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Gen X here, married to a late boomer. Actually, I call us the sandwich generation....we are sandwiched between kids coming back to live with us with college debts and our elderly parents who need our help. Heck maybe I need to divorce them and go “find myself” lol!
I think the numbers are off. I am Gen X and have been told the reason Gen X is ignored so much is because of how few our numbers are. When I look it up on other sites, there are about 65 million Gen X.
And like others pointed out, the dates for Boomers are definitely wrong. The idea is the "baby boom" happened after WWII which ended in August 1945.
I always thought a lot of this generational stuff (when it comes to personality and attitude) was just horoscopes under the guise of "science." They takes some facts (such as the Cold War was in full swing during an Gen Xer's life) and then try to explain attitude and personality based on that.
Or they take what would be a normal fact of life (Gen Xer's have the most debt) but fail to look at why, most likely because Millennials and younger aren't buying houses yet and Gen X doesn't have the mortgage paid off yet like Boomers. I bet if you looked at the stats in 1980, Boomers would have the most debt since they would be in about the same stage of life as Gen X is now. My point, it's not a generational thing, but a stage of life thing.
I'm the Silent Generation it says here in small print, but don't bet money on it.
My parents did. They lost.
Aside from the above family-oriented remark, I have ended up being a Silent Generation "aberrant."
My basic life orientation came as a result of an upbringing and education in the 40's and 50's. And despite the how the following Boomer Generation is characterized, the values reflected in 50's TV shows were those of the 40's, and early 50's pop music was only a slightly updated version of 40's music, unless you were in an area that pioneered RnB for white adolescent audiences and moved into RnR.
I still prefer print media for sustained pleasure reading or in-depth non-fiction reading. (Abandoned my e-book reader after a couple of years as it was too slow when taking notes and using them, particularly with multiple books simultaneously.) I still enjoy a print newspaper for a long read. (Though essentially as insulation from smartphone hog callers and TV in cafes.) Have returned to the simplest Nokia after having tried several other super-duper types. (I don't like being annoyed with the telephone when I am doing something else, so mine is turned off except for when I make a call. Also, most of the stuff on smart phones is "toys", and my own toys are of the more "old fashion" type, so why would this geriatric need a smart phone.)
I was born in the Thirties, so the above may make me close to the hard core of the SG. But...
The "aberrant" part is that I became computer-oriented in the second half of the 70's and early 80's. A temp job turned into a permanent slot in the admin of a large, well-funded computer center. So, I was introduced to and using e-mail, Bitnet and Listserv and network-based organizations when only a very, very small segment of the population had access and use. Though I lived in NYC and lived among and worked with many people who were not U.S. born, these influences were mostly just social. It was the computer that allowed me to rapidly expand my love of reading and pop music into non-U.S. countries and cultures. (And not just get snippets in the NY Times or on ethnic radio stations.) And before the WWW this was often done via foreign email contracts or Listserv groups., and then when the web came along the world was even more quickly on my desktop.
The result has been that at a general meeting I was voted out of the Silent Generation and asked to depart, and, please, take that strange TV set with the keyboard with me. Gen Y was going to be my refuge. But as soon as we traded USB sticks and I said, "Why are you still listening to this hip-hop crap!...Don't you have any Rai or some of Aster Aweke's music???" the welcome mat burst into flames. "Take a hike, Gramps!"
1951 Boomer here (and "OK Boomer" doesn't bother me in the least). According to this I have one child that is Gen X and one that is Millenial. Grandchildren that must be all Gen Z, except for the oldest that barely squeezes into Millenial. It hardly seems that the one that is 4 months old is in the same generation as the one that is 18, but what's in a label anyway?
I've always tried to stay current with things, I read a lot of very diverse material. I began to feel a bit of a generation gap when one of my kids got into New Wave music, but I stayed open to it and found out it was not all Psychedelc Furs. There is some really good stuff in there too. I hit a bit more of a gap when I tried to watch Pulp Fiction because it was a "classic" to my kids. Yeah, there is still a gap there. Now I accept that there are things that won't ever really make sense to me, like how anyone could enjoy Rap or EDM, but life goes on. More and more I have to listen to Country music to find good rock and roll, but with streaming services and such I can grab some good music just about anytime. Working to remodel a bathroom recently I could just say "Alexa, play Joe Cocker, or Pink Floyd, or George Harrison, or The Band". If I wanted to just drift off into a trance I could ask for Nora Jones or Allison Crouch.
Anyway, I do appreciate much of the advancements that have come through the generations. I can relate to my grandchildren and have hope they will do well. I am concerned about what is in store for the upcoming generation for a lot of reasons, but the generations before me felt the same way. If I wish one thing were different, I suppose it would be the way kids are educated in general, at least in the U.S. It appears to me that we put most of our educational effort into teaching them WHAT to think, instead of teaching them HOW to think. In a small business, we employ a number of part-timers; mostly college students. You would think I am making it up if I told you some of things I have seen them do or heard them say.
Meanwhile, I'll hold on to optimism, try to stay current and be understanding, open and all of that stuff, but is Hip-Hop ever going to go away?
Location: Appalachian New York, Formerly Louisiana
4,409 posts, read 6,545,770 times
Reputation: 6253
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jude24
1951 Boomer here (and "OK Boomer" doesn't bother me in the least). According to this I have one child that is Gen X and one that is Millenial. Grandchildren that must be all Gen Z, except for the oldest that barely squeezes into Millenial. It hardly seems that the one that is 4 months old is in the same generation as the one that is 18, but what's in a label anyway?
I've always tried to stay current with things, I read a lot of very diverse material. I began to feel a bit of a generation gap when one of my kids got into New Wave music, but I stayed open to it and found out it was not all Psychedelc Furs. There is some really good stuff in there too. I hit a bit more of a gap when I tried to watch Pulp Fiction because it was a "classic" to my kids. Yeah, there is still a gap there. Now I accept that there are things that won't ever really make sense to me, like how anyone could enjoy Rap or EDM, but life goes on. More and more I have to listen to Country music to find good rock and roll, but with streaming services and such I can grab some good music just about anytime. Working to remodel a bathroom recently I could just say "Alexa, play Joe Cocker, or Pink Floyd, or George Harrison, or The Band". If I wanted to just drift off into a trance I could ask for Nora Jones or Allison Crouch.
Anyway, I do appreciate much of the advancements that have come through the generations. I can relate to my grandchildren and have hope they will do well. I am concerned about what is in store for the upcoming generation for a lot of reasons, but the generations before me felt the same way. If I wish one thing were different, I suppose it would be the way kids are educated in general, at least in the U.S. It appears to me that we put most of our educational effort into teaching them WHAT to think, instead of teaching them HOW to think. In a small business, we employ a number of part-timers; mostly college students. You would think I am making it up if I told you some of things I have seen them do or heard them say.
Meanwhile, I'll hold on to optimism, try to stay current and be understanding, open and all of that stuff, but is Hip-Hop ever going to go away?
Eventually.
It's funny, I love all kinds of music from within, before, and outside of my "time". I am a heavy consumer and lover of music. So it never makes sense to me if somebody completely writes off a genre or an era.
The real lost generation is Millennials, especially the first half of the Millennial generation, whose graduations/early career years were during the 2nd worst recession of the last 150 years.
Not to downplay how bad the 2008-09 recession was, but unemployment peaked at 10.0% in late 2009.
During the 1981-82 recession, unemployment peaked at 10.8%.
The 2008-09 recession was not unprecedented. It just felt that way to people with shorter historical timelines. Plus the entire period from 1979 - 1982 was economically problematic with sky high inflation coupled to high and then very high unemployment, married to a deteriorating international situation.
I guess I don't see the Millenials as "lost" because they are always talked about and has real media and historical image, but Gen X is just lost in a historical haze, dazed and confused.
Late Boomer here, still remembering the simpler times. Growing up in the 60's and early 70's seems to me to have been perfect times.
Me too. Except, I have to admit, I didn't like a lot of the 70s music. Disco, in particulary. I love 80s music though.
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