3 different categories of Gen X?
Posted by Golden_Enby@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 115 comments
Took this pic at the end of a video dedicated to old commercials we'd have grown up on. I had no idea there were three different subcategories of Gen X. Looks like I would've been included in one of them, but barely.
Can any Xers confirm this?
taney71@reddit
The reality is that Gen x folks from the early part of the period have a vastly different experience with life than the later half. That why there is an xennial break off
Gloom_Pangolin@reddit
Truth. My mom was born in ‘65 and had me when she was 16, which by most standards would put us in the same generation. We’re great friends who relate on youth experience way more than a lot of parents/children I know but it’s still different because we’re on opposite ends.
neanderthalman@reddit
The thing is, you and your mother likely had vastly more similar experiences than if you had done the same and had a child in (mathing…mathing) 1997.
Like all of us you grew up in an analog world. Your hypothetical 1997 baby would grow up in a digital world, even having no memories of a pre-9/11 world. Vast gulf of experiences.
I put the cutoff at 1984 or 85. Because the key thing, in my view, is our experiences during childhood. In the mid-90’s home computer use and the internet exploded and changed everything. Kids born before 85ish experienced the world before this happened. An 85’er would have been 9 or so when Eternal September started. That’s about the cutoff to really have experienced the analog world.
Spamberguesa@reddit
It did if you had enough money. If you grew up working-class, home computers just weren't a thing until later in the decade, or even into the 2000s. My family didn't get a PC until my senior year of high school ('99), and the only kids I knew who had one in the home were middle-class or above -- a minority, where I lived.
Pattison320@reddit
Our first computer had a 486dx2 66 mhz processor. Looking that up it was released in 1992. I struggle to remember if we had it that early. I was born 82. When we bought the computer, my dad bought a scanner, printer, monitor, everything. All said I think it was about $2,000. Ridiculous by today's standards. I have spent around $500 each for all the computers I've personally owned.
Prudent-Session985@reddit
The world changed so dramatically from say 9/11 to the Global Financial Crisis. In like a 10 year stretch you went from having to call your friend on their house phone to phones with always on social media. It feels like anyone old enough to remember the before times is different from those that don't.
85 would make you 16 on 9/11 which is definitely old enough to be much different than someone who was 10 on 9/11.
Khronzo@reddit
I'm 85 and identify with more Xennial things than Millenial. I remember the analog to digital transition vividly. Being there for the birth of the internet and transition from dial up to High Speed was crazy to see and makes me sad looking back...I Miss the Kazaa, Bearshare and Limewire days.
_the_learned_goat_@reddit
I was born at the end of 84 and didn't have a computer in the house until I was 12. Spent most of my time growing up hanging out with my cousins who were 81 and 78.
fidgetypenguin123@reddit
Dang and here I am a year younger than you and my parents were born in the late '40s. Vastly different experiences in various ways lol.
Having said that, I will never understand a 20 year grouping of generations. A 20 yr age gap will never have people experiencing things the same way. I could never relate the same way to those born in the mid '60s.
Generally I think generations should be 10 yrs at most, imho. Even 10 yrs though people can't fully relate (heck I can't even fully relate to my older sibling born in '75 lol), but at least it's closer. Even my parents though have always separated themselves from people born 10 yrs after them. Saying they themselves are the "original boomers and hippies", not that "younger group". So even those that are supposedly in the same Gen by less aren't on the same page. There should have been way more generation lines made if we're going to categorize at all.
LoudSheepherder5391@reddit
You know, I get this. My mom and I aren't that close in age, but she kinda robbed the cradle for my step dad, who was 20 when they wed, and I was 4. I regularly related to my step-dad with a certain amount of "shared gen-x" views. But he was also a cusper, and had some boomer views i did not share. And I had some millennial views he did not share.
msheehan418@reddit
I have a similar experience with my stepdaughter. She’s 15 years younger than me. My husband is 6 years older. But I relate more to her sometimes bc he was raised by his grandparents. Silent Gen.
Ashamed-Orchid948@reddit
early gen x had tougher upbringings
regeya@reddit
Yeah...I was born in '75 so I honestly don't have strong memories of the 70s. Dad talks about how rough that decade was and it's sort of unbelievable.
RoyalZeal@reddit
It makes sense in context. The economics of the 70s were completely fucked in a lot of the same ways they are now - inflation, oil shocks, stagnation, war.
Cognonymous@reddit
oh yeah, back then in the oil crisis when we could only get gas based on our license plate number and the date
no1nos@reddit
I was thinking recently that this decade reminded me of what I have read and heard about the 1970s. Obviously different causes/events but similar results. I think a big difference is where most folks started the decade from though. At least from an economic sense, the late 60s were peak earning/purchasing power for the largest share of Americans in modern history.
jb-1984@reddit
I really wanted to be lumped into the Gen X bracket as an '84 kid, but speaking realistically, it was a *completely* different childhood than my older friends had who were born in the mid to late '70s. I had an Apple iie in my kindergarten class. I had the internet before I could drive. It was just a way different bracket of life experiences and definitely needs to be classified separately, so I begrudgingly accept the Xennial consolation prize instead of falling in line with the Millennial grouping, of which I am definitely not.
YakApprehensive7620@reddit
That’s the same with millennials
mareimbrium53@reddit
My husband and I are late Gen x and I always identify as a xennial because my siblings were all younger than me and I really felt like my upbringing had a lot of millennial in it. Anyway my husband has a half brother who is 1962-3 (I don't remember exactly) and yeah, he had a completely different childhood and we don't really relate to him at all.
nicunta@reddit
If we use the traditional 61-81, my parents and I are all Gen X, which is weird.
msheehan418@reddit
Yes and take a Gen X like my husband who was raised by silent Gen grandparents and it’s a whole other thing entirely. Then he raised millennials. I’m 6 years younger than him very much a xennial. So weirdly, I relate to my stepdaughter (she’s 30, I’m 44) more when it comes to music.
Notwastingtimeiswear@reddit
And also their own microgeneration of Generation Jones. Late boomers have more in common with early gen X and vice versa, than their spectrum-opposites.
SwabTheDeck@reddit
Get out of here, Harvard. I ain’t no geezer.
TakingYourHand@reddit
I'm in all 4! I prefer Xennial, though.
YakApprehensive7620@reddit
Yeah same, my older brother is 69 and early gen x, all my cousins were born around 74- I don’t relate to millennials at all and I’m 84 lol
Cognonymous@reddit
how is he your older brother when you're fifteen years older than him?
YakApprehensive7620@reddit
He’s 15 older than me, prob worded that weird
FestiveArtCollective@reddit
Same. I have a few friends who are 5 to 10 years older than me and our experiences are very different. They remember the seventies, and I barely had consciousness in the seventies. Friends around 5 years younger than me have way more childhood memories and experiences in common with me.
stlredbird@reddit
lil_grey_alien@reddit
Same and exactly why I also identify as xennial.
Bethie1280@reddit
Me too
Neither-Principle139@reddit
Agreed
KittehKittehKat@reddit
I’m in such a weird place being born 1981.
Fabulous-South-9551@reddit
Yep! Our identity feels so muddled. But jokes on them bc it was the absolute best year to be born.
Mac_A81@reddit
Yep. I feel like we don’t belong lol
Funkopedia@reddit
They're not so much subcategories as independent proposals. The question is, what criteria does each theory use to draw the borders?
Also, who is Sarah and should we thank her for bringing us together?
luxtabula@reddit
she's the journalist that coined the term.
https://www.vogue.com/article/what-is-a-xennial-definition-attribution
Funkopedia@reddit
Somebody invite her here
MartinMerten@reddit
She’s a lurker….And she’s Fabulous.
Fabulous-South-9551@reddit
me??
Taupenbeige@reddit
And tell her to make exceptions for dudes born in ‘74 that always dated women 8-10 years younger and lived in a technology-envelope-pushing household…
DocMcCracken@reddit
Let's not gatekeep others experience. It has a lot to do with the homes we grew up in relation specifically to computers.
Redjaw_coyote39@reddit
Urban or rural? Did we have older siblings or friends with older siblings who were solidly Gen X? For me a big thing is did you have cable or not? The more isolated from the monoculture you were, the more aged up you are (I.e you share more values, interests, and experiences with Gen X than Millenials).
AshDogBucket@reddit
Idisagree with the blanket statement. I feel the opposite and I think maybe what you're saying is true for people who are older?
I'm 84 and was isolated from pop culture which is why it's very clear to everyone that i have nothing in common with people who strongly identify with the label GenX. Often reddit recommends posts from GenX subs to me which drive this point home. I don't get their references and I didn't share their experiences. Every GenX post that's like "this is how you can tell you're one of us" or "here's what we all have in common", I'm like... nope.
But because I was spending more time playing on the internet than watching whatever shows and movies GenX was into, my experience aligns a little more with millennials.
Golden_Enby@reddit (OP)
My fiance is '84 and grew up isolated from a lot of pop culture due to his folks being very poor (with 7 kids). I'm '82, but the complete opposite. My parents raised me on all the pop culture. The TV was more of a parent than my mom sometimes.
Redjaw_coyote39@reddit
Not meant to be a blanket statement, but certainly applies to me and my friend groups over the years, all ‘81-83. Also, if you were playing on the internet you weren’t isolated from pop culture, just into a different part of it. I’m late ‘83 but get all the Gen X references and a lot of millennial things strike me as “ew that was for little kids” or I hadn’t even heard of it. Another big litmus test for me was Fox Saturday morning. X-Men or Power Rangers? It’s not a gatekeeping thing but a source of curiosity, at least to me.
AshDogBucket@reddit
My older sibling (82) watched both XMen and Power Rangers 🤷 😆
i was watching my little pony, rescue rangers, and ducktales.
_KeenObserver@reddit
I’m very grateful for this community for that, introducing me the the distinction of rural and suburban/urban technology timelines and how that makes Xennial definition relative.
DocMcCracken@reddit
I was oldest and straight suburban. We listened to a lot of ganster rap but we didn't know what street life was about. We had cable but was rarely inside to watch it. Hence the daywalker Xennial. Knew technology, but it was still very analog.
Easy_Independent_313@reddit
Well, I fit Gen X for all groupings. I also fit xennial. My older sister and cousins are all firmly Gen X. I view being a xennial is being the bratty younger sibling.
Ok_Researcher_9796@reddit
I'm the older sibling, my brother is the same year as you, on Halloween. We're only 16 months apart. I have older cousins though, two are from 1970 and they are totally different from me and my brother.
Cube-in-B@reddit
Yep. All my sibs are Gen X. I looked up to them so a lot of my personal culture is heavily Gen X. I was listening to punk and grunge when my peers were reading Harry Potter.
Easy_Independent_313@reddit
I did both! Read Harry Potter and listened to punk music. I also went to lots of raves. It was a fun time to be alive.
worksnake@reddit
Does nobody tire of having this conversation over and over and over and over again? Yes, yes, generation boundaries are fuzzy and different entities define different generations differently. Holy shit y’all, how many times do we need your hit take on whether or not xennials extend to 1985 or whatever the shit this sort of post is for?
Golden_Enby@reddit (OP)
It was just for conversational purposes. As a Xennial born in the early 80s, I'm unaware of the different subsections of Gen X, so when I saw that image, I thought I'd inquire about it. Nothing more. I completely understand the distaste of trying to differentiate what years qualify for a category of generations. My post wasn't meant to open pandoras box again. If it did fir some, I apologize.
Neither-Principle139@reddit
Right?! We were born in a time where we all remember analog and transitioned into digital. We all had the most awesome cartoons between our childhood up through the current adult animation available. We have more shared experiences across the years than we have differences. We had the best (and some of the worst) music. Our parents ignored most of us for days at a time, and had a hand in destroying any good that occurred I the last 4 decades. We drank from hoses and nearly died on playgrounds. We punched bullies and ran like the wind without being the villain. Let’s all just keep sharing all the awesomeness that makes up our group than arguing over dates.
scrambledhelix@reddit
Xennial, Yennial, Zennial?
Nicolas_Naranja@reddit
My brothers and cousins were born between ‘69 and ‘83. It certainly feels like a single generation. I definitely got exposed to some things way too early, but we had those very hands off parents that let us run the neighborhood
WhatTheCluck802@reddit
Xennial really should be a smaller window. Nine years is too expansive. I think 77-83 is better. Seven years fits better IMO. 84-85 is definitely a different group IMO. Never met someone born in those years who I didn’t think of as a Millenial.
I feel this way due to my own circumstances where I have a younger sibling born in that later window who absolutely does not have the same generational touchpoints as me despite being raised in the same area, in the same home, by the same parents.
Busy_Fly8068@reddit
Agree. If you had a younger sibling and didn’t want to watch Rugrats or Power Rangers, you might be a Xennial.
FestiveArtCollective@reddit
Excuse me. I am firmly late seventies Xennial and the Power Rangers were awesome!
uniquecleverusername@reddit
My wife and I are both Xennials ('79 & '81), except her family had a decent income and ours did not. So she trends more toward a millennial and I'm closer to a Gen Xer, but were both clearly in the Xennial group. With that said, poor '77 is a lot different than rich '83, but eventually technology consumed us all.
WhatTheCluck802@reddit
Good points.
AshDogBucket@reddit
I'm 84 and I object, lol.
WhatTheCluck802@reddit
If you’re 84, you officially fall into the Silent Generation. 😜
SerjiAzazel@reddit
Yeah I resent this because I'm born 30 days into 84. I have a '74 older sibling. I'm Xennial. Also 7 years is 77-84.
WhatTheCluck802@reddit
No, that’s 8 years.
1 - 77 2 - 78 3 - 79 4 - 80 5 - 81 6 - 82 7 - 83
8 would include 84 which is too far off IMO.
frooootloops@reddit
The older sibling grandfathers you in. My generation alpha kid is grandfathered in to Z because he isn’t living the alpha experience.
coffee_robot_horse@reddit
It's not an exact science.
YourGuyK@reddit
It's all made up. No need to worry about it.
Strict-Farmer904@reddit
Woah. There’s a universe where I’m categorized as Gen X? That’s insanity to me. My former mother-in-law is and elder Gen Xer
Sdog1981@reddit
Harvard is just dead wrong. If you were born in 1984 you graduated HS in 2003 that is pure Millennial.
AshDogBucket@reddit
I graduated in 2002 and relate far more surf xennial than millennial.
AlienDelarge@reddit
I graduated in '04 and have far more xennial experience as well.
KW5625@reddit
What about 1984 and 2002?
My wife is the late 83 and I am early 84. Other than girl vs boy stuff, we had identical childhoods. Are we somehow different generations? No.
Generations are not defined by exact dates... it's events, culture, region, experiences, and technology
Sdog1981@reddit
The middle is easier to define than the edges. That has been true for all generations.
KW5625@reddit
agreed
AlienDelarge@reddit
Theres always been some controversy as to when various generations start and end. I mostly put it down to academics and journalists needing to look busy so they can get a pay check.
Dog_Baseball@reddit
65-80 is what ive alway heard. Xennial is an overlay. We are both x and Xennial
Set_the_Mighty@reddit
It's interesting where the break occurs. I had a coworker 3 years older than me and he was solidly gen x. We got alors famously and got eachothers references but there was still a bizzare gap with older cultural references. He also despised gen z. I tend to sympathize with them because I know how fucked they are.
ThatGuyInThePlace@reddit
I feel like Gex X was over long before 84. 80/81 make sense. Xennials fit because the experience was different from early Gen X, but not the same as millennials.
Quetedigo_Hola@reddit
The fact that you saw this in a video about commercials hits the point home.
The whole "generational demographic" thing is ultimately nothing but a marketing subcategory.
RealityOk9823@reddit
Looks like I died of dysentery.
pookiebelle@reddit
Micro generations make so much sense to me. Even with the Pew Research criteria that's 15 years separation. No way someone 5 and someone 20 have the same experience.
NachoNachoDan@reddit
I’m good friends with enough actual Gen X’ers that I can picture their disappointedly apathetic response if I told them I’m also Gen X.
Also most of em couldn’t program a VCR.
AshDogBucket@reddit
Yes. My spouse is 8 years older and there's a clear difference.
Sufficient-Quote-431@reddit
A generation is really considered just about 15 years. Not a person in this world has anything to do or relates to someone that is 20 years older than them.
Rivermissoula@reddit
I feel that it's because the world was changing so rapidly that some generational lines got blurred.
iolmao@reddit
No way xennials from 1985 could have ever played oregon trail.
bikeonychus@reddit
'85 here, we absolutely did. Thanks.
Though, I have a question from the UK - did any of you play Geordie Racer on the BBC Micro? That one was popular at my school. It was about pigeon racing in Newcastle and The Great North Run.
iolmao@reddit
I also have listened a lot led zeppelin in the 00s, this won't qualify me as a boomer tho.
bikeonychus@reddit
"oh nooo, look at meeee and my 2 years older superiority complex"
iolmao@reddit
haha what? I've never played Oregon Trail in my life because I was too young for that. As Millennial I've played other (and newer) stuff - I just admit I was too young for that to "seriously" play with that!
bikeonychus@reddit
Just because that's your experience, does not mean it was the same experience for the rest of us.
iolmao@reddit
well that's your personal experience too.
Oregon Trail was released in 1971 so most likely was a game for someone from the 60s if not older. You played that game in the 90s, 15 years after the release date.
That's my whole point.
iolmao@reddit
By the way, my apologies, you are right:
"The game was popular among North American elementary school students from the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s, as many computers came bundled with the game. MECC followed up on the success of The Oregon Trail with similar titles such as The Yukon Trail and The Amazon Trail.[20] David H. Ahl published Westward Ho!, set on the Oregon Trail in 1848, as a type-in game in 1986."
So it's just a US thing.
Illustrious-Lead-960@reddit
That game—in its unremade monochrome form!—stuck around in schools for a very long time. Nobody ever updated their software back then, remember.
iolmao@reddit
this means that a gen z playing on an emulator belongs to the same generation of a 1977?
My whole point is a 1985 couldn't play a game when the game itself was peaking in its age.
_jjkase@reddit
Born in '86, played on floppy disk (5.25" & 3.5"), CD-ROM, and on my first camera phone
Maybe gatekeep a little less
Novus20@reddit
In Canada we had the far superior Crosscountry Canada!
DarksunDaFirst@reddit
Green Screen original right here.
Previous_Injury_8664@reddit
I did. A ton! The Mac version.
Sapphire-YLF@reddit
Maybe it’s because I’m from a rural area and we were still catching up with computer technology and fads from other parts of the country, but The Oregon Trail was still around in my 4th grade class. Our teacher let some of us play it for a couple days around the end of the school year. Overhearing some of my classmates dying of dysentery is the only exposure I’ve ever had with the game.
IndomitableAnyBeth@reddit
My former elementary school's computer lab still had almost all Apple II's in 1996. Kid sister, '88, played Oregon Trail.
ADMotti@reddit
That Harvard one was definitely generated by someone who was born in 1984 and still regularly cites the Tide Pod challenge when someone brings up millennials.
redditsuckshardnowtf@reddit
That's 4.
Bay-Area-Tanners@reddit
My mom was born in 1963, so she could fit within one of the GenX categories. She really has more of a Boomer mindset, though. So, from personal experience only, I feel like GenX really shouldn’t include anyone before 1965.
guyako@reddit
I read this as acknowledging there are different definitions of what constitutes the generation. There is too much overlap to say these are distinct eras. The parenthesis indicate who defined it.
Drummerboybac@reddit
I’ve typically considered that a starting year of 1981 for millennials makes sense because that is the first year where kids born in that year(Sept-Dec specifically) could graduate high school in 2000 or later
1877KlownsForKids@reddit
1981 graduated High School in 2000, hence the name Millennials
peekaboooobakeep@reddit
I'm in the same generation as Mom in s One scenario lol
stykface@reddit
Some of these ages shown is considered "Generation Jones". Basically, our parents.
https://www.reddit.com/r/GenerationJones/
pagemap1@reddit
82 here, though I’m a December baby and was almost born in 83. I don’t consider myself GenX and consider myself an early millennial.
Salty-Tea6815@reddit
I don’t think those are subcategories. Seems to be that those are the years that those particular institutions use for their inclusion in gen x and xennials. Like Harvard says gen x is 1965-1984 and Strauss and Howe say it’s 1961-1981.
WritingNerdy@reddit
It’s saying that these 3 research groups have different cut off dates for who qualifies as gen X, that’s all. Source: trust me, I just got done editing a book on generations.