Echo Boomers will change the world – are you part of the feedback?

If you were born between 1982 and 1995, you are part of a demographic cohort called the Echo Boomers – in other words, your parents are probably Baby Boomers, and your generation is also known as Generation Y and the Millennials. Why so many names? We’re not really sure, but pick the one you like the best.

Echo Boomers are smart, motivated, and socially connected. But they also don’t fit many of the patterns of lifestyle and consumer habits that were established by generations before them. That’s right – someone actually thinks that whether you want to rent or buy a home, how much you spend on travel, food, cars or clothes, and the choices you make in your free time are interesting. But don’t get too excited, because (of course) the reason they care is because they want to sell you something.

The Echo Boomers, though, aren’t going to be an easy sell. More interested in time with friends than establishing their own families, OK with living back at mom and dad’s if they can’t find a great job, preferring to use transit options other than cars, and including only a small contingent of homeowners, their preferences will shape our future world.

So if you’re part of the Echo Boom, what does this mean for you? First of all, feel good that your choices matter. Most of the decisions being made by the Echoers seem likely to make the world a better place. Here are a few trends that are being driven by the EB members today:

-Renting an apartment, or living with parents, rather than buying a home. Echo Boomers were scared off by the housing collapse, and they are also the No. 1 group of casualties in the gradually recovering job market. Despite often being highly educated, they may not be able to find work. As a result, they’ve been careful not to financially overextend themselves.

-Cars: just say no. Though their parents would probably never have considered entering adulthood without convenient personal transportation, our data shows that the Echo Boomers are more willing to make do with public transit, bicycles, car shares and other innovative ways to get around.

-My free time is important. Echo Boomers tell their employers that they care more about being able to have decent vacation opportunities and personal leave time than overtime and extra money. This may conflict with the lack of jobs and inability to live independently, but the Echo tastes seem to run toward a European model, where downtime and relaxation, apartment living and carless life are all status quo.

By the way, the Echo Boomers aren’t expected to be crashing with Mom and Dad forever. In fact, as economic recovery improves, forecasters estimate that there will be 7 million new households formed in the next four years, most of them anchored with Echoers.