I'm on the younger end of Gen X, and I don't think there's many differences between my cohort and the older millennials. We all grew up on Cosby, both MJs. We listened to the same hip-hop. We actually bought CDs and shit.
I think a lot of the generational cut-offs are kind of arbitrary. I think the following things are meaningful:
-People who grew up with the internet vs people who didn't. There's a generation gap between me and people who had email, search engines and fucking Napster in 6th grade.
-People who have had cell phones their entire social lives vs those who didn't
12. "As a 34 y.o. Gen X-er, gotta say I agree" In response to Reply # 4
there is a shared experience and a general perspective of the world and society that has changed since the advent of social media, lived in a world before omnipresent surveillance
I haven't dealt with young folks to the point of really getting to know them outside of the realm of volunteer work, but there are plenty of ways we can relate to each other. I don't think it's so much an inability of our generations to understand each other as much as the older generation's knowledge that there was a way of life the younger generation could have no conception of. That memory is what creates those lines, rather than a different set of values or mode of behavior that often is assigned to other generations somewhat arbitrarily.
2. "I'm a millenial but the cut-off and age range always varies" In response to Reply # 0
I remember growing up I thought I was a gen xer, because they talked about them as youth. I didn't realize I was too young for anyone to give a fuck about.
But I got an email address in 7th grade. Cell phone between 11th and 12th grade. (first of my friends to have one)
--
"You can't beat white people. You can only knock them out."
20. "I think this definition has shifted over time" In response to Reply # 14
I was born in 75 and I remember, in the 90s, being on the young end of Gen X. I think it used to end in 77 or 79. My little sister who was born in 80, Was definitely considered generation Y back then.
26. "lol knew this was you" In response to Reply # 7
-The Knicks’ coaching search still includes a lone frontrunner, Kurt Rambis, whose qualifications for the position include a strong relationship with Jackson and a willingness to take the job.
I had a manual typewriter, then an electric with that swiveling head. I can't imagine anyone younger than 30 having any real connection to typewriters.
Tuning Televisions. Even before flatscreens, in the 2000s and late 90s, tvs didn't have tuning knobs. No one born in the Clinton years could really know what that was about, and furthermore, really appreciate flat screen tvs like older folks.
Answering the question "When. I. First. Heard. Criminal. Minded. 'daaamn where was I?" Alot of those seminal hip hop albums exist in a old school rap fog to many youngsters without clear deliniations or chronology, much like 50s music and doo wop was for our generation. It seems like Melle Mel, Run DMC, LL, KRS, Slick Rick all came out in some endless summer in the 80s to them.
15. "theres really only 2 that matter for X/millenial" In response to Reply # 0
did you grow up with ubiquitous Internet and was 9/11 news or history.
The lost gap had gradually increasing internet in their house growing up (goddammit my Mom picked up the phone and kicked me off AIM) and were HS or college age during 9/11.
16. "Whether your main source of new music was Record Stores, MTV " In response to Reply # 0
or the Internet.
>I'm on the younger end of Gen X, and I don't think there's >many differences between my cohort and the older millennials. >We all grew up on Cosby, both MJs. We listened to the same >hip-hop. We actually bought CDs and shit. > > >I think a lot of the generational cut-offs are kind of >arbitrary. I think the following things are meaningful: > >-People who grew up with the internet vs people who didn't. >There's a generation gap between me and people who had email, >search engines and fucking Napster in 6th grade. > >-People who have had cell phones their entire social lives vs >those who didn't > >
********** "Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson
22. "I'm trying to figure out the MTV delineation" In response to Reply # 16
I was going to say there's some type of split between the generation that watched MTV solely for music and or dance shows and the ones who watched it mostly for cartoons, reality shows, etc.
19. "Man, I don't know which of those I would go to first." In response to Reply # 17
Probably Keenan Ivory Wayans because I never watched Kenan and Kel as a show. I definitely watched the first couple seasons of All That. In Living Color was (obviously) first for me and my mom called the cast members by name
But they both existed in my world at the same time.
--
"You can't beat white people. You can only knock them out."
27. "or subway fare (price)" In response to Reply # 25
-The Knicks’ coaching search still includes a lone frontrunner, Kurt Rambis, whose qualifications for the position include a strong relationship with Jackson and a willingness to take the job.
Pre/post 'Wacko Jacko'...we remember him b4 he was mostly a punchline
Pre/post darkness...we remember when he was dark(er).
...our parents remember him b4 Thriller, of course. That's meaningful but irrelevant to this discussion as we don't really remember him b4 Thriller even though we were alive then.
40. "The generations don't solidify until the next generation shows up." In response to Reply # 0
Whatever the youngest defined generation is will usually be treated as an all encompassing group until the next generation is makes itself clear.
I was born in 79, and was always considered part of Gen X. But Gen X seemed fluid and always shifting to refer to the youngest generation, until it was clear that Millennials were separate.
In our era the biggest separation between Gen X and Millennials is with technology - on whether you are a digital immigrant or digital native. Your age when 9/11 hit is another big separator for Americans.
Printer-friendly copy 
Email this topic to a friend
General Discussion
