Who Needs to Own Status Symbols? The Rise of the Gen Y 'Sharing Economy'

“…Like many today, high unemployment, the housing bubble, environmental distress and the scandal surrounding Wall Street have frustrated Gen Yers. In a backlash, Gen Yers are reevaluating standard methods of living and questioning traditional success status symbols. Facilitated by the ease of connecting through the Internet, Gen Yers are shunning the idea that ownership equates to achievement, and this has given rise to the Sharing Economy.

Why Buy New When You Can Swap? ThredUp.com is a children's toy and clothing swap site. ThredUp gives parents another option to buying expensive new children's clothes that will be outgrown in less than six months. According to the site, the idea originated one night on a napkin over a beer.

The site allows parents to buy a box of toys or gently used children's clothes for five dollars. The site categorizes the boxes of goods by age, gender, types of clothing and even clothing designer, with the seller's name listed prominently next to the box. The buyer can look at reviews of the sellers' past boxes posted on the site by previous buyers. ThredUp customers follow guidelines to ensure that each box is filled with quality goods. Violate the policy and you risk being banned from the swapping process….

Why Lease Long-Term When You Can Let For As Little Time As You Want? An iPhone app called LiquidSpace matches unused or underutilized office space with people looking for a temporary place to work. These range from people on the road who need a more convenient place than a hotel lobby to get work done, to the person with a home office who needs a conference room for an important sales meeting. Anyone needing workspace can go to their LiquidSpace app and find the space they need on short notice with very little effort. The space can be a public place such as a library, a building that rents by the hour, or a piece of commercial property lacking a permanent resident….

Read more at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/meagan-johnson-and-larry-johnson/the-rise-of-the-gen-y-sha_b_891413.html