To say shoot me now if I ever refer to myself as Gen x

[Notouchingmybhuna]

Or Z or a millenial or a boomer.

WTF is happening? I’ve just attended a professional study day where speakers introduced themselves with this bollocks as if it was relevant.

For full disclosure I have no clue which Gen I am actually supposed to be 😎

Again Reality Bites (which I loved) characters very much drawn from Douglas Copeland Gen X playbook

I wouldn’t use it about myself or anyone else but I think it is to do with the culture you were born into etc. the baby boom after World War 2 or the technology-led period we’re in now

I agree, maybe thats because we must be around the same age 😘

And as for relevance in a work context - hmmm I can think of a few examples where it would be useful in the same way as having an insight into your personality and motivations can be useful.

So I'm a late GenX (analogue childhood but mostly digital working life) I know how to change toner in a photocopier, dial up a fax and how to use treasury tags but can also turn my hand to most computer based tasks. I'm strongly Green in my personality so will strive to see everyone's point of view and try and reach consensus. And I'm and introvert who presents as an extrovert in a work context.

I think it is probably useful for my team and close colleagues to know those things and I like to know the same about them - not compulsory but it does allow us to adapt to strengths and fill in gaps

I wasn’t asked. The speakers used the terms. It had zero relevance to the content.

I mean, Google it if you want the full research papers. People can give their own interpretation here but if you want sociological essays do your own research 🤣.

I feel you're either being deliberately obtuse or you really dont get it, which would place you in most likely the boomer era. Less technically minded.

Well it captures a generation, rather than a specific age.

This can be useful for many reasons, marketing, product design, communications, all sorts!

It seems to have really become a focus in the last decade to say which generation you are. Social media has fuelled a rise in it and people make skits acting out different generations vs each other. It does seem strange to introduce yourself with your generation though as if it sums up part of who you are. For context Gen X were born 1965-1980. Millenials were born 1981-1996. Boomers were 1946-1964. Gen Z were born 1997-2012 Alphas were born after this and some say Beta is born from 2025 or 2026. Gen X get the best rep out of all the current generations and as a Millenial, my gen get blamed for making businesses close.😆

You’re trying to be funny right?

I'll admit to being flippant-there still isn’t a single response that has explained why this stuff has become or is relevant.

Trying to nail it down a bit more-who or where have those very specific year related terms come from? Who has set that criteria?

Exactly. For example, when developing training materials, if your intended audience is mostly Gen Z/Millennials, then videos might be the best method as they are typically very comfortable learning from videos due to the technology and culture that was prevalent when they were in education.
On the other hand, Boomers tend to typically prefer written materials and having training delivered in a classroom environment rather than being self-led.

I just admit I don't really understand what it all means. Not that I've looked into it really.

I have no problem with naming the brackets of generations in this way. It is very interesting to observe how having formative and young years in different cultural context can shape whole generations and their trend towards certain attitudes, political ideas etc etc.

For example, Millennials (1981-1996) are thought to be exceptionally unique (or, I should say, have the most exceptionally unique influences shaping them) compared to other generations throughout all of known human history, because, due to where they landed on either side of digitisation, they are they first generation to have had a significantly different experience to their parents. Whereas even other generation, though of course they had differences, the differences weren't so impactful and long-reaching. Before and after Millennials, almost all people will experience mostly the same general life as their parents before them.

The Greatest and Silent Generations are especially interesting too.

It's interesting to see the similarities and differences between generations. I'm another late Gen X who had an analogue childhood and digital working life.

However, if this came about during introductions, such as "I'm Jane, I work in the Finance Team and I'm a Millennial", then agree it's totally unnecessary and a bit cringe.

(Just realised Millennials aren't called Jane, they're called Gemma or Natalie).

You seem weirdly uptight about this OP.

PP have explained how it’s useful. I’m Gen X which means I grew up without the internet. I was trying to explain to some teens the other day what the differences were and they were astounded. I don’t think they had ever really stopped to consider what life was like 😂😂

As a society, we use cultural frames of reference all the time. And it’s almost reverse ageism tbh. If I’m talking to a fellow Gen X or Boomer and need to refer to something in the past then I might not have to explain in detail as they were there and also lived through it. A younger person may need more context or explanation. To use a random example, a Gen Z/Millenial may not appreciate that when you had dial-up internet, you couldn’t use the phone at the same time. Films, fashion, lifestyle, news - there are lots of frames of reference that we share with people of a similar age.

I wouldn’t introduce myself as Gen X at an event but I’m aware that’s my age grouping and I’m happy to use the description when it’s relevant.

Not uptight at all. Sitting in the garden, sipping a cocktail and pondering on an experience I had this morning.

I wasn’t serious about needing someone to shoot me. I recognise that may have triggered your GenZ sensitivities 😉

I agree that it’s a load of bollocks, OP. If someone’s age is vaguely relevant, or helpful I giving others an idea of the era in which they were born, surely people can make a reasonable guess how old someone is, and therefore roughly when they were born? I hate the use of stupid labels and abbreviations.

I can see generations have a set of experiences that shape them, which is useful to know in some circumstances. Didnt it all arise from marketing?

But personally, i have more similar experiences to the generation officially below me than some of the older people in my generation. I was right towards the end of it. So I think my experience was much more similar to an older millennial than an older gen x as i am closer to them in age.

They’re not meant to be a tool for calculating which era someone was born in, they’re just labels to describe the different cultural, societal and technological influences that shaped particular generations during their formative years. It’s not that deep.

I don’t use it as my ‘identity’.

If look at the Gen X type threads on here they are full of stuff about the British Gen X experience. Hair gel, the miners’ strike, shoulder pads, Constance Carroll lip gloss, electronic music, Arctic Roll, NOT HAVING SMARTPHONES, watching Threads, sorting out university applications on your own, getting served in pubs at fourteen, Thatcher etc, etc. It’s shared cultural experience. It’s nostalgia.

I’ve just watched the Adam Curtis Shifty series with a side order of The Comic Strip on Netflix so feeling quite immersed.

I don't think it has suddenly "become" relevant, it has been relevant for at least 20 years probably more.

There's a thread at the moment where some people are absolutely aghast at the moral failings of anyone who would answer someone else's mobile phone. I think understanding that Gen X and baby boomers, for example, used to work in offices where you would pick up other people's phones as a matter of course; that we don't generally see mobiles in the same way as millennials and Gen Z because we didn't grow up with them, might be useful in understanding that societal norms are not the same to all generations. (Yes I am sure any number of BB and GX will be saying they also see it as a moral failing, it was just my thought while reading it)

That's just a tiny example I noticed today but of course there are all kinds of wider sociological insights to be drawn from, for example, how it might be to be part of a massive birth spike (baby boomers), or to grow up with fear of nuclear war (boomers and Gen X) or climate change (millennials and Gen Z) etc.

I managed to spend my entite life until a few very short year’s ago not even realising I was a boomer. No one referred to themselves as a generational homogenous blob the way people do today.

I’m surprised you’ve been able to work the internet and set up an account 😉

Agree. It seems to be a thing now to have to label oneself and others , but with things that are really boring so your generation, whether you prefer sex with men or women or both or nether and lots of other things that really are not in the slightest bit interesting to other people.

its going backwards I think, labels are very limiting.

It's just indicative of when you were born and how much tech you have/had? I have Millennial, Gen z and Gen Alpha children, there's not a lot of difference between their upbringing/school etc apart from tech.