These days you read article after article and hear session after session at conferences that millennials represent a different mindset and a different approach to business. But more than how they were raised, it's the economic environment affecting them. In short, I don't think it's a "millennial thing." I think it's an "economic thing."

Far be it from me to let a theme go before it has been thoroughly beaten to the ground. This column has hosted a lot of speculation on the future of advertising and media buying -- and today, I'll continue with that theme.

About 2,000 marketers, agency executives and media owners deliver data to World Economics Global Marketing Index (GMI) each month, creating a global picture of "the state of marketing" by region. The picture isn't pretty, with many indices not just down for the month, but for several consecutive months. That's not good.

If you ever get the chance to see Erin Yogasundram present, you should. Erin is the 24-year-old CEO and founder of Shop Jeen, a "playground for Gen Z and young Millennials to explore, share, shop, experiment, interact, learn & discover," and she is rewriting the future of fashion retail. For Erin, product, sales, social marketing, customer service, branded content and customer service aren't separate things, bolted together across departments and agencies; they are one thing, organically inseparable.

I've written a couple of times recently about my views on the rise of marketing technology and its implication for our industry. Lots of folks have been reacting to it, so I'm taking that as a message that I should continue to push forward on this meme. I believe that the rise of mar tech is going to have an enormous impact on the structure and operation of the digital advertising supply chain. Put simply, it will obliterate the supply chain as we know it today.

When did it get ok to start hating everything and to publicly convey your negative opinions in a demeaning, hurtful manner? When did society become so blatantly angry? When did the trolls take over?

Something strange happened last Saturday night. An entire nation stopped to watch a rock concert. And I mean the entire nation. As far as Canada was concerned, even the Olympics were put on hold when the Tragically Hip took the stage in Kingston.

Many of you are gearing up for 2017. You are determining budgets, developing strategies and detailing plans. And I ask you: why not be radical?

I don't know what the jobs of the future look like. There may not even be jobs. But regardless, there are some things the world needs people to study urgently: things like philosophy, ethics, behavioral science, psychology and the like. We urgently need to better understand why we do what we do, and what our moral frameworks are. It's not that we shouldn't teach technology. Technology is, in fact, the very reason we need more kids to study philosophy and ethics.

Maybe it's just me, but I feel marketing conference experiences are becoming a grind. I think there's too much bad and ugly going on to offset the good. That is, unless you're careful.