What was the worst year (class of ----) to be born as a Xennial
Posted by bluekillgore@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 44 comments
We all know that our little chunk of time had its ups and downs, but what do you guys think was the worst year to be born and then grow up in?
For example: I was born in 83 and always felt my class had it shitty. We had Columbine my freshman year and 9-11 was in the fall of our senior year.
But also in the same token, all the great things like movies/shows, music trends etc. They all seemed to hit us at the perfect time. I was young enough that My last Kid obsession was dinosaurs because of Jurassic Park but then (shh dont tell mom) old enough to drive off to Maryland the summer of 99 looking for the blair witch stuff with my friends. Social media was an easy transition. Mabee because in my state of NC, my class was the first to have to PASS the first standardized computer applauded test to graduate.
But I imagine thats possibly just my experience
And now that I have wrote this im thinking the question should be what is the best "class of" to have lived threw
thesmallprints@reddit
I was born in 83 and 9/11 happened my first year of college.
animalcrackermafia@reddit
83 also. I took the year off before going to college but it was my very first day at a job.
Got sent home after a 45 min commute and and being there all of 10 minutes.
Ok_Squash9609@reddit
Born 83 and 9/11 happened 3 months after joining the military… what a wild ride
hedwaterboy@reddit
A shitty deal? All my uncles were drafted into Vietnam.
thesmallprints@reddit
Yeah, my dad and uncle were too. Everyone gets handed a shit deal.
-OccultOfPersonality@reddit
Ah more fun competitive “who suffers more”
DarksunDaFirst@reddit
Same here.
throwitallaway@reddit
Like the first week or two even.
AxolotlGummies@reddit
Yep, second week of freshman year. 😬
ManInTheMorning@reddit
Class of '04. We had Columbine just in time to scare us for high school. 9/11 just in time for us to be drafted at graduation, then if you carried on the education path we graduated college during the '08 collapse.
You can fill in what happened from there...
LilMushboom@reddit
Class of 02 literally watched 9/11 live on tv our senior year. A bunch of guys I graduated enlisted as soon as they graduated.
SpoonFullOfSugar1111@reddit
Class of '01... and same... and not all of them came home alive 😿
LilMushboom@reddit
I don't think anyone in my particular class was killed in action, but there was a lot of divorce, substance abuse, and a couple of suicides after the fact. It was rough.
Lonely-Notice1828@reddit
Always wanted Afghanistan but by the time I was through training Iraq was ripping so to the Fertile Crescent we went.
shanty2021@reddit
um. there was no draft. what?
throwawaymumm@reddit
Right?! There wasn’t a draft.
FoppyRETURNS@reddit
Class of '03 ran into the same buzzsaw!
Yep_why_not@reddit
Only if they did 5 years in college.
Yep_why_not@reddit
2004 was Millenial. 2003 would have been the last Xennial. I do agree though that class got it bad.
blazo811@reddit
Yes we (dudes) all had to sign up for it, but there hasn't been a draft since Vietnam. Brutal timing for college graduation though
Maleficent_Gas5417@reddit
You’re a millennial
OogaBooganaitor@reddit
I agree their early adulthood sucked, but unless you graduated late in 2004, you’re a millennial. Anyone who graduated after 2001 has my sympathies.
BigPoppaStrahd@reddit
They can be a xennial if their hearts in it and they have the right attitude
Tetris_Pete@reddit
Ok, this wins.
fatkidscandystore@reddit
Going opposite end I think class of 95 was the last good one. But I grew up with older Gen X siblings sooooo perspective. I always see a big divide between class of 95 and class of 96. Honestly I always feel barely xennial, which I guess I am.
Also from a smaller Midwest town, so we’re likely being the curve. People my age from more in the know areas were likely way ahead of is culturally.
Ok_Criticism7172@reddit
Just curious (because I'm class of 96) - what difference do you see between 95 and 96?
fatkidscandystore@reddit
I feel like it’s partially our fault. For example college, I was in a fraternity and the class after mine was the first “no hazing” class. We got hazed hard (which was fun imo). In high school the year after me is the year they added all kinds of security cameras and went from one police officer to 4.
It seems like we were ahead of everyone older than us technologically but miles behind 1996. We were fumbling through it but using it. 1996 was mastering and getting connected with peers around the world a lot faster.
Rave culture was starting with class of 1995 but class of 1996 accelerated it.
Overall we still had a lot of the fight the system but find away to change it whereas 1996 was more the system is never going to work take it down.
It just seems like a lot of the “millennial” stereotypes really kicked in hard with the class of 96.
edasto42@reddit
Class of 95 here as well. On a grand scale we got lucky with a lot of stuff.
Our freshman year was literally soundtracked by ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ which was released in September 1991. That song was kickoff to a change in culture for a few years, which started to end by 1995. What was once a little dangerous, edgy became formulaic by 1995.
Our high school years did not have any big negative issues that affected us. No Columbine, the Cold War ended, the Gulf War ended, etc. Sure there were some military actions during that time but they were either nothing that the US was really involved in, or it was short lived. Things were relatively ‘peaceful’ (for lack of a better term) those 4 years.
I think a big shift happens in 1996 due to telecommunications act. This started consolidation of media outlets. This made media more homogeneous, thus culture shifting back towards more controlled mainstream. It’s something that was definitely felt by me looking back to how boundary pushing the early 90’s was when compared to the late 90’s and beyond.
Expensive_Future327@reddit
Interesting side note....despite all the shit we went through (I'm 83), I know lots and lots of Gen Z types (mid to late 20s), that I'm in a graduate program with (2nd career) who hang on my "what it was like" stories with awe, wonder, and absolute envy of what my life was like. So shitty or not, we are fucking icons to younger generations.
IowaJammer@reddit
On the bright side, we missed the challenger explosion!
Willing_Actuary_4198@reddit
9/11 was like 3 months after I graduated highschool
TrixieLaBouche@reddit
1980 because we belonged intergenerational and never fitted in. Too young for a full 80s experience. Too young to fully be adults in the 90s. Just getting in to it them bam! 9/11 and then it all went to shit. Then just buying a house? The banking crash.
YouBuiltThat@reddit
81, but feel the same as you.
DarthKingBatman@reddit
'84.
The later you're born the more intergenerational wealth inequality will hold you back. '84 was born into a worse job market, would've contended with higher priced housing, etc. This is kind of an in-the-aggregate position just looking at financial well-being, and it's fairly universal irrespective of geographic location.
I'm from Western Canada and '82 so this next part didn't affect me, but the '84 generation in Ontario (Canada's most populous province) experienced "a unique demographic event where two separate high school graduating classes—one from the old 5-year system and one from the new 4-year system" which also meant increased competition for post-secondary and job placement. This of course affected post-secondary placement and job-markets nationwide to some extent as well.
So I'm going with 84 for most, and especially Canadian Xennials.
Secure_Bed_9110@reddit
Lol, also Western Canadian '82 Canadian. I'd say our demo 'cuz we were hit with the brand spankin' new Graduated Licensing Program (in BC) just as we were turning 16, lol.
DarthKingBatman@reddit
I didn't learn to drive until after Uni and moving to the US (temporarily!) anyway, but GLPs appear to be good for reducing fatalities and I'm a filthy, disgusting socialist so that works for me!
Secure_Bed_9110@reddit
It actually was a good program, it just felt like a grave injustice as a teenager watching your older siblings/classmen hit that rite of passage and tool off in their parents' car packed with their teenage friends come their 16th birthday--only to hit 16 ourselves and have to have another licensed adult in the car, and no more than one passenger, and not be allowed on the roads after midnight, etc etc. Now as an adult, I agree that it was actually very smart, but it was just a bucket of cold water on our teenage dreams.
Of course they've just done away with it at a time when there seems to be more terrible drivers on the road than ever, and now I'm terrified, lol.
alvinofdiaspar@reddit
Yes the infamous double cohort.
Glad_Brief_1741@reddit
You're born when you're born. Deal with it.
ReflectionAble684@reddit
I agree with 1983. I graduated in 2001 ans was weeks into college when 9/11 happened.
atari2600forever@reddit
Class of 78 had it rough, the dot com bubble burst right as we were graduating.
Yep_why_not@reddit
84 got hit with the recession if they did 5 years of college. Probably the worst.
Loocha@reddit
99 was the last class of the millennium. 2000 got all the hype of being the year 2000. 2001 was just kinda there. So my vote would either be 98 or 01 as the worst year of being xennial. I can be talked into including 97 and 02. Once you get outside of those years I start to think of you as X or millennial.
-threefeetoffun@reddit
Every year got worse and continues to. So the last year we call Xennials is the worst.