BBC have deboomerised me.

[Thegoatliesdownonbroadway]

I thought boomers were up to 1964, BBC news had an article about "Alphas". In which boomers were designated as born between 1940 and 1960, so I am an "X" now. Given the resentments that exist towards "Boomers", maybe it is for the best.

I don't much care either way, (born 1962) but what I do very much care about is the way the term 'boomers' is so often used as a contemptuous insult on MN.

Excuse me! I am a late boomer (born 1962) and I had my whole career in the computer industry so I think I can find my way round a computer.

Yes, born 61, career writing software. I occasionally can't find my way around a device because they've done something illogical with the UI, tbf.
DB, born mid 50s built his own computer when he was a student.
The people of our generation who did computer stuff weren't just consumers of services which is what most people are now.

Same, but on the upside, use of ‘Okay Boomer’ is a quick way of knowing someone is an arsehole.

Wow ! I’ve read that people born circa 1955 had many advantages- generous student grants

Also - they would’ve been around 20 when computers were just coming in so could benefit in many ways from these developments… e.g Bill Gates ?

I was born in the grey area of 1960-1964 and have always felt more Gen X than Baby Boomer.

I never knew or experienced the rationing, shortages and going without that the peak boomers would have done - although I do remember the three day weeks and rolling power cuts. Growing up, being a teen in the 70s, music and cinema were pushing boundaries, technology was coming in, the world was changing.

So maybe I’m a Boomer X.

I love your user name

although my mum would have adapted it to ‘at the end’ - and would also have probably made it the middle 🤣

you really do need a sense of humour about these things …

I got my first phone a few years after my kids got theirs. My husband held out for a few years more. That seemed to be the way it was in a lot of families I knew.

Boomers are children borne post war during a time of economic growth and prosperity. They benefited from the post war consensus in Britain - a widespread that the government should intervene to make people’s lives better. The post war boom and its collapse were experienced differently in Britain and the US.

Britain experienced a leap in standards of living in the late 50’s and 60’s. But it was nowhere near what happened in the US. Britain spent most of the late 40’s and early 50’s in the duldrums whilst recovering from the war. A lot of the improvements in Britain relied on state intervention and increasing levels of taxation and government borrowing. Our economy came close to collapse in the 1970’s when inflation prevented us borrowing more money without strict economic conditions and reform.

Each generation has experienced improvements in standards of living and periods of stagnation. Each generation has faced challenges and barriers to advancement. “Boomers and Gen x” had access to ladders they could use to climb out of poverty. But they were only accessible to a small few in the UK.

The long period of economic growth in 50’s and 60’s was unprecedented as is the long period of stagnation from 2007 to now. The reality is that the reasons why this has happened is beyond the control of our government never mind ordinary people whatever their age.

TLDR: we aren’t the US and most of their culture wars and inter generational wars don’t apply to Britain.

I’ve always found the 1946- 1964 year parameters for Boomers pretty arbitrary. I’ve got a large paternal family and aside from my own aunts and uncles, there’s a spread of second cousins born throughout that period. None of their children (even the oldest born in the ‘60s) benefited economically in the way that it’s assumed ‘their’ generation did. Neither do their beliefs and general outlook on life align with the common perception or tropes of the Boomer era. I think you’d have to be born pre 1959 to qualify!

I was under the impression that the term baby boom referred to the rise in the number of births following ww2. It often seems to be conflated with the economic boom.

Twenty-something DD doesn't care that I'm genX; all persons age 40+ are Boomers to her. So that obviously includes the millenials who I think invented the "boomer" label as a sneering resentment label in first place.

YES I AM thinking "Just desserts"

They weren’t, production ended in 1971, after 23 years. Coincidentally, the Morris Ital, which was based on the Minor’s underpinnings, did cease production in 1984.

No I see it as the baby boom and not at all economic

Welcome, OP. I absolutely love being Gen X!

I wish I was Gen X but I'm millennial as I'm 1982. Gen X is so much cooler, millennials are mocked. I also as a v v old millennial feel I identify more with Gen X.

I don't mind being old ish and accept "boomer" is about birth rates rather than wealth. We had two extra classes to accommodate the extra 1964 births. But, the way boomer is used now seems to label all 1945 to 1964 people as similar. I think that makes it problemtic. I do not feel I've had the same experiences as my partner's parents born in 1945. But, then again, they talk as though they actually lived through WW2.

DDs born in 1981 (43) and 1985 (39) are millennials.

Yes! Proper raves, Cool Britannia, grunge, metal rock. The 90’s was such a good era for music.
And who can forget inflatable everything (bags, chairs etc) ahhh 😁

This is why I feel more Gen X. God I miss the 90s. Proper music (spoken like a true ancient person).

Wow ! I’ve read that people born circa 1955 had many advantages- generous student grants

But that only applied to a very small percentage of this age group. None of the rest of my friendship group at O level stayed on for sixth form. Many sixth formers (especially the girls IME) went on to uni.

Also - they would’ve been around 20 when computers were just coming in so could benefit in many ways from these developments… e.g Bill Gates ?

Microsoft was founded in 1975 but I don't think it impacted many until somewhat later. And again, it was only a small subset who benefited from them back then. I'm a very fortunate outlier.

The reality for most in the mid to late 70s/early 80s was more around unemployment, strikes, the 'winter of discontent', the miners strike, the collapse of so much manufacturing especially in the nationalised industries.

Ha, that's what I say when people insinuate that everyone after GenX is some sort of tech whizz. No, people are adept at using the products and services that GenX tech workers intentionally made user-friendly and consumer-oriented. Ask them how any of it works and the technical aptitude retreats back to the specialists again, just as it always did!

Gen X and earlier have learned as they go with tech, rather than being formally taught.

I knew maybe 3 people with mobiles in 1995( they were expensive to run). The reason everyone got one around 1997 and not before is because that’s when PAYG started.
Im a late gen x who was definitely tinkering with computers and tech in the 80s/ 90s but classic gen x no supervision/3 tv channels childhood.
The point of gen x is that we are very at home with tech but we remember what life was like without it and we’d probably adapt back pretty well ( post zombie apocalypse).

My kids are GenZ. They and they’re friends kind of remind me of me. Total cynicism about politics and same kind of humour. I work with a lot of millennials. They are very earnest. Might just be coincidence.

It was. The boom was the baby boom - not an economic boom.

Hello fellow Xennial

Cuspers are the best!