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Brilliant_Writer_136 t1_j8xbhg8 wrote

Can someone explain all the Gens?

Also, I'm 37. What gen am I?

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Writeforwhiskey t1_j8xlh3a wrote

Baby Boomers 1946 – 1964 GenX 1965 – 1980 Xennial (microgen)1977 to 1983 (some say 1985) Millennial 1981 - 1996 GenZ 1997 – 2012 Gen Alpha 2013-2024

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Mike__Z t1_j8xz1se wrote

I would also add that while this is true the edges of the spectrum of each generation tend to get a little gray. I was born in 2000 and share next to no values or opinions with my fellow zoomers and I'm sure a lot of other people born at the start or end of their respective generations feel the same way.

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Writeforwhiskey t1_j8yh5la wrote

Exactly. I dont have much in common with older GenX, just mid to late. When people take entire generations and make blanket statements it never works. There's a 15 year age gap and so many differentials to account for.

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wkitty13 t1_j8ywaj6 wrote

Hell, I'm only a couple years younger than my sisters and I sure don't have much in common with them.... except maybe being "elderly". pshaw

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AmselRblx t1_j8yoz0t wrote

I can relate more with millenials, i was born 2001.

So ill say youre right.

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Mike2220 t1_j8yzvkt wrote

As someone who was born on the edge of the millennial/GenZ

I noticed in highschool, my year was very similar to the ones above mine, as well as the one directly following, but the ones after that just seemed so culturally different

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Mike__Z t1_j8z8gx9 wrote

I honestly think generations should be 5 year sub generations to categorize, I'm no expert but it could probably improve algorithms and stuff

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Mike2220 t1_j8yorbb wrote

>GenZ 1997 – 2012

I refuse to be grouped into GenZ

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pugs_are_death t1_j8yzomk wrote

that's really something zoomers are known for: not wanting to do things

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DBL_NDRSCR t1_j8ysj3g wrote

gen z ends in 2009 everyone after that is ipad kids as evidenced by the 6th graders last year (born late 09-10), apparently one for pregnant this year and they were insanely chaotic last year

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Talasko t1_j8xg2p4 wrote

Im 38, were gen x man, well definately not millenials, id even say the nintendo generation since we grew up alongside the consoles golden age

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calliope720 t1_j8xltw7 wrote

Sorry bud but you're millennial. 1981-1997 is millennial.

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cheesyvoetjes t1_j8xvp8r wrote

The gap between 1981 and 1997 shows how arbitrary it actually is. If you were born in 1981 then by the time you were 12 Windows 95 was not even a thing. If you were born in 1997 the Iphone was already a thing by the time you were 12. Totally different worlds.

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calliope720 t1_j8xxhws wrote

I'm not arguing the logic, only how it is defined in culture.

Millennials across the board have one thing in common, which is that whether you're at the beginning or tail end of it, you experienced more and faster technological change than any generation before and also more than Gen Z has so far.

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happyrabo t1_j8ykhnr wrote

How do you figure that millennials experienced more technological change than any generation before when the silent generation, boomers, and gen x all lived through the exact same technological changes?

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calliope720 t1_j8ykomy wrote

*during their formative years. That's the distinction between generations, the experiences during formative years prior to adulthood.

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happyrabo t1_j8yls1p wrote

I see. So you’re arguing that “rotary phones and rabbit ears to the internet” is a smaller technological change than “dumb cell phones to smart phones”.

You might be right about that, but I think it’s debatable.

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calliope720 t1_j8ypa6k wrote

I literally just said during their formative years. Older generations didn't go from rabbit ears to the internet (at least at-home internet for regular use) during their childhood and teenage years. Millennials were the first to experience change while growing up rather than as adults.

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Writeforwhiskey t1_j8yzfsi wrote

It depends on the year for GenX, that's why there's Xennial (1977-83/85). My siblings and I (2 Xers and a Mil) grew up with rabbit ears, then cable, by high school, some households had internet or we used it at the library.
In the span of my high school years, I looked up info in an encyclopedia and printed my papers on Dot Matrix paper from a Word Processor to asking Jeeves, and laser printing from a computer by senior year. It was a weird moment in time because I had to fill out my college apps and FAFSA by hand but check out colleges websites for information. Many baby GenXers went through this.

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happyrabo t1_j8zy5er wrote

Some GenX literally went from rotary phones and rabbit ears to home internet during their formative years. I know, because I was there. I am describing the years between grade school and late high school for me. My formative years.

> Millennials were the first to experience change while growing up rather than as adults.

Now you’re just being silly.

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calliope720 t1_j905fm4 wrote

I mistyped, I was trying to say "experience this change."

But at any rate, you're picking an argument with the wrong person. I'm not defending the definition, I'm explaining what the definition is. I don't have a strong stance on this either way, I'm just clarifying why in popular culture the lines are drawn the way they are.

If you feel the lines should be drawn differently based on your experience I have no issue with that at all. It just isn't the way it's commonly defined. I don't make the rules

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[deleted] OP t1_j90cx76 wrote

[deleted]

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calliope720 t1_j93mirq wrote

Man, I'm not sure you understand either, but I can't be arsed. Like I said, you're arguing with nobody. I was in the thread earlier to clarify the common delineating landmarks that are used broadly to define the generations. I do not have a stake in your personal opinion of them.

Do you just need somebody to validate your personal experience? Cuz I can do that. I believe that you are telling the truth. Rotary phones to bedroom internet! Wild! What a ride! An experience you have in common with, in general, some proportion of gen X and some proportion of millennials. A single person's experience doesn't necessarily represent the average of a population, but if you just need to be told you're included in the data set, I'm probably the wrong person to ask but I'd say yes?

Anyway, sorry for making this confusing for you. Don't shoot the messenger.

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happyrabo t1_j94jngn wrote

So, great. Glad we got that out of the way. I accept your belabored concession that millennials don’t have anywhere near exclusive claim to “the most technological change during their formative years”. Which is what this whole conversation was about.

I’m still not sure why you brought up the delineating landmarks used to define generations, which I never expressed an opinion on, but that misunderstanding is behind us now that this conversion is over.

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Talasko t1_j8xye5p wrote

We need to change the name then, because i think of millenials as people younger than me and more annoying. I was fifteen at the turn of the millenium so like i dont associate my real childhood with it, more with nirvana and shag carpetting and a wood panelled station wagon

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calliope720 t1_j8y14fj wrote

I don't discount your experience, but in fairness, 15 is still a VERY formative period in a person's life, and it's still accurate to say that your development was heavily affected by what was happening at the turn of the millennium. The generations aren't defined by young childhood only.

I would agree though that the way we divide generations right now isn't especially helpful for making meaningful inferences about lived experience besides development of technology and wartimes. Things move too fast, and have since the 70s.

But it's also unhelpful to make too many micro-generations. I was born in 90, and I feel like my experience was vastly different than that of someone born in 95 or 85, but it's because I'm focusing too closely on my own personal experience instead of population averages.

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Talasko t1_j8yfjsz wrote

Sigh, of course you are right about the averages, maybe its more of a misnomer then, like call us anything but millenials, i really would have thought 1995-2005 would be millenial

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SadLaser t1_j8yu7ur wrote

It doesn't get named based on your personal experience. It's a generic age range. It doesn't need to be anything else. What you stereotype a millennial as (being younger than you and more annoying) isn't part of what a generational grouping is. It's your own preconceived notions and ageist opinions.

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Talasko t1_j8yuxfy wrote

Well i identify as gen x, and your bigotry towards my identity is appalling, for shame, for shame

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SadLaser t1_j902tlr wrote

Nice try. That doesn't work that way.

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Etney t1_j8xjvjf wrote

Hate to break it to you but "nintendo generation" is millennial. Early 80s to mid 90s is all that gen.

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Writeforwhiskey t1_j8xmd5j wrote

Mmm I depends. I'm the last of the GenX (1980) My siblings are 1977 (GenX) and 1982 (Millennial) respectively and we all played Nintendo pretty hard. It came out in the US in 85, which would be peek teen years for many GenX, in 85 only 4 years of Millennials had been born and would've been toddlers at best playing NES. SNES was 1990 when many Millennials would be playing it.

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Talasko t1_j8xxmee wrote

I love to break it to you but i’m as millenial as my seven year old daughter born in 2015, i was born in 85…nintendo generation im not a fucking annoying millenial glued to my phone and entitled little bitch

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HooleHoole t1_j8yh2pv wrote

You just sound like a cunt. You're a millennial cunt though.

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BigBirdLaw69420 t1_j8xz4py wrote

Nah man, we’re millennials. But like the Oregon trail generation whose schooling straddled the internet

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Talasko t1_j8xzmwx wrote

I just hate the name and all it implies, i know when i was born and the way i grew up, and it has nothing to do with the millenium, i was born as close to it as my first daughter…1985 - 2015

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_Blackstar t1_j8yfokk wrote

I'll be 37 this year and I definitely feel like I fit within the scope of Gen Y.

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Talasko t1_j8yjveo wrote

Is that before or after “millenials”

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_Blackstar t1_j8yk2rm wrote

Gen Y is millennials. I'm lazy and hate having to remember how to spell it. But now I had to anyway, so failure on my part. Hah.

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SadLaser t1_j8ytz0u wrote

I hate to break it to you, but you're inarguably not Gen X. You're Gen Y, now called millennials. It doesn't mean you have to behave the way a stereotypical millennial would, but it's irrefutable that you fall into that generational bracket.

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