Talkin' 'Bout My Generation
X? Y? Z? There is no difference.
This essay has a soundtrack. Plug into the playlist below for the full experience.
I don’t know what they called the generation that was too old to fight in WWI. But afterward, they called the generation that did fight it the “lost” generation. Talk about bleak1.
Since then, every 15 years or so, the world chooses a new label for the young people pushing back against the system dominated by anyone older than them. If you were young or born during WWII, they called you the “post-war” generation2. If those people were your parents, you got called the baby boomers. With the next crew began the alphabetical trend, starting (forebodingly and thanks in part to a certain Canadian) at “X.” And on and on and so forth.
Lately, everyone is talking about Gen Z—the kids born around the turn of the millennium. They’re described as a unified demographic with unique characteristics that distinguish them from us olds. Look at all that tie-dye they wear! So many of them say they’re non-binary! How do we handle that?! How do we get them to care about school?! How do get them to buy our shit?!
Being a millennial (ie from the “Y” Generation), I’m young enough to remember everyone talking about us this way, but old enough to no longer be the target. What stands out most when reading this “porridge of low-quality service journalism” is just how similar the comments and critiques are to the ones made about my own age-group about a decade ago.
Take the example above. Billed as must-know knowledge, Rachel Richardson—the former Head of Editorial at Snapchat—lists 10 supposedly fundamental characteristics of the 1997-2012 crowd. With a resume topper like that, you’d think she’d offer some valuable insights. The problem? All but one of her points can be applied to literally everyone3. Gen Z mostly consumes visual, bite-sized media? Really? Welcome to 2023. They prefer people over brands? Who the fuck prefers brands over people???
If the PEW research quoted says anything unique about the current batch of young adults, it’s that they’re potentially more aware of how much time and energy they spend online than the rest of us—ie maybe less delusional. About 75% of them say they are constantly online. With absolutely no data to back it up, I’d estimate that number to be pretty accurate for most people.
Whether we’re all willing to admit it is another thing.
Everything they've seen you have seen.
The similarities don’t end with market research. For comparison, have a listen to this verified gen z hit:
I’m joking of course, but do you see my point? Rodger Daltrey could be howling his hope to “die before [he] get[s] old” on behalf of any young person, regardless of the year they were born. His impediment-mocking fake stutter might not go over now as well as it did with boomers in ‘65, but the message’s relevance remains. It’s a key ingredient for why the track still slaps4.
Even if Richardson’s listicle doesn’t offer anything we didn’t already know, I’ll applaud her for at least one thing: she starts by conceding that these zoomers are not a homogenous group. I feel stupid for repeating myself, but, again, this comment is true of every generation. Unfortunately, it’s something we seem to constantly forget.
Listen all y’all, it’s a sabatoge.
Now, after railing against this type of over-generalization, let’s indulge in a little, shall we?
Young people tend to disrupt the social norms their parents and grandparents established or failed to question. Obviously, they don’t all do this in the same way, or even at all, but it happens. And when it happens, the olds tend to overreact.
I’ll take a closer look at the bullshit thrown at my generation due to my intimate knowledge of it:
As millennials grew up, the stereotypes changed. First, we were over-active, over-medicated, and distracted. Conservative olds at the time said we needed more discipline. Progressives said we needed to be nurtured and/or medicated.
When we became teenagers, the focus, for boys anyway, turned (especially after Columbine) toward our proclivity for violence. This time, the problem was all those video games and bloody Mel Gibson movies5. Either that, or it was the toxic masculinity being shoved down our throats6. Again, it depended on what camp you belonged to.
After graduating high school and acquiring our liberal arts degrees, the olds seemed to unify over their disapproval of our work ethic. We were entitled. We weren’t pulling our weight. We weren’t willing to “put in the time,” climb the corporate ladder, etc. The problem? Apparently, everything boiled down to Mr. Rogers7, participation ribbons, and being told we could do anything we set our minds to.
Meanwhile, we’d been priced out of the housing market and had to contend with a stock market crash, the mind-cancer of social media, the doom-horizon of climate change, and something called the “gig economy.” And then COVID hit.
I’m not complaining. First-world problems8, I know. And again, these changes didn’t homogeneously9 affect everyone born roughly between 1981 and 1996. Most of these crises and stereotypes apply to me (the ADHD, the liberal arts degree, the unattainable life goals, the desire for, and lack of, a livable wage), but a good chunk of the guys I grew up with slid right into lucrative construction jobs after high school and now live Gen X- and boomer-approved, house-poor lifestyles, complete with leased F-150 and divorce #1.
I don’t mean to judge. The point is that, basically, we’re all unhappy, and it isn’t our differences making us so—it’s our similarities.
More age-related text from Ponytail Press
Isn’t life just a mirage of the world before the world, before the world?
Sure, I’ll concede a little: things change. Events shape people according to their proximity to said event and, to an extent, their age at the time. For us Y-people, 9/11 was the first biggie. For zoomers, it will probably be the pandemic. Generation X had their Cobain suicide, their Berlin wall teardown. Boomers had JFK, MLK, and Vietnam.
These types of events tend to unify the young people who experience them in some way. They tend to affect their psyches and perspectives on society. But the older people who also experience them are often similarly altered. Change happens to all of us.
Even the current hot topic people are obsessed with in regards to Gen Z—their approach to sexuality—isn’t really anything new. When I was in high school, we were either patting ourselves on the back for letting gay people exist or we were bullying them for existing10. The terms and phrases might have altered here and there, but the basic premise hasn’t changed at all. Zoomers weren’t the first to be picked on for wearing the wrong colour shirt to school, and, sad as it is, they probably won’t be the last. The goal, in any era, is to not be that bully.
Can you give me $20?
Maybe that’s why this type of talk gets on my nerves so much. Too often, it devolves into blaming or mocking young people for things they have little if any control over. I always laughed at the “participation ribbon” critique about millennials, not only because of how ludicrous it was at face-value, but also because the people tossing the mud were the very people who handed out the ribbons ten years prior.
Even when these sorts of generalizations are offered as “observations,” they rarely come off as anything other than condescending. And, more often than not, they end up being more true about the people pointing their fingers than the people on the receiving end of the remark or outrage.
Let’s be honest. Young people, with their limited political power and financial resources, are often holding the short end of the stick, no matter what era we’re talking about. They’re still figuring their shit out, and when they get older, they’ll still be figuring it out, just like we all still are. So why don’t the rest of us agree to cut them some slack, give them their lunch money, and call it even.
Now it’s you’re turn.
Talk to me.
Am I way off base? State your case.
Do you identify with the stereotypes of your generation?
Did the playlist miss any topic-related, generation-defining bangers?
Let me know in the comments below.
And you hear people complain about the bleakness of the term “Gen Z”!
The least bleak, most naive of generation names.
#3, the one about their most beloved platforms, I admit, is specific and accurate.
Don't try dig what they all s-s-say, Andrew! Cringe!
Except for The Passion, of course. That blood was justified.
Same difference?
A show that was infinitely more popular with Gen X kids, by the way.
Are we still using the term “first world”? Should we be? No. We should not.
I’m craving dairy at this point.
Or, you know, just being gay.
Every generation is different. Every generation is the same. And there are many other qualities that display the remarkable diversity and unity of the human race. "Cutting some slack" is good advice or as my generation sang, "all you need is love."
I am every Gen X stereotype rolled up into one (cynical) little ball.