4 ms·

Poll: Which Generation Are You?

• LogicHoleFlaw 18y ago
  There has been a lot of conversation about generations and demographics here on HN lately. There are definitely differing viewpoints and relationships between them. Where do you fit in?
  • deleted 18y ago
    [deleted]
• tyohn 18y ago
  I'm generation X - the worst of all the generations :p
  • ram1024 18y ago
    wait... how'd we get that reputation?
    • run4yourlives 18y ago
      Seriously, the boomers definitely take that one. :-)
      • fallentimes 18y ago
        No way - silent generation. They're so ashamed they're not even talking about it :P.
    • foulmouthboy 18y ago
      I'm pretty sure we gave it to ourselves when we were feeling surly during the 90s.
• YuriNiyazov 18y ago
  Annoying - I keep on seeing different standards for X and Y, and never know which one I belong to, because I was born at the end of 1981. I am XY I guess.
  • run4yourlives 18y ago
    Most would consider you Y, although leading edge. You missed entering the workforce during the early nineties, (recession) so you probably share more things in common with Yer's than Xer's.
  • alex_c 18y ago
    Mid-1982 here, but I agree with you... I don't particularly identify with, say, someone born in 1990.
    • ensignavenger 18y ago
      I was born in April '82, and I have several friends that are 18-19. Not too many younger, but that's just because I don't hang out where you'd meet kids still in high school. I also have friends that are retired old folks, so I guess I relate well across generations :)
  • rodrigo 18y ago
    Same here, 1979. Dont feel quite an X guy. More X than Y though.
  • tomsaffell 18y ago
    '79 - feel more like a Y than an X. But isn't the idea that we can draw hard-lines around generations the very problem here? It's these hard-line definitions that enable articles like the WSJ one to exist in the first place. Change happens gradually and continually, but if you sample it at a frequency of ~20 years then you see all sorts of artifacts.
    • netcan 18y ago
      A lot of times what makes these lines be drawn is generation gaps. They supposedly make lines possible. Bob Dylan's generations' message to the preceding . The Clash to Dylan's. I don't think us Ys have a clear line with the previous generation. Maybe we'll find it at some point, but the pattern hasn't changed so much. I imagine a lot of that is written as history is written, not based entirely in reality. Anyway, I get this feeling that these 'generations' that can be characterised are not inevitable & constant. There were just a few that were.
• jbenz 18y ago
  I was born in 1982. I grew up loving brands like Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I think one of my generation's defining characteristics is the way consumerism has been encouraged from such a young age, and the way we are willing to embrace brands. Which leads me to a defining moment. In the 1970s Hot Wheels (or was it GI Joe?) tried to create an animated series based on their brand. The government stepped in and said: "No way. You can't have a 30 minute commercial for your product and pretend that it's entertainment." When Reagan was elected, they said: "Ah, forget it, make as many brand-based TV shows as you want." And thank god they did, because we got lots of awesome 80s entertainment. I read somewhere recently that a writer had produced a screenplay aimed at teens. The studio's advice was to put more name brands in the script, but only the ones that the kids think are cool. The coolness factor is supposed to bleed over from the brands to the film. I'm not sure if these trends are good or bad, but I think it does have a big influence on what my generation likes, and the type of work they do. How many of us became graphic designers, advertisers, and branding experts? How many of us are creating a brand for ourselves?
• mooders 18y ago
  GenX FTW!
• ChaitanyaSai 18y ago
  Unexpectedly, the Silent Generation isn't speaking up in the poll :)
• Angostura 18y ago
  '64. So Generation X, according to this, thoug to be honest I've never felt part of a particular generation.
• run4yourlives 18y ago
  1975 here. Earliest memories feel like an old Italian movie (spent 1980 there). I can clearly remember Oliver North, the cold war, and my family's first microwave and VCR. (I wasn't all that well off). In grade school we had three lessons from a "computer guy" and were able to spend an hour every week or so on Apple II's. EDIT: OH! And how could I forget the day we got a Colecovision! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ColecoVision http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ColecoVision) High School through the early nineties...we all still had big hair. Used a black and white Macintosh to write a program in Turing. For my class project, I had graphics of a missle blowing up a house if you got the question wrong, since I skipped ahead to the back of the book and read the appropriate section. I remember how scared people really were during desert shield. We thought it could be WWIII. Saddam's army was the 4th largest in the world. Joined the army in the mid nineties. I remember seeing a buddy's 486 with windows 95 on it and thought that this internet thing was pretty cool, but not as cool as the GPS's we got to play with. I did my time and got out, went back to school and got into IT just as the dot com boom was at its height. Never made the mounds of cash others did. Been stuck behind a computer in one form or another ever since.
• Eliezer 18y ago
  By birthdate, Generation X. By culture, I probably belong to a new generation of future transhumanists that's growing up right now...
  • rodrigo 18y ago
    What cultural expresions you found defining for this new generation? Im 1979, so Gen X; but dont feel like im a prototypical genxer, maybe cause im at the tail (ending Gen X, beginning Gen Y.
• edw519 18y ago
  Baby Boomer here. Not proud of it. Don't apologise for it either. Come to think about it, never really thought about it that much. I spend lots of time with people from age 4 to 92 and never think about which "generation" they're in. Frankly, I think it's a giant non-issue. I do know that we didn't have all this cool technology when I was in college, but I sure am glad we do now. Having suffered with earlier stuff makes me appreciate what we have today that much more. Now stop worrying about stuff that doesn't matter and get back to work.
  • timr 18y ago
    Dear Sir: As the primary account-holder of the future which your generation has mortgaged, I would kindly request that you address all future payments to us, directly. Additionally, it has come to our attention that your account is more than 90 days past due, and we must inform you that if you do not begin making payments immediately, we will be forced to turn over your debt to collections. If you do not respond, your future may be repossessed without further notice. Sincerely, Generation X
    • run4yourlives 18y ago
      Dear Sir: As always, Fuck You and thanks for the $700 Billion. We'll also be interested in changing more laws to make sure we don't retire and that you can't get promoted into the executive level jobs that you have waited for. We got them first, nyah nyah. Any attempt to disagree with the way we run things we be met with our votes, which will always outnumber yours. Oh yeah, make sure you pay our kids right. Even if it's more than you ever made and bankrupts your company. Yours, Boomers.
      • edw519 18y ago
        Hmmm. Another comment whose wit is overshadowed only by its mean-spiritedness. I guess I'll stick to threads about boring stuff like data base structures, algorithms, scaling, or adoption rates. It's getting a little too hot in this one.
• timcederman 18y ago
  Gen X. 90s indie music was pretty defining for us I thought.
  • tyohn 18y ago
    I have to agree.
  • run4yourlives 18y ago
    Certainly better than what's out there now, but then every generation says exactly the same thing don't they!
  • davidw 18y ago
    A concert that a few friends went to in high school: RHCP headlining, and a few other regional (northwest) bands opening: Nirvana, and Pearl Jam. Everyone was quite into RHCP, but weren't so sure that Nirvana was that great. Me, I was (am) more into Fishbone, who are, incidentally, still a going concern.
  • avinashv 18y ago
    Y here. I'd say that it was for me too.
    • timcederman 18y ago
      There's certainly some overlap there... Me, I'm happy that I'm still able to see bands like Buffalo Tom and Local H perform.
• nex3 18y ago
  1990, so solidly Gen Y. I remember not having internet access, but I don't remember not having a computer at home. Some of my earliest memories involve playing DOS games. I think 9/11 is a pretty defining moment. I was in 6th grade that year, so I was old enough to understand what was going on but not old enough to really be interested in politics, so I became politically aware in a world with a war on terror and patriot act.
  • run4yourlives 18y ago
    Wow. You know, being exposed to this forum at 18 is putting you miles ahead of where I was at your age. Don't take that for granted, take heed to a lot of the advice here, especially from those who have been around the block.
  • moonriver 18y ago
    Wow, seeing someone born in 1990 made me feel old and I'm only a year older. Weird. Wikipedia seems to refer to Gen Y and Gen M though for some reason? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generations#Generation_Table http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generations#Generation_Table
    • rms 18y ago
      The reference to Gen M shouldn't be there... that table is not the Wikipedia canonical order of generations. This one is better. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generations Feel free to switch the tables if you're feeling so motivated.
  • GeZe 18y ago
    I am 1991, even more solid Gen Y. I was the last in my class to get a computer at home, around grade 6, but I am the second most tech savvy person at my school. I remember my first experiences with a computer. It was at my elementary school, on an old black and white Apple. How times have changed.
• strlen 18y ago
  I am Gen Y (1983), but culturally I feel more at home as 'Gen X'. I worked during the dot-com boom, most of my friends (and with few exceptions, the women I've dated) are late 'Gen X' (1975-1981).
• mindcrime 18y ago
  Gen-X according to those ranges (born in 1973) but I disagree with at least some details of these definitions, if not the entire premise behind labeling "generations." For example, the Gen-X stereotype would be some lazy, self-centered kid listening to 90's grunge music, while blaming his parents generation for fucking up the world, while wearing a flannel shirt and ridiculously long sideburns. I feel pretty much nothing in common with that stereotype, fucking hate grunge music, and am far more interested in how we (my "generation" or whoever) can change the world, than in assigning blame to others.
  • rodrigo 18y ago
    Yea...I miss my flannel shirts...
• daveambrose 18y ago
  Generation Y here. I wrote some ideas that we stand by earlier this year: thought, action, stimulation and freedom - http://datainsightsideas.com/post/35037689 http://datainsightsideas.com/post/35037689
• r11t 18y ago
  Generation Y. Born and lived in a small South Asian country for 19 years. In the US for the last 3 years pursuing undergrad CS degree in a not so popular university with a decent CS program. Not gone back home since I arrived in the US.
  • davidw 18y ago
    Ah, this reminds me of what I really identify with more than age groups: a sort of 'international' set. I'm American, from Oregon, married to an Italian woman, living in Austria. Amongst our best friends here are an Australian couple, an Italian/Mexican couple across the border in Italy, and various and sundry Americans, Italians, French and so forth. Not having that is one of the things that scares me about going back to the US. We have a small daughter, so big cities are not as interesting as they once were, and smaller towns in the US can be incredibly homogeneous compared to what I'm used to.
• brianm 18y ago
  Huh, I always considered Gen-Xers to be have been born no later than the mid 70s, or so.
• lux 18y ago
  '81 is gen x? Didn't know that...
• maw 18y ago
  A bug in the polling software: I was able to report myself as part of each generation. Multifaceted I may be, but not multiaged. (Generation X, btw.)
• jamesbritt 18y ago
  Blank Generation
• Allocator2008 18y ago
  Generation X. Born in 1981, so I just barely snuck in to that category, lol! :-) I prefer to think of myself as from the "Beverly Hills, 90210" generation. Dylan McKay is my soul mate.
• jamesbritt 18y ago
  And this differs from astrology because ... ?
  • edw519 18y ago
    Thank you. Perfect metaphor.
• testcase61 18y ago
  The Baby Boomer Generation ends in '64 according to Wikipedia, not 1960. Though many people consider it actually finished in 1963.
• Allocator2008 18y ago
  BTW, how is (1925 - 1942) the "silent" generation? Alan Ginsberg, my favorite poet, who wrote 'Howl', one of the greatest epic poems ever, was born in 1926. In fact most of the beats probably fall into that category. They can hardly be called "silent".
• joe 18y ago
  Generation Y by birth, though I feel like I can appreciate aspects of each generation listed. 90's indie music had a big influence on me too, and my parents are Baby Boomers (yes, they had children late in life). Perhaps I'm transgenerational?
• rman666 18y ago
  I'm six, why is there no generation for me?
  • jyothi 18y ago
    Very surprising to know that kids of your age read HN too. If you are really 6 I am bowled. Saw this in your profile - experienced entrepreneur. :) amusing. Did you start something in your backyard for the toddlers when you were 2 or 3 ?
• anamax 18y ago
  What about the Pepsi Generation?
• psnajder 18y ago
  In Strauss and Howe's book Generations (I highly recommend reading it, if not visiting this Wiki explanation on their theories of social cycles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generations_ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generations_(book)), they say very simply that whatever Generation you believe is yours, is yours. That is, if you were born in 1981 and felt that Nirvana and Reality Bites and Microserfs were items that you feel define you and your peers, then you are Gen X. If you were born in 1981 and are/were more interested in Hanson/Britney and Varsity Blues and not reading books (I keed!), then you are a Millenial (Gen Y). I was born in 1977, an unrepentant Gen Xer. I think most of the comments here support this general self-assessment. (God knows that anyone in Gen X was all-too aware of the fact.) P.S. Obama, born in 1961, is on the X/Baby Boomer cusp. But given his single-parent upbringing and general awesomeness, I have always considered him our first Gen X big-time leader. The biggest unspoken issue of the 2008 campaign is our movement away from a Baby Boomer or GI Generation president in a very very long time (Eisenhower was our last Pres not from GI/Boomer Generations). McCain, born in 1936, would be the FIRST member of the Silent Generation to become President, ever (Bush II: Boomer; Clinton: Boomer, Bush I: GI; Reagan: GI; Carter: GI; Ford: GI; Nixon: GI; LBJ: GI; JFK: GI; etc.). The real question of this election is: do you want someone from the old school that can't logon to a computer leading us in the 21st Century, or would you give that task to one of the do-nothing, lazy, slackers that you have come to know and love?
• MaysonL 18y ago
  Boomers are actually 1946 and up - the birth rate didn't start booming till after the war.
• charlesju 18y ago
  I thought I'd just throw in my year -- 1986!!!
• seshagiric 18y ago
  Generation X (1961–1981)
• 13ren 18y ago
  bet there are some Generation Z here (probably > silents or boomers)
• rms 18y ago
  I was proud to defend the Generation Y article when it was up for deletion on Wikipedia. Any other names for my generation annoy me. The reason is because if the singularity occurs in the near future, it will be incredibly cool if Generation Z isthe last generation of humanity before the first generation of post-humans (Generation Alpha?).