[screamingskull]

and do you think you fit in with your generation? (its for a uni project)


Poll on it's way!


Baby Boomers
(1946 - 1964)
The Baby Boomers were the generation born just after World War II, a time that included a 14-year increase in birthrate worldwide. Baby Boomers in their teen and college years were characteristically part of the 1960s counterculture, but later became more conservative, eventually gave birth to Generations X and Y. Most academic and demographic literature uses 1946 and 1960 as the cutoff years of the Baby Boom generation

Generation X
(1965 - 1981)
Generation X is the generation born between approximately 1964 to 1981. Other names used interchangeably with Generation X are 13th Generation and Baby Busters. Most of this generation are children of The Baby Boomers and The Silent Generation. They tended to grow up with video games and MTV, and those born before 1973 spent most of their teen years in the 1980s

MTV Generation
(1975 - 1985)
MTV Generation is a term that has been widely used to define a generation of young adults born between 1975-1985 in the Western World who are influenced by fashion trends, music, and slang terms shown in music videos on the newly created cable channel MTV. MTV Generation has often been associated as a neologism for Generation X.

Generation Y
(1980 - 1994)
Generation Y, also known as the Echo Boom although Millennials is becoming the more common parlance for this generation. They grew up with many world-changing events including the rise of mass communication, the Internet, and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The Y Generation is known as a Culture War "battleground" with growing disagreements between conservative and progressive perspectives. 1981-2001 is the widest possible definition commonly cited.


There is some cross-over there, so if you belong to both Gen X and the MTV generation or the MTV generation and Gen Y then just pick the one you fall into more.

Example - If you were born in 1980 then you would be part of Generation X and the MTV generation, but because the cut off for Gen X is 1981, and the cut off for the MTV generation is 1985, you would fit more into the MTV generation.

[gmku]

Baby Boomer but I find it hard to truly call myself that. I think your time period for that is a little askew. I think of Baby Boomers as those who came of age in the 60s whereas that for me was more like the 70s.

Most of us born 55 and after were not really part of the 60s counterculture and all that. We were too young, not old enough to attend college where most of that was taking place. We might have experienced some spill over in our daily lives, but most of us were safe in our suburban homes. Our high school years and college years were in the 70s, where the biggest influences were arena rock, alcohol, political apathy, materialism, and later disco and punk.

I would suggest there's a post-Boomer group born between 55 and 64, and that those who mostly graduated high school in the 70s belong to the "Me Generation" vice the Boomer.

[screamingskull]

i got the dates from wikipedia. i thought they were a little bit off too.

I have this chart that has these dates

Interbellum Generation (1900-1910)
G.I. Generation (1990-1924)
Greatest Generation (1911-1924)
Jazz Age (1918-1929)
Silent Generation (1925-1945)
Baby Boomers (1940s-1960s)
Beat Generation (1948-1962)
Generation Jones (1954-1962)
Consciousness Revolution (1964-1984)
Baby Busters (1958-1968)
Generation X (1963-1978)
MTV Generation (1974-1985)
Boomerang Generation (1977-1986)
Generation Y (1979-1986)
Internet Generation (1988-1999)
New Silent Generation (2000-?)

But those dates seem totally wrong to me.

[gmku]

Yeah, I wouldn't agree with their dates. I've often heard of the 70s "Me Generation," and have considered myself as part of that generation, so it's odd to me that it's not included. Like, think of the characters on That 70s Show. Hardly 60s counterculture boomers. That was me.

To put it another way, I never really had to worry about the Vietnam-era draft. It was suspended before I graduated from high school.

[screamingskull]

i have never heard of the "Me Generation"??? did that come from a book?

[gmku]

It was a common expression in the media during the 70s, used to describe college kids of the time--the implication being we cared little about anything but ourselves, were not as politically minded as 60s college kids, which although it was a huge generalization, had some truth to it.

[gmku]

Come to think of it, it's usually used more to describe 80s kids, but it probably applied to us as well. I also remember "Disco 70s" being tossed around a lot to describe my era. Which is also an apt description.

In any case, I eschew the "Boomer" label. There needs to a separate category for us 70s college kids. We were definitely unlike the 60s kids.

[screamingskull]

oh, i can't change the poll now, its too late, sorry.

[gmku]

No problem. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't misrepresented.

Would be interested to hear what other college kids from the 70s think, though. Anybody else on this board like me? Or am I the only 70s kid?!

[gmku]

The thing is, too, these are very subjective things, mostly made up by the media. I don't think there's anything definitively that lists the generation-culture names and periods.

It also depends a lot on your perspective. If you went to college in the 70s but clung to values of the 60s, you no doubt think of yourself as a boomer. On other hand, if you went to college in the 70s but had other values and experiences, you would tend not to think of yourself as a boomer. For myself, I'm not sure "me" or "disco" fits, either. I might be tempted to adopt the term "Blank Generation" for myself and the cultural experiences I shared with my peers.

[screamingskull]

I feel more 80's than i am (i was born in 1988)
But thats because the four main TV shows i grew up watching were

 

 

 

 

[screamingskull]

Originally Posted by gmku

The thing is, too, these are very subjective things, mostly made up by the media. I don't think there's anything definitively that lists the generation-culture names and periods.

It also depends a lot on your perspective. If you went to college in the 70s but clung to values of the 60s, you no doubt think of yourself as a boomer. On other hand, if you went to college in the 70s but had other values and experiences, you would tend not to think of yourself as a boomer. For myself, I'm not sure "me" or "disco" fits, either. I might be tempted to adopt the term "Blank Generation" for myself and the cultural experiences I shared with my peers.

Oh i totally agree, my parents were both born in 1960, but they were total 1960's hippies even in the mid-1990's. Thats why i guess i feel more like a Gen-X kid than a Gen-Y kid.

[gmku]

Yr wikipedia list would have me in "Generation Jones." What's that? Or am I reading it wrong--do the dates mean birth years, or something else?

[screamingskull]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones

Generation Jones is a term that describes people born between the years 1954 and 1964. U.S. social commentator Jonathan Pontell identified the existence of this generation and coined the term “Generation Jones” for it. Generation Jones has been referred to as a heretofore lost generation between the Baby boomers and Generation X, since prior to the popularization of Pontell’s theory, its members were included with either the Boomers or Xers. The connotations of the name “Generation Jones” include:
a large, anonymous generation
the slang term “jonesin,” which refers here to the unrequited craving felt by this generation of unfulfilled expectations
The term has been cited in the U.S., U.K., Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. The birth years typically used in the U.S. are 1954-1965, but tend to vary slightly in other countries, usually starting no earlier than 1953, and ending no later than 1968.
In demographic terms, Generation Jones was part of the baby boom which ended in the early 1960s. However, the events stereotypically associated with generational discussion of Boomers, including protests over civil rights and the Vietnam war and the emergence of rock music took place while the members of Generation Jones were still children or early teenagers. Thus the early life experience of this group was more similar, in many respects, to that commonly imputed to Generation X.
This age group became politically active in the United States during the Presidential campaigns of Ronald Reagan, who was extremely popular among people of this age group. "The turn toward the Republicans was based very much on how the young felt about Ronald Reagan's performance in office," said Helmut Norpoth, a political scientist at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. In the 2008 election, surveys found that fans of classic rock music, popular during this period, tended to favor the Republicans
Since its introduction, Generation Jones has been the recipient of extensive media attention. It has been written about in hundreds of newspapers and magazines and discussed frequently on TV and radio shows. Pontell appears regularly on TV networks like CNN, MSNBC, and BBC, discussing the cultural, political, and economic implications of this generation’s emergence.
In the business world, Generation Jones has become a part of the strategic planning of many companies and industries, particularly in the context of targeting Jonesers through marketing efforts. Numerous industries have created new products and brands to specifically target Jonesers, like the radio industry, which has created “GenJones” radio formats.
Politically, Generation Jones has emerged as a crucial voting segment in Western elections. In the U.S. 2006 Midterm and 2004 Presidential elections, and the 2005 U.K. elections, Generation Jones’ electoral role was widely described as pivotal by the media and political pollsters

[gmku]

That's it! That's me! Though I definitely wasn't a Reagan GenJoneser. (Though I knew MANY my age who were.)

But much of it fits. There was that feeling of being in sort of an anonymous generation that didn't really know what it wanted.

[screamingskull]

There are a lot of things i like about my generation

- we still dress like its 1985

 

- i love the music around now, and ipods! i can't imagine my life now without an ipod.
- i love the TV shows i grew up watching.
- we are good with computers, better than any other generation before us.
- we have more money than previous generations, but on the other hand we are in a lot more debt than previous generations.
- i think we are more accepting of people in general. It really makes no difference to me if you are white or black, Jewish or Catholic, tattooed or not, gay or straight, have divorced or married parents. I think this is the most important one. Of course there were people like this in the 1960's and there are still people in my generation who are racist and homophobic, but as a generation i think we are the most accepting. And the next generation will probably be even more accepting! hopefully!

Things i don't like about my generation

- Growing up with a war going on, even though its not on the same scale as Vietnam or WW2.
- we are growing up with Global Warming on the tips of everyone's tongues
- all the high school massacres carried out by Gen Y kids. Columbine was Gen Y teenagers, Virginia Tech was a Gen Y kid.
- all the stupid spoilt whores, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton etc

[gmku]

Ha ha. Computers. The other day a 20-something college student asked if I'd ever taken the computerized verson of the GREs. I couldn't help but laugh and tell her that in my day when I took the GRE a computer was as big as a living room.

If your generation is better with computers than any previous generation, it's because you're one of the first generations to really use computers on a personal level.

Seems weird to me now that computers are relatively new and yet so pervasive. I used to write my college papers like this: 1. Handwrite the first draft or two. 2. Handwrite a polished draft. 3. Cut up and tape (literally) this draft into a revised draft. 4. Type up this new cut-up-and-taped-together revision. 5. Then cut-up and tape this typed draft into some final shape. 6. Then type up this draft. If I was lucky and didn't make too many mistakes, I could turn this one in. If I made a lot of mistakes and it started to look messy, I'd have to retype it.

And of course, none of this was "saved" anywhere, so if I lost the draft between home and class before making a photocopy, it was start all over and hope I'd saved those cut-up pages.

A real pain.

[screamingskull]

yeah, you guys have had them at work, but we have them in our bedrooms.

[gmku]

I first started using "personal computers" at work in the late 1980s when I was an officer in the air force. They were terrible. You had an IT guy down the hall who literally had to come to your office every other day to fix some problem or other, and only he knew how to do anything. It was like some secret--if he told you how to do it, he'd have to kill you or something. Weird.

Black screens and green letters. No graphics. About all you could do was word processing. No connectivity. It was a big deal in 1990 when we installed "electronic messaging" between our offices--in the same building. There was some talk of connecting to other places on base, but that was really expensive and hard to do.

[screamingskull]

the thing i really worry about my generation becoming known for is all the school shootings, in one week in february there was five in in US!

7th February 08 - Notre Dame Elementary, Portsmouth, Ohio (2 killed)
8th February 08 - Louisiana Technical College, Baton Rouge, Louisiana (3 killed)
11th February 08 - Mitchell High School, Memphis, Tennessee (1 wounded)
12th February 08 - E.O. Green School, Oxnard, California (1 killed)
14th February 08 - Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois (18 wounded, 6 killed)

Thats just fucked up.