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M-m-m-m-my generation

Mochi

Veteran

(the post title's cultural reference should speak a lot for where I come from

I'm afraid I'll have to post and run for now, but there's been discussion on here right now--AND I've been very curious for a while about the distinguishing factors and meanings--if there are any--for all these differentiations in that artificial construct of "generation."

I was born at the tail end of 1963, and as such I'm technically lumped in with the Baby Boomer generation. I am all for boomers, they have made some great contributions. BUT apart from some cultural and musical touchstones, which I think would have resonated whichever year I'd been born in, I personally do not relate or feel like I'm one of them.

That leaves...Gen X? What is that? I didn't read Copeland's book (ETA that I was probably living in Japan at the time it was published--I missed a lot of cultural discussion, and general feeling of being connected to the Zeitgeist, during that time). I kind of dislike easy definitions of what this group means, or that one. But that is exactly what I'm asking of you all now. Which generation do you think you're in? How does it relate?

My daughter out on the west coast (age 28) recently responded to my (joking) complaint that she doesn't call: "Mom, I'm a Millennial. We don't use the phone." I thought that was hysterical. Is it true, though?

Say whatever you want. I'm all ears.

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95 replies

Latest reply was from Ledonna N.

Jules

Veteran

Born in 1974 I'm pretty firmly Gen X, and I think I read The Book when it came out - but was not overly impressed, apparently.
I feel the conversations are about Boomers and Millennials, really. I'm ok with that. We at least finally have a prime minister of our own generation here in Canada.
As an aside, I do feel my peers, big phone talkers in the 80s and 90s, have largely adopted email, text and even Facebook as our ways of keeping connected. My mom would still like to have those long drawn out phone heart-to-hearts... But she lives 5 minutes away and I see her at least once a week, so I don't find it necessary.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

In my experience, Millennials use their phones ALL THE TIME to text, instagram, FB and snap chat. They generally do not respond to email because it's antiquated. If you want to contact my nephew, you have to text him or send a message on FB.

I'm a Gen X'er through and through. Born in 1970. Hubs is too, born in 1968. Siblings and in-laws are Gen X'ers as well. We are ALL emailers and texters. We relate to the same music, trends, food and how we grew up.

My parents were before the Baby Boomer generation, and I think that showed. They grew up during WW2, and it's very much part of who they are. They are ALL about talking on the phone and seeing you in person.

Echo

Veteran

Born at the very tail end of 1970, I am firmly a Gen-Xer. Generation X was commonly referred to as the Lost Generation - self-absorbed and cynical and skeptical of authority. These labels were attached, I believe, primarily because this generation did not have a world war to define them or give them purpose.

Since then, however, it has been demonstrated that Gen-Xers are actually more entrepreneurial than the previous generation. Many of the huge tech startups were thanks to Gen-Xers, for example, and the majority of new businesses are still started by my generation (of course my generation is also at the age to be doing that, IMO).

When I was a child, though, I didn't hear much of the term Generation X because it was popularized by Coupeland in the early '90s. We were always called Latch-key Kids prior to that, which was particularly apt. While my mum was a teacher, so I wasn't home alone for long, I and every friend I knew came home to an empty house. We either carried a key or our parents had one stashed under the rug or in a cabinet by the door. Both parents working in the majority of families was still considered a relatively recent social phenomenon at the time, and we were the first generation raised seeing that at the norm.

And speaking of phones, the more recent generation (my children) despises actually TALKING on the phone. They text and use social media (well, not my kids, but in general), but actual, real-life and real-time communication is avoided at all costs. This seems weird because I grew up when it was cool to have a phone in your bedroom, and we would talk for HOURS when I was a teen. Of course, we use email and texting and social media, too, now, but we aren't nearly as averse to actually speaking on the phone.

Echo

Veteran

Oh, and FWIW, my parents were pre-boomer, too, but the war still really defined who they were, IMO.

Style Fan

Veteran

I was born in 1955. DH was born in 1948. We are both baby boomers. Our parents were very influenced by the depression and WWII. And that influenced us. Both of our fathers were in the war. Mine in Britain and DH's in Canada. My father's brother was killed in the war. DH and I both feel that our fathers suffered from PTSD because of the war. I won't go into all the story but they both experienced a lot as did everyone. So did my mother.
The baby boom era really influenced both DH and I but our parents experience also did. And continues to.

JAileen

Veteran

I'm in middle of the Baby Boomer generation. It's huge. I can't relate to the people at the beginning, they're so much older than me.

My son was born in the late 80s and is a Millenial. When I mentioned that, he and his girlfriend were offended by the term. I only meant the age group, not any particular attributes. They think Millenial has negative connotations.

My parents were in the "Greatest Generation". My father was in WW2. Unlike my friend's father who was in Italy, my father never talked about it. I asked him once, and he said it was boring. I found that hard to believe - he was on a ship that took part in the Iwo Jima invasion. I can't even imagine.

Aziraphale

Veteran

Born 1972, I am Gen-X to the core, and so are almost all of my friends. Just about everything I've read on Gen X resonates with me, although I haven't read Douglas Coupland's book. Mind you, from what I understand, his original definition of Gen-X isn't the same as what is considered Gen-X today.

Those born in 1963 are "on the cusp" of the Boomer/Gen-X generations. People born on the cusp often find themselves relating to either one or the other better, depending on where and how they grew up. I've read that President Obama, who was born around that time, is considered to behave much more like a Gen-Xer than a Boomer.

Agreeing that millennials cannot function without social media. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter...I go to university with millennials, I work with them every day, so I'm in a good position to comment on this. They really are on their phones all the time.

Has anyone watched Stranger Things? If you haven't seen it, you must. It's set in 1983, and the child protagonists are about the same age I was at that time. If you're Gen-X, prepare for a blast of nostalgia!

kkards

Veteran

Mochi- like you I wasborn in 1963, so technically a baby boomer, but don't really feel like that's my generation.... But don't feel like I'm part of Gen X either....I guess to use a current buzz word....I'm generationally fluid.

Mochi

Veteran

I don't have time to make individual responses to comments right now. But it's all fascinating.

One thing that occurred to me with this discussion...what if you DON'T relate to any label? What does that mean? Are you supposed to? (Of course I know you don't literally have to feel like you're Gen X, etc....but is there some loss in that?)

I don't feel alienated. But are there people out there who really relate to one of these markers? Most people? I'm not one of them. And what does that say about me and my experience?

Etc.

Mochi

Veteran

There is a woman on Facebook I'm friends with (only through FB--never met her). Anyway, true Millennial. Posts all her pressing thoughts and feelings on there. It's fascinating to see it all out there. Nothing's that private. (I'm sure there is, on a sliding scale, but she posts quite a lot, including tons of pics of her small children.)

Anyway, I see the generational differences, and I find them intriguing and even endearing and I'm not at all judgy about it. Just, "Wow, I would do things differently...but cool."

viva

Veteran

Mochi, like you I was born at the end of 63. We're not really Boomers, because we are at the very tail end. And not really Xers, because we are at the very beginning of that group. We're like the hinge between the two generations. When I think of Boomers I think of my oldest sisters (8 years older than me), and when I think of Xers, I think of the younger women I mentored at work who were 10 years younger than me. I'm in between and don't feel like I belong to either generation. I was too young for Woodstock and too old (with babies, etc.) for the Beastie Boys and the Pixies.

Sal

Veteran

Born in 1970 (in good company on the forum) I am Gen X and I do identify with that generation strongly. Jon (born 67) is also Gen X but probably less so - he is not Baby Boomer either but perhaps more unique/A typical.
We employ staff ranging from 24 years to 70 years and are having our first Millenial employment issue right now.

I loved Stranger Things! Very evocative of my early teen years as I would have been a similar age to Will, Mike etc who were 12 I think. The clothes, the hair - I certainly would have wanted to be like Nancy. Great acting by the children in particular and a good mix of scary, funny, interesting, weird and some heartbreak too.

Echo

Veteran

I think a lot of people don't feel particularly a part of a certain well-identified generation or other group. It isn't something most people really think about, and there are people born every day - it is inevitable that many of them will not fit into neatly defined boxes.

Anonymous

I'm uncomfortable with pigeonholing and stereotyping people. It always leads to trouble. People should be seen as individuals, not assigned a set of (potentially derogatory) characteristics based on when they were born. That's as bad as racism or ageism or a lot of other isms.

Aziraphale

Veteran

Mochi, about your Millennial friend who posts a bazillion pictures of her kids on Facebook...that's not just a Millennial thing. Gen-Xers are plenty guilty of that, too. Actually, many Millennials don't yet have kids. The oldest ones are in their early to mid thirties. Gen X is all over Facebook (in fact, it's considered "old person" social media!) and there are somehow always a few tiresome over-sharing mothers who flood my Facebook feed with pictures of their children. It's always stay-at-home mothers who do this. (Not all SAHMs do it, but the women who do it are always SAHMs, if that makes sense). That's probably why it's women and not men who overdo it; I know very few (like, two) stay-at-home dads.

I don't feel that the characteristics of Gen-X are generally derogatory, Xtabay. But a lot of them are true, in a way that, say, astrology isn't, because generational stereotypes are based on things that were actually happening in the world as we grew up. My kids' experience of childhood is wildly different from mine, even though they are growing up in the same city and in the same socioeconomic class. I mean, absolutely, we are all individuals, but the freedom that I had as a child compared to high level of surveillance that my kids -- and all of their friends! -- are experiencing has got to do something to shape their development, in a collective kind of way. Also, they are "digital natives". That's pretty different, too.

Sally, high five about Stranger Things! I am besotted. I was 11 in 1983, so almost the same age as Will and Mike etc. Did you notice how much freedom those kids seem to have? They are all over town on their bikes. Their parents never seem to know where they are, and as long as they're home for dinner it's all OK. I remember growing up with those kinds of rules, although my mum was usually there when we came home from school, and we'd check in with her before going back out.

Barbara Diane

Veteran

Yes, each person should be judged on who they are as individuals. And not negatively categorized. But sometimes realizing someone has a different upbringing, experience, etc. is important, and sometimes it is easier to see similarities and differences if you have some sort of way of categorizing it.

People not alive during 9/11 will not have the experiences I have, but I know my experience is nothing like what New Yorkers experienced. I remember the shadows cast by the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Both my husband and I are considered Boomers; we have some similarities but the 8 years difference makes for some big differences also. He had a good draft number, my peers did not have draft numbers.

And it helps to realize that maybe I need to send a text to the 33? year old I sent an email. I haven't heard back.

I like to hear my DS's voices, so sometimes I call first. But if I don't hear back I text.

I remember being home with my baby and babysitting was so expensive that DH and I didn't go out as often as we should have. So for a baby gift I gave $ towards babysitting for a night out. Later I realized that both of them have very well paying jobs and would not feel the way I did. Oops! I meant well. Yes, that is partially generational.

Mochi

Veteran

I wasn't even considering methods of communications when I started this thread. (Someone on the Stacey London thread in the Forum just made some salient and interesting observations on working, for example.) But sure, styles communication is such a major part of our lives, our very identification, in this day and age.

The thing about not millennials but I'm guessing Gen Y, whoever preceeded them, having gotten lousy luck with the job market, and it's much better for millennials, etc etc. And all the bitterness involved there. Yes, we're certainly individuals, but to some degree also products of our times. I just can't figure out what was the biggest cultural shaper for me. Maybe I just don't fit in! But economically speaking (job prospects, etc), there's no way you could not be influenced by it.

Anonymous

I was born in 1961 to parents who were born in 1916 (dad) and 1918 (mom) and got married in 1938. They went through the Great Depression AND World War II together, and times were hard. Ironically, I had much more of a connection with them than I do with my older sisters and older brother, who were born in the 1940s. My younger brother is 10 years older than I am, but we see eye to eye and just don't relays to the older siblings. There is most definitely a generation gap between the older 4 and the 2 of us. The older ones are very set in their ways, dominant, and with very different political, religious and social views. So I don't know where this leaves me. I was very close to my mother but can hardly relate to the older set of siblings. If not for my brother, I would not have anyone in my family to joke around with and confide in. The others just don't see things the way my brother and I do.

Ginger

Veteran

*raises hand* Looks I'm the first here to confess being another "hinge" (good term, Viva), but between Gen X and Millenials. Born in 1983. I really do not identify with Gen X at all; but I never got into technology the way the kids just a few years younger than me. (Like my youngest brother, born in 1990.) I much prefer phone, voicemail, or email. I have had a smart phone for literally 3 months, and that's only because my provider was discontinuing service for my 2G phone.

Does that make me Y, Mochi? At this point the definitions are so loose that there's not much commonality. I'm not sure a label makes me sense for me.

Aziraphale

Veteran

I always thought Generation Y was synonymous with Millennial, but the former term fell into disuse. I am ready to be corrected, though.

Ginger, you ARE borderline, in terms of when Gen X ends/Millennial generation begins. I've always read that people on the edge often tend to lean either one way or another -- i.e. identify more strongly with one generation, although they may feel like they don't really fit into either group.

I like talking generational theory.

Aziraphale

Veteran

I just did a quick search and found this article from The Atlantic. It's a bit tongue-in-cheek, but may be of interest to those of you who are in the "hinge" years between generations. It put the end of Gen X at 1984, but the beginning of the Millennial generation at 1982. They overlap. So Ginger's 1983 really is a no-man's-land year, lol.

http://www.theatlantic.com/nat.....d-ends-acc

Aquamarine

Veteran

Early 1964 here....I have never identified with any group. I'll think of myself as a "hinge" from now on. Thanks Viva!

anne

Veteran

Can't see the link e?

My husband has lots of practice communicating with people of all ages, and tailors his method accordingly.

Atm his congregation is mostly born late 90s (so not quite millennial?)
and they are all about text or facebook etc. If he actually has to ring them he'll usually send a warning text first ie. Is this a good time to talk. Can I call you?"

Actually although I'm solidly GenX I've always found phone conversation hard. I don't mind being rang, but don't like ringing myself. Email was great for that. At work I'll often schedule a phone call in advance so they can change the time if necessary.

My Boomer parents childhood was characterized by much greater freedom than mine, though that may have been just because I didn't think of going out much. I did walk to school, to piano lessons and to piano practice when I was 10, and rode my bike to lots of stuff as a teenager.

My Gen experienced graduate (and other) unemployment (I had a few months of it) in the 90s and until recently I found younger people in Australia didn't have that experience. Now they are for sure, sadly.

Aziraphale

Veteran

Whoops, Anne, forgot to include it! It's there now.

anne

Veteran

Thanks!
So I was talking about Millenials. I do find this stuff fascinating too.

Dee

Veteran

Another not quite Millenial here. I was also born in 1983, so I'm in that hinge group. I didn't get a cell phone until I went to college, but I had email and instant messaging for the majority of my life. I still feel that there are times phone calls are more efficient than texting, even if I tend to text more frequently than ever. But I'm also an early adopter of a lot of technology and use a variety of social media platforms (although not all anymore). And many of my friends have had the Millenial problem of difficulties finding stable, long term jobs with benefits.

rachylou

Veteran

I'm firmly Gen-X. My parents tho are not early Boomers. They were born in the early years of WWII, before the U.S. entered. They were unusual, very different, being forerunners of the modern marriage: Mum had a big career; dad did the cooking. Maybe half my friends' mums were stay-at-home; the other half had jobs, not careers. And all of my friends' mums were in their very early twenties when my friends were born. My mother was 30: the career thing.

What I notice now, is that things I personally did not question as being established were barely so: women having their own financial identity, desegregated schools, heck going to college as a norm for everybody. I was born before abortion was legal. I have to touch on this last a little bit, inflammatory subject that it may be...help me here by not taking the subject up... I take it as a legal principle that is holding up the legal existence of women as persons - and our right to medical care around reproductive things. However, I can be shocked when Millenials, in their raw way, say things like, 'I can't imagine a world where baby killing isn't legal.'

...I find Millenials can be raw like that. On the one had, I appreciate the unvarnished truth about their reality. On the other hand, it says some hard things about the world they've been given. I see a lot of them feel their opinion is important, and many start jockeying for raises before their first month on the job is out. But so few of my workchildren, for example, come registered to vote. Many of them, my workchildren, feel they are equals in all things. Quite a few have complained about not being considered equal with our MASTER baker, when they have little more than 3 months' experience defrosting pizza. The physics of their reality does not operate the same.

In some ways, I feel a little out of step, like my parents, with Gen-X, even tho I'm pretty much the poster child. This is because I was working in the Silicon Valley when the Web launched. Before there was a Yahoo. My phone is grafted to my hand and I only text. Of course, I don't have a pure consumer relationship with technology like they do. And it took a Millenial to get me into an Uber this year. Millenials don't do cars...

rachylou

Veteran

On Boomers: I do feel, like no other generation before or since, that Boomers had a feeling of 'if you just do this, progress happens, things happen, results are yielded.' On a wide scale, there was that feeling. Study hard, trust in science, move up, you can do it... That to me was the zeitgeist of the Boomer hey day...

Anonymous

My parents had a very strong work ethic that had nothing to do with the Boomers. They did instill the "work hard and you'll make it" mentality in me. My DH and I instilled the "work hard, go to college and get a degree in a field that leads to employment" mentality in our children, as not all college majors lead to jobs upon graduation. Interesting because my parents wrongly didn't put any emphasis on college, just on working hard and doing one's best. That isn't good enough in today's world.

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