The Difference Between Generation X and Millennials | TMI

[@joescott-tmi]

By the way, I want to recognize that this is a major oversimplification of the problems that Millennials face, I was just thinking about the effect of upbringing and the environments that shaped us.

[@thesilentone4024]

Do you think it would be cool to talk about potential bigger telescopes in space. Soo moon base build bigger better telescopes to get better shots of space and potential planets.

[@robertcortright]

Remember when Puff Daddy was getting so much pushback for sampling others' songs? Seems silly now in this "sample" culture.

[@jr2904]

@@robertcortright little by little, everything falls

[@robertcortright]

@@jr2904with every breath I take.

[@interstellarsurfer]

Sick-voice Joe Scott is the superior sounding clone. 😁👍

[@cdp200442]

I’m a Gen x kid .. 53 now and I remember a lot of my friends being devastated knowing their parents were divorcing. Also that we raised ourselves. No one stayed inside. You were expected to just be home for dinner and come home for the night when the porch lights were on. It was a awesome time to grow up . We all were for the most part successful in life achieving our goals. I wish the younger generation could feel what it was like to have true freedom and no cameras watching your every move. Vinyl was an experience and not just a push of the screen.

[@PastelBrushes-n-Donuts]

This was exactly my childhood. As for the true freedom, I think for the most part we were also taught how to take care of ourselves. There was info at school about general safety and info about being wary of strangers. We could walk home from school with our friends - even at the age of 9 or 10. I wish it could have been the same for the millennials.

[@MoonOvIce]

​@@PastelBrushes-n-Donuts I'm a millenial and walked home from school by myself, starting at 7 years old. I'm not American though, and in my country in the 90's it was way safer for kids to be left alone in the city, even taking the bus to and back from school by themselves starting in elementary school (no school buses). Then went to high school in the US and same thing, went alone or with a friend and also experienced the whole "walking through snow" thing, my parents didn't have a car until much later (did in my native country, but sold it when we moved to the US and didn't have one for over a decade). I also mostly identified with Gen Xers in some things, and my parents are boomers (my brother is gen x 10 years older). I'm from late '88 so I feel kind of in the middle of millenials, I don't identify with most of their music but I do with tech and I'm a fast adopter of it when I can afford it, I also recently became a programmer in my 30's after playing with it for a long time. I experienced not being able to afford a home at all, actually also not being able to rent until I was around 23. I guess I can see some "entitlement" in me, mainly because I saw my grandfather work in construction his whole life and break a couple of limbs for little money, my dad also made some manual labor, and same thing. Always thought there is no "pride" or value in that kind of work unless it's for yourself or you own a successful business. So I concentrated on only working on jobs where I could mainly use my mind instead, I have made waay more than my parents and grandparents already in my 20's, but never enough to invest or anything like that. I also live in a country that if you don't have a university education, almost all alternative roads lead to nowhere, so I'm only now in my 30's able to actually get some tertiary education becauw I can work remote and fewer hours. I also don't have children and probably never will, can't afford them money-wise and can't afford the time (yet another mistake I saw previous generations make and even some from my generation that wanted to be just like their parents).

[@SnickC13]

It's creepy as hell just walking around my neighborhood knowing any and all people think it's morally justified to spy through cameras and sound devices. Life kinda sucks life kinda doesn't suck with the technology. Shrug.

[@valentino3191]

I’m 48 and this is was exactly how I grew up as well. Parents divorced and I let myself in and was home alone often while my single Mom worked. But I had freedom and could think for myself.

[@lorireed8046]

​@@valentino3191Generations should be done by growing up times/years. Like people born in 65 did NOT grow up with people born in 1980. They can't even relate to each other.

[@MichaelPhillipsatGreyOwlStudio]

My take as a Gen-Xer is we're the cynical middle child generation, the one that got no attention and resultingly had to be self-sufficient. We automatically cringe at trends, commercialism, and any kind of general ego puffery. Cynical but easygoing.

[@TheNicoliyah]

Fellow gen Xer here and I concur!

[@annahappen7036]

I've got two older Gen X Siblings and I agree.

[@absinthealice]

GenX 1968 and I fully agree.

[@junrosamura645]

Couldn't have said it better myself!

[@SuMMeRFLi5]

Accurate!!

[@larrywagner1432]

As a late Gen X’er (‘78) I like to think about it this way, I’m hopefully pessimistic. I hope things well work out, but I’m in no way surprised when they don’t, and really rather assumed they wouldn’t.

[@Ms_Nightshade]

I’m ‘77 and couldn’t agree more with your assessment!

[@BR-gz3cv]

I’m 1970 and completely agree with that statement. I’ll be using it myself- thank you!

[@PastelBrushes-n-Donuts]

Well said.

[@Rachel_M_]

76. Completely agree

[@kathleenwallace8252]

79

[@TheBorderRyker]

I will say one thing about being Generation X. We had the best music culture ever. 🤘🏻😎

[@PastelBrushes-n-Donuts]

Definitely.

[@Rachel_M_]

"Music For The Jilted Generation" (the title, not the music) sums up everything for me

[@chockabout]

#facts

[@kelcritcarroll]

Best music was from 1960 thru 1974! In my opinion… I’m a boomer barely two yrs away from gen x….🫣Beatles for instance

[@inspirationalaries]

Agreed. I grew up with my parents listening to Motown and pop/rock records from the 60s and then found my own music to love in the 80s and 90s. In hindsight, I feel very, very grateful and blessed. Most modern music of any genre just doesn’t make me feel much at all.

[@Weyland_Yutani_Corp]

As a Gen Xer, I think the most important and persistent sentiment that was ever imposed upon us as kids was that we didn't really matter. Whatever we may have done ,or may have said, or may have thought, was unimportant at best or completely irrelevant at worst. Like you said, we grew up with the prospect of WWIII kicking off at any moment which meant that we were almost an afterthought to most discussions and talking about a 'future' was practically an act of arrogance. This is why the battle cry of Gen X was, is, and shall always be 'Whatever' because we just felt like we were the collective punchline of a bad joke.

[@mbryson2899]

Well stated, exact same for me and my better half.

[@Maerahn]

Yup, we grew up with our Boomer parents telling us "shut up children, the grown-ups are talking." And now we ARE grown up, we get the Millennials telling us "shut up oldies, the future belongs to US now!"

[@codahighland]

Huh. I had a different interpretation of that experience. I thought I didn't matter to anyone, yes, but only in the sense that no one would go out of their way to do anything for me. Instead of believing that I would never be anything but irrelevant, the upshot for me was that the only way for me to be relevant is to make something of myself under my own power.

[@mbryson2899]

@@codahighland I was born in '65 so I never saw the point in striving for "relevance." Why bother...if nuclear war didn't end us the death of meaningful jobs certainly would.

[@codahighland]

​@@mbryson2899 I think even the definition of "relevance" has shifted. Post-Internet people see relevance on a global scale and I suspect most have difficulty scaling that perspective down. For me as a GenX'er, the only relevance that matters to me is relevance within my own world. If I didn't do anything, then the world would just walk over me. If I wanted to have any semblance of control -- if I wanted my own influence to matter to my own life experience -- then I had to take action. I had to define my own idea of what it meant to be relevant, because the world's idea of relevance sure as heck wasn't ever going to apply to me.

[@Martino2156]

Boomers were pretty rough on a lot of us. It definitely toughened us up. The term "child abuse" started becoming a thing during our generation. We didn't want our kids growing up like we did but therefore didn't know what was too much or to little when raising kids. We didn't whine or complain, still respected our elders, and looked forward to the day we could get out on our own

[@jessj.j.french7482]

Child abuse did not become a thing until millennials unless it was something very severe that happened

[@crai-crai]

"Latch-key kid" - for those that don't know - We came home to a locked, empty house after school and had to let ourselves in with our own key, because both parents were at work, made our own lunches and took care of ourselves - unlike previous generations that came home to mom. I don't think the expression is as common now because it's just normal to be that way.

[@carriel3054]

Agree. Neither of my Boomer parents even owned a key to the houses they grew up in. I wore one around my neck from the age of 13.

[@millennial_talk]

Agreed. I'm sure many millennials and gen z had to or currently have to take care of themselves when they get home. That might be part of anxiety issues today. Feeling alone or abandoned in some way. Just one of many possible factors

[@pixiechicjk]

Lots of the younger kids had the key hanging around their necks so they wouldn't lose it. The kids with the keys were latch-key children.

[@AC-ld4np]

As a latchkey kid, can confirm. Both my 'rents worked since I was in grade 2. I was letting myself in with the key in the garage from age 7. (Ma was an elementary teacher, so she was home with my kindergarten aged sis by 4- 4: 30) Our parents were the opposite of helicopter parents. So little supervision. Saturday morning after cartoons. Bam! Out the door. Off to adventure. Rents had no idea where we were, what we were doing. lol. I'm surprised any of us survived to adulthood.

[@jakeaurod]

Boomer parents also kicked up divorce rates, so a lot of latchkey kids came home to an empty house because their only parent had to be at work at that time, on either day or night shift.

[@musickfreak]

As a millennial, I really respect the way you handled this. You're not hating on us, you understand where we're coming from. We're all just out here trying to do our best with the tools we were given and the current state of the world.

[@CheriBenIesau]

Exactly--we're all just trying to do our best. Well said (OMG--a boomer complimenting a millennial!).

[@mathbytv4858]

So true!

[@billybussey]

You are going to have to do better in spite of what you've been given. I blame Gen X for your behavior but that only goes so far. You are all old enough now to get over what your parents were like.

[@frankm.2850]

@@billybussey I blame boomers more than Gen X. How many Xers have political power? A couple maybe, but politics in this country is still largely controlled by boomers, to everyone’s detriment.

[@billybussey]

@@frankm.2850 Gen X is up to 57 years old right now. We are the ones that controlled the minds of all the current young people.

[@michaelevans3904]

Latch/ key kids were the first generation that overwhelmingly had two working parents. We got home and no one was there. We either unlatched the gate and went in through the back door( usually a key was either under a planter or in our pockets.) We entered through the back door in an attempt to keep our business our own.

[@briangarrow448]

I’m a boomer and all I can say is that if 1% of the stupid stuff I did and said was recorded on the internet and available to be repeated and played for the entire planet, nobody on the face of the earth would talk or even sit near me. Younger generations have no space to grow and learn about the world in a modicum of privacy. I was learning how to “adult”. The standards for everyone is so much different now. There is no room for youthful indiscretions. It sucks. That standard is impossible to attain.

[@laurendoe168]

I am also a Boomer and agree 100% that the fact that personal things (both good and bad) can be recorded for posterity and distributed for global consumption has changed everything.

[@CreativeIsolation]

You also hit on something important. My wife and I are about to be parents, very old parents at that, because we were taught to be utterly responsible to a fault. So we waited until our mid thirties to even try and now we’re going to be both “broke” (by boomer standards) and old as parents, AND we have to do absolutely everything “right” because the responsibilities have increased so much since our parents had us. My mom drank coffee, took pain meds, and did a plethora of other things that my wife CANNOT do now-as an example. Everything is harder in that sense, despite having so many conveniences our parents did not have. I’m able to put it in perspective and be grateful, but it takes work.

[@Kimberly_Sparkles]

I grew up in the sweet spot where social media didn't exist until college and the brands didn't last until post grad studies. THANK GOD. I can't imagine having every thought from high school turn up on a background check today.

[@laurendoe168]

@@CreativeIsolation As I stated earlier, I am a Boomer. My parents didn't have the information they have today. My mom smoked, drank both coffee and alcohol, took prescriptions... without giving it a second thought. I look back at the kids I went to school with in the 60s and 70s whose parents also did these things, and TBH, I don't recall any of them having any issues. Yes, there are many examples of fetal alcohol syndrome on record... but no one I knew of had even this. We also were forced to be vaccinated, and this was received as just something a responsible parent does. Again, no instances seen because of this.

[@artdonovandesign]

"No room for youthful indiscretions". Bingo! Damn shame.

[@JanusKastin]

I was born in 1981, right on the dividing line between the two generations. My parents were boomers who had kids late, which meant a whole extra decade of dual-income-no-kids in the 60s and 70s to build up. I'm just old enough to remember duck-and-cover drills in school, but was still quite young when the Berlin wall came down. My upbringing was all about getting the best grades in school to get a college degree so I could get a job paying six-figures. Meanwhile I grew up absorbing Gen-X culture, and I saw my parents' ideas of success being conformity to a corporate consumerist culture as a shallow, empty way to live, and being funneled down that path was awfully gloomy. Then 9/11 happened. Then the financial crash of 2008 happened. And then, and then, and then.... Whether or not us Gen-X / Millenials actually wanted it, the life of the Boomers has been pushed out of our overall reach. On the rare occasion that the lucky few of us are able to get out of student debt, move beyond the gig economy, climb to the top of the bucket of crabs and begin to live the life of their parents, then congratulations, welcome to shallow, empty corporate consumerism. These are the lucky ones. I hate that I can't remember the KZbinr who said it, but they had a great essay that summed it up really well. "Things have been terrible for so long, you miss when they were merely bad."

[@SuperStrik9]

Awesome comment. I totally agree and can relate. I was born in Feb 81 so I'm the same age as you. I'm a Millennial with Gen X tendencies is the best way I can describe myself lol. Being on the dividing line of Gen X/Millennials is an accurate description for those of us born in 1981.

[@fiction-]

I am one of the earliest millennial (82) and I think it might be good to mention another formative thing that happened: I was 19 during 9/11. It was one of the first things that happened in my adult life. And we all watched it live. It's like, yes, I matured in the 90s with grunge music and stuff, but we were indeed promised stuff at that time and then it's just been tragedy after tragedy after tragedy.

[@Deveonn]

I was 11, sick from school and just wanted to watch cartoons while everywhere was some stupid building (European for context). However it introduced a new state enemy which was invisible and had nothing to lose.. It was way “easier” to be scared for Russians or Germans. The fear for terrorisme was more like the fear of nuclear. PS: I was raised to create your own fortune because my parents didn’t have any either.

[@mistermaumau]

I was born in 81, kind of on the cusp. Feel like whether you were an adult on 9/11 or a kid is a good generational marker. Learning you were growing up in a scary world vs wondering if you were going to be drafted.

[@neuralmute]

@@mistermaumau I think that's *definitely* a good generational marker! I was born in '78; I'd been out of college for about 2 years when 9/11 happened, and I'd been meaning to spend the day helping to plan one of my best friends'/ex-roommates' birthday party for that night. Spoiler: we didn't have much of a party for my friend's 24th birthday. We'd already made a cake and bought plenty of booze, but the cake wasn't eaten very joyfully, and instead of getting drunk because it was a birthday party, we got drunk while watching CNN and wondering if we were watching the beginning of World War III. It feels like a very GenX response to any bad situation - drink like there's no tomorrow, because there really might not be a tomorrow!

[@danbhakta]

I (1977) am of the tail end of GenX raised by Silent Gen parents...my old man was 1928. I feel completely out of place and time, but I would never trade that away given the choice.

[@easyethanol6611]

I was born in '90 and i never really thought about the trend of tragedy and crisis that some of you have mentioned. Thats just all there is to me so i guess im used to having the world kick me in the balls at least once a year for the majority of my life. I can't get ahead like i was taught to and i can barely keep up with how things are changing. In previous generations i suspect you had time to figure life out and get a groove and a routine. That seems almost impossible for me to do. Ive just been hoping things settle down long enough for me to find my footing and ill be good but that just doesn't happen. The harder i work or the more i plan the harder and faster life comes to kick me back down. I don't have much hope and definitely don't have a dream other than for everyone to stop trying to change shit so i can figure out which way is up and go that way.

[@kenziedayne4234]

As a Gen Xer I really related to this. I had my own house key from the time I was 8. Before all the laws about not leaving kids home alone. I'd get home from school and most of the time I was alone until 7 or 8 at night. In my teens I took care of my two younger brothers. Mom was a single parent and worked 3 jobs so she was never home. Even on weekends. We learned how to be really independent. We also learned that nothing is promised to anyone. Ever. The world doesn't owe you anything. You want something? Go make it happen.

[@antiisocial]

Yep.

[@gathda]

👍

[@rossh2386]

Acting like younger people didn't do the same shit. Get off your high horse and get back to work like the rest of us

[@jamespaxton6395]

Absolutely. This was a mantra, a motto, a lifestyle, and the truth.

[@snakekiller667]

@@jamespaxton6395 Truer word are not said.

[@fr2331]

Young Gen-X here, and it's definitely been a weird go watching the world change so drastically in our lifetime and I think this is the problem. I do feel bad for the Millennials as well. The boomers really set them up for disappointment. That was the advantage to growing up Gen-X. As you said, we had no expectations of tomorrow. The "F - it, what do you want me to do about it" attitude has served us well for the transition. The boomers set the Millennials on a path that would have been the ideal path for a boomer. So the millennials lives were on this rigid rail and they were told go to get good grades, go to college and graduate and get a good job and you will not just be successful, but you will be prosperous. BUT, at the same time they were setting them up for this pipeline, they were strip mining their futures. They shipped off all of the good manufacturing jobs overseas so we could make cheap junk to sell at WalMart. So now the good paying jobs were replaced by low paying retail jobs. Then with all of these kids in college, they guaranteed the student loans. With that college tuition ballooned, so the cost of getting that "good office job out of college" just became cost prohibitive, but they also now demand that bachelor's degree as the floor to even get your foot in the door. Now you have to get an even higher and more expensive education to get a job JUST to be middle class....but now you're also saddled with debt. So millennials were sold the promise of the boomer life track all the while the boomers were taking a wrecking ball to that reality. So basically, the millennials were unplugged from the matrix of their childhood and expected to become adults in a world they were wholly unprepared to deal with. Them now being adults, the boomers had no sympathy for them...after all, they're adults now and should just deal with it, that's life. This, again, is where the Gen-X upbringing differed so much. We were left to our own devices. We learned by trial and error. We were allowed the freedom to make mistakes where they had helicopter parents and participation trophies and soccer practice and karate lessons and they were just kept on a hamster wheel with the promises of a great future if they followed the rules. All the while the boomers, who are STILL in charge, mind you, changed the rules.

[@iluvrolaz]

@fr .... I dunno why you're putting all the blame of effing up the millenials on the boomers... WE, GENERATION EXERS, are their parents. Boomers made us, generation x... WE FUCKED UP OUR KIDS!! We got complacent n lazy, n let the schools n tvs raise our kids, n just let em do whatever they wanted n never held them accountable, n always bailed them out of any trouble, instead of letting them face the consequences they earned, because we were overcompensating because of our guilty consciences, of being an invisible parent n shirking our duties... we failed them.

[@FurtiveSkeptical]

Fellow Gen Xer here ('69).... Thanks for this, this is exactly what I've been trying to articulate to folks my whole life. I always felt that everything my parent's generation tried to teach me was a sentimental ideal, a misinformed , ineffective method or and outright bullsh!t lie. All the way down to this "rail" to success they put you on. Yeah, it worked for them.....and they appear to have bought the whole store, took it all with them, pulled the ladder up behind them, and proceeded to criticize us forevermore, for not being "them". They were too busy being workaholics and getting divorced to see their "master life plan" would work only for them in the time period of 1950's to the 70's. It was all BS, and yes they are still in control. They made sure they owned as much of everything they could grab. Barring death, they largely still do. But y'know, dodging the nuclear apocalypse was pretty cool and all too.........I guess.🙄 (GenX mindset) ✌️

[@an0therdimensi0n99]

what seperates & props us gen x above all generations is we embody the rebel spirit. nations were built on that spirit. what is stopping us is boomers will. not. get. out. of. the. way.

[@ResurgentVoice]

I’m a late Gen X (end of ‘77) and I identify way more with the struggles of Millennials than Gen X. I had sports practice, got participation trophies, was told the way to stability was a college education and that student loans are “good debt” because it’s an “investment in your future” 🙄 (anyone else remember that fucking lie being sold to us!) I was too young to really understand the Cold War and I remember watching the Alvin and the Chipmunks special episode where the chipmunks sang on the wall. So yeah, I definitely have somethings that I connect with Gen X about, but really I’m more an Xenial than a solid Gen X kid. And unfortunately, the Millennial things I identify with are all the most important things (financial and life trajectory expectations). Who gives a shit if I remember what it was like to only have a tape player or watched The X-Files, Goonies, and The Lost Boys.

[@BenjaminT.Minkler]

I call myself "The Last Boomer" being born about as far late on the 'cusp' near the end of 1964 but since I was the youngest of my fam(three older brothers) and all my peers were solidly boomers(vs my wife, who was only born a year after me, altho she is the oldest of the sisters and all her friends/peers younger than her so grew up with GenX) and I do believe most of what you said to be true and well put, as I saw it happen however, you have to ask *why* did it happen like that ...as for the boomers and before not much changed as dramatically from gen to gen in life styles, like often you would find if grandpa worked in the factory(or whatever job) so did their son, your dad, and then you too; and then slowly just some of the boomers might have been peeling off from that, like the 'first to leave the farm' and go to college, but still many of these more aware kids would come back home and use the educations to improve the 'farm' or operate the factory's latest equipment - this is about all there was to having a 'better life than their parents' ... even me, being a late boomer, didn't even have computers in college, that all came right after me; along with simple things like seat belts in cars, air conditioning in homes or grade school, smoking banned areas and age restrictions, having more than one TV and with anything to watch on them, and phones without cords where you could know who was calling(the only way you could get a call was if you were home) etc. all that changed for GenX, now you no longer were expected to come back and run the family farm(which was failing anyway) and yes the factory jobs were disappearing(when boomers retired, they retired their jobs with them) but not only did the boomers pull the carpet out from under next gens, but GenX didn't want it cause they had a whole new world to go to, new possibilities to be the "eXtreme Generation"....shopping malls, fast food, home electronics, and even homes themselves changed - everything was new - the schools I went to all were closed, condemned, and torn down, with new ones built in their place; houses and cars were no longer things you had to maintain, everything became just so much easier, so that you could do other things .... no one wanted their old parents' life, job, home anymore; *nor did they even know how to do those things* , as that stuff was boring - so simply *GenX got bored* I saw it happen

[@demonspawnedangel]

As a Millennial, my expectation was to be able to work a full time job and afford a place to live to call my own. I also live in Dallas, like you joe, but even with me and my fiancé, we can barely afford rent with both of us making over double minimum wage with minimal other expenses beyond surviving and paying back loans we took to survive (like insurance, medical bills, cost of cell phone required by jobs, but not payed for by jobs, car loans to be able to travel to the jobs to afford the money, ect). This basically means no savings for getting out of this situation, and in a house where we aren't throwing our money away with no future return. And this money goes to people who are already set for life with multiple properties and want to afford that next yacht.

[@Fearmylogic]

I was born in 84, so I'm not exactly sure where I fit in the generational divide. But I feel like I'm more millennial than an X'er. Like you, I grew up in a time where parents could not longer afford to send their kids to college based on 2 generic factory jobs. I was in high-school when 9/11 happened. Since I've been old enough to pay attention to politics, the USA has been at war the ENTIRE time. Even at my middle age of 37, house prices are insane everywhere. If My wife and I didn't get lucky, and find this house when we did, and was forced to wait another year or two, there's no way we could have gotten a loan on our house. Zillow ( while not the best metric of house prices ), estimates that my house's value has increased like 45% in 4 years. That's insane. I have friends my age that are just now looking for houses, and they nearly priced out of the market. And this is in small-town area's in midwest Ohio...One of the most affordable states to live in, in the entire country. I also grew up in an age where pension started to really die off at a crazy rate. Now we have to hope our 401K's don't shit the bucket, because there's a damn recession every 10 years, and we lose half our 401K's value in a span of 3 months. Hell, I have lived through 3 fucking recessions! the 2000 dot-com bubble, the 2008 crash, and the 2019/2020 covid pandemic. When I was in school, I was told Capitalism is the most stable economic model, and that recessions are rare, and are usually from outside forces. My generation has literally seen that be nothing more than a fucking lie, And while jobs never increased their pay to keep up with inflation, as we lost pensions, and college cost more and more, and as the AVERAGE price of a new car hit $40k, I saw the explosion of billionaires. We have literally been able to watch the money from our wallets travel upwards to the already rich. And on top of all this, There's Climate change. I'm just old enough to remember when the temps were getting really nice in march / april. When you could start a garden in march. This fucking morning, on April 9th, it was snowing at 9:30am. The spring and fall seasons feel like that last about 2 weeks. It's either 90F outside, or 20F. The number of 70 - 75F days seems to grow smaller every year. I've watched as more, and stronger tornado's have ravaged the middle states. See more wildfires every year in California. Shit, only 2 years ago, like 60% of Australia was literally on fire. In real time, we have watched the polar Ice caps melt and shrink. Almost every year, we see a new species either get put on the endangered list, or go extinct. And I'm 37. I have an 8 year old. Unless shit drastically changes, my kid is going to have it MUCH harder when he's in his 20's. I've accepted that he may not be able to move out until he's in his late 20's...and have accepted the idea that he may never move out, just in case the job and housing situation gets worse over the next decade. Its pretty bad when the BEST news that people my age and younger have had in our entire lives, is the "The Great Resignation", where because of covid, Many older people retired early, and younger people are telling their bosses to treat us better or fuck off, and the small wave of unionization. When our best news is something that was COMMON in the 40's and 50's, it's depressing. Don't know where I was going with all this. Just wanted to add to your points that when X'ers give us BS like " We were taught nothing is handed to us, and we just have to make shit work ourselfs" is total BS when a dual-income family can't afford a fucking house. Sorry but at that point, The hole we were thrown into at birth is just too deep to crawl out of, and sentiments like that don't reflect that realities of the 2020's.

[@CreativeIsolation]

@@ExpatZ266 Also, depending on your age, genX may have had some time in the 90s and early 2000s to succeed and build wealth before everything started to crumble. And with the “nothing is guaranteed” attitude, one might’ve been better prepared for shit to go down hill again. Whereas late GenX through mid millennials were basically throwing all the chips on the table (college) not realizing they were gambling their prosperity away on one hand of cards that, while decent, was no guarantee.

[@dewiz9596]

The fact that you wrote “me and my fiancé” rather than “my fiancé and I” is a reflection on the quality of the education system that you have been subject to. (No, its not your fault). The deprecation of the American education system has been going on since at least the 1950s, keeping the population generally ignorant about the rest of the world. As an example, just look at a typical weathermap. Nothing exists beyond the borders of the USA. I can name all 50 US states, plus a number of territories. Can you say the same for the ten Canadian provinces, let alone the three territories. Sadly, I don’t have an easy answer.

[@demonspawnedangel]

@@dewiz9596 Way to show your mental superiority by point out mistakes. Telling me how bad my education was, and how much better yours was, really only makes you look stuck up. Who would of thought that US weather stations reporting only on weather inside the US would not show weather outside of the US. It boggles the mind.

[@CreativeIsolation]

@@dewiz9596 bro, that was rather uncalled for. There are plenty of people from all generations who make grammatical errors. Don’t blame generations for this. Boomers weren’t taught half the stuff millennials had to learn in school. I remember hitting calculus as a junior; I’d passed by my mother’s highest level of math when I was in middle school. And yes, you just read a sentence with proper use of a semicolon written by someone born post-1980. 😝 Let’s not point out each other’s inconsequential mistakes in order to make a point. It’s rather rude. Even if you didn’t mean it to be.

[@aquiamorgan2416]

I think you've put a finger on this idea that I could never articulate. Thank you! My parents are Gen X also, while I'm a millennial. I've been spending you know, an inordinate amount of time worrying myself sick over the situation in Ukraine and my mom barely batted an eye. "Well, if we do die in a nuclear blast, at least it'll be quick." Pleasantly surprised pessimism and disenchanted optimism. We're a pair of generations, aren't we?

[@jaredcrue7099]

I'm also a millennial, at first I was really concerned about Ukraine. After a month my feelings on it changed. "I'll keep tabs on it, but I'm not going to closely follow it, unless red dawn happens.

[@danwebber9494]

As a gen-x, the current world drama feels like a comfy sweater you forgot you owned. “Oh, existential dead! How I missed this.”

[@Kimberly_Sparkles]

I am on the borderline between millennial and Gen Xer. Late 70s baby. I think that it's easier to be blasé about it when you don't live in a region that would be targeted for a direct hit. I live in NYC and I've thought of nuclear weapons or dirty bombs more than once in the 20 years I've been here. Still not totally blasé about it.

[@jaredcrue7099]

@@Kimberly_Sparkles Exactly, I live in the western part of the state. I just need to worry about fallout and people doing nasty things, among other survival needs.

[@lrrrruleroftheplanetomicro6881]

As a physicist, I never felt that the threat was gone. You don't even need immediate war or even ill intentions, just thinking you can live with nukes on the same planet for a few 100 years without major mistakes or accidents is an easy way into a catastrophic cluster-fuck.

[@justinchan6043]

A fellow Gen Xer here. It's funny how you said that the Gen X slogan is, "eh, whatever, never mind." Cuz that is the chorus to Smells Like Teen Spirit, a Gen X song, from the biggest album of the 1990s, Nevermind. And that album, along with many other grunge songs and artists helped shape our generation (the later Gen X group) and also reinforced how the Boomers saw us as slackers. And then pop culture kind of just embraced that and we embraced it, too. This explains the popularity of grunge fashion, of films like Clerks and Reality Bites, the Wayne's World skit on SNL, etc. And because we were so resilient and we didn't have the technology (didn't grow up having internet and smart phones), we had to go learn things for ourselves. We had to do research. To find out things about pop culture, we had to watch MTV or read it in a magazine. I remember reading Rolling Stone and Spin magazine, growing up, and listening to the alternative radio stations (sometimes college stations), just to hear what is popular. We went to the school library and used a card catalog to find the book we need. We used freaking microfiche! And read newspapers. There were no KZbin or Spotify. We frigging requested songs from radio stations, waited for the song to come on and then we put in a cassette tape and recorded it! We frigging hooked up two VCRs together and copied movies that way. Now, you just pay a low fee per month and watch as much as you want to watch, when you want to watch it. We had to wait for our favorite show to air, every week, for every freaking damn show! And if you didn't set your vcr and you didn't make it home on time, you are screwed. And when Lost was on, I made sure I was in front of a tv when that came on! Or Seinfeld, another example. So, this made us very patient. Kids today are probably impatient when they can't have what they want, when they want it.

[@thebec8853]

I'm a boomer, born in 1960, so I was too young to actually DO much of the hippie stuff. I certainly soaked it up into my psyche, though. When I think of how stereotypical so many of my fellow Boomers have become in their old age, it breaks my heart. It really is just the age-old (pun intended) thing of the older generation forgetting what it's like to be young. Even close friends that are my age have turned and I just don't get it. People are more alike than they're different. Love everybody as best you can, where they are, and remember you're fallible, too. That's my best take on it. I love all the generations. We all have something to offer. P.S. hope you feel better, soon.

[@michaelgrosberg2665]

It's always helpful to remember that the "flower generation" and the hippies were only a small (but vocal|) minority even in their heyday. Most people were normies and stayed that way.

[@RichardIresonMusician]

I feel very much the same way, I'm a '58er.

[@jefkaplinger2717]

I was born in 80, and drawn to the hippy generation as a child. The freedom, the anti authority ideas still are the foundation of my thought processes. If feels in the end every generation sells out by the next generations point of view.

[@matheussanthiago9685]

@@michaelgrosberg2665 when you research into just how repressed the flower generation was afterwards just try and imagine being anti-war in Nixon's america

[@sleekoduck]

Boomers are generally divided into two subsets, you are what is known as "Generation Jones", which is much more materialistic and cynical than the older half of the Boomer generation. Generation Jones also often have younger siblings who are Gen X. That is true in my family.

[@PabloRichardFernandez]

Even more than the Cold War, the latchkey nature of being a Gen-Xer had a much more pronounced impact on how I see the world. Yes, there was the aspect of everyone wanting to stand out. I mean, musically you had Boy George, Iron Maiden, Whitney Houston and Twisted Sister all sharing record store shelves, and punks, headbangers, preppies and skaters all on the same sidewalk. The hair styles, the colours (remember all the shades of neon?), everyone was trying to find an identity that was unique and that made them stand out. But when the mid 80s hit, and both my folks had to leave the house and go to work, I too ended up with that key ring at the end of a cloth laniard around my neck. It was at that point that I realized that most of the kids in my elementary and junior high school had the same laniard around their necks - headbanger or new wavers, we were all going home to empty houses. Most of the time we had to figure out our own dinner. Most of the time we were figuring out friendships, school problems, adolescence, life, by ourselves and all on our own... Then, there's one aspect that Joe doesn't talk about, which is that yes, we were swimming in all the stuff that had gone wrong - the realization of what we were doing to the environment (it started with acid rain and air pollution), the constant threat of wars, how Reaganomics created a culture of excess in the 80s and budding inequality in the 90s (we're seeing the full extent of that now), and we internalized all of this all the while telling ourselves that we would do better than the boomers. That we would at least try to do at least a little bit better... But, now seeing what Millennials have inherited, I can't help but feel my heart break a little bit.

[@ghosthand8119]

I won't be coming home tonight My generation will put it right. We're not just making promises, That you know we'll never keep. Genesis, Land of Confusion We failed.

[@slory17]

I think 'stranger things' hit this latch-key situation just right. The kids are going everywhere on their bikes at all hours of the day and that was normal and expected. We literally were the first group of kids with keys to the family home because at 3:30pm both of our parents (or more likely the one parent) were still at work and/or would be at work most of the evening. We were mostly raised by each other in lots of ways.

[@karinwolf3645]

I am 70 and I love all that music, too! 😍

[@karinwolf3645]

My life has been spent trying to keep up with all the changes. You described all the stuff I went through, but before that, I was born in 1951, we had "duck and cover drills at school, bomb shelters and real daily fear of death. I like " whatever " better.

[@meg8278]

I have to say that I work in childcare. We have noticed how kids these days can't solve their own problems. I am a millennial but born in 82. We were also home alone after school and our parents were working and divorced. But we try really hard to tell the kids that's unless someone is bleeding they have to figure out their own issues. Otherwise every second a child will come and start to tattle or complain. Now a days it seems as if the parents are just always their and the children seem so much younger because they have no freedom. I obviously don't know that one is better than the other but I can definitely see the difference from when I grew up.

[@jessamineprice5803]

Yes. I’ve had a few conversations with Millennial friends about this. They grew up with different expectations than I did. I expected to die in fiery annihilation. When I was a kid we’d talk about Red Dawn and War Games on the elementary playground. I lived in fear all the time but it means I was pleasantly surprised when I made it to the age of 20 STILL ALIVE

[@rtyria]

My parents were so convinced the world was going to end in some fiery nightmare that they had a short list of dystopian novels they required us to read as soon as they figured we were old enough. So I read 1984 for the first time when I was about 12 or so, Alas Babylon and Fahrenheit 451 shortly afterwards.

[@Chris-ut6eq]

add to that, I saw the movie soylent green (2nd movie at drive-in), while I should have been sleeping. I just remember thinking, if this is the future, better to just die as a kid in that fiery annihilation that was the cold war, nuclear bomb.....err tornado drills, etc..

[@attabanana4709]

​@@Chris-ut6eqI am still convinced we will end up there eventually

[@gracieb.3054]

I didn't get any of the cold war fear. I guess I was blissfully ignorant. However, schoolyard bullies made me think things were all going to end badly anyway. I developed a bad anxiety disorder, and back then there was no internet to search for what was wrong. Nobody talked about feelings and I didn't even have a name to describe what was happening. Growing up was a lot like fumbling blindly in a dark room.

[@jessamineprice5803]

For context I should mention that I grew up near a military base on the outskirts of Washington, DC. They used to test the air raid sirens at all the schools once a month. Lots of kids had military parents or government parents. I can imagine our fears might have been different in the Midwest, for instance.

[@lars_huson]

In the Netherlands we actually call GenX 'The forgotten generation', specifically because everyone always glosses over them when mentioning timelines or generations.

[@crowttubebot3075]

Same here in the US, at least those of us who are part of Gen X.

[@dearyvettetn4489]

💯Agree. With all the shouting back and fourth between Millennials, Gen-Z, and Boomers I honestly believe that history looking back would call us the forgotten generation.

[@TJ-vh2ps]

Yeah, I recently realized why that is: there are just less of us. There’s a ton of boomers and a ton of Gen Y / Millennials, but a lot less people born in our generation. When I was a kid, half the junior and high schools had been closed and merged because there were too few children to keep them all open. Of course there wasn’t quite enough space so they added “temporary” classrooms: basically fancy shipping containers/mobile homes. By now they’ve reopened and renovated all the old schools for our younger siblings. That’s the Gen-X experience: the Boomers run the world, make everything about them, and then largely screw it up. Millennials are promised the world, are (rightfully) pissed when it goes pear-shaped, call us Boomers and blame us for the problems our parents and grandparents caused. We’re just as pissed about the state of the world: it’s just not a surprise to us.

[@mistermaumau]

I like that my parents were silent generation and me gen X (both barely). Both totally forgotten generations.

[@MadDragon75]

Right?! But have you also seen the chart of the population of Boomers versus millennials versus us Gen X? Somehow we became the generation that lost what looks like a quarter of our generations population. There are more Boomers then anybody and the Millennials come in second as far as population count goes. At least nobody is throwing rocks at us like they do each other. It feels like watching your child argue with your mother.

[@balazsadorjani1263]

As a millenial born in '89, raised by two boomers (though my mom is a late boomer, she can be considered as an early gen x based on her lifestyle), I couldn't agree more. I was always taught to have longterm goals (even by teachers), and now here we are. You can't even make a 5 year plan, cause there's a nonzero chance that the world will go up in flames, global war is on the horizon, economy is struggling, a pandemic is raging, politicians are going nuts, and so on. If you wanna cope, you clearly have to be able to change your expectations, and adapt. I think we're going through now, what gen x has gone through in the '80s. We're in desperation mode, and feel like a rope is around our necks. And gen x, with its own, familiar rope around their necks is smiling like: 'first time?' (someone insert that meme here pls)

[@LividImp]

Gen X'er here. We just figured out that if we get nuked, then we get nuked. Nothing you can do about it. We learned quickly to just throw caution to the wind and live like there is no tomorrow. A "Party at Ground Zero" if you will.

[@balazsadorjani1263]

@@LividImp I envy you. Maybe with time we'll reach that phase too. I already feel the transition in myself. I have these thoughts like 'what should I do? How should I prepare? How can I minimize risks' and bla bla. Then I'm like 'naaah, if nuke goes brrrr, then guess I'll just die' (yeah at least we have a meme for that too).

[@greenconscious210]

We didn't start the fire. It was always burnin' since the world's been turnin'

[@cynvision]

Yeah. My dad was really trying to get me to set goals at age 16. I'm not sure if it was my OCD/Autism level at that time but being demanded to set a goal for the following ten years would bring me to tears with the uncertainty I'd ever make any of the goal. Rereading "Who Moved My Cheese" every few years sometimes helps. But I'm still a person who listened to Susie Orman say that nothing was recovering until 2011 and then saying 2019 and disbelieving it. Even 2020 turned into a dumpster fire, but at least I was employed through it. But now is the fallout from 2021 supply chain problems at my job. Working for a corporation feels like a rope around my neck holding me down and it's the first time I've understood someone saying that. But they also pay money so can't live with them, can't live without them.

[@Theomite]

Yeah, we tried to warn you guys when you were little that you couldn't trust Mom & Dad because we knew them to be hypocrites.

[@absinthealice]

GenX circa 1968 here. When I first read "Fight Club" by Chuck Palahniuk back in '96, then saw the movie, well damn... it screamed out GENERATION X, STAND UP! The quotes in that movie are spot on clear depictions of GenX life. _"Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off."_ _"On A Long Enough Timeline, The Survival Rate For Everyone Drops To Zero."_ _“It’s Only After We’ve Lost Everything That We’re Free To Do Anything.”_ I hold no hate for boomers (my parents), millennials (friend's siblings), or GenZ. I respect people who respect me. It goes both ways, and is earned. I wish that some of us could all sit in a group, sharing stories, fears, hopes, goals, and futures. We all have things to learn from each other. Wisdom and insight come with age and experience, imagination and innovation come with youth and hope. I know we can see the good in this mess of a world. Cold War (again), recession (again), disenfranchisement (again). We have much to learn from each other. The only answer I can even venture for this, and future generations? Stop allowing others to separate you, stop allowing the division between ourselves. As a whole, this generation, right here, right now, has the real opportunity to make changes that will benefit all. My closing thoughts come directly from George Carlin. One of the greatest minds that graced the Boomers and GenX... we really need to push his wisdom forward. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. _"The reason education sucks and will never, ever, ever be fixed is... because the owners of this country don't want that... I'm talking about the real owners, the big, wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you._ _They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They've long since bought and paid for the Senate and Congress, the statehouse, the city halls. They have the judges in their back pockets. They own all the big media companies, so they control just about all of the news and information you get to hear..._ _We know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else. I'll tell you what they don't want. They don't want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking - well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking... That doesn't help them. That's against their interest... They want obedient workers, people who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork and just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly sh*ttier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime, and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it. And now, they're coming for your Social Security money... They want it back so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street, and you know something, they'll get it... It's a big club, and you ain't in it. You and I ain't in the big club..._ _They don't care about you at all, and nobody seems to notice, nobody seems to care. That's what the owners count on... It's called the "American Dream," because you have to be asleep to believe it."_ -George Carlin

[@randomshorts6862]

I've so gotta watch this masterpiece ^^ ) > < )

[@claradiaz-acevedo3051]

as a gen z, i see how gen x’s think and it’s really made me reflect on you guys. y’all are actually cool :)

[@fightersweep]

Gen Xer here from the UK. Born in 69. I've got four kids myself, all Gen Z. They're great kids. Bright, pragmatic and chilled, yet very aware of the world around them, good and bad. They question a lot of what they see and hear and have very balanced and informed opinions on most subjects. Fools they ain't! I see a lot of similarities in our thinking. The one thing they do say they envy of my Gen X youth was the music culture that was practically our religion, and the many tribes and identities that we could align ourselves with back then. I get a big kick out of the fact that they love my music of the late 70s and early 80s. The big difference I see between us is that I lived to be out all the time hanging with friends and having fun, and my kids are happiest when they are at home. The desire to be out there exploring the world just doesn't seem to be there for them. I'm immensely proud of them (even if I don't get their Tik Tok humour sometimes)

[@jasonrackawack9369]

We definatley had the best music despite the fact we all dressed like homeless lumber jacks from the pacific northwest lol

[@mathbytv4858]

It's funny you say that. I was telling my husband the other day that I LOVE Gen Z!

[@spondoolie6450]

I think Gen Z and Gen X both just have a common disgust for Millennials

[@Anubisdream1]

From a Gen X'er, back at ya. Gen Z has evoked a smiling nod more than a couple of times.

[@vazquezcarlos]

I was 15 when the wall came down and it was so exciting. For years of watching movies with the war against the Soviet Union and seeing nuclear missile tests and worries of annihilation, it definitely felt like a breath of fresh air. Then 9/11 happened and all that changed. And when the Iraq war happened after 9/11, I felt the US went down a dark path we are still dealing with today.

[@spondoolie6450]

Things that I miss the most about growing up Gen X: --your friends weren't flakes ... if you guys made plans it was in stone --riding on my bike with 15 other friends throughout the city --smoking weed out of an apple (ifykyk) --pranks we played on each other (without a MF hashtag trending full of whiny offended ppl) --Blockbuster video --/\/ / R \/ /\ /\/ /\ --the pool hall --FRIENDS THAT WEREN'T FLAKES --internet chat rooms where we cursed each other out (no bans, no mods) --smoking out with friends and talking about conspiracy theories --fingerless gloves and denim vests --"Skinemax" on the cheater cable box --cheezy 80's movies --going out all day with $20 as a kid and coming home with change --calling 411 on the payphone and pranking the operator --riding the city bus around the whole city at 10pm at 13yo --booty / bass music (growing up in SoFlo this is mandatory) --Mustang 5.0 --the roller skating rink

[@betsysanders4524]

We used oranges not apples…😂

[@skiphoffenflaven8004]

Bingo!! Nice summary.

[@sullivanbiddle9979]

skinemax..........yes.....i spent countless hours recording those movies on VHS and masturbating to them after my parents went to bed!

[@jenniferbryant2700]

As a kid, I loved the birthday parties at the roller rink. Those were the best. "You put your left skate in ... You put your left skate out....." And try not to fall on your butt in front of your friends.

[@audreymuzingo933]

It sounds like you're a 'late' GenX'er, born after '76 or so.

[@joemck74]

As a GenX I feel that almost everything from my childhood, particularly the music, had a background flavour of 'It doesn't really matter we could all be dead in 4 minutes, and even then as least it will probably be quick'. We are the generation who accepted that our name was writ in water.

[@thethegreenmachine]

"Eat, drink, and be merry..."

[@helgaioannidis9365]

I remember at age 6 as a kid in Germany I had been told that our forests are dieing, that we're polluting our planet so badly, probably our children because of that will have trouble finding clean, drinkable water and unpolluted soil to grow food on. I also already knew that if Russia and the US were to start a war the whole of Germany would be wiped out by nukes. At age 10 I was dancing in the rain and later in the day my mother put me in the shower and threw away my clothes, because that was when Tschernobyl had blown off and the rain had been contaminated. For 1 whole year the milk from our area was thrown away because it was so contaminated it wasn't safe to be consumed. We couldn't eat mushrooms for 3 years, weren't allowed to pick berries in the forest,... I grew up with the knowledge that the generations before us had polluted in many possible ways our planet and that my generation would have to pay for that and my children and grandchildren would have to pay for that. That's why at age 12 I started to avoid using plastic bags and boycotted MC Donalds for destroying the Amazonas forest, collected money to donate to Greenpeace to safe seals and went with my class to clean the banks of our local river. I got my driving licence at age 30, because I avoided and still avoid using a car when possible. I've been riding the same bike for the last 34 years and feel always sad when the younger generations laugh about my old bike and tell me to get a newer, better one. They see me as a looser for wearing clothes out of fashion and not using tons of products to improve my looks, when all I do is sticking to my responsibility towards future generations. Their generation.

[@thethegreenmachine]

@@helgaioannidis9365 I learned the same things when I was young in the 1970s.

[@fr2331]

We really don't talk enough about how destructive the telecommunications act of 1996 was. It absolutely destroyed that unique flavor you talked about. Radio stations used to have local rivalries and did everything they could to brand themselves as unique. After the telecommunications act the flavor was gone, the homogenization began and now radio stations, town to town and state to state all became the same brand of inoffensive pop. With that came the conglomeration of mega corporations buying up everything they could. Individuality died with the passing of that bill.

[@KarlSnarks]

That attitude always reminds me of a Dutch 80's song with lyrics like "climbing the career ladder, before the bomb falls, working on my future, before the bomb falls." and "Oh well, let it fall, it will happen anyway, I'd just like to get to know you" with a nice new ska beat under it (Doe Maar-De Bom, if you're curious). Mostly catered at late-boomers/early-GenX, but still.

[@justinmoore5096]

You did more to explain my anxiety than anyone I've ever met. Many millennials struggle with anxiety because these circumstances make us feel like failures. We blame ourselves for not meeting these set expectations and spiral. If more people knew that they weren't alone, there wouldn't be so much rage. Instead, we scroll on social media to compare our realities to what people post. Gen X and their whatever attitude isn't helpful, so we're stuck having to figure these things out on our own. The way you've explained things has made things more apparent, and it was everything I needed to hear.

[@E-N-A-R-D-L-A-V]

Little late to the game here, but would like to add my two cents. As a Gen-X'er, I remember fighting labels. Due to us largely raising ourselves, we had this hatred of being put in these cute little boxes, put on a shelf, and only being recognized by that box. We were not one thing, we had to be many things in order to survive and prosper. Gen-X is the flexible, laid back, easy going, self sufficient generation. We are known as latchkey kids because we were the first generation to have to raise ourselves, and HAD to be all those things I just described. We didn't need the previous generations to tell us how to live or how to do things, we learned by doing them ourselves, which is part of the reason we are also the forgotten generation. We are also the generation that discovered not all world problems needed to be met as muzzle velocity, basically for what you said in your video, cold ware ended without a shot being fired, all that angst, gone, not a shot fired. So, we tend to be more diplomatic and only use force when necessary. It's difficult to pin down exactly what a Gen-X'er is, simply because we had to be many things. Gen-X is the swiss army knife of generations, and it doesn't matter, because we don't give a fuck.

[@Blinky05]

I knew what latchkey kid meant, but for those who are interested, I lifted this from Wikipedia. A latchkey kid, or latchkey child, is a child who returns to an empty home after school or a child who is often left at home with no supervision because their parents are away at work. The child can be any age, alone or with siblings. The term refers to the latchkey of a door to a house, or home. The key is often strung around the child's neck or left hidden under a mat (or some other object) at the rear door to the property. The term seems to first appear in a CBC radio program called "Discussion Club - Topic: How War Affects Canadian Children" in 1942, due to the phenomenon of children being left home alone during World War II, when the father would be enlisted into the armed forces and the mother would need to get a job. Given that the "Discussion Club" participants are all familiar with the term and allude to it being in colloquial usage, it likely predates 1942. In general, the term latchkey designates "those children between the ages of five and thirteen who care for themselves after the school day until their parents or guardians return home".

[@andyspillum3588]

Yup was one ('cept are lock never worked)

[@Markle2k]

The important part was the key. In the earlier and following generation (Boomers) Mom was home. The kids had no need for a key to the house. In fact, that (getting a house key) was a rite of passage that they might cross in high school along with getting a driver’s license. A 9 year-old with a key to the whole family’s possessions!!! UNTHINKABLE!!!

[@maccatt7274]

To clarify, as I needed, a 'latch key' opens the lock to an outer door to the house, so it specifies the key, in relation to the child.

[@taoist32]

Every generation were latchkey kids except for Millenials and Gen Z (generalization).

[@Metaflossy]

I didn't know there was a word for this? but every gen has these because if u have a single mom, what are they supposed to do

[@spiedermensch3582]

Latchkey means our parents weren't home and we had our own keys to le us into the house. latch is the part o the deadbolt of doorknob that sticks out and engages with the latch plate to keep the door closed. Your house key is literally a latchkey.

[@williamswenson5315]

Yes; getting home from school before your parents came home from work. You almost regretted the loss of privacy when they did get home.

[@bowtoy]

I was about to type this, thanks.

[@somethingelse4878]

Whooo slow down, whats a house

[@scottanderson691]

that thing no one can afford to live in anymore?

[@williamswenson5315]

@@somethingelse4878 It's something like an apartment block, but smaller and something like a kennel, but usually larger. You may have drawn them as a child using crayons, but they are increasingly rare among late twenty and mid-thirty somethings. Just here to help.

[@Skittenmeow]

Oh wow. The "we weren't promised a tomorrow" is EXACTLY that feeling. I was tail end (1980) but older siblings really made me identify with Gen X. People tell me I'm a millennial, I'm not.

[@LepusProd]

You're not millennial. My older sister is your age and wore flannel and listened to Nirvana tapes. How is that not gen x??

[@ashleygardner4104]

I was also born in 1980 and had a brother and sister who were 10 and 12 years older than me, respectively. So that means I had Boomer parents and Gen X siblings. I consider myself a Xennial because of the exposure I had to multiple generations in 1 house. (My crazy musical taste reflects that, too!) For some things, I relate strongly to Gen Xers. For others, I lean more Millennial. Hence the reason I'm not entirely cynical and not entirely optimistic. I'm definitely a realist because of how I grew up.

[@hjillumi880]

@@LepusProd proper generation x already wore flannel as children like their parents

[@dave5017]

I was born in early 1980 and I definitely feel more gen X than I do millennial. 1980 is halfway between millennial and Gen Z and so there's going to be a crossover there. A lot will come down to your environment at the time as to what generation you relate to more

[@wplants9793]

My husband was born in Dec 1980. He has an older brother born in the late 70’s, and a younger brother born in 85. He played with both… but because he was into electronics he got into computers at an early age (his parents were school teachers and hooked him up with with opportunities and mentors), he def feels like a millennial because he found early internet culture. I was born in 82 and feel like a Gen Xer 🙃 I didn’t have an email address until I went to college

[@testbenchdude]

I remember my 10th grade history teacher absolutely LOSING HIS SHIT over the wall coming down. Like, he felt that he just couldn't sufficiently impart upon us just how important it was. All I remember thinking was how little I knew about the whole situation at the time, I was like 15 maybe and all I cared about was building tree forts, driving my go kart and playing nintendo. I mean, I knew it was a big deal, but the magnitude of it was just lost on me at the time. I'm also late gen-x, and I can relate to everything you said, Joe.

[@Crootcovitz]

I was a child in Poland when 9/11 happened. The news on TV showed it as a big tragedy, but all I did was run between rooms because I noticed there was a delay between the two TV sets in our appartment and I found it amusing.

[@johnchedsey1306]

I was 18 when the Soviet Union fell and it was genuinely surreal. I did believe for awhile that maybe, perhaps, we'd have a peaceful world...but like I said, I was just 18.

[@murraypearson2359]

I had the amazing privilege of actually VISITING the Soviet Union on a school trip in grade 9, in March 1985. We went to Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev*; in Moscow (because the leaders were dropping like flies those days, I think it was Konstantin Chernenko who had died and his state funeral was happening) we got bumped from our Intourist hotel into a REAL KHRUSCHEV-ERA SOVIET HOTEL, which had the scariest elevator I have ever encountered, and creative plumbing in the bathroom where the sink and the bathtub shared a faucet with a long neck installed over the toilet between them. Visiting a state-run poster shop, a man nudged me and asked to swap my hat for a Red Army soldier's belt, a trade I really wanted to make but I was seriously too scared of the KGB so I declined sadly. Leningrad stays in my mind most because all of those beautiful old buildings still carried bullet holes from World War II. Kiev was where I saw centuries-old corpses in the catacombs under the Cathedral of the Caves. Suffice it to say, when the USSR collapsed it was especially powerful for me with that experience. Four years later, I spent a year in France as an exchange student; for New Years 1989, we had such an epic party near the German border that the Berlin Wall came down that year. You're welcome. * Yes, two of those names have changed, I am aware of that. Thanks.

[@rickkarrer8370]

Great video and insights. 2 thoughts from someone who was born in 83, and generally identifies far more with Gen X, but straddles the divide with the millennium generation: 1) I don’t have a TikTok, and have no interest in TikTok (I hate it when people send me TikTok videos and text messages lol), but I see the thing with TikTok is less people trying to copy someone else, and more so a generation of young people who have only known in the world with Internet, and this is their way to feel included, connected, part of it, and in some ways, adding their own uniqueness or contributions to it. 2) latchkey comes from the fact that a lot of kids got off the bus and had a key to get into their house, because no one was home. I actually was just talking with a friend about how a lot of kids today can barely do anything for themselves at 10 year old, meanwhile I was watching my younger brother, cooking, and doing my own laundry at that age. It’s not really a judgment on younger kids, just more of an observation about how the different things are. Think I got my first pocket knife when I was around eight, I can’t imagine giving my almost 7-year-old a knife at 8 or 9 lol.

[@chrisowens1983]

A bit about point 1 from someone also born in 83 but identifies far more with Millennials. The copying thing on tiktok is just more of a meme culture thing. Take a sound, filter, whatever and try and put a spin of your own on it. For me tiktok is the best social media app today. I learn more from tiktok about a wide variety of things than I ever did from another social media app.

[@dirtystockcardriver]

I was born in 83 also. We're geriatric millennials deal with it 😁

[@krazya68]

Also 83… I identify as both x and millennial. I have heard that we are a sub genre that is called xennials.

[@scarymsmary]

@@krazya68 I am 100% onboard with it too! Much better description of my life, at least.

[@rickkarrer8370]

@@chrisowens1983 Thanks for your insight into that. I can see your point about the meme aspect of it. I'm still not a fan of Tiktok, but then again, I'm not a fan of social media in general lol. I guess I've seen some funny things on it though.

[@QuicksilverSG]

As a Boomer, I think GenX got totally shortchanged. Us Boomers hogged ALL the attention throughout the 60's, 70's AND 80's. By the time GenX finally grabbed the reigns in the 90's, there was nothing left but grunge, riot grrls, and Bill Clinton's BJ. Then, after little more than a decade, what happens? 9/11 and suddenly the Millenium drops like an anvil upon us.

[@stang2184]

as a pissed off elder millenial, this is a helpful mindset to keep in mind. The world is shit, full of systems that are completely rigged to fuck most involved. That being said, it's also a fascinating time to be alive, we are interconnected in a way never before possible. The flow of information is insane. The world may be terrible, but it is equally amazing. I think if I could forget the promise of opportunity promised to me by everyone guiding me, and could just take things as they are....things are not so bad. They are not great, but they are not so bad. great perspective, thanks for the video. hope we don't all die in a fireball.

[@rickkarrer8370]

I think part of the problem is that we’re at the point where society is very much aware of how screwed we’ve been getting for the last 50-60 years. Whereas, we weren’t as aware of it even 20 or 30 years ago. Saying things like corporations or people in the government are stacking things in their favor at the expensive of the general public was more of a conspiracy theorist ideal, but now we have a lot of evidence and merit.

[@BarbieSasquatch]

Fellow millenial, in the middle of that group, and fully agree with you on that ♡

[@Jake12220]

A big part of the problem is that while the world is better for people based on almost every metric than it ever was before, in the 80's we had the birth of the 24 hour news cycle and by the 90's it had developed into the monster it is today. People are constantly being told how bad everything is, all the crime(even though rates continue to drop almost everywhere) how people are starving (while world hunger is lower than ever) about poor suffering in sweatshops (while poverty rates are the lowest ever) about deforestation(even though there have been billions more trees each year for decades now). Millennials were taught the world is full of opportunity and they can do whatever they like, in some respects there was truth to it, but they were taught all you have to do is want something when the truth is you have to fight to get the good opportunities and Millennials were taught to co-operate and share, not to see the competition as the enemy. Want the key to success, its not education, its determination. If you have the drive and are willing to deal with the people and problems in the way then a young person can achieve a lot these days, but the lessons most kids were taught were just straight up wrong.

[@Pssst.ByTheWay]

@@Jake12220 game theory confirms. Co-operation yields a better overall result than competition. But individualism is a thing. I think it’s important to acknowledge the ideals and principles in the constraints of reality. The reality that greed or „me me me“ is very real thing. The greedier you are, the hungrier, the harder you might sue to satiate that hunger And hence individual success and drive Reality vs ideal Yeah i kinda see competition as sum total negative. 🤷‍♀️

[@Pssst.ByTheWay]

@@Jake12220 yeah its all in your head. Being poor is a choice. If you just were more determined . Boot strapping. Positive attitude.l lift yourself up. Maybe this isn’t what you intended to exude. But the text destills to.. The core boot strapper arguments And yet a robotic mind of matter approach doesn’t seem to work I spoke of ideals vs reality. I acknowledge that in theory boot strapping sounds good, its the ideal , reality is different and humans are obviously different The best pragmatic approach is sonewhere in between. Not purely boot strapping competive is unbridled capitalism and purely the communism ( not dictatorship communism by any means)

[@my3dprintedlife]

I hope you feel better Joe. Thanks you all you do, here and on Nebula!

[@matttyree1002]

11:43 "Latchkey kids" is directly referring to we, who wore a key around our neck at school, because our parents were at work when we got home. We had to let ourselves into the house, make a snack, find a way to entertain ourselves and not burn down the house for the next 3-4 hours. It built character. It gave us a preview of being an adult, by taking care of ourselves, possibly of a younger sibling too. There's a certain freedom and satisfaction that comes with being put in a situation where you have to grow up a bit and figure things out for yourself, contrasted against the later generations who live with their parents well into their 30s with no job and no incentive to leave...

[@Metalkatt]

I was born in 1980, so I'm sort of in the middle of the two. I grew up very much as a Gen X--the lack of supervision, the single parent household, the lingering threat of existential doom, etc. However, I was also given the Millennial expectation: Go to college, work hard, job, blah blah blah. As I've gotten older and have been screwed by the system (couldn't afford to finish college, had to drop out and get a job while still having massive student debt and no piece of paper to show for it), I find myself more and more in the X mindset. "Welp, this is all going to shift, rather like we expected. Now what?" Of course, that I am very into history and seeing all the patterns repeating ad nauseam makes such a perspective easy for me, but still. I've accepted that I'll never be able to attain the great things I was promised; I'm now more focused on getting to the natural end of my existence without making things worse.

[@bartolomeothesatyr]

"I'm now more focused on getting to the natural end of my existence without making things worse" really hits hard. Holy shit, this is my life.

[@nakedswordmaster5741]

I was born in 81. I couldn't have said it better. In between and screwed either way.

[@NefariousKoel]

We were very much pushed towards higher education in Gen-X too. So much so that you were looked down upon if you didn't. Hell, my father kicked me out of the house, at 17, when I told him I wasn't going. In his youth, he had gone but dropped out because he didn't like it. There was a lot of pressure to do so for everyone, most of all from the public schools. That was the only direction they ever tried to teach. Frankly, it just drove some of us to rebel and get away from what felt like others telling us what to do. Many of us were also from broken homes and, worse, at some point had to deal with step parents who disliked or even loathed us. Yet more rebellion and wishing for complete independence.

[@scarymsmary]

Have yall read about the micro-generations? If not, "Xennial" hits the nail on the head for me, born in 81.

[@fnjesusfreak]

@@scarymsmary Certainly how I see myself.

[@annalorree]

Mid Gen-X here, and what I really remember most was the absolute reality that I was going to spend my entire working life paying into Social Security, but that it would be flat broke by the time I get to retirement age. I remember the reality that I would never be able to amass the same wealth and security that my parent’s generation was able to amass, and how f$&@ed I felt. I think those ideas, along with the Cold War culture were big parts of the apathy our generation is so known for.

[@mikedaniel1771]

And we were right

[@jacadarhome1406]

The future was supposed to arrive post the year 2000. Still waiting for the great leap forward.....

[@garethbattersby]

You planned to retire? An optimist I see. I always came to the conclusion my retirement would come when the cleaners found me dead at work aged 79 haha

[@ericspencer8093]

There was so much contradictory messaging being fed to Gen-X in the 80s: college was the magic key to success, business---especially big business, was the Master of the Universe, both the source of all things good, and the highest authority. And at the same time, we witnessed the fall of middle-America; the death of industry, the rise of big tech, the end of the Cold War. And while all of that was going on, being told that education was for boring losers. Adults were idiots. All the cool kids spend their time partying, having fun, and being as materialistic as possible; which was the predominate message of every teen movie and tv show at the time.

[@jakeaurod]

@@ericspencer8093 I remember being told that I would die in my 40s like most of my family, so I didn't bother investing in retirement, or starting a family, or keeping a job. I didn't expect that medicine would advance so much that when I died they would bring me back. Now what the F am I supposed to do. "Oh, well. Whatever. Nevermind."

[@scipio7837]

Born in '68 and was the last child. Dad was a war vet and mum went through the Blitz. Grew up on a mixed farm and was either in school or working in the barns... loved it. I was my own man. That's Gen X. Have a Gen Z daughter and worry about her everyday.

[@Maerahn]

I've seen many of the younger generations accuse Gen Xers of being 'Boomers' henchmen' - which I take great issue with. Sure *some* Gen Xers grew up so entrenched in the Boomer worldview that they simply adopted it for themselves - but many others (myself included) spent so much time questioning and challenging those views that we got branded the Crushing Disappointments (ooh, there's the name for my next grunge band!) by our Boomer parents. So yeah, it kinda hurts when Millenials brand *us* 'part of the Boomer problem,' when we know as well as they do how it feels to be judged and berated for everything we are and stand for, by the elders who love to tell us we should be doing everything like they did it if we want to do it 'right.' Don't misunderstand me though - I do get it. Millennials have every right to feel cheated, and be thoroughly annoyed when Boomers tell them they could have everything in the world if only they "put the effort into getting it" (from their own, cosy perspective of an era of a fully-funded, brand new NHS and welfare state, wages that kept up with inflation, low house prices and a booming economy, which THEY completely took for granted and, to some extent, still do.)

[@Sonny_McMacsson]

Ted Cruz is a prime example of a Boomer henchman. He's just a few months older than me. Ugh. I'm going to have to agree with the millennials that there is a significant boomer carryover problem, but not just because of him, mind you. A lot of older people like to tell rather than listen all while having had little contact with the affected systems for decades. Age doesn't beget wisdom if you refuse to update your brain software, just foolishness. The boomer-ish belief is that you somehow absorb wisdom like wine ages, or something to that effect-- no effort needed.

[@richardromanyshyn608]

Boomers henchmen. Never heard that before but makes sense with the collective attitude. I like watching 20 year old South Park episodes like the "a little bit country" episode. Same stuff all over again but the newer generation grouping us with the people they are upset with that has nothing to do with why they are upset anyway

[@XanarchistBlogspot]

Yeah way off Gen X hated Boomers before it was cool, they were the corporate sell out ex-hippie with a tiny pony tail futton store owners and we were the DIY make your own zine and band punks.

[@unstoppableExodia]

This is exactly right. Gen X was getting the same sort of stick in the media that Gen Y got in the twenty tens which is also the same as what boomers got in the sixties when stuffy establishment types bristled at the hippies with their peace, free love and reefer.

[@Dizzy_Dazzer1991]

In my experience it's kind of split down the middle. My dad is a gen Xer and he's a total boomer at heart, complaining about my generations mindset even though he's the one that raised me lol. Most of the people I've worked with have been gen Xers and most have been pretty cool with similar mindsets to my own. So maybe gen Xers are just harder to define and to generalise and can easily fit in either what the so called boomer or millennial mindsets are. It's all dumb really, great for memes though.

[@jamesbell6203]

Really enjoyed this. I was born in 1966 so I'm X-Classic! My understanding of "latch-key" refers to no parent being home during the day, so we had to let ourselves in the house after school, or something like that. That was true for me, and I have no memory of my Mom being home to welcome me after school, and certainly no baked cookies or snacks, etc. But I don't miss what I never had. In fact, I watched my sister raise her Millennial kids as a helicopter parent and I am SO glad no to have experienced that. I think you're on to something, we are generally a more reslient and can take care of oursevles...maybe that's why we're left out, the other groups know we don't really need them.

[@lostinmybackyard2006]

Me too! Yeah, I didn't have Mom making food or baking cookies, so I learned how to cook. I really don't understand the Millenials. Yes, things are bad right now, and that may continue. But it beats starving in the Great Depression or dieing in Vietnam. Get a grip. And stop playing those computer games; pick up a guitar and learn how to play.

[@edp3202]

I'm a '72. Raised myself. We just don't expect much and will do things ourselves. We don't get the whining and entitlement of Boomers and Millennials. Like huh?

[@Mastermind111111]

Video starts at 1:26 if you don't want to listen to his sob story

[@justinahole336]

It's nice hearing about our generation from time to time. On the Cold War, however, I'm sad to see it return. I didn't dig it when I was a kids either.

[@FireFlyMaxx]

I'm also the tale end of GenX. I remember being in 3rd grade 1986-1987 living in central Jersey near Belmar Beach, having duck and cover drills after being shown on a reel to reel of nuclear weapons exploding. 20 years later the comedian Lewis Black (A boomer) had a comedy special relaying the exact same experience from his youth. I'm paraphrasing him here. " You adults must think I'm an idiot, I'm hiding under wood, under kindling, you must think I'm stupid for thinking this will protect me, a fireball from hell!"

[@trevinbeattie4888]

3:24 ALL HAIL ZOE!

[@LamLawIndy]

"Oh, well... whatever... never mind" is a good encapsulation of our (Gen X) ethos. It basically sums up the, "Screw it. I gotta do it myself" view that we have.

[@JoseGomez-vr6lh]

And now we have to do everything for them because they don't even know how to change a flat tire.

[@RachelLWolfe]

It's also the lyrics from Smells Like Teen Spirit...

[@zerbah]

Couple of things I can say as a member of Generation X with a different perspective based on where I was born: 1. I would say that the Generation X was the first generation of divorced parents - the trend for divorces started sometime in the 70s and it hit us hard because our grandparents, the "Boomers" could not understand this type of social behaviour. 2. Ah, the 1990s - great times for someone living in the "West", but for people in my country (that desintegrated in the bloody civil war) and many other countries in the "East", were the worst times. 3. For someone who was raised in socialism, the whole system of values went to hell with the fall of the USSR and it hasn't recovered since. 4. Millenials really had some time of peace and prosperity during last 20 years or so, although in my country, you can feel that they are scarred by the events their parents went through in the 1990s.

[@teevans8370]

Interesting perspective. Thanks for sharing.

[@MrPaytonw34]

Yeah the 90s were kick ass in the United States

[@michelem226]

I feel like the most Gen X thing ever was classic MTV (1981-2001). Classic MTV was all about originality and a "whatever" attitude. I mean there was some seriousness and caring, like with MTV News, Live Aid, Rock the Vote, etc., but nothing was ever taken too seriously. There were no debates or intense opinions about anything.

[@justinchan6043]

LOL, MTV really showed they don't give a fuck, when they had Beavis and Butthead and they were basically making fun of the very same videos that were on MTV and VH1. They had the ability to laugh at themselves. And I kinda felt that the show In Living Color was the same way, and of course some of SNL.

[@seththomas9105]

I figure into the Xer "Classic" born 02/70 and graduated 1988. We had a phone on the wall in the kitchen, no remote control TV. No computer in the home. My senior year we got a "computer room" in the H.S. that had 10 Apples. No cell phones utill well into our 20's. Growing up in the 70's and 80's was liberating and yet we were held to high standards of responsability. Mom worked part time 3/4 days a week, so some days the house was empty when I got home from walking from school, I was expected to mow the lawn, (Dad didn't touch the mower for 10 years) do yard work, shovel the sidewalk and driveway in the winter( and it snowed a lot more back then) wash dishes (no dishwasher) vacume, do my homework and also my other jobs I had outside the home. In Jr. high and highschool I also had sports and other extracurricular activities and part time jobs. This was just normal for kids growing up before the last 20 years. Now the helicopter parents ruined it with trying to be buddies with there kids instead of parents first. I have a daughter still in high school and she just doesn't have the drive like my gen did. It bothers me a lot.

[@Zenbuck2]

My friends and I are "geriatric" Gen X'rs. But we never identified with either the Boomers or the Gen X'rs. We consider "our" generation to be the people who were born into a world just at the beginning of the digital age, who in childhood had a non-digital existence, but by the time we were in high school computers were in the homes and we were playing video games. People who were born 5-10 years later never knew a world without computers. We also watched the internet begin. We started on local phone bulletin boards, then internet with FTP and Gopher, and then the first Web Browsers such as Mosaic. That is the generation I belong to. I saw my first Mainframe at 10, was programming on Mainframe terminals at 14, and had early home computers (Apples, Commodores, etc) and consoles (Atari, etc) in our homes by age 15. Events are a much better metric than the number of babies pushed out in a given period of time.

[@FunSizeSpamberguesa]

I am, depending on who you ask, either a baby Xer or a geriatric Millennial, and I've found people in my age group don't really identify with either. It's where the term 'Xennial' came from (usually means people born between '78 and '85). Analogue childhood, digital late adolescence/early adulthood, latchkey kids, and already out in the workforce when the economy went tits-up.

[@Zenbuck2]

@@FunSizeSpamberguesa That's interesting, I've never heard the term Xennial but I can see why folks are struggling to come up with categorization for these groups. I think we need some new and more applicable terms!

[@nleco]

I read an entry on Wikipedia that calls our generation "The Oregon Trail" generation... for the exact reasons you just stated. a little of A and a little of B..

[@fertilizerhappens8359]

You have perfectly described Gen X. The crossroads generation that grew up in the transition from the analog to the digital age. I was born the same year as the mobile phone. I graduated high school the year the Berlin Wall came down. I've always been proud to be Gen X. We have been largely undefined which is why we blend into the other generations.

[@DawnEnergy]

babies pushed out in a given period of time is an event though

[@wordforger]

Millenials grew up with great expectations and optimism, with mom and/or dad hovering over their shoulder for a good chunk of their childhood. Then got the rug pulled out from under them as they started to hit adulthood. That kind of explains a lot of our whole deal. I myself was born in West Germany, but by the time I was 2 years old it was just Germany. I cannot remember a time when I previously worried about nuclear annihilation. The 90s were an optimistic time where we thought that we could do or be anything. Most of the 'thought-provoking' and countercultural stuff of that time were about the ennui of living in suburbia with no purpose in life. There no longer seemed to be any real enemies out there. We looked forward to the turn of the Millenium. And boy did it hit like a truck. 9/11, The Iraq War, Patriot Act, The Great Recession... It's been one thing after another and Millenials, having had less independence than their forebears from their moment of birth, were simply not given the tools to live in the world as it is now. They wanted the college degrees, the good times, the jobs, and the happy lives they were promised as children. But the more they dug into it, the more they realized they were lied to, and they got angry about it. And then their parents scoff and act like it's all their own fault for believing. Millenials had to play catch up in their early adult years to get all those adult skills that their parents never taught them because their parents never gave them space to be independent.

[@stevenbodum3405]

thats intereting, i´m a gen x born in germany too. 9/11 we talked two days about, after that we were annoyed because it was so hyped and it was actually already clear that it was just a pawn sacrifice. as a gen x you know you have to take life as it comes.

[@sw309]

Gen X was the last truely American generation. Millennials had some of that, gen z is a global phenomenon because of the internet.

[@jaxz2550]

I’m a gen-x and a college teacher… I have seen the differences in the generations Year after year… millennials are now great parents. They are the ones raising kids with virtues … I’m hopeful for the future of humanity 😇

[@the_algorithm]

I agree with this and have seen it first hand. Amazing, dedicated, thoughtful parents. Of course there are still the typical... there's no polite way to say this... narcissistic trash that ruin their kids self esteem and don't parent at all but ACT like they do But I have seen some amazing parents that are above and beyond anything I've ever seen

[@JasonDouglasRalph67]

I'm 55 and a self employed tradesman so I have a lot of Gen-Y clients, I've found exactly the same thing, they're ambitious, hard working and devoted to their kids, it's just a shame they have to take on such eye watering levels of debt to achieve their goals.

[@coppercore6287]

It's funny, here I am sitting as "Millennial" (being 34, born in 1987), I find myself absolutely agreeing with you about the authenticity angle. KZbin has been awesome because of how real or genuine people a lot of folks seem to be as you learn more about them and watch their videos, or find their second channels like yours here. To me, transparency is just super important as well, and folds into that real/authentic angle of things. But I'll be damned if I don't find myself just loathing the Millennial label to the ends of the earth, and the generalities I see from people and the media. They seem to specifically love to bash that group because it sells clicks, and it's honestly disgusting. But again... it's just how it seems to work nowadays. As for bashing the younger generation, I have a 13 and a 12 year old, and I go out of my way to try my damndest to remember what it was like growing up and being their age, because it sure as hell seems like most folks have no respect for kids, or will treat them like 'kids' and not realize they are also people too. Talking down to anyone does nothing good. In all honesty, like several other comments I've read down here, I do feel like I sit on that line between Generation X and Millennial/Generation Y. I also prefer the latter term, as it actually makes sense. My parents were Gen X, I'm Gen Y, and my two kids are Gen Z. Much more sensical in my opinion. I apologize if I'm all over the place here as well, but this made me think a lot more than I realized it would. Thank you for all you do Joe, good stuff on both your channels.

[@meg8278]

There is actually a term for the people like me as. I just turned 40. People who are millennials but we're born before computers and lived their childhood growing with technology. I believe we're called xennials.

[@Not_a_number_]

Oh, same. I really identify with an awful lot of gen x stuff. I'm born in 86 as the youngest of four, raised by boomers. My nearest brother is also technically a millennial too but on the cusp at 1981. I feel we had a very gen x childhood. All the crap people said about millennials was really shocking to me honestly. I'd never heard of a participation trophy until the internet started talking about them when I was already I'm my mid twenties and had been working solidly from age 15. Someone gave me one once when I was on the losing team for some group activity and I was so insulted, I just gave it right back. They thought I was being mean and ungrateful but I was too horrified to be gracious! I think xenials are aupposed to have had an analogue childhood and a digital young adulthood and that fits me to a tee. Didn't have a home computer till very late teens, basically adulthood and I never settled into Facebook etc. I immediately felt like it was a huge invasion of my privacy and stopped using it after about a year. I mean, any holidays, special occasions etc up to that point when camera phones came along were recorded on film for me. Mostly those crappy little disposable kodak cameras where you had no idea what the photos were going to look like until you picked them up from the shop. Only one person who you didn't deliberately show the photographs to had seen them (the developer) but otherwise, you owned the negatives and had the only copies unless you had more made. It was so weird to me that people would suddenly post their photographs online, I think I thought of photographs as very personal, I'm not even sure why. I think one of the biggest differences in my mind between my childhood and the childhoods of those who came after is the anonymity. The lack of an online record of your life. I'm not saying all millennials or gen z kids have parents who are on Facebook and record their lives for all (or many) to see but there's an absolute ton that do and many of the kids then get Facebook (or similar other media platform) accounts as soon as they can. When every stupid thing you've ever posted as a child and young adult will exist forever, I cannot help but be super grateful that I was not one of these kids.

[@PelosiStockPortfolio]

@@meg8278 I also just turned 40. Younger millennials just call us boomers... its happened a few times to me recently... my hair isnt even gray yet :/

[@meg8278]

@@PelosiStockPortfolio calling us boomers would be wayyyy off. That is my parents. Gen x comes in between... Lol But the term I was taking about is more about our childhood being different from either generation. since we were the last generation to experience early childhood without all of the technology. But we also were able to grow with the technology as it advanced.

[@PelosiStockPortfolio]

@@meg8278 I know what you mean and agree competely. The younger millennials dont see us in their generation at all, they just think of us as "old people".

[@FluxNomad678]

One interesting thing to me is growing up with the mix of both Analog and Digital. I think that adds a different perspective on the technology driven world that keeps expanding. I also think many GenXers cobbled to together stuff, sometimes using both new and old parts, and tend to be good Troubleshooters.

[@InconsistentManner]

Born in 1984 I'm old enough to know how to read a map, how to navigate and understand street signs. How to make a collect call using a prepaid phone card (not a cellphone). Having a pager where your family would page you telling you it is time to come home. The era before the modern internet and I personally do not consider dial-up a part of the modern internet, was a different kind of thing. Used to research papers for school assignments lookup world news or maybe sports scores. Now you can watch the world news and sports live. Work on and submit school assignments and communicate with people on the other side of the planet in real time. If you would have told someone in 1995 what the internet would be like in 2015... They would think you are crazy.

[@williamswenson5315]

Ah, yes. Remember the BBS?

[@stefani.m.1987]

1987 here and yes, definitely grew up without the modern internet. (We still wrote notes in school to pass around…dozens a day 😂) We rode our bicycles all over our small town. Would come home after school but my single mom wouldn’t be home till after her evening shift as a nurse. I feel like there’s a big distance between millennials who grew up with divorced parents and being latchkey kids to those who had a more stable life. I certainly never felt like I belonged in the category of millennials described by the generations before us. Used to tick me off but now I don’t care. I’m a mom myself and my son is special needs so that’s pretty much my entire world.

[@30035XD]

Shoutout to the 84 crew. We've got a very interesting life so far for sure.

[@ControlledChaos-rk5tk]

@@30035XD nice crew, I am '86 the last crew to turn a teenager before the 90s ended (and the 2000s started), and the last ones to be eligible to vote in 2004 for first time (tail end 82, 83,84, 85 and most 86 borns ) election and graduate before social media took of in 2005 (Class of 2004). Kind of Strange both '86 and 85' as we became kids in the tail end of the 80s but dont remember anything of it..while becoming teenagers in the tail end of the 90s, but surely not being the typical teeanagers (15/16+) who go to parties,etc in that sense I am jealous of '84, you got that bit small of extra time to remember the fade of the 80s as a Kid and to enjoy the tail end of the 90s as a real teenager..

[@razvandobos9759]

Gen X to me is like the “cool kid” generation. They were teenagers in the mid late 80’s and early 90’s, and knew how to have fun and do teenage things the right way, without social media and gluing their eyes to their phones. They went to the mall and hung out in arcades, they were MTV’s first audience (hence the term MTV Generation), they didn’t come home till the streetlights came on, invented a new kind of rock called grunge, and basically raised themselves.

[@robertcovino4889]

The Keg parties were fantastic in the 80s

[@jbm0866]

Very true about MTV, I couldnt get enough of it as a kid, and I still remember the very first "Real World" ep and thinking about how some of the cast were only a couple years older than me...and I thought I'd be a fan of MTV forever. Welp, more than 30 years later its been nearly 20 years since I've watched MTV, and although I miss the way it used to be, I dont really miss it that much.

[@MrPaytonw34]

Yes yes we were and yes yes we did

[@brainiator]

1974 model here. I think you nailed it. As I explained to my son, we grew up without the Internet and learned how to entertain ourselves -- but still lucky enough to be exposed to it while we were young and treat it as something to enrich our lives versus running it. I consider myself lucking having the best of both worlds (pre-internet / post-internet), really.

[@themurdernerd]

We also drank, smoked, f--ked and did drugs. So maybe not the best examples 😛

[@ms.lilith8905]

i really love your explanation of the difference between Gen X and Millennials and why we are the way we are. Im Gen X and my son was born @ 2000 so he is on the border of Millennial and Gen Z. I always tell people who complain about them that its our fault. We made them, we raised them. We fucked up and made their life too easy. We felt like we were left to raise ourselves and our brothers and sisters. Our parents were always working. So we as Gen Xers over-corrected and now we have these brats. Lol

[@hjillumi880]

plenty generation x'ers are not the parents of millenials speak for yourself

[@Eclectifying]

Yeah, that’s how I feel. I’m a gen x-er with three gen z kids and they had the opposite childhood from what I had. Half my nieces and nephews are millennials and half are gen z, and the same can be said for them.

[@foxesofautumn]

I kind of liked how much independence we got growing up. I don’t think I would have liked after school care as much. I feel like it helped with that move away from institutions like the church because X’rs knew we couldn’t rely on them from the day to day. When you’re a child looking after yourself you have to be cautious and you need a little mistrust to be safe. 100% believe Millennials have valid complaints, as do we. It’s hard to be promised something and not get it, especially something as essential as a secure home and job.

[@vagellan_8842]

I enjoyed hearing your opinion on this topic. As a Millennial with Boomer parents, I definitely have noticed the hatred Boomers have for us, and the complete unwillingness to empathize or understand, or teach us.

[@lostinmybackyard2006]

We don't hate you, but we don't understand you. Hope and optimism are great, but you have to live in the real world. Be realistic in what you can get. Live within your means. Stop trying to live like a millionaire if you earn 40,000 a year. Most of my generation had jobs we hated working with people we disliked and didn't make a lick of difference in the world. But we earned our living, we bought our house, we raised our family and we did our best. People like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and Elon Musk are one in a billion. It's great, but what about the rest of us? Maybe you'll get out of college and get a 200,000 a year job changing the world at 21. Maybe, but probably not. Dreams are great, but we live in the real world. There is no one to blame, no one to cry at. And though you won't believe it, you have it so much better than previous generations.

[@JonBrownSherman]

@@lostinmybackyard2006 Why'd your generation have to make this world so fucking awful though?

[@lostinmybackyard2006]

@@JonBrownSherman All I can say is I totally agree with you. George Lucas even made a movie where he shows us how they screw us over and we still keep buying into it. Except there's not just one Palpatine, everyone's a Palpatine. Well, they say democracies don't last more than 2 centuries anyway before they devolve into some sort of junta or dictatorship. So now you know where we are. It's not like you're going to unseat the billionaires calling the shots (or thinking they do), so just remember, "Always look on the bright side of life"

[@einsteinx2]

@@lostinmybackyard2006 “we earned our living, we bought our house” YEP out of touch Boomer confirmed!

[@AtreyuHuxley]

That's alright, their old Boomer asses ain't gonna be in charge for much longer. Gen X is about to take their place at the head of the table. Starting with ME.

[@pup9892]

Im gen X and I can remember in kindergarten we had regular drills of taking cover under your desk or moving to a hallway, to protect against a nuclear blast. This was the Ohio public school system in 1980. If it did anything positive, it was that it made a lot of other problems not seem so big.

[@Hypatia52]

I am a tale-end boomer. The one comment (that I overheard while in a French bakery in Seattle) that really made me made enough to remember it was a prematurely gray GenX-er telling a Millennial guy, "the first thing you have to remember about Boomers is that NOTHING BAD EVER HAPPENED TO THEM." That's the kind of junk that will & would make anyone who remembered watching the body bag count every day during dinner a little crazy. Each generation has its own challenges. Sometimes it pays to remember these generational tags are from the marketing industry...and should be given as much weight as the ads on during the Superbowl...

[@duchesspodcast]

That's nuts. I'm Gen X and know well how messed up the Vietnam war was. My dad almost went there as a Marine and last min couldn't go due to a health reason, no way he would have made it out alive on frontlines.

[@jmacd8817]

A few things to add from a GenXer (born in 69) -We expected to die in WWIII, but also couldn't completely understand why. We were able to see Russians as people. - We were the first to expect that we would NOT make as much money as our parents. Job markets were getting worse; poorer pay, more education needed and no guarantee whatsoever that you would even GEY a job. - While nowhere near as bad as Millenials, we saw college go from something a summer job could pay for, to something that would give you years of debt afterwards. (it was $13 per credit when I started in '87, and $75 per credit in '92. 5 fold increase in 5 years) - We saw our parents in the grip of Reaganomics, when "greed is good", and became VERY cynical about wealth. - We cared about the environment, but had bigger things (like WWIII and rampant greed) that had us ducking and covering.

[@danwebber9494]

For years my response to “What do you want to be when you grow up?” was “an apocalypse survivor”.

[@inapickle806]

Getting out of high school at least, I did think I could do nearly as well as my middle class parents. By the time I graduated college in 89, I knew I would never have the same standard of living, particularly in housing. And that expectation has continued its downward glide.

[@brianfox771]

As a '77 Gen X'er, the college tuition in the late '90's early '00's was even worse. And Grad school in the '00's was basically unaffordable, but you went any way.

[@inapickle806]

@@brianfox771 yes, tuition shot up in the 90s. I finished grad school in 92 and there was a 40% increase in tuition the next year and that wasn't the end of it. I felt so sorry for people just a few years behind me. The state system I went to is ten times more than when i went and wages certainly are not 10 times what they were then!

[@buzzardbeatniks]

4:11 - The worst thing you could be as a Gen Xer was a poseur AND a sellout which I also think is considered a virtue for Gen Z and maybe even younger Millennials, the marketing of oneself as a "brand" is such a foreign and grotesque concept to the Gen X ethos.

[@foreignparticle1320]

I was a latchkey kid in the 80's-early 90s. But the door was never locked, so no latchkey required. Your raise an interesting point about expectations vs reality. As a late GenX/early Millenial (b. tail end of 1980), the existential threat of the Cold War didn't factor into my consciousness (but then, I'm not American either...). However, I was also brought up before the internet, so got to ride the wave of excitement about the digitisation of the world. But seeing how that's now turned out is where I feel my sense of disillusionment. Every generation has their own sense of injustice at the hand of the one before it. The Silent Generation suffered through two world wars; Boomers had to throw off the shackles of their parents' stagnant cultural idealism; GenX inherited nuclear angst and godless corporatism; GenY got crippling debt; GenZ landed amid the full force of industrial pollution (and that includes TikTok...) And yet, education, life expectancy, medicine, global poverty, access to information, and social liberalisation have simultaneously grown more favourable than probably any generation in the history of human civilisation.

[@TheVinceVoice]

I've heard the term Xennial before and I think those born in the late 70's early 80's like myself are really in that camp... things before internet and computers became ubiquitous... we kind of straddled analog and digital and are fairly comfortable in both camps so more flexible in mindset. Definitely seen lots of millenials who grew up with technology (Digital natives) but seem to have trouble with the actual usage of it which I find weird... I guess if it doesn't just work they get confused? Anyways not sure my point except for that the inbetweeners also grew up in a slightly different environment vs those clearly in either camp.

[@stevk5181]

I think you could stretch that definition out to someone born as late as the 90s if they grew up in a rural area. My sibling was born in the mid-90s, but since we moved to a rural area we didn't/couldn't get internet until the early 2010s.

[@brucemorris3830]

I have a really unique perspective on it all, being a fairly late GenX (1975) but I was the son of a software engineer. So at home I had analog stuff like BetaMax VCRs and old-school component stereo systems (still my passion today lol) but then in like 1980 my mom would bring me to work and I learned at a very young age how to mount reel to reel tapes for truly old school mainframe data storage, and set up a TelNet connection using a 1200 baud modem that interfaced with a rotary dial phone and cool stuff like that 😂 And yes, the software engineer was my MOM, thank you kindly 🤣🤣🤣 I’m Gen X to the bone, to this day I’ve never even met my father lol

[@scarymsmary]

YES YES YES. Was scrolling to find this comment. 81 here. TOTAL Xennial. Analog childhood. Digital adulthood.

[@fnjesusfreak]

I was born in 1980 and grew up a lot in rural settings so yeah, I'm neither X nor millennial.

[@mellie4174]

Yes yes yes!

[@86Lucrezianoin]

As a Millennial, I appreciate the perspective, and never thought of things this way. I've seen people writing about how we're the last kids to grow up without the massive technology boom (for the most part), and that we a mourning the simpler life of our childhood. I really liked your take. And I totally feel you on the cold front, my toddler started really giving kisses, and wanting to share his food with me, just in time to get me sick.

[@m0L3ify]

"I'm just kinda like...I am..." is such a Gen-X stance to have. 😂 I 100% relate

[@blairhaffly1777]

Born in 62 and been at odds with my age group since high school. The collective shoulder shrug, can't be bothered attitude about climate change, growing wealth disparity, using up the infrastructure etc. I'm glad to have lived long enough to meet the youngest generations. I'm impressed with the way they navigate this world we've left and the way they're grappling with unprecedented times.

[@xtina_129]

I just found your TMI channel. I really like it! I like how you think and I like your sense of humor. Enjoyable

[@graffix11us]

As an older Gen X'er, I approve of this message.

[@MultiAnanab]

You really hit the nail on the head for me. I never really thought of it before, but generally ,everything that has happened since I was a kid has never bothered me too much. My usual reaction is 'meh', accompanied by a rolling of the eyes and the thought, here we go again. I'm always mildly surprised by boomers being boomers and younger generations being seemingly upset by everything. I distinctly remember secondary school in the 1980's being a place of apathy and then returning home to an empty house until both parents got home from work, who were then too tired to show interest.

[@michellem9444]

The trait that I remember being most important as a Gen-X kid was savviness, or street smarts you could say. Naivete or gullibility was disdained and often bullied out of people. I want to say that I highly respect Gen Z for the most part. I've watched my son and his friends grow up, and most of them are more mature, more realistic, and more practical than several generations before them. Most of them are very cautious in what they do or say publicly, because they've grown up with "internet is forever". I have high hopes for this generation. Will they make big changes? Probably not, nobody does, and they're too realistic to expect that. But I can see them methodically chipping away at future issues.

[@summerstarr3446]

I was born in 1980, with a double helping of being raised in a poor, rural, southern (US FL, GA, AL, MS, LA) setting (which is basically set twenty years in the past no matter what year it actually is). I kind of straddle the divide between the two generations, but have a more pessimistic view of the world. I mean, I had family that didn't have inside plumbing until the mid/late 80's! I have lived as a latch-key kid and as a community kid (I had a key to the house, but if I wanted dinner I would 'shop around' to see what my friends, local family, and neighbors were having and beg to eat with them - FYI, great at emotional intelligence training and resource gathering!), with the added bonus of being the only one in my generation of cousins to be expected to go to college and get a good job because I was so smart (my one cousin was sooo pretty, and another was good with cars, but I was the smart one of that age group). But because one thing that America has that others don't is high medical bills on top of the student loans and in-affordable housing and stagnant wages, there is no getting ahead. Trying to explain that to my living ancestors is like trying to explain color to my cat. There is no budgeting out of poverty these days when wages aren't keeping up with inflation. On top of all of that, we've lived through THREE recessions and a lot of never-ending wars (desert storm, dot-com, 9/11 & the war on terror, housing bubble, and now). I'm not really sure where the idea that we were all living in an era of peace and prosperity came from, because it hasn't been like that since the early 90's, but maybe that's because of the socioeconomic class I was born into. I was born in poverty and I'll probably die in poverty because the deck has been stacked against me since before I was born. In the 80's, growing up, even with no shoes and skinned knees, we were promised the stars. The 90's hit and the hits never stopped coming. All I really got out of any of it has been depression and anxiety, honestly.

[@julieanders763]

Same and AL here 😊

[@rachelnotluf4585]

It’s interesting how our environments probably affected us much more than the specific years in which we were born. Having been born in the last half of 1980 myself, I just make the Gen X cutoff, but I find most of the stuff that other Gen X-ers post to be really cringey, and I identify most with my Millenial friends. As the oldest child in my family, I grew up heavily influenced by my younger siblings’ culture & media. I grew up in mostly upper middle class suburban areas. My parents were young, so I wasn’t raised with as much of the old-fashioned mindset of my peers’ parents. We had computers in the house for as long as I can remember - my brothers and I were learning basic computer programming at a very young age - so when Gen X-ers brag about growing up without computers and video games, I just chuckle awkwardly. The things I can relate to - like playing outside until the street lights came on - are just as true for most of my Millenial friends and even my Gen Z children. Overall, I find the whole idea that people can be broken down into “personality types” (basically) by their birth year to be kind of bizarre.

[@katadam2186]

@@rachelnotluf4585 most of gen x had no computers so they lived analog and computers consisted of Atari, if rural most had no computers til adults

[@audreymuzingo933]

@@rachelnotluf4585 Those are actually some really good points. It's rare to see someone acknowledging their privilege without sounding like they're looking down on anyone. I grew up dirt poor like the OP, and I remember all too well being aware of the haves-vs.-have-nots dynamic from a young age, how the "rich kids" seemed to live in a completely different world from me (I put rich kids in quotation marks because some of the kids I thought were rich probably weren't really, in fact some might have even been on welfare but their parents didn't drink and smoke it all up every month, leaving no money for A-NY-THING, which is what mine did). I was born in 1973 so the 80's was my main childhood decade, and when I hear people characterize the 80's based on stuff like MTV, Atari, various popular toys, mall shopping, Guess jeans, waterbeds, etc., PART of me identifies with all that because I remember it all around me .......but only from the "wishing" point of view. As in, I didn't HAVE those things, could only wish for them.

[@OllamhDrab]

When it comes to analysis of Gen X I think something that's often left out is how much actual idealism.... or aspiring yuppiehood, if you were less idealistic, actually existed before getting kinda crushed out by some worsening circumstances, ....like if you came up after a certain cutoff point, the richer you had to be not to end up stuck between student loans, if anyone would sign for them, and a still-already full/in some areas contracting job market. Like you needed a BA or BS even to work in a mail room, but the previous generations pretty much weren't retiring or dying off, so they'd already chosen their lower ranks and that pretty much stopped there. Meanwhile, going to fall back on a factory job had a similar problem, slots all reserved pretty much, while outsourcing was getting underway. Basically a lot of the 'Millenial' problems were already hitting a lot of us in Gen X, but we were actually demographically fewer than before or after, hence getting left out/dismissed as 'slackers' when actually we gave up on a lot of things, collectively. Had to find other ways to get through, find meaning, or even get some of that social change *done* that they're trying to erase now. I often say we're the generation that never really got our turn at bat, ...as a generation that is. Often we're sandwiched between elderly parents and kids who are facing more expensive lives... Or analyzing stuff on the Net and not getting paid. ;) Definitely less spooked by certain nuclear saber-rattling, though, just one more damn thing from people trying to drag us back to the failed promises of times we only kinda got a promise of, less often the reality.

[@nikatjef]

You hit on a critical piece here. Boomers, the most populous generation in the history of America, were the last generation to have retirement as a corporate sponsored option. Most Gen-Xers do not have actual retirement programs, instead they have to rely on stocks and 401 plans which have tanked 3 distinct times just since '98. Further, as you say, Boomers and Gen-W were not leaving the work pool as early as previous generations, medicine and OSHA standards are partly to blame here, but even more critical are the economic changes that caused us to be latch-key kids to begin with. Boomers and Gen-W had to have the two bread winners to handle the inflationary costs of the 80's, 90's and early 00's, which left fewer of the upward mobility and pension jobs available for Gen-X. Based on history, Gen-X is supposed to start retiring within the next 10 years and I strongly suspect many of us will not be able to for at least another 15 - 20 after that. Yer welcome millennials.

[@robinrinsmith]

This 💯‼

[@LandoSystem]

The key works the latch and the lock opens, so the kid coming home from school to an empty house who unlocks the door himself is a latchkey kid.

[@tapio_m6861]

The 90's wasn't all roses everywhere in the world. I was born in 1990 in Finland. My first years were filled with the most important trade partner for Finland not being a country anymore which along with the deregulated financial sector pushed Finland into a deep recession. I remember seeing my dad getting canned when I was 4. Everything ended up well for our family, but there are plenty of people who still are paying their debt which they accumulated during the recession of the early 90's. My dad happened to be a highly educated man, so he was able to find a place that paid well and our family survived the worst wave of financial trouble. But right now I am a recent graduate and have started my work career and when to my dad's career potential during the recession, I feel like I don't have it as well. I have had to fight for any opportunity to prove my worth just to get an internship, my dad merely showed up and had the job 5 minutes later. I have the same degree with similar grades as he had 30 years ago, but my paper has clearly suffered a massive deflation. 5 years of university left me with a degree which at the time of graduation felt like it was worth nothing. I have had to study *on top of that degree* just to be a relevant candidate for any position. That wasn't like that 30 years ago. Yeah, I dislike a lot when my parents' generation accuses us for having it easy and how there is allegedly some value in how they had it harder. The hell? Shouldn't it be amazing that things have evolved so that some bad things are no longer bad things? Also, just because the issues you faced are gone don't mean there are no issues any more. As I told above, my generation is in this weird waiting pattern where we are waiting for the previous generation to retire all the while we need to accumulate more and more skills just to seem relevant. Your generation did not have that. You just graduated and started living. Yes the cold war was a thing, but that didn't *really* impact your life. You were in the colleges and universities and then just walked across the road and started working. That is no longer a thing for a big heap of 20-35yos.

[@fractalelf7760]

As someone who grew up on the leading edge of Gen-X (Sept 1965 birth), this video hit home deeply and is mostly spot on. I would add that the tempering of Gen-X went well beyond the question of nuclear war with Russia; we grew up where everything was constantly at risk; family dissolution (divorce rates in 1971 were off the scale), repeated economic crisis (1970's recession so bad there was a nightly misery-index up into 1980, and I recall about in '79 18% interest rates...18%), start of globalization leading to many communities being undone and dislocated, environmental concerns like TMI and Love Canal), even sex and relationships (AIDs and the Herpes-scare) and enduring a merciless meritocracy that was borne out of WWII and enforced by three generations before us who wrote us off as "Slackers" before we even got out of high school and literally ignored for a long time in the work world. It's hard to have a lot of sympathy as you said for Millenials who missed a lot of that, and instead got much better treatment compared to us at least on the surface, participation awards, ceaseless focus by the press and business, and were taught they were "special"; our generation literally learned the sign you were "doing it right" was not getting criticized; let that one sink in a bit. Now, with high housing costs, continued impact of globalization, post 9/11 world, well, we will go to our graves wondering when the next other shoe will drop.

[@bsidegirl9069]

Wow Couldn't have said it better myself. For me personally, though. . I dealt with my parents divorce, alcoholism in both parents, jail time for mom( armed robbery) at 8, group home and 3 different foster homes at 10 all within one year, move d tto ghetto at 11.5yrs Left home at 14 ...went to 14 schools by grade 9. Makes me wonder how I raised two beautiful and strong son's. Oh well, nevermind. Lol

[@fractalelf7760]

@@bsidegirl9069 Thanks for sharing, touching story! It wasn’t an easy time but some definitely had it harder than others…

[@bsidegirl9069]

@@fractalelf7760 much appreciated. Thank you!

[@vehnashur2771]

Don't forget the crack cocaine crisis in the urban areas and gang violence.

[@audreymuzingo933]

I agree with most of what you're saying, and major case in point: I'm really surprised Joe didn't mention AIDS --I heard about that WAYYYY more than the cold war. But you mention a couple of things I don't agree with: the stuff about Millennials getting participation awards and being told they were special. I think those are things that FOX News and their ilk just love to focus on and exaggerate, even if they're sort-of true. And at least from my recollection they were already becoming true in Gen X. Maybe it's the difference between your and my ages (I was born in '73, so eight years after you), but I remember at school, in Bluebirds, at my dad's company picnics, etc.all kids got some kind of little trinket for participating in competitions. And as for being special, well we had Mr. Rogers telling us that every single day from 1968 onward.

[@MarlinMay]

I was born in 1960, the very end of the baby boom. So, I grew up knowing that all of the aerospace companies near my house were atomic targets. For us, the boom in baby boom wasn't just the demographic "pig in the python", it was the prospect of the atomic explosion, wiping out everything.

[@TSSuppository]

I turn 45 in a couple of days, so I'm what they call "Proper Gen X" and I feel compelled to applaud you for this video. It's true - Gen X grew up in an uncertain world that, suddenly, in 1989, looked like it was going to become some kind of Utopia. Well, the Utopia Rug was pulled out from under us, leaving us all feeling somewhat jaded and cynical... My kids are on the cusp on Millennial/Gen Z (what happened to Gen Y?) and their expectations of the world are very different from mine, despite my best efforts. To them, this is a world full of such potential, and it feels like the Gen X-ers and the Boomers are just holding them back, and I totally get that... But I feel that Gen X, the "Lost Generation," are just trying desperately to keep it real. There's so much misunderstanding between generations, and it's because we all have such very different backgrounds, upbringings... I don't know what the solution is; to the new generation it seems like everything is so simple and it's just the older generation who are complicating things, to the Gen-X and Boomers it seems like the new generation is oversimplifying everything... The truth probably lies somewhere in between. Anyway... Great video! I love your stuff! xx

[@TSSuppository]

@@samarnadra Thank you, and a belated Happy Birthday to you too! Excellent answer, as well. The "Blame" isn't something that can be attributed to a single generation, and even if it could it doesn't solve anything. The important thing is to identify the problem and to work on a solution for the benefit of ourselves and future generations. xx

[@Theonlynamenoonehas]

In my opinion, the fact that Gen X grew up when technology changed from the analogue age to the digital age was a big factor in creating an adaptable and patient generation. Virtues that often get overlooked for more sensational ones.

[@andrewhayden2477]

I'm one of those late-boomers/early Xers and this is a topic that has always interested me. After reading through the comments, however, one thing I don't see much mention of is the introduction of the Internet in the mid-1990s. The Millenials were the first generation that, from an early age had access to the entire world and all of the good/bad things that brought with it. I think that has had a profound effect on how they and subsequent generations, see the world...and themselves. Prior to that our resources were limited. We had the encyclopedia as our single source of truth. In the US, at least, we had three network TV channels for entertainment and news, and PBS to teach us stuff. Our video game was Pong and our hobbies were physical - we built model cars and airplanes, we sewed or knitted. This was not that different from how our parents grew up. The internet changed pretty much all of this. You can argue whether it was for the better (I personally think it gave many Millenials pretty terrible interpersonal skills), but I don't think you can easily separate the generational differences between Gen-X and Millenials without taking it into consideration. And feel better soon Joe.

[@taoist32]

I’m Gen X 74. I remember quite clearly a friend of mine introducing me to the internet in the mid 90’s. I marveled at the way you could interact with someone in another state via a chat room. None of us had cell phones, so the internet became our way of communicating. However, it still took ages for web pages to upload, so in a sense we learned how to wait just like we did as kids with rotary phones. Now, these last few new generations are getting more impatient as technology upgrades every few months. Everything is becoming instant or happening instantaneously. That mode of thinking leads to impatience, aggression, as well as a “meh” attitude when it comes to work, building positive Habits and values, and striving for goals.

[@chewyjello1]

Yep. I think the internet and technology is the biggest contributing factor to the differences between Boomers/GenX and Millennials/GenZ

[@MircoWilhelm]

As a Gen-X fed up with this "digital nativ" fad since the beginning... People really forget a few details. - I had a computer available at the age of 7, so I learned to program it (also gaming) - We could hook up that computer to the telephone an get information and other things from BBS computers - or we could trade the things we had with friends (also it was chapter than using the phone line all night) - A lot of the most of the successful tech companies were founded by Gen-X (I know, that pale robot is a millennial) So when the internet came along, we were the ones using is to create businesses.

[@rickkarrer8370]

Yeah, the internet is really defining mark of "Millennial". I think it's such a strong/disruptive change, that the majority of Millennials were basically the best dummies for what the internet can do to developing minds. I think Gen Z the test dummies for social media as well. On a semi-side note: another point to make is the fact that Millennial aren't even kids anymore, but a lot of older people forget that, and use "Millennial' in place of "younger person" or "kids". However, the youngest Millennials are in their mid-20s now

[@MircoWilhelm]

@@rickkarrer8370 TRue. Millenials are past 40 now, which in turn always reminds me how old I have gotten 😔

[@Zetrad]

I am an X'er, I was also a latchkey kid. Divorce became way more common post 60's. And I think you forgot to mention that. It was just me and my mom. she had the "corporate" job, so she woke me up and by the time i was out of the shower she was gone. I went to school did my thing, and came home to an empty house. My mother would get off around 6:30 pm or later, so around 6 I would come home from whatever I was doing and start preparing dinner for us. She would arrive home, eat wash the dishes from dinner watch some T.V. check my homework, and then go to bed. Wash, rinse, repeat. I rarely had adult supervision most of the time. And yes while it gave me a lot of freedom as a child, I also had responsibilities. Like fixing dinner and all my daily chores to help the house run seamlessly. All under the constant threat of mutually assured destruction. Cheers!

[@annahappen7036]

I won't share my life story here like every other millenial but I'll say, thank you for going over this stuff. It was cool to here you reaffirm how my 6-12 year old mind remembered my older siblings and the pop culture growing up. Also, great juxtaposition of the two gens. First time I've heard that with such clarity and I concur. Been trying to put my finger on the difference for a while. Good job!

[@TheRandomINFJ]

Thank you for not spewing your life story without being asked first. 🤜🤛💕 - Gen Xer (obviously lol)

[@McMomfaceplustwo]

Having been born right in the cusp between genx and millennial, I was a latchkey kid home alone with all my participation trophies. I both non specifically hate everything and am ready to watch the world burn AND think everything will turn out great and that if we just work hard together we can be anything… it’s annoying in my brain.

[@bartolomeothesatyr]

Right there with you.

[@FailFries]

Go inbetweeners!

[@scarymsmary]

Xennials. Stupid name, but it totally fits us.

[@michaelgasperik4319]

Hi Joe, I was born in 82, grew up (the part I really remember) in the 90's, and graduated high school class of 2000. I remember getting my own house key in the 4th grade. I remember when nobody had a cell phone and pagers were only for doctors. I remember getting my own pager in high school. I remember when Kurt Cobain died (Jr high). I remember a time before the internet was available for everyone. I lived through dial up. However I don't really identify as a millennium or as genX. I do seem to fit well in the sub category "Xennial" .

[@scarymsmary]

Yep. Me too, b 81. Xennial totally fits!

[@mellie4174]

Yes!

[@melissakirk281]

Gen-X (72) absolutely loved my childhood, absolutely loved my teens, 20’s, 30’s etc… my brother is millennial, wouldn’t trade my upbringing for his. So glad I’m not a youth in this era

[@ponyote]

Latch key refers to the fact that there wasn't anyone home when we got home from school. Thus, we had let ourselves in. Sometimes we had to fix our own meals.

[@heronimousbrapson863]

I'm a boomer born in the early 1950's. On the one hand, we were expecting the unprecedented affluence our parents realized in the post World War ii era, but on the other, we were wondering if the world was going to be destroyed in a nuclear holocaust (I vaguely remember the Cuban Missile Crisis). Many of us never achieved the affluence our parents did, but we weren't annihilated in a nuclear conflict either.

[@stephenlang7870]

The Boomers got the affluence. You parents got the the depression. The Boomers are the absolute worst generation.

[@MrPaytonw34]

It bothers me when everybody blames the boomers because you guys were trying to do the best just like your parents were for you but you really did screw some shit up lol no it’s just every generational transition is like this I think. You wanna do better than the last and you wanna leave better for the next, But it doesn’t always work out like that

[@sircharlesmormont9300]

Interesting thoughts. Thank you for sharing them. As an older Millennial, I really appreciate someone from an older generation (only slightly older, in my case) being willing to address any issue concerning us with so much as a modicum of respect. Thank you! I mean that sincerely! I think you're onto something with the idea that expectations haven't matched reality and that those expectations are forged as a result of conditions during folks' formative years. I will say, however, that I'm starting to understand Boomers' perspectives a little bit more as I grow older. While I understand that my experience is not representative of many, many folks' experience of the latest barrage of world-and-economy-devastating events, it is the first time that my own personal world was only minimally affected. By this, I mean that I personally did not lose wealth, jobs, opportunities, security, etc. For the first time in my life, I actually prospered. I was lucky. The events of the pandemic, while terrifying, represented only a minor setback. I 'bounced back' in short order. This was astonishing to me. I went back to grad school. I earned top notch grades. I kept my job. Following graduation, my increased credentials actually won me a promotion. Because of the pause on student loan repayment, I was able to turn my new credentials into increased income and career advancement before repayment began. I refinanced my house. For the first time in my working life, things worked... in a manner that is somewhat akin to that expectation that was formed in those early years of childhood. I worked hard. I got... rewarded? I was flabbergasted. Now, let's not get too excited, here. Like many Millennials who have been hit by one disaster after another during the whole of their working lives, I am still very far behind the 8-ball. My graduate degree and subsequent promotion still wouldn't allow me to live alone and keep a secure roof over my head. That dream of working one job and affording all of the essentials, like room and board, is still a bridge too far for my generation, and we are still reminded - daily - of how lazy and ungrateful and, most of all, entitled, we are for expecting something as luxurious as a mortgage after spending twenty years in the workforce. I still couldn't make it on my own. I still don't ever expect silly things like retirement or to get my dental work done. I am, however, starting to be able to go to the doctor when needed and to fix the car when it breaks. Still, it was an amazing and surreal experience to go through a major disaster and NOT find myself knocked to the brink of homelessness. The catastrophe was a setback fraught with fear and anxiety and, at one point, the very real possibility of a layoff. Coworkers and aging loved ones died. It was no picnic. The difference is that, this time, it took me about a year to recover - a year, not a decade - and that I actually saw measurable forward momentum as a result of effort that I expended (and luck; let's not underestimate the luck component). If Boomers' experiences have been in any way like this one, then I can see how they developed their worldview and their subsequent disdain of my generation. I can see how, maybe, they just don't believe us. If work and sacrifice consistently translates into progress, if hard times are "setbacks" and not catastrophes, if you find yourself able to "roll with the punches" instead of getting knocked out over and over again, then I imagine that your worldview would look different. You might not even be able to see the hand of luck operating; it might look like simple cause and effect. And if it looks like cause and effect... of course the Millennials just aren't working/trying/sacrificing/doing the right things enough. I guess all of this is to say that I think that, as important as folks' formative years are, we never really stop building expectations. We're not like cookies. We're never really "done" baking. I think experiences in adult life continue to forge and change folks' worldview in ways that we often don't realize. My experiences as a teen and adult taught me what to expect much more than my 90s childhood did. And when those pessimistic expectations were only slightly alleviated, for the first time, I was astounded. It helped me to understand older folks better because, for the first time, I witnessed some of that correlation between effort and results that they're always yammering on about. I can see how seeing enough of that, over time, might shape your worldview.

[@Krazie-Ivan]

interesting to note, your time of hard work = progress was during one of the longest periods of economic prosperity & expansion the US has seen. course, that stretch was partially due to following one of the worst periods too, and we had our own challenges '10-'19. for the few who took advantage, it was very much like the times that boomers fawn about.

[@sircharlesmormont9300]

@@Krazie-Ivan I will have to take your word for that. After the crash of '08, I was more or less destroyed, and so I was not in a position to "take advantage" of anything. I know my experience isn't everyone's experience, but that is how events played out for me.

[@bencovington6180]

As a gen z I wonder how everything we’ve lived through will shape us. I mean I was a baby when 911 happened but I grew up as a kid in the same kind of mindset of these are the bad guys (Middle East). And then 2008-2009 happened and everyone felt that for a long time. I don’t think it was until 2012 till everything got normal. I already kinda had the pessimistic nihilism in me but then covid and inflation and Ukraine and god who knows what else is next but I think it’s interesting. If I could predict gen z’s quote I think it’ll be. “I’m tired of living through historical events”.

[@geelee1977]

EVERY generation lives through just as many historical events.

[@CallegriaofSoulbound]

@@geelee1977 yes they do, but Ben is still young and hasn't figured out yet that when he says historical events even though that is what Ben said what Ben means is economical downturn the greatest economical down turns since the great depression have been 2008 and 2020. The Great Depression 1929-1933 ended before Baby Boomers 1946 and was a GDP of -26% and unemployment of 21-24%. 1937 Recession was also before Boomers. For the 75 years unemployment never went higher then 11% and the GDP never got lower then -5%(10% unemployment and -5% GDP this happened in 2008) until 2020 when unemployment went to 15% and GDP -19% The Boomer generation LITTERLY lived their golden years through the greatest economical standards the USA has ever seen, until now, when they should have started retiring in 2011 and be completely retired in 2029. Boomer's LITERALLY work their entire life in the most favorable conditions. And before you say you had to created unions and strike and so on. The Department of Labor and Labor laws were created in 1913 and the Fair Labor laws were put into effect in 1938. So no Gee Lee not every generation lives through the many "historical events" they live through different economical downturns and the "historical events" that caused them.

[@geelee1977]

@@CallegriaofSoulbound "yes they do" --> Then a little diatribe --> "not every generation lives through the many" --> **Complete and UTTER contradiction of yourself ROTFL ROTFL ROTFL ROTFL** That's one heck of a self 0wn you hand delivered to me on a silver platter. PS - I especially loved the cherry picking fallacy, COMPLETELY ignoring the entire civil rights movement, president Kennedy assassination, the last draft, late 70's inflation, and MOST especially, ignoring that boomers lived through ALL that gen Z is living through...only more, etc, etc ROTFL ROTFL, yet more proof of your lack of rationality, and education, on this topic ROTFL. **It is amazing, that you don't know the reason most of them work till death, is because they are dealing with the SAME economic reality we ALL are ROTFL**

[@RBB52]

First, I need to tell you Joe, how much I appreciate all the effort you put into your posts. As someone from the middle of the Baby Boomer generation, I really do not understand the hate of my generation coming from the Millennials and even some Gen Xers. You need to know that my generation was no more pleased with the world we inherited than the Millennials are with the world they are inheriting. Baby Boomers famously rebelled in the 1960's and began some drastic changes to the world we inherited...some good...some not so good. As a generation, the intention was good but there are nefarious characters in every generation. Other than the famous rant "do not trust anyone over 30" I do not remember anyone seriously blaming our previous generation for our troubles. We simply took the world we inherited and tried to make it better. Blaming someone else for our lot is usually very self defeating. Millennials need to accept the world they have inherited and do what they can to make it better. Also remember that Generation X and Millennials are the children and grandchildren of Baby Boomers and that parents and grandparents love their progeny more than any thing else.

[@floridafan6931]

Thank you, well said. I've never understood why we have to constantly compare generations. None of us chose the generation we were born into. Why can't we just acknowledge and accept that "life" moves forward, and with it comes change.

[@Turtledove2009]

Very well said.

[@autohmae]

@@floridafan6931 we compare because we've grown up in a different culture, almost like immigrants.

[@terrymeadows1827]

As a never married, childless baby boomer, my jaw dropped when you said that you Gen Xers sought authenticity and genuine sincerity. Of course, your generation would! While this certainly does not apply to all Baby Boomers, Boomer dads and moms criticized, demeaned their Gen X children for being apathetic and lazy--meaning that they did not fall at their boomer parents' feet, praising them, crediting them for ending the Vietnam War and picking up American blacks out of injustice, etc., although boomers did none of that). The truth is that my fellow boomers invented phony virtue signaling. And I do mean phony! Plus, we boomers denounced our parents for being "materialistic" yet we never failed to cash our parents' checks. We boomers owe Gen X and their Millennial children numerous apologies. Again, not all of them, but the most vocal boomers I knew were the upper middle class white ones, and all they ever cared about was smoking "pot" and getting laid, while claiming to be pioneers of liberalism. Some boomers owe no apology, but i strongly believe most of us do. I am certainly sorry for my part. Thank you for this presentation. It explained a lot, and again, as a boomer, I am sorry.

[@craigs71]

I am cynical Gen Xer (born in 1971) and an 'every silver lining has it's cloud' kinda person, people see this as being negative but I see it more as when something goes bad then it's not all that disappointing but if it works out then its a pleasant surprise. In my mind I can never be disappointed, I also believe we are all products of our experiences and many people these days have never really experienced true hardship (some even think words are violence for Christs sake) and I remember real bullying and violence unlike the prissy twitter weirdos.

[@ridiculous_gaming]

How it went from kids playing with their own imagination to parents organizing the activities and play dates is truly amazing. I still don't get it.

[@rachelnotluf4585]

Probably the number of high-profile child abductions and murders in the 1970s and early 80s, especially the disappearance of Adam Walsh and the trend of placing missing children on milk cartons. Parents were inundated with the idea that the world is a very dangerous place. Children still needed the social interaction of peers, but it was no longer considered safe to just let them wander unattended from house to house, park to forest to ball field. So children were constantly chaperoned and supervised.

[@finishstrongcycling2355]

Coming from a poor family raised by a single mom, we accepted hardship as the baseline for our stories. Because failure and poverty were real possibilities, it motivated me to be resourceful and hardworking so I could be successful. Today, I sense more of an entitlement to prosperity in the youth culture than a hope of achieving it through effort and determination. Influencers are idolized (no poke intended your way Joe) while ordinary work and entrepreneurship are not. Our parents told us too much TV would rot your brain. We should have listened.

[@QuincyEarlJones]

The term latchkey kid comes from where kids arrived at home with no parents there and they had to use their own key. You were taught to come home and lock the door, including with the latch/deadbolt and let no one in except for your parents. I specifically remember in elementary school wearing a key on a shoestring to keep up with it because there was going to be no one at home when I got there to let me in. And because they were working they weren't going to be there for a while.

[@Una...]

I remember nuclear bomb drills, single file into the hall, curl up with your arms over your neck. Or under our desks. Latch key kid, yep. That shaped all our music, art, movies, relationships, etc. The thing that bothers me about the general millennial, how do I say this without sounding like a crunchy gen xer? The general millennial gripe, isn't so much that they expected things to be rainbows and unicorns, it's that they seem to think they've had it the hardest out of any other gen that ever existed. They got to grow into their 30s before they thought the world could actually end, we were born into it. That gets old. Sitting back watching people as a smack in the middle of the gen x age range, I just kinda shake my head and think of all the things we had going on, and more than that, all the things the WW2 gen, the Korean war gen, the Vietnam gen had goin on. Each generation has had it's share of bullsh*t, millennials are not special, but (and I'm generalizing like everyone else here) they really seem to think they are. Anyhoo ..lol gonna finish the video now. I wish millennials knew what it was like being the nerd, the geek, the weirdo back then. It wasn't like John Hughes movies. Today people are embracing differences, yes there's still those people who are bullies, there always will be. There may be fewer opportunities than we had (?), but there are new opportunities they have that we didn't. Any job online, for instance. Traveling and working from your van/car, etc. I would be here all day trying to make my point. I don't think there's less opportunities for them, I think there are different opportunities. I wish they would look back and see what things were like. Meh...