scrubbedexpat141

We were having a discussion in the office about generations (Boomers, X, Y, Millennial etc).

I'm technically a Millennial but I think they're poorly advertised. They are broadly documented around mid 70's to early 90's. Having been born in '88 i'm at the end of the Millennial band. They're split again to incorporate Gen Y and Z... Y's were 80-90ish and Z 90-2000ish.

They're quite interesting when you read about them, being on the cusp I can see my attitudes shaped by a 'generation' and can be old school and modern in my thinking about a lot of topics.

What generation are you?
Do you think it's accurate or relevant?
Does every generation think the one before had it easy?
Does every generation think the one after has it easy?

weasel decentral

I'm unique but apparently part of generation X. Not the Billy Idol band.
Everything positive about generation X I believe, everything negative is propagated by inferior generations to tarnish our name. Is it relevant - maybe to marketing companies but- to me no.
We are too close to the trees to see traits across such a wide demographic, in work I have good and bad colleagues from all of the generations both older and younger.
The only thing I have noticed anecdotally that could perhaps be a trend is that the millennial generation seem less liberal/experimental than my generation (in terms of sex, drugs etc.) and thin skinned/less tenacious. Again that's obviously just my personal experience.

Millhouse

Using your definition, I'm a Millennial.

I don't think the generation before me had it particularly easy (except with the UK housing boom), but I do believe that the current generation - whatever it is called - have it very hard.

I also hoped this thread was going to be about renewable power - a subject I need to talk on for 90mins later today.

weasel decentral

You'll only need to be knowledgeable for the first 10 minutes, after than most people will have switched off.

Draw a diagram of the shining sun with a big power cable going to people's houses and beside it a smoky coal fired plant. Coal bad, sun good and depending on your audience don't mention oil.

littlejimmy

If you fancy some cheap entertainment, tell a Baby Boomer they had an easy life and ruined the world for the following generations. Stand back and watch the fireworks...you'll be watching real-life Four Yorkshiremen sketch before you know it!

scrubbedexpat141

Good summary, I agree with a lot of that.

I think the young, young ones now (born in the late 90's / early 00's) are very much less liberal in those terms. Not sure if it's thinner skinned or more likely to speak up.....perhaps?

Not my definition sir, the interweb's. The UK housing boom made life extremely pleasant for those before you who are retiring now or enjoying such prosperity when one key fundamental of life and stability was handed out so easily (yeah, bitter about property prices in the generation debate stuff even if I know it's not 'their' fault).

Talk about China building see-through roads with solar panels underneath.

jam25mack

Hmmmm, I was born in 79 and from the date ranges I have seen elsewhere I would be included in the generation prior to to millennials...., however, Scamp is stating 70-90's which is a big old range (double) what he has for generations X and Y (10 years). Is a generation not a relatively set timescale?

Personally, I wouldn't have considered myself a millenial. This is mainly due to when reading how a millenial is described..... and it doesn't really seem to cover my generation as we were before that big technological boom.

As for who has had it hardest etc..... each generation love a good moan! When growing up we poured scorn on our parents because they couldn't set the video but I bet kids now could run rings around me technologically. It's human nature to see your generation as the best, most hard done by etc and the one before you had it easy and the one after you are lazy etc. This is probably more due to old people getting to the point in their lives where they have 'been there and done that, and now don't give two shits' while the younger generation are care free, moany and to a point entitled. In reality tho I would suggest that a human life cycle will take in each of these stages and each generation will have different problems based on the global situation and technology at that time. People just evolve to their surroundings. In reality though one generation is no better or no worse than any of the others. It's just a good excuse to slag the older or younger generations off.

E.g.

Mode of transport:

By foot, horse and cart, bike, car, plane ...... each stage thinks the one ahead of them is lazy for not walking.... then they look at us and we don't even need to leave our houses as we can order whatever we want online.... without getting off the sofa.

I went to Uni in the late 90's and to do any research I had to get up, go out, walk / bike (I don't do buses) a mile or two to the uni library, find and take out the relevant book(s) and then reverse the procedure. Now all students need to do is find their laptop from within the kale, avacado and quinola debris from the session the night before and google it. Lazy ****s! Uni must be a piss easy now.

jam25mack

FYI, this is what wiki says ref ranges, but each website seems to vary from the next for millenials.

The Lost Generation, also known as the Generation of 1914 in Europe,[24] is a term originating with Gertrude Stein to describe those who fought in World War I. The members of the lost generation were typically born between 1883 and 1900.

The G.I. Generation, is the generation that includes the veterans who fought in World War II. They were born from around 1901 to 1924, coming of age during the Great Depression. Journalist Tom Brokaw described U.S members of this cohort as the Greatest Generation in a book of the same name.[25]

The Silent Generation, also known as the Lucky Few, were born from approximately 1925 to 1942.[26] It includes some who fought in World War II, most of those who fought the Korean War and many during the Vietnam War.

The Baby Boomers are the generation that were born mostly following World War II. There are no precise dates when the cohort birth years start and end. Typically, they range from the early-to-mid 1940s and end from 1960 to 1964. Increased birth rates were observed during the post–World War II baby boom making them a relatively large demographic cohort.[27][28][29][30][31][32][33]

Generation X, commonly abbreviated to Gen X, is the generation following the baby boomers. Demographers and researchers typically use starting birth years ranging from the early-to-mid 1960s and ending birth years in the early 1980s. The term has also been used in different times and places for a number of different subcultures or countercultures since the 1950s.
In the U.S., some called Generation Xers the "baby bust" generation because of the drop in the birth rate following the baby boom.[34] The drop in fertility rates in America began in the late 1950s. But according to authors and demographers William Strauss and Neil Howe (who use 1961 to 1981 for Gen X birth years), there are approximately 88.5 million Gen Xers in the U.S. today.[35]

Millennials, also known as Generation Y,[36] are the cohort of people following Generation X. There are no precise dates for when this cohort starts or ends; demographers and researchers typically use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000s as ending birth years. According to Pew Research, as of April 2016 the Millennials surpassed the Baby Boomers in size in the U.S., with 76 million Boomers and 77 million Millennials.[37]

Generation Z, also known as the iGeneration, Post-Millennials, Homeland Generation, or Plurals is the cohort of people born after the Millennials. Demographers and researchers typically use starting birth years ranging from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s, while there is little consensus yet regarding ending birth years. A significant aspect of this generation is the widespread usage of the Internet from a young age.

scrubbedexpat141

You sure moan like a millennial.

Millhouse

Millennial's had the better music.

DXBtoDOH

I was born in 1980 and I don't call myself a Millennial.

Jam's breakdown is probably the most apt. Generation X is probably the best description for my cohort and the reason I place myself in Generation X is because we are the last cohort to be genuinely aware of a time before the internet. The babies who were born five years later had an entirely different internet experience than we did.

We were at school when there were no mobile phones or smart phones and the concept of the internet was something associated with the really, really, really weird geeks who locked themselves up in the computer lab instead of being normal and doing normal shit like sports and sex and drugs

But the babies born five years later came of age in a much more wired world. And of course, those born five years after that (1990) grew up in an entirely different world. The changes in technology and the internet and its integration into every aspect of our lives, from teaching and studying to social activities has been staggering but to the latest generations it's something that's totally natural. They have no comprehension of a world without the internet.

There have also been profound social changes between Gen Xers and the current Millennial generations. You could write a dissertation on it, but you really see this manifested in politics these days. The battle of Brexit can easily be seen as an ideological war between the generations and it’s because each generation had a very different life experience. When it comes to ideology there isn't necessarily a strict divide between generations but there are still broad groups and each generation is broadly in one ideology versus another.

As to whether this generation had it easier than the one before or harder, it's variable. My parents' generation, the boomers, had it much easier when it came to housing. The kind of housing my parents were able to buy is astonishing when compared to what a similar couple of today's generation is faced with. And of course they went to university for practically nothing. On the flip side, the economy was pretty dreadful in the 1970s when the boomers came of age, and in the 1980s we had the economic reforms of Thatcher but the trade off was double digit unemployment and the demise of many industrial communities. Even through the 1990s the quality of life in Britain (materially) was a noticeable step down from, say, the US or Canada or Australia. It wasn't bad nor poor, but as a whole the country did still feel less affluent.

But today's latest generation is facing a, what, near total employment? Social "rights" are much more established and accepted. It's much better to be a minority or different sexuality today than in the 1970s. They have access to a much broader range of options, from activities and food and occupation, than previous generations. Materially there's little to separate the quality of life in Britain from the other western countries with the biggest difference mainly the size of housing rather than disposable incomes and the weather. The downside is that they have to take on much greater debt for university and getting on the housing ladder is much harder. And segments of that generation who don't have the capacity or aptitude to cut it out in the increasingly technological world where even services are ingrained in technology, are losing out.

Every generation has winners and losers.

IKnowNothing

And on a lighter note for all the snowflakes out there...

https://www.facebook.com/bbctwo/vide...6523533456810/

scrubbedexpat141

Great post.

Why would you spoil everything by saying 'snowflake'

IKnowNothing

Because that's the term she users. Don't shoot the messenger.

Bahtatboy

Ooh good, my hobby horse has just wandered in. Mind you, from our previous on-line discussions you seem to know a thing or two.