I think you need to include Generation Jones in your survey (born between 1958-1964). We did NOT come of age until after Watergate, were not part of the chaos NOR the prosperity of the Boomers, were the "feral" children who roamed free without cellphones or GPS.
We were the first generation whose moms had to go back to work in the 1970s due to the economy - thus the term "latchkey kids".
We are cynical, savvy, and frustrated with a government run by 80 years olds who have destroyed our education system, the jobs market, and our kids' futures but still continue to demand, and receive, more!
I agree completely! That was the point I was trying to make! Those of us who were born at what is considered to be the tail end of the baby boom generation (1958-1964) had a completely different experience growing up then did our older siblings who were born in the late 1940s/ early 1950s. I wasn't trying to provoke an argument, although someone apparently felt the need to attack me for my comment. I was merely saying that there is a group between the Boomers and Gen X, commonly referred to as Generation Jones, and those of us in that age group do not fit neatly into either category.
I totally agree, and am really tired of people (entitled brats) believing "boomers" live lavish lifestyles. That's another lie they've been conditioned to believe in the name of division. People of my generation know how to live within their means, avoid credit if possible and believe in working for what you have. But I do agree that there should be a separate category for those of us born at the end of that era.
I do understand your point but calling someone an entitled brat simply because they are frustrated with the economic conditions that seemed to favor the generations before theirs is, IMHO, part of the problem. My kids are in their early 30s and my heart breaks because I know how hard they work and how discouraged they, and many of their friends, are at this point in their lives!
Yes, there are absolutely some young people today who want to start with a corner office, a six figure salary, and a house that it took their parents decades to be able to afford! BUT, there are also many hard working, responsible, diligent young people who are wondering if they will ever be able to even afford a starter house on two full time incomes!
We need to learn to listen to each other, and realize that there is an elite political class, consisting of BOTH parties, who have worked together to enrich themselves and their lobbyist benefactors on the backs of numerous generations and that is who we need to be fighting against rather than each other!
It seems to me that the entitlement label attaches to them as a group because while they every the cost of living and low wages, they again as a blanket statement, rich out to get the latest version of idiot phone, have TVs the size of not so small movie theater screens, the pro version of every device and app they have, get their nails and hair done which may not be just the females of that generation, at least not when they were younger, drink several expensive drinks that have various amounts of coffee with exactly demands as to how theirs is to be made and served and go on more vacations than my affluent Greatest Generation grandparents did. My Baby Boomer parents didn’t take a vacation until we kids graduated high school and left home.
Maybe the name calling is too much, but this is exactly how they come across, accusing "boomers" of living lavish lifestyles, while they are complaining of having to work an 8 hour day. These are the people I refer to. I certainly don't live a lavish lifestyle. I believe this is simply divisive indoctrination.
Understood, and you are not wrong about a certain percentage of young people that have been conditioned to believe they are perpetual victims! But the division and the indoctrination go both ways in my experience! And we all need to take a look around and realize that we're being manipulated into arguing with each other, rather than uniting against the people who have destroyed the country and gotten rich whilst doing so!
If you were born in 1951 you were 12 when the Beatles hit. That was a game changer. If you were born in 1961 the Beatles, British invasion etc was over before your teens.
I was born in 1958, and you're right. There was a sharp divide between how my older cousins could get away with just about anything--finding themselves, dodging the draft--but were welcomed back with open arms and all made good livings.
That was not the case with me. As for the stereotype of being materialist, I was a flaming idealist of the New Age variety until hard, cold reality taught me that the materialist philosophers were right all along.
Yes, the ranges that Sharyl quoted are the popular ones, but not very helpful because they're based more on birth rate stats rather than social trends and generational zeitgeist. People born between two adjacent generations often have characteristics of both. I think Strauss and Howe discuss this alternative way of drawing the generational boundaries in "The Fourth Turning", and they propose different birth year boundaries than the traditional ones.
I'm between the Boomer and Gen X traditional ranges, and I don't think I fit properly into either one, but I'd say I'm 75% Gen X and 25% Boomer in my outlook and life trajectory.
If you have some constructive commentary on the facts that I presented as to why there should be a delineation of "early" Boomers (which I would assume includes you?) from those who of us were born more than a decade later, and had completely different experiences and outcomes, please go ahead and offer it.
The fact that all you seem to want to do is insult me for pointing out inconvenient truths validates my point that we are NOT the same!
I am happy to engage in productive discussions but if you're just going to resort to ad hominem attacks then please do not bother to respond.
Unless you have a cognitive inability to understand snark and comedy, I have nothing you'd call "constructive" to offer you. BTW, other than stating calendar dates, you offered no "facts". You have opinions connected to calendar periods, but they are not facts. They are your opinions.
And my original commentary offered - besides a fair (and funny) analysis of your original post - my opinion on your bitching. My first comment is not an ad hominem. It is fairly descriptive and matched to your comment.
But, if it has continued to escape you, here is another opinion I hold: Attempting to categorize birth years into yet another identity cult is stupid. To say nothing of at least a minimally narcissistic (DSM Type B Personality Disorder) level condition. It is indeed narcissistic and, in your case whiney. If you were not a narcissistic cult member, you'd understand that humans in their 20s are viewed as immature and lacking wisdom by gray whiskered old dudes/dudettes. Just as those oldsters are viewed as stodgy pricks holding onto the last vestiges of competent existence. Funny enough, those 20-somethings grow through various stages of existence and human experience and voila they become old farts just clinging to their lives, wisdom (in most cases) still intact. That is a condition of human existence and experience. Birth years have little to do with it other than to give a starting date. And it doesn't depend on splitting these identity groups into finer aliquots of time. It is all stupid.
So, yes, I think you are a whiney, self referential, possibly entitled, member of a cult who looks outside her/his self for answers and reasons for the condition of life imposed on her/him.
Me? Maybe I AM a boomer. But I could be a Silent Gen or even a GenXer. You never know. And it doesn't matter - well, other than revealing the basis for the wisdom I have and you'll be lucky to find.
I believe the Boomers really consist of two sub-groups: Boomers(46’-54’) and Generation Jones(‘55-‘64.)
I would be part of the latter.
However, the stereotypical groupings are troublesome to me because they are used as tools to separate and stigmatize people to serve potentially deadly purposes. Several of my daughter’s acquaintances are drumming up resentment for Boomers using these stereotypes. ( Hello MAID )Also, people exist in a continuum, so such groupings while convenient, are inherently false.
✨The real story here is how past regimes (read NAZI, Stalin, etc.) use stereotypes to eliminate undesirables.
"...stereotypical groupings are troublesome ... used as tools to separate and stigmatize people..."
Generational labels, ethnic labels, religious labels, political labels are all generalizations that simplify the complexity of the human being and their qualities, quirks and faults. While generalization is a normal behavior in most species' quest for survival, we could all be better if we spent less time categorizing others and focused on making ourselves better people.
Yes, and reaching out to connect with others in our community. I love operating a fruit stand, especially at the farmers market just for these reasons. The interconnections are palpable.
GenXer here('69)... Pretty accurate. Independence was the key. Our parents knew not of where we were, but if we didn't call or return home for dinner at 5:30 sharp we were in serious trouble :-D.
My family includes five of these generations: my parents were in the greatest, my uncle was in the silent generation, I'm a boomer, my children are Gen X, and their children are Gen Z.
We have exhibited some of the stereotypes, but also a lot of crossover.
I consider myself something of a "dinosaur" because I spent a good deal of time on farms growing up, my parents' dairy farm and my grandparents' farm, participating in processes that date back a hundred years or so. We didn't have a television until we moved into town in 1962.
Later I took to technology and feel I'm almost as adept at it as the following generations, but with an understanding that came with watching the tech grow that keeps me perhaps a little more grounded in reality, especially when it comes to AI and such.
Generalizations are great for getting a quick grasp of the surroundings, keeping in mind that the details, which contain many variations, are as, or perhaps more important.
With the benefit of hindsight and looking at the World Economic Forum's "Great Reset" 2030 agenda it seems a bit suspicious that those being born today are being called Generation Alpha. I wonder if it is just pure coincidence that the numbering worked out that way or were these generational names planned as a cultural nudge or brainwashing tactic way back starting with Generation X?
I am all Boomer and proud of it. "OK Boomer" is a compliment as fas as I am concerned. I started my own business (restaurant) in 1985. Open 2nd business for and with my brothers in 1987. A 2nd restaurant in 1990 (failed). A paintball field, some real estate ventures (some failed some good). Sold the restaurant in 1994. Divorced in 1993. 2nd marriage in 1994 (no I didn't cheat- she did). 4 kids, now 4 grandkids. Sold the other business in 2022 (Biden made me do it). Bought a small retirement house at Smith Mountain Lake. Now retired and waiting for wifey to retire (SpEd teacher). As far as traits attributed to us Boomers... all true save 'materialistic.' The wife's tastes and wants often exceeds the bank balance. I could live in a packing box as long as I have the following:
Purple mattress
Fresca to drink
My rods and tackle
Air conditioning and Electric windows with a good sound system in my vehicle and my ancient iPod.
Total sociological Marxist based BS! Assigning psychological or behavioral values based on birth dates is as stupid as the horoscope or birth star signs!
To characterize entire groups of generations based on such arbitrary and capricious criterion is the core of Marxist control, used to divide and conquer! It's the same BS as the 1960's "generation gap" which was used as a wedge to separate parents from their children.
Wake up to your MANIPULATION for political purposes!
That's not Marxist at all. It is capitalist propaganda to divide the working class against itself on the basis of age.
IOW, it's postmodernist bullshit in a lot of ways, but postmodernism is pure anti-Marxism that our stupid conservatives think is Marxist. Marx would have nothing to do with postmodernists.
I think you need to include Generation Jones in your survey (born between 1958-1964). We did NOT come of age until after Watergate, were not part of the chaos NOR the prosperity of the Boomers, were the "feral" children who roamed free without cellphones or GPS.
We were the first generation whose moms had to go back to work in the 1970s due to the economy - thus the term "latchkey kids".
We are cynical, savvy, and frustrated with a government run by 80 years olds who have destroyed our education system, the jobs market, and our kids' futures but still continue to demand, and receive, more!
1946-1964 are very different groups.
I agree completely! That was the point I was trying to make! Those of us who were born at what is considered to be the tail end of the baby boom generation (1958-1964) had a completely different experience growing up then did our older siblings who were born in the late 1940s/ early 1950s. I wasn't trying to provoke an argument, although someone apparently felt the need to attack me for my comment. I was merely saying that there is a group between the Boomers and Gen X, commonly referred to as Generation Jones, and those of us in that age group do not fit neatly into either category.
I totally agree, and am really tired of people (entitled brats) believing "boomers" live lavish lifestyles. That's another lie they've been conditioned to believe in the name of division. People of my generation know how to live within their means, avoid credit if possible and believe in working for what you have. But I do agree that there should be a separate category for those of us born at the end of that era.
I do understand your point but calling someone an entitled brat simply because they are frustrated with the economic conditions that seemed to favor the generations before theirs is, IMHO, part of the problem. My kids are in their early 30s and my heart breaks because I know how hard they work and how discouraged they, and many of their friends, are at this point in their lives!
Yes, there are absolutely some young people today who want to start with a corner office, a six figure salary, and a house that it took their parents decades to be able to afford! BUT, there are also many hard working, responsible, diligent young people who are wondering if they will ever be able to even afford a starter house on two full time incomes!
We need to learn to listen to each other, and realize that there is an elite political class, consisting of BOTH parties, who have worked together to enrich themselves and their lobbyist benefactors on the backs of numerous generations and that is who we need to be fighting against rather than each other!
It seems to me that the entitlement label attaches to them as a group because while they every the cost of living and low wages, they again as a blanket statement, rich out to get the latest version of idiot phone, have TVs the size of not so small movie theater screens, the pro version of every device and app they have, get their nails and hair done which may not be just the females of that generation, at least not when they were younger, drink several expensive drinks that have various amounts of coffee with exactly demands as to how theirs is to be made and served and go on more vacations than my affluent Greatest Generation grandparents did. My Baby Boomer parents didn’t take a vacation until we kids graduated high school and left home.
Maybe the name calling is too much, but this is exactly how they come across, accusing "boomers" of living lavish lifestyles, while they are complaining of having to work an 8 hour day. These are the people I refer to. I certainly don't live a lavish lifestyle. I believe this is simply divisive indoctrination.
Understood, and you are not wrong about a certain percentage of young people that have been conditioned to believe they are perpetual victims! But the division and the indoctrination go both ways in my experience! And we all need to take a look around and realize that we're being manipulated into arguing with each other, rather than uniting against the people who have destroyed the country and gotten rich whilst doing so!
My wife is 1956 born. I am 1951 born. She is borderline Boomer. Post war babies aren’t the same exactly.
If you were born in 1951 you were 12 when the Beatles hit. That was a game changer. If you were born in 1961 the Beatles, British invasion etc was over before your teens.
Yep just ask my sister.
I was born in 1958, and you're right. There was a sharp divide between how my older cousins could get away with just about anything--finding themselves, dodging the draft--but were welcomed back with open arms and all made good livings.
That was not the case with me. As for the stereotype of being materialist, I was a flaming idealist of the New Age variety until hard, cold reality taught me that the materialist philosophers were right all along.
Yes, the ranges that Sharyl quoted are the popular ones, but not very helpful because they're based more on birth rate stats rather than social trends and generational zeitgeist. People born between two adjacent generations often have characteristics of both. I think Strauss and Howe discuss this alternative way of drawing the generational boundaries in "The Fourth Turning", and they propose different birth year boundaries than the traditional ones.
I'm between the Boomer and Gen X traditional ranges, and I don't think I fit properly into either one, but I'd say I'm 75% Gen X and 25% Boomer in my outlook and life trajectory.
Like that one. Count me in.
Ditto this. Well put.
Sounds similar to Gen X. We agree.
And apparently quite narcissistic and victimized. Hope your kids escape you.
Hi, Boomer!
Ahhh, does it hurt and have a temperature? Call mommy, she'll give you some candy.
If you have some constructive commentary on the facts that I presented as to why there should be a delineation of "early" Boomers (which I would assume includes you?) from those who of us were born more than a decade later, and had completely different experiences and outcomes, please go ahead and offer it.
The fact that all you seem to want to do is insult me for pointing out inconvenient truths validates my point that we are NOT the same!
I am happy to engage in productive discussions but if you're just going to resort to ad hominem attacks then please do not bother to respond.
Unless you have a cognitive inability to understand snark and comedy, I have nothing you'd call "constructive" to offer you. BTW, other than stating calendar dates, you offered no "facts". You have opinions connected to calendar periods, but they are not facts. They are your opinions.
And my original commentary offered - besides a fair (and funny) analysis of your original post - my opinion on your bitching. My first comment is not an ad hominem. It is fairly descriptive and matched to your comment.
But, if it has continued to escape you, here is another opinion I hold: Attempting to categorize birth years into yet another identity cult is stupid. To say nothing of at least a minimally narcissistic (DSM Type B Personality Disorder) level condition. It is indeed narcissistic and, in your case whiney. If you were not a narcissistic cult member, you'd understand that humans in their 20s are viewed as immature and lacking wisdom by gray whiskered old dudes/dudettes. Just as those oldsters are viewed as stodgy pricks holding onto the last vestiges of competent existence. Funny enough, those 20-somethings grow through various stages of existence and human experience and voila they become old farts just clinging to their lives, wisdom (in most cases) still intact. That is a condition of human existence and experience. Birth years have little to do with it other than to give a starting date. And it doesn't depend on splitting these identity groups into finer aliquots of time. It is all stupid.
So, yes, I think you are a whiney, self referential, possibly entitled, member of a cult who looks outside her/his self for answers and reasons for the condition of life imposed on her/him.
Me? Maybe I AM a boomer. But I could be a Silent Gen or even a GenXer. You never know. And it doesn't matter - well, other than revealing the basis for the wisdom I have and you'll be lucky to find.
Same here !
I believe the Boomers really consist of two sub-groups: Boomers(46’-54’) and Generation Jones(‘55-‘64.)
I would be part of the latter.
However, the stereotypical groupings are troublesome to me because they are used as tools to separate and stigmatize people to serve potentially deadly purposes. Several of my daughter’s acquaintances are drumming up resentment for Boomers using these stereotypes. ( Hello MAID )Also, people exist in a continuum, so such groupings while convenient, are inherently false.
✨The real story here is how past regimes (read NAZI, Stalin, etc.) use stereotypes to eliminate undesirables.
"...stereotypical groupings are troublesome ... used as tools to separate and stigmatize people..."
Generational labels, ethnic labels, religious labels, political labels are all generalizations that simplify the complexity of the human being and their qualities, quirks and faults. While generalization is a normal behavior in most species' quest for survival, we could all be better if we spent less time categorizing others and focused on making ourselves better people.
I agree with you! I don’t believe that groupings are an accurate representation for all of the generations.
People change in their beliefs, and should be respected for their choices.
Yes, and reaching out to connect with others in our community. I love operating a fruit stand, especially at the farmers market just for these reasons. The interconnections are palpable.
Especially as they group up, and get‘Awakened’
I feel bad for the generation to come after Alpha cuz no one wants to be a beta no matter how it will defined! 😂
GenXer here('69)... Pretty accurate. Independence was the key. Our parents knew not of where we were, but if we didn't call or return home for dinner at 5:30 sharp we were in serious trouble :-D.
My family includes five of these generations: my parents were in the greatest, my uncle was in the silent generation, I'm a boomer, my children are Gen X, and their children are Gen Z.
We have exhibited some of the stereotypes, but also a lot of crossover.
I consider myself something of a "dinosaur" because I spent a good deal of time on farms growing up, my parents' dairy farm and my grandparents' farm, participating in processes that date back a hundred years or so. We didn't have a television until we moved into town in 1962.
Later I took to technology and feel I'm almost as adept at it as the following generations, but with an understanding that came with watching the tech grow that keeps me perhaps a little more grounded in reality, especially when it comes to AI and such.
Generalizations are great for getting a quick grasp of the surroundings, keeping in mind that the details, which contain many variations, are as, or perhaps more important.
I'm with you, Sheryl. Boomer (Jones phase) and not materialistic.
With the benefit of hindsight and looking at the World Economic Forum's "Great Reset" 2030 agenda it seems a bit suspicious that those being born today are being called Generation Alpha. I wonder if it is just pure coincidence that the numbering worked out that way or were these generational names planned as a cultural nudge or brainwashing tactic way back starting with Generation X?
I am all Boomer and proud of it. "OK Boomer" is a compliment as fas as I am concerned. I started my own business (restaurant) in 1985. Open 2nd business for and with my brothers in 1987. A 2nd restaurant in 1990 (failed). A paintball field, some real estate ventures (some failed some good). Sold the restaurant in 1994. Divorced in 1993. 2nd marriage in 1994 (no I didn't cheat- she did). 4 kids, now 4 grandkids. Sold the other business in 2022 (Biden made me do it). Bought a small retirement house at Smith Mountain Lake. Now retired and waiting for wifey to retire (SpEd teacher). As far as traits attributed to us Boomers... all true save 'materialistic.' The wife's tastes and wants often exceeds the bank balance. I could live in a packing box as long as I have the following:
Purple mattress
Fresca to drink
My rods and tackle
Air conditioning and Electric windows with a good sound system in my vehicle and my ancient iPod.
Proud gen x! The meh generation.
GenX, and the profiled attributes sound about right.
GenX ‘72. I was making dinner for the family and walked home with my little sister everyday after school (latchkey kids) since I was 8 and she was 6.
Gen Xer here.
We are not aimless. We just want everyone to forget about us while Boomers and Millennials continue with their hateathon. Yes, daddy still hates you.
Near the end of Baby Boomer generation 1961. 🤦🏻♀️
Gen X.
Total sociological Marxist based BS! Assigning psychological or behavioral values based on birth dates is as stupid as the horoscope or birth star signs!
To characterize entire groups of generations based on such arbitrary and capricious criterion is the core of Marxist control, used to divide and conquer! It's the same BS as the 1960's "generation gap" which was used as a wedge to separate parents from their children.
Wake up to your MANIPULATION for political purposes!
That's not Marxist at all. It is capitalist propaganda to divide the working class against itself on the basis of age.
IOW, it's postmodernist bullshit in a lot of ways, but postmodernism is pure anti-Marxism that our stupid conservatives think is Marxist. Marx would have nothing to do with postmodernists.
Stereotypes are great
timesavers!