6 ms·

I think for many millennials, the conclusion of this article doesn't come as a surprise. As a member between the Gen X and the millennial crowd, I've certainly

by drchiu 10y ago

I think for many millennials, the conclusion of this article doesn't come as a surprise. As a member between the Gen X and the millennial crowd, I've certainly seen how much harder people just a few years younger than me have it as well as how much easier for those slightly older. Older generations don't realize that their wealth is primarily built up in what is really an elaborate ponzi scheme of sorts, money which is really borrowed from future generations.

dleslie 10y ago
I'm in the same boat, born on a cusp year of the two generations, and I have long felt like a surfer who is struggling to ride the crest of a wave but who knows that the crash to shore is fast approaching.
- BuckRogers 10y ago
  I think a lot of us are. My parents are Boomers and we were born between 78 and 82. Technically being born in 78 makes you GenX. Yet if you have a brother born only 4 years later, it's another generation? We had the exact same experience, Atari 2600 on a TV that is now weird to even think existed. No TV remotes, walk up and change the channel. Rotary phones, city directories and phone books. Need the time and temp? You called the city "time and temp" number. Riding a bicycle to the comic book store and arcade, which were common then. I remember the USSR and my brother and I saw the Challenger blow up on TV at school as if it were 9/11. None of this is the Millennial experience, and they couldn't even describe these details. The world really did change after ~1995, when the internet went mainstream with Win95. Prodigy, CompuServe, AOL, and BBSs were around and used occasionally but I never felt they were significant enough to change society as the internet did post 1995. In many ways, if you were born from the early 80s back to the 20s you might have had a fairly similar childhood. Stuff that a kid born after the rather dramatic changes the internet caused will never really experience how the world felt different. Similar to how in my grandmother's childhood, she remembers being the first house in the neighborhood to have electricity hooked up. That's a game changer from previous generations. I think the typical 20 year generational divide is broken with the advent of certain technologies. There has to be a break between those who meaningfully experienced the world prior to the internet and those who don't really remember life without it.
  - flomo 10y ago
    Because "generations" are mostly marketing bullshit that are constantly being adjusted to sell the latest newborn consumers youth products. As a GenXer, I always thought it was funny that GenX was defined down to the point that Douglas Coupland (b.1961), the guy who literally wrote the book, was too old to be a GenXer. (The other aspect to this is that when I was young, almost everything I read about "Generation X" was a humungous load of bullshit. So I assume any article about "Millennials" has the same veracity.) Essentially, I agree with you that technological revolution is what really matters. This business about media consumption identification, whether it was Brady Bunch or Super Mario Bros, doesn't really matter to anyone but the marketers.
    - vacri 10y ago
      Your opinion is appropriate, given that cynicism is a hallmark of the Gen-Xers... cough
    - WorldMaker 10y ago
      The "generations" are astrology signs for marketers. Make enough vague implications about a large enough group of people and enough will be "true" that they will sort of identify with it.
  - Futurebot 10y ago
    Different sources and countries use different ranges, so where you fall depends on which you consult (for Millenials, some use 1976 as a starting year, others use 1978, and still others use 1980 or 1981.) Some also carve out additional generations (MTV generation / Doom Generation / XY Cusp Generation along with Echo Boomers / Generation McGuire) for people born in the edge years. Here's more: http://www.esds1.pt/site/images/stories/isacosta/secondary_pages/10%C2%BA_block1/Generations%20Chart.pdf http://www.esds1.pt/site/images/stories/isacosta/secondary_p... http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/brainiac/2008/04/final_words_on.html http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/brainiac/2008/04/fin... The old Wikipedia article on XY Cusp before it got edited: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:JCDenton2052/mh5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:JCDenton2052/mh5 Excerpt: "The XY Cusp includes those people born in the mid-to-late 1970s and early 1980s. The word XY is used because their generational identity is mixed, uncertain, or deviant from X or Y or both, but do not constitute a separate generational group in themselves. Some place the years between: 1976-1983 [3] [4][5] [6] People born within this group are in parallel situations with people born in between previous generations: Generation Jones between Boomer and X - late 50s, early 60s, (teens of the 70s); between Silents and Boomers - late 30s, early 40s (teens of the 50s); and the Beat generation between G.I. and Silents - late 10s, early 20s (teens of the 30s). They are referred to as Cusper Groups, Transitional Times, or Buffer Zones. John Losey states "If you couldn't neatly place yourself in any of the [generations], then you're probably a Cusper. 1943-1947, 1962-1967 and 1976-1983 are each considered transition times. Many people born during these cusp periods identify with the generations on either side." There's definitely no single standard.
eanzenberg 10y ago
Why the stark contrast between bordering age groups? Difference in effort, intelligence, experience, drive?
- xapata 10y ago
  > Difference in effort, intelligence, experience, drive? Unlikely. Much more likely causes are technological change and systemic changes in international political economy that reduce wages and consumer investment earnings.
  - collyw 10y ago
    Fictionalization of everything.
- Mao_Zedang 10y ago
  Slowly increasing ages of those who retire, combined with reduction in the work force size required to maintain the status quo (globalization/mechanization).
bbcbasic 10y ago
Stagnating wages, rapidly increasing house prices, bad terms for renters, increasing university costs. If I were 20 I'd consider working remote and just go live in a much cheaper country. You could get a boomer lifestyle yet!
- CorvusCrypto 10y ago
  God yes, this is a big issue. The rent in cities alone is enough to make me want to GTFO of US and go somewhere else.
  - ghaff 10y ago
    The rent in a handful of cities. There are plenty of places in the US (both urban and not) where $1K or so per month will get a decent apartment. Yes, there is a lot of tech concentrated in the expensive cities but the same could be said of other countries like the UK. Of course, there are cheaper places in the world to live but then you may be looking at remote work or lower salaries and the same logic applies in the US.
- openfuture 10y ago
  Omg thank you for affirming my choices!
- trentmb 10y ago
  It seems hard enough to establish credibility for an in-office job these days. I can't even imagine trying to get a remote gig. Perhaps that says more about me though? Granted, I've deliberately eschewed larger cities, and as a consequence I've had a harder time convincing people that just because my degree was in math I can still be a competent developer.
  - bbcbasic 10y ago
    This is a problem definitely. Freelancing may be required. Save up 5k and that should keep you fed and accommodated in say Laos for a year ... plenty of time to get the freelancing going. Charge as if you are in the US and invest most of it!
xapata 10y ago
To be fair, the Boomers didn't intentionally create a Ponzi scheme. They were just irrationally exuberant when estimating future economic growth.
- antisthenes 10y ago
  Which is understandable, considering they grew up in the highest oil per capita use period in human history. It's easy to buy into the "unlimited resources and growth" hype when you're at the peak. Sort of like the bullish delusions of 2007 stock market.

by drchiu 10y ago

dleslie 10y ago

I'm in the same boat, born on a cusp year of the two generations, and I have long felt like a surfer who is struggling to ride the crest of a wave but who knows that the crash to shore is fast approaching.

BuckRogers 10y ago
I think a lot of us are. My parents are Boomers and we were born between 78 and 82. Technically being born in 78 makes you GenX. Yet if you have a brother born only 4 years later, it's another generation? We had the exact same experience, Atari 2600 on a TV that is now weird to even think existed. No TV remotes, walk up and change the channel. Rotary phones, city directories and phone books. Need the time and temp? You called the city "time and temp" number. Riding a bicycle to the comic book store and arcade, which were common then. I remember the USSR and my brother and I saw the Challenger blow up on TV at school as if it were 9/11. None of this is the Millennial experience, and they couldn't even describe these details. The world really did change after ~1995, when the internet went mainstream with Win95. Prodigy, CompuServe, AOL, and BBSs were around and used occasionally but I never felt they were significant enough to change society as the internet did post 1995. In many ways, if you were born from the early 80s back to the 20s you might have had a fairly similar childhood. Stuff that a kid born after the rather dramatic changes the internet caused will never really experience how the world felt different. Similar to how in my grandmother's childhood, she remembers being the first house in the neighborhood to have electricity hooked up. That's a game changer from previous generations. I think the typical 20 year generational divide is broken with the advent of certain technologies. There has to be a break between those who meaningfully experienced the world prior to the internet and those who don't really remember life without it.
- flomo 10y ago
  Because "generations" are mostly marketing bullshit that are constantly being adjusted to sell the latest newborn consumers youth products. As a GenXer, I always thought it was funny that GenX was defined down to the point that Douglas Coupland (b.1961), the guy who literally wrote the book, was too old to be a GenXer. (The other aspect to this is that when I was young, almost everything I read about "Generation X" was a humungous load of bullshit. So I assume any article about "Millennials" has the same veracity.) Essentially, I agree with you that technological revolution is what really matters. This business about media consumption identification, whether it was Brady Bunch or Super Mario Bros, doesn't really matter to anyone but the marketers.
  - vacri 10y ago
    Your opinion is appropriate, given that cynicism is a hallmark of the Gen-Xers... cough
  - WorldMaker 10y ago
    The "generations" are astrology signs for marketers. Make enough vague implications about a large enough group of people and enough will be "true" that they will sort of identify with it.
- Futurebot 10y ago
  Different sources and countries use different ranges, so where you fall depends on which you consult (for Millenials, some use 1976 as a starting year, others use 1978, and still others use 1980 or 1981.) Some also carve out additional generations (MTV generation / Doom Generation / XY Cusp Generation along with Echo Boomers / Generation McGuire) for people born in the edge years. Here's more: http://www.esds1.pt/site/images/stories/isacosta/secondary_pages/10%C2%BA_block1/Generations%20Chart.pdf http://www.esds1.pt/site/images/stories/isacosta/secondary_p... http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/brainiac/2008/04/final_words_on.html http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/brainiac/2008/04/fin... The old Wikipedia article on XY Cusp before it got edited: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:JCDenton2052/mh5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:JCDenton2052/mh5 Excerpt: "The XY Cusp includes those people born in the mid-to-late 1970s and early 1980s. The word XY is used because their generational identity is mixed, uncertain, or deviant from X or Y or both, but do not constitute a separate generational group in themselves. Some place the years between: 1976-1983 [3] [4][5] [6] People born within this group are in parallel situations with people born in between previous generations: Generation Jones between Boomer and X - late 50s, early 60s, (teens of the 70s); between Silents and Boomers - late 30s, early 40s (teens of the 50s); and the Beat generation between G.I. and Silents - late 10s, early 20s (teens of the 30s). They are referred to as Cusper Groups, Transitional Times, or Buffer Zones. John Losey states "If you couldn't neatly place yourself in any of the [generations], then you're probably a Cusper. 1943-1947, 1962-1967 and 1976-1983 are each considered transition times. Many people born during these cusp periods identify with the generations on either side." There's definitely no single standard.

eanzenberg 10y ago

Why the stark contrast between bordering age groups? Difference in effort, intelligence, experience, drive?

xapata 10y ago
> Difference in effort, intelligence, experience, drive? Unlikely. Much more likely causes are technological change and systemic changes in international political economy that reduce wages and consumer investment earnings.
- collyw 10y ago
  Fictionalization of everything.
Mao_Zedang 10y ago
Slowly increasing ages of those who retire, combined with reduction in the work force size required to maintain the status quo (globalization/mechanization).

bbcbasic 10y ago

Stagnating wages, rapidly increasing house prices, bad terms for renters, increasing university costs. If I were 20 I'd consider working remote and just go live in a much cheaper country. You could get a boomer lifestyle yet!

CorvusCrypto 10y ago
God yes, this is a big issue. The rent in cities alone is enough to make me want to GTFO of US and go somewhere else.
- ghaff 10y ago
  The rent in a handful of cities. There are plenty of places in the US (both urban and not) where $1K or so per month will get a decent apartment. Yes, there is a lot of tech concentrated in the expensive cities but the same could be said of other countries like the UK. Of course, there are cheaper places in the world to live but then you may be looking at remote work or lower salaries and the same logic applies in the US.
openfuture 10y ago
Omg thank you for affirming my choices!
trentmb 10y ago
It seems hard enough to establish credibility for an in-office job these days. I can't even imagine trying to get a remote gig. Perhaps that says more about me though? Granted, I've deliberately eschewed larger cities, and as a consequence I've had a harder time convincing people that just because my degree was in math I can still be a competent developer.
- bbcbasic 10y ago
  This is a problem definitely. Freelancing may be required. Save up 5k and that should keep you fed and accommodated in say Laos for a year ... plenty of time to get the freelancing going. Charge as if you are in the US and invest most of it!

xapata 10y ago

To be fair, the Boomers didn't intentionally create a Ponzi scheme. They were just irrationally exuberant when estimating future economic growth.

antisthenes 10y ago
Which is understandable, considering they grew up in the highest oil per capita use period in human history. It's easy to buy into the "unlimited resources and growth" hype when you're at the peak. Sort of like the bullish delusions of 2007 stock market.