What is Generation X? It’s Complicated.

[@chatwithaninja]

All of the entertainment at the time brought our generation together. All of the entertainment now drives us apart. I was working as a chef in fine dining in Atlanta in the early 90's and we were all excited about the Mission Impossible film, so we played a "guess the movie line" game for about 3 hours. NO ONE missed a movie quote. Females, males, younger bussers, older head chef, and even foreign maitre D's were getting in on it.

[@rosecampion4337]

Right? I was talking to my 22 year old daughter yesterday about how GenXer’s can have entire conversations quoting classic commercial lines! 😅

[@jonathanhibberd9983]

It only drives us apart if you let it. I guarantee you so many of our favorites would be called "woke" if they had been made today. A show where the entire cast is black? Woke! A show with a gay main character? Super-woke! A show about a professional woman? Wokewokewoke!

[@velevetyy]

its interesting, like i can see the criticism of everyone being "cookie cutter" and today's consumerism derives from then's consumerism, but it mustve been nice having easy topics to dig into. people get seriously pissed off like seriously peeved that i havent seen or was old enough to remember watching the lion king. my parents didnt rly care about culture like that, i envy people who's parents influenced their music, movies, hobbies etc. etc. im jealous malls were a place to socialise too. my earliest memories of the malls were that they were a dangerous place to mind your own business.

[@sim4344]

Sort of, but I think that's at least as much circumstances as it is anything about the entertainment itself. It "brought us together" because there weren't a lot of other options. Like 3-5ish channels on TV, more if you had cable (and a lot of people didn't). There were far fewer movies made (by a LOT) and they stayed at the theater longer. So we all watched the same movies and tv shows, more or less, and so had the same cultural references. Buuuut the smaller amount of media being made represented a MUCH smaller range of viewpoints. That's increasingly not the case anymore, and a lot of people find it kind of discomforting. That's the "driving us apart" part.

[@dagazrune6453]

​​@@jonathanhibberd9983 not at all. The shows of our time didn't push the sexuailty, gender, ethnicity, skin color, or sexual preference of their characters. Did you already forget how Black Pather claimed to be the "first" black superhero? Amazon's LOTR show claims to have the "first" black dwarf? Captain Marvel the "first" female hero? Modern shows are all about dividing us. Shoot I forgot Star Trek... the first black captain like Sisco didn't exist. Yes I know I misspelled his name... my phone is being difficult.

[@thepagecollective]

Gen X: Don't youuu forget about meee. Also Gen X: Oh well, whatever, nevermind.

[@lovedalot]

😂

[@Xosidhe]

@@lovedalot I think you mean ;)

[@starscreamthecruel8026]

Best music though \m/

[@MichelleInfinity]

@@starscreamthecruel8026totes

[@joltjolt5060]

Nevermind is an expression of deep depression.

[@gregsmith7949]

If you were a kid in the 70s, and a teen in the 80s, you are solid Gen X. We remember Star Wars, Disco, Arcades, Malls, MTV, Rap, Alternative, the Challenger disaster, Reagan, Atari, the Cosby Show, Family Ties, and Facts of Life.

[@DinaMule]

I was a teen in the late 80s to mid 90s. I'm also a GenX

[@ClaireCopeland-n6y]

Yes yes yes❤❤❤

[@Ssstellamellaaa]

That’s why we millennials love you , you guys have all the wisdom , the truth the history the knowledge . We need you guys to speak up more, we need more gen x on KZbin for real talking about their life please 🙏. You have no idea how much shit I’ve avoided in life because and only Because of gen x friends . I’m 29 but all my friends are about 45 now . And when I tell you I would have been dead 20x over if not for my gen x friends talking to me and telling me the truth about life and society. I owe my life to you guys . God bless you forever ❤

[@gracieb.3054]

@@Ssstellamellaaa That was touching. Thanks for sharing this. We just have been through the forest before you. When you get older, you will be the one to give advice. Much love from yet another Gen-Xer.

[@newdawn7586]

That’s me. My friend and I were so happy when a mall was built near our high school.

[@Yearnin2fly11]

YOU are Gen X if you recognized the voice of Kurt Loder explaining who we are.

[@chaoswitch1974]

We should be called generation Mtv

[@aliciasavage6801]

Lol - 100%

[@co7314]

Only if your parents could afford cable TV

[@shokojimhollingsworth3940]

lol I was thinking that when he was doing the voice over

[@jimmym3352]

I didn't even watch much MTV since I didn't listen to much of that type of music, and even I know who Kurt Loder is. But yeah Richi Rachman played more of my type of music.

[@tdgros88]

I had not realized the extent of similarities between Gen-X, Millennials and Gen Z. Basically feels like all the same themes, just at an increasing rate. The steady decline of economic opportunity, disintegration of family and social structure towards lonely individualism, and an increasing spiritual emptiness and cynicism of our corporate and governmental overlords.

[@TotallyxKatiee]

I didn’t either. Things did get better for gen x though and millennials, so maybe things will get better for gen z soon. It’s crazy the emphasis on the college degree for gen x, makes sense that many people in that generation still think a college degree will get you a good paying job, which isn’t the case anymore.

[@daveassanowicz186]

F BOOMERS

[@drshlots4864]

@@TotallyxKatiee Millennial here, things did not get better.

[@LibertyDino]

I mean the ppl didn't work on their issues. The 80's brought blind consumerism without brains because of the status games the older generations felt like playing. We need mentorship and a culture that initiates us into adult life.

[@chaoswitch1974]

​@@drshlots4864 I'm gen X. It only got better for some.

[@DbeeM]

I’m a Gen X latch key “survivor” …. Loved every moment , made me street smart, creative and forced me to have problem solving skills .

[@MikeStoneJapan]

I'm an elder latchkey millenial here. Single earning parent worked a lot. Defo had to learn independence veeeery young

[@crunchy3771]

I can’t believe how codependent kids are now, my niece can’t even go use a public bathroom without her hand being held…at 13! Zero street smarts and no sense of adventure. It’s sad. They don’t even know how to go outside to play

[@MrsImogen]

@@crunchy3771 I think there are a lot of mixed messages given to parents these days. If a parent allows their kid to walk to the park alone, they're being negligent. If they don't, they're being helicopter parents.

[@falkorornothing261]

Did you have those days when you forgot your key and had to wait around outside. Or go to neighbor friends house and your parents/s get home and don't question where you're at. Until dusk at least. Edit: or breaking in😂

[@crunchy3771]

@ I’m the best at breaking in! But I’ve also waited outside under the steps in -20c waiting for someone to to get home lol

[@zEropoint68]

people didn't realize it at the time they were trying to wrap their heads around what the cultural touchstone of generation x might be, but it's the transition from a manufacturing economy to an information/service economy. i was born in 1975, when handheld wireless video communications devices were _literal_ science fiction. now i have three of them sitting on the desk in front of me, and the transition is nowhere near complete. we're the people the future's history happened to.

[@StubbyLegz]

Excellent analysis

[@x77punk77x]

Yes, i was born two years after you and I and so many people i knew got c.s. degrees because we loved tech. It’s too goddamn bad too many of our generation in tech sold out to the worst tech bosses, companies, trends, and forces - and that’s been, e.g., harming a hell of a lot of Millennials, and members of Gen-Z & Alpha. We need to take responsibility ffs.

[@davelafave6678]

SAME. I'm 54. Today my income appears as a higher balance in my bank account which is accessed through a tiny super computer in MY POCKET. And I didn't blink an eye. Until I watched this.

[@dontnoable]

Thatcher-Reagan era is a more meaningful and specific way to interpret that transition I think. The unions were brought to heel and neolibberalism was ramped up. The 'rational actor model' (debunked load of nonsense) of economics, trying to make everyone into a customer. "There is no such thing as society", as Thatcher said. If you look up old documentaries of homeless people in the 1980's in the UK, it is the council putting people in b&b's for weeks or months on end, making them sick, while the owners rake in the profit from the misfortune. And that's exactly the same situation in the UK today, thanks in a big part to Thatcher's 'right to buy' scheme, where council houses and flats were sold off and homeless b&bs make money off of the poor. It's a total outrage but I hadn't realised til I saw the documentaries (Home Sweet Home (1985) and Living On The Line (1985) on grove channel on yt) that it's been the same since the 1980's. If successive neolibberal governments wanted to end homelessness, they would have by now, but instead they've made it into a market for profit. Back to your point about the transition from heavy industries to information/service industries, we can see also the tail end of this asset stripping now with companies like Boeing, asset stripping to the point where things go so wrong but it's risks they're willing to take. The ideal model seeming to be that you can make whatever you're selling into a subscription service where a customer doesn't get anything and only have access while they can pay, and the owner doesn't have to produce as much to squeeze the profit. 📈 Tangent here but post ww2, everyone should have seen the grim path nationalism can lead to. But we didn't and along came neolibberalism, fertile ground for the next reactionary movements.

[@michaelwills1926]

We exist between two worlds the analog and the dogital

[@wilhelmschmidt7240]

7:45 the "My parents are busy now, can I take a message?" Line hits home hard

[@juliagoolia5604]

I remember being scared lying when I would say that. Like what if they don’t believe me!?! B ahhhhhhh lmao😅

[@lukasketner]

@@juliagoolia5604 I always imagined that they knew and were hiding in the garage with a machete and a brick phone

[@michelleej]

My line was similar, “She’s not available right now. May I take a message?” It never occurred to me that we were all taught the same thing!

[@jensmith4005]

It was a smart thing to teach us to answer the phone that way. I was never scared to be home alone. My mom left a list of chores to do before she got home.

[@michelleej]

@@jensmith4005 I always had a list too.

[@OceanWolf808]

Millennial here, ‘86. I have mad respect for Gen X. Probably the only generation (other than the WW2/G.I./Greatest Generation) that I like. Kinda see them as a big brother to look up to.

[@RadioPsychicAstrologyByPepper]

1975 here and I don’t know why your comment touched me but it did. I’m glad you’re here now, 86 was a really challenging year for me as a kid plus challenger disaster, Chernobyl, Halley’s Comet returning… my mom was a bit of a biblical prophecy fear monger so I thought 💭 maybe it might be the end of the world that year…. But it was the beginning of it for you and another friend of mine who is an astrologer like myself but in the U.K. and hey, I’m glad the world went on and you’re here for it, ❤

[@Ssstellamellaaa]

Me too I’m 29 all my Friends are mid to late 40’s teaching me how to fuigre out life. Everything of value I’ve learned is from gen x telling me the truth .

[@pheenobarbidoll2016]

Well, we * are* your older siblings lol and your babysitters. We probably raised half of you.

[@aprils.r8418]

Why? They were just edgy boomers. Gen X eventually caved in and became yupps

[@dontnoable]

This just shows the absurdity and arbitrariness of these marketing categories. Cause that's all they are, btw.

[@rockingredpoppy9119]

My son is a GenX, he went from being a latch key kid, to a Dungeons and Dragons player, to being an IT Computer Tech - GenX spanned the whole transition of the computer era! I'm so proud of him!!! 🥰🥰🥰

[@chaoswitch1974]

I'm gen X. I majored in computer science. I was mostly offered secretarial or assistant jobs. Good for men for getting all those great tech jobs.

[@AliciaGuitar]

Gen x was the best time to become computer experts... we got to see it develop from the beginning pretty much

[@lexicat6177]

I call my son an evil genius, he's a computer guru, but he can build, weld, fix anything. Self taught. Scary smarts. Glad he uses his power for good.

[@jennyg6782]

@@chaoswitch1974 and you've just hit another microcosm of Gen X, it is the role of women and the opportunities that were/were not there. It was way more acute for women I think to go through the economic downturns, to be more educated but looked over by employers, and also told a lie about motherhood/career by the boomer parents that had some fkd up vision of what would make women happy. All these trends applied to men as well in the greater context, but you wanna talk about trying to make a go of it with creativity and ingenuity? That would be the women. Anyway, rant over.

[@Jim26D]

​​@@chaoswitch1974yeah it was crazy. I was as well and even lived in a big city. I had my certifications and could only get jobs for 8 dollars an hour doing help desk work for a computer company (in 2015) and tech support for a gaming console. It paid better to work at Aldi's grocery store which was paying 12 an hour at the time, which I couldn't even get hired as dei was just starting to occur but wasn't heard of yet to the public, only women of color were hired after the hiring event. I did freelance repair and troubleshooting instead but stopped. I worked for the elderly a lot and ended up rarely ever charging after they told me. I took it to the geek squad and they charged me 300 and it still doesn't work right. It always amazed me the line of people at best buy waiting to get ripped off but no one wanted to pay a fraction of that to a guy who actually cared and wasnt trying to sell them overpriced spyware. I gave up on the real good jobs that are supposed to exist. I still like tech but hate it at the same time. I let all my certifications expire as when I got mine they no longer lasted indefinitely and needed redone every 3 years

[@mrsjayrez2627]

Gen x experienced coming of age only to realize that there was no more American dream without generational wealth or a community that invested in their youth.

[@altspecs342]

Break out the VHS tapes and watch the movies. 😁

[@colettebellaluna888]

Same song there playing to our kids today...but it's all about to change

[@texasred2702]

Actually we came of age seeing how you could go from poor to fantastically rich on Wall Street in the 1980s, or from a high school misfit tinkering in your basement to fantastically rich in the tech boom 10 year later. Not all of us, of course. But if you had the right skill set in those years and the sense not to blow it on grown up toys and partying, you could do very well indeed. I know quite a few guys who did, and none of them came from money (unlike Bill Gates).

[@OrielThomson]

They were the first generation to experience it and that has continued.

[@TarynsTime]

We had the last of the American Dream, most everybody I know from when we were young back then made better lives for themselves and their family than any generation before them, and like me they started with what common sense and good upbringing taught us we'd need, and nothing more. No generational wealth etc. Unfortunately, Gen X might be the last generation to do better than their previous generations, also.

[@jayboz034]

Coming home to an empty house after school to fight with my sister over the TV remote and phone, then clean-up at light speed when the garage door began to raise and pretend you were doing homework.

[@Hulana42]

My brother and I used to fight over "the box". It was a box with a slider for each channel from 2 to 42 and had a CORD from the TV to it. Ah, the memories. TV was such a huge part of my life that I sometimes say the TV was my other sibling.

[@jayboz034]

@@Hulana42 I used to consider Ozzy Osbourne my other dad. :)

[@Islas_Canarias]

I was one of the fortunate few. Both my parents worked from home during the 70's and 80's. My father bought old, beat up Volkswagen beetles and would refurbish them (panel beat, spray paint, engine overhaul, re-upholster) from our backyard and sell them for profit. My mother was a custom dressmaker. I grew up with both parents waiting for me when I got home. My parents migrated from General Franco Canary Islands to Australia in 1973 and knew enough about hardship to give me and my siblings a better life. Today, we are all married. I'm a stay at home mother, my sister is as is my brother's wife. We were lucky, I guess.

[@jayboz034]

@@Islas_Canarias That's great! I work very hard so that my wife can be a stay at home mom. Our daughter never has to come home to an empty house or stay at the weird neighbor's house like we did when we were too young. Our daughter is very fortunate. :)

[@Islas_Canarias]

@@jayboz034 Congratulations. It pays off in the end. Your daughter is fortunate (and rare) to have this experience. We told our son while growing up that we were a rare family. That most families are divorced, one parent homes, usually fatherless. He knows how lucky he is to have grown up with not only both parents still married, but his mother at home who homeschooled him and gave him three hot, from scratch meals a day and was always available. It's sad that the normal family is now almost going extinct.

[@tohafi]

Man, those old interviews are depressing...nothing is new. Every 10-20 years the same conversations...

[@TwistedLullabies]

Humans never change

[@eyespy3001]

@@TwistedLullabiesNot entirely true. We’ve been in the throes of late-stage capitalism since the mid-70’s and the birth of neo-liberalism. Gen X were the first generation whose future was stolen and off-shored by would-be oligarchs, and we’re still feeling the ramifications to this day. I would say the last time any generation has experienced what we’re experiencing now was probably around the Industrial Revolution, but that brought the prospect of prosperity with it; unlike now, where we’re facing resource scarcity and a technological revolution that will render 90% of human labor useless. We’re at the end of an ism that has lasted for hundreds of years, and those at the top of the food chain are trying their hardest to keep the status quo from shifting away from their favor. Things HAVE to change, but it will be very ugly before they do.

[@x77punk77x]

Well, we’re also the Prozac Generation Not to be confused with the Ritalin/Adderall Generation

[@x77punk77x]

@@eyespy3001 Agreed, but we were often raised with brainwashing-level toxic Reaganism to shame & hate ourselves for not ending up rich & successful (enough) until honestly Millennials really started debunking this masochistic thinking and the evaporating American Dream fantasy. Too many Gen-Xers are still awful Reaganites at heart and definitely became The Man kicking the less fortunate to the curb much like their parents.

[@insanelysane8296]

They were right then and they are right now.

[@bridaw8557]

We may get overlooked but we have a badass generation name that fits us perfectly

[@reignofbastet]

Right?!

[@feywynnightrunner9380]

Personally, I think we should be called the "What.... ever" generation.

[@followyourheart1366]

F**CK YEAH!!!😁😁

[@aaronbono4688]

Yeah too bad Elon musk is ruining that too.

[@mikeFolco]

Tainted by dummy Musk.

[@shokojimhollingsworth3940]

“Very fucking uncertain economic times” about sums up my entire adult life. Born in 1967. After being a teen in the 80’s and being somewhat optimistic, I came of age in a recession and have now lived my life in the boomer’s shadow. The “barely recover and then bust” cycle that has marginalized our generation: 1990’s, 2001, 2008, 2012, 2020, just… boned over and over. Social security will probably last just long enough for my parents to clean it out as they die.

[@Wyrd__One]

That’s pretty much what the Boomers intended: leave enough for themselves, and the rest of us can just go to Hell. It’s definitely in line with their processes of thinking

[@gringogreen4719]

​@@Wyrd__One And they are still doing it as they march off into the sunset. What asshats!🤨

[@alwaysflushinpublic]

All my kin are hillbillies. Unless someone tells us there's a recession, we won't notice.

[@ozarkrefugee]

@@Wyrd__One Took/manipulated everything for themselves then have the nerve to tell us we are lazy and don't try hard enough.

[@ozarkrefugee]

Born in 71, have been working since I was 14, never had a job last more than nine years before the place shut down due to the owners negligence.

[@honesty_provides_tranquility]

Best Generation in a crises and at a party

[@Exiled.New.Yorker]

Well, the Party at the End of the Universe was pretty cool, i admit.

[@janineclarkson3991]

@@Exiled.New.Yorker yessir Douglas Adams fan here too!

[@MichelleInfinity]

Totally

[@wilhelmschmidt7240]

Also the generation most likely to cause a crisis, at a party 😂😂😂

[@MichelleInfinity]

@@wilhelmschmidt7240 the only generation to be 30 when you’re 10 and still be 30 when you’re 50 🤍✨👏🏽😂

[@nightwalkerscrypt]

I was a latchkey kid. When I got home it was my job to make sure my brother did his homework, that our choirs were done start my homework when mom and dad got home it was then my job to clean the kitchen after dinner finish homework and bed. Rinse and repeat. Parents were emotional unavailable but that a whole different can of worms. Computer arrived in the home around age 12-13. I remember life before the internet and cell phones. I was a mini adult at age 8. I am now 46 and at times feel mentally like someone much older. I am a young Gen Xer and honestly look at the older Gen Xer's and ask how they hell they turned into the very thing we hated in our youth and raged against.

[@x77punk77x]

Your last sentence needs to be strobing in neon colors. Senior Gen-X are far more likely to be MAGA and bosses from hell. They’re the real Reagan Youth all grown up lol

[@itoibo4208]

People change to cope and survive. We all hate the corporate fake people, but if you want to make a living, you either have to start your own business or try to fit in. Some revolutions are slow. Gen Z and Millenials are carrying on the fight. Many of them will drop out, too, but at least they have more support from each other and from many Gen-Xers, and even many boomers, especially the more left leaning ones.

[@ktmggg]

In a system based on capitalism you either conform or drop out. That means suffer or do your own thing to make money, though I think the hybrid of 9 to 5 + side hustle is the new normal. The side hustle keeps alive the part the 9-5 is determined to crush.

[@ericaborman4237]

Yup. But my partner is in his 50s and we young kids and old parents because we waited. For everything.

[@cerin59]

It's cuz you'r not gen x, you're the next one... whatever that's called. You're a tad younger

[@Darthhusker]

I was born the same year as yourself. My father lived in a home without running water and now my sons live in an age where the collective knowledge of the planet is in the palm of their hand. I'm proud that I'm part of the generational bridge between the old world and the new. Thanks for this retrospective.

[@shannon_w.]

Born in 1974 and a very proud Gen Xer. I was a Latch Key Kid, my parents divorced when I was young, I played on the playground at McDonalds and lived to tell about it, I went roller skating on Friday nights and loved going to the mall on Saturday afternoon, I read the comics in the paper on Sunday mornings, I watched Saturday morning cartoons, I wore Esprit and Benetton and later Z Cavarici in every color you can think of, my hair was teased as high as I could get it, I wore frosty pink lipstick and blue wet & wild eyeliner, I had jelly bracelets, fingerless lace gloves, and a lace ribbon in my hair, I ate sugary cereal that was cartoon themed usually, I taped songs on the radio and went to under 21 clubs, I had dinner at 5-6pm every night, and I went to school dances, I wore my costume to school on Halloween and couldn't WAIT to go Trick or Treating, I remember the Challenger blowing up, the AIDS epidemic, I remember the day MTV debuted (it was my birthday). There is so much more that represented my Gen X childhood. This is just a small amount of my memories. Listen, life wasn't always perfect, but to me, life in the 70s, 80s, and 90s ALWAYS was 🥹

[@reignofbastet]

You had an awesome birthday!! I remember that moment well, as well as many others you mentioned. The Challenger thing is still so weird to try to process (I was 15 at the time). We definitely had a childhood like no other, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I hope you have many more happy birthdays 🤘🏻

[@chiaralistica]

My birthday is the day after MTV started broadcasting. We were at the shore for the summer so I didn't see it until we returned home.

[@aplatin3094]

Gen X'er here. Born 1969. I'm glad I got this recommended and I just subscribed. Excellent video. The latchkey kid segment really hit home. It did not really dawn on me before how much time we spent by ourselves.

[@reignofbastet]

This was my first recommendation for this channel also, but I’m a huge fan of Slim Sherri, Gen X Jono, Dadbod Veteran, Kelly Manno…. If you like this video, you’ll probably enjoy those also.

[@jennyg6782]

The part where it said, "its 10pm do you know where your kids are" really got to me. I know my parents would have seen that and said, yep I do. But thats only cause I was a good kid and came home at dark. They had no idea otherwise and still to this day don’t care too much about what I’m up to. How can you watch that on TV and not think something is messed up. I can't even imagine something like that resonating with anyone now. It made me sad.

[@Bustamove-]

I WAS BORN IN 69 too me and my friends stay outside and played till it got dark are stayed inside and watched TV are lisen to music and played vidio gamesI also started work lawn jobs when I was young ! and yes I did the dishes and cooked for my shelf

[@soundacious]

I've seen so much commentary about Gen X lately, but I love the fact that you show so many primary source videos so we get the "view from the ground", so to speak. Great work! New subscriber unlocked.

[@mr_black2157]

I'm 41, born in 1983. I always felt odd being called a millennial. It's putting me in the same category of people who didn't have the same experiences. That i had growing up. On the other end, Gen Z treats me like i'm a Boomer. Because of my personality. Possibly feeling like we have less in common. My point is I feel closer to Gen X than millennials. I'm so glad I found your channel. It's like I found a hidden piece of my past.

[@missladyanonymity]

Fact-a-rooney!

[@shelleyroper588]

I feel the same way! Born in '83! I don't have much in common with younger millennials. I consider myself and my upbringing to be very genX. I'm xinnial for sure. ❤

[@germannoesoto625]

'83 baby here. I identify as Gen-X, but heard we are Xenials.

[@ptyleranodon3081]

83-er here too. I'm right there with ya

[@jo100]

I feel the same way too, Born In 1982.

[@lorrainejurdana-land3782]

Gen x rules. No other cohort can hang like us. We were shown no compassion and we forged our own way .

[@catalystcomet]

You guys were shitty older siblings.

[@bogmon]

that's overstating it I think. We were the offspring of historical wealth. We were actually the first generation able to rebel against convention because we had the material abundance to experiment and reject traditional society.

[@ChantelStays]

Bro no generation is shown compassion ... Jeez.... That's the thing about X ... The pedestal.

[@lisarodriguez8681]

@@ChantelStays you can’t imagine the no compassion of a whole generation. I don’t know how but all our parents were absent from the neck up.

[@ChantelStays]

@@lisarodriguez8681 mine were too 💁‍♀️ ... I was severely abused to be frank. And honestly, seeing how a lot of millennials are raising their kids is appalling, they're also absent, in a different way... With social media, work, and friends taking the forefront. Glued to their online existences and having to overwork to "make it" But then, if you look back into the ancient days - children were not taken care of by their parents. In the medieval days ... Children were forced to leave home as young as 9. Parents, for the most part.... Suck and are self absorbent and ill equipped. Only gen X makes a deal of it

[@BrandyStaples-d8l]

Became a latchkey kid at 9 years old. The scariest moment was when I unlocked the door and the house was trashed. I thought we were robbed. A few seconds later our dog joyfully greeted me to show me all her handiwork since we left the dog door open.

[@Fcreceptor]

If you ask enough age groups, people gravitate to their teens and 20s as the best time to be alive. To me, the 80s were the best time, but it was my teenage years. What do I miss? Night clubs, smoking, the trends, the music, and at the end of the day, being young. At 52, it's not much fun just working and dealing with the politics of society. The internet, to me, seemed to be the ruination of societal norms. I think the naivety about the world kept people more tame and sincere.

[@reignofbastet]

Yes! This! I was not really a fan of my twenties, but I miss the 80s every day. Music, freedom from adults, actual connection with other humans…. Even our movies were better. If the remake The Breakfast Club, so help me, Alice, to the moon!! Haha

[@seanlahm4826]

1972. I completely agree with your statement. Being young is hopeful. Of course most people think that their generation was the best time to be alive. YOU WERE YOUNG. The problem with the internet and social media is ENVY and the depression that comes along with trying to compare yourself with the ENTIRE WORLD. When we grew up , we didn't care what the kids in the next neighborhood were doing , let alone what some kid in Ohio was doing or had. I see it in my nephew who is turning 19. The constant comparison to a skewed reality has to be depressing for a lot of kids . They have lost the ability to reflect on what they do have and seem to be obsessed with the things they feel they SHOULD have. It's almost paralyzing. It also results in more cruelty. That insecurity is usually transmitted as aggression. That's just the boys. The girls have it even worse in my opinion.

[@randomsanta2102]

Sounds like late boomers talk

[@Paul-nn9oj]

keep it real, happiness is relative to those around you. The whole world is too much for developing minds to compare to

[@Mel_Flips_It]

Absolutely disagree! I love google, the internet and technology! I make my living selling on line , it connects us to people in different countries and cultures! We learn so much! Ignorance may be bliss but it is still ignorance.

[@jodywinter8171]

1971 baby here. I was born in and grew up in New Zealand but many of the cultural references in this compilation describe Kiwi Gen Xers. I highly recommend Chuck Klosterman's book The Nineties (I listened to the audio book twice). It really helped me to understand how lucky my generation was and is. We grew up in such a (relatively) quiet time in history and we benefited from growing up pre-internet yet were young enough to fully embrace it once it really took off in the early 2000s. And I think growing up with the fear of nuclear war and AIDS shaped our approach to life in many ways.

[@flazada]

Thank you for the book recommendation. I needed a new one!

[@jodyariewitz7349]

Another 1971 born Jody!😂❤

[@SharynS.]

That last sentence made me shiver. You hit the nail on the head there!

[@Paul-nn9oj]

Who gives a S#1T about your problems when we been told to dig a fall out shelter

[@Paul-nn9oj]

Why the F#@K did I even care enough to write this? Im Gen X baby.

[@riaannesimoens]

Thank you so much for this throwback to when life was free and undetermined. Where we could be bored out of our minds, grab our bike and ride around aimlessly for hours and craft stupid stuff for no purpose, while watching MTV and eating ice cream. I miss that time.

[@joygernautm6641]

I am Gen X. We just hired a new person at work. Who is Gen Z. She was doing her first orientation on the Night Shift. I calmly was showing her the duties that we had to do during the night, explaining to her the paperwork, how to clock in, etc. etc..(I work in the medical field). One thing I noticed is that she didn’t take any initiative. She didn’t ask any questions. She literally waited for me to go get her to bring her to do things. And the one thing I showed her how to do, she screwed it up badly. Know when your new you’re not expected to know everything and there is a learning curve for everyone, but she didn’t ask any questions, or seem interested in anything at all. About six hours into the shift, she starts faking sick. I sent her home because she kept complaining that she had an upset stomach. Then she changed her story and said that her vehicle is unreliable and that she didn’t want to drive it home when she wasn’t feeling well so she needed to go right away. And as she’s walking out the door, she says what’s the process for calling in sick for tomorrow.🤣. I explained the process to her, and then said “good luck to you”. Because I know damn well she is going to be fired today.

[@Starfish2145]

😂 🤦‍♀️

[@Bernie3000]

Thank you so much for sharing this. I thought I was just a cranky old person with the way I complain about my younger staff members these days. I try to put myself in their shoes. I wasn’t the best employee in my 20’s, I know this. Yes, I called in sick to go shopping or because I partied too much the night before. But when I was at work, I worked. I always found ways to keep myself busy or to make things better. I now hire mostly mid 20 year olds and it’s shocking. No initiative, none. They do a task and that’s it, they never look for more to do. No problem solving abilities. If Google cannot solve the issue, then there is no solution. And I am sorry if I am generalizing here, but I am telling you the majority of them go on about their ADHD, being bipolar, PTSD, anxiety. Because they go on and on and use these terms so frequently it’s making me completely numb to them. I am losing any empathy towards real issues. And these are children raised by Gen X!

[@Fritha71]

LOL I work in a grocery store (yes, a McJob for over thirty years now, born in 1971) and we were joking with one of my work colleagues just the other day that all the twenty-somethings are constantly calling sick once a month or once every couple of months while us older folks are perhaps sick once a year or once every other year! We still have a more traditional work ethic...

[@DeplorablesGarbage]

⁠@@Bernie3000I’m a based GenX who raised a gen Y. I didn’t pay attention and the Marxist school raised him more than me. I don’t even talk with my son except maybe for 15 min every 3 months. So tired of hearing about how when I spanked him once irreparably traumatized him. He sees a therapist for this. Takes meds for anxiety and ADD. He thinks the world owes him something. I really don’t have time for this drama. I love him but he wants to blame me from everything from Global Warming to Housing shortage. In 5 years he will be given my mom’s house in a Star City suburb in Minnesota. Yet everyone ruined the future but his generation. 🤦🏼‍♀️ Seriously ready to have foster kids who will appreciate the love and guidance I can give to them.

[@DeplorablesGarbage]

@@Fritha71If you have time to lean you have time to clean.

[@jeffm9770]

Tyler Durden makes a lot of sense. Not his methods but his message hits hard.

[@abbynormal8666]

Born in 1972, graduated highschool in 1990. The 80's were the funnest time of my life. Im 52 now. Man do I miss the 80's!

[@torchwoodgal]

I would add that my Gen X generation is a resilient one. We had to be.

[@lesslycarthan956]

Were still here

[@spirals73]

We know how to survive without lunch, get blood out of clothes, close a wound that should have stitches with Bandaids, outrun creepers and mountain lions (OK, maybe just those of us in certain climates), etc. We learned to cook at 8 and have been doing our own laundry since the same time. We raised ourselves because parents were either working or emotionally checked out. Independent sums us up.

[@DistrustHumanz]

​@@spirals73 ...and yet, we were all believed to be satanists.

[@yespls4184]

Every generation has to be resilient in different ways.

[@Hulana42]

@@DistrustHumanz Ah, yes, the Satanic Panic of the 80's. 🙄

[@majorramsey3k]

What I keep reminding people is that all the complaints that Gen Z has are the same problems I had too.

[@tomtravis3077]

Alright, no more Herbie Hancock as background music. I had to stop the video midway, get out some cardboard, and do some break dancing.

[@mysocalledgenxlife]

😂😂😂😂

[@FionaEm]

That song was huge in Australia. Now it's stuck in my head again 😅

[@Hulana42]

LOL! I actually had that album on cassette tape!

[@pjt3887]

Remember it all started with Grand Master Flash.

[@pjt3887]

​@@Hulana42were you a member of the Columbia Broadcasting Network? Where you got cassette tapes once a month for a penny? I think I had four or five of those memberships at one time. My mom had to finally contact them and tell them to not give me another membership.😂😂

[@2ndGenBastArd]

I was born in 1974 and proud Gen X. My adoptive parents were in their mid 40's when they got me as a baby. So, it was like being raised by grandparents who believed in kids learning to take care of themselves. I had my own things going on and I was highly independent. My parents let me be whoever I was. I always knew I was weird and different, but I fully embraced it. I'm me and I have no desire to be anything else.

[@chaoswitch1974]

You're lucky your adoptive parents were silent generation because boomers made fun of us for all the ways in which we were different from them. They were hyper-conformists in the 80s. I do think Xers with Silent gen parents were better off.

[@rebeccalynn7795]

i can relate to that being adopted in '65 as a baby by parents of the greatest generation. i'm a solid gen x but with experiences that range far more than just that. one thing missing from this video is going through the gas shortage of the 70s that some of us are old enough to remember.

[@wilhelmschmidt7240]

Yeah my parents were older too, my dad was born in the 1930's and I could have been a boomer if he didn't wait until he was in his 40's to have kids, but I was raised by people who grew up with lanterns for headlights on their family vehicle and were raised literally dirt poor. When I got my first home PC in the 80's, thinking of how far the world came from my parents until the information age is amazing, such a short period of time and the world has completely changed multiple times over.

[@2ndGenBastArd]

@@wilhelmschmidt7240 My grandma was born in 1912 and died in 2005. We talked about all the changes that she lived through and I really enjoyed listening to her talk about it.

[@Petunia3001]

@@wilhelmschmidt7240ha my dad was born in ‘31. He was dirt poor too. I was born in ‘79. It is weird to think about the vast difference between his generation and mine. His mother was born in the Victorian Era! It was hard to relate to him sometimes, but then I remembered his mother was born in the Victorian era and how different his childhood was worlds away from mine.

[@BigSerge542]

I was born in 1980, and I definitely do not identify at all with Millennials. My parents were born in the later 1940's, so true postwar boomers, with both of my grandfathers being WWII vets. The childhood memories you talk about on this channel are to this day the memories I hold most dear. I still miss that simpler life before the internet, and the freedom I had as a child was amazing. I know I'm on the very young end of Gen X, but I don't feel like I need to be pushed into a micro generation. I'm happy to hang out with the X crowd.

[@Nille0212]

Same!!! 80 is the last year considered of GenX by most people and I fight when someone tries to call me a millennial. I have a solid GenX upbringing and experience. Everyone in my circle was GenX. I was typically the youngest person in the friend group and I still had more maturity than most of them. So I can’t relate to the millennials experience. I’m GenX, bytch!!!😂😂😂

[@JadedGenXer]

Thats such a millennial thing to say.. lol No one wants to be called a millennial anymore over being called a boomer..lol You where in grade school when the 90s rolled around. In 1989 i was not even living at home and i was studying and working at the same time to pay my bills when you where 9😂😂😂. I was born in 1974 , yeah only 6 years before you but befor the economic crash you could get a halfway good job that you may move up in the business and you only needed to be 15 to leave school and a year 10 leaver certificate if you planned to go back to further education later down the track for work purposes. Yeah i was living in a share house getting a wage in 1989 but the crash came and the recession. Unemployment was rife. You would have not lived life with any real responsibilities when it went from jobs where everywhere and you can get one tomorrow if you want to you needed a university degree to work at maccas and big factories where shuting down along with small businesses. These big things that changed the world in the gen x time frame would not have effected you personally, maybe it effected your family but you are just that smidge to young. Your kind of lucky. I have a nephew your age and a brother a year older than you. You would know that the Vietnam war finished in 1975, 5 years befor you where born . Of course you knew veterans, we all have known ww2, Korean war and Vietnam veterans . Their still alive today. My 8yo knows Vietnam and ww2 veterans. If someone was drafted the min they tured 18 the year ww2 ended they will be turning 100 in 2027. Have you not met 1 97yo yet, if not , go vist a nursing home and volunteer some of your time and get your head out of your millennial ass..lol Gen Xers would have been your babysitters buddy untill laws came in about what age a child could be to be the care giver to younger children. It was earily 80s that we had to be over the age of 12 to be concidered old enough to look after a baby around the time you where born but i was already proficient in cloth nappy folding and burping babies befor you where born. Laws stopped that. Be at peace with your lot in life and say this affirmation every morning in the morning " i am a unique snowflake. Laws changed to keep me safe. i am no longer going to denie that i am a true millennial by saying i dont identify with who i really am as my behavior is the epitome of the stereotype of a true millennial, someone that had laws to protect them all their lives " Yeah do that every day untill you no longer have to lie to yourself or others about a life you did not live . lol 😂😂😂 This thing is a feel good nostalgia bit that did not even touch on much more that we watched alot of tv . Bet you never lived in a house without a freezer or microwave? Yeah we got our first fridge that had a freezer in it in 1979 and retired the old round top fridge to the garage as a summer drinks fridge and we got a big luxury item that year too ... a semi industral domestic microwave. I remember this because we got these things for basicly the new baby , my brother. The freezer was to freeze individual portions of home made baby food and the microwave to head up pumped brest milk so us Xers in the house could look after the baby. Yeah 6 yos and left to look after an infant regularly , by the time you where 6, that would have been frowned upon. You would not have seen or been a victim of capital punishment in schools either as that was done away with in 1986 , the year you started school. If your family had to wait until microwaves and feezers became more common, you probably where still to young to remember not having one because you would have been to young to light a stove to heat something up but my lot was using the stove before microwaves then PSAs about hot water scalding where everywhere and microwaves became more domestic, more affordable. Oh and i dont know where you are but if you where born in 1980, you probably wore a seat belt in the back seat untill you where 8 yo. In Australia seat belts where not mandatory on children in the front seat until 1977.. yikes yeah and baby seats and booster seats where only made mandatory in the very early 80s. If you are in the same country as i am , you would have never known life of standing on the front seat of the car so you can see the road , sliding about without even a lap and sash seat belt on. You 80s babies where safely in the back seat the car in a child safty restraint. We could go flying out through the windscreen if someone hit the breaks hard and no thought was put to our safty but the 80s kids was bubble wrap from the get go and thats a boomers issue. They are so self absorbed that laws had to come in to tell them how to look after their children as they where failing to the point childrens services would have to intervene to protect kids from neglectful and child abusing perants. Yes, useing an 6 yo to be the primary caregiver of a infant is concidered child neglect and child abuse now, but that only came in to the spotlight in the earily 80s The list of shit us Xers had to be the example of how not to treat your kids is a mile long and the joke of " how did Xers survive childhood is not that far from a real question and laws came in to place to protect you.

[@Snugglez187]

​@@JadedGenXer Why are you so angry? You don't know anything about my life, my work history, who I know, or what I've done. You're just spewing a bunch of bullshit. 😅

[@uef0h]

this is the equivalent of “i was born in 1996 and i definitely do not identify at all with gen z”

[@jnaiwalker9245]

@@JadedGenXerI think you should save this screed for your mommy and daddy. Or a therapist. Really. Did this thread really deserve your diatribe here?

[@tiggerthetosh]

I’m an elder millennial and I’ve always admired and envied Gen X. It’s hard not to wish I was just a few years older.

[@TaraConti]

Even us younger Xers (1977) are envious of the older ones! Lol My brother really caught the best years of Gen X. (1970)

[@BadgerBJJ]

The older ones are baby boomers. They just won’t STFU.

[@sophiesoprano]

@@BadgerBJJ I wish! Could you give any exemples?

[@BadgerBJJ]

@@sophiesoprano you can look at the age demographics of Trump voters, with the oldest Gen X being 60 (they love Reagan) and the youngest early-mid 40s supporting Sanders. The oldest Gen X and youngest Boomers were kids in the 70s and the YUPPIES of the 80’s listening to classic 70s rock and bad 80s pop. Younger X’ers were 80s latchkey kids and college in the 1990s listening to Grunge and WuTang Clan. Rage against the machine. Originally Gen X was split between Gen X and Gen Y, but they lumped us all together. But being born in 1965 VS 1980 is TOTALLY different experience.

[@sophiesoprano]

@@BadgerBJJ it may be hard for you to understand but there is a relatively sharp line culturally between someone born 1971 and 1965. Or even 1971 and 1967. Its a totally different experience as well. And being a tween or an infant in the 1970ies is not the same thing. Many early 70ies born dont remember the 70ies that much. I was 9 when the 80ies started. Its a fine age to be a latch key kid, maybe even a bit young. But maybe you didnt mean to say early 70ies born are early gen x? I guess 1972 numerically is right in the middle of of 65-1979, but appears to be in the start, because it is start of 70ies, and that is what messes people including myself up in this?

[@billybarnett2846]

Born in 70. The world was our playground. Very few homes had an adult at home. By the mid 80s, some became teen parents. One of the risk of an empty house.

[@chaoswitch1974]

Teen sex was common for gen X.

[@reignofbastet]

The world was our playground is the perfect way to put it.

[@samanthafairweather9186]

You're 💯 right. I was a teen mother, ( 2 kids by 18). We had freedom, we were resilient, and if you fell down, you brush yourself off. The downside of all that freedom with me ? A chronic drug addiction that has affected a lot of my adult life. ( 16 years clean). There were pro's and con's to having all that freedom. I'm just lucky my kids haven't gone down the same path as me. I give them the freedom to make their own mistakes, but I also caution them of the consequences of their choices. My kids ds have learnt from MY mistakes.

[@reignofbastet]

@ Congratulations on being clean for so many years!

[@gryphonvert]

Born in 68. I do think that when people discuss GenX, one of the things they don't analyze enough is that "the world was our playground" aspect. In this video, we saw a lot of discussion of the latch-key kid phenomenon, and talk about how independent young Xers had to be. But when I look back, what I think is striking is the degree to which our parents were ALSO permissive and hands-off, compared to the hovering and constant worrying about "stranger danger" the Millennials and forward would be subjected to. My parents were Silent Gen, not Boomers. I DID have my mother home when I got home from school, or soon after (because she had taken a job in my high school cafeteria, lol; so she was actually on a similar schedule to me). But she (and my father) was very permissive about allowing me to go out and roam around on my own, and not worry about it. I received cautions from them, but no fear-mongering. They were interested to know what I was doing, but they seemed to have a sort of faith in my ability to handle a certain amount of independence. I know that that caused a lot of folks my age to make some iffy choices, and it didn't always turn out well for everyone. It's just that the attitude itself is striking to me. (I suspect, with my parents at least, that it has a lot to do with their being older, growing up in the 30s and 40s, and thus themselves having been given more responsibility and independence at a young age.).

[@LoriDRBlake]

Gen-X was the first generation affected by no-fault divorce. It changed relationships for good. Our parents had to figure out how to manage being single parents and what that meant legally on a large scale

[@Dharma_Bum]

The christofascist Republicans will abolish no-fault divorce under trump.

[@thejohnbeck]

my sympathies. a couple of my friends had to go through their parents divorcing, and it sure didn't help them.

[@tedtalksrock]

I started babysitting younger kids for pay, when I was 12. I walked to and from school from the age of 8. School was only a few blocks away, but still…. A very different experience than later generations. My mom worked a lot. But we didn’t feel unloved. That was just the way it was. I knew how to make Mac and cheese or microwave a quesadilla for after school. 😂 I still really value having my own space, privacy, and independence.

[@WickedScott]

Awesome video! Love the archival footage. I myself was born in 1969, so people think my usernames are naughty, but it's my birth year! What's funny about this is seeing childhood and adolescence etc in a historical context. It's just stuff that happened but looking back makes it all look so strange and distant yet familiar and comforting.

[@mysocalledgenxlife]

I completely agree. I considered putting more of an essay at the end talking about that…but I opted to just let the footage speak for itself. And lucky you with the naughty usernames 😂😂

[@WarPanda]

As someone born in the same year you speak of I hear your pain and share your occasional smirks.

[@tonjamarshall4842]

I'm your sista, a lot of my usernames have 69 because I was born in 1969!

[@constantlyenthused336]

Everything changes and yet nothing changes at all. Superb video.

[@mysocalledgenxlife]

Thank you!

[@WickedScott]

Yup. Winona Ryder never ages

[@Paul-nn9oj]

thats the whole Back 2 the future theme

[@Brian-lc1zt]

‘94 millennial here, what a fantastic video. Although I’m a millennial, I do sympathize a lot more with Gen X than my own generation, mostly due to the fact I grew up dirt poor, so all the technology we had was still a generation behind (no internet, no cable, a few channels and tuna helper, latchkey, etc). The more things change, the more they stay the same. The themes of “McJobs”, a worsening economic outlook, pessimism towards the future, frustrations with out parents not getting it, social security, dumb wars, these seem to never end. Millennials had the Great Recession when most of us were graduating high school/college, now Gen Z had Covid during those times. It’s also scary to think about how even Gen X were struggling to get by, when it’s statistically even worse now! I feel validated that the struggles we millennials had and continue to have with housing was also felt by the generation before us. It will always blow my mind how Boomers wanted to rebel against the unprecedented prosperity they were given growing up, meanwhile I’d have killed for the stability they stumbled into. Absolutely a great watch.

[@mysocalledgenxlife]

Thank you so much!

[@AliciaGuitar]

My Chemical Romance knew you younger generation kids could connect to us. I was too old to be "emo" but i def understood the angst and loved me some MCR

[@RoyalFizzbin]

I am 16 minutes in and this is already the best description of our generation that I have ever seen. Nice job, video lady.

[@Ssstellamellaaa]

Gen x are my Heroes as a Russian immigrant living in America since I was 5, Gen x people have taught me how to survive and thrive in America , I’m 29 btw. Millennials Are only here and only Have what we have due to gen x. Gen x I feel we’re the first people to tell the truth , as a millennial or whatever I am I love Gen x , I look up to them as parents .

[@DyenamicFilms]

I call us Gen X'ers the "Korean War Veterans" of generations.

[@mysocalledgenxlife]

Oh I like that!

[@justme8255]

Excellent comparison!

[@thejohnbeck]

ha, you made this Korean lol. Gen X, in the States since i was 3. best time to be a kid.

[@flazada]

1980 here.......I am a Gen X/millennial cusp but i relate to a lot of Gen X nostalgia. I love a good look back. Thanks for making the channel

[@vvasquez8722]

Same

[@Allystargirl]

My dad was born in 1980! He’s gen x, my mom is a millennial because she was born in 82’, but it’s the funniest thing because my dad is a super smart technology guy, who’s better than I AM at 21 with phone, the internet and all that, but my momma can hardly work a tv remote 😂 I love hearing their fond memories of the 90’s and I’m ETERNALLY spiteful that I missed it just barely by being born in 2003 LOL.

[@flazada]

@@Allystargirl hahaha, that's hilarious sounds like our house.....like literally. My wife was born in 10/82 And my son her step son was born in 4/2003, I'm 11/1980

[@flazada]

@@gringogreen4719 I was recently very disappointed when a download a game called "Oregon Trail" and it was a cheap modern knockoff. So sad

[@PsychoBoyTyler]

Same here, and it's so strange to have nostalgia both GenX and millennial stuff (in a good way of course). MTV, Saturday morning cartoons. 80s/90s films, comics, grunge/alternative/hi-hop, early internet, video games, VHS, CDs, MP3s we had it all!

[@NickyByloo]

Excellent work as usual. My childhood had both my parents working, the satanic panic era, T.V., VHS, collecting A-Team cards, He-Man figures, BMX, ATARI, coin-op machines at the local store, and drive-ins.

[@satansalley6526]

I still love that shit👍

[@nineteenfortyeight]

Can we stop listing cultural products as if that's the same as describing experience? So pomo. So 80s 😂

[@DeplorablesGarbage]

Charlie’s Angels

[@lalida6432]

GenX here. I hate everybody else except Xers. I mean I know them, but I dont love them. Not like I do other Xers. There’s just a recognition there. We know what each other went through and we know without really knowing that we’ve been through alot and if we’ve made it this far, it’s because we’re admirable people and deserving of respect because we’ve all been there. Everybody else, not much.

[@chaoswitch1974]

Love you too ❤

[@SharynS.]

*gives quick head nod in the special Gen X way recognized by Xers everywhere*

[@reignofbastet]

Exactly! When I see a fellow Gen Xer now, I think, I wonder what kind of s**t they saw/survived in the 80s. We’re way tougher than people think we are (except us). I’m good with that. That means they’ll leave us alone. Haha

[@GrifHowe]

This really sums up GenX, sympathy for your peers, and scoffing at everyone else who came after you.

[@slewfoot6608]

❤🎉❤🎉❤🎉❤well said

[@SharynS.]

We (Gen X) never say shit about graduating right into a recession and having to live with our parents again. But, OMG, that’s the first thing we hear out of the Millennials and now Gen Z is starting to make it the first thing they go on about. Y’all just need to recognize that it happens to everyone at this point.

[@ArnaPresland]

Yep. Just like Coupland’s book, in 1991 I worked a series of ‘McJobs’ and moved back in with Dad and younger brother after being out of home since 1985. I was so broke in my early 20s, had a degree and there were no good jobs due to recession! But got back on my feet in 2 years and moved out for good.

[@GrifHowe]

Your personal anecdote is great for you, but look at the stats. It's not the same degree.

[@Paul-nn9oj]

Many left home once & for all & wouldnt ask their parents to p1ss on em if they were on fire. Luke Heggie had a stand up comedy about growing up in 80's Australia, its been removed from youtube (people are too sensitive for the hard themes)

[@sophiesoprano]

@@GrifHowe i really dont believe in those stats. I see early 70ies born to a lesser degree then 60ies and 80ies born when I apply for jobs. Sure we are fewer but nowhere to be seen. Only exception is those with a high degree of expert knowledge or famous parents. But I agree the 60ies born are quite established. And it didnt take that long for them as the quote above shows.

[@suzykendallosborne]

To be fair, I was able to get a decent paying job waiting tables which allowed me to get a very cute studio apartment on my own when I was still technically a teenager. That apartment was $410 a month in 1989. That same apartment would now be $2,500 but wages haven’t gone up that much. So I do feel like Millennials and Gen Z have a lot to complain about. I may never ever be able to retire, but at least I got to enjoy life a little bit when I was young.

[@314159vedic]

My sister has said throughout our lives that the boomers are going to wreck everything. It's hard not to agree. The focus certainly has been on them. At least in my country. They took all the best jobs. We had to deal with them in their prime. The 1980s into the 1990s were a time of mergers and NAFTA. So many good jobs just went bye bye.

[@LisaSonora]

This is video is such a comfort to this Gen X latchkey kid of divorce. ❤ It's wonderful to see so many GenX friends here in the comments. It's nice to know a lot of our struggles were structural societal things, and not because we were so-called slackers.

[@jonathanhibberd9983]

40 years we've been facing the same economic hardships. How are we still defending Reaganomics?

[@matthewjohnson320]

Reagan served eight years, but Reaganomics only lasted six. The Bush/Deep-State GOP sabotaged Reagan as much as they did Trump.

[@elderwelder]

Say that again sloooooowly. Because it's NOT Reaganomics. Y'all just love being taxed to death. Let's give the government more money! They're clearly using it on us.

[@jkd1975]

Some people actually still understand economics.

[@jonathanhibberd9983]

@@jkd1975 If they're defending Reaganomics, they don't. Before he destroyed the economy, we had a 70%-90% tax rate. And we were thriving. The average worker made enough to buy a home, a car, and pay for school. As soon as Reagan dropped the marginal tax rate to 35%, the middle class died and we entered an endless cycle of rapid recession and recovery. We saw a massive siphoning of wealth from the lower and middle classes into the upper classes, where it became stagnant, hoarded by modern dragons who do nothing productive with it. A healthy economy requires the movement of money, but when you tie up a massive majority of the wealth into the hands of a few, that money doesn't move. Billionaires are blood clots in the economic arteries.

[@basicallyno1722]

Cult of personality, identity politics swings both ways. Totally agree with you Jonathan.

[@jpmnky]

This was awesome. And it really shows how timeless all our problems really are, everything repeats itself every 20-30 years.

[@Londonererer]

Gen x had it best. I now see this, I grew up in the l golden age in the 80s/90s. I started my adult life in the late 90s, secure career in the early 2000s, it was so easy to start adult life and a career back then. Very little uni debt, affordable bills, no toxic online life, actual privacy, in real life dating. While so much is great about life now, I think it must be hard to be young now, so much more pressure and toxic messaging.

[@katfayegarrett3872]

❤

[@Theospeak1]

Another great video Natalie, nailed it! A formal dress and 30 seconds in front of a news set with a professional projector behind you and you're better than Connie Chung, Leslie Stahl, or any of the current news aggregator / commentary correspondents (a la 60 Minutes). Dead serious. You're one of the few true aggregators / commentators still left in our nation. I hope you see this as a calling and never stop making these videos! You and Benny Johnson are pretty much my news and commentary now.

[@mysocalledgenxlife]

Thank you so much! I will start doing some on camera work soon. But I really like the idea of curating and aggregating vintage media. I think that’s my ultimate goal with this channel.

[@jkbezo1]

Very nostalgic! Gen X here, born in '77. Childhood '80s and teens/early adult during the '90s. I guess you can say Xennial too. 47 years old here. This video is so true and hits home. We raised ourselves mostly during youth and became very creative into adulthood, very good on computers and made a living, also freelancing type jobs. . I'm also a latchkey kid here and also my siblings, our parents divorced very early in our childhood, mom had to work. Most of the other kids in my neighborhood grew up the same way, too. So we all took care of each other. I now have children (Gen Z) who grew up the right way. I tried my best to have them not go through what many of us went through. Many of our parents (Boomers) were hard on us, but I say it helped in a way.

[@mattm1686]

Born 1976 proud to be Gen X

[@ih8utbe]

Gen Xer and proud of it. I liked the 70s best because it was colorful, people dressed nice, music was eclectic, movies were interesting.

[@samanthafairweather9186]

70's fashion was cool. 80's fashion, on the other hand..... 🤮 And yes, I was one of those girls with the big hair/ poodle perm. 🤢

[@martin-fc4kk]

@@samanthafairweather9186 80s fashion was the best!

[@francescafrati8980]

I felt like I was transported back to another time. I feel seen, I feel nostalgia, I feel a bit of mild PTSD. I remember the reason I am who I am, and proud of it, proud of us. It's rare I feel that way when watching something about Gen X. Well done.

[@mysocalledgenxlife]

Thank you for your kind words! So glad you liked it.

[@sethmaki1333]

I consider Gen X to be those of us who became adults after the fall of the Soviet Union and before 9/11.

[@eb1042]

Totally.... Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and then 9/11 in 2001

[@craffte]

Accurate

[@SanekaRice]

Yes, we became adults in our teens. I grew up in the hood and doesn't matter. Hood or suburbs we were all FORGED in the fires.

[@kmcq692]

That’s a good set of brackets.

[@princesspaihana]

Interesting and confusing because Millennials don't even start till '80/'81. So you want Millennials to be classified as X? Than what would X be? I very much remember the wall coming down, the challenger, Ryan White, Baby Jessica, satanic panic and more and I definitely wasn't an adult.

[@colintimp1372]

I consider us to be the "Lied to" generation. Our parents and grandparents had it made. We were told all we had to do was keep in line, go to college and work hard, and we'd all be rich. However our parents and grandparents already stole everything that wasn't nailed down (and some things that were). Even George Carlin said that the motto of the boomer generation was, "Gimme it! It's MINE!"

[@lisarodriguez8681]

Only they dressed like Jesus and acted like the money didn’t matter. Until the kids got old enough to need clothes for school or actually anything that cost time, attention or money.

[@Poppaea-Sabina]

I used to call my mom at work at least 4 times when I came home after school. I was a latchkey kid from age 9, and I was totally OK with being home alone by age 12.

[@mismissy]

Same

[@whosaidthat4299]

Used to call my mother several times since my brother was a real danger actually, like a a predator.

[@vmvd]

My parents used to leave us when I was 9 and my sis was 4. Like, have a nice day, see ya tomorrow, make some macaroni, don't open the door 😂 born in 1995

[@NullHand]

Begged my mom to let 9yr old me watch my 6yr old sister over the summer during the workday. Because the daycare alternative was literally "Lord of the Flies". Latchkey life was not as bad as some alternatives.

[@JeantheSecond-ip7qm]

@@NullHand I became a latchkey kid because my mom didn’t like her babysitter options. It was bad enough that she felt I was better off looking after myself. I didn’t mind being a latchkey kid.

[@sunrayrosin7181]

You did s great job with this video. Outstanding layout of exactly how an entire nation and generation was sold out. And made into hard core survivors.

[@teerat8451]

It's good to see that the media always had our backs and only spoke kindly of us.😂

[@retrofever8021]

I was born in 86, the youngest of 4 kids. Though I’m considered a millennial; due to handmedowns and my personal upbringing I relate much more to the Xers.

[@spirals73]

You're an honorary Xer. ☺

[@opiedrums6969]

I feel exactly the same way. Also grew up far from an sort of urban city. Trends and the "new world" took longer to get to us.

[@jimmym3352]

Despite my home life, I still enjoyed growing up in that era. We had enough technology to avoid getting too bored, but we could still enjoy outdoor activities as well. Kids now days get very few outdoor activities sadly.

[@LilyBecca]

For me, Reality Bites perfectly highlights Gen-X

[@murk2002]

Gen X is such an in between generation. Before smartphones, internet and laptops but young enough to be fully capable of using all the technology.

[@ryanlewandowsky2077]

Great video I remember when the book Generation X came out I was not considered part of it. I’m 50 so by current standards I’m solidly generation x. I also embody it in being never supervised after school and I always ? authority. Quite frankly with age I realize authority figures are lying sins of . . .

[@tonyb7615]

The more things change. The more they stay the same.

[@seankalleyart2065]

This was fantastic, and so informative. I really enjoyed your thoughts on the years of Generation X up until 1975. I agree with that statement, and it’s also the last of the Vietnam War babies as well. Thank you for creating this content!

[@cebukid70]

I am ever do grateful to have lived life in the 80s, 90s, and 00s, when life and society was relatively normal. 1970 here

[@gabby222themoon]

It’s normal bc it’s your normal lol. Normal is a relative term

[@SkysetCheryl]

👋🏻 loved late 80s 90s and early 00s dreams and hope

[@reignofbastet]

@@gabby222themoon If you think what’s been happening, even in the past six months is normal, you had a way tougher childhood than I did.

[@gabby222themoon]

@@reignofbastet i should’ve clarified i agree with OP. i lived in the 90s and 00s i just wanted to bring some nuance to the conversation. kids have it super hard nowadays, no third spaces or community, brain rot and overstimulation. i get it it sucks i hope things change for the better

[@reignofbastet]

@@gabby222themoon I completely agree with the overstimulation and brain rot, and I hope things get better soon too! I miss the 80s (and 90s/early 00s) a lot….

[@KaleChip793]

“I think they’re much more mature than their friends. They know I’m trying hard and they appreciate me.” Translation: They are parentified unlike their friends who are able to be a childhood longer. Makes it about herself and how proud everyone is of her and appreciate her.

[@SkyVega-lp7rq]

Great video Natalie, you hit every nerve. Anyone bitching about she missed this and missed that needs to understand how much the world changed on a dime during our youth.

[@clarky417]

i am 57 and definitely a latchkey kid. I love the 80s great time to be alive.

[@CosmicHyperburst]

I'm gen z, 2004. When one of the newscasters mentioned that gen x-ers never saw the JFK assassination, I immediately thought of 9/11 and how I only knew about it from adults who saw it first hand. This is also my first time hearing of the Challenger explosion (so if that tells you anything about us gen Z knowing about recent history...). I look up to you guys as someone who was raised on the internet, as well as TV when I was younger. I don't want to perpetuate that "lazy gen z" stereotype, though it did take me a while to find some kind of employment that feels meaningful; the last one, I quit because the boss was passive aggressive and complained about the customers and I couldn't take it anymore. Growing up in the 2010s and early 20s was so boring compared to what came before, it seems. I still struggle with screentime, and I bought a flip phone! Most people I know would still rather be on their smartphone than actually talk to others, which feels to alienating now that I've been making some efforts to get away from it. I was talking to a gen x coworker and had a conversation about this - she has never even touched Tiktok, KZbin, and a other social media, and I am honestly jealous. It is hard to pick up a book and read for the sake of reading these days, which I loved to do before getting a smartphone. So, Gen-xers, got any real advice for my generation? How have you managed to get to where you are today? How dis you get through the pain of transitioning to adulthood without wanting to run away or dissociate? A lot of my generation has been fed lies that are ingrained to them, like that they can be and do whatever they want.

[@EH23831]

All I can say is- it’s hard for everyone growing up. Honestly - fake til you make it is how I got by. You gotta just keep on going and try to be yourself and true to yourself. Make it up as you go along. Learn from your mistakes. You’ll get there! Auntie Gen X Em ❤

[@adcaptandumvulgus4252]

For those that had siblings it wasn't so bad because you could kind of depend on each other but if it's just one, that's rough

[@tanyahendricks8465]

I was a latchkey kid for a while, but luckily my mom was home for most of my childhood. But I played outside most days…stayed that way until the street lights came on. No one plays outside anymore. I love being Gen X. I have so many good memories and I do feel like I was a part of an important time in our history. The 80’s were pretty awesome.

[@TonyFarese]

I never heard anyone ever say that 76-84 are fundamentally different than 6?-75 but it is sooooo true! There is a real difference between these two portions of Gen X.

[@MegKnutmegknits]

Totally agree- even ‘74 is stretching it. Two of my siblings are born ‘74 and ‘77 (I’m ‘68) and their memories and how they experienced childhood and high school are very different from mine. I have much more in common with my cousins and friend born in the 60’s rather than the 70’s. And my parents are from the Silent Generation- not Boomers so that makes a difference too.

[@karencrecco2922]

My children were born in 1972 and 1976 respectively.I am 75, born in 1949. My children, though not college graduates, did beautifully. They both have their own homes and put their kids through university. Both are still married to their original spouse.

[@FreeNoOneOwnsMe]

Is that a good thing?

[@DeplorablesGarbage]

You did great! BasedX

[@corymiller536]

​@@FreeNoOneOwnsMewhat do you think???

[@katfayegarrett3872]

Good for them! They got lucky❤

[@beyourself2444]

Congrats, sounds like they turned out well... Kudos to you...

[@LadyHawke78]

We “Xennials” are truly a different breed of animal… I think it’s mind-blowing that I’ve managed to be alive in six separate decades (70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 00’s, 2010’s, 2020’s) and am still in my 40’s… 🫢

[@Kknderbueno]

Why mind-blowing?

[@Bible5771]

⁠@@Kknderbuenoi can absolutely relate to the comment mind blowing. This person is in their forties and has lived in 6 decades. I’m in my fifties and have seen 7 decades so that is mind blowing and i had never thought of it before. Very cool. Ty @LadyHawke78

[@solarydays]

​@@Kknderbueno we are the last generation that experienced growing up the traditional way. everything from my childhood is gone, and the new generations can't even imagine what was it like and they also don't get why the world is the way it is. is it mind blowing because society and living standards never transitioned this fast before and they likely won't ever again.

[@Mistmantle88]

Cher has had a Billboard number one single in each of the past seven decades.

[@beyourself2444]

@@solarydays I am happy I grew up when I did, I wouldn't have wanted to be a Millennial or Boomer. Gen X is the best...

[@QuicksilverSG]

As a Boomer, my impression is that Gen X got shortchanged by cultural history. Boomers were in the spotlight for three long decades: the 60's, 70's, and 80's. While Gen X was starting to come into focus in the 80's, the economic boom and MTV cultural impact of that decade was fueled primarily by the aspirations of Boomers. It wasn't until the 90's that the spotlight finally shifted to Gen X, and their experience growing up in the pre-internet, video-centric 80's began to make an impact on popular culture. Then the new century hit and BOOM, 9/11 blindsided everyone. Attention shifted to Millennials and the impact the War on Terror was having on their experience growing up under a dire new threat. As a result, Gen X really only enjoyed a single decade in the spotlight, and wound up squeezed between the notoriety of both the Boomers and the Millennials.

[@Ritff666l-e9e]

Now most of Our Cultures, Styles and Music are being imitated though

[@Leon-ym9qm]

They didn’t care where we were as long as we were home when they said to be home. It was glorious.

[@rigomortiz]

Best video I've seen so far. Thanks for all the work on this

[@The-Sea-Dragon-1977]

I agree with your definition, I'm 1977, my wife is 1981 and we definitely share an ideological outlook, which is different in our younger siblings.

[@dave-rn7zd]

As a 71 Gen X it was the best time to be a kid. Left to it & find yourself in the world. Pick yourself up dust yourself off & keep going that's Gen X.

[@FART-REPELLENT]

How can you be Generation X if you’re 71 years old?; Generation X were born between 1966-1980.

[@dave-rn7zd]

@@FART-REPELLENT Year 71 FFS

[@FART-REPELLENT]

@@dave-rn7zd You should learn to write better so as not to be misunderstood, Dunce.

[@alleygh0st]

@@FART-REPELLENT a psychic should have known

[@FART-REPELLENT]

@@alleygh0st I’m not a psychic you Dunce; usernames usually don’t have basis in reality.

[@1whitkat]

We're the feral the gen. The first generation to raise ourselves and our own siblings. We spent our childhood being adults. I think that's why we tended to coddle our own. We didn't want them to go through the things we did. " I speak for myself, not for ..." That said it all.

[@silver_crone]

This is so well put together, well done! Using original clips is such a great way to define our Gen from the source, at the time. Thank you for this video.

[@jultru3278]

I thought this was going to be just another video like so many I've seen about Gen-X, but you got deep. Great video.

[@PinkOrchid8]

I’m Gen x- in the uk- my parents are/were baby boomers. Had no internet or computers at school until my last year- then used more in university and work.

[@MW-greatteacher10]

Est. November 1965 here.. what a f ing ride.. will be 59 this year. I'm exhausted. Still can't retire..

[@DeplorablesGarbage]

I will be able to retire in 10 years when I am 69. That is living on a tight budget. As long as I don’t have. To eat my cats food that’s cool. Thing I worry about most is being taxed out of my home. My mortgage payment is $157. My taxes each month are $379 and then insurance is another $267.

[@AshleySpeaks4U]

Everybody forgets Gen X exists. Online, they go from Boomer straight to Millennials. We grew up in the 70's-90's, born between '65 and '80.

[@lostmymarbles5850]

Nah…there’s plenty of humorous stuff on FB and KZbin from Gen X creators that perfectly express their attitudes and experiences.

[@DeplorablesGarbage]

@@lostmymarbles5850that is a recent phenomenon

[@mmechrizma]

I was a latch key kid and my mom traumatized the shit out of me with "stranger danger" Here I was, a tiny 5 year old, walking home alone and sure every single person I saw was going to kidnap me. That's really the only thing I remember. Not what I did when I got home but how terrified I was to get there.

[@MikeStoneJapan]

The archival footage in context of this channel is a true gem. Subbed. History and the past never die but live w/ us always

[@mysocalledgenxlife]

This is why I started the channel. I want to curate as much as this footage as I can! Thanks for the comment and sub!

[@tedtalksrock]

As a gen x born in 1975. It often felt like the real Gen x generation was those born in 1961, the RDJ cohort. So much culture was aimed just a few years older than us. We have some similarities with Gen X and in some ways more in common with Elder Millennials.

[@Dalabombana]

Xennials. Born 1977, identify with 80’s freerange childhood but also all the tech (computers at school, games consoles) and music pop culture in the late 80’s and early 90’s coming of age. Had my son later at 40, so he is only now 7. Definitely feel the cross over.

[@sophiesoprano]

Born 1971 and I second that. Anything called gen x you never saw anybody born in the 70ies in it, such as the slacker movie, Friends cast, famous comedian groups, the grunge scene, etc. Yet now 70ies is supposed to be the biggest part of gen X. Even if i am close in age it doesnt help when I never see my own birth year anywere. Its like an invisible sealing. My theory is that they new we were another generation. That is why we were only included on paper.

[@DeplorablesGarbage]

@@sophiesopranoborn in ‘65. I don’t consider those born in the 70s GenX. They don’t know The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Led Zepplin, Queen, Ozzy Osborne, Black Sabbath, and then on to Motley Crue, Poison, Europe, Styx, Boston the was we do. This music was our life blood. They may know it but they don’t breathe it!

[@sophiesoprano]

@@DeplorablesGarbage i agree. I know about and love all of that music, but you guys championed and breathed it. (Edit: there was a cool music mag in my country that me and my brother loved to read as 12-13 year olds, so we were aware of the scene though). The hard rockers and music people are the best people of the 60ies generation. It goes until -69 then it stops. Sadly I feel the 70ies born to a degree are more culturally commercial. We are a lot more similar to early millenials than anybody care to admit. Now lots of younger claim we are boomersish but thats just some kind of bashing, I dont think there is a lot of truth in it.

[@lisarodriguez8681]

@@sophiesoprano you are so right. In the early 60’s we grow up with only a peripheral view of a Television, Walter Cronkite and cartoons was not being raised by tv or commercials. Our parents were more wacked out being pseudo hippies tho

[@dwayneeutsey8162]

I was born in 1964 and I have never felt I was part of the Boomer generation. Growing up in the shadow of The Counterculture (TM), the Boomer ethos had an influence on me, of course. However, I actually hated a lot of Boomer icons when i was growing up in the late '60s/'70s and didn't understand what the hell happened in Vietnam, Watergate, etc., until I was almost out of high school. My sensibilities were always more in line with Gen X in the late '80s/early '90s, although I wasn't in the thick of all that, either. Honestly, the older I get the less I think these generational labels really mean much of anything at all.

[@LilyGazou]

The labels were created for marketing, for advertising to the groups. Not individuals.

[@lisarodriguez8681]

Yes How could any of us born in the early 60s relate to the adults that had no sense or consideration at the time? Very hard to even tolerate Boomers close up.

[@beagalulu2]

7:54 Generation X was coined as a term by the 70's punk band with Billy Idol. I never heard of this author or his book, but Billy Idol from Gen X was huge in the early 80's.

[@buckodonnghaile4309]

Douglas Copeland is a great author, he never claimed to have coined the term, he just used it as a title of his book.

[@satansalley6526]

The band Generation X was named after an English book on mods n rockers called Generation X writen in the 60s.

[@anakreyszig303]

I was Gen X living in NYC during 911. The whole documentary resonated with me, but that last part hit me hard. My husband (young Boomer) and I were set up by family members and close friends in early 2002, in the wake of 911. We hit it off right away, started dating, became inseparable, got engaged, and were married in less than a year. Something did, indeed, shift in our psyches in the wake of 911. We saw the fragility of life, and did not want to be alone anymore. We have been married since 2003, and, like so many Gen X marriages, are still (quietly) happily married. That's another Gen X thing: talking about the good things in life seems like it would jinx things, so we tend to be low-key and quiet when things are going well (and stoic and resigned when they go wrong).

[@Idellphany]

Wow this is great! Thank you. I'm born in '81 so I've always looked up to my older Gen X cousins.

[@mysocalledgenxlife]

I’m starting a movement to include the early 80s babies again. 😂😂 you’re an Xer in my book.

[@tbr2109]

@@mysocalledgenxlife Sign me up. I was born in '82 and feel as though I have far more in common with Gen X (and maybe later boomers too) than even those born toward the end of the same decade.

[@SnoWhite2420]

Also 81 here and completely agree. We were also the class of 1999 so I think that’s a big factor in the cutoff for gen X.

[@tjcaruthers5593]

I was born in 1977. For a long time I didn't feel completely in GenX, but to mature to be a millinial. Then I read something that mentioned microgenerations. It showed something like 1977-1981 are the Mtv generation. And for some reason it felt right. So I am a member of the Mtv Generation. Seriously, I have barely anything in common with the GenXers born from 1965 to about 1974. But I share some love for some of the music and yeah. Maybe I relate to some of the Boomers from like 1957-1964. I don't know. All I know is the Boomers are limiting the amount of time Xers have to be in power before Gen Y takes over. We are a small generation.

[@mysocalledgenxlife]

I was born in 77…and as I talked about in the video, there is a micro generation called xennials born between 76 and 84. those are my people. I have nothing in common with someone born in 1967. But I have a lot in common with someone born in 1982.

[@NamelessVoice808]

I was born in 1982. We don’t quite fit into Gen X or Millennials. Some call us the Star Wars generation, the Oregon Trail generation, or Xennials. Either way we had an analog child hood and a digital transition into adulthood. We saw it all happen as we grew up.

[@x77punk77x]

B. ‘77 and Gen X all the for me; grew up with Sonic Youth, The Pixies, et al. Millennial pop - hell no. Indie circa 2007 - 2011 especially; yes, this was staggeringly groundbreaking for Millennial artists and a key way that I came to appreciate and connect with them. If you don’t want to be identified with any group, including any generation, just ignore it. No shame in that

[@x77punk77x]

B. ‘77 and Gen X all the for me; grew up with Sonic Youth, The Pixies, et al. Millennial pop - hell no. Indie circa 2007 - 2011 especially; yes, this was staggeringly groundbreaking for Millennial artists and a key way that I came to appreciate and connect with them. If you don’t want to be identified with any group, including any generation, just ignore it. No shame in that. Also, Millennials definitely leapfrogged over sectors of Gen X already; just look at how “social media” positions were invariably created for and filled with Millennials by default. And since they outnumber us hugely, they already have a huge amount of influence and representation in many workplaces and industries. That’s been happening for a lonnnnng time now.

[@chiaralistica]

We are the smallest generation in the modern era. I agree that we will just get to the top when millennials will come calling...