17 thoughts on “Generation X”

  1. And oddly enough, I just don’t identify with the characters in the novel Generation X. Shampoo Planet, however, could be a roman a clef of some parts of my life. Microserfs hit too close to home, I have friends that have been with MS since the mid 80s and early 90s.

    Oh, what, we’re not discussing the works of Douglas Coupland? Sorry…

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  3. Ya whippersnapper.

    So does that mean you love your job and everything about it? And Baby Boomers make you smile?

    Also, Tania, I haven’t read any of his books. Maybe I’ll add it to the shame pile.

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  4. I’m too old for Gen X and I think I fall off the end of the Boomer designation (born in ’60).

    I hereby declare those born from 1960-1966 as Generation Unclaimed.

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  5. Sorry Nathan. You’re a definitely a Baby Boomer.

    1946 to 1964 is the Baby Boom. (We discussed the Baby Boom in every single Gerontology class I took.)

    I’m Generation X–except for that whole fear of technology thing.

    And how depressing is this? We had “The Greatest Generation” followed by “The Baby Boomers” then “Generation X” and then “Generation Y”

    At least Generation X had a specific meaning, in that the demographers couldn’t figure us the hell out. Generation Y is just kinda sad, like they couldn’t come up with a relevant cutsey name.

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  6. As a 66er, I’m in that “not a Boomer, not really an Xer” crowd. Sure, they adjust the dates to make them contiguous, but really, how much does someone born in 64 have in common with someone born in 46? How much does someone born in 65 have with someone born AFTER disco? But yeah, us (gosh darn it they lump me in there anyway) Xers certainly have gotten the fuzzy-end of the lollipop most of our lives, sandwiched between the Boomers and their demon-seed.

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  7. From what wikipedia said nothing defines Gen Y except that we use computers more than the last generation. That’s not much to be remembered by.

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  8. Steve,

    Technically it has to do with population rates more than anything else. Well, that and the fact that your parents were likely to lived through WWII.

    Gen X are the kids of those born during WWI and of the earliest baby boomers–those who got married and had kids young (a relatively small population) and we were the first latch key kids, the first kids for which divorce became commonplace, and the first generation to suffer through “quality time”

    No, not all Gen Xers went through this, but chances are we had good friends who went through those things if we ourselves did not, whereas the Baby Boomers were more likely to have a stay-at-home mom or another relative with whom they stayed instead of going to a Day Care Center.

    In my experience, GenXers have tended to wait to get married and having kids, having see what our parent’s generation put their kids through. But that’s just what I’ve seen–I have no empirical data for that. 🙂

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  9. Michelle,

    Going with this lack of creativity, the next Gen will be Gen-Z…and then, after that, they’ll start getting names the same way as hurricanes do.

    Can’t wait to read about Generation-Hilda!

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  11. No it’s going to be Generation X, Generation Y, Generation Z. Then the rapture. Then I get all your stuff. 🙂

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  14. I agreed with a lot of stuff in that article, and I always knew I was in Generation X, but I have to say, don’t bother with Copeland’s novel of the same name. Far better, and more relevant to our generation, is Microserfs.

    BTW, “Hi, I’m Cheryl.” No idea how I found your blog but I have been lurking and reading your feed for a couple of weeks. 🙂

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  15. Welcome Cheryl!

    I might end up reading the “Gen X” book, but based on the feedback here, it will be out of sheer morbid curiosity. 🙂

    I’ve never heard of Microserfs, but it sounds creepishly like Microsoft. I’ll have to look it up. Thanks!

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