Everyone is talking about start-ups.
I think it's great that a young generation of entrepreneurs is becoming innovative and is not rigidly structured into the nine-to-five mindset. The office-hour mentality constricts us as a generation more than it did our parents. We have both the pressure and privilege of being overexposed and over-informed, laden with raging internet rambles and the rise of citizen journalism, which comes with both pros and cons.
However, I feel like we're stuck in an awkward transition phase. The baggage that comes from being overwhelmed with information is a struggle to filter out the noise.
Let's be frank, my generation dismisses the water cooler lifestyle, the struggle of the middle-class aspiring for more. The aspirations of a start-up are to defy restrictions, innovation hopefully offering big rewards. A start-up is essentially a state of mind, a company that works towards a goal that isn't necessarily guaranteed. According to Steve Blank, a Silicon Valley veteran, a start-up is "a temporary organisation designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model". The goal is to prove the business model and do it in a way that will impact the current market.
An example of a start-up is Thailand's very own Ookbee and the Malaysia-based GrabTaxi app. Working for a start-up requires a particular mindset and dedication. I think this applies to life in general as well.
We can use this observation about start-ups as a looking glass into my generation. Our society tends to glorify style over substance, and I am not self-righteous enough to think that I am different from the norm. It is certainly easier to think about the next beach trip with your friends than to put in the hours at work.
We are all guilty of taking breaks by scrolling through our Instagram feed, fuelling the "style over substance" mindset that society relishes. The self-constructed escapism that comes with boredom over a life of routine shows that we need to take more initiative over our own lives, and really pursue something that consumes our attention for more than 15 minutes.
For such a hyper generation, we are surprisingly passive. I include aspects of myself in this generalisation. We grow tiresome of a new idea even before it formulates into reality. We are fixated on our first world problems and it's sometimes difficult to care about something because everything is so overexposed and undervalued. This is why, despite not being a part of one myself, I am really drawn to the craze of start-ups.
I think it's really important for people of my generation to be passionate and driven because it's so easy now not to be. Some people are even idolised for doing absolutely nothing. In some ways, society has taken three steps forward and four steps back. We need to be inspired ourselves, and not just because it's the most convenient thing to do. Of course, this is all very idealistic and the irony is not lost on me that I have a degree in politics. But for a rather cynical person, I'd like to think we can push the boundaries a bit more and aspire to more difficult things.
My generation is a contradiction in itself. Aside from being known as adventurous and brave, we are also passive trend consumers. I don't think everyone should develop apps or start wearing T-shirts to work. It's not about that, but we need to adopt that mindset. We need that tinge of arrogance to propel and drive us, especially in Bangkok, where the mentality of style over substance really takes precedent over people's lifestyles. We have progressed enough to not be one or the other, and I think we should all try to pursue our lives like the little start-up that could.
Niki Chatikavanij is a copywriter working and living in Bangkok.