The Lazy generation: Why not to cut, copy & paste

3 min readJul 10, 2017

A little incident happened to me on my social that week before. Because of which I had an epiphany and decided to write this blog.

Patience is something very lacking for millennials. And most young guys and gals. I don’t blame them really. It’s hard when you want to achieve so much. You start moving too fast. But this behavior has bred a sense of taking short cuts.

Want to learn email marketing?

They would rather do a $10 online course. They will not find information. Or even test and try it for them self.

They like 3 hour courses and diploma programs. Rather than investing time to learn in a long term education.

Now due to the internet commoditizing information, it’s possible something you are doing. Has already been done. So it suddenly becomes easier to get “inspired” than creating an original piece of content.

Thus they copy more and learn less.

If given the option. They would rather google an answer that read theory and apply knowledge.

Not to sound old and grumpy. But today it’s a lazy and non-committed generation. With no sincerity towards work. People actually celebrate Friday. As it’s the end of the work week. Really if you celebrate the break between the work you do. Which you got after spending lakhs on for education. And something you will do for 80% of your life time?

Then you need to rethink and reevaluate your entire life.

Average Indians spend plenty of time on the “Interwebs” but barely do they consume knowledge from videos or blogs.

I mean really, if you look around Mumbai. Almost all books stores are shutting down and being converted into stationary shops. And Amazon is most used when buying a new iPhone. Rather than getting that Malcom Gladwell book you always wanted to read.

This is the reason I notice such a huge knowledge gap. I see that skilled generation dying and the Cut-Copy-Paste generation growing. Don’t get me wrong. There is plenty of talent here. But there is just no commitment or patience.

There is fundamental flaw when copying. You don’t understand it. So you can’t apply it in a different situation. Or even pass on that knowledge.
Also, you will never beat the thing/person you are copying.

In my 26 years of experience, I have seen companies don’t invest into stock images for campaigns. They search google and use images directly from there. Without checking if that image is copyrighted. Which can be a legal fiasco for the company later on.

Now to add some value to all who made it to this point in the blog.

If some of you were unaware, or if your boss is, let’s say “difficult” as he wants to save a few bucks. By suggesting you copy some company’s cool creative that worked. Let me help everyone in this position with some advice.

Firstly.

Quit.

And if you cannot because you have bills and a family then respect. You got to keep going. But to make that ride easier here are some tools. My job is to provide. Now if you use these tools and resources or not. That’s on you.

Here 21 top sites to get stock images from.

For all the designers, do you use CANVA? If not then you should.

For all the content marketers, check out HubSpot Academy’s free course.

And finally here is 20 free UX tools.