more conventional, with a resurgence of oldies and
remakes. Their close relationships with their parents and extended families are carrying over into
their young adult lives.” As such:

Millennials will prove false the assumption (prompted by the experience of Boomers and
Xers) that each generation of young adults is more alienated and risk prone than the one
before. Many Millennials will want to correct for the impracticality of Boomers and the
indiscipline of Gen Xers. Many elders will be pleased with how these young people are
doing, while others may misinterpret their confidence as self-centeredness. As they move
through their twenties, Millennials will already be accustomed to meeting and beating
adult expectations. They will revive the ideal of the common man, whose virtue is defined
less by self than by a collegial center of gravity.
Millennials will develop community norms based on rules, standards, and personal
responsibility; every arena will become more mannerly, structured, and civic-minded. In
college they will lean less toward countercultural dissent and more toward the “rah-rah”
aspect of campus life; school colors will become an important badge of belonging. In
religion Millennials will favor friendly rituals and community building over personal
spirituality. Even in their thirties they will remain much closer to their parents (living
nearer to them and relying more on their advice) than Boomers and Gen Xers were at the
same age. Companies that today “co-market” their products to teens and their parents
will now broaden their efforts to reach the entire extended family.
Millennials will gravitate toward big brands. Likewise, their pop culture will be bland,
mainstream, and friendly (while seeming derivative to older generations). Young film
stars will be linked with positive themes, will display more modesty in sex and language,
and will bring new civic purpose to screen violence. As in Disney’s High School Musical,
stories and songs will be upbeat and team-oriented but lacking in depth. Sports players
will be more coachable, more loyal to teams and fans, and less inclined toward taunting.
Celebrities will win praise as good role models.
Millennials will carve out fresh concepts of public cyberspace and use information to
empower groups rather than individuals. As the first generation to grow up with mobile
digital technology, Millennials expect nonstop interaction with their peers in forms that
would have been unimaginable to prior generations of young adults. They will develop
new standards for social networking, identifying a clear range of acceptable online
attitudes and behaviors.
In the workplace and the economy, Millennials will face tough challenges as they enter
the workplace. They are saddled with far larger student loans (in real dollars) than any
earlier generation. Housing costs have skyrocketed in many urban areas, while entry-
level pay in most occupations remains unchanged. The vagaries of a globalizing labor
market and jobs without benefits or security will come as a shock to members of this
sheltered generation, many of whom expected that all their careful preparation would
guarantee them a comfortable future. A wedge will separate those whose families can
help them start out in life from those whose families cannot. Most of the latter will find it
difficult to begin careers in public service, teaching, or the arts. The issues of economic
class and privilege will loom large for young Millennial workers—partially displacing the
concerns about gender, race, and ethnicity that preoccupied young Boomer and Xer
workers.
Millennials will be more confident, trusting, and teachable in the workplace than their
Boomer and Gen X colleagues. They will also be viewed as more pampered, risk averse,
and dependent. Many employers are already complaining about their need for constant
feedback and their weakness in basic job skills such as punctuality and proper dress—
though most employers who manage large numbers of them agree that they can perform
superbly when given clear goals and allowed to work in groups. Millennials will have
more of a knack for cooperation and organization than for outof-the-box initiative. They
will tend to treat coworkers as partners rather than rivals.
 Businesses will respond to the surge of Millennials in the workplace by building a more
ordered work environment with clearer lines of authority and supervision and a greater
number of team projects. Nonmonetary bene- fits will increase as young workers put a
higher premium on job security; employers will find it easier to cultivate loyalty in a
generation with unusually long time horizons. As they seek balance between their work
lives and their private lives, Millennials will try to get their careers off to a “perfect” start.
Many will decide against the high-risk paths to advancement (on which years of hard
work can go unrewarded) frequently offered by corporate and professional employers.
If Boomer- and Xer-led businesses adjust to the Millennial work style, economic
productivity could surge even as job turnover declines. If they do not, they should brace
for opposition. If young workers perceive that they are being treated unfairly, they will
demonstrate their talent for organizing—and may even revitalize the union movement.
Unlike young Gen Xers, who typically quit and move on when they have a workplace
problem, Millennials are used to staying put and waiting until someone in charge solves
the problem.
In the community and politics, Millennials’ close family relationships will continue as they
move into young adulthood. They will have a much tighter personal, social, and economic
interdependence with their parents than prior generations had. And they will seek to
create stable and long-lasting families as they begin having their own children.
Millennials will use their digital empowerment to build and maintain close peer bonds.
New parents will create online support groups and cover personal Web pages with
pictures of their children. Virtual communities will serve the needs of young adults, from
finding jobs to buying houses to babysitting to pursuing hobbies. First-wave Millennials
already depend on online communities such as Craigslist and Freecycle to help them set
up their lives after college.
As more of them reach voting age, Millennials will become a political powerhouse. They
will see politics as a tool for turning collegial purpose into civic progress. Young adult
voters will confound the pundits with huge turnouts, massing to support favored
candidates—especially elders who can translate spiritual resolve into public authority.
They will reject what they perceive as the negativism, moralism, and selfishness of the
national politics they witnessed as children. When they encounter leaders who cling to
those old ways, they will work to defeat them. Their stand on the issues is likely to cut
across conventional labels. In their willingness to use government aggressively to protect
the community, strengthen the middle class, and reduce economic risk, they will seem
liberal. Yet in their conventional life goals, respect for rules, and patriotism, they will seem
conservative.
Just as the political agenda of the 1990s centered on children, the political agenda of the
2010s and 2020s will center on young adults. With the allegiance of youth more readily
available to politicians, younger voters may power a national party to victory for the first
time since the 1930s. Some elders will fear the rise of a generation they perceive as
capable but naive, more interested in large-scale public action than in personal privacy or
liberty. (Howe & Strauss, 2007)

Howe and Strauss also introduced the concept of a generational cycle. Essentially, they argue
that generations exist in four different types, and they do so cyclically:
1. Idealist generation
2. Reactive generation
3. Civic generation
4. Adaptive generation
A period begins with an idealist generation, which is inclined to focus on social issues and the
morals of existing institutions. Idealists, by nature, are raised in an ‘ideal’ society – low crime,
high optimism. This is followed by a reactive generation, which centers on finding solutions and
survival. They are usually characterized by rebellion, independence, and cynicism. Members
belonging to a reactive generation are born during an ‘awakening’, when society has taken the
turn to focus on itself rather than the community – more crime, less protection for individuals and
social units. When society takes a turn for the worse, eventually, the time will come that its
members will have to clean up after itself. In comes the civic generation, which, by label,
focuses on consensus and a sense of community. There is a general sense of communal rebirth,
and institutions are rebuilt and optimism and cooperation are valued more than ever. Finally, the
adaptive generation, characterized by conformity, sensitivity, and cooperative because they
were born during a time of “societal crisis”. (Howe & Strauss, 2000)
This structure of Strauss and Howe’s generational cycle is consistent with the generational
diagonal, which also presents a cycle of four different archetypes for every generation: the hero,
artist, prophet, and nomad. Fundamentally, generational theory “characterizes historical
generations through cyclical changes called ‘turnings’. . .” which means that “every generation
turns the corner and to some extent compensates for the excesses and mistakes of the midlife
generation that is in charge when they come of age” (as cited by DeChane, 2014). As such,
“earlier generations have the greatest influence over new generations. The generational
archetypes, or ‘turnings’, occur in a recognizable pattern that can be categorized as heros,
artists, prophets, and nomads. After the’nomad’ generation, the turning then returns to ‘hero’,
ultimately producing a cycle of archetypes.”

The “hero” generation, according to Howe, describes the current Millennials. As

described by Howe, the “heroes” respond to the previous generation’s skeptical nature
and to new crises: “institutional life is destroyed and rebuilt in response to a perceived
threat to the nation’s survival” and “cultural expressions redirect towards community
purpose”. The “crisis” for the Millennial Generation was 9/11 and the subsequent
economic recession. Although millennials are not entirely of age, their influence in the
United States and on the world is dawning. Politicians, businesses, and educators are
already having trouble understanding and effectively reaching out to millennials; later, this
essay delves further into the how and why this is happening.
The subsequent “artist” generation is described as a post-crisis era when this generation
observes the hero’s loss of individualism and responds appropriately. Society “cuts down
social and political complexity in favor of public consensus, aggressive institutions, and
an ethic of personal sacrifice”. In other words, the individual is weak while institutions are
strong. Historically, this archetype gave rise to the American suburbs and corporate jobs.
The last “artist” generation emerged between 1925 and 1942 which, according to Howe
and Strauss. The individual was voiceless enough during this time that they became
known as the Silent Generation. It should be noted that this archetype marks the now
incomplete generation, starting in 2001.
The “prophet” archetype represents the middle ground between the “artist” and the
“nomad,” when the new generation’s individualism begins to grow stronger and
institutions again become weaker. In the words of Howe and Strauss, this turning is
described as the point in which “society reach[es] the high tide of public progress, people
suddenly tire of social discipline and want to recapture a sense of personal authenticity….
young activist[s] look at the previous generation as an era of cultural and spiritual
poverty”. This generation does not want to live by the same strict standards that the
previous generation preferred. In American history, the “prophet” generations often
search for “authentic self-expression” and have strong morals. The latest generation of
“prophets” can be found in the Baby Boom generation (born 1943-1960), who were
known for rock and roll and political unrest in Vietnam War protests, the women’s rights
movement, and the counterculture movement.
The ensuing generation, the “nomad,” is the opposite of the “artist” generation when
individualism is the strongest and large institutions are attacked. Howe, in his interview
with Galland, says nomads “learn they can’t trust basic institutions to look out for their
best interest”. Pragmatic realists often characterize this as an archetype in American
history. The most recent “nomads” are Generation X (born 1961 to 1981) who are still
defining their legacy. This generation has a need “to combat corruption, dictatorships,
abuse, AIDS… [it is] a generation in search of human dignity and individual freedom, the
need for stability, love, tolerance, and human rights for all”. (DeChane, 2014)
METHODOLOGY
Method of study
This research has two main objectives: to determine
whether or not a millennial culture exists in the
Philippines, and to identify the values and behaviors of
the members of the millennial generation that
distinguishes it from its antecedents. Given that cultural
studies on the millennial generation in the Asian – let
alone the Philippine – context has just begun to gain
traction academically, data and references used were
primarily gathered through surveys and interviews.
Individuals that were interviewed belonged to the
millennial age group – those born between 1980 and
the early 2000s. These individuals were randomly
selected, and each differed in aspects of lifestyle such
as social class, upbringing, financial and educational
background.
Research proper
To acquire a concrete understanding of the members of
the millennial generation, the group decided to focus on
the three main aspects of millennial culture – or any
generational culture for the matter: career,
relationships, and lifestyle. The questionnaire was
formulated with these three aspects in mind, and as
much as possible maintained a casual yet probing tone
for the comfort and ease of the interviewees. The
interview questions used are as follows:
I. Defining the ‘millennial’
A. How would you define a millennial?
B. Are you a millennial?
II. Lifestyle
A. How would you define success?
B. How will you know you are
successful?
C. If money were no object, what would you be
doing with your life?
D. How would you describe your typical
day?
E. How do you spend your free time?
F. What are your priorities in life? Emphasis on
family, savings, travel, home.
G. How active are you on social media?
H. How different are you on social media?
III. Career
A. What do you do for a living?
B. Are you happy with where you are
now? Why?
C. Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10?
20?
D. If your circumstances were perfect,
what would you be doing with your life?
E. What would you prefer – a job you
love or a job that pays well?
IV. Relationships
A. Do you believe in ‘forever’?
B. What kind of a relationship are you
looking for?
C. How would you define a perfect
relationship?
D. What is your stand on divorce? Premarital
sex? Same-sex marriage?
E. Are you currently in a relationship?
F. Do you see yourself having a family?
Why or why not?
G. At what age do you want to get married?
H. How many children do you want?
As seen above, the questions were prepared with
specific objectives: to create an easygoing,
conversational atmosphere with the participants, and to
test the generational theory on their perception of what
a millennial is (see Framework). Items such as those
that probe into their social media usage were included
given that a consistent characteristic of the millennial
generation across scholastic studies was being techno-
savvy and globally “connected” through the internet.
Current and popular values were also incorporated into
the situations, such as the relationship and career
items, i.e. stand on relationships and marriage,
standard of success in terms of career, inclination to
travel.
Challenges and recommendations
No study is without challenges and particularly in a
cultural inquiry such as this, difficulties such as
inconsistencies in interpretation cannot be avoided.
Further, the questions used in surveys and
questionnaires belong to a wide range of available
enquiries, and the success of the study in terms of
results lies in proper selection and relevance. Also, for
a comprehensive study and a more concrete position
on the millennial culture in the Philippines, a larger
scope of participants is preferred, possibly on a
national level and with at least a considerable yet
diverse demographic. For the sake of clarity and an all-
inclusive approach, more methods of study may also
be explored, such as content analysis and immersion
for a specific time period.
RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
I. Career
Millennials, those who are currently in their 20s and 30s, are projected to comprise almost
half of the entire global workforce by 2020. In the Philippines, in October 2015, it was
estimated that 47.1% of the more than 66 million working Filipinos were composed of
millennials aged 15 – 34 years old. This data suggests that millennials are not only
occupying a significant portion of the Philippine economy, but are also shaping the direction
of it (Dela Cruz, 2016).

Since the conception of the term, millennials have been gaining a lot of attention more than
any other generation. This may be because this generation is the first to grow up
experiencing various global technological developments, along with the onset of many
social, political, and even cultural transformations.

Millennial employees are known to be driven by immediate satisfaction and want everything
to be instant – even in their careers. When it comes to career and work ethic, millennials
have been labelled, both positively and negatively, in so many ways. Millennials have been
tagged as lazy, spoiled, and impatient; at the same time, they have also been praised for
their creativity, technological expertise, and flexibility (White, 2015; Dela Cruz, 2016).

One of the most common conceptions on millennials when it comes to their career is that
millennials are “career-shifters”. In a survey conducted by Deloitte in 2016 (as cited in Dela
Cruz, 2016) which included millennial participants from the Philippines, millennials are
revealed to be prone to do job-hopping. In average, 6 out of the 10 participants of this
survey plan to leave their current job in the next four years. While other generations only
switch jobs twice or thrice in their whole lifetimes, starting from the bottom and working their
way up, millennials are known to constantly change their jobs once they have become
uninterested or feel that they are not being given enough appreciation for what they do.
They are mostly perceived as extremely entitled, always hungry for constant praise and
coaching, but unwilling to do the hard work that comes with all these (Dela Cruz, 2016).
Millennials are deemed to have a tendency to jump to another job that interests them, even
when their current job has nothing to do with their new prospective job.

When asked to choose between a job that they love and a job that pays well, the millennials
interviewed, as expected, chose the former. This does not really mean that other
generations do not give importance to choosing jobs that they love; however, for the
millennials, loving their job comes first before anything else. This explains why millennials
tend to quit their jobs more often than the older generations. For the millennials, their job
has to be something that they are passionate about, or at least something that they like
doing (Philippine Association of National Advertisers, n.d.). For example, in the case of one
millennial respondent named Laurie, 23 years old, she mentioned that she took her
previous job just to pay the bills but it wasn’t really something that she loved. Eventually,
she quit that job and moved to a new job that she is passionate about, and that is her
current job. In addition, for a fresh graduate like Karla, 23 years old, when asked the same
question, she answered without hesitation that she will choose a job that she loves.
According to her, even if the job pays well but it’s something that she doesn’t love or even
like doing, she will just get bored with it.

Similarly, when asked if they are happy with where they are now in terms of their career and
why, the millennials interviewed answered that they are happy, in general. In the case of
Vince, 26 years old, who has been working at his current job for six years, he said that he is
happy because he likes what he’s doing and he’s having fun. He believes that he has a
good career path ahead of him with his present job.

Other generations label the millennials as impatient with their career and overly ambitious to
climb up the ladder; however, this is not always the case for millennials. In contrast to the
notion that millennials just hop from one job to another whenever they feel like doing so,
Vince proves to be an example of a millennial who is able to stick to his first job and is
planning to work on building a career from there. As for Laurie, even though she cannot say
that she is happy with where she is in her career because she believes that happiness is
such a strong word and it is a goal that she hasn’t reached yet, she answered that she is
contented with her current job simply because she likes what she is doing. She sees herself
staying in that job with the goal of being a Chief of Staff someday. Moreso, for the
millennials, being overly ambitious might not really be such a bad word because their being
ambitious only means that they are ready to take on jobs that would bring them towards the
fulfilment of their career goals in the future.

II. Lifestyle
In a study from Time Magazine, they found out that one of the striking characteristics of
millennials is that they do practice “challenge convention” which pertains that they
continuously seek to find better and suitable ways of doing things on their own. Most of
them prefer to be in charged on their own matters such as when it comes to handling their
finances, accommodation and even travels. They are usually tagged as entitled, with close
parental involvement, and demands less supervision. Comparatively speaking, these kind of
attributes were not present in the previous generation. Like for example, the generation of
Baby Boomers are known to be workaholic, competitive and they highly value office titles
and ranks.

As millennials are digitally active, they spent most of their times with their mobile phones
and laptops at their hands exchanging and facilitating communication in all forms. This kind
of lifestyle demands less work and more play for majority of them. As they perceived that
the “real life” is not limited to one or two more aspects such as attaining stable career and
finances, loving and complete family and the likes, they are the generation who wishes to
have a well-balance life. They are taking the meaning of LIFE into a new direction -
unconventional, predictable, and that is something out of the box.

For millennials, to maximize life is to travel. They are experts when it comes to finding
affordable airfare rates and tours. Millennials viewed travel as a necessity rather than a
luxury. In a previous study, it is reported that 23% of millennials are more likely to travel
abroad than their older counterparts (Clark, 2016). They are also known to be practical and
street smart when it comes to traveling. They are much willing to do carpools and
commute than rent own transportation and stay in inns, hostels and Airbnb(s) than in
hotels. Millennials are also open to both ideas of solo and group travels. Despite the idea
that solo travel can be dangerous, most of them will still pursue it as it entails self-discovery
and fulfillment. Travelling alone gives them a sense of freedom to explore. On the other
hand, millennials also prefer group travels given that it will be more practical as the total
costs of the travel will be divided among them. As millennials are also described as team
and people-oriented, most of them do not have issues dealing with people.

In terms of finances, millennials being exposed to the “Great Depression” believe that they
will not be able to achieve material goals like what their parents had (Cussen,2016)
Negatively, millennials are labeled as materialistic, spoiled and entitled were also not
seriously concern about saving. As most of them perceived that there is more to life than
money per se, millennials unfortunately do not have a strong sense of financial stability. In
the US, majority of the millennials are willing to abandon banks as they prefer alternative
financial products which are not strict and rigid as the banking rules. More and more
millennials use alternative products such as prepaid cards, check cashing services,
advance loans and transfer agents in managing their finances. It is also appropriate to take
into consideration that finances is correlated into several factors such as original social
class they belonged to and their career choices.

If there is a common denominator for all millennials is that they are much familiar with
technology. They are hailed as the digital natives. The founders of the prominent social
media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube are all millennials. Millennials, undeniably
are the biggest consumer of digital media. Millennials are three times more likely than baby
boomers to watch a video on their mobile device. Millennials not only use social media for
connection and communication but it now also a way for them to spread news and
information. As social media is real-time, it gives you real-time information which helps you
to make right choices especially in times of crisis. In a survey conducted by Rapper, they
published that a typical millennial usually spends 3.2 hours online on mobile and 5.2 hours
on either desktop and laptop. Given these figures, it is very seemingly that millennials highly
prefer the convenience of digital technology than print.

The defining and guiding values of members of the millennial generation include optimism,
confidence, high self-esteem, diversity, civic duty, ethical consumption, achievement,
morality, change, multi-view and a global perspective. These values are reflected in the
participants of this study, in terms of their views on success, leisure, and life priorities. For
instance, millennials are very achievement-driven to the point that they want to change the
world for the better. “They are growing up in a world that is creaking under the strain of our
lifestyles, and they are daily made aware of the fragile environment. So, it is no surprise that
they are emerging as ethical consumers who want to change the world” (Codrington, 2008).
Further studies mirror this statement, such as that of Lancaster and Stillman, who describes
the millennial attitude as “realistic”: that “they appreciate diversity, prefer to collaborate
instead of being ordered, and are very pragmatic when solving problems...Raised by
optimistic Boomers, Millennials feel empowered to take positive action when things go
wrong. They have an optimistic outlook...They are self-assured and achievement-
focused...They believe in strong morals and serving the community...They are aware of
diversity” (Reeves & Oh, 2008).

III. Relationship
Since most millennials today are already exposed to various dating platforms and other
means to attract potential mates, one of the known challenges that arose is how these new
trends changed their perceptions towards relationships. In particular, there is now a
question as to how millennials select their romantic partners and how they value the
relationships that they are able to form.

In traditional Filipino dating scene, the notion of “dalaga’ or a young female is depicted as
someone who is expected by society to, “conduct herself with decorum and to appear
modest and shy, especially among men” (Roces and Roces, 2013, p.46). In traditional
Filipino courtship, a female who initiates too much verbal communication or physical contact
is often marked with a negative label of being “cheap” or “easy” (Santa Maria, 2012). These
points of being demure and cultured are also attributed in the role they play in courtship
where the woman is expected to show more control in her expressions.

However, the emergence of new means to build relationships is now taking its scene, along
with the spur of the “hookup culture” where most millennials are identified to be fascinated
with. Hence, the notion as to whether the traditional Filipino conservative ideals in selecting
partners and managing relationships also evolved.

For instance, one of today’s famous new platforms for establishing romantic relationships is
Tinder. The site is identified as today’s “eBay of love, sex, and romance” and continues to
change the dating game for many of its users (Foxton, 2015). Through the site, users can
easily search for potential mates with similar interests as them and also have a wider choice
selection in meeting new people.

The surge of popularity of Tinder and other online networking sites similarly gave birth to the
“hookup” culture where today, teens and young adults are seen to engage in casual sex
encounters without the intention of pursuing long term relationships. Thus, millennials are
often left to answer the question if, given these changes in the dating scene and the
emergence of online dating sites, they still believe in “forever” and they still see themselves
having a family in the future.
In the case of the millennials interviewed, it is evident that most of them still believed in the
concept of “forever” when it comes to romantic partners. While there are changes in the
dating scene, millennials agree that there is still the possibility of finding a partner who is not
only there for the short term. In fact, most of the interviewees answered that they are
currently in a romantic relationship and they likewise view themselves as having their own
families in the future.

For instance, Vince stated that initially, he wasn’t really looking for a serious relationship but
the relationship just arrived. He added that they are already celebrating their fourth
anniversary this year and affirms that while there are changes in today’s dating practices, it
is still possible to find a serious partner and commit to a romantic relationship which will
eventually lead to marriage. Almost all of the respondents also agreed to marry at a latter
age where most of their ideal age to tie the knot is at 30.

According to a 2015 article made by Gillian White at The Atlantic, most millennial Americans
prefer to marry later as they give grave consideration to their economic situation and
stability. Rainer and Rainer (2011) meanwhile identified that in America, “millennials are
marrying much later, if at all. In 1970, about 44 percent of 18 to 25 year old boomers were
married. Today, only 15 percent of millennials in that age group are married” (p.3). This
similarly echoes the preference of the interviewed Filipino millennials where most choose to
marry at age 28-32.

Mr. Gary Faustino, Psychologist at Loyola Schools Office of Guidance and Counseling,
interpreted this new trend by explaining that most millennials today often set standards or
status that can keep up with their current lifestyle activities. Thus, they choose to marry at a
later age as they take their time to find a partner that will suit their lifestyle and preferences.

Meanwhile, although some traditional ideals in building relationships are still applicable to
today’s millennials, there also appeared to be distinct changes in belief. This includes their
perception towards pre-marital sex. In traditional dating scene, constantly initiating
communication or physical contact towards a man will label her as “flirt” and even sexually
“loose”. Communication was very limited and controlled because in retrospect, she is
expected to portray a shy and hard to get woman by not showing too much interest in a
man as providing a hard time to a suitor is seen to increase her worth in his eyes (Roces
and Roces, 2013). Along with these conservative practices is their value for sex. In fact, sex
is often regarded as only applicable after marriage.

Today, however, most millennials appear to have a different view towards this. For
example, Vince said that he believes anyone can engage in premarital sex as long as they
are responsible for their actions. Karla also agreed to this notion and added that today, it
appears that most millennials don’t make a big deal out of pre-marital sex anymore as
though it is already part of the norm. Almost all of the respondents interviewed also signified
support to same-sex marriage which defies traditional conservative norms in building
families.

These two views towards pre-marital sex and homosexual relationships support findings
from Time Magazines 2015 article about millennials’ preference for premarital sex which
noted that “Over the last eight years, acceptance of premarital sex has moved from a
minority position to a majority position, with 58 percent of the respondents in 2012 saying
that they thought there was nothing wrong with sex before marriage (compared to 44% in
2004,) according to a new study of over 33,000 people published in the Archives of Sexual
Behavior” (Alter, 2015). The author added that such changes in perception might be due to
having the younger generations as more accepting of new relationship standards. Such
accepting attitude might also be due to millennials having a more open-minded and
optimistic view towards issues often considered as taboos.
Nonetheless, while they shared same views towards pre-marital sex, they had opposing
viewpoints when it comes to divorce. Vince said that he is in favor of divorce. Karla, on the
other hand, is against it because she believes once a commitment through marriage is
already made, the couple should exert their efforts to sustain and maintain the relationship.
This perception towards divorce can be interpreted as part of the millennials’ constant quest
for thrills and ideals that adapt to today’s dynamic culture. In relation to what Mr. Faustino
said, millennials might have varying perspectives on divorce because of their different
lifestyle preferences and upbringing.
 Conclusion
The common notion that millennials all over the world share the
same youth culture might be somewhat applicable in the case of the
Philippines. However, like any other nation, the Philippines has a
unique history which influences and shapes the attitudes, beliefs,
preferences, and value systems of the Filipino millennials. In this
ever changing world, it may be true that Filipino millennials generally
experience life in a similar way that the millennials of other countries
do, since various global events have been taking place.
Nonetheless, Filipino millennials still differ from other millennials in a
sense that their personalities are still affected and shaped by
Philippine culture and society.

Filipino Millennials as the same with the general notion of

millennials, also embody traits such as being optimistic, career-
driven, socially active and civic-oriented. As it is the millennial
generation which is exposed to issues such as globalization,
terrorism, migration and other national, international, transnational
issues of the world, they are perceived to be the most active and
reactive among all generations as of this date. Despite of the
common stereotypes attached to Filipino millennials which are
primarily based from how they conduct themselves, there is still a
huge potential that this generation will be able to contribute to the
general welfare of mankind.
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 Annex
I. List of interviewees
1. Laurianne Batinga
23; Political Officer, Congress

2. Karla Nivla Aquino

23; Fresh Graduate, Unemployed

3. John Martin Vincent Fillamor

Project Manager, I-Stack Manila

4. Gary Faustino
Director for Office of Guidance and Counselling, Ateneo Loyola Schools

II. Transcriptions of interviews (see succeeding pages)

Vince Fillamor
Interviewer: Good morning. Can you tell us about yourself first like your name, school, where
you work. Stuff like that, basic stuff.
Vince: So people call me Vince, my full name is John Martin Vincienzo O. Fillamor. I went to
school at DLS-CSB and now I work for a company called I-Stack manila.
Interviewer: What do you do for ___?
Vince: I’m a project manager/business analyst/quality assurance analyst. So basically
handling everything related to Software development and talking to clients.
Interviewer: Do you like what you do?
Vince: Yeah. I’ve been doing this for almost six years now and I’m doing pretty well I think.
Interviewer: Okay, so this video is gonna be about millennials.
How would you define a millennial?
Vince: Well according to the internet people here are basically born between the
eighties and the two thousands. So pretty much young people and oh I would say
young people who are adept with technology.
Are you a millennial?
Vince: Yup definitely.
Are you happy with where you are now? Why?
Vince: I like what I’m doing. I’m having fun. I work with really good people. I have a
really good career path ahead of me. I am being showered by money and I get to
support my family friends.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10? 20?
Vince: In five years... I’m not sure maybe in a bigger company like Google or
Facebook, that’s the goal. In ten years maybe with my own house, maybe with a
family. Fifteen to twenty years… I don’t know. Not yet.

If your circumstances were perfect, what would you be doing with your life?
Vince: Well, I wouldn’t really know because I am doing this based on what happen to
me in this life. So I wouldn’t know what I would be thinking or what I would want if
things were perfect.
Interviewer: Right, but do you think there are circumstances now that stopping you
from ____
Vince: No I _____ ______ stop me from doing what I want.
A job you love or a job that pays well?
Vince: For me I can stand a job that pays but right now I’m doing both. I mean my job
now is both.
Do you believe in forever?
Vince: No
 Interviewer: Do you have, are you in a relationship?
Vince: Yes
Interviewer: How long have you’ve been in that relationship?
Vince: Turned four years just two days ago.
Do you see yourself having a family? Why or why not?
Vince: Sure, yeah. I guess because it’s the natural track. I do want to preserve my
genes, I wanna be able to share my knowledge, my blessings to kids. Okay that’s
pretty much it.
What age do you want to get married?
Vince: Thirty
How many children do you want?
Vince: Three
What are you looking for in a partner?
Vince: I used to have a criteria whenever I date someone. So Minimum 3.5 GPA. I’m
not joking *laughs* Interesting… by interesting I mean you’re not the typical person
who likes normal things and you have to be able to keep up with the conversation
with me.
What kind of a relationship are you looking for?
Vince: I wouldn’t know because I started this relationship with a mind-set that I really
wasn’t looking for a relationship but it just arrived. It just happened.
How would you define a perfect relationship?
Vince: I don’t think there’s a perfect relationship.
Interviewer: What are like the common qualities na parang, will make you say this is
my bare minimum for me to say that this is a healthy relationship.
Vince: Do not agree a 100% of the time. Room to grow. Exploring new things like not
doing the thing over and over again.
What is your stand on divorce? Premarital sex? Same-sex marriage?
Vince: Pro-divorce. Whatever as long as you’re responsible for it then go ahead.
Pro-same sex marriage.
How would you define success?
Vince: Success for me is achieving what you dream of by working hard for it. So if
you got something that was just given to you, then I don’t think you succeeded. So in
order for me to consider you successful or to consider myself successful. I would
need to work hard for something that I aimed for, that I dreamed for.
Interviewer: Okay that’s also the barometer where you _______ successful. Once
you have something that you worked for.
Vince: Yes, agree that if I cross out all of the things in my to-do list. Which is, I have
20 to-do list. So yeah.
If money were no object, what would you be doing with your life?
 Vince: It’ll be boring to say yes so I would just say back in college, early college I
wanted to be a psychologist and the reason why I didn’t shift to that course is
because my dad said “Walang pera dun.”
If I had all the money in the world I wouldn’t be studying *laughs*
No I’d probably be, I’d hire someone to teach me how to code because I have so
many ideas and I just don’t wanna share them with other people just yet.
What’s your typical day?
Vince: Okay I’m gonna base this on my past two jobs cause my current job I can just
come in and out anytime I want. So a typical day for me before was to wake up early
in the morning, early enough to skip traffic, go to the workplace, eat breakfast,
answer my emails, make sure no one is waiting on me for anything. Finish all the
work I have to do for the day, drive home, suffer traffic, eat dinner, relax, play games
whatever and then just sleep. If I have time to go out and have drinks with friends
then that would be a bonus.
Weekend? Wake up at lunch time, coffee, hang out with friends, hang out with the
girlfriend, have drinks with friends and Sundays definitely for the family.
Interviewer: And where does your money go? Your salary.
Vince: Ideally to savings, to investments but right now I’m just trying to get through
college
What are your priorities in life? (e.g. family, savings, travel, home)
Vince: Definitely savings, cause that would mean having money, buy a house in the
future or to have money to invest. So definitely savings would be priority or of course
you know if the family have needs then that would be the priority not my savings.
How active are you on social media?
Vince: Oh yeah I can’t let go of my phone.
How different are you on social media?
Vince: I don’t think so but maybe my friends would have a different opinion on that.
Interviewer: Alright, and what social media sites you use most actively?
Vince: Facebook, twitter, instagram. The basic three.
Interviewer: And what do you use them for?
Vince: Instagram, I basically document my dates or hang out with friends or if I have
something nice. Facebook, more of family. Twitter, ranting and just saying things out
loud.
Gary Faustino
(00:04) Interviewer: The first question will be “Who is considered a millennial?”
(00:07) Interviewee: My understanding of a millennial would be… I think it was who are in their
20’s to early 30’s and supposedly they are characterized by certain way of life, a certain kind of
of characteristic and that’s why they’re called as such, but in a seminar I also understand that
you cannot qualify every one of that age to be millennial. And thus you would also have to
consider also the socio-economic status. Millennials are normally considered to be very mobile,
but SAS of those people probably would be more in the upper echelons, with class and does
down there might not be able to be qualified to be a millennial.
(01:01) Interviewer: Ad the second questions is “What are distinct characteristics of a millennial
and how can you describe the millennial culture?
(01:12) Interviewee: What I understand millennials to being is their mobility. Their ability to this
and also very adept in gadgets. Considered by influx of information from the internet so they are
very knowledgeable, quick to access information. The mobility is also stands the way is right
now, during my time before you could travel from a province it takes you a bit. A lot of time
before it happens, now it’s so quick. It also has something to do with the decrease of fares, so
it’s very easy. My own children, my eldest is 30, my youngest 20 so you can say that they are all
in the millennial stage. But I wouldn’t… but they… yes. I would say in terms of mobility they are
very mobile like they’ve been in to more countries probably that I have. Okay, probably more in
the Philippines that I have. And the access to information is such as… they’re very quick on
gadgets they are very quick on understanding this and that, and it’s a wide panorama of things
that they have access to.
(02:46) Interviewer: So to be more specific sir, what are the general differences that you can
observe? Specifically, extra-curricular activities, speech & output, dating.
(02:55) Interviewee: Dating? So let me speak then about… I cannot use my children, my
children would probably be outliers.
(03:11) I would speak probably of those 18 to about 22 because I have been exposed to a lot of
that year in this office. So what was the other 2 words that you used?
(03:24) Interviewer: Extracurricular activities and speech and output.
(02:28) Interviewee: So… you’re talking about extracurricular activities. When you talk about the
school, like an exclusive school then most of the people most probably be what? Affluent.
Therefore as far as extra-curricular activities they can engage in sport, they can travel, they can
have a lot of gadgets as well, access to internet and the like. So their chances of mobility, their
chances of socialization are very very high and so in terms of relationship you can say that…
yeah they have a wide range of friends probably in Facebook. You can enumerate how many
they have probably thousands of friends. What’s the other… ah dating? Now that’s a subject
that is—a have my own biases about dating. My experiences of dating at least in my collegiate
level. Yeah that has been a lot of dating experimenting is more like it rather than something
permanent trying to probably… well developmentally in psychology they are not really at that
stage where they, ought to, getting to more or less permanent relationships but I guess people
are trying to search and so dates would be a means to search themselves not to be a spouse
yet they still have to work and on that. But in terms of marrying, marrying age now is about 28
now to about 32. Okay that my experience myself. My daughter got married at 30. So just last
January. So my other children… what they’re 28, 27, 26, 23 so yung ganon noh. So unlike me I
got married on 23 so it’s very different. I think people have set standard were talking about
millennials who are really mobile. They have set standards I suppose because of their lifestyle
now. Then you would choose someone who or a status or a stage in their life that they would
also be able to keep up the lifestyle that they have then I guess that explains a lot of the
pressure, the stresses among students nowadays that they do want to achieve. They want this
credential and that credential is yung organizations nila pagkadami-dami because they want to
build their resume. So there is a compelling need to be adept and maintain the lifestyle. So
that’s a concern at least as far as I’m concerned because. It feels like nobody want to start from
the bottom, I have to be like my dad who owns the business, always on the top of his game. Are
you kidding me? Your dad’s been there for what? 40 years or 30 years. So you start down
there. There is a, I mean that is the reason why millennials also tend to, at least some of the
employers that I’ve talk to HR practitioners, they (millennials) only spend 2 years. During my
time or at least we were told that there should be a certain kind of loyalty to the company,
because it is not easy to get a job. In their case, the HR practitioners now have putting their
minds specially that you graduates that they will not last more than 2 years. My daughter
actually transferred from a company to another and more or less she is now _________ but still
we don’t know. My son transferred 2 years in Singapore and then back here. So we have to
walk again. My son is the one who’s the otherson, my third child. Yeah he stayed on with the
company and it’s been three years. So that’s unusual. That’s an unusual one. That’s why I’m
saying my children are outliers. But for the rest, it’s really 2 years. 1 year mahaba na siguro yun.
(08:46) Interviewer: Sir so in general can we say that the millennials are experimental with
everything that they do? Experimental with their relationships, with their careers?
(08:56) Interviewee: In a way, yeah in a way they are because they have many choices it’s
almost like… I would characterize it like… the remote switch for cable TV, so I experience that
with my children. I usually transfer channels then stay on the channel. They would breeze to all
the channels because they know the access and it’s very fast. Okay I can’t do that. I need to
stay on and see and investigate. If I can do a parallel of that kind of behaviour to work in for
where millennials are, yeah. I can stay on this job but I can go went to another job and it’s like a
channel I’ve switched, easily. I don’t have to investigate because I have access I can do that.
(10:02) Interviewer: Sir because of this presence of access, that’s the biggest difference of
generations.
(10:09) Interviewee: Yes I think it has created a mind-set of mobility and accessibility that mind-
set parang there’s a wide world around out there. I mean during my time, you stick to cubao if
you’re from the Ateneo, UP. Stick within the vicinity. There are countries out there but I can’t
have access to and during my time it was the telephone. You don’t have the internet. Now it’s so
wide, Information is so wide.
(10:43) Interviewer: Sir, would you agree that the presence of the internet greatly shape the
millennials?
(10:46) Interviewee: Oh yes.
(10:47) Interviewer: If yes, how did it shape them? If no, what other factors can be considered
as great influence?
(10:52) Interviewee: Yeah as mentioned the access for information is so easy nowadays. So
now you just Google it and you have your information right there and then. That’s why research
can be quite also be demanding. Some professors can be… Unlike before you take time in the
library looking for references and that reference that you’re looking for is actually with someone
so you have to wait. Today no, it’s right there and so it’s quick. That speed of accessibility that
power you can say, influences. And I suppose… also as a teacher I teach. As a teacher it’s hard
to keep up with the pace. Sometimes they look for a song and there as quick as the internet that
no person can match it. Okay so yung mga ganon. So that’s why we can be impatient,
millennials can be impatient. I experience that with my children they get bored but I try to also
make them get used to the slow pace. It’s not good to be always at that speed.
(12:15) Interviewer: Sir, what are the best ways to engage a millennial? And what drives a
millennial to act?
(12:22) Interviewee: Engagement in what way?
(12:27) Interviewer: Sir, like how do you get a millennial to stay, kasi they’re really quick and
fast-paced, and they’re quite mobile. So, what makes a millennial stay? What do you think is the
factor?
(12:43) Interviewee: The factor, well one would be interest, I would think. So for example you
were able to catch their interest, they would probably stay. There’s hope to grow, then they
would stay. In terms of relationships I have a different opinion about that, I think relationships
are fading. You may be connected for a while, but you’re not really connected. There’s
something about the internet, the Facebook though you maybe expect yourself in lots of letters.
But, they don’t really capture the meaning that’s being said or does it capture the presence of
the individual. And that has been my concern because of this in a collegiate level, there’s a
need to connect and people are not really connecting. Because one—fast-paced, you’re
concerned about your academics, your orgs. And what have you, options that are out there and
you don’t want to miss any of those, parang life passes you by so quickly kasi ang dami-dami
tapos nandito ka lang? Sayang ang buhay mo, di ba? So kailangan umikot-ikot ka. Ngayon pag
pumaikot-ikot ka, syempre hindi lalalim ung relationship mo. That’s a concern. Because
humanly speaking, and I’m speaking psychology now, so you need to connect with people. At
the end of the day, you need to be affirmed by someone else. You can’t be a total island.
Although you’d say that there has to be some sort of independence but realistically ____. And
so you need to connect, especially the emotional side. To trust people, and that takes time. You
cannot just build up trust. There has to be presence, body language. So that’s the problem of
the millennial now. They do have a lot of acquaintances and I’d like to call it acquaintances, but
not deep enough to my view.
(15:05) Interviewer: So what other common criticisms about a millennial? And do you agree with
these critics?
(15:11) Interviewee: One nga, yun nga they don’t stay. Two, you can’t pin them down. Three,
would be relationships. Four probably, and I’m basing it on how I see students nowadays.
Resource, inner resource. Because it’s so fast, and you can look at that from the Philippine
society in general. Especially the echelons, that both parents are working, everybody’s busy.
Plus the OFW phenomenon which works against us. The relationships at home are not really
that stable as well, like I said they don’t deepen. When they go to school, they don’t deepen as
well because everybody wants to be on the top of the game. At the end of the day when you go
through a crisis, when you don’t have much resource to back you on, that creates a lot of
pressure to people who don’t have that kind of resource. And that we’re trying to address, as
soon as my office is concerned. Of course we’re battling something that has been established
psychologically way way ahead. So the battle maybe is in grade school. So ang nangyayari
samin ditto is firefighting. That in general would be the criticism. But it doesn’t say that everyone
is like that. Because we’re talking about 20%.
(!7:16) Interviewer: Sir do you think millennials will outgrow these criticisms na masyado kaming
mobile, masyado kaming madaming gawin sa buhay, will we outgrew this? Will we still grow up
in a sense na ititigil naming to lahat? May ganoon po bang points.
(17:32) Interviewee: Well, I’m a firm believer that you learn from your experience. I hope so. But,
there’s something also with, kasi you guys become conscious when it’s societal or group. You
tend to go by your peers unless you are very integrated and you look yourself through, and your
own values system and your own identity and say this is what I want to be, and you take your
own flight. Okay yon. But if you get swept by the wind, the change might be too late. So we’re
talking about 30s, na before you make your adjustment. I’m not sure if that would be something
manageable at that age. Sa psychology,at that age, at least from the past data when they made
the theory of Erickson, they’re supposed to generativity vs. stagnation. They should be
preparing for the next generation. I don’t know if the millennials would be ready for that then
because there are so many options, they’ve lost, I don’t know I’m not a futurist. Pero, would they
be able to anchor on something solid enough for them to grow talaga? Because they’re so out
there, at the end of the day you don’t know where you are. So, depende. I don’t know. That’s
case to case basis, I’m not a sociologist.
(17:37) Interviewer: Our next question would be, how would you describe a millennial, by which
a millennial handle or carry themselves? Are they more confident?
(19:45) Interviewee: Yeah, I think the millennial are more confident. The millennials are
confident because one, they do have access to information. It makes them very knowledgeable.
Sometimes they self-diagnose. Tapos, especially the smarter ones, college people. They really
have a birth of knowledge. _____
(20:21) Interviewer: And how about how they interact with adults or people older than them?
(20:28) Interviewee: My experience is they are respectful. I find it unusual because you’re given
all your options, well at least Filipinos ha, I don’t know about the other countries. At least, in a
teacher’s point of view, they want to be friendly. They want to be friendly with the professors.
And we do have boundaries. Something like that about relationships. Within themselves, I
notice that also, but it’s hard to generalize ha, I don’t if the values systems has also been
eroded. I don’t’ know I cannot make conclusions about that. But I’ve seen signs like a situation
at school, where you think you will not do this, you will not broadcast a negative aspect of your
friend because it’s detrimental to his reputation. But it seems like a regular thing, you see it
posted in the Fb. And then suddenly, everybody comes in and the bullies. So in as much as it
connects everyone else, it disconnects as quick as it came.
(22:19) Interviewer: Sir this question, I’m asking this for you as a parent of a millennial. What are
your hopes and your fears for your kids?
(22:40) Interviewee: Well my children are outliers. Like for example, by eldest is married
already. My second, I was thinking na mobility nga because I never thought he would go to
Singapore like that. And to spend 2 years in Singapore and came back, I was thinking he should
stay there. But now he’s study culinary arts, he has a girlfriend and I don’t know where it’s
going. My dream for them is for them to be actually stable and their family, because I thought
I’ve set that kind of example. So yon, my concern is, will there values system be as fleeting as,
you know how it’s going with the millennials. But parang hindi naman. My third son also has a
girlfriend and maybe he is waiting for that moment in time that he has enough to start his own
and I think is a commendable thing and very responsible. My fourth, I have five children, is
studying medicine. So very determined sya. My fifth, my youngest, sya yung ano…unlike the
millennials, she doesn’t get into Facebook. She doesn’t want to get into that, very minimal sya.
Outright din she’s a person who makes choices immediately. She doesn’t jump into so many
things like if you bring her to a shopping mall, the first stall that she finds what wants, she buys
it. But she’s also determined to go abroad. She’s into fashion design. So, that aspect, meron
syang aspects na very millennial and pero merong very conservative din and very old fashioned
you can say. So my hope for them is to be happy wherever they are, whether they want to get
married or not. If they get married I hope their relationships would be stable. Pero as far as their
own choices are concerned, they don’t seem to be hopping from one. Initially yung eldest ko,
she started with telecom, then to food. That’s in a span of what, 8 years? 8 years. No, I’m sorry
5 years ata. Pero yung sumunod na anak ko, he’s about 29, an architect. Stayed in a firm, not
more than 2 years, then sa Singapore I think he stayed about 2 years din. So, mabilis sya, but
that guy also knows what he wants. He knows what he wants, and he’s still looking for it,
kumbaga. I know what he’s need are, very quiet person. That’s why basically all I dream for
them is they’re not their usual stereotype…of a millennial.
(26:17) Interviewer: Sir that’s our last question. Thank you po. Sir we’ll just shoot something
about you po. So will you introduce yourself? If you’re teaching, you mentioned a while ago that
you were also teaching, what classes these are? You’re teaching in a college po ba?
(26:42) Interviewee: Yeah in the college.
(26:00) Interviewee: I’m Gary Faustino, I’m the director for the office of guidance and
counselling for the Loyola Schools of Ateneo. I have five children, youngest 20 and eldest 30.
The eldest just got married and no grandchildren at this point. My undergraduate if from UP,
Industrial Engineering. I work for 20 years with a religious group called ______. And I went into
psychology and counselling, I teach part-time with the Psychology department here. I teach
Psychology 101. I also am working as a consultant dito. ________
(28:02) Interviewer: Thank you sir. Thank you very much po! I think we got everything we need.
And it was very insightful.
Karla Aquino
Paige: Hi Karla! Pwede tell us about yourself? Kwento ka lang.
Karla: Ano ikukuwento ko?
Paige: Name mo, san ka nagwowork, san ka nag aaral, san ka nakatira,
Karla: Aahhh, uhmm start na?
Paige: Uhhmm oo, please tell us about yourself lang.
Karla: Sooo, im Karla Nivla L. Aquino. I’m live at Paco, Manila I graduated at the Concordia
College, Business administration major in marketing amanagement. I graduated last April 2.
Paige: So recent gradute ka lang, so ano, wala ka pang work?
Karla: Wala pa, naghahanap pa.
Paige: So Naghahanap ka pa ng work. Anong plano mong work if ever?
Karla: Sa bangko?
Paige: Nag aapply ka na ngayon?
Karla: Oo
Paige: San ka nag-aapply?
Karla: Sa bangko
Paige: Anong bangko?
Karla: Hmmm?
Paige: Anong mga bangko?
Karla: Uhmm, BDO, PS bank. Laat ng bangkong magkakatabi dun sa Ayala.
Paige: Anong position yun usually?
Karla: Office, Office Staff
Paige: Ahhh okay. Teller?
Karla: Di naman teller. Sa office.
Paige: Aahh okay. Uhmmm so kakastart niyo lang. So far satisfied ka naman sa… since
kakagraduate mo lang di ba?
Karla: Uhuhmm.
Paige: Oo, happy ka naman sa ano, sa job hunt mo so far?
Karla: Okay naman. Kahit, mahirap maghanap.
Paige: Di ka pa nman naiinip?
Karla: Di pa naman
Paige: Okay so masaya ka pa. San mo nakikita sarili mo, five years from now?
Karla: Sguro kng saang company na gusto ko, na mataas yung position.
Paige: 10 years?
Karla: 10 years?
Paige: Oo, ten years from now, 34 ka na nun di ba? San mo nakikita sarili mo?
Karla: Stable na sa lahat? Yung family, work,
Paige: 20 years?
Karla: 20 years? Ganun pa rin. Stable pa rin.
Paige: If perfect lahat ng circumstances mo, uhmm, ano yung gusto mong gawin?
Karla: Kapag perfect na lahat?
Paige: Yung circumstances mo, oo
Karla: Enjoyiin lang. Mag enjoy lang. siguro yung mga hindi ko naranuasan nung before,
gagawin ko pag perfect lahat.
Paige: Like anong mga bagay yung gusto mong gawin
Karla: Magtravel? Puntahan lahat ng pwedeng puntahan?
Paige: Hmmm okay. Anong mas pipiliin mo? Yung job na mahal mo or yung job na malaki
yung bayad, malaki yung sweldo?
Karla: Yung job na mahal ko. Kasi pag malaki lang yung bayad tapos di mo naman gusto, di
mo rin maeenjoy parang ang boring.
Paige: Pagdating naman sa relationships, naniniwala ka ba sa forever?
Karla: Walang forver! De joke lang. Meron naman forever kasi meron pa namang nag eexist na
matanda na pero sila pa rin.
Paige: Eh ngayon, may boyfriend k aba? Girlfriend?
Karla: Girlfriend? Boyfriend!
Paige: May boyfriend ka ngayon?
Karla: oo.
Paige: nakikita mo ba sarili mo na may family na sa future?
Karla: Uhmm, nakikita naman.
Paige: So gusto mo ng family?
Karla: Oo naman, perfect..
Paige: Bakit gusto mo ng family?
Karla: Kasi, yung family ko hindi ganun kayos so gusto ko pag nagkafamily, yung buo tsaka
maayos.
Paige: Okay. Uhmmm. Anong age mo gusto magpakasal?
Karla: Ako ngayon tapos wala pa kong work, siguro mga 30? Pag stable na.
Paige: Ilang ano ggusto mo? Marami?
Karla: Hindi naman. Kawawa naman ako. Okay na yung tatlo. Maximum na yung tatlo.
Paige: Hhmm maximum na yung tatlo. Ano yung hinahanap mo sa isang partner?
Karla: Yung responsable.
Paige: Ah responsible, ano pa?
Karla: Hmmmm….
Paige: Gwapo ganun?
Karla: Yung kayang panindigan lahat.
Paige: Anong klaseng relationship… anong klaseng relationship yung hinahanap mo ngayon?
Karla: Anong klaseng relationship?
Paige: Happy ka na bas a serious relationship?
Karla: Oo, yung serious na, ayoko nan g joke. Nakakapagod. Haha joke lang.
Paige: Joke lang na gusto mo…Ano para sayo yung perfect na relationship? Or at the very
least ano dapat yung mga nasa relationship?
Karla: Yung… nag aaway pero kahit nag aaway nagagawan pa rin ng paraan
Paige: Ano pa? ano pa for you? yung mga basic na hinahanap mo sa isang relasyon?
Karla: Yung walang ibang yung parang walang third party. Parang walang hahaha yung ano
na. yung parehas kaing may work, hindi lng yung puro parang pabebe.
Paige: So para sayo, kung ipipicture mo yung parang perfect na relationship, ano siya?
Karla: Serious? Ano ba yung serious relationship?
Paige: Ano ba para sayo yung parang perfect na relationship?
Karla: Perfect na relationship? Ano ba? Yung ano, yung parehas naeenjoy yung bawat
company.
Paige: Okay. Sa mga issues naman tayo ah. Ano yung tingin mo sa divorce?
Karla: Hindi ako sang ayon kasi dapat sa umpisa pa lang, dapat mapanindigan na.
Paige: Eh pre marital sex?
Karla: Pre marital sex? Uhhhhmmmm. Ewan ko, parang kasi sa panahon ngayon parang di
naman.. issue siya sa mga kabataan pero parang … kasi ngayon okay na lang naman
Paige: Eh yung Same sex marriage?
Karla: Same sex marriage… okay lang din kasi kung yun naman yung gusto nila, parang wala
namang masama dun.
Paige: Uhmm sa lifestyle naman, para sayo, ano yung definition mo ng success? Pano mo
sasabihin na ikaw ay successful?
Karla: Yung mga may napapasaya ka nang tao. Yung tipong, nababago mo sila..ganun yung
definition ko ng success, hindi lang para sa sarili ko, para din may nababago ka din sa ibang
tao.
Paige: And para sayo, para sa sarili mo, pano mo masasabi sa sarili mo na successful ka na?
Karla: Siguro masaya ako sa buhay ko na parang, wala naman akog masyadong kulang
ganun… given na yung parang sa family ko. Pero okay lang din naman.. Feeling ko naman,
unwari nakatapos na ko ng pag aaral, isa na yung sa mga pagiging success.
Paige: And kung hindi issue yung pera, ano yung gusto mong gawin, kung kunwari hindi mo na
kailngan isipin yung pera, anong gusto mong gawin?
Karla: Lumibot kung saan saan. Tulad ng sinabi ko kanina, magtravel. Parang ganun, gusto ko
kasi mag makapunta kung saan saan.
Paige: So hindi ka naman… nakapunta ka na ba somewhere?
Malalapit lang. kahit.. kahit nga probinsya hindi masyado.
Paige: So san ka pa lang nakatravel?
Karla: Dito lang Manila… pinakamalapit na yung…
Abi: San mo gusto?
Paige: San mo gusto magtravel?
Karla: Uhmmm yung magagandang spot dito sa Philippines bago sa ibang bansa.
Paige: Uhmmm, okay. And ano yung parang typical na day mo ngayon? Parang, paggising mo
sa umaga ano usually yung mga gingagawa mo?
Karla: Wala. Kasi nga wala pa kong work. Cellphone, Social media, facebook, messenger,
makipagchat
Paige: Saang part ka naghahanp ng trabaho? Saang part ka ba nag jajob hunting?
Karla: Sa Makati?
Paige: Ahhhh
Karla: Ahhh. Online. Nagpapasa ko online. Jobstreet. Ganun.
Paige: May mga interview ka na?
Karla: Actually, isa pa lang na interview naattendan ko.
Abi: Napepressure k aba maghanap ng trabaho?
Paige: April lang siya…
Abi: Hindi.. I mean.. kahit na…
Paige: Onga, napepressure ka na ba?
Karla: Sa ngayon siguro hindi pa naman. Pero gusto ko na makahanap ng work.
Paige: Uhmm. So yung free time mo, dahil marami kang free time.. ano ginagawa mosa free
time mo?
Karla: Gumala. Sigguro mag enjoy muna kasi pag nagwork na parang di mo na masyadong
magagawa yung…
Paige: So san ka gumagala?
Karla: Sa mga friends? Bahay bahay lang nila…
Paige: And then, what would you rather do in your free time? Magkaiba ba or same din lang?
Karla: Same lang.
Paige: dyan ka lang sa bahay niyo, ganun?
Karla: Uhmm. Oo ganun..
Paige: Uhmm ngayon ba nag eearn ka o hindi?
Karla: Uhm hindi.
Paige: Pero ano usually yung mga pinaggagastusan mo?
Karla: Yung paggala, yung pag alis alis ko. Pagkain.Kasi yung ngayon, yung pinang.. Father ko
kasi yung nagbibigay ng pang-ano so yun yung binibigay niya pinapangkain ko lang.
pinanggagala, pinanghahanap ng trabaho.
Paige: Ahh. So, parang pang commute, panghanap ng trabaho, ganon. Uhmm. Pag nagkawork
ka na kunwari.. tapos may pera ka na. Ano yung mga priority mo na pagkagastusan?
Karla: Mag iipon muna ko para, gusto ko kasi makabilii ng bahay. So magsesave ako tapos
yung iba, yung mga priority, yung mga basic needs.
Paige: Basic needs.
Karla: Wala pa kong naiisip na masyadong luho. Ayoko ng luho kasi muna.
Paige: Gaano ka.. namention mo kanina na gusto mo mag social media. Gaano ka kaactive?
Karla: Lagi akong online. May limit naman sa post pero lagi akong online. Nagababsa basa
lang.
Paige: Ano yung pinupuntahan mo?
Karla: Faceboook? Madalas. Pinakamadalas.
Paige: Tapos?
Karla: Messenger?
Paige: Wala kang instagram?
Karla: Meron… Twitter meron per inuninstall ko.
Paige: Ah okay. And then, feel mob a iba yung personality,,, san ka mas nag spend more time?
Facebook o Mesenger?
Karla: Facebook.
Paige: Feel mo ba iba yung personality mo online?
Karla: Sa facebook, siguro yung mga hindi o kaya sabihin sa personal, doon ko na aano,
nasasabi.
Paige: Okay. May ibang questions pa ba tayo?