Are you happy with the generation that you were born into? Do you like and identify with your generation (e.g. boomer, Gen X, millennial etc)?.

[PutitDownandReadaBook]

I was born in the late 70’s , so I was on the tail end of Gen X. I completely identify with my generation, not just the things that many of us enjoyed at the time (ravesbritpop etc), but also I have heard us called the Peter Pan generation who never grew up. I really identify with that. I’m late 40’s and I have missed many of the milestones that most adults would have achieved by my age. Luckily there are lots of people around me, my age, who are the same age.

I think I would have been happy if I was born a generation earlier and was a boomer. They had a freedom that generations before them didn’t, and they had rock and roll. I also like the principles of the millennials, although I don’t think I would have fit into that generation very well.

what do you think about your generation? Would you have preferred to be part of a later or earlier generation? I’m happy that I was gen x ….but sometimes I really wish that I had the wisdom of the millennial generation, who seemed to know more about life than their age.

I hope this question doesn’t come across like stereotyping people. I’m just fascinated by how the times influenced people.

I was born in 79, so fit in those Xennial years and I do think it’s a good description. I had a pure analogue childhood, no devices, no internet, 4 channels on the TV, watch it or miss it, always having 10p for the pay phone in case of emergency. Spending hours just talking with friends or roaming the neighbourhood. Then it all gradually switched on as I went to uni and then work, but at a pace that I’ve just been able to run with. But tech has never really got a hold on me. I still prefer books and jigsaws and board games, and I ditched the social media years ago (Mumsnet not so much!). My kids are Gen Alpha and cannot comprehend my tales of the old days But I’m trying to give them as much of an old-fashioned childhood as I can.

Also Gen X, I agree about the combination of resilience and non-conformity.

The 70s were a great time to be a child, with a lot of freedom. Probably not great to be an adult with 3 day weeks, strikes and power cuts. The 80s were a great time to be a teenager, I was definitely a latch-key kid from primary school age. I think the freedoms and socialising stood us in good stead. There was, however a whole lot of sexism and racism, we had corporal punishment at school. After university in the 90s, we also had a recession. Though, I loved being in my 20s in London at the time of Cool Britannia. We had a flat, but the interest rate was quite high, though the mortgage quite low as it was a doer-upper and lived with no kitchen for 18 months until we could afford it.

I think each generation has it's own issues. My parents were born in London during the war and grew up playing on bombsites. They were lucky with their house, but when they moved in they had boxes instead of furniture while my mum was expecting me. My daughters' generation has suffered lockdown, social media and a lack of socialising.

Have found my tribe! 😂. Love being a GenXer.

I'm a boomer, with friends of all generations.

I don't identify with boomers any more than I identify with any of the other demographics or groups that I'm a member of.

We vary hugely as do members of every other generation. We experienced the same things growing up, and through early adulthood, so we have that in common and as shared conversations. But from there I'd say we all diverged into different attitudes, beliefs and politics.

There are boomers that I don't understand at all, and millennials who I totally 'get'.

I'm no more born into a generation/age cohort than I was born into an astrology sign - nether of which I identify with or find more than a bit of amusement.

The Pew Research Centre probably discussed the issues with taking it too seriously better than I can: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/05/22/how-pew-research-center-will-report-on-generations-moving-forward/

In short: it encourages overgeneralisation and negative stereotypes, and research using it tends to be weak and marketing mythology.

Because we were encouraged to read books. Imagine that! That’s why we can spell.

I work with people in their 20s through to their 70s. They all have and even give presentations with documents riddled with creative spelling and typo issues.