I'm definitely too old, but as a Millennial I love Gen Z. They got their funny internet things, their doom memes, their music, and I say go for it. They're picking up and running with the rights for all, they're more open than we even are, and it's just awesome to see. People love to make fun of the younger generation but are so quick to forget what we were actually like back then.
Millenial representative #2: Completely agree. Gen Z is so sensitive, smart and respectful, I love them. I run a lot of tabletop RPGs like D&D and had an all-Gen Z group back in 2021. My favorite memory is them explaining the Ohio meme to me. The kids are alright.
I love that they picked up the baton. I feel like us millennials were the young folks when gay marriage was the main topic of discussion and we were a very loud voice in support. Now GenZ is coming up and I love that their reaction isn't "Oh should we?" It's "Why haven't we?" when it comes to Trans rights. I'm all for it, I'll be there at the voting booth along side them.
There is a great wiki about memes if you are even unsure what they mean.
Millenial here, I wager it's about Jake Paul. Listen to the song "It's everday bro" if you dare.
I am assuming this is it not what they are referring to.
Took my nephew out to shoot fireworks and he was the responsible one asking is that safe and should we really do that. Definitely different than my crew growing up
Can confirm. Fight the power, fuck the system and all that jazz. I was told it was my "maximalism of the youth", a phase that would pass, but I only become more and more radical in my views as I mature, so that was a fucking lie.
Aye. I’m almost 30 now and I feel like I’ve gotten more radical rather than less.
Makes sense though. In the 30 years I’ve been around I can tangibly see ecosystems failing and the climate going haywire. And for what? Wealth inequality has gotten worse and the idea of owning a house is almost a pipe dream.
Meanwhile everyone’s getting more hateful. LGBTQ people, women, and minorities are having rights scrutinised and stripped away.
There’s war in Europe again. The gerontocracies are still going hard. The oceans are dying. The mummies are melting along the permafrost.
We lived through a pandemic, companies made record breaking profits, yet none went to workers. Everything is turning into subscriptions, we’re literally fighting to get to repair stuff we’ve bought. We are to own nothing and be happy about it.
Humanity, society… it’s all bullshit. Everything is bullshit.
I'm over 60 and not at all represented by these old motherfuckers. It's partly their age and partly their wealth -- they can't represent people who actually work for a living.
There are various theories of how age and term limits could limit this.
Here's my fantasy, which is just that.
Set up an AI unit that's been programmed to a 90 IQ level. If these assholes can't beat it in chess three times out of five -- or checkers for that matter -- enjoy the rest of your life on the porch.
Just a fantasy.
It was never about age, that was just another distraction. If old people, trans people, gay people, black people, Mexican people, democratic people, and all the rest are responsible, you won't have any attention left to pay the rich guy who's fault this actually is.
Oh I wouldn't put that in my mouth, which says a lot given my proclivity for putting things in my mouth. I'd rather let the guillotine do its job.
Yup, I’m 41 and I haven’t gotten less radical, just more detail-oriented in how we make it a reality.
You poor? Usually people get more conservative the more wealth they accumulate. I've got barely anything to my name which might be why I slowly getting more and more radicalized on the left. That and you know reality.
I grew up poor (rural Arizona, living in a trailer we couldn’t afford to heat in the winter, mom worked at Walmart, dad was a mechanic, just to paint a picture of what I mean). Both my parents are more progressive, we moved from the Bay Area of California when I was ten because we couldn’t afford it and also so they could get away from their druggie friends circle. Thankfully I liked science and had people who encouraged me, and I now have a PhD in molecular biology and my partner does computer programming and makes a lot.
But before I decided on science, my progressive parents + being poor + Intro Philosophy + Against Me anarcho-syndicalist punk rock made me want to major in some combo of history, economics, and political science so I could change/overthrow the system from within. I still have the anarchy tattoos behind my ears, though! But I think Scandinavian style Democratic socialism is better suited to modern technological society.
And now I’m in academia, most people here grew up middle class or upper middle class, and the entitlement is mind boggling sometimes. I’m learning more and more how to blend in with them, my partner is upper middle class academic family. But sometimes I still feel like some of them can tell I’m a dirty poor.
It just pisses me off so much that there’s soooo much wealth in the world and it’s all locked up by rich people. I read somewhere that a study by the Swiss bank found that if all the wealth in the world was evenly divided amongst every men women and child, each person would get like $30,000. That would be amazing! No more world poverty! A living wage would be a great start.
Anywho, it’s late, I’m tired and rambling. TLDR: eat the rich.
I'm in my early 30's but I have no problem reminding the kids to "Never trust anybody over 30"
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My views haven't changed one bit, I just had to make some compromises in lifestyle to survive (e.g. get a job).
I'm a liberal progressive GenXer and my workplace is full of MAGA millenials. I thought I would be OK when the boomers started to die off from heart disease, but here we are.
Millennials skew more left than previous generations. Unfortunately there's still plenty of brainwashed MAGATs in every generation.
Then it's high time for us to recognize the problem is not generational but of political affiliation.
Maybe a little bit better, some of the ones most responsible for brainwashing the younger generation are people like Rupert Murdoch, Dennis Prager, etc.
But I agree, people shouldn't be complacent. I actually found this article on the conservative site iPatriot talking about upcoming and younger influential conservatives.
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Right there with ya, dude. My work is MAGA to the core, and most of them are in the 20 to 30 year old range.
Internet through the 90s and smartphone adoption in the late 00s-early 2010s changed so much about how people interacted. I was part of the last generation to adopt the internet growing up and can remember not having it.
Boomers get shit on but they at least had some fulfillments of their generational ideals, they probably changed their own world more than any other generation by their own will so far. They had civil rights and strong unions which counts for something. They couldn't escape the apparatus that sustained them and will always be defined by it, all the rock and roll in the world cant bring down the institutions, they merely adopted it for themselves.
GenX was the exact opposite, the notion of authenticity going back to the boomers reached it's apex at the exact time economic conditions stripped away any meaning and relevance of it. They both had the dream and saw it dismantled, got the first popular reactions towards the coming climate doom, with the backdrop of impending nuclear apocalypse. At least they could ride on the coattails of the post-war economy, and benefitted from the 90s.
GenZ actually has it the worst so far, they never had the dream GenX did. With internet and smartphones they now see themselves at all times from the perspective of how other's see them, they exist fully saturated in this hyperreal space of endless consumption. They don't have the economic benefits of previous generations, and their GenX parents probably need their retirement money. GenZ is experiencing the strain of the empire, the degradation of social services, the weight of the impending climate catastrophe, meaningless politics and all routes for change blocked off. They have the fake world to escape to and can experience anything they want at almost any time. They are self-aware of this though, at least the smart ones are, they know it's bullshit but they don't think that matters, and they're absolutely right.
Something about the demise of 3rd spaces (ie public parks) also plays a role. Just yesterday was told we couldn't have a library in our neighborhood because of lack of surface level parking.
But then you'll just be making it harder for my automobile overlords to have complete control over our shitty infrastructure! Don't you just love going anywhere and seeing nothing but parking lots?
Gen Z’s biggest problem (which spawns all the other problems) is being constantly online
huge citation needed...
couldn't possibly the rigged economy, two tiered justice system, racism baked into every system, religious fundamentalism, imminent environmental collapse, no it's the phones...
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I think his argument is valid, just as yours is.
You're right it's not only the US. But he's also right that phones are not the only reason / common denominator. Basically every country has a rigged economy and a two class justice system - some more, some less. But the ruling class secured their privileges everywhere. Our planet's doom looming over the horizon is also a global phenomenon.
What unrestricted access to the internet is doing: it's making everyone much more aware of those things, their global scale. Everyone gets a feeling of how bad it is because there seems to be no greener pasture anymore.
Exactly. The amount of millenials I see that want to drive muscle cars and big pickups but then shit on gen x for the climate is too damn high.
Pretty much, most of the gen x I work with are indistinguishable from boomers at this point.
kids don't want to work these days
people need to just save more money
immigrants are taking all the jobs
[2hrs of scrolling]
I was in a "generational diversity" course at work recently where we would break apart and talk about what behaviors are common among each generation and why, and how to be good leaders for each generation. We started with the "greatest" generation and the "silent" generation and worked our way down in age. Everything started so respectful and nice for the old folks, even excusing their shortcomings when one was actually brought up due to how they were raised and the tough circumstances they grew up under. By the time we got to millennial and gen z, things took a turn. Even the instructor was laying on the judgement pretty thick. "They have had everything handed to them growing up so they don't appreciate hard work", "[...] participation trophies [...]", etc
That seems so weird to begin with. Particularly since there aren't many Greatest Generation left, and Silents are well into retirement.
What, the youngest greatest gener is 97 lol. Are you sure it wasn't 3 total and they are the CEOs?
No, it was 3 percent with the greatest and silent generation combined, not just the greatest. No idea how many (if any at all) of the greatest generation there actually are. Maybe 1? Idk.
If you don't want kids to have participation trophies don't give them participation trophies. You didn't go out and buy yourself a trophy for everything, did you?
If I want to buy a trophy for myself with my own hard earned money to make myself feel like a winner, those boomers can kiss my ass.
kids don’t want to work these days
Work at these shitty jobs? No, they don't, and I don't blame them!
I pumped gas up hill, both ways, all summer when I was 16 and used the money to pay for college, buy a house, and invest in oil. You just need to try harder.
I guess I'm lucky to live & work somewhere where the system kinda works, but the boomers are a great well of institutional knowledge, and the kids are working hard and changing the game. The ball was kind of dropped in the late 90s & 00s, but now millennials have surpassed gen x in terms of responsibility & authority in my industry and the zoomers I've had the opportunity to train are legit. I'm not sure what happened to gen x, but they all seem kind of sad and/or lost.
Those are the genx'ers that now have wealth... the genx'ers without a pot to piss in are... err... pissed.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I am a geriatric millenial and watching gen Z grow up has actually been incredible. It is a generation that has more compassion and self-awareness than the ones that came before them. I am proud of these kids (even though most of them aren't even kids anymore).
As a gen X it's just nice to be remembered that I exist.
Still, I own my own home without my parents having to die, so I'll rub that in your faces if you try to make me feel old.
So much better than renting. It's imba.
I realised the other day I hadn't heard that word in years, so I'm bringing it back.
You basically have to buy if you can afford it, only thing worse than paying a mortgage is paying someone else's. I'm closing in on my mortgage in my 30s which I never expected. Going to a trade college allowed me to save down payment and never be jobless, and buying a shitty townhome during the crash in what became a highly desirable area, allowed me to move to a huge country property before the market caught up here. Odd but very fortunate set of circumstances.
Fucking thank you.
Gen X are old dudes. NOT boomers. I really appreciate that you made the distinction.
Have a rad day.
- does an 360 kickflip while california uber allies plays in the background * stay gnarly dude
Saw a video of Tony Hawk the other day. He is 52 and probably just did his last 720° turn.
I'm a gen-Xer who is still renting but I was never able to do a capitalism, and would be kept awake at night by all the atrocities I'd have to commit to do one.
i'm with you. late x'er here. my boomer parents' promises never panned out, my retirement plan is work until i die or check out early if i can't manage it.
getting lumped in with boomers when i have been served the same shit as the younger generations gets old, but the minds of people who never didn't have internet is still a bit of a mystery to me.
funny how appropriate the x nomer and all it implies about our generation turned out to be.
Same. I don't even know why people shit on us. We've never really been in power, probably never will be --Obama is the closest thing we'll ever have to an Xer president and even then he's technically a boomer-- it's just a fact that in comparison to the boomers and millennials, demographically we've never mattered.
Our little window for demographic leadership, based on our coming into the age in which we'd ostensibly be capable of governance, was stomped on by the boomer gerontocracy and the rage of the far more numerous millennials.
The upshot is that us Xers never really had a real go at demographic power, and to the contrary, were left to pick up what scraps we could from the absolute mayhem that the boomers left us with.
Millennial or w.e, I think Gen X is pretty alright. They got shit served to them like all do now. We just need to happiness be
It’s OK, GenX is used to being forgotten or misunderstood.
Lots of Millenials can’t tell the difference from a Boomer.
Idk, I would say the older half of Gen X could almost be described as “Boomer Lite”. They didnt quite have it AS nice, but still definitely way better than anyone born in the 80’s or later. Not to mention their Boomer-like attitude…
As an older Gen-Xer, who had married another older Xer far too young (because we were brought up that all we needed to do was get a job and life would be awesome) I can agree that some in my age range are definitely watered down boomers. Which is also a fair part of the reason why he's my ex husband now.
As the mother of 3 Gen Z sons, I couldn't be more proud of the amazing men they're becoming, and couldn't be more disgusted about the conditions that some of my generation and those before me have created for them.
More like anyone with a selfish mentality, that thinks everyone just has it as easy as them and those that don't reach the same status are doing it wrong.
You are mentally deranged if you think Gen X owns property, I know dozens of Millenials and Gen X both of which only a couple have property, and all of them inherited it from boomers recently.
The Boomers closed the door behind them, Gen X is just the first in line to maybe get some leftovers when they die.
I don't understand why this whole generation concept is so popular these days. I don't think it helps anyone if it's just used for sensationalistic general statements that pit one group against the other. This is the same unthinking logic that racism operates on. I cannot see that this way of thinking would in any way help to find solutions to the real problems or even to identify the actors who are responsible for today's ills. On the contrary, it only helps irresponsible profiteers to continue their greed for profit at the expense of the general public by placing the blame on an anonymous group rather than on the individuals who are actually responsible.
Because the baby boom that created the boomers was an actual generational cohort that shared a TON of similarities and had a huge impact as being the largest slice of the male population as so many died in the two World Wars. That lead demographers into thinking all generations worked like this and it took time to have other generations to compare them to.
Pew just announced recently they are moving away from generational cohorts because while someone born in 1979 is technically gen x they have a lot more in common with millennials born in 1985 than a fellow gen x er born in 1967
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Noone is going to rebel, not gen z not millenials.
You gotta be blind to not see that every new generation will always blame it's problems on a previous one.
That's exactly what millenials are doing now, guess who genz gonna call " fucking donkeys"?
Zoomers will have a rough time rebelling when they can barely leave their home. Obviously there is some hyperbole there, but with the ability to "socialize" via online methods they are far more introverted than previous generations.
This meme is lame (as ost have been in the short time I've spent here). Everyone blames their parents generation for everything.
What's wrong with gen x? I remember being repeatedly told growing up that we were the first generation for which things were gonna be worse than the previous. Lo and fucking behold.
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Millenials were the original "avocado toast" generation targeted by boomers. We've been conditioned to protect our young from the real babies in these older generations. But there are good ones and bad ones in every generation.
Ha never thought of it this way but I like that, and yeah I feel that. No way old people, you picked on us long enough and blamed us for "The world going to shit", you aint doing that to the young 'uns. (and the fact that now they're doing it to gen z just proves they have no fuckin idea)
AFAICT Gen X should really just be split into Boomers and early millennials.
I'm a late gen X (1978) and do not associate with boomers at all.
We're basically millennials before the internet.
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That is what I think about when thinking about Gen X. I have clear examples because I'm myself in the millennial range, my (much) older brother is Gen X and my parents are boomers. I'd never lump my bro with the boomers and I consider gen X as a whole pretty chill. They're all the bands I grew up listening to and carried the bulk of what made the 90s great. Boomers have fine individuals but as a whole they're nasty.
I’m also a late Gen X. Please, please, PLEASE don’t group us with Boomers. We’re nothing like them and proud of it.
It makes much more sense when a generation boundary is marked by some sort of significant societal shift. Like Boomers are people born after WWII ended. I guess Gen X kinda makes sense being defined as a generation that grew up after the civil rights act and the establishment of rock & roll. But it seems like there should also be something between that and the internet, because as you say there’s a difference in late Gen X. Maybe the advent of video games should be a cutoff. Someone who grew up with video games and VCRs in the 80s has a pretty different experience from someone who grew up in the 70s.
I've always been told the defining turn from boomers to Gen X was the end of the boom. Readily available birth control for men and women made family planning the norm. Gen X just doesn't get a fancy name because they never got there "define with this" phenomena
That makes sense as a reason too. I think the 60s saw an undeniable cultural shift. The 80s is harder to pinpoint and yet I don’t know anyone born in the last years of the 70s that is comfortable with being grouped with Gen X without caveats.
i'm late gen x (78), that's more comfortable to me than being lumped with millennials. (the caveat being, i suppose, that we're dissimilar in some respects from early gen x.)
internet was not widely available until about the time i started college, and gen x media defined popular culture at that time. i also relate to the notion of being the child of two working parents - the first generation of latchkey kids.
i tend to see millennials as people who were kids when i was in school - and they grew up with the internet.
Worth noting that Douglas Copeland who wrote the book Generation X that gives the generation it's name cut it off in 1974 if I recall correctly.
I'm from 1980, so technically Gen X, but I've always associated more with millennials. My first phone (after I moved out of my parents' house where we had landline) was a Nokia 3210 and I got my first email account in 1996.
You, my 1980 cousin, are Xennial! We have an analog childhood and a digital young adulthood.
Also a 1980 baby, but because of my dad's work, we had the internet, such as it was, in late 86/ early 87, and I literally had a computer available to me since birth. Some of us got started on the digital part early.
I am 86 baby and you are one of the only very few people born in 80s or earlier that had really early adoption to computers in addition to me. I could use MS-DOS before I could write anything else as I also had had computer available since pretty much birth also because of my dads job.
I had computers from a young age.
ASM coding on a Microbee running CP/M OS was where I started somewhere around 1986.
But I grew up as they did and have a deep understanding of how they work.
I'm a Senior SysAdmin/Systems Architect these days.
I still have a @hotmail.com email address that is just my name. No numbers or anything.
https://www.pewresearch.org/topic/generations-age/
Pew and a bunch of other think tanks are moving past generational studies as it seems that you are correct that you have more in common with people within 5 years of your age than people in your "generation".
You need studies to demonstrate these effects in a scientific manner so yes/no as it could be done by a scholastic institution if it wasn't done by think tanks.
As a person born nearly a decade after you, I pride my generation (Gen Y/millennial) as also experiencing life before computers and the internet in your home, but still developing (sort of naturally) with all that (but still remembering what it felt like to be really and truly bored). Gen Zers born after a similar gap as between me and those born later, don't remember life before the internet or 9/11.
We got your back. Not sure who's saying millennials dislike gen x, but they're not speaking for most of us.
I think its mostly focused on the older gen x, some of them are worse than the boomers.
A lot of them aren't, though. They were named Gen X at least in part as a reference to Malcolm X due to their rebellious nature towards previous generations and their societal norms.
Millennials and Gen Z have to pay many times over what it cost the Gen X for a quality education
Due to decades long processes set in motion by boomers and older while Gen X were still children if born at all.
The Boomers aren't running anything anymore, they're median age 66 ffs
Half of Congress (54% of Republicans in Congress) is 65 or older. The president is too old to even be a boomer
Their first act as voters was either Reagan or Bush Sr
The first presidential election where they were old enough to vote, the only other realistic challenger was the VP of the president who had been successfully smeared in the media as the most inefficient in modern history and the alternative in 88 was Dukakis. In both cases, the Republican won by a landslide in a media landscape of intense gaslighting and other propaganda in their favor, so you can hardly blame Gen X for them.
They've devoted their lives to sex, drugs, and alcohol
Not even remotely true and even if it was, that would be a hell of a lot better than devoting your life to work and money
They still share the boomer view on gender roles, that only men wear pants and go to work, that girls like pink and boys like blue. Anything outside of that very specific framework is viewed as creepy and immoral.
Also false of the majority. In their youth, Gen X were pretty much DEFINED by rebellion against the societal norms of previous generations, including outdated and restrictive gender roles.
In the nicest way possible, the world will be much better when Gen X is gone.
Sounds like there's more of a YOU problem than a Gen X problem tbh..
Exactly right. @doctorcrimson is either completely ignorant of reality, a total dumbass, or a troll.
Which isn't where you originally put them. Either argue consistently and in good faith or stop arguing.
They’ve devoted their lives to sex, drugs, and alcohol.
Only 90% of our lives, but the rest we just wasted.
The catch is you usually know more of your ancestors. For example my descendants are two people whereas I know a few dozen ancestors.
The longer you live, the more that reverses. My grandmothers died knowing damn near 60 of their grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great great grandchildren.
I wonder if in the future, millennials and gen z will become the new boomers and gen X.
That will make me kinda sad. I just hope we don't go down the same path...
I don't think so. Generations that actually struggle end up being good to the next generation. IE the greatest generation
It's the entitled cunts that got everything handed to them that turn into massive assholes. IE Boomers
Nice theory, but as the parent of a teenager, younger generations don't tend to think highly of their elders no matter what. It's kind of human nature. I predict that Millennials and Gen Z will absolutely be disliked by the generations afterwards, just as Boomers and Gen X are disliked by Millennials and Gen Z. For that matter, love Gen Z all you want, Millennials, just don't expect it to return the favor. Every generation thinks it's better than the ones that came before. Ever heard of hippies? Yeah, they were gonna save the world from everyone over 30. Now we just call them Boomers.
Sure, I (as a millenials) may dislike, or not understand, the kids as they are doing new things. I mean i have NO idea what that new TikTok NPC stuff is about and I am to afraid to ask..
But unlike boomers we do know what it is like to struggle for our place in the world and we do not have that skewed of a view. We do understand that sometimes you may even feel trapped or can't see a way out of a dooming scenario.
We understand that trying to live your life is actually hard. Just like Gen x understands that as wel.
Boomer hate is not coming from them hating our punk years or different music taste. Boomer hate is coming from their inability to accept that they had it better then all other generations and continuing to "proof" that every of our issues is easily fixable by "not buying advocado toast".
I'm not talking about teenagers. You can't judge generations based on your experience with your kid.
I'm talking the overall trend of the population en masse. Those that know the struggle are more empathetic than those who never struggle.
I judge it by the fact that young people tend to blame their elders for the problems in the world. The only way to really know what will happen is to wait and see I suppose!
I don't know, I'm an X, we don't really exist anywhere, we are transparent and ignored in societies.
My parents are (early) Gen X. In general I don't think you are transparent or ignored. I'm not saying this isn't your case though.
I appreciate my parents and even though they are "outdated" on some stuff, I value them immensely. For instance, if it wasn't for my dad I likely would never have gotten into omputers. And that would've led me not have my current job (probably). I owe everything to them.
In fact, in my country at least (not US), I'm pretty sure Boomers + Gen X make up the majority of the voting power due to declining birth/death rates. (These stats are 100% pulled out of my ass, so they can very well be wrong.)
So, if anything you're the ones who hold more power (again, in my country at least).
What I'm trying to say is, things aren't as black and white as this stupid memes make them seem. We're all collectively messed up somehow. :)
Gen X isn't naturally like this because of age, but because of political and media marketing that worked to stamp their generation with certain conservative values from a young age. If this is gonna happen to Gen Z, it will happen soon. But few tend to deradicalize once they are anti-capitalist.
Yeah, I'm honestly concerned since my parents' political views changed radically the last 5~10 years or so. They were super loving and caring. Now they're very "paranoid" about things that shouldn't really leave them that stressed and xenophobic bordering full on racism. Overall gender related topics topics, random news on Facebook, immigrants...
I think that, if my parents that were so understanding and caring about everything and everyone, can somehow have their opinion change drastically in 5-10 years, what's preventing that from happening to me, or my generation, down the road? I'm not trying to say that every gen X or boomer thinks that same way though. But a lot of them have grown more "resentful" I guess...
Yeah, computers and Internet aren't their expertise so maybe they're more likely to fall for fake news and clickbaity titles designed to infuriate them and generate views.
But who knows what's coming? Maybe there's something else coming up that my generation will be too "boomer" to understand. Maybe we'll fuck up everything without even noticing we're doing it until it's too late. Maybe I'm just being too paranoid myself.
Think tanks are paid a lot to figure out how to dupe every generation and make fools of us. Should be obvious, but a lot of young "leftist" or "progressive" democrats are... maybe happier to tow the party line than they let on. And oddly support Israel, full-stop. Maybe we will vote in a "leftist" raegan democrat or something. The path to hell is paved with good intentions.
You won't, you're all perfect of course! All the best commercials tell you so, to say nothing of the most reliable source, one another!
Sorry but those broccoli haircuts are a deal breaker for me. Sucks about global warming and all though, yall got the short end of the stick
https://www.pewresearch.org/topic/generations-age/
Demography is moving away from generational studies because aside from Boomers they do not indicate much
It's basically just fun to group people by cultural trends that defined the decades they grew up in.
The problem with that is that a same generation can tend to run in multiple decades and therefore different trends. It would make much more sense to group by decade, or better still, what the huge fad was when you were in elementary school.