Have never seen myself as a Gen-X’er

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killer_sheltie@reddit

Yeah, IDK why I'm supposed to identify as Gen X when I spent most of my childhood being told I wasn't Gen X. They didn't settle on the age ranges until I was out of college, and there's still not a universal consensus with different places and governments defining Millennial as starting anywhere between 1980 and 1983.

All I know is that my childhood and teen years were significantly different than my 1970 brother's.

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Taskerst@reddit

I’m a ‘78 and had virtually the same upbringing as my ‘68 brother with the exception that he still tries to clown on me for liking Grunge. My sister (‘84) might as well be a Zoomer to me. I guess it depends on the family.

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Cisru711@reddit

78 was never not Gen X. Like you said, the cut off has slided from 83 to about 80, but never into the 70s.

Generations are generalities though. Not everyone is going to identify with them.

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BlomkalsGratin@reddit

Huh? I'm a '78 and I had the exact same experience as O.P. In the '80s and '90s we were continuously told that X ended in 75/76 - on a rare occasion they'd go as far as '77 but iI'd never seen '78 included until all of a siden the cut off became '80/'82 somewhere im the 2000s Back when the next ones were mostly called "Y"

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killer_sheltie@reddit

Yeah, I think there was even a Time Magazine cover or something with like three different names for "our" generation discussing the terms and age ranges when I was on the verge of adulthood. Gen Y was one, Millennial was another, I don't remember the third. I remember rooting for the one definition that included me to win; alas, it didn't.

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Clumsy_Ninja2@reddit

My mom is Gen X, I am absolutely not. I am 78

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Clumsy_Ninja2@reddit

I’m getting downvoted for having a young mother? lol. All I meant was that her childhood and my childhood were very different. Our taste in music is/was very different. Points of view, expectations, etc… are all different.

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59apache01@reddit

Your mom was 13-14 when you were born?

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Clumsy_Ninja2@reddit

Yes, she was 14

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bashturd@reddit

Same here. Born in 80, when I was young I thought genx was cool, but was continually told I wasn’t part of it. As I got older I felt like I aligned more with millennials. My wife is a millennial, and we had close to the same experience growing up. The only real difference is that she had internet in middle school. I didn’t have internet until I was an adult, but part of that is just because I grew up fairly poor. We had it in our high school library, but I didn’t mess with it.

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AKookyMermaid@reddit

I remember when Friends came out they were described as gen x and my dad told me I wasn't part of that generation. (Nov 78 here).

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killer_sheltie@reddit

"In August 1993, an Advertising Age editorial coined the phrase Generation Y to describe teenagers of the day, then aged 13–19 (born 1974–1980), who were at the time defined as different from Generation X"

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LongjumpingJaguar308@reddit

I remember seeing some news story about Gen X when I was 10, but it was about them entering the workforce/becoming consumers or whatever. That felt wrong to me and I didn't relate, for obvious reasons.

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brittanytobiason@reddit

I am a '77 baby who last year spoke to two other '77 babies (one from the east coast, one from the west coast) who could not believe I feel thoroughly Xennial with no association to GenX. I have some much older friends who are GenX. "That's GenX I want to say." Yet, both these sincere '77 babies identify hardcore as GenX. One even listed bands to me in disbelief. I hadn't heard of a single one. Granted, I grew up abroad, but still... this suggests to me that "generations" are just culture with some marketing use.

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knittinghobbit@reddit

I think of GenX as NKOTB fans and Milennials as ‘NSync and Backstreet Boys fans as teens, not as little kids. I’m solidly Xennial and was in college for 9/11, but am on the Milennial side of Xennial because the latter groups were popular when I was a teen. My cousins are GenX and had NKOTB posters everywhere.

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Winter_Dimension8107@reddit

You are a mix.

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59apache01@reddit

I think it has a lot to do with where and how you grew up. In my area, 1970 wasn't all that much different than 1980. I have all the Gen X cynicism toward life in general and I basically raised myself. Born in 1978 if that matters.

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coopnjaxdad@reddit

As a 77er I am right on the edge of the sliding scale.

I think it relates to what your interests were as a kid in some ways. If you were tech forward you probably won’t identify with GenX as much.

I did the whole latchkey kid, hosewater thing but I was always into nerdy tech shit and modern media. That shaped who I was in a different way than some of my older friends. Now as adults we are VERY different from each other.

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No-Championship-8677@reddit

I’m the same way! I was also, I felt, too young to appreciate music that teens listened to that came out before 1995. I never related to Reality Bites. I was helicopter parented. These are just a few examples.

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SystemAccomplished64@reddit

I feel the same way (b. 1979, started college in 1997). To me, Gen X is Ben Stiller and Winona Ryder in Reality Bites, or the Brat Pack in John Hughes movies.

The one thing that hangs me up about millennials is when they get nostalgic about the 90's, I realize we lived in different ends of it. They'll be like, "Remember Pogs?!" and I'll be like, "No. Not at all. But I remember Bel Biv Devoe and when Kurt Cobain died..."

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Balthierlives@reddit

Ha ha this exactly. Or like Pokémon. Sure my freinds much younger brother was playing that but I was definitely not doing that.

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SystemAccomplished64@reddit

I remember watching The Simpsons on the Tracey Ullmann Show

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TryFine317@reddit

1980

That’s why we’re Xennials! (And awesome)

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AKookyMermaid@reddit

Same. I was born in 78, and late 78 at that. I identify more with millennials than gen x. I was in 1st grade when the Challenger exploded and I must have been home sick that day because I don't remember watching it on tv with my classmates. I feel like I was blissfully unaware of political events until the gulf war happened when I was in middle school.

I graduated high school in 97 and was almost 19 when Princess Diana died. Almost 23 when 9/11 happened.

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Toph_a_loaf@reddit

Born in 80. I'm too young to be a Brat Pack Gen Xer. I definitely vibe more with Millennials but I feel like their brother whose only like 3 years older. Millennials are like my little brothers and sisters who read Harry Potter and watched SpongeBob in high school while I had graduated and moved on to college and was into Fight Club, The Matrix, and The Big Lebowski

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BumbleTeacup@reddit

I understand this. When I relate to Gen X, it’s more because my older brothers were both solidly gen X. My friends and classmates were more millennial as i have a fall birthday so most of my grade was born in 1980. I tend to go back and forth on which I identify as…

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bytebackjrd@reddit

I always see myself as a millennial. I was born on the last day of 79. Don’t really have the same experiences of those who are gen x

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absentlyric@reddit

I felt the same. Especially in Music, I was supposed to graduate in 1999, but got held back, so I graduated in 2000, and started college in 2001.

In the music scene, I got sucked into the Myspace Scenster thing. I went down the Emo/Screamo/Metalcore path as most of the people I was socializing with were younger going to locals to listen to those bands.

I don't know too many Gen X that got into My Chemical Romance, Underoath, Panic! At The Disco, etc. But I know a ton of Millennials that did.

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HoneyBadger302@reddit

In general I relate a lot more to Millennials than I do to GenX'rs IRL - from where I'm at in life, to finances, to just how life has treated me, my "struggles" are much more "millennial" than "GenX."

Music, TV, pop culture, etc is also more Millennial - that is partially due to my (toxic, super conservative, religious nut job) family and how they raised us/me as the oldest - so I wasn't really "exposed" to the rest of the world outside of books and a few things I'd 'sneak watch' at friends houses until the military and college, so anything even early-mid 90's just didn't really cross my path since my family was all jeebus-only.

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jynxthechicken@reddit

That's okay I'm a millennial that feels more like a Gen X. Probably from having one boomer parent and one Gen x parent.

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Roxygirl40@reddit

My parents are boomers

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kimchiman85@reddit

So are mine

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Vancouverreader80@reddit (OP)

Both my parents are boomers

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RunAwayBeerTruk@reddit

Based on comments in the Gen X sub you better off here. Most of them come across like gatekeeping wannabe boomers anyway.

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Traditional_Entry183@reddit

Me either. I've always felt that Core Xers went to high school in the 80s, while Xenials did in the 90s, and Millineals in the 00s. My friends and I all felt that there was a big shift in between the people who were high school seniors when we were freshman and our age group. Like they were ADULT adults when they left high school, while we were in a transition period.

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TNScrambler@reddit

I agree with this, I think a lot of it also depends on where you were raised. Pre- ‘89 I lived in a very rural area on a tobacco farm I experienced very much a Gen X lifestyle . But when I moved to a “bigger” city in ‘89 and we got things like cable tv etc… then I had a lot closer to the elder Melinieal experience.

And that’s why we are Xenials, we lived in a realm bridging both generations.

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ipaintbadly@reddit

I totally agree with all of that.

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taney71@reddit

Same

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BlueSnaggleTooth359@reddit

They really should've stuck with earlier decade or so long gens like:

'55-'64

'65-'75

'76-'85

'86-'95

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Traditional_Entry183@reddit

I absolutely feel like 76-85 are a lot more culturally similar.

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diypizza@reddit

ITA

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jez_shreds_hard@reddit

I haven’t seen myself as Gen X either, but that’s probably because I’m technically a millennial (born at the end of 1981). I do really like the music created by Gen X.

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Character_Bend_5824@reddit

My parents didn't have me until well past 30. So, by rights, I "should" have been born in the early '70s. I never got much into rap and felt more at home with my dad's classic rock and Herb Alpert.

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the_kid1234@reddit

I always hung out with older kids in school and HS/College jobs so I felt connected to the 69-79 crowd. I was the oldest in my family so a lot of our family friends were 82-88. Because of both of these I got as much of the late X culture as I did the early Millennial culture. My uncle sent me Ten and Nevermind early in the grunge thing but my family group all went to see Free Willy.

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Into-the-stream@reddit

I don’t know one way or the other. I get along with some people from all different generations, and I don’t get along with others. It’s more about ideology and outlook than strict birth years. Some boomers are great, some millennials are dicks, and visa versa. I just roll with it. Just because you are born in a certain year doesn’t mean you share a world view.

I like this sub though. It’s fun here and we (mostly) share the same childhood media so that’s fun.

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jamescockroft@reddit

I long identified as Gen X, and I’m a bit too young, really. I finished High School in 96 and didn’t go to college really until 2003. Most of my college cohort were elder Millennials, and I’ve always had younger and older friends. I voted for Clinton the second time and had my first cell phone in 2003.

But I was mostly a latch key type kid, feral, and whatever like the Gen X stereotype. I am very much not a Millennial, and some of the Xennial experience skews a bit young for me. All this stuff is fluid and just try to relax and have a good time.

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musical_shares@reddit

I was a little kid when I watched Degrassi in the late 80s, those teenagers seemed like the actual Gen X kids to me.

Most of the actors are only a few years older than me, but at a time when a few years made a big difference. Huge hairsprayed hair, blue eye shadow, mullets, denim jackets and ripped up hitops weren’t particularly in vogue during my own formative years.

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BlueSnaggleTooth359@reddit

It's basically this (the high school ones are long but like 40 second peak at timed entry points gets the idea across):
X:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpsMvCqmX7M&t=328s (various outside school between classes, Southern California, 1985)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDHqfhyCbbM&t=190s (live footage from the 80s, 80s "fun" hip-hop, break dancing, earlier 80s)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGpoNxduzvk&t=1148s (Jefferson Mall #8, NY, local NY/NJ region mall girls lip sync contest winners, 1986)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC1eKmVccOM&t=190s (heavy metal part of talent show, NJ, late 1987)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC1eKmVccOM&t=3346s (graduation party, Dirty Dancing, NJ, early 1988)
https://youtu.be/gxqjoaQYxnw?si=PhfEW1Y3FTgkVNQG&t=4619s (grad party, Forever Young/Break Dancing, NJ, early 1989)

vs. this:
Xennials:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J9-L5enIMc&t=188s (high school, late 1994)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBqcZlKuVyo (club hang out Nirvana)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZXc39hT8t4 (90s hardcore hip-hop)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avab_NR_lhk&t=80s (start of 1st day of school, NJ, late 1997)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avab_NR_lhk&t=1816s (in class, NJ, 1997 or 1998)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLuKHJ4tkXE&t=53s (in class, NJ, 1997 or 1998)

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jackfaire@reddit

I did until the day in high school I was lectured and told I was not a Gen xer and never would be since I liked Nirvana but had no idea who Kurt Cobain was.

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PsychologicalLog4179@reddit

I always felt more genX cause of my older sister’s influence, she’s ‘71. But there’s a lot of genX stuff I missed or don’t really identify with. I don’t identify as a millenial at all, solid Xennial.

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TransportationOk657@reddit

Just the opposite for me. I feel closer to millennials than Gen X. I have a sister ten years older (born '69) and while we have some overlapping culture and interests, I have always felt closer to elder and middle millennials. My niece and nephew (born '88 and '89) were more like younger siblings. I spent more time around them through the years than I ever did with my sister. A close cousin of mine, as well as some childhood friends, were also elder millennials.

Most Gen X'ers were too old for a lot of the things we were watching and such in the mid 80s to early 90s (TMNT, The Goonies, Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Land Before Time, Little Monsters, a lot of Nickelodeon programming Xennials and elder millennials watched, and so on).

But in the end, it's all a matter of perspective and who and how you were influenced, and what experiences you had. If I had spent more time hanging around my sister and her friends, I'd probably feel more like Gen X.

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BlueSnaggleTooth359@reddit

The Goonies was full on earlier X though. I mean 1985 release date. Theaters were packed with high school kids. I'm nearly a decade before you and it was huge among my classmates. The Atari game with the Mythical Ocotopus. Etc.

The Little Mermaid was borderline, it was aimed younger, but it was one a lot of earlier X actually did still see. The 90s Disney cartoons though tended to be way more Xennial though yeah. And even more the other stuff mentioned.

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Hatecookie@reddit

Elder millennial here. From the time I was a kid, I was always more interested in what older people were doing and talking about than people my own age. When I was 10, I became friends with the older girl next door and it was like having a big sister. She showed me what was cool. Also my mom was 16 when she had me, so she was Gen X, as was her brother, my uncle who I spent a lot of time with. I’ve always felt older than I am until I hit 40. Now it’s starting to go the other way, I feel younger than 40.

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Konnorwolf@reddit

In 1985 the older Gen X was 20 based on 1965 and then 15, 10 etc... someone not being five until 1985/1986 is going to live quite differently then those other ages. Single digit age child of the 80's and a ten of the 90's. I can't relate to a lot of Gen X stuff.

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Roxygirl40@reddit

Weird I feel more Gen X than millennial. But I’m 1981.

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Professional-Put7420@reddit

Same here. I hung out a lot with my older cousins. I was too young to know they were cool or anything, but a lot of it shaped my childhood.

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Vancouverreader80@reddit (OP)

Never really hung out with my older cousins; the nearest one in age is three years older and lives about a 10-15 hour drive from where I live. The next oldest one to me is 4 years older and we didn't really hang out. Mostly hung out with my cousins who were younger and born in the mid to late 80s.

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Roxygirl40@reddit

Yeah I had the opposite experience

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Balthierlives@reddit

I’m 79 hand have no idea what generation I’m in.

On one hand I’m a millennial in that I borrowed too much money for school that basically hampered my ability to do really anything else as an adult. And I grew up analog and then digital stuff seeped in as a mid teen.

And songs I have no idea what I’m supposed to align with people born more in the 70s

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ex_gratia_@reddit

Opposite for me. I'm a "millenial" by 5 days, but all my friends were 2 or 3 years older and my big sister was 10 years older. I didn't have a cell phone (Nokia brick) until several years after college. I couldn't be less millenial.

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Vancouverreader80@reddit (OP)

A couple of my friends are millenials

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DriblyRedwyne@reddit

I was in high school from 1995-1999 and the cool kids were the seniors and those in college, so although i didnt identify as Gen X, they were the ones that i thought were cool.

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diypizza@reddit

Same. We are a totally different generation imo. I have always considered myself Gen Y or an elder Millennial.

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ladyeclectic79@reddit

I always identified more with Millennials not GenX because growing up, I always heard the dividing line was 1978 (I’m 79). Thing is tho, so much of the GenX apathy, at least until recently, didn’t stick with me; I was militant about what I believed in. That apathy’s snuck in w how crazy the recent years have been politically so now I get it, but I still identify more w the Millennial, “I can change the world” mindset than with the more nihilistic “Make popcorn to watch the end of the world” take many GenX espouse.

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lurk3141592653589793@reddit

I was a kid, kid in the 1980's. My older siblings were teenagers. Because I had older siblings, there's a lot of classic Gen X culture I was exposed to. (Probably too young, but that's nether here nor there.) But my own culturally relevant stuff is more inline with that of elder Millennials. (Baby millennials are a whole different animal.) So I'm one foot in each generation, as far as I'm concerned. Which is probably why I don't get the generational pride garbage so many people seem to have. If I'm not like the elder Xers, and elder Millennials aren't like baby millennials, is there any real cohesive identity that can be applied to these assigned generations? And this doesn't even take into account the cultural differences within a generation based on geography or socioeconomic factors. These broad groupings are inaccurate, and are at best a way to sell products, and at worst, another label used to divide.

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usernames_suck_ok@reddit

I don't think of it in terms of events. It's more about the stuff I like, the stuff I'm aware of and what my personality is like.