5 ms·

I mostly agree with this. As someone born in 1983, I am usually grouped in with the "Millenials" (Back in my day we were "Generation Y!"). But when I see what t

I mostly agree with this. As someone born in 1983, I am usually grouped in with the "Millenials" (Back in my day we were "Generation Y!"). But when I see what the stereotypical characteristics of a "Millenial" are, I don't see myself. Neither do I see myself in the stereotypical characteristics of Generation X, which I only bring up because I am among the "older" of the Millenials. The comparison to horoscopes that TFA makes is apt, in my opinion.

cwe 11y ago
Born in '83 as well. I consider us to be members of the Oregon Trail Generation: http://socialmediaweek.org/blog/2015/04/oregon-trail-generation/ http://socialmediaweek.org/blog/2015/04/oregon-trail-generat... EDIT: to add some commentary, as one of the older Millennials, I've seen the media go from talking about "Millennials joining the work force" about a decade ago now, to "These wacky high school/college Millennials" now. As technology and society advance at an increasingly rate, it make less and less sense to group together such a wide age range. A generation used to span roughly 20 years, right? These days it should probably be a decade or less. In which case, it probably shouldn't be used as a catch-all at all anymore. Maybe just stick with "People born in n decade".
- CapitalistCartr 11y ago
  It has for a long time. I'm technically part of the Baby Boom, but when people talk about "The Baby Boomers" they mean the first ten years. Its always obvious. Those of us in the second ten years are not similar. I find people group well by decade, starting in mid-decade: 1945-55, 1955-65, 1965-75, etc.
- untothebreach 11y ago
  Wow, I identify with a _lot_ of that article, though as much as I love(d) The Oregon Trail, I'm not sure I could call myself a member of the "Oregon Trail Generation" while keeping a straight face :)
monknomo 11y ago
I'm 30 and feel much the same way. I feel like the media conception of "millenial" is really "someone who is 17" mixed with "what do our NYC interns do?"
theandrewbailey 11y ago
> I am usually grouped in with the "Millenials" (Back in my day we were "Generation Y!"). But when I see what the stereotypical characteristics of a "Millenial" are, I don't see myself. That's why I claim to be Generation Y specifically, and never "Millenial". And for anyone who says otherwise, I tell them to get off my lawn!
- ollifi 11y ago
  I've seen my classification go from Gen X to Gen Y and then to millenial over the years. I guess I should be happy to be considered one of the new kids, but I wish I would have grown up to be X like I was promised.
- jschwartzi 11y ago
  I usually say that I grew up back when calling someone a geek or a nerd was an insult.
protomyth 11y ago
I was born in 1970 so I'm in the Gen X group. I remember seeing the "definitive" Gen-X movie Reality Bites and realized I hated everyone in the film except the guy they were making fun of. Also the snickers bar line still offends me. I think background and geography are always going to trump age bracket.
- monknomo 11y ago
  That's definitely true, but it does seem like there are some broad generational commonalities. I think using a 20 year definition of generation might be too broad when rapid societal changes happen. For instance, I think people of 1970-1990 and 1990-2010 are likely to be more similar than 1980-2000. But that's just deciding where we cut our sausage into links
  - protomyth 11y ago
    Good point, but I don't think I agree. I think there is a heavy urban prejudice to the generational categories definitions and a lot of it seems to be directed at what sales categories to use.
    - monknomo 11y ago
      Certainly there is an urban prejudice, but that just happens automatically when you average a country's worth of people. I think there is an east coast bias and an upper income bias, as well. I still think they are ok views of a mass of people, if you squint and keep them general enough :)
      - protomyth 11y ago
        Your probably right, I just really hate talking about group beliefs in terms of anything but the group believing it. Stretching it to a general trend strikes me as wrong. Broken abstraction applied to the real world?
    - dragonwriter 11y ago
thedevil 11y ago
Born in 82 myself. If we're going to define people by generations, I wish we got broken into our own group. I think there was a HUGE cultural shift that makes lumping us with Millenials insane. Social network usage is different, political views are different, use of language is different (e.g. YOLO).
pasquinelli 11y ago
of course you don't see yourself in the stereotypical characteristics of a millenial, because those characteristics are put on millenial's to lambaste them. in exactly the same way, baby boomers don't see themselves the way millenial's paint them.
amalcon 11y ago
It does seem a bit weird to lump people like me who remember the Challenger disaster and their first world map without the USSR together with people who have never experienced pre-Columbine school environments. That's not really the article's point, though. The point is that which cultural touchstones one remembers doesn't even predict the sort of thing that's typically attributed to "generations," at least not until you control for other socioeconomic factors.

cwe 11y ago

Born in '83 as well. I consider us to be members of the Oregon Trail Generation: http://socialmediaweek.org/blog/2015/04/oregon-trail-generation/ http://socialmediaweek.org/blog/2015/04/oregon-trail-generat... EDIT: to add some commentary, as one of the older Millennials, I've seen the media go from talking about "Millennials joining the work force" about a decade ago now, to "These wacky high school/college Millennials" now. As technology and society advance at an increasingly rate, it make less and less sense to group together such a wide age range. A generation used to span roughly 20 years, right? These days it should probably be a decade or less. In which case, it probably shouldn't be used as a catch-all at all anymore. Maybe just stick with "People born in n decade".

CapitalistCartr 11y ago
It has for a long time. I'm technically part of the Baby Boom, but when people talk about "The Baby Boomers" they mean the first ten years. Its always obvious. Those of us in the second ten years are not similar. I find people group well by decade, starting in mid-decade: 1945-55, 1955-65, 1965-75, etc.
untothebreach 11y ago
Wow, I identify with a _lot_ of that article, though as much as I love(d) The Oregon Trail, I'm not sure I could call myself a member of the "Oregon Trail Generation" while keeping a straight face :)

monknomo 11y ago

I'm 30 and feel much the same way. I feel like the media conception of "millenial" is really "someone who is 17" mixed with "what do our NYC interns do?"

theandrewbailey 11y ago

> I am usually grouped in with the "Millenials" (Back in my day we were "Generation Y!"). But when I see what the stereotypical characteristics of a "Millenial" are, I don't see myself. That's why I claim to be Generation Y specifically, and never "Millenial". And for anyone who says otherwise, I tell them to get off my lawn!

ollifi 11y ago
I've seen my classification go from Gen X to Gen Y and then to millenial over the years. I guess I should be happy to be considered one of the new kids, but I wish I would have grown up to be X like I was promised.
jschwartzi 11y ago
I usually say that I grew up back when calling someone a geek or a nerd was an insult.

protomyth 11y ago

I was born in 1970 so I'm in the Gen X group. I remember seeing the "definitive" Gen-X movie Reality Bites and realized I hated everyone in the film except the guy they were making fun of. Also the snickers bar line still offends me. I think background and geography are always going to trump age bracket.

monknomo 11y ago
That's definitely true, but it does seem like there are some broad generational commonalities. I think using a 20 year definition of generation might be too broad when rapid societal changes happen. For instance, I think people of 1970-1990 and 1990-2010 are likely to be more similar than 1980-2000. But that's just deciding where we cut our sausage into links
- protomyth 11y ago
  Good point, but I don't think I agree. I think there is a heavy urban prejudice to the generational categories definitions and a lot of it seems to be directed at what sales categories to use.
  - monknomo 11y ago
    Certainly there is an urban prejudice, but that just happens automatically when you average a country's worth of people. I think there is an east coast bias and an upper income bias, as well. I still think they are ok views of a mass of people, if you squint and keep them general enough :)
    - protomyth 11y ago
      Your probably right, I just really hate talking about group beliefs in terms of anything but the group believing it. Stretching it to a general trend strikes me as wrong. Broken abstraction applied to the real world?
  - dragonwriter 11y ago

thedevil 11y ago

Born in 82 myself. If we're going to define people by generations, I wish we got broken into our own group. I think there was a HUGE cultural shift that makes lumping us with Millenials insane. Social network usage is different, political views are different, use of language is different (e.g. YOLO).

pasquinelli 11y ago

of course you don't see yourself in the stereotypical characteristics of a millenial, because those characteristics are put on millenial's to lambaste them. in exactly the same way, baby boomers don't see themselves the way millenial's paint them.

amalcon 11y ago

It does seem a bit weird to lump people like me who remember the Challenger disaster and their first world map without the USSR together with people who have never experienced pre-Columbine school environments. That's not really the article's point, though. The point is that which cultural touchstones one remembers doesn't even predict the sort of thing that's typically attributed to "generations," at least not until you control for other socioeconomic factors.