Just a thought experiment.

Think there are some astrologers who would disagree.

1954, Baby!

I was born in 64 and am not a boomer.

It was swallowed up by the boomers. Perfect for those of us born after 1960 who didn't get any of that supposed boomer bounty.

I was born at the end of 1960, my views and experiences are much more aligned with gen jones and x gens than baby boomers/busters.

I was born 4 days after Kennedy was inaugurated. I don't consider myself part of the Woodstock Generation. My parents were not part of the "Greatest Generation," as were the parents of the Boomers. They were young children during WW2. They really need to reconsider some of these designations--or just not use them at all.

I like the “Generation Jones” thing. I think a huge dividing line with Boomers is “were you (or your brother or boyfriend) in line to be drafted or not”. My HS class (74) turned 18 after the Vietnam draft ended and didn’t have the draft hanging over their heads. My brother (born in 53) was draft #150 and changed his life plans around it; luckily for him he was in college when the draft ended. The war was very real to him and not so much to us younger boomers.

1952

Fairly certain I’m the youngest on DU (26)

Born in '65.

Gen X!!!!

I identify more with Gen Xers than boomers.

I would say that you are one of us generation X.

Because everyone says 1980-1981 are Gen X. Would you put early 80s babies in this generation?

It is always nice to have a fellow crazy cat lady around. Personally, I think Generation X is an awesome generation. I'm glad to be in it.

Hell I'd take their music over the crap that they call music now anytime. Is a guitar obsolete?

However, I was too young for the experiences that defined Gen X. I have no recollection of any presidency until Bill Clinton. I didn't know who Kurt Cobain was until he died. I could not vote in any 20th century presidential election. I have no recollection of the Challenger (I was in kindergarten, but it was not discussed at school or home).

And I'm a cat lady with no kitties at the moment.

This may explain our current state of politics more than anything.

There's 'Gen Alpha" (born after 2010) but they're way too young to vote.

It often feels as if we as a generation are squeezed between the two behemoths and thus often get forgotten. Good to see the Xers on this thread!

It seems like the news sometimes focuses on the differences between the baby boomers and the millennials but forgets that there is an awesome group between them.

and I like the band too

Xennials!

https://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-vs-xennials-biggest-differences-2018-4

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/12/20/xennials-millennials-generation-x-microgeneration/2369230002/

Last edited Wed Jan 30, 2019, 03:39 PM - Edit history (1)

I did not find that generation in my, admittedly, small amount of research. I have added it to the list.

1980.

coolest name anyway

1983

Referring to how we always died of dysentery in the computer game we played in school.

Sigh. Jordan Catalano. Sigh.

I'll take that title.

When I was a kid there were other kids everywhere. You'd go outside and there would be dozens of us roaming the neighbourhoods. I wouldn't ever trade that childhood for a modern, indoor one.

you hit another milestone! Congrats!

Gen X through and through...

New Wave? I was there when it was a ripple!
Reality Bites? I know the film by heart...
Singles? Yup, ALMOST moved to Seattle to join that fake scene...just what the hell was "grunge" supposed to mean anyway? Flannel? Coffee? Bemused disdain for outsiders? LOL!

Woodstock 25th anniversary? (1994) Wished I'd gone...visions of being a mud person haunt my soul!
Woodstock 30th anniversary? (1999) Glad I didn't! The riots and fires and being caged on an air field did not sound or look like much fun!

I could go on and on with Gen-X centric things for days!

1962, youngest of 6 Boomers thus the Booming Baby.

Looks like we are well represented here.

Bugs me when people tell me I'm Gen X. For others born in '64, YMMV.

I was born in 1980. I identify as a millennial simply because I don't have the experiences that defined X. Even though according to some, I fall in X.

But I bristle a little bit at how far that is getting extended. 20 years is a long "generation" in many senses. And really the "boom" was over by about 1955. Culturally, the people born in 1960 weren't marching in anti-war parades. They weren't subject to the draft. They weren't at Woodstock or part of the hippy or beatnik movements. They didn't participate in the Summer of Love.

It applies to people born 1954 to 1965.

I agree that 20 years is long for a generation since parents and their kids could technically be in the same generation. My parents were born at the very end of the silent generation and my brother was born at the very beginning of the X generation.

1946

It should be that way - 20 years is too long a period for one generation. Archetypal Boomers (who were born after WWII, not during it) were in their teens/early 20s during the late 60s, whereas the Obamas were just little kids. They came of age a decade later, during the disco era, but are inexplicably considered Boomers.

I myself am late gen-x (b. 1978).

I just saw it in the baby boomers section. I have added it to the list.

n/t

What a long, strange ride it has been!

I really hate that title. It makes me feel like we are considered a useless generation. Kind of like we do not count. That is my feeling about the name. It is probably just me.

"X" being the Roman numeral 10.

Anyone mentions Trump or politics around my mom and dad will see how inaccurate that word applies to them. Now that they are retired, they can campaign, march and protest as much as they want.

Smack dab in the middle - 1970

I was 6 during the Bicentennial and remember all the red, white and blue. Obsessed with Duran Duran. Watched John Hughes movies. Rocked out to Pearl Jam, R.E.M., and Soundgarden. Weathered five financial nosedives before we turned 40.

I was a kid in the 1980s. We would rent John Hughes films and slasher films for slumber parties.

old enough to have vivid memories of the late 1960s

too young to actually participate

Asked why I didn’t go to Woodstock. Um...I was 12. We were in elementary and middle school when all the hippie stuff happened. But the music was great.

I've got one foot in one generation, one in the other. 1980.

I'm too young to be Gen X but was in college during 9/11. I have zero recollection of the Challenger or any administration before Bill Clinton's.

Born in 1957. If I had kids, I would have been in the "sandwich generation" caring for sick parents and children at the same time. Fortunately I just have cats. Definitely not doing as well as my parents did. My brothers are doing okay, but they didn't take time away from their careers to care for our folks like I did. Oh well...

You can't change what you can't choose.

No longer a pre geezer but a true 65 year old geezer. It is not so bad..........well if you don't mind taking 10 minutes to be able to get out of bed!

I was born in 1981. And Yes, do care.

DDE was president when I was born.

We tie dyes actually identify with every generation the lotus opens

and I are classified as boomers.

And I wasn't no stinkin' hippie. (my signature line aside)

Yeah....I understand that.

That's why I want to live in Jones'n.

Wolf

n/t

Or old Xennial.

...parents (1921 & 1922), married to an early boomer (1945) and mom of 2 later millennial sons (1990 and 1992).

I never heard of Generation Jones.

Boomer/GenX combo I guess. I identify more as a GenXer.

Proud early Boomer.

Interesting, had not heard of this term before.

and can name more songs by The Clash than the Beetles you're Gen X.

BOOM!

we definitely have the best music.

(Quoting Pierce on Community, and running and hiding.)

Parents were GI Generation that survived very hard Great Depression.......

I hadn't heard of the Silent Generation before. I grew up hearing about Depression babies (my mom was one), followed by War Babies (my mom-in-law).

Or not. It looks like there are enough generations listed.

I'm a Boomer. I may have been too young to participate in the events we're famous for but I was aware of them. The news at the time didn't censor much.

No, I am the Jones"

'56

I've argued on Forbes for the idea that the generations should be established as inflection points in the fertility rate (the number of children in a given family in a given year) rather than as a statistical "sine wave" measured from midpoint to midpoint. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2018/08/22/rethinking-millennials-and-generations-beyond/). This means that the Boomers start around 1936 and peak in 1955 (call it BB prime, or BBp), while GenXers start around 1956 and hit the nadir in 1975. Both scientifically and culturally it makes more sense: The earliest member of BBp included Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley and encompassed most of the Rock generation, the BBp lived at a time of rising expectations and an influx of wealth and optimism, but they were also the Vietnam generation. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison were all born at the very end of BBp in 1955, and in many respects were far more typical of very early GenXers.

GenXers saw the fertility rate drop from 4.3 children in 1955 to 1.7 children in 1975, below the replacement rate. They were in the shadows of the Boomers, and were disproportionately scientists, librarians, engineers, teachers and techies. This then put Millennials starting in 1976 and extending to about 1992 (with a very shallow rise to 1.8 at that point), and GenZ going from 1993 to 2008. GenAA then starts in 2009, and has seen a significant decline to just under 1.7 children. Millennial primes and GenZ primes held almost steady, which is why the two don't seem to have that many significant differences culturally. I suspect that GenAA will be noticeably different though I'm not sure exactly how yet, just that they seem to be in a different regime than the GenZ Primes (steady state economy vs. long term diminishing economy as the Baby Boomers move out of the workforce into retirement).

I also wrote another piece published today on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2019/01/31/help-desperately-wanted-the-coming-employee-shortage/ that talks about how demographics explains why employment seems to continue to be especially robust. I think all of these demographic factors (plus automation, AI and some really bad decisions regarding outsourcing at the corporate level will create worker shortages for the next ten to twelve years, maybe more.