Let's talk about gen X because no other bugger does.

[Mach3]

Hail fellow X'ers.

We are never mentioned. It's always Boomers, Millennials or gen Z.

Why the fuck not?

We definitely exist, we were very cool people.

I have such good memories of my 70's childhood and teenage years in the 80's.

And all the goodness of the late 80s and early 90s.

It did happen didn't it?

God I miss the 90’s

1975 gen Xer here

I can remember staying up all night watching when Tony Blair got in. Felt like a new era.
I had just bought my first home for 37k, had my first new car, I felt like I was living the dream.
Watching Oasis at Maine Road - will never repeat that night.
I went to Uni in Liverpool, was never into raving, but I went to Cream now and again. I never took drugs either so I think that’s why raves weren’t for me 😂
One of my best friends lived in London and worked in the music industry and I used to go and stay with her. It all felt so glamorous, she used to take me to the best places, I’d have a tenner in my handbag. London felt like the centre of the universe. I would spent the night celeb spotting and wonder if I had enough to pay my gas bill.
The Met Bar. Sure it would be underwhelming now but it was like getting in to see God.
I used to take my mum down a fair bit, she loved a show, my friend used to book us in under an alias and tell them we were Pete Waterman’s wife and daughter. We used to get all sorts of freebies. Now Google would have sussed us out.
Great times.

I did too. It felt hopeful when Labour got in.

I did too. Seems like I’m a lifetime away.

I went to John Moores

My 14yo son has made his bedroom into an 80s/90s haven. Currently renovating our house, and finding him lots of my old things to use. I've tried explaining how quiet things could be in the 80s in my small town, but he thinks it sounds amazing

80s Sunday afternoons in a small town/overgrown village:
Distant lawnmower.
Um...
That was about it.

Listening to the Radio 1 roadshow on a morning during the summer holidays. Bits n Pieces anyone?

I agree with this.

Yes , def the sandwich generation. Old parents inconvenienty living to 90 ( just jokes mum) and teenage/ young adult children who happily blow their money on holidays, nights out, clothes, revolting green drinks , everything they want and then it's "mum my car needs new brakes could I borrow a few hundred". Hand over money knowing it will never be seen again.
Being a teenager in the 80's/ 90's compensates for it all though.

Being a gay teenager in the '80's was the worst. AIDS made life a living hell for many and took the lives of some of our most talented people. It was also the decade of greed and extravagance and the birth of Thatcher is and all the misery that entailed!

Yes, a much needed reality check, @TessTimoney.

Why is a reality check needed? This thread isn't a social commentary on the worst epochal ills: there's enough of that kind of content on the www to keep us reading until the next century.

People do indulge in nostalgia for the past. That's not to say that at the time we were impervious to these issues. I grew up in the north, the industrial areas of which have never recovered from Thatcher's policies. She's a hated figure there still to this day. Section 28 was a travesty. You only have to watch contemporary TV shows like The Young Ones, books like Adrian Mole or films like Letter to Brezhnev to be reminded of the state of youth unemployment, the terrible quality and low status of the work that was available, the few opportunities that existed for the working-classes to pursue a university education, the ever-present fear caused by HIV and the Cold War - in my teens my local area still tested out those old Carter air-raid sirens in the event of the four-minute warning. Being gay - I'm bisexual; different species but I'm not uninitated as to the issues it causes - was difficult and coming out a major public ordeal.

They were grim times. There was also far more freedom of self-expression, a more energetic, subversive and rebellious streak running through society, more creativity, far more room for debate and questioning (lack of cancel culture), fewer cameras watching our every move and screens dictating our lives, and, dare I say it, better educational standards for many. It's not an exaggeration to say these have plummeted post the late 1990s - I've personally witnessed it happen.

They call them 'rose-tinted' glasses for a reason. Every era has its high and low points, and there's nothing wrong with occasionally indulging in a bit of misty-eyed positivity about a youth well lived.

I grew up in the 80s my dad was on strike for a year then lost his job it was shit !@TryForSpring is that the kind of reality check you are after?

I don't need a reality check, thanks. I grew up in NI, so am constantly reminded the shitty parts.🙄

I remember one day I was late for school because I'd been stopped by the army, who made a right meal of it. When I got caught sneaking in, I explained, but the nun was having none of it. No "are you OK? Should we call your parents", nothing. Instead she told me I should leave the house 20 minutes earlier because these things happen, and gave me a detention!😤

It was the shitiness of the time that built GenX.💪💪💪

I’m Gen X. We had a computer in the 80s- ZX Spectrum I think. My brother got a “ Teach yourself Basic” book and learned to programme it. I’m not scared of technology ( at all) but I can easily live without it.
I still talk to my real friends on the old fashioned phone.
I have stories about 90s pop stars I can’t tell because people would think I was bullshitting! Like, my kid who is obsessed with the 90s will get into a band and I’ll reminisce about a night down the pub with the singer 😃
I’m allergic to corporate bollocks and have a sort of secret network of similar old buggers at work who feel the same.
I still have Top Shop shoes and clothes from the 90s and early 00s and I still love them ( because that’s when high st fashion was ace.)
We were lucky. I feel sad for my gen z kids.

I grew up in the 70’s/80’s. We used to go to Southport on BHs to the fair and get a snog on the haunted ride, then go to the pub and get served at 15.

I worked in Magaluf and Kavos age 18/19 in the summer holidays 😜

Moved to London age 20 and went to Uni then got a stressful job before country hopping for 20 years.

Agree that we are stuck between entitled boomers and needy millennials and gen Z.

No one gave us anything, we just got on with it without complaining. I’d never heard anyone mention anxiety when I was a teen.

Another thing I thought of- we could suddenly work anywhere in Europe. I know so many people who went off to work in bars in Spain or as a hairdresser in Italy. Random stuff. There was a sense that the world was becoming more peaceful and open. And all those dirt cheap flight, grabbing a last minute 30 quid flight to Prague for the weekend ( shameful!)

I’d love to know how other gen x’ers are raising their kids.Are we raising cool gen z kids?
I think as parents though on the whole we can be too invested in our children’s lives actually. I was pretty neglected, even for a Gen Xer, but I’m quite emotionally invested in the minutiae of my older kids problems which ultimately probably doesn’t help them. Most of my friends are the same with their teenagers.
Gen Zers do kind of remind me of us though in a way the Millenials I work with don’t. They are funny and cynical.

I was telling DC about great student nights out in the 90s and how little, even relatively, our bar bills were. Do miss the £1 shots at pubs and clubs!

Loved the Pete Waterman connection. I had quite the crush on him!

Just noticed you're now Peggy Mitchell's Cameo!

I went to raves all around the UK as I loved to dance. Still do!

Aaah so many hours shopping in TopShop and River Island.

So many dresses I wish I had taken a photo of me wearing!

So true. No-one ever said they were anxious or stressed. We just got on with living. Having said that we didn't have the social media comparisons either. (Not that I can talk after being on my phone for most of the day..)

Absolutely. I do generally think growing up was easier and much more fun than nowadays though.

Anxiety and stress still existed. It’s just that people had a higher threshold before seeking help imo.

I tell my dc that anxiety can be a normal feeling. Doesn’t mean you’re broken

I’m not sure which way is better.

Allowed to play out in the road from very young ...roamed miles. Scared shitless about getting stuck in a fridge on the dump. Walked to school with a classmate from age five. Latch key kids.