Xennials... why? | TheaterFire

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Lucky-Bonus6867@reddit

Lurking here: I’m solidly millennial (92). I personally would not call someone born in 78 a millennial/xennial. They graduated high school before I was in kindergarten.

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Mind-Matters-Not@reddit

30 rock aired from 2006-2011, not a great reference for this debate

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Lucky-Bonus6867@reddit

You are proving my point?

The touchpoint isn’t 30 rock, it’s the meme.

The Atari 2600 was in constant use at my friends' houses through at least 1983 or 1984. Colecovision took over around then.

No internet in high school, internet in college. Neither a mellenial nor a GenX can say that. We lived the digital divide at a very specific part of our development.

Same.

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wordsnotsufficient@reddit

I’m 77. Am I the only one who doesn’t vibe with the constant “drinking from the garden hose” references? It just reads as so boomer to me. You had one Coke a day, that’s it: maybe slurping from the water fountain once or twice at school if you’re lucky and particularly parched. Anyone back me up here?

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Such_Chemistry3721@reddit

Where you lived & socioeconomic status likely matters. Growing up lower SES & rural, we absolutely stayed out all day & drank from the hose.

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HTLM22@reddit

Born 73. Drinking from the water hose completely routine.

1) it was was WAY easier than going inside and pouring something.

2) I might not even be allowed inside depending on day / time.

3) it might not even be my home. Parents don't want a big group of kids in the kitchen, but they don't care about the hose.

4) very often we were dirty and had to wash selves, bikes, toys off and just took a sip while there.

The two parts I remember most are the first drink that was super hot from the hose lying in the sun and wondering if there were spiders in there..

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30sinthe00s@reddit

born in 69. everything you wrote tracks with my childhood.

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Significant-Theme253@reddit

I was born in 68. I really don't remember drinking anything strange. Milk at dinner and water from the faucet. Drank pop in high school once in a while and beer at parties.

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brocclinaut@reddit

Hey man, heads up, we don't care, neither should you. 70-75% lived that lifestyle (I drank out my front yard hose yesterday, habits young blood)… that puts you in the 25-30% that didn't. So deal and shush, no one cares… ever.

I think it comes down mostly to technology.

Millennial goes from 81 to 96 allegedly.

The 96 babies can’t remember a life without cell phones and the internet.

Meanwhile those of us from the early 80s remember meeting up irl on Saturday after nothing but a conversation about when and where to be the day before at school. Our parents never knew where we were and nobody thought that was weird. But in 2008 you couldn’t be a 12 year old riding your bike five miles from home without the cops getting called on you. None of our youthful indiscretions were immortalized on the internet or with smartphones. We did all the dumb shit that would have you permanently ostracized if it lived on digitally.

Generations are an artificial construct anyway, but I do feel like anyone born outside of 76-86 or so had a drastically different life experience than I did. I don’t feel like genX or a millennial, but I also don’t think if genX or millennial as being a negative thing. It just doesn’t fit.

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vegashouse@reddit

Yeah it's not a thing Xennial You are either gen x or millennial

We are not splitting this off further for a bunch of clowns on reddit

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C_est_la_vie9707@reddit

I'm a gen X who doesn't want to be associated with the doomer turned boomer Gen X stereotypes. But I'm not a Millennial either. When I am in the Xennial sub I feel at home. Xennials are the group who grew up analog and went digital right as we hit 18. It was a huge difference at a pivotal time.

I also think it matters where you are in the birth order. I'm the oldest 78 with a millennial sister 81 so I feel a younger than if I had an older sibling. My sister feels older and relates less to the Hannah Montana millennial.

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THX1184@reddit

It's because I'm not a millenial in the same way that someone born in the late 80s or early 90s would be, literally all that stuff you mentioned is what my childhood years were like, just swap out the Atari for an NES.

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funklab@reddit

I feel like this dude gives a pretty decent summary. https://youtu.be/Pqs0PokPDqo?si=dlh337PKlke67XZU

82 here and we experienced pretty much everything OP identified with, it’s just I didn’t get my Atari until the late 80s because we were broke, lol.

So he’s Gen X by most definitions of that demographic, yet he recognizes milestones of his childhood that sync up more on the millennial side of thing. That bothers you … why?

Though in the case of your friend … either he was kept in a basement for his childhood and was only released when he was a teenager, or he simply doesn’t remember those times as fondly. Because I’m his age. My childhood was what you’re clinging too - listening to Motley Crüe on the back of the school bus and coming home to play Atari, or later, Super Mario Bros. and then tearing around the neighborhood on dirt bikes with friends. However, I also went nuts for Dookie and played hours of Nintendo 64 at a friend’s house while in high school.

My Gen Xness is even different from my sister, who is only four years older. And it’s far different from my Gen X cousins who were born in the ‘60s. Because of course it would be different! Those cousins were having children while I was fucking around in AOL chat rooms.

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Cool_Dark_Place@reddit

Agreed! Also born in 1978, and this is pretty much my childhood, as well. Lol... the N64 didn't come out until a few months AFTER I graduated HS!

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automator3000@reddit

Thanks for the reminder that N64 was after graduation. I blame the drugs

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SadCheesecake2539@reddit

As a Gen Xer, why do you care? If they don't want to claim Gen X and feel a need to create a new (non-existent) generation to feel good about themselves, So be it. We don't care, and if pressed we don't want them. They don't deserve to be a member anyway.

P. S. Gen X is way more than tech, drinking from hoses, and being latchkey kids.

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AshleyWilliams78@reddit

feel a need to create a new (non-existent) generation to feel good about themselves,

All these generational labels are just man-made constructs. It's not like Gen X is somehow a "real" generation while Xennial is "fake."

I don't get why so many people in this thread seem to feel so threatened that someone chooses to identify more toward one generation than another. Who cares? Nobody's stopping you from defining your own generation as you see fit.

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GaryNOVA@reddit

I was born in march of 1980. My little brother is a millennial born in 1982. My wife is GenX , born in 1976.

I consider myself r/GenX. But I also subscribe to r/Xennials . I do not subscribe to r/Millenials

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Ewe_Search@reddit

Daria and My So Called Life.

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GaryNOVA@reddit

r/MySoCalledLife

“Late Gen X related more to technology”: be careful on this one. Early Gen x experienced the transition from widespread manual to digital technologies. Early gen x relation to digital technologies produced adeptness with both types of technologies that other generations don’t generally have.

My great great great Grandfather who actually travelled the Oregon Trail in 1844 is spinning in his grave.

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hkusp45css@reddit

Did he die of dysentery, like he was supposed to?

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Honest_Road17@reddit

Nope. His hair did go completely white from the stress though. He was 19 leading his whole family off by themselves without a wagon train. The trails were muddy from a rainy spring and they often had to disassemble the wagons and carry them across swollen creeks.

He was the last living soldier of the Cayuse Indian War, and met with President T. Roosevelt in the White House to get war pensions for the Oregon Volunteers. Founded and named the town of Tillamook. Became county Sheriff then county Supervisor. Generally spent his life being a badass.

He lived to be 94 years old with an arrowhead in his leg that he got at 24 while trying to horsejack a native's horse. He spent all of a snowy February night getting chased through a muddy ravine by some very angry natives, while all his buddies assumed he was already dead, just to bandage up his leg when he got back to camp, and then ride out to battle. They never took it out.

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73VW-Todd@reddit (OP)

That is pretty awesome. If you can write it all down, not being facetious, that would make a fantastic Netflix movie... I'm being serious. You don't really get stories like that anymore. About the only thing you see today is some Millennial who braved the harrowing rain getting his Frapalapa-Chino w/ extra Quinona at the local Starbucks.

Also, to be fair... the horse was really kind of his already since the Europeans brought them over, so he was just stealing the technology back, and the Indian arrow-head was a technology exchange. Seriously though... not joking about making it a Netflix movie. My daughter is getting into TV and Film Production for her career... she's actually going to Congress in May to lobby for stuff (won't get into it), but if you can actually write this story down as best as you can, even talking with family... get that out there. You can copyright the content for $400, and this would make an amazing story.

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Honest_Road17@reddit

It's all public record. Everything I got about him was from obituaries and newspaper articles, and letters he wrote that are all available from the Oregon Historical Society. I don't know that I have the focus and ability to write a script, but if Netflix does it I'd love to be an extra.

LissyVee@reddit

For those of us on the cusp of generations, it can be hard to relate to those older or younger. I'm early X (1966) so my Gen X experience is vastly different from those born in, say 1979. My teen years were Duran Duran, Soft Cell, Depeche Mode, leg warmers, Breakfast Club and tulle. By the time Nirvana, The Goonies and grunge came along, I was already in my 20s, finishing university and working, so I have little to relate to.

There's an interesting subreddit called r/generationjones that caters to people just like me - one foot in Gen X and one foot in Baby Boomers and it's really comfortable, so it's not unreasonable for your friend to identify as Xennial if that's where they feel most at home.

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Strong_Medium_6646@reddit

I relate far more to Jones than X. I had an older brother and cousins and hung out with friends who were either my age or older. Much of the Gen X stuff just seems much too young for me to relate to.

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Vurt_Head@reddit

Thanks for that link; I'm right there with you in that narrow little cohort (1967), so I'll definitely check it out.

Exactly. Now think about those born 10 years later than you. How different they would be. They're not a 1965 Gen X vibe at all.

Gen X is so big. It needs subcategories.

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ognisko@reddit

Do generations differ in different regions??? A millennial from the eastern bloc is more Gen X than most Gen xers.

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stromm@reddit

Likely so. Until the mid-2000’s generations were defined by a range of years. The first mention of generations was by an American author for people born 1880-1900. The first governmentally official use was by the US Census Bureau to name people born 1946-1964 (the baby boom from post-WWII).

It wasn’t much more than a census grouping used in the US until the late 90s when it broke into social commentary. Then it hit the Internet big time in the mid-2000s and got socially redefined based on social likes and habits more than just birth year.

But officially, it’s still based on a range of 18-20 years.

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rundabrun@reddit

That is an issue. This generation stuff is so USA centric. My GF in Mexico is Millenial, but her upbringing was more similar to Gen X.

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ognisko@reddit

Exactly. We didn’t have Nintendos for a very very long time in Eastern Europe, and I’m actually a millennial but with all of the definitions, fit Gen X to a tittle.

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Kanya_Mkavry@reddit

That would work if all of the descriptions of the generations didn't include what we like or grew up with.

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stromm@reddit

Something that didn’t happen until the mid-2000s that I know of.

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Criticism-Lazy@reddit

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Wild_Read9062@reddit

The question I’m playing with is what makes the big cultural shift? Can we pinpoint it? Is it a distinct thing, a collection of things, moments?

It’s almost never a simple new years decade end, but there is a point when you’re like, ‘this isn’t the same as what it’s been like for awhile.’

Like life post iPhone and pre iPhone. Life pre-Reagan and post Reagan.

Just some food for thought.

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HTLM22@reddit

1973 here. My siblings are ~10 years younger. If I had to pick one thing that decided us it was access to the internet. I didn't have it until college. They had it in elementary school.

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zekerthedog@reddit

I was born in 1980 and don’t feel fully millennial or genx. The xennial sub works well for me.

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Environmental-Car481@reddit

I was born in 75 and definitely relate to “xennial”. It’s the growing up feral Gen X but grounded in tech at the coming of age around the year 2000.

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mishakhill@reddit

Same. I never considered myself Gen-X when the term first became common (high-school to college, as far as I recall). I've always considered myself to be between X and Millennial.

Marathonmanjh@reddit

"I really feel like the very last of the people that remember pre internet life and I’m grateful for that honestly."

My sentiments exactly. I kind of feel bad for generations that didn't know what it was like before the internet, or before "smart" phones became ubiquitous. It was a much more peaceful time for sure, little did we know.
I didn't have the information right in front of me like I do now. I wouldn't be replying to you like I am right now, and all that is great too. But to know both is, well, as you said, just something I am grateful to know and to have experienced.

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Desperate-Chip1819@reddit

I think you just kind of answered it in your post. I'm Gen X, but born in 1979, so I'm technically Gen X. Personally, I always have and always will identify as Gen X, but I'm on the cusp of two generations that are really strange to be on the cusp of. Like you say, you were Atari, BMX, Motley Crue. I was Nintendo, (still BMX), and Nirvana. Even my wife will argue with me when I say I'm Gen X. She says I was born in 79 so I'm a Millennial. I can show her the definition and she still says that I'm not Gen X.

So, while I identify as Gen X because I don't really believe in making up new unofficial shit, I do understand why other people my age would at least try to make up something new. I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that entering into high school in 1993 was vastly different than entering into high school in 1983. This isn't trying to spark debate as to which was better, worse, or whatever. Gen X was the last generation to be 20+ years. Every generation since then is 15 years. I think an argument could be made that Gen X could have been the first generation to have been shortened to this length, effectively creating a whole new generation between X and Millennials. Honestly, if Gen X is the forgotten generation, those of us at the tail end of it were nonexistent. No matter which way we turn, Gen X treats us like we're not with them because we're too young and Millennials treat us like we're too old.

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katiekat214@reddit

GenX was not 20+ years. It’s 1965-1980.

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Desperate-Chip1819@reddit

You're right. Math gets harder the older I get apparently.

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20characterusername0@reddit

I’m on the cusp as well, slightly older than you. Some of the stuff in this very thread, I don’t relate to. But the stuff that the millennial and Xennials talk about, I can’t relate AT ALL.

A big part of it, I’m certain: it’s not just when we were born, it’s when we became conscious. I have memories from back when I was two years old.

Those shows people speak of from like 1965, no, I don’t know wtf you talking about. But I watched all the reruns with my grandmother in the late 1970s and that shit defines me. I fully remember the birth of hip hop. I remember disco before the rappers started sampling it. I know deep in my heart, that the pinnacle of an artist’s career is to have a couple movies AND a cartoon AND a fuckin breakfast cereal. YOU MADE IT.

People younger than me had, like, parents 😅 I went to school, walked home, did my homework watched my cartoons and fed myself; I led a full life with minimal supervision. The generation before me rebelled and were naughty and got into trouble to get their parents attention. I got into trouble that my parents will never know about. But mostly I was a good kid for my own personal reasons and my parents didn’t know much about that either.

maceilean@reddit

Xennial is Clueless not Breakfast Club. It's just a micro-generation.

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IAm5toned@reddit

Clueless sucked. not even worthy of association. Legally Blonde would be a better choice.

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Neither-Dentist3019@reddit

I'm born in late 77 but my siblings are all born in the early to mid 80s so I kind of relate to millennial stuff more because it's what they were all into.

On the opposite end I have a friend who is a millennial but all their siblings are born in the late 60s early 70s so she relates to gen x stuff more than me sometimes.

It makes sense to me. My cousin is born in 68 and we don't have the same references and didn't hang out much or have stuff in common until we were adults but I had more in common with my millennial cousins and siblings.

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yaddar@reddit

I'm from '82, I don't resonate with millennials, even though nowadays I'm considered one (the original generation theory was 20 year cycles divided in 2 cohorts tho, so GenX originally would end in 85, but that's another point)

GenX is more jaded and millennials are too self centered, even though I resonate more with GenX, I had a fully analog childhood and a fully online early 20s... That bridge very unique to people born in a very narrow time frame.

So yeah Xennial is a good label for my cohort, because our formative years, our teens were the transition from analog to digital

We adopted technology incredibly fast but we still remember a world offline, which is something millennials don't fully grasp, they were too young.

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teddysetgo@reddit

I was born in 1980. My childhood definitely involved Green Day and Nintendo 64.

Like you, 8-bit NES was also a big part of my childhood. BMX bikes, coming inside with the street lights, and analog electronics, too.

But my teen years also involved AOL, DVDs, and E-Mail.

Because Gen X and Millennials had such a massive cultural shift between them, it only makes sense that a large group of us truly feel like we don’t belong to either.

I want a hamburger, no a cheeseburger. I want a hot dog, I want a milkshake

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Leading-Summer-4724@reddit

As someone who falls in the Xennial category, I absolutely agree with this micro-generational label. Older Gen X’rs can sometimes be even more crotchety than my Boomer parents, yet younger Millennials did most of their fun teenage years at a time I was already dealing with young adult life, so there’s a disconnect there too.

Basically an 80s childhood isn’t really that different from a 70s childhood, just with some different cartoons, but due to re-runs, we still even saw the 70s toons. Things didn’t really change until the mid 90s.

As one of the oldest millennials, I absolutely remember the pre-internet days, while a lot of them don’t.

But just look at this sub, it has gotten a little boomer-y here and there lately.

As a 78 I find myself sharing more experiences in common with those over in the xennial sub.

I was thinking something similar. The drinking from the firehose thing is always funny to me, like yes, we did. Are we proud like it was an accomplishment? No, that’s the boomers.

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ImCompelledToSay@reddit

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On a long enough timeline all generational subs devolve to Facebook

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AlmiranteCrujido@reddit

I'm born in the mid-1970s. Some of this is going to be what age you're nostalgic for. For me, it's high school in the early 1990s, and the 1980s... much less. Which I'm not sure it's enough to make me "Xennial." Also, I grew up urban, so bits of the 80s and 90s were going to be quite different for me than for folks who grew up in middle America or in the outright boonies.

I was born in 1978 and consider myself Gen X.

Xennial? I’ve only just heard of it..

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therealskr213@reddit

My wife swears she’s not Gen-X despite being born in the final year of Gen-X. She doesn’t even call herself an Xennial, she goes straight to calling herself a Millennial. 😂

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OldGamerX@reddit

While i can appreciate things in this sub, Early GenX acts like a new flavor of Boomer with the constant whining & complaining.

On a side note: You would think with our rebel Spirit, we would be running things...but we still have Boomers making decisions. Even Millennials are getting into power. I guess the apathy won out.

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Ignignokt73@reddit

Agreed. I’m middle GenX and feel like the older cohort is a bit over the top with the constant hardcore “drank from the hose/cigar burns all over/unloved tough kid” vibes all the time. Especially in subs with younger generations where the perceived “GenX tough guy” persona has to shine through. Very boomer.

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calbearlupe@reddit

Absolutely. I’m a year older than you and my background aligns much closer to the Xennials.

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ponchoacademy@reddit

Dont forget they were calling us the Slacker Generation. Not only are we not running anything, most forget we exist lol

...and as a Xoomer, do you think the Xennial is a thing?

Also, I have respectfully stepped off your lawn

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Honest_Road17@reddit

I have no dog in this fight.

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exedore6@reddit

I'm a '76, and there are a lot of areas where I'm out of sync with the Gen-X experience, even people only 3-4 years older than me, so I get it.

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Legitimate_Biscuits@reddit

'75 here... I can relate to the Xennial micro-generation, this video was a good explainer. I'd wander off for hours, coming home when the street lights came on; drank from hoses and played with questionable lawn toys. Landlines and dial up, Sega master system and friendster.

I think there are several socio-economic characteristics that influence your interpretation of what it feels like to be our generation, and how you identify relative to say the millenials on one end or the youngest boomers on the other.

1) Your parents - were they young and hip and connected to other parents with same age children. Were you in a stereotypical household; were they old parents, were they financially ready to be parents etc.

2) Your family/siblings: the younger siblings tend to follow the older in music, cultural references, social attitudes etc, so they'll lean to the older generation's type. The ones who are the first born etc of the family will follow their own, make their own etc, that can cross over to cousins that are close etc

3) The Urban/rural divide - this is especially true in fashion, but also music, drugs, technology: rural areas lag behind, so rural gen Xers like me weren't having the same experience as urban GenXers.... I think this rural/urban divide actually splits the Millenials even more, since a lot of their "traits" are tech based, Rural millenials would have had a lot of the same experiences as urban genXers - just separated by time and sociology

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Violet_Renegade@reddit

I was born in 1980. I have two siblings that were born in '71 and '65. I've identified more as a Xenniel since I first heard the term, maybe a decade ago. I had some of the main Gen X experiences, but missed out on a huge amount of them. I definitely don't feel like a Millennial, though. The micro-gen is pretty tailored to what my experiences were though.

Regardless, no generational identifier ever completely fits everyone born in that time period. I'm not sure why your friend is being overzealous about it, but I don't see any harm in considering oneself a Xenniel or whatever.

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theinvisablewoman@reddit

I feel the same

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Age one was when they first got home internet is a bit influencer as well.

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Ruby__Ruby_Roo@reddit

He isn’t a millennial. GenX goes to 1980.

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bony-tony@reddit

I think it's mainly about GenXers getting pretty old and crotchety.

At least on Reddit, r/GenX is a space largely to complain about our current lot -- your selfish Boomer parents or your lazy Z/Millennial kids, while r/Xennials is largely a space to recall old stuff fondly, like the pop culture of their youth/heyday.

Xennial is a bit of a stretch for me (1976), but I know which sub is more fun.

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73VW-Todd@reddit (OP)

It does suck getting older. I now have hair in my ears that I have to trim... no one ever told me that would be a thing. My eye-sight has been getting shitty since 45, and I have to rip out my nose hairs almost daily. I also can't sprint like I did in high school... and sometimes I hurt myself just sleeping. WTF...

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bony-tony@reddit

Funny that this just came up in the feed: https://www.reddit.com/r/GenX/comments/1sani63/help_its_getting_harder_and_harder_to_tie_my_shoes/

I mean, do you really begrudge your buddy his desire to sort himself a little younger?

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73VW-Todd@reddit (OP)

No, it totally makes sense. If I'm being super deep right now there are two things that scare me:

- I decide I no longer want to fight, and become OK with not trying to take over the world. I've done some pretty amazing things in life, have a lot of accomplishments, and I'm pretty proud of what I've done... but do I want to keep pushing and do more and achieve more... or do I want to finally give it a rest, and look forward to retirement in 10 years?

- I get so old and weak, that I'm no longer that 6'3" (now 6'2") 200+ pound guy that people generally feared. Not that I was or am mean, but you approach differently. I think the loss of presence (physically) will be something I never had to contend with growing up.

All this sounds so incredibly narcissistic... but I'm sure everyone goes through this... did I do enough in life, have I accomplished what I wanted? What's important now (kids)... can I still do more to save the world?

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garygnu@reddit

Whatever. Stop complaining, dude.

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Artios-Claw@reddit

Agreed. Half of the Gen X sub is health complaints and sandwich generation problems, the rest is nostalgia or bragging about how much better we are than boomers and millennials 😂 I’m a ‘65 Xer, so pretty much one of the oldest, and I’m telling you (lovingly) y’all sound like a bunch of old people. Here’s my suggestion if you find yourself in get off my lawn territory: Flip on the morning show on KEXP’s streaming app and get your mojo back and go kick ass.

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queenofcaffeine76@reddit

I was also born in 76 and I do identify a good amount with r/xennials. a lot of gen X reminiscing is about them doing young-adult stuff when I was in like second grade. no, I didn't watch Lost in Space or Captain Kangaroo, I haven't had a colonoscopy, and I have zero memories of the 70s as a culture or society. I love John Highes Films and Goonies, but I also love She's All That and Drive Me Crazy, early-90s hip-hop and late-90s punk.

Christina_Beena@reddit

Xennials are generally defined as 77-83 (conveniently aligning with the OG Star Wars trilogy). But birth order, socioeconomic status, and location heavily influence how GenX, how Millennial, or how in-betwixt you are

catalytica@reddit

I remember Nirvana being played during a high school pep rally. I don’t think high schools even do pep rally’s anymore.

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Dorothy_Zbornak789@reddit

Wow, I was a high school senior. So I guess Xennial, but that’s too long to say, so Gen X for me.

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calmlikeasexbobomb@reddit

I really think there's more to a generational identity than the years arbitrarily given to it. There were certain world events that we experienced globally, attitudes, trends, economic movement. It really and truly fascinates me.

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ryguymcsly@reddit

Exactly. My early childhood was BMX bikes and Atari 2600. My late childhood was super soakers and gameboys. My teenage years were early internet and wishing we could afford an N64.

If you talk to a sociologist about my early childhood it’s all Gen X. A combination of being broke, skipping grades, and having older cousins. If you talk to that same person about my life from 11-20 they’ll say it’s as early millennial as can be minus maybe my music taste.

I think of us more as the AOL generation though.

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WarPotential7349@reddit

We are all united by our ability to recognize the sound of AOL connecting!

I'm absolutely fascinated by Soc/Anth stuff, so now I'm rabbit holding about whether our parents' ages and age relationships to their families also informed our experience. Like older Boomer parents likely had a different parenting style than those born closer to the start of X. My parents were in their 30s when they had me, so their friends had kids that were solid Xs.

All I can say is Paula Abdul, Micro Machines, and Burple.

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HornetParticular6625@reddit

It's clearly cultural appropriation! 🤣

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fakeprofile111@reddit

I hate the Xennial tag it feels like more people trying to make Gen X even smaller. Boomers are a giant group not only by numbers but by the years and no one ever split the ones born in the early 60s from the ones born in the 50s

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magster823@reddit

So, you want to be like the Boomers and embrace the status quo? That doesn't sound very Gen X to me...

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Sir_UlrichVonL@reddit

Some do. That’s Generation Jones.

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TapeFlip187@reddit

I Def throw certain fools in gen jones. But it's a simple two question assessment:

Born before '69?
Does their mind work like a boomer's? Alternatively, does their heart hold the beliefs of one?\ (Double points if they don't think it does but anyone who's ever engaged with them can confirm.\ Octuple points if they get offended by this rubric.)

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catalytica@reddit

I enjoyed pretty much all the things you mentioned from Atari 2600 and bmx, coming home alone, playing in the gravel pit, Nintendo, N64, Zepplin, Green Day, typing essays on a typewriter and learning DOS on an i386 and building my own PC in high school.

Besides, why are you bent out of shape over what someone else thinks? That’s peak millennial.

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kjs0705@reddit

I consider myself gen x but understand the Xennial label. I have older cousins from the beginning of Gen x and to be honest our experiences are genuinely different.

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BlakeMajik@reddit

I'm a little confused about the timeline that you're professing. I'm a 72 Xer and for me Motley Crue was HS and Green Day was like early 20s. So both were "true" for me.

If you were all 78 then I'd think Motley Crue was a little early to be formative, but YMMV.

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jamescockroft@reddit

I’m 1978 too and much more Gen X than Xennial… I actually prefer Carter Baby, not that it matters.

I’ve seen Xennials born the year I turned 8, which seems suspiciously Millennial, and really I think it’s as much socioeconomic as date of birth.

I grew up in the exurbs: bicycles, garden hoses, and was more Kokamo era Beach Boys and Bobby McFerrin than Crue, but big hair and spandex was definitely a big part of my childhood via Mylon LeFevre. My first game system was a Nintendo and I never had a 64.

I consider myself a Xennial - Born in 1977, I grew up literally alongside Star Wars, Hip Hop, the home computer, and home video games.

I played Atari in elementary, nintendo in Jr high, and Super Nintendo in HS.

In first grade we were the first class at my school to have Apple II computers and we went to the new "Computer Lab" where we learned basic programming and, by 5th grade playing Oregon Trail. In my senior year in HS, the Internet came out, and we had two computers in the library on which we could access it.

In elementary school my dad would give me his electric typewriter to write my reports on. In high school I used my Brother Word Processor, and shortly after that, still in HS, I used Microsoft Word on our knock-off IBM computer where you'd print it out and then have to remove the sides of the printer paper from the report (I forgot what it was called).

The first cassette tape I ever owned was a blank white dub of a Run DMC album that a kid on my school bus gave me in 1983. I ran home from school that day, popped it into my boom box, and have been in love with rap music ever since. The golden era of 90s Hip Hop defined my HS years and my adolescent experience.

I am as old as Star Wars - played with the toys my whole life, and have always been an avid fan. I remember the dark times but got to see it blow up to the monster it is today. And I still buy and collect the toys. Collect Them All!!!

I do not remember the 1970s.

So yea, I feel like we are a different thing. We had the Gen X experience (water from the hose, etc...) but also truly split our lives between the old world and the new world. We were born at the same exact time as the technologies and popular culture that define today, and we grew up and evolved with them at every step.

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TooMuchPowerful@reddit

Great summary. Growing up analog, but also comfortable as a digital native than older GenX is what defines a Xennial. Need a VCR programmed? Need to figure out how to squeeze more base memory out of autoexec and config.sys to play that game? Watching Challenger with our elementary school classmates? That’s all us.

Also, don’t forget Word Perfect before MS Word. The nice blue background that Doogie also made famous.

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PRTKYONK@reddit

Wow - yes Word Perfect - and Memory unlocked of Doogie's screen. I freaking loved that show.

And yes - I was in the elementary school library with my class to celebrate the teacher going into space when we all watched it explode. I remember the teachers and librarians crying. We all kind of just sat there quietly staring at the two streaks of white smoke spreading out through the sky.

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armsracecarsmra@reddit

Born in 68. This seems firmly Gen X to me but, whatever…

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Dunno_If_I_Won@reddit

Yeah, except for the hip hop in high school, 95 percent of that describes my group (1966). Double Dutch Bus came out in middle school. We had an Apple computer in 7th grade.

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GrumpyGregGFY@reddit

Born in ‘69 and had many of your experiences except when you were in HS I was in college. Just sayin’ we’re not that different. 🍻 cheers

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Breakfastclub1991@reddit

It’s like horoscopes. You have a sign and a planet and the moon phase. Or He’s on the tail end of an era. Maybe your friend didn’t get to bmx and stay out until the lights came on. Maybe he wasn’t walking home alone at age 6 from school. So he kind of has one foot in both worlds.

The high schools got them first around 1985. Then the junior highs a couple years later. The grade schools (which went to 6th grade) didn't get them until 1990.

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chainmailler2001@reddit

My mother was a late boomer born in 61. Her siblings were both early GenX (64 and 67)while I am late GenX (79). Technically her siblings and I are in the same generation but their experiences and mine are radically different.

My first grade teacher had the first computers in our school. Ones she bought with her own money for the classroom because she had the foresight to recognize where things were going. The school finally had a computer lab when I was in 6th grade. My aunt and uncle learned typing on electric typewriters which were gone from my school.

KC_experience@reddit

My wife is a Xennial. Born in 81. Old enough to remember much of the mid-80s and young enough to have enjoyed Nintendos, etc.

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StrictFinance2177@reddit

The funny thing is, 64-82 used to be considered the full generation. A clean 18 years, like prior gens. Then suddenly anyone who published an eye-catching book could rewrite terminology.

Tell your wife she's included as a millennial to make them look less bad, a gift from Gen-X. 🤣

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activelyresting@reddit

There's also a thing called Generation Jones at the other end - people both on the cusp between boomers and gen X. And there's also Zelennials. Cusp between Millennials and gen Z.

You don't have to relate to it. Heck, you don't even have to relate to being gen X. It's all just generalisations. Some people born on the cusp feel like they don't quite fit in with either side, and they've found a way to be able to relate with a cohort. Like, it's just some made up shit, but so is all of it.

I'm all also one of the xennial group I suppose, but I relate far more to being gen X, and I'm definitely on the X side of the line. I don't really relate at all to millennial culture. But then, a lot of gen X stuff isn't me either, because I'm at the younger end, so people who were born in 1968 and still remember being alive and going to school in the 70s will have a different experience.

No need to overthink it. Just be happy for your friend that he's found a thing he relates to.

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_thekev@reddit

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I was born in 1980 and am the youngest of 5. I feel way more Gen X.

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Ruby__Ruby_Roo@reddit

I was born in 1980 and don’t think of myself as anything but GenX. Not the exact same experience as someone born in 1970 but generations aren’t a monolith.

I was an adult on 9/11, that’s what I think of as the cultural dividing line. If you weren’t, you’re a millennial.

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believe_in_dog@reddit

I’m a 75er, and I’ve never related to the traditional Gen X, and neither have the friends who range from 74-79. But I mean, I don’t talk about it or identify strongly with the Xennial term.… I grew up with My Little Pony and Cabbage Patch kids, N64, and relate to Green Day? Any label of a generation isn’t going to be absolute.

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AngryBagOfDeath@reddit

I was born in 78. I was in college by the time the N64 came out so that's not part of this generations "childhood". I raced BMX till I was 24. Also not part of my childhood. I mean I had an old Schwinn with a banana seat and tried to jump a pile of bricks and ended up with chin stitches. The Atari was the first system I ever played but also played everything else on up till about the super Nintendo. My brother was 4 years younger and he was into TMNT and I was out of action figures by then. I was into StarWars, He-Man, G.I. Joe, and Transformers were my toy of choice until I got an NES. I played football in highschool and remember seeing Greenday, Primus, NIN, Rancid, and Weezer on MTV during that time before football practice.

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dmaul17@reddit

I was born in 78 and in high school when N64 came out., but still had a big impact with friends coming over to play Mario Kart, then tons of of Goldeneye in my dorm room freshman year of college etc. I still play a ton of games today, after tearing with a little Atari and then NES as a kid.

The digital coming of age in the early to mid 90s and getting on the internet in 94 or so was a huge part of my development, so I’m more like a millennial than an Gen Xer really. Especially since I grew up out in the stick so I wasn’t running around with friends or anything and rarely saw them outside of school or youth sports.

He’s too old to give a shit about such things.

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prematurely_bald@reddit

Lots of late 70s early 80s don’t quite fit with either Xers or millennials. It’s its own little micro generation.

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ZzzzzPopPopPop@reddit

I have seen a couple of YouTube videos talking about xennials and I think a lot of it rings true. Early childhood was much like ours with no cell phones, not being constantly tracked, no social media, … But for them all of that stuff really came on full force during their formative years (I joined FB after my 10th High School reunion, so pretty adult at the time), straddling that big gap, particularly with the whole social media thing, when you’re not quite fully adult can make a big difference, so I believe it.

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RiffRandellsBF@reddit

but also beat Oregon Trail.

I don't know if I have an answer for you, but here are a few thoughts.

When the term GenX was coined it was people born from 1965- 1975. We all had pretty much the same experiences. Those people born from 76 to 80 had completely different life experiences.

That-Scar736@reddit

I only heard the term Xennial recently. I am Gen X (albeit late Gen X, born in 78) but I have some friends, work mates, band mates etc who are millennials, and although I wouldn't say we are all wildly different, I do find that I relate to more people of my age and older, I feel very different to millennials, Gen Z etc.

A lot of it I think is just down to when you were turned on in terms of music, pop culture, how you grew up. I was raised in rural and small town Ireland in the early - mid 80's, which wasn't massively different to the 70's culturally, economically etc. And I was an only child, who spent half my free time with my Dad, who was very into music and quite the movie buff (and of course, his tastes were more late 50's through to the 70's) and the other half where my grandparents, aunt and her children (who were all born in the 60's) lived, so that also shaped my taste and worldview. I even had a lot of hand-me-down toys, books, clothes etc. Which is not to say I didn't enjoy anything contemporary at the time, I absolutely did. But I already had "old tastes".

Whereas many of my peers really only got into music and serious movies in the 90's, so they were very much on trend with the era, while I was already at least a generation or two apart in terms of what I liked, and how I thought too, in a lot of ways.

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kayne_21@reddit

Not all gen-x from ‘78 are on this kick! I was born in ‘78 and my childhood was probably closer to yours than his. We had an Atari 2600, I drank from garden hoses, latchkey kid from the age of 7, rode bikes everywhere etc.

My wife was born in ‘82, and she claims she’s a Xeninal and not a millennial, but honestly it’s tongue in cheek for her.

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Matrinka@reddit

1979 and I connect more with xennial. I'm too young for a lot of Gen X references and too old for millennials. Right smack dab in between them feels right because I only fully feel like I'm a part of the end of one and the beginning of the other. The core aspects of both are present.

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ZarinaBlue@reddit

Your financial situation as you were growing up mostly dictates this.

I was born in 75 to very poor military parents. So a lot of things we couldn't afford. I think I bought my Sega Genesis second hand with babysitting money when I was 17.

Culturally I always feel like I hit a sweet spot. Smells like Teen Spirit video dropped two months after I turned 16. My dad's old hand me down jeans beaten up flannels that hung to my knees were cool all the sudden.

New music was on the radio or MTV. But I still listened to older stuff so when The Doors became popular again and Led Zeppelin was all the rage my homemade earrings were no longer homemade junk.

My grandparents helped get me an old beater for 600 dollars (it helped that I drove stick - something that I still miss.) Which gave me a tape player that I was allowed to use out of parents' earshot so I could listen to stuff that I wasn't normally allowed to. (Friends made me mix tapes or copies of their stuff.)

My first computer wasn't till I hit college.

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Stunning_Scheme_6418@reddit

I feel like my sister is a xennial. She was born in 82 my daughter was born in 93 she's definitely a millennial but my sister's kind of right on the edge. And culturally all three of us had very different experiences and upbringing

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therocketn00b@reddit

Are Generation Jonesers Boomers or Gen X? It doesn't really matter. If he wants to identify as an Xennial, I get it, and I think it's fine. But also, he can't make you do it if you're not into that label. Identity is somewhat arbitrary, but it's still important to people, and everyone should just respect each other's wishes and not worry about something that really isn't their business.

I'm squarely in the Gen X years, but I also spent so many years working with and being friends with Millennials, I identified strongly with them, and have a lot of affection for Millennials, and at times I have even felt more like a Millennial than a Gen X-er. I liked to say I spent so much time living and working with them that I picked up the accent.

You know it doesn't matter, right? The generation thing isn't some kind of law.

The xennial thing is just a subset of the broader generational designation and helps to further narrow down the likely experiences of the person.

But if you really are gen x, then you shouldn't give a shit what people call it, so I vote for letting your friend call himself whatever he wants

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groverlaw@reddit

Yeah, whatever.

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Agreed. Born in 78 and I’ve never related well with many people older than me. Childhood was out in the sticks, so it’s my teen years where I really came of age and got into grunge and punk rock, got on the internet and all that which really shaped my interests and who I am. Never got into 80s music or movies (Star Wars aside with ESB and ROTJ coming out then, but I watched them on VHS later on) etc.

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Head_Trick_9932@reddit

I agree. I’m 77’ and my older siblings are 68-72. I definitely identify more with millennials than older Gen X.

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LadyNorbert@reddit

I have never heard the term Generation Jones until now.

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neo101b@reddit

IDK was was born in 76, id say 78 is gen-x.
If born in the 80s might be different though.

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Icy-Bar-9712@reddit

I think its really important individually how much technology played and found its way into your childhood. For those of us who were into the internet in its youth of dial up modems and bbs days we'll trend xennial at younger birth years. Me and my friends from high-school were all very tech savvy and early tech adopters and it shows in our sharing of some/more millenial traits.

My wife and her people were the opposite and they don't have those traits.

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neo101b@reddit

I have always had a computer, from the Acron electron, Zx spectrum,
Amiga then PC. I was online with dial up when it cost 10p a minute, though I had a £500 phone
bill and didnt pay it. I was 18 and renting my own flat by then with a girl I was with.

IDK, I see my self as Gen-X because its the MTV generation, the 90s where peak music and porbably the last decade that has a musical generation.

Yeah, born in 76 and though I know I don't meet the cutoff year for Xennial, I find that I have more in common with the older Millenials than I do older Gen Xers for these same reasons. Analog childhood, digital teen & adulthood.

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RemotePossibility399@reddit

Gen X is the echo of the silent generation.

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MercyfulFrigate@reddit

The lines between generations get fuzzy on the edges. Someone born in 81 has more in common with Someone born in 77 than Someone born in 89.

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Admirable-Cobbler319@reddit

Who cares? It's all made up anyway.

I just like this sub for nostalgia reasons and because I relate often. But sometimes don't when it's a gen x ten years younger than me and that's ok.

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ComputerGeekFarmBoy@reddit

I would just Fit in the Xennial timeframe, and I saw it on tv, but I grew up on a farm in rural North Dakota, so I definitely fit more the hard line gen-x demographic.

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Smokezz@reddit

I grew up with all of that... then moved on to the Nintendo 64... Why are you stuck in the past?

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AntiqueCandidate7995@reddit

Tribal nonsense all of it.

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This-Shape2193@reddit

Just like this subreddit.

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AntiqueCandidate7995@reddit

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Its a way to slide out of being a millennial ( much derided) into being genX (cooler).

Being in a generation isn't special enough. He wants to be in a micro gen so he can be super special.

People like that are why the world is so screwed up lately.

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I feel like you answered your own question. His pop cultural references are different than yours because you are a different generation. You are Atari and he is Nintento 64. You are Motley Crue and he is Green Day. Either these generational names have no meaning since we all overlap and intersect and are original in our own ways in which case it doesn't matter whether he refers to himself as Gen X or Xennial or they do have meaning and tie you to a certain time frame and set of experiences in which case his are different than yours and therefore he identifies with a different group. I am old enough to remember when Gen X only went up to about 1972 and those of us who were born after that were briefly called Generation Y but then they changed the definition. They'll probably change it again.

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elkniodaphs@reddit

I consider myself Gen X, but here's why I stick around this sub... I grew up being referred to as Gen X the first 20 years of my life. It worked, because like you, I was on the Atari VCS, the Atari 400, I grew up on '70s music—maybe because I was an only child, I got my parent's hand-me-downs, I took my pop-culture cues from them instead of whatwver was emerging. My toys were made out of wood. I grew up on 8-track tapes and 45s until I graduated to proper LPs, the first one I bought for myself being a Chubby Checker album.

But then some damn book came out in the late (?) '90s which attempted to recontextualize all of that lived experience into a set of clean dates. I literally woke up one morning after a lifetime of being Gen X, and suddenly (according to this book) I was a millennial. My problem with it is, generational labels for the sake of generational labels are rather meaningless, but they serve as institutional markers to help us navigate identity, shared experience, and cultural influence. That's important to me because my partner has had some issues with mental health and her memories are suffering for it, I am keeping all of this alive for her, and for me.

But Xennials... it's a complicated relationship for me on this sub. Because I'm on the cusp, I identify with a lot of the content here too. Like, I grew up with an NES, Colorforms, candy cigarettes, a lot of the stuff you're likely to see here, but then I'll browse the sub and they'll be on their '90s childhood kick, like... I don't care about Topanga, I don't care about clear electronics; those kinds of posts make me feel old, even in a sub that's meant to be tailor-made for me. I have to bite my tongue every time a Xennial on here thinks "hey, you guys" is from the Goonies. But the good outweighs the bad. I totally get why your friend wants you to buy in, but I also get why you don't want to.

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the_natis@reddit

The age defines the generation more than the experience because experiences differ (city kid in my case vs what seems to be a more rural experience for you). I'm older than you, yet I don't associate with my elementary and junior high school years that much, whereas that's what you seem to connect to. While I was into metal and the such during those years, my high school years were more of my foundation. Don't get me wrong, I love Metallica, Anthrax, and Mötley Crüe, but I discovered New Order, Depeche Mode, and The Cure in HS and those are more my staple bands. Given the year that you guys were born, Green Day was hitting the airwaves when you were in high school and it just seems like your friend associates those years more and there is nothing wrong with that.

THIS!! That's the WHOLE reason gen X is still "gen x"

Coined in 1950s, "generation x" was the term Robert Capa, used as the placeholder for the group of children born post ww2 ("x" as in mathematical variable). They wouldn't be referred to as boomers until an article in 1963 about a rise in college applications.

Then the placeholder moved to the next generation.

Early 90s saw a push to solidify a label (latchkey, MTV, slacker) and we collectively said, "We'll keep the placeholder, cause these labels are dumb."

Somehow that idea got lost in the wind, (or too many didn't get the memo), because we immediately started with the alphabet placeholders (Y, Z, Alpha) and calling "gen y" "millenials.

As far as I'm concerned, regardless of birth year, anyone who can see the pointlessness of dividing groups into arbitrary labels, can call themselves Gen X.

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shawncollins512@reddit

I belong to the blank generation and I can take it or leave it each time

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ThatGuyHadNone@reddit

I was saying let me out of here before I was even born

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redditidothat@reddit

”Green Day, and Nintendo 64, and … Atari 2600, BMX bikes, Motley Crue, 8-Bit Nintendo, drinking from a garden hose, traveling miles in the woods outside of my house, coming home just before sun-down.”

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Dorkinfo@reddit

This is so “in my day we walked three miles in the snow just to get to school” that it’s funny.

Dookie came out in 94. So your friend would’ve been 16. They would’ve been 18 with n64. Motley Crue got popular around what, 1985? Your friend was 7. Can you see how the lines get a little blurred when you get close to the beginning/end of a generation? I was born in 83 and had an NES, still do. I also drank from the hose and played in the woods. I have no problem being a millennial, but sometimes there is overlap when it comes to this stuff.

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TheDandyWarhol@reddit

Are we not supposed to drink from a hose anymore?!

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lemmylemonlemming@reddit

Don't let them change ya bro. I will drink my rubber flavored hot water til I die.

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Affectionate_Ad_8148@reddit

It just mixes all nice with the plastics already in our blood anyway. 😎

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Kennikend@reddit

Yes! I also think so many factors like where you live, socioeconomic status, and older sibling influence can impact what generation someone identifies with.

My husband and I were born six months apart in 85. He is from New England, a higher socioeconomic class, and was the oldest of his family. I am from the Appalachian Mountains in Eastern TN, a lower socioeconomic class, and siblings that are 6 years older. I feel more Xennial/Z and he is solidly a millennial.

I call myself a Millennial, but also relate to other generations. I don’t really care about what generation someone identifies with. I think the large generational data and trends have more usefulness with strict definitions. But individuals can identify with whatever culture feels like theirs. What’s the harm?

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Extension-Rabbit3654@reddit

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SettleDownAlready@reddit

Like some have already said it’s people born within a certain window of years under the Gen X banner. A sub group kinda. I will say I’m Gen X but get specific about being a Xennial because sometimes you can’t really relate to the experiences of older Gen Xers. I don’t think it’s a really big deal just a way of syncing with people born in your age range more.

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dr_police@reddit

Yup. Those of us born in the late-70’s have some Gen X experiences, some Millennial experiences, and sometimes that can feel like being a man without a country. Hence, Xennial.

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tetrasodium@reddit

You pretty much demonstrate why it's important to him by talking about things he grew up with as stuff that you don't care about while listing your equivalent things you grew up with. To him it's the other way around but with both the rest of genx and millennials

Xenials get that from both directions. Any group of friends they have are highly likely to be either a bit too young to have much experience with something a bit too young to have meaningful/relevant experience with something when it was popular if it's a genx thing but at the same time have a lot of the same odd man out feeling being just a bit too old when the friend group is millennials.

I. The case of xenials though there are some pretty significant factors caused by their age and stages of brain development they were going through as we went from analog landlines cassette tapes and so on to pagers dialup the Internet cellphones and so on that adds another level of differences, but in that case it tends to be go-between translator/communicator/guide for the two disconnected groups who both don't care that the xennial I'm question might have disjointed feelings of their own. Somewhere back in the day both groups just decided their almost peer xenial pal would be that support because they just got it and didn't seem to need any of the support the older/younger generation needed so that became their identity in a lot of ways.

If you search YouTube for xennial there are a bunch of videos explaining various aspects of xennial psychology and how those things manifest through their interactions with the world.

Entire-Order3464@reddit

It's all made up. We realize that right? The cutoffs are arbitrary. Xennials generally refers to folks born in the approx window 77-84. People who still had childhoods without the internet. Somebody born in 79 is technically Gen X and 81 is technically millennial but had more similar childhoods than someone born in 83 vs 95 despite them both being technically millennials. Similarly a Gen X born in 65 is gonna have a very different experience than one born in 80.

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Adgvyb3456@reddit

Thai

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SimpleVegetable5715@reddit

Also socioeconomic status matters. Lower SES moves through generations slower. Social sciences aren’t exact sciences.

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dmaul17@reddit

Generations are defined too long really. That said, I was born in 1978 as well and had Atari and 8 Bit NES etc. But it’s SNES/N64/Playstation 1, bands like Pearl Jam, Green Day etc. that most define me and I most listen to etc. these days.

Maybe it’s from growing up out in the country, but it’s really my middle school to high school years that defined me and my interests and hobbies, rather than my childhood. I don’t have any affinity for the 80s, 80s music and movies etc. It’s the early to mid 90s stuff that clicked with me and shaped my tastes and interests.

Again, probably from growing up in the sticks, only getting a few channels on TV and not much on the radio, rarely seeing elementary school friends outside of school etc. So it was a lot of playing outside, youth sports etc. before middle school and on.

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Dark-Empath-@reddit

Honestly, I wouldn’t get hung up on pre-packaged identities based on an arbitrary date range. We will all have things in common and things wildly different in our lives. It’s fun to reminisce on a few shared pieces of pop culture, but don’t get hung up on labels that are ultimately fairly meaningless.

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Marigold1976@reddit

Marketing tools, all artificial marketing tools. Let your friend have his self identity crisis play out. He’ll get bored with it someday. Sooner or later you find out it doesn’t matter what you grew up with, it’s how you treat people (yourself included) right now is what really matters. Now, leave me alone, I’m trying to make a mix tape and I need to concentrate.

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bird9066@reddit

Like those "personality tests" somebody pulled out of their asses that people go crazy and make their entire identity.

I was a dead head/punk. Sometimes I wish I could have experienced rave culture. I loved the look and the music. I also would have happily bounced with the emos.

But I was a spinner and a mosher, lol

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Technology and society developed at such a rapid pace through those years that it's no surprise kids born 4-5 years apart had vastly different experiences. Also, where you lived played a major role. I grew up in suburbia and had what most would consider a traditional Gen X childhood. We moved in 91 and I went to high school in the country with kids that had never seen MTV because most of the county didn't have cable TV yet. A lot of the guys my age didn't take video games seriously until things like N64 or the OG Playstation came out, and had never seen a PC of any kind outside the computer lab at school.

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linniex@reddit

Gen Jones has entered the conversation. They are the ones between boomers and us. Too young to have been drafted. It’s just another way to try and segment people off into groups that shared a common experience.

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OreoSpeedwaggon@reddit

I grew up with memories of all that stuff from the '70s through the '90s that you mentioned. I call myself a "Gen Xer" for convenience's sake, but I honestly don't care about putting a label on it or not.

Asimov figured it out in his Foundation series. People are like the atoms in a gas. It’s impossible to predict the actions of an individual, but the larger a population you’re talking about, the easier it is to predict the behavior of the mass. Generations are like that. We all have our own tastes, habits, and upbringings, but as a whole, we have a set of shared experiences and values that make our responses to stimuli pretty reliably predictable on the macro level. Spoken as a crotchety old ‘65er who’s as familiar with technology, anime, and grunge music as any self-described Xennial.

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nocountryforolddick@reddit

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Januszek_Zajaczek@reddit

It's pretty dumb and it only exists on the internet. I think it's the whole thing about Gen x being basically invisible online. Unlike millennials. So they frankensteined that stupid tetm to belong somewhere less boring. Generation within generation. Just ignore it

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thisTexanguy@reddit

No, it's like Generation Jones. It's the transitional period between generations. The idea that there's the hard line between generations is laughably naive. If a person is born on one side of the dividing line there will be no difference from someone born on the other side. I mean, I'm an early Gen Xer, having been born in 1969. My childhood has little in common with someone born in 1979. Yet we're both Gen X. By the time they graduated in 1997, things were radically different than when I graduated in 1987.

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borisdidnothingwrong@reddit

I'm firmly Gen-X born in '72, but when I peruse the Xenniel sub, and even the Generation Jones subreddit, they're are a lot of things I find myself identifying with.

The way I think about it, Gen-Xers are more than the "hosewater and neglect" bumper sticker label.

We are the forgotten generation. The overlooked generation.

We simply had to get things done for ourselves, and never received acknowledgement for it.

We were shaped by Bugs Bunny as much as Nirvana.

Participation trophies were handed out to younger kids; Gen-Xers were begrudgingly handed our 4th place Honorable Mention ribbons.

Millennials are not the generation of N64 vs NES or Super Nintendo. They are the generation that started to get societal safety nets that Boomers forgot were appropriate for Xers.

If he wants to fit in with a younger crowd, based on a half generation of technological improvement rather than the thing that really sets Millennials apart from us, namely support and acknowledgement, then let him.

Xers rally behind our war cry: Whatever.

Good riddance.

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PutAdministrative206@reddit

Green day was high school for me and Nintendo 64 was college. My elementary timing was all of the things you stated. Full disclosure: I was born in 74.

I wouldn’t call myself anything other than Gen X, but I get being into the later stuff your friend is.

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SilverAsparagus2985@reddit

My brothers and I are all GenX. 68, 71 and 79. My brothers gad hair band posters plastered on their wall, I had all the 90s pop and r&b singers. They were out of the house living their lives by the time I aged into puberty. It was just different timeframes. I related a lot more to Xennial culture than the boomer lite culture of GenX. I was in the club in the 2000s, because I turned 21 in 2000, of course, I relate to a lot more millennial Type ish, in that aspect.

Also, originally X extended all the at to like 85. They’ve cut it back further and further so we were all interacting with each other in the internet with that assumption. I have great friends I’ve kept that were born between 80-85 that considered themselves Xers. There’s just a difference in coming up, that’s all, but either label truly doesn’t matter. Wear it or don’t. It’s not really affecting anyone and if it is they need to touch some grass, play some lawn darts or become their special version of a human slinky. 😃

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phinz@reddit

It's like Gen Jones, the tail end of the Boomers. My wife is Cusper/Gen Jones and she's more X than Boomer.

The generation labels are large bucket and we try to generalize “this group of people had similar life experiences”.

Researcher say that our brains are still developing well into our mid 20s.

All the “Xenial” label is doing is highlighting that for those of us (1976 here) on this particular edge we developed both a strong analog identity AND a digital identity.

My cousin who is just 3 years older than me cannot understand how to use a computer.

The labels are there as a short hand.

I’m GenX through and through. Grunge, Flannel, cynicism and sarcasm are the fuel I consume.

I also understand how Kubernetes works. And if you know, you know.

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Trolkarlen@reddit

These "generations" are all artificial constructs. They don't fit everyone perfectly, so people create subcategories.

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tahiticondo@reddit

I was born in 76 and share more things with millennials than boomers but I don’t care that much. Time is just a construct man

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Supernatural_Canary@reddit

Something to consider: In 2023 the Pew Research Center announced it would no longer employ generational frameworks in their polling because they found that people born at opposite ends of a single generational grouping were so different, had such divergent outlooks and life experiences, that it was screwing up their analyses.

Someone born in 1965 (the start of Gen X) has virtually nothing in common with someone born in 1980 (the end of Gen X) in terms of upbringing and cultural experience. The fact is, someone born in 1978 has way more in common with someone born in 1985 than someone born in 1970, so I can see why this generational balkanization would happen.

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JJQuantum@reddit

Why do you care how he identifies himself? Let him be him and you be you.

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73VW-Todd@reddit (OP)

His my brother from another mother... I have to keep him on the righteous path.

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s1l1c0n3@reddit

I identify with most of that except the Motley Crue thing. Hated hair metal then, still hate it now.

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1block@reddit

As far as generational habits, Xennial doesn't really have anything unique from X or Millennial. It's more about the youth experiences in what we liked and did. If you're on the border of a generation, (Xenniall is three years before or after 1980) your pop culture experience is different.

Plus for Gen X especially, they're at a spot where the older part of the generation is looking at retirement where the younger is still in their 40s, so the lived experience in the moment is very different, with older X exhibiting more old-person traits (which is why people have started saying they're like Boomers. They're not Boomers, they're just being old).

As a late '78 model, I sometimes see things on here that other GenX'ers talk about that I can't and don't relate to at all... Because it was before my time. Some of it is music, TV shows, movies, Atari, etc. Though I did drink from the hose, run the woods/streets to my hearts content, etc.

So even though I am technically GenX, I feel I do relate to the whole Xennial thing a bit more.

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Inner-Association448@reddit

I was born in 1978 and didn't play N64 until I was in college. I grew up with Atari and NES.

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ComesInAnOldBox@reddit

Two reasons:

The people in the Xennial timeframe have a much different experience growing up than the people before or after them (like you even said, he grew up with different things that you did), and
The generational boundaries are largely bullshit, anyway.

Some people are just looking for a group with which to identify. Let them make up their own little group and identify with each other, it doesn't hurt you in any way, shape or form.

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natedogjulian@reddit

No idea. Don’t care.

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73VW-Todd@reddit (OP)

Hahah... doesn't get more Gen-X than that.