Last week, I spent hours freeing my dining room from its 1964 wallpaper captor. It was Me V. Wallpaper. My fingers sore and callused, I was at war! My husband begged me to hire contractors for the job. I wouldn’t hear of it. I come from a generation who believes that if you work really hard, make sacrifices, and have a good strategy for success, there will be a big payoff in the end.

It’s typical for people in my generation to feel the way I do. Our families sold us on the American Dream, often by their actions. I know mine did. Growing up, I took pride in my immigrant grandfather, forced into self-employment in the 6th grade, who worked night and day to grow a successful New York City window washing company. I watched my cousin start her own clothing line… my uncle start his own magazine…my brother start his own programming business…my mother’s first husband grow his own movie production corporation… and my mother become a CEO. Their dreams were all very different. But hard work, sacrifice, and strategy were always the key to their success. My family came to American to live the American Dream. And as I watched, they lived that dream – again and again.

But Generation Y is getting a slightly different message from their families – particularly the youngest members of this user segment, now in their teens. They are more separated from the blood, sweat, and tears of their forefathers. Life has been easier for them. Technology made this possible. The expectation of inheritances made this possible. Helicopter parenting made this possible. Gen Y parents are telling their children that they can do and have and be anything they want, just like my parents did. But they are leaving out the part about the hard work, sacrifice, and strategy. The American Dream is vastly different for Gen Y.

Online, Gen Y often gets confused when their parents’ advice doesn’t work. Gen Y is asking, Why? Why do I have to figure out how this shopping cart icon works – why can’t I just check out? Why do I have to learn to play this video game – why can’t I just play? Why do I have to search this website – why can’t I just find what I’m looking for instantly? Why are they making me try?

As interface designers, it’s not our job to teach Gen Y about hard work, sacrifice and strategy – tempting as it may be. Instead, it’s our job to meet their expectations by designing interfaces that get them what and where they want fast. It’s our job to prevent Gen Y from realizing the flaws in their parents’ message – to continue to shelter them from the harsh realities of real life and to grant them what they believe they have been entitled to all along. After all, the Internet is one of the few places where their parents’ message can actually work. With a well designed interface, you can be, have, and do anything you want – almost instantly.