Where do generation lines begin and end? (1 Viewer)

[John Kilduff]

You know, The Greatest Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation Xers, Generation Y, and so on...

I'm asking because I was born in 1982, and I've been trying to reconcile my love of the 80s with my young age.

How long is a generation in years approximately?

Where would those born in 1982 fall, Generation X or Generation Y?

Sincerely,

John Kilduff...

Age is a state of mind...but it helps to know where you're coming from.

 

[Edwin-S]

Where would those born in 1982 fall, Generation X or Generation Y?
------------------------------------------------------------

Generation X



------------------------------------------------------------
How long is a generation in years approximately?
------------------------------------------------------------

A generation is probably approx. 20 years.

You know a new generation is around when you overhear a group of kids talking and the first thing you think is "what the hell where they just talking about".

A second indication of a new generation is when you hear the music that they are listening to and things like the following come to mind:

1) what is that garbage? They call that music?
2) At least with our music the musicians knew how to play
instruments and SING!
3) Turn that crap down, PLEASE!!
4) Oh my god! My ears are bleeding!

 

[CaseyLS]

Hey what do you know I was also born in the Fall on 1982. What date.

Sept 28 here

 

[Noah Gottula]

woot to all the other 1982ers around here. May 3rd for me. This years the year we've all been waiting for, and its taken way to long to get here.

Anyway, ya i've always considered myself part of generation x. Not even sure what the hell that means.

 

[CaseyLS]

I would say Gen Y. Unfortunately(IMO) we will be the Britney-Spears-crap-pop music generation. Gen X was about 5 years before our time

 

[Yee-Ming]

eh, I had the impression Gen X'ers were a bit older than the batch of 82?

 

[Kris McLaughlin]

I'm with Yee-Ming. I'm an '81 (also a fine vintage!), and I've always felt the Gen-Xers were a bit older.

 

[CaseyLS]

Youre an old man. BTW Can you buy me some beer

 

[Zane Charron]

I've always been curious about this topic as well. Although a generation may be 20-25 years, births happen continuously throughout time.

I think generations aren't governed by time so much as they are events. The baby boom generation by the fact that the huge birthrate post WWII WAS the event, the Vietnam era, Reagan era, etc. Someone born in 1967 was really too young to remember the Vietnam era, but too old to say they grew up during the 80's, though certainly they identify with it's music and films.

Take, for example, someone born in 1980. The music they listened to from ages 10-20 is going to be different than someone born in 1975, or 1985. There is some overlap certainly, but one can't lump them into the same category. I don't think so at least.

I think generations are a way for sociologists and the media to categorize large segments of the population for one reason or another. Though I could be talking out of my ass.

 

[John Thomas]

For some reason, I have this tidbit of information stored away in the nooks and crannies of my grey matter.

Someone "told" me a few years back that the actual spans of the generation seperations. I think it went something like so:

1936-1955: Baby Boomer
1956-1976: Gen X
1977-1996: Gen Y
1997-2016: Gen Z (?)

Of course, it's odd that the baby boomer generation starts in 1936; I was always under the impression that it was started after the end of World War 2, when all the men returned from the war and started families.

Of course, I could be doing my finest Zane impression. ("talking out of (one's) ass)"

nooks and crannies? .....

 

[Travis Olson]

I was born in 80' and don't consider myself a Gen Xer. I don't think I'm in Gen Y either. I'd say I'm a Gen Æ kinda guy.

 

[John Thomas]

Admit it, you're just looking for a reason to use "Æ".

 

[John Watson]

20 years? Perhaps related to the maturing process taking at least 20 years before a new generation starts having kids.

The Swing Kids, Boomers, Beat Generation, Mods, Flower Children, Slackers - man, there are so many of them! Every generation throws a new hero up the pop charts (Paul Simon, you kids ever heard of him?) Somebody who knows Britney Spears but never heard of Tiffany?

I hate to say it, but some group has to be Generation Y? Well, why not? And Canadians would be Generation Eh, and Generation Z would be the guys dozing in armchairs?

Seriously, generations may be getting shorter than the suggested 20 year rule. The speed of innovation, the failure to teach history in public schools, means each new generation seems to know less about the past, and is cut off from it a bit more.

Another interesting angle is that, horizontally, generations are much more divided into cliques, cults, etc. than they used to be. When I was a kid, there were 2 or 3 TV stations, the Top 20 Charts could contain a country music song, an easy listening song, as well as an Elvis or a Beatle song. With more choices, and niche marketing, the generations may be more segmented horizontally now.

And like Zane says, generations are also defined by events - WW2, VietNam, the onset of home computing, 9-11, etc

On the other hand, the duration of "youth" is getting longer. 150 years ago the average 18 year old male probably had started a career, and had a family to support. Now sometimes 29 year olds are living in their parent's homes...

 

[Lew Crippen]

Of course, it's odd that the baby boomer generation starts in 1936

It doesn’t John. The boomers start in 1946, or nine months after the dads got back home.

1946 babies were what school districts planned for in building new schools and adding classrooms, hiring teachers, etc.

The big year before that was 1942 (babies produced before leaving for overseas).

 

[dave_brogli]

ive always thought of myself as X.
oh im 1979 here.

 

[Jared_B]

1980 here. I was told once that '80 was the last year of gen X, but I always felt like gen Xers were born in the 70s.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Lew is correct, the Baby Boom started in 1946 and went to 1965. I know this because I've always been a 'cusp' kid. Being born in '65, I was at the tail end of the baby boom, but with the attitude of Gen X. I also had parents that grew up in the depression/WWII era rather than the 50's. So, I turned out to be a Reagan voting, right-wing, patriotic republican who hung out in punk bars and had no direction. Confused? Maybe I confused others, but I was always alright with myself .

 

[Zen Butler]

1946-1964 is widely considered the "baby boom"
and who the hell knows when Gen-X ends, if it ever has.

Someone born in 1967 was really too young to remember the Vietnam era

Respectfully, I don't think that is accurate. Many of my siblings, including myself were born late 60's. Vietnam had a huge effect on our families both during and after. I felt it then and remember it now. Yes, even at 5-6 yrs. old.

To mirror J. Watson's thoughts, there are so many subdivisions within these larger generation tags.

 

[andrew markworthy]

There is a great danger in taking media labels as objective definitions. The idea that we can distinguish between age groups is a modern phenomenon. Pre-20th century, you were generally seen as either a child or an adult ('teenagers' were unknown) and judged primarily on your capacity to work. The idea that you could elect a lifestyle that reflected your birth cohort was unheard of. With the increase in affluence, greatly increased diversity of career choices, etc, people in the last hundred years or so have been able to elect lifestyles in a way previously unknown, and with this has come age stratification.

However, this stratification is often illusory and rarely objective. For example, not every 'generation Xer' behaved in the way the media presented that age group, any more than every teenager in the 60s tuned in and dropped out. Media people tend to fixate on the fashion victims in any age cohort and extrapolate that everyone else behaves in the same way. Although modern teenagers and young adults adopt tastes distinct from their parents' in a way unknown a hundred years ago, these are generally fairly superficial, and in time will change - in other words, they aren't deeply-held articles of faith.

Perhaps the biggest change has been a relaxing of views on living together without getting married and by extension, single parenthood. However, the idea that pre-marital sex didn't exist before circa 1960 is laughable.

Oh, and Baby Boomers are definitely post-WWII: the phrase refers to the phenomenon that after a war there is a marked increase (a 'boom') in the birth rate.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

Someone born in 1967 was really too young to remember the Vietnam era

I agree with Zen. I was born in 65 and distinctly remember the Vietnam War. I remember sitting on the couch watching the last POW's come home, looking for the name of the guy on my sister's POW/MiA bracelet. Unfortunately, he did not make it back.

My generation was also deeply affected by the aftermath of the war. Not getting political, but I remember not feeling too patriotic in my early years, even though my father told me stories of WWII and Korea. I remember the confusion and sadness when Americans were held hostage in Iran and the so-called "greatest nation on Earth" could not get them home. There was a general apathy among me and my childhood friends, an uneasiness about our place in the world. That changed for me in the 80's, just as it took a quantum leap for today's generation after 9/11.