Generation X or Y -- I'm still a slacker
A while ago I either posted or commented something about not being sure if I'm Generation X or Y. Those born in the late '70s are really borderline. However, I came across this article and found my answer. It's basically just some guy's opinion of the generation boundaries between Boomers / X / Y / Net. Having been born in 1978, I guess I'm in the very small Generation Y or a Boomlet (1976-1981 babies). Not quite old enough to have the same life experiences as Generation X (1964-1975) and remember a bit too much about pre-Internet 1980s life than the Net Generation (1981 - ?).
I didn't see the Internet until I went to college, fall of 1996. My first email address was this: rgisslen9644@vax2.winona.msus.edu. How did we ever remember those old addresses?! Anyway, I don't know if I really believe there can be a "generation" of people born in a 5-year timespan, but most articles I come across cut the Generation X group at those born in 1975.
I read somewhere else that if you grew up with Sesame Street, then you're Generation X. If you grew up with Barney, you're Generation Y. I watched Sesame Street (1-2-3-foour-5....6-7-8-niine-10...11-12!), so...??
What do you guys think? Did anyone's sociology professor lecture about this?? I don't know why, but I am really curious. I need a sense of self!
I guess I still don't really know what the hell I am. A Disco Baby, is that good enough??
I didn't see the Internet until I went to college, fall of 1996. My first email address was this: rgisslen9644@vax2.winona.msus.edu. How did we ever remember those old addresses?! Anyway, I don't know if I really believe there can be a "generation" of people born in a 5-year timespan, but most articles I come across cut the Generation X group at those born in 1975.
I read somewhere else that if you grew up with Sesame Street, then you're Generation X. If you grew up with Barney, you're Generation Y. I watched Sesame Street (1-2-3-foour-5....6-7-8-niine-10...11-12!), so...??
What do you guys think? Did anyone's sociology professor lecture about this?? I don't know why, but I am really curious. I need a sense of self!
I guess I still don't really know what the hell I am. A Disco Baby, is that good enough??
posted by Kiddo78 at
5:02 PM
20 Comments:
This completely cracks me up! I am in the same place only a generation ahead! Am I a boomer or an X-er? 1964 is the *boarderline* (Madonna song for those non-80's folks) for the Gen X-ers. I was born in late '64 so where the heck am I? No wonder our music and fashion taste is all over the map??? Who keeps coming up with these generational names???
By
walktrotcanter, at 6:30 PM
I was born in 1974 & always thought of my self as an X-er, but that's just a label that doesn't really mean very much. I was a Sociology minor in college. We went through all that stuff but it always came down to one thing: society feels the need to categorize everything in order to have organization and a way to identify with things. So, it's just a silly label.
By
ab, at 9:22 AM
I'm in the same boat as you...1979. I loved Sesame Street and Barney freaks me out, so maybe that answers it.
By
The Unprocessed Project, at 12:13 PM
Born in 1976 here and I always considered myself and my friends Generation X. It works for me.
By
jd, at 2:17 PM
I'm a few years younger (born January of '82) and have also felt on the borderline. About 90% of the time I see 1982 as the starting date of Y but I have also seen it as the end of X....so being born two weeks into '82 is weird. I've always felt left out of both, but I identify more personality-wise with X. I also enjoy the Sesame Street rule... a lot of my earliest memories are from that show. The llama song was great, as was "I'm an Aardvark."
By
Anonymous, at 7:16 PM
ya i was born in '89, grew up with barney, straight of Generation Y.
I've seen ppl say that Generation Y is from 1981 to 2001, i think that generation stops after the Sept. 11th event.
By
Anonymous, at 9:38 PM
I'm confused, I was born in 1983, I watched Seseme Street and Fraggle Rock. My sister was born in 1987 and watched Barney and... well I dont know what else she watched cause I was in school before she started watching anything but I know she was obsessed with Barney but we cant be diffrent generations cause she is only 4 years younger than me, but I diddnt see the internet until high school, my sister dosnt remember life without it (she was in 5th grade)
By
Anonymous, at 12:12 PM
Born in 1977. always thought of myself as x but maybe there is a cusp half gen called XY..born 75-80.i have more in common with x but not as much as say a 1964 born x but i defniitely dont feel like i have much in common with anyone born after about 1982
By
Anonymous, at 3:12 PM
1975~ K.. IDK what gen I'm in... I LOVE the net. I prefer it (net) to set down meetings (i.e. face-to-face) with my super... I remember eating bologna and mustard sandwiches watching Sesame Street (ONE>>>>> TWO>>>>>>> THREEE>>>> .... LOL!!) and 1.2.3. Contact............ BUT... I also watched Full House, Cosby's, Three's Company, MASH, Andy GrifFith and Night Rider... etc. So, My best guess is "Roll with it". If it "DOESN'T work for you the give it a swirl".... Ya never know. .. Right?
Any who... The "Attention Span B.S." is just that... B.S. .... We all have issues.. LOL!!
By
Anonymous, at 1:40 PM
I'm also a product of 1978, and I agree that there is the XY cusp who relate to both, but are defined by neither Xers nor Gen Y. I relate more closely with X on memories, although I feel I missed a lot of the 80's pop culture unlike my husband born in 1975, and grew up in the 90's. However, I work with a lot of Gen Y, and they have very different memories and motivations. Maybe the Sesame Street rule is the easiest way to define us. Thanks for the tip!
By
rockyhot1, at 10:27 PM
1976- I believe I am an XY I am not a first born and I think birth position plays a role in what you identify. The first star wars I remember was the Ewoke (sp) one? I watched star wars, GI joe, He-man, Garfield, smurfs, etc as a kid. think about it I was only 4 in 1980 so that is about the age where most people begin to remember stuff. I don't remember the 70s at all LOL. I was a baby then. I was in the class that had computers, we created old programs. Word processors, old internet stuff that was black screen and green on a separate computer, then the real net was like wow! Generations to me are about Historical Events so set years cannot play into it.
By
Anonymous, at 7:43 PM
I'm obsessed with generation stuff maybe because being born in late 1981 (in America) I feel like I don't really fit into X, or Y. I propose a new generation label: Generation W, for all those people who came of age during the most president and the internet. I dunno what years that would be...maybe that boomlet (1976-81). Everything changes so much nowadays with technology that maybe generations can actually consist of 5 years. I remember Sesame Street and the Electric Company. I was basically that very small group of teens btwn My-So-Called LIfe and Dawson's Creek. No one really cared about us. I guess we had the Macarena but everything else in pop culture was either geared towards older (Friends; Lilith Fair) or younger (Teletubbies; Men in Black, Barney) people. Maybe we are the new Silent Generation, a group whom I love.
By
Kermit, at 9:42 PM
Born in 1983 and I am definitely a Generation X. Did everything with my older sibling born in '81. I can't identify with any of these Gen Y characteristics.
Didn't get an e-mail until 2001, didn't get a cell phone till 2006. Watched Sesame Street and had Cabbage Patch dolls.
By
Disctracted Academic, at 9:25 PM
I identify with what Colleen said. I was born in 1983 and have always felt left out of both Generation X and Y. I've always considered myelf more of a Gen X-er versus Y. I grew up a child of the 80s. Even though I was still a kid in the early 90s, my friends older siblings and my youngest aunt (born in 73) were more influential to me. My sister is only 4 years younger than I, and while we are close, there is a definite disconnect there. I went to university at the age of 23 (2006) and felt ENTIRELY out of place among the first year students. They didn't really remember life pre-internet and cell phones. I never had a digital camera at the age of 10, and maybe it was my parents income, but I don't have the same tech-savvy that a lot of these kids have now-a-days. I agree with the Sesame Street rule.
By
Becky, at 9:45 AM
I'm born in 1983 and feel better in generation x than y. I never watch Barney , didnt play with those pet in my pocket ( electonic one ) never had a computer had my first cell phone 5 years ago lol. Never care for tchating or anything . I decide make an other generation or I'm an X lol
By
Anonymous, at 8:46 PM
I was born 1987 and I really recent the gen Y tag!!! they say the millenials are born up to 1998 or 2000! I don't want to be lumped in with the no morals/values TEXTING GENERATION!I am a post internet rugrat,I didn't know what the internet was until grade 1996I'm suggesting a new name for us late 1980's babies, Generation VIDEOCASSETE/VHS.Because you if you remember video tapes than you are not a new gen y who only grew up with DVD's and bluray!!! And have no idea what ninja turtles and mortal kombat video arcade cabinets, mighty morphin power rangers NINTENDO and black and white GAMEBOY ARE.We grew up with reruns on cable(that's right cable not PVR satiligt) of carebears smurfs beetlejuice heman real ghostbusters and identify more with late generation x headbangers/metalheads!!! because the official demographic of gen Y is post Kurt Cobain!!! and cannot live without their stupid IPHONES!!! I am GENERATION VIDEO CASSETE/late X!!!!
By
Anonymous, at 5:36 PM
I was born in 1983, I have always identified myself as gen x. I have since I was young. The cutoffs are sooo arbitrary... anywhere from 79 to 85. If you're in these cusp years I think its what generation you share the most traits with.
By
Anonymous, at 8:08 PM
I was born in 1979-80, and since GENErations have to do with the acceptable, or legal, GENEtic spawnage age of childbirthing, 18, GENErations MUST be 18 years at minimum, 20 is better as that is more SOCIALLY acceptable. So.........
YOU ARE GENERATION X IF you were born from 1965-1983, as 1984 starts the Tech-Gen, which is WHY Orwell chose that year for the name of his book. 1984, according to Generational Stats at the time, typically associated with Brokow, would begin the Generation that would bring about, or PUSH FOR, a Big Brother State of Mass Surveillance (✔), and Millies as they are called are from 1984-2002, making my childrens un-named as of yet Generation from 2003-2020.
I was born in American 1979-80, and before I attended school I was occupying my time watching Pop Videos on Pinwheel (Nickelodeon), the Electric Company on PBS (which ran until 1986 I believe), Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Sesame St., Super Ted, Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, Bozo the Clown, A-Team, Monkees reruns, What's Happening, Patty Duke and M.T.M, Brady Bunch, Partridge Family, Welcome Back Kotter, etc reruns, all while playing with my Mr Machine, my lil sisters E-Z Bake Oven, Star Wars figures, Shrinky Dinks, Colorforms, card games, all while listening to music, which EVERYTHING revolved around (which was especially big where I grew up as The Misfits recorded their Fairlawn (Eastside Paterson) Sessions Demo 20 blocks away in Saddle River District, Uncle Floyd was a local resident (born and raised in Eastside Paterson-Fairlawn) and his nieces and nephews went to my school which ALWAYS attracted The Ramones to come around as they wete HUGE fans of his, Adrenalin O.D, a Hardcore Punk Band that Anthrax credits as one of their top major influences and were arguably, amoungst Metalheads, the 1st OFFICIAL Thrash Band (although A O.D vehemently denys they are Metal, as they are/were anti-Spandex Punkers) in the early to late 80's lived 9 blocks away and did all age yard shows where parents would bring their 4 month old children. Hinsburg, Seeger, etc wete all from within 20 blocks of Paterson-Memorial Park Section in the (East) River District of Eastside Paterson-Fairlawn, NJ (old Jewish/"Italian"/Bohemien area) as well as The Capitol Theatre being 4 miles away.
It's all just Corporate jive to manipulate stats. In short, all you 1965'rs to 1983'rs ARE INDEED Generation X. Afterall, if a GENEration was 12-15 years, it would be pretty gnarly to insinuate that 12-15 year olds should be creating a New GENEtic Line.
By
Anonymous, at 11:17 AM
Born in 1976 and definitely not Gen X. I would call myself Gen Y or Oregon Trail Generation, but can't identify with people who spent the majority of their youth (15-24) in the 1980s.
Yep that is the major divide. The 1980s.
Those years meant stuff like He-man, She-Ra, Transformers, Nintendo, Atari and My Little Pony to me. In 1989, I was oblivious to the fall of the Berlin Wall. I was too busy drawing the Little Mermaid and screeching "Part of Your World" at the top of my lungs. I completely missed out on what it meant to be anything other than a kid during that time, which is pretty significant, since everyone of age noticed stuff like the Cold War and 80s pop culture. I never had a mullet or fluffy hair, only watched a John Hughes movie when it was already over a decade old and if you ask me what 80s music I know, I'll say Alvin and the Chipmunks? Jem and the Holograms? I mean sure, I know what Madonna and Michael Jackson are. But who doesn't. The point is that it seems like a distant concept to me without any close encounters, evoking the same sort of sentiment my parents 60s music does. It's not MY music.
The 90s and early 2000s were my years. With it came the Internet, which I started using as a teen and became addicted to pretty fast. I don't know what adult life means without being online. I've never had a life independent of my parents, graduated, in college or with a job without the Internet. Pre-Internet existence evokes memories of... you guessed it. Little Mermaid, Lion King etc. etc.
A true Gen Xer, say someone born in 1966, would have been in their late 20s, almost 30, at the time I first got online. Gen Xers know life, grown up life without it. Sometimes I feel like the people creating these generations just decided, hey, you had over 10 years without Internet, so we'll lump you in with someone who had almost 30. Not really comparable at all.
Internet was my MTV, or whatever they had in the 80s.
Yeah, I remember grunge. But that is the only Gen X thing that I can identify with and even that happened when I was fairly young. Kurt Cobain was dead by the time I finished high school. My major musical influences were yet to come, as I approached and passed the legal age of drinking. In any case, grunge isn't enough to weld together a generation, especially two cohorts that are divided by the political, technological and cultural wall presented by the 1980s.
Nope. Not Gen X. I get that I might not qualify as a Millennial since people born after 1995 probably don't relate to me, but most of my friends were born between 1976 and 1990. It's probably not a coincidence.
I think creating shorter generations is an excellent idea. Why not? Times are fast, might as well keep up with them.
By
Anonymous, at 10:10 PM
1976 here and agreed - I am only Gen X if it includes everyone born until at least 1984. The cohort 1976-1990 has way more in common with each other than we do with anyone born in the 60s, much like a person born in 1962 has more in common with people born in the early 70s than they do a Boomer who was a youth during the Vietnam war.
Why did they suddenly amputate '76-81 from our peers like that and shove us in with people from the 60s? It is no wonder so many people here born in '83 identify as Xers... they are probably thinking of us, their lost friends from '76-81. Meanwhile we're here wondering why we're being called "you kids" by those from the 60s. Well no, we know why. We're a different generation.
The political eras we remember in our youth were just not the same. We came of age after the Cold War in what led up to 9/11. Even after that, we're still hearing Islamic terror and wars in the Middle East.
Everything we learned about the adult 80s were the influences of older people. They weren't our experiences. And if you were a first born child like me, with no older friends and parents from the 50s, you were probably more interested in toys than big hair and atomic weapons.
Reunite 1976-1981 with our true generation! Since we're chopping up everything any way, it would make sense to steal '60-64 from the boomers, give them to Gen X and let Gen Y ('76-90) exist again. Either that or expand Gen X for the full 20 years, since the cut off makes absolutely no sense!
By
Maria, at 8:34 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home