“I’ve come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:

Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and is just a natural part of the way the world works.

Anything that’s invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.

Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things.” Douglas Adams, “The salmon of doubt”.

By the time I write this article, Millennials have already been replaced by Generation Z which will soon find itself in the process of being replaced by the upcoming generation, the Alphas.

 

Although the term was coined around 1987 by authors William Strauss and Neil Howe (which brought them international recognition), I have only been introduced to it a few years ago (I think we all remember “Millennium” by Robbie Williams which the more I listen to, the more I think it’s a straight up dedication to my generation). Later, I became interested in the matter and decided to find out if the people I share childhood memories with, the young adults of today are in fact being represented by the whole concept.

Some refer to Millennials as the “Gen Y”, “Generation Me”, “Net generation”, “Global generation”, “Echo boomers”, “Job-hopping generation” etc, we were born between the 1980s and early 2000 (or between 1977 and 1992, if you ask sociologists at the Pew Research Center) and according to numerous studies and…basic logic, we are the most ethnically diverse generation to date, which makes us almost uncagorizable despite the negative stereotypes we are constantly being attacked with such as bad work ethics, lack of education and my favorite “lazy, entitled narcissists who still live with their parents”.

Most research on the topic is mostly done for marketing purposes and is based on american social, economical and cultural events, but to some extent it is also applicable to Australia, parts of Asia, Europe and there, even to countries like Romania and Bulgaria, even though our political system has been holding us back from the open-minded western part Europe or  “the Occident” – as our parents used to call it – by more than twenty years.

Among the key factors that help demarcate Millennials from our predecessor (Generation X) and succesor (Generation Z) are  global events such as the Great Recession, the expansion of communication, internet and other technologies and being born at the cusp between two centuries. But a perfect demarcation is impossible, since generations research is not an exact science.

  

Given these facts, one must ask themselves “If I’m not a millennial, where do I belong then?” Well, the main generations, represented by all the individuals who were born in a span of eighteen-twenty years form micro generations such as “Generation Jones” (which includes all individuals born between 1954 to 1965 – not Baby Boomers, not Gen X-ers), “Xennials” also known as “The Lucky ones”, “Old millennials” and “Generation Catalano” (born between the late 1970s and the early 1980s), “Dial-ennials” (millennials who’ve been raised with dial-up), “Mid-millennials” and the list can go on…indefinitely.

This demarcation started with the Lost generation (born between 1883 and 1900), the segment of people who reached young adulthood during and immediately after WW1. Many of them have been decimated in the war and the ones who survived it had to live on with the memory of the trauma, which resulted in decadence, excess and a total lack of direction for the future. Also, this generation has given us some of the greatest writers. It is also a term used to name any generation that seems to have lost it’s moral values.

The Greatest generation or the G.I.s followed between 1900 and 1920 and experienced great technological progress as with the invention of  radio and telephone, but also gender inequality, the Great Depression and eventually WW2.

Between 1920 and 1940 came the Silent generation also known as the Silent majority and the Lucky few because of their fear of speaking out during the McCarthy Era and their reltively small number compared to that of their predecessors (caused by the 1930s financial insecurity and the following war) but also their stepping into adulthood in the 60s, experiencing high employment rates and early retirement.

Baby Boomers, known as the cohort of individuals born between 1940 and 1960, seem to have come as a celebration of the end of WW2. They represent an high number in the world’s population and have a great impact on the economy (at least in America). They are also…our parents.        

Generation X preceeds the Millennials and is also known as the MTV generation. In England, they are called “Thatcher’s children”. Born between 1965 and 1980, they reached childhood at a time of increasing divorce rates and “parental self-actualization”, where parents would not remain together only for the child’s sake. In America, they are also known as “latchkey children” which is funny (in a bitter-sweet way) since in Romania, the Millennials are the “proud” holders of this title.

So…other than for marketing purposes, would it be fair to say that generations don’t actually exist? Probably yes, since this mass categorization only proves our own condescending and prejudicial nature and the fact that history keeps repeating itself…and we never seem to learn anything from it.

Examples go as far as Ancient Greece, where poet and economist Hesiod wrote about the teenagers of his time: “[…]they only care about frivolous things. When I was a boy, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly impatient of restraint.” Doesn’t that sound strangely familiar?

And what about the quote about Baby Boomers excerpted from an article written by Ernest Fladell in 1968 Life magazine “Even as I said it, I knew the phrase “to make a living” could have absolutely no meaning to these children of the affluent society”?

Or the article that appeared in Time magazine in the 1990s about the Gen X-ers “Laid back, late blooming or just lost?” Seriously, how many time have we, Millennials, heard that? I know I have…

But everything is not as much about millennials as it was five years ago, as the torch is being passed to the new generation. This is how it’s always been and this is how it always will be. The important thing for us to do is not follow suit in this generational feud. We, as Millennials, are probably not much better, nor are we worse than our predecessors. We just happen to have been born during different global events that marked and shaped us differently than they have our parents and grandparents, turning us into the young adults we are today. There is nothing wrong with that and, more importantly, there is nothing wrong with us. Let’s make the best out of remembering our internet free childhood and explaining to our children how MS-DOS games were played and the rules to hide and seek, jump-rope and hopscotch.

Green Eyed Kisses,