All right then...let's hear it Gen Xer...

In My Humble Opinion
1

I received a phone call this weekend from one Mr. MikeG of SDMB fame.

He had obviously gotten together with one Mr. VileOrb of SDMB fame to consipre against me, ammassing (sp?) mountains of verbose and shaky proof that I am not, in fact, a member of Generation X.

I sneakily suspect this will be solely based on the ‘facts’ of one book that Vile has read and not on the generally accepted definition of Generation X by society as a whole. :smiley:

I understand that there is probably a definitive statement on who is and isn’t generation X, complete with a chart illustrating dates of birth and so on, just as there is a definitive statement on who is and who isn’t a Sadist in books by De Sade.

But just as the definition of Sadism has been skewed by society into something completely different, I believe Gen X has been skewed enough that it means something different from what the original book intended.

I was born in '72.

I know very well about a world without personal computers and ATMs and cellphones.

I was born to two baby boomers.

My sister, born six years later, is in a totally different world than I. She doesn’t remember having to go to the bank…having to call from a payphone…she DOES NOT remember the seventies…SHE is the generation following Generation X…not me.

Not that I care, actually, because the unsavory definitions (disenchanted, lazy, uncaring) of Gen X, as defined by society, not by a book, certainly don’t apply to me…

and, let’s all face it together, I’m so f-ing cool that I don’t need any labels :smiley:

But I’d like to hear your arguments anyway…even though I’m just going to smile and nod and say lalalallaalla

jarbaby

2

Is your sister cute? 'cause she’s my age…

I don’t remember the seventies either. Heck, I don’t remember most of the eighties. ATMs are a way of life. I still don’t have a cellphone, but see them everywhere. To find out about a business (phone number, address, anything else) I turn to the web first.

I remember a time without ubiquitous personal computers, but even when I was really young, my neighbors had one.

I’m certainly not generation x. But so what?

3

:: shaking fist :: keep your hands off my sister you lousy kid! :slight_smile:

Nerd, I really don’t much CARE if I’m gen X or not…I just want to know what Limp Bizkit is singing about when they sing about their generation :wink:

Honestly, I always understood it as GenXers being the children born to baby boomers, after the mass joy of the fifties and social upheaval of the sixties…

VileOrb says I’m full of it.

jarbaby

4

So what, exactly, is the timeframe for Gen X as described by our esteemed colleagues, **MikeG ** and VileOrb? I think I need to know this in order to contribute to this discussion.

I’m 1969, and definitely consider myself part of Gen X. Besides, it sounds better than the “Baby Bust” label.

I did find an interesting article by the author of “Generation X” at:
http://www.cs.caltech.edu/~adam/LEAD/deathx

5

I wouldn’t DARE speak for them, but I believe you get to be in the club. I think Before 1970 was what I heard from Vile two weeks ago, but I’ll admit, I had a few drinks in me.

jarbaby

6

I’m 28, born in 1972, and I like to think of Generation X as the group of people born between 1970 and 1976.

It’s something about taking part in the rise of rap and grunge and real “alternative” music - not the watered down piss-pop that gets played on the radio now. I like to think that the spirit of rebellion lives within Generation X, even though most of us have been assimilated into the corporate culture that we despised upon 5-10 years ago.

Perhaps the only thing our generation has accomplished, however, is the relaxation of dress codes in most businesses today. A small victory, indeed.

Don’t know what my point is here, but that sort of typifies a Generation X’er, doesn’t it?

7

That’s exactly my age…I’ve always thought I was generation X…but I’ve been informed I’m not.

I’m still waiting for Mike and Vile to show up and tell us why.

jarbaby

8

Each generation label is assumed to be born between certain years, Gen-X is technically anyone born between '61 and '81.

Gen Xer’s are all lumped together in the respect that our upbringings are considered to be very much alike, having two working parents and being raised on TV, etc.

I think it’s more of an attitude than anything. I was born in '75 and I’ve got the ‘motivated slacker’ attitude associated with Gen-Xer’s down pat. My sister was born in '78 and is more part of the Millenial Gen. I’ve got a friend that was born in '72 and is more a Baby Boomer. My wife was born in '68 and is more a Gen-Xer.

This site has some info on the generation known as X. My favorite statement is:

That about sums up the Gen-X attitude as far as I’m concerned.

9

Great, thanks for giving me such a worthwhile project on which to spend my time on Monday morning.

On the web, I’ve found several sites that say birth years from 1961 - 1981 are Generation X. Now is a generation by definition, 20 years long? Using this method, once you fix the start year, you have to go +20 years in the future, no matter how much the lifestyle changes in those 20 years.

The Atlantic Monthly is using birth years 1965 - 1978 to determine Gen Xers, so it seems that using that reckoning, jarbabyj’s sister is going to just squeeze in (if her big sister lets her). This seems more in keeping with the synonym “twentysomethings” that was also used to talk about Gen X, but I marvel at the fact that many people writing articles then didn’t think ahead to the fact that as the twentysomethings age, the name is going to make less and less sense.

The 1965 start date also seems to work better with the end of the baby boom (the actual birth rate statistics) which ended in 1964. In 1965, the number of births per thousand women per year fell below 100 for the first time since 1946. However, the first clear dip in the birth rate happened between 1961 and 1962, so the people using 1961 as their start date picked it for a reason.

I’m going to assert that 1961 is the earliest possible date, and 1965 the latest possible date for the beginning of Generation X.

As to when it ends, I have no idea. 1981 seems very late in the game to me. Jarbabyj has a good point when she says that there was a definite change in lifestyle that happened sometime well before that. I experienced VCRs in my teens, but not in my childhood. But would my parents get a VCR? No! We were not even allowed to have cable! But I digress. Say, there is one good arguement for ending the generation in 1981 – that was the year that MTV premiered. If you were born post-TV, you are definitely not in “my” generation.
In closing, I would also like to say links turned up by web searching for “Generation X” have a broken link rate of oh, about 85%. Slackers!

10

My GOD, I don’t want to turn this into a nostalgia thread but do you remember old vcrs? The sheer size of them? Good lord…and our first VCR (I think I was about 13) was a BETAMAX.

THANK YOU. Yes.

jarbaby

11

Being born in 1968, I have one thing to say.

I am NOT a “Gen X’er”.

12

delphica wrote:

Well, Douglas Coupland, who literally wrote the book on Generation X, was born in '62. (But see Coupland’s disclaimer in the article delphica linked earlier.)

I’m going with the '61 cut-off date.

13

Hey Jarbabyj, remember also those suitcase-sized cell phones? Well, the power supplies were huge anyway. Huge dinosaurs, LOL…

Those are only about 10-12 years in the past…damn.

Doesn’t 1991 seem like just the other day? ::sigh::

14

OK, I got the email and here I am.
A couple clarifiactions: Vileorb is the proponent of the 1956-68 or so “X” classification. He bases this on the book previously refferd to labeled surprisingly enough; Generation X:wink:
The basic premise is that it comprises the group born to the Baby Boomers who got ignored by standard classifications and marketing/demographic designations.

I see the merit in this, but believe that the term Generation X has been transformed to include the 1965-78 or so age group. Being born in 1970, I would see myelf as at the early end of this group.
Vile would also agree (I believe, based on our conversations) that this is the commonly held belief and more importantly, the demographic referred to by advertizers, marketers, etc. as GenX.

So basically, I dunno what a genX’er is, but I know one when I see one! I personally don’t really see myself as one, as I feel older and more grounded than a lot of the Xers I see flitting from tech job to tech job. Yeah, I know that is a sterotype, but hey!

15

Once upon a time, I read two articles in the same week in the same newspaper that spoke about Gen X, and they both gave hugely different dates for the start and end of the period. One of them went to 1978 (making my 1979 brother part of what they were calling Generation Y aka Generation Why), while the other excluded me from Gen X by a couple of years (I’m a 1976 model). The first article was about the next generation (Gen Y), and how technologically advanced they were going to be, and how they were raised in a financial climate that gave them the mindset “Why can’t I have it? Give it to me”. Gen Y are supposed to be the “Gimme” generation. So Gen X was bagged a little for being behind the revoluation but ignored in that first article. Article 2 was no better, authored by a sentimental Baby Boomer who bagged each of the following generations, and spoke of the consumer might and power of the BB Generation now. Gen X did get some mentions, but as I said, the cut-off date was stated as slightly before my birth, 1976.

All I know is, I hate kids today. Having none of my own, other people’s children are determined to make me feel old before my time. My little (future) sisters-in-law, born 1987 and 1989, drive me crazy. They don’t remember McDonalds in styrofoam containers. They don’t remember the two senior schools in town being seperate schools. I was in the second last year of school when they merged, back in 1994, but before that the school had been known (for over 30 years) as “The Tech”. I talk about “The Tech” to them, and they ask me what it is! It’s your school!! Argh!! Do they not do history at school? Shouldn’t this be covered?? 1988 stands out vividly in my mind. My dear Poppy passed away. Australia turned 200. John Farnham was made Australian of the Year. The new Parliment House opened in Canberra, and my class went to see it as we were graduating from junior school that year. Ok, so I was only 12, and I don’t remember it like it was yesterday, but I remember it like it was less than 13 years ago. And what do my little (future) sisters-in-law say whenever I mention the events of 1988? “Wow! That’s before I was ever BORN!”
Oh yeah? Well if that’s true, how come they’re not still in diapers?

But I think I’ve hijacked enough… sorry, jarbabyj :slight_smile:

16

When I was younger, I remember reading about the baby bust generation (early to mid-60s to mid 70s) and I have always just mapped GenX as the cooler sounding name for that group… There is definitely a shift way before 81. I’d stick the end around 75 or 76.

Anyway, 1972 is definitely Generation X.

-amarinth (74. Considers herself at the tail end of generation X)

17

My definition of Generation X is the late 70s punk band featuring a much younger Billy Idol.

18

I was born in 1970, Ground Zero for Generation X by just about any standard.

Lessee… Kurt Cobain is supposed to be the spokesman for my generation, but I can’t understand a word Kurt Cobain says (or “said.”). I’ve never heard one song by Limp Bizkit. I can’t be called a “Slacker;” but I’m by no means a workaholic.

Screw all those predictions that my generation will be the first generation that is worse off (financially) than their parents. I’m going to be loaded. Especially when my book gets published (knock on wood). I will not be counting on Social Security for my retirement. Can anyone say “Mutual Funds?”

And finally, a good hallmark of a GenXer is whether or not they can tell you where they were when the Challenger disaster occurred. As for me, I was just walking into 6th hour History class.

19

Jarbabyh, if your sister is one tenth as cool as you are…:wink: And you’ve met me, so you know that I am only a moderate freak.

I am definitely not a GenX’er, even though I was born in 78. My formative years were defined by Reagan. Alas.

Though I do remember exactly where I was when the Challenger exploded. Fifth grade. The entire school was gathered in the cafeteria to watch Christa McAuliffe’s in-space educational presentation.

20

Well, Maeg, you know, JarbabyH is the sister we don’t talk about. She ran off and joined a cult that worships giant mudskippers and they are currently embroiled in a lawsuit with Fruitopia, claiming mental stress and the like from the colors on their labels.

Maeglin, you big, strapping, muscley, welder type! You know you’re the coolest. I’m compiling a list of men to send to my sister…THE MASSAGE THERAPIST…and she’ll weed out who she wants from there…

I was in English for the Challenger Explosion and we were watching it on t.v.

rastahomie, the reason I referenced Limp Bizkit is because they have a song called “my generation” and I was wondering who they were talking about. By AGE, Limp Bizkit is in MY generation, but the majority of their fans, I believe, are in a whole OTHER generation…so it’s weird.

jarbaby