I was 1-11 in the 80s. Was super aware of nuclear fallout and the Cold War. But my dad had also been gassed in protests against the Vietnam War and used to joke about running toward the blast of the nuclear war ever happened.
I’m technically the last year of Gen X, but definitely fit more with millennials, and couldn’t drink until the year 2000.
Op also forgot the dot com bubble which burst when I graduated high school.
I’m 1 year older than you and feel the same about fitting with millennials.
The most non millennial thing about me is really important though. I was already in my career when 9/11 happened. Having my foot in that door was huge.
I was still in college. I also went part time for 2 years so I was in school with all millennials when I graduated college. I got a good job after, but just as I qualified for 401k contributions 2007 happened and I got canned when the whole company went under.
The cutoff is currently 1980, but generations are just weird retrospective categories anyway. They sorta shift a bit as new divisions become noticeable.
I can be Gen x if you want, it’s just financially and experientially I’ve lived much more of a millennial’s life.
That being said, the birth years from 1978-1984 seem to comprise a fuzzy cohort with an even more unique shared experience; some have dubbed this “generation Catalano,” “the Oregon Trail generation,” or even “Xennnials.” We each may personally find our experiences here closer to Gen X or Y, but this millennial cusp coinciding with the advent of the Internet has certainly yielded something interesting.
Generations are about your social cohort and shared experiences, not a calendar.
I think late X folks who got the internet in their teen years mostly fit in better with millennials than X. Being able to anonymously talk about anything with people from all over the world while still in your adolescence is something that most Gen X didn’t get, and I think that particular experience is critical for understanding the differences between X and millenial.
I was born in 78, and I definitely have a lot of X characteristics, but when I talk to other people my own age about things like the futility of working hard for recognition from society/employers it becomes really clear that I understand millenials a hell of a lot better than most gen X do…
I was 1-11 in the 80s. Was super aware of nuclear fallout and the Cold War. But my dad had also been gassed in protests against the Vietnam War and used to joke about running toward the blast of the nuclear war ever happened.
I’m technically the last year of Gen X, but definitely fit more with millennials, and couldn’t drink until the year 2000.
Op also forgot the dot com bubble which burst when I graduated high school.
I’m 1 year older than you and feel the same about fitting with millennials.
The most non millennial thing about me is really important though. I was already in my career when 9/11 happened. Having my foot in that door was huge.
I was still in college. I also went part time for 2 years so I was in school with all millennials when I graduated college. I got a good job after, but just as I qualified for 401k contributions 2007 happened and I got canned when the whole company went under.
And you aren’t a millennial.
Eh, 3 months before the cutoff doesn’t really count.
Then what’s the point of a cutoff?
Honestly, anything before 1985 doesn’t feel millennialish.
The cutoff is currently 1980, but generations are just weird retrospective categories anyway. They sorta shift a bit as new divisions become noticeable.
I can be Gen x if you want, it’s just financially and experientially I’ve lived much more of a millennial’s life.
Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies disagrees: https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/defining-the-generations-redux
That being said, the birth years from 1978-1984 seem to comprise a fuzzy cohort with an even more unique shared experience; some have dubbed this “generation Catalano,” “the Oregon Trail generation,” or even “Xennnials.” We each may personally find our experiences here closer to Gen X or Y, but this millennial cusp coinciding with the advent of the Internet has certainly yielded something interesting.
I guess it’s changed since I last looked, but also the fuzzy zone idea fits with the retrospective nature of generations I was talking about.
TIL I’m the Oregon Trail Generation. Probably gonna die of dysentery.
This is a pretty gatekeepy take.
Generations are about your social cohort and shared experiences, not a calendar.
I think late X folks who got the internet in their teen years mostly fit in better with millennials than X. Being able to anonymously talk about anything with people from all over the world while still in your adolescence is something that most Gen X didn’t get, and I think that particular experience is critical for understanding the differences between X and millenial.
The boundary is nebulous enough that social scientists even came up with this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xennials
I was born in 78, and I definitely have a lot of X characteristics, but when I talk to other people my own age about things like the futility of working hard for recognition from society/employers it becomes really clear that I understand millenials a hell of a lot better than most gen X do…