100 Facts About Gen X
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- Опубликовано: 10 июн 2024
- Gen X has many names. The Latchkey Generation. The Twentynothings. The MTV Generation. But in many ways, they remain a mysterious group, sandwiched between Boomers and Millennials (which get a lot more societal focus). Let's see what Generation X is really about.
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My son (Gen Z) asked me (Gen X) why we are like this; I told him it's easy, we just don't care. Wanna be gay, be gay! Wanna be fit, be fit! Wanna make millions, make millions! Just be who you are and let me be who I am and we will get along fine. The other generations don't get this simple concept, they want everyone to be like them; it's boring and unimaginative.
I relate very much to this as a Gen X and I've always been fine as long as others don't force their ideology onto me. Now in this day and age you got people who don't want to be stereotyped and at the same time they use all the labels as shields to hide behind. It just doesn't add up. They claim to be minorities and at the same time fighting hard to remain as one.
All I'll say is: You all need to make up your mind because nobody should have double standard immunity. If you want to be gay, you have to own up to it with all the consequences it involves, because guess what: As a heterosexual man there are consequences to every action I make in this world as well.
Stop making a deal out gender, and skin color and all of it, because it is a recipe for disaster and that's what the people in power wanted when they started all the woke bullshit. They are trying to segregate everybody and depopulate this planet. If everybody would just head back to their own place and chill the f out, maybe we can at some point rebuild our society.
We need culture again because absolutely everything is turned into politics and it is unhealthy for everyone.
OMG! this is perfect said. We also don't want whatever it is you r doing shoveled into our faces over and over and over.
@@a8f235you're 100% right. The 1% created all of these subdivisions among the 99% so that we would fight with each other. While we're not paying any mind, the 1% is running away with the store and we are allowing it. I agree, stop the bull💩 and come together and fight. Our strength is in our sheer numbers.
Absolutely spot on. I'm Gen X too and I never cared about anyone's race or sexuality or whatever, I just judged people by who they are. The modern world seeks to divide everyone and create hate. It really sux (another term we invented).
Live and let live was our Gen X mantra
Generation X is the only generation that knows how to program a VCR.😊
or change the time on the car radio twice a year ha ha
We are the generation that when we think of video games..... we think of blowing vigorously on thw game then beating the top of the Nintendo until the game finally worked...... lol.
You win the internet today
@angelafisher5726 then we later found out that blowing into the cartridge did absolutely nothing. The cartridge worked randomly. The Nintendo also destroyed my big box rabbit ear antenna TV.
Xennials could as well
Im Gen X and I believe we are stuck between two of the most selfish generations to walk the face of the Earth.
Amen!
Very well said
Agree!!!!! Our gen z kiddos should have a shot at life. Lol.
One raised the other. So the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.
Agreed. 100%
I love being Gen X. Not only did we fly under the radar of the bad rap both Boomers and Millennials get, but we were young enough to have taken easily to the latest technology (Internet, mobile devices, video games, computers, CD's, DVD's, etc.) but old enough to remember a simpler time where people still socialized and had neighborhood parties and weren't tied to their devices -- and best of all we got to experience the awesome and far superior music of the late 20th Century. We had/have the best of both worlds!
This is exactly why companies can’t really market to us. We can live with their products or without it. Gen X is too versatile and flexible. We just don’t care enough to be driven by marketing schemes.
When we say we really don't care we mean we really don't give a f'ing rats azz about it ! there are a million things out we get to choose what we care about.
@@WeatherWeasel66 ...huh? Are you sure you responded to the right comment??
@@SWLinPHX i just added to what was said.
@@WeatherWeasel66 Any comment is "adding". But it is out of context to what we said without explanation.
One defining characteristic of us Gen-Xers occurs in the workplace. In my experience, the Millenials (maybe some Zers too), who seem to have control of the place where I work, all emphasize something they call "work culture." We're all supposed to want to hang together and share the same values - like we're all some sort of homogenized "family." My best guess is that they think the workplace is their life. The Gen-Xer in me just wants to be left alone/maintain my privacy, earn my paycheck, and go home to my REAL life. I, also, agree that Gen-X can be seen as independent, and our thinking is based solidly in reality. That's why we can sometimes come across as jaded, sarcastic, and distrusting. We were a generation that believed the world didn't owe us anything (that was often a tough lesson to learn), and, therefore, we didn't owe it anything right back. Lastly, a lot of us were "latchkey" and, therefore, had to learn to manage ourselves and be responsible at a young age.
If they want to hang together, and think the workplace is their life, why are they lazy as phuc… The ones I have worked with cannot do a full eight hour day, let alone the ten to twelve I work… Even at 50, I can easily outwork the millennials, and still go home and read or do research to improve my skills and knowledge… Whereas, every millennial I know would go hang with friends and/or play video games rather than do anything to further their career…
Too true. I haven't noticed any of the generations after X being particularly hard-working or even understanding the reality of things.
And the Boomers before us were not more hard-working or focused as we were. Or independent than we were. They were handed things by their Silent Generation parents and grew up a bit spoiled. As a matter of fact - the only generation I really connected with is the Silent Generation.
My grandparents went through some shit and knew shit and didn't ask for other people to hand them shit. They figured shit out for themselves. I can relate.
We also tend to raise our kids in that same mindset.... we aren't helicopter parents, nor are we the strict discipline group.
I think most of us has gen z kids and they seem to have better ethical views than millenials... we are a good gen!
Yes! This has been very weird to me.
I hate the term “latchkey” kids. Who calls their front door lock a latch?
I'm an introvert. As an older child and a teenager in the 80s I learned to entertain myself by being alone. I learned to enjoy my own company. Probably explains why I am a bookworm and explains why I love writing.
Same here😊
Same i was a shy bookish introvert and am working on writing my first book
Being alone isn't a bad thing, often it's a great thing !
Agreed. My wife (15 years younger and a Millennial) and my daughters (Zoomers) are frequently surprised and derisive about how I can so easily entertain myself, quietly. I don't need others, or some activity to avoid boredom. They cannot.
Yessss
We also remember the satanic panic of the 80s, the AIDS panic with Ryan White being barred from school, and hiding under our desks during the cold war in case of nuclear war. We had good reason to be skeptical of adults and a bit gloomy in our outlook on life.
That Challenger explosion was helpful for being skeptical too.
We didn't hide under our desks for nuclear war. I think the assumption is we were dead anyway so there's no point in drilling. We did have tornado drills and bomb threats though. We had to actually go outside for our bomb threats. That's how I knew it wasn't a nuclear bomb threat.
My elementary school was apparently a fallout shelter though. I remember seeing the signs throughout the building.
Also, I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who didn't watch The Day After when it was aired. It is on RUclips, I watched it some time last year. That was a seriously f***ed up movie, no wonder everyone was traumatized by it!
@@RutabegaNG "My elementary school was apparently a fallout shelter though." - Legendary!
@@RutabegaNG I still haven’t seen that movie, but now I’m curious. 🧐
Yes, we learned about the birds and bees and that sex could not only lead to an unplanned pregnancy, but also a deadly disease. The idea of swiping right and getting quick access to sex with some stranger makes me cringe with fear on multiple levels. Being a teen in 80s scared the hell out of us. Oh and second cold War had us convinced we'd die from nuclear war from Russia. Oh but on bright side, Roe was legal in all 50 states so we had that going for us.
Millennial here and I’ve greatly admired Gen X. My Aunts, Uncles, and cousins are mainly fall into the Gen X category. I found them to be cool, stylish, independent and creative. They influenced the entire 90’s aesthetic. They seem to be more authentic in style and attitude.
"Genuine" is a good word to describe Gen X, unlike the very Superficial and selfish Millenials and Gen Zs
As a Gen Xer, I say thank you, and yes , 90's and mid to late 80's were awesome. Much better than today were kids are attched to their phones. We went outside from sun up until the street lights came on. Also we were not brought up to be offended by everything. We also didn't get into race discrimination crap since it was never really an issue for us, if we didn't like you, it was because yo were an asshole.
They were a cheap rehash of late 60s-early 70s. It's where the flairs/mum jeans, round glasses and shaggy haircuts came from. The whole bohemiam aesthetic came from aging hippy parents they had or saw growing up.
The most innovative music was their electronic stuff, and even then you had much chill-house styles and ambient in the 70s.
Not a cheap rehash. Their actual babyhoods / childhoods @@loolfactorie
lol @@loolfactorie
and the parents were not aging then
Being nostalgic for things from our past doesn't mean we want every single one of them to be remade.
AMEN!
Memory Lane is a lovely place to visit, not to live.
Exactly@ So sick of that mind-numbing concept. I am from NY and there are many lefties here and whenever you're nostalgic, they be like "so you want to bring back the KKK. Like, yes, that's what I was referring to. Not good music and TV. Because apparently we can't bring back good things without racism or inefficient cars and land line phones at the same time
Not to mention we aren't the ones "remaking" them... It's the newer generation trying to "replace" our fond and wonderful stories.
They feel left out and can't create their own so they remake something that usually doesn't hit the mark.
Great example: TV show Starsky and Hutch was a fantastic detective show ahead of is time dealing with issues that others would not.
The movie came out and it was a farce full of buffoonery.
They should have named it Stotch and Hulligan or something other than the original...
And like this new "Snow White"... Why name it the original if it isn't the same story?
I dunno. The chomos in cargo vans were easier to spot and track compared to them on roblox and minecraft.
Gen X grew up during the Cold War and reached sexual maturity during the AIDS epidemic, of course we’re gloomy.
It infuriates me how often the AIDS crisis is left out of the events that shaped GenX.
Hiding under our desks while practicing for the incoming nuclear missiles was made fun by thoughtful teachers, probably less traumatic then what kids have to practice for these days sadly .
Sorry to get political, but you can thank Fauci for the AIDS scare. Just like with COVID he sold it as something everyone should be scared of instead of the smaller demographic that was actually most likely to be affected.
@@TMJW That was a huge deal!
And we graduated college into the worst job market in decades - with wages that had been stagnant for 15 years. While our parents graduated college and immediate got jobs that could buy a house, two cars, feed a family of four, and pay for the annual summer vacation, we found ourselves struggling to find enough roommates to rent a crappy apartment and still buy groceries... and it's even worse for the kids graduating college now. They have it just as bad except they have a mortgage's worth of student loans to repay at the same time.
This country has been going downhill steadily for 40 years. We were just the first ones to enter the job market on the downhill slope.
Many of us Gen X’ers (1965 here) had to fend for ourselves. Our mothers were the ones who got divorced and/or had to go out & work. Before us divorce was much less common. It exploded in the 70’s. And yes we love MTV & a lot of us are headbangers!!
Your butt checks are hanging over into boomer territory....
The music nowadays sucks.
Even tho y’all hate gen z(your children’s generation) we love y’all and wish we could of grown up in the 90s
@@justinsaw3d there was no tick tock, you had to walk to the payphone if you wanted to holler at a girl in private and door dash wasnt a thing. You would hang yourself within a week.
But there were way less commies and troons.
My parents didn't divorce but both were working, so getting home from school was by myself for a few hours often which wasn't a big deal, I would make my own food and light up the fire in the winter time. I think it might have made us grow more independent than other generations.
I was 9 yrs old, single parent household and I was expected to get up and get ready for school by myself, walk to school and get back home. Latch key, I wore a house key around my neck. Do my homework and do my chores before my dad got home.
Same....
I was born in 1963 in the seventies there were a lot of latchkey kid .I remember walking home from school waiting for somebody to come home watching TV eating something doing my homework. And when there was no school you were left home all day long . Whether you are riding your bike Hanging with your friends there was always something to do. Weather was going to get in something to eat going to the mall as long as you were in the house before the street lights came on you are okay. And you always had 20 cents in your shoe for an emergency in case you needed a ride to get home .I could go back to the 70s and 80s I go back in a heartbeat has anybody learned how to make a time machine to go back.
100%
You forgot the popularity of video game arcades. I loved those.
Yes!!!
Yeah, and pool tables, foosball and etc -- it was gaming which is just as demanding as any is now, but still *social* at the same time.
💯
You have to remember that we had a completely different economic reality than Boomer or even Millennials. There were noooooooo jobs in the early-mid eighties. When one of my friends got even a janitorial job at a fast food restaurant it was amazing. We didn't have all these expectations of employers, we were just grateful a paycheck.
It's very interesting working with Boomers and Millennials, they both have the same attitude towards work. Very entitled.
No jobs extended into the 1990's as well...mainly due to the Boomers filling jobs and not letting in the X'ers. I was trained in Autobody Collision Repair in 1993 and trying to get a job was nearly impossible because the Boomers in the jobs were in their 30's and 40's and were years away from retirement.
@@monsterhobbies I can back you to on this one, my guy.... I graduated highschool in '95 and watched several of my pals with basic automotive skills get locked out of work for a long while. Meanwhile, I graduated college in '99 and '01 and were it not for the latter, I would have been stranded as there were hardly any jobs for college undergrads in a relatively big city like San Diego....
@@swingeasy987 I also returned to take high school courses to get into Plastics Technology, but that didn't work out either as the school went on strike and the math and chemistry were too hard. I did take courses to become a quality inspector though.
@@ycartray8249 I lived it!LOL!
Our parents neglected us bc they were living in the "me" era. Changing culture in a good way, but they kind of forgot about the kids they were raising.
As an older X’er (1966), I think our generation’s tendency to evade easy categorization is our best trait. It certainly had advertisers scratching their heads for a long time. We were also exposed to some of the best popular music ever made in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.
Gen Xer here. My Silent Gen mom worked two jobs so I was on my own most of the time. I entertained myself by recording songs off the radio, watching MTV and Nickelodeon, or riding my bike around the neighborhood. It was those years that showed me that I am my own best company, a philosophy I still hold onto today.
Not only was Gen X the FIRST to have experienced computers when young, we were the LAST generation for whom the "vinyl" record was THE mainstream. Being the middle children that we are, OUR format was the Cassette! As to "rap" EVERY member of "N.W.A." except "Easy E" (A "boomer") was "Gen X". And I am most likely to have consumed coffee in the last FIVE MINUTES. I drink coffee EVERY DAY. Have been since 1979!
At 11:11 pm I’m enjoying a lovely Nespresso mocha
✨😎✨
James, Gen X didn't have PCs until 1984
@@KiraReminiec9399 Wrong. The TRS-80 Model I, The Apple ][ and the Commodore PET came out in 1977, The Texas Instruments 99/4 came out in 1979 anď the IBM PC came out in 1981. I, Myself had a TRS-80 Model I in 1979.
@@KiraReminiec9399 Nah we had them before that. We had computers in my boarding school. I graduated in 1981
And we had Commodore 64s I can't remember what year, but we had one and you could get bootleg games for them.
I can't remember what kind of computers we had at school, but we definitely had them, and we had computer programing classes.
@@jamesslick4790 Yeah, but personal computers were very rare for most gen xers up until 1984.
It will never not feel odd seeing my generation explained back to me by RUclips. We all endured Cold War childhoods, but then the monoculture fell apart as we came of age. The name Generation X came about because we were/are such a nebulous group, it’s difficult to generalize us. Hasn’t stopped anyone trying tho…
The label GenX came from the Spike Lee movie,"Malcolm X."
@@TVAvnger Nope.
@@TVAvnger Wrong!
X is an interesting letter. It can mean to kiss, christ, and cancel. Its origin is Phoenician and is the /s/ consonant and is fish. (Da'gon, god of philistines) Greek borrowed it and called it chi (ks). Romans turned it into Ten, and X was born. X is also a double-edged sword ⚔. It's can be an X like in fox and box, or it can be a Z like xylem or Xanadu. So, while I'm from Gen X, I identify as gen Z. I might be from the water, but I ain't no f213king fish. XWhyZ. ☕️, put that in your gut. Cream or sugar?
Peace and Ahev
@TVAvnger absolutely no 😂 I ❤ that movie and book but that was about calling himself x because most AA last names are related to the people who owned them, we adopted those sir names but we had no idea of our African sir names
I am right in the middle of Gen X
I would not want to be any other generation
We are unique because we grew up with no internet and then lived with the internet. We know how to socialize online and in person. Not everyone does. We are mentally independent by being on our own younger. I knew how to cook as a child. Sex is for pleasure. Between anyone.
Gen X are open minded, crazy, and have the best taste in music.
am very nostalgic, this video doesn’t make me feel old, I don’t ever feel old. I just want the past back for other reasons.
Gen X are sarcastic and pessimistic and find everything in life funny, and that’s good. We do feel that life is meaningless. That leads to looking inward for happiness, and that’s good too.
I am not successful, I have no money, I listen to metal music and there is no point to anything and the world is a mess. and I’m just fine with that.
Haha! Fucking NAILED IT.
The internet ws invented by the military for the military
We had to go to ticketmaster to buy concert tickets
We had movie theaters
Chad, wasn't Gen x name ,not even a popular one
We had the best books,music &movies
... is the right answer! 😂😂X
And we're not concerned about feeling bad about telling anyone they are an idiot for their actions, opinion, or lack of ethics, and we don't care about how they feel after getting what they deserve. And those people are legion today. Your feelings are worthless to anyone else outside your family or SO.
YES, YES, HELL YES, & YES. You nailed it.
🙈🙉🙊
Going to a coffee shop was pretty much everyone's default first date in the late 90s. ☕
If you had one in your town
I never drank coffee but i did hangout in a coffee shop until the millennials took over and it went there grimy
True story. We also met up at the arcade.
Pizza parlors and skating rinks were my date spots as a Genx
"Old" Gen X-er (1966). I have been known to say to my kids and grandkids when they hit age 16: "When I was your age, MTV WAS music television!". I am still sad it turned out that video didn't kill the radio star.
The Buggles were mistaken. It wasn't video but streaming that killed the radio star.
As a 52-year-old Gen X-er that was labeled as the demise of the family unit and traditions, our generation fought to re-establish the traditional family dynamics that we missed out on because of being raised in homes that were rocked by divorce and being raised by single moms. We became "latch-key kids", were responsible for feeding ourselves and getting ourselves ready for school and out the door all on our own. We have raised our children to be compassionate, empathetic, and to embrace technology as a tool and not as the be all to end all. We have also raised our children to be strong and independent. Children nowadays are raised to be completely, COMPLETELY, reliant on their parents for everything! They are raised to be helpless and reliant on their cell phones to keep them occupied. They have NO social skills whatsoever. They don't even know how to respond to you when you simply say, "hi". I am convinced that future generations of children will not even understand hand-written word or the ability to converse with others. They will simply rely on text messages to each other to "talk".
I've seen kids living in their parents homes for so long as a necessity, not a choice. My stepfather bought the house I grew up in for around $25 K] in 1966. That house sold in 2017 for nearly a million dollars -- it's just a back split, nothing fancy.
How can younger people possibly be as independent as they want to be with expenses like that? It's insane :(
I have kids 15 years apart. My 28 year old, born in 1994, is an independent, educated, introvert. She is an attorney. She also is paying $1600 a month in rent. Most cannot afford that. I can see why young people are living with parents. My youngest was born in 2009 and is definitely more dependent on technology and I feel I have to push him to have motivation for independence. I see the differences in the two. And I raised them both. The society and culture we raise them in matters.
Also, don't forget the old white guys who legalized abortion across the country. We lost so many potential friends/classmates/colleagues in that massacre. 😢
Gen X ,we were 30 at 10 and now we’re 30 at 50
It's like a paradox
GenX kicks butt, takes names and keeps on going.
Thank you 😘
Yes because we had no choice!
We are the "Talk shit, get hit"-Generation .. 😅
Catch the cat by its toe if she screams let her go innie Minnie Miney moe
Rock paper scissors
I laughed out loud. Yes, I agree. I was a latch key child. Dark, pessimistic and absurdly independent to the point of being unhealthy.
No its more than healthy. A gen x will survive homelessness without help. We prepared ourselves to be self reliant. Younger gen can't survive a mean tweet without a safe space.
I agree. And I’m the same way. It isn’t unhealthy, it’s really healthy to enjoy your own company. And one thing gen x era hate is needy and/or whiney people
Low blow on blaming GenX about remakes and sequels… that’s just plain old laziness by movie execs. Saying we like to look at old videos is like saying boomers like to look at old pictures. You take quite a leap with your correlation/causations argument there.
They see what worked in the past and they don't want to take a risk (and potentially lose their careers) trying to create something new.
That being said, I am a huge fan of culture from the 80s and 90s.
The remakes stink. You are spot on.
Gen X don’t care about her opinion anyway
Agreed. A true Xer would remake or make actual X-themed stories . I miss the serious "made for tv" movies from the 80s and 90s that were about real adult topics.
If you can’t create, remake something someone else created.
As a Gen-X dude myself born in 1969 and High school class of 1987 I actually identify or relate to my Grandparents generation the Greatest Generation, or the WW ll Great Depression generation. Boomers and Millenials seem very soft. But I love my generation we had an absolute blast ! Gen-X rocks !!!
I do, too. 1968 here. My Great gen Grandparent's taught me so many things. While my parents are part of the Silent gen, they had that gluttonous " the one who dies with the most toys wins" 80s attitude. The very opposite of my Grandparent's conservation attitude.
1970 here. I agree.
69 and 87 here too, brother!
I'm the same age, but the youngest of a big family, born when my Dad was 51 and Mom 45. So my parents were the greatest generation, Dad fought in WW2. All my siblings are Boomers. I always related more with my parents than my siblings lol
69' dude! 😎
As a Gen X we were lucky to have school classroom parties (that may or may not have coincided with religion). If you weren't Christian, you still had a fun day and ate good food. We also had actual snow days, not online learning days. Snow days were the BEST! I like our generation. I also like that we're not a part of generational squabbles because we're forgotten. That's cool with me.
we were poor so i always signed up to bring the napkins. haha
@@samlin8089 😆 We always brought the store brand. My no nonsense parents didn't care about labels.
People opine and theorize about why we are how we are.
We grew up having to do a great deal for ourselves, by ourselves. We grew up raising ourselves and each other. We grew up during the cold war. We reached sexual maturity right as the AIDS epidemic hit. We grew up being told to "Walk it off" if we were hurt or injured. We grew up with our parents taking our Halloween candy to the hospital to have it X-rayed for needles and razor blades. Right before we left for school ALONE, we had breakfast while looking at the picture of a dead kid on the milk carton.
Things should be more clear now.
True Facts: Marketing directly at Gen X 100% guarantees GenX will _not_ buy any of your "stuff"...heh
Truth! I keep telling myself that if I see your ad, I won’t buy your product…(or I do my best not to). Advertising has become a parasite in present culture…
Yup. Exactly why “OK” cola went out of business in a year.
Gen X, we were the generation that wanted to be unique to everyone else, we hated govt control, in fact we hated any type of social/political control. We played games that today would be considered insanely dangerous, we learned to be our own paramedics, instead of crying from pain, we laughed at it. We grew up sucking up our feelings, because our parents told us non-stop to do so. We were the creative foundation of the tech era, we created the tech dreams, boomers imagined would exist from Star Trek.
Ummm, I think we're very different GenXers. I despise the 'stiff upper lip' front people put up, bottle too much up & you get addictions & abuse. Ours was the first generation who refused to shit down & shut up.
Not true@@1michelemichele1
Older generations had people who did that also
And plenty of our generation DID NOT
I think a lot just attach to the culture NOW
But they were not part of it when it meant going against the grain
I remember when I was a kid (pre-junior high school) and being one of the only kids in my class with a computer - The Commodore 64!! 🤣🤣🤣
And I remember playing “Oregon Trail” as a reward in my GTC study classes. Of course, I also remember learning to type in the giant dinosaur typewriters that you needed a hammer to punch just one key, there was no correction tape - only liquid whiteout, and the dreaded carriage return. As a very petite, Asian girl, typing on those monsters was a feat in itself, but it made my violin lessons SO much easier and faster. Then as an adult, working for the federal government, because of how I type, I had to have my keyboards replaced pretty regularly.
By the way, I’m a solid Gen X and have a sister ten years younger than me who is a Xennial.
(I think she forgot “cool beans”. 🤣🤣🤣)
Weren’t the little toy cars (Hot Wheels) also painted with lead paint back in early Gen X?
I also was in BMT for the Air Force in the mid-90’s and one of the phrases we had to memorize was “It’s no ok to say ok.” 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Mental health in Gen X is “worse” than the Baby Boomers because we actually seek counseling or therapy and we actually recognize and are willing to talk about the fact that we have mental concerns. Baby Boomers buried it all, resulting in a large population of this generation becoming physically and emotionally abusive parents and alcoholic.
We WERE the abused children, because our Boomer parents lacked the right resources for mental health, or tried to keep it hidden, & wouldn't go for help. The drugs & alcohol started with the hippies, being the boomers, plus already having genetic or inherited mental problems, where their diseases didn't have names & proper medication for it, which got passed to us. And mental health is still & ongoing problem, as it's still not where it needs to be, which is why so many of our generation are already dead, from drug abuse & suicide. (And I know drugs & alcohol were always a problem since the late 1800's, but it wasn't as open & widespread until the hippies & flower children experimented with it, & got hooked on it.)
"do not like to listen to other people's problems"
Truer words have never been spoken.
i listened to so many people's problems
We grew up as the children of boomers, who raised their kids to shut up, get a job and that the world is tough, so you have to learn how to survive it on your own now, so you can survive what life is going to give you, just in case.
My boomer mother would say, and still says, "That sounds terrible. What are you going to do about it" Some sympathy followed by suck it up buttercup. 😂
As a member if Gen X, I can confidently say I do not have to worry about my retirement! That was taken care for me by a unscrupulous firm running the 401s at a company I worked for. 20+years of savings and stash away...gone in an instant with no chance of recourse!
OMG!!!!! Please tell me someone is going to prison for that!!! Jesus that's awful.
Gen Xers had to enter a tough job market during the recession in the late 80's that carried into the early 90's. The we had to deal with the financial crisis of 2008-2009. The with Covid just over 10 years later. We were told that 401ks were better for us than a company pension. We could make more money and pick how to invest. Xers have been completely screwed over by corporations our whole lives.
Enron destroyed my parents retirement 😢
What do you mean, you don't have to worry?! Aren't you in a class action lawsuit over this?! I don't even have anything for retirement, & I can't work a regular type of job anymore. Nobody's gonna hire me. The kind of job I need probably is rare, or doesn't exist. I'm surviving on the leftover Pandemic unemployment, & it's almost gone...Idk wtf I have for NOW, let alone the still somewhat far off future.
If you have a clear background, and patience today's youth truly need caring people to help them learn to read, and basic Math. The pandemic caused so many children to miss over a year of school because they didn't have access to technology. Try helping someone...you may feel better about your circumstances...@@Dark_Harmony
This video made me feel old and depressed like nothing else. I'm curious regarding the fact that we're obviously worried about our finances because we're nearing retirement age, whether anyone's looked into the thought that we're also the first generation in the U.S. to be pretty much entirely in the 401k era. While our parents may have had lifelong jobs with pensions, we've got 401ks and are entirely reliant on the whims of the markets for our incomes in old age. I feel like we're a financial experiment.
My retirement plan is working until I die... (Born 1973)
I know a lot of people have lost a significant amount of money in the last few years there
I have known more than one person over the last 10 years who has had to extend their retirement age due to the stock market fluctuations. At this rate, combined with inflation, anyone at the younger range, like 1973 (above) and me (1974), will be lucky if our 401k covers our air conditioning bill.
If the economy crashes, no one is retiring.
@@porkybitzsame.
We are far from lazy or perpetually grumpy, but we did learn an extremely sarcastic and cynical sense of humor because of how different our actual daily lives turned out to be as compared with one of our favorite TV shows, Happy Days. However, we were just adaptable and learning coping skills. Because of a complete lack of parental involvement or supervision most of the time, we were also passed on lessons of how to behave in a fake or false fashion, something sometimes necessary for jobs like Customer Service. We are trainable and teachable, but it still has to be authentic in order to make proper sense.
We're not lazy or grumpy We're just charging our batteries.
So I am pretty solidly in that Gen X group. What makes me feel old is seeing all my childhood toys in the antique shops and that they are all labeled as "vintage."
And our music played on the 'oldies' channel 🙄
Why did i play with my evil kinevel wind up bike so much it broke within a week? I could sell it for a fortune now!
Gen X kids were the first to see constant TV. Constant TV was drawing from old movies and film shorts from the 1930's on up, and twenty plus years of TV productions. In the 70's they were watching the contemporary shows and all the shows that came before which were in re-runs. Also they watched tons of old movies.
I’ve had plenty of engaging conversations with the 75+ age folks about “their” movies. I was an American Movie Classics junkie. I was so sad when AMC started having commercials. When I was growing up in the 70’s, I think I watched tv shows from every era that came before. Some shows were in black and white, others were in color. It really provided for a wide range of cultural experiences.
I watched every old film recommended by my Grandma ❤ no green screen , CGI , 3D just good old fashioned story telling 😊
I loved Star Trek. Doctor Who, too, when it was Pertwee & Baker (being Canadian, this may be lost on Americans). Saturday morning cartoons. 70s sitcoms like Barney Miller, Mash, Mary Tyler Moore, the Monkees & WKRP on afternoon reruns.
*sigh*
You got it! In NY in 70's & 80's tv on the weekends would broadcast Abbot & Costello, The Marx Brothers, Laurel & Hardy & Three Stooges all black & white comedies. And sometimes watching it on a black & white set. Which might have been a spare tv. Especially if the old man was home he controlled the color tv in the living room. It had a remote control. I didn't need to sit on floor and change channels for him!
I think Nickolodean used to air a bunch of black and white re-runs like Lassie and Mr. Ed, too. Well some channel did. I watched a lot of that old stuff when I was bored.
It really is a strange experience watching / listening to a person who is barely initiated by life, talk about our fantastic generation in bullet points. In many ways I feel sorry for the generations after us. At least we had a childhood spent outside in organic spaces. That's why most of us (according to these stats) like to be outdoors at least for one hour a day. All generations after us, ESPECIALLY Gen Z, are totally corporately sponsored, all of their "movements" totally co-opeted and astroturfed. SO GLAD I never had children!
If you want a great short video, there is one called Saturday Memories of a Gen-X Kid Growing up (Slim Sherri)
I know! 😂🤦🏽♀️
Agree with you.
Yeah I feel sorry for them. They are owned and they don’t even realise it. Manipulated by social media and no privacy whatsoever. So glad I grew up not under a lens.
You missed out on one of the biggest parts of life by not having children.
We're also the generation that has impeccable manners, etiquette, & respect
I think we are actually the last one, all of the preceding ones were also great.
And had always good grades at school, were great athletes, were helpful to everyone, ... have I forgotten anything?
Edit: I forgot, we are extremely modest, of course.
P.S.: And we never lie.
And at the same time we really have a rebellious essence, unlike the more conformist boomers and millennials.
@@Isabel-qu3hl If a lot of kids dropped out before Grade 9, does that skew the picture some? I knew quite a few from low income households who dropped out. Pretty terrible considering.
😂 this comment has so much gumption, you're funny
I'm a Gen X'er born in 1966, I laughed at this video, the best way to know Gen X'ers is to talk to us. If you can cause the social skills of generations following us is lacking. Quoting stats don't mean anything, we know they can and are often altered depending on who's doing the survey.
We've watched the politics of the country change so many times it doesn't faze us. Cause in a few years it'll change all over again, what's going on today will change in the future it always have and always will. We know BS when we here it and aren't swayed by it.
We're problem solvers, we're independent not looking for a hand out from anyone most of all the government to define our future. We accept cultural differences and diversity, you do you, is one of our phrases.
We lived the technology shift from analog to digital and adapted and moved we it. We're not sensitive about trivial issues, like words in a song or political correctness. We're gonna be blunt honest and straight to the point telling you how we feel. If it hurts your feelings oh well it's gonna be the truth.
Change and adaptability is part of who we are but only when the change can be justified w/ cold hard facts. We prefer to do our own thing and not follow trends we value uniqueness, not look and act like everyone else.. When push comes to shove we rely on ourselves.
So quoting stats isn't a fair representation of who Gen X are we live through the cold war, watched the end and Russia fall. We've seen president after president lie get caught and nothing done about it. So yes we're a bit cynical but also optimistic about the future.
well said...we adapt and adjust, show mutual respect, and try to stay healthy to do our part
@@audreywoodcock3869
Thanks, it's hard for people who aren't Gen X'ers to actually understand us. That's why we're considered the lost generation, the boomers never tried to understand us. The millennials and gen z are so consumed by their phones tablets and social media to care about anything else.
Hold up. "Hand-outs" is the phrasing of conservative ideologues who think rolling back social nets established after WW2 is bringing the world back to what it should me, when men were more manly & women knew their place. You may not mean it that way, but the post-WW2 world was a nightmare for elites who were finally taxed like everyone else. A world where people live in fear for the next car accident, the next meal, the next unforeseen disaster is the world that created the 30s & fascism.
Diversity may be our thing -- I'm not sure. "Political correctness" was a boomer term, but I never got what was so oppressive about courtesy towards other cultures & lifestyles.
(can't seem to get into responding to the rest, I took the fun out of this)
Born in ‘74, was at the recycling center in my town yesterday. I heard a guy talking to his kids and I was mostly ignoring it because I was trying to load up my recycling. Finally I turned around and looked at him because his lingo and phraseology was so classic Gen-X. Even his cadence reminded me of my generation. I turned around to look at him, and sure enough, total Gen-Xer trying to casually and reasonably corral his kids! Lol! I could hear my own generation.
Xer's can build or fix anything, we don't read instructions, well listen to what you say but we really don't care. The f bomb was part of the language, we also gave respect to those who deserved it. We partied hard got no sleep, yet aged pretty well.
Saw a cute meme about us. We were 30 at 13yo and we are still 30.
Damn right!
A lot of the old shopping malls were abandoned, and now there are groups touring them as if they were ancient ruins.
lol
Wow
On road trips, the leaded gas fumes were compounded by both parents/grandparents smoking different brands of cigarettes in the front seat with all of the windows rolled up. It was a purely painful experience. Speaking up for yourself was considered absolute rebellion, often met with yelling. Then, as a college student, I starting doing that thing I once hated: smoking tobacco. Hated it as a kid; took right to it as a young adult. I'm smoking a gross cigarette right now. It is the only "living on the edge" thing I do these days. I feel like a rebel. LOL 😂
I turned to vaping a few years ago: cigarettes are over $15 a package now. Cinnamon red hots flavoured nicotine, I love it.
They Say vaping is safer than tobacco, and some of their points make sense, but then, it wouldn't matter. The health issues with smoking didn't stop me from smoking a pack a day plus. I'm a lab rat, they'll know more about the effects of it in twenty years or so.
I feel like my gen x predecessors did a lot to improve mental health access and reduce stigmas. 💙💙💙
We were the lab rats.
We were some of the first to experience TBI (traumatic brain injuries) at early ages due to our love of X Game sports like skateboarding.
@Chiara C you aren't kidding, helmets, pads, you puff... lol no wonder we're brain damaged
Thank you for aknowledeging that...many Gen X
"care so much" that we lay awake for days problem solving in our heads
Hey we had boomers for parents that's more than enough to drive anyone crazy. To save our mental health was telling our parents, what they could get, where to stick it and how deep they should stick it. We started the male earrings, tattoos just to piss them off so they'd leave us the hell alone. Pissing them off was our mental therapy.
We couldn't get a gen xer to host?
Probably any Gen X'er would have looked at this list and gone "well, most of this is bullshit, the other half is meaningless"
😂
Spitball her eyes
I can still remember how they said we would never make anything out of ourselves. I was an only child latch key kid that lived at least a mile from other kids. We definitely are self reliant and I can entertain myself, I have an amazing imagination
Let's not forget that Gen X knows how to amuse themselves & a great many of us were like "You want me to stay home for 2years? I can work from home? COOL!" I worked from home from 3/2020 - 3/2022 & loved every minute of it. I am currently waiting for my job to go to full time remote (different from the one I had during covid).
I do find it very annoying to be referred to as a Boomer by the Millennials on forward though. lol
A I would love to go the the exhibit in Illinois, I don't feel old until I think about how old my son (or any child I knew from their early days) is.
I am looking forward to being 55 - I want those discounts lol
As a kid born in ‘77 I was quietly confident when we entered lockdowns, It’s now August 2023 and I am still working from home, and it’s freaking awesome!
My wife also a Gen X'er too she refused to return to the office. Now she works from home 4 days a week and she's more productive too. I've been running my two businesses from home for the last 7yrs, as long as I got a laptop and a cell phone I'm good. I have no need or want to stand around the printer gossiping about meaning less BS.
At least people are finally admitting they were loving the 2020-22 economic, societal and education-destroying restrictions for selfish reasons! Signed, someone who likes wfh as much as anyone but doesn’t think we had to destroy the entire social contract to get there
@@Surreal452 it’s probably the only good thing to come out of those lockdowns, everything else was bad.
58 here and I don't feel old until I realize that my oldest will be 40 next year 😮😂
I still remember the tidal shift for TV when VCRs can online. Before that, you missed show air date...you had to wait for reruns.
Remember Beta? Those tiny "VHS" tapes? I came in at the end of generation x. August of 79. We had the beta and then we had the VCR. Still listen to records and 8-track. Cassette tapes where the thing CDs really weren't much of a thing when I was a little kid. I remember calling payphones to find my friends. So much. I miss those days.
@@SouthOfSanity79 79er here too.
Gen X was hit hard by 9/11 just as we were starting to settle in with our jobs and starting families. Then the 08 crash “depression” everyone somehow fails to mention.
Yeah, they act like that only hit the Millennials.
Born in 1963 here...I have way more in common with GenXers than I do with Baby Boomers. Was totally a latch key kid, both parents worked until they got divorced. I was always on my own. Personally I think the Cusp years between Boomer and X can be kinda hazy.
Born in late 64,September, and totally agreed.
Born in 64 and I totally agree. My theory is that because the Boomer births didn’t really get going until after WW2 they started counting in 1945 and just added 20 years (which is the typical number of years that define a “generation”). Strauss and Howe are the most well known generational experts and their studies have shown that the change in generational attitudes began to change with people born after 1960. There are always some stragglers in generational shifts so that might explain why some early Xers (especially those with older parents or siblings) identify with Boomers but from my experience most of us experienced classic Xer childhoods (we were latch key kids with our Moms working full time outside the house, we played with the computers and video game systems that our parents bought us thinking that they were somehow educational, lol and wasted a lot of our teen years watching MTV with friends).
Should split boomers. If you were born right after the war, you turned into a dirty hippie. If you were born in 60ish, you have more in common with early xers like me born in 72.
oh my god I'm dying here.@@tenofivelips
Gen X is between 1965 and 1980. You're right on the cusp. That's why Millinials born during the early to mid 80"s also relate more to Gen X than to Millinials and Zoomers born in 90's .
I read that book by Douglas Coupland when it came out and knew it was about my generation, a generation of lost souls who had no real guidance to speak of and everything taken away from them by the Baby Boomers who were literally only 10 to 15 years older than Gen Xers. I would say that I am an elder Gen X now and having lived through a lot of things including going to school pre-computer to having it then show up seemingly out of nowhere and in the school system overnight. I am happy that I have seen technology grow to the point where it is and I am happy to imagine how awesome it will be in the future. However, currently this is not the dystopian nightmare I signed up for. There are still too many things that need to be fixed. I can't even begin. I just thought life would be better. We were promised flying cars! I want my flying car, instant meals from pills, etc. My inner child is very disappointed.
Oh and we all have brain damage because of lead poisoning. 🤣
We. Were. Promised. Flying. Cars. Yes. I don't know who made that promise, but you heard it, too. I am disappointed.
Ya-
The Jetsons lied to us 😂
@@freqgirlyeah , I guess we must seem brain dead…. To ppl who believe in whatever statistics they googled 😅. Also , if raising myself, taking care of my siblings and keeping house for adults who were never home makes me a slacker , then what do we call ppl who disintegrate into a mental crisis wh/ they have to talk to a live operator .
@@AmericaJonesiepipesTalking to the machine pisses me off more than any other phone-related activity. I've cancelled accounts because of that stupid machine.
Aside from the novelty of actually being the subject for once, it was interesting to see what other people thought we were and are.
Re: political leaning (US) - an unfavorable opinion of Biden does not automatically mean you are conservative. There are plenty of us on the left who don't really think much of him either. Still voted for him, but I wouldn't be sad if someone else took over.
Retirement: The last job I had with a pension phased it out. I was one of the last people hired that got a pension, everyone after did not. Not that it mattered. We were all let go and I basically had to cash out my retirement to survive. I will be working until lunch the day of my funeral.
After school: Saved By The Bell was a young Gen X/Xennial show. Our after school shows were sitcoms from the '50s and '60s and '70s and the occasional animated show also from the '50s and '60s and '70s.
Also don't call us because we're not allowed to answer the phone when Mom's not home.
Agreed on the political part. No one on the left is taking responsibility for the disaster of the current administration. I am in NYC so surrounded by liberals and they keep digging the whole deeper . For example, "Biden isn't senile, all 79 year olds are like that." Which is insulting and not true. They refuse to analyze whether lockdowns worked or not here. They refuse to acknowledge crime because that is apparently a "right wing talking point."
Gen-Xers are tired of our nostalgia being poorly rebooted in movies and TV. They all suck and dont make us feel good about them.
I don't know. I feel like Stranger Things is doing an amazing job at it.
Apparently the new Beavis and Butthead film and the reboot of The Fraggles are excellent.
If they are done well, I don't mind as far as reboots go. When it comes to movies taking place in the 80's, it's fun to see where they go wrong. Being a nerd in the 80's wasn't secretly cool. Most of the teachers were as crappy to the nerds as the bullies, and I don't remember having any of the confidence you see occasionally displayed by the kids in Stranger Things. And your Boomer parents weren't supportive of your nerdiness. They wanted you to be popular and have popular friends instead of lingering in your room all day reading Sci-fi/fantasy books or playing Nintendo. There was also much less choice for foods and products, and the available jobs were crappy and paid very, very little. A lot of us had jobs as young teenagers, too, and they don't often show 80's movie kids having a job until the graduate high school.
@@btetschner there’s a reboot of the fraggles. Gotta find that
The Baby Boomers tried to call us all kinds of names. They were so full of themselves and their narcissism made them worship every birthday Bill and Hillary Clinton had as some sort of power "milestone" for their generation. I'm not sure where "Gen-X" came from as a name, but we had advantages over the previous generation, but we didn't take that for granted. As a Gen-X member, most of my suburban friends worked as high-schoolers to make money to pay for whatever. Feeling ignored by my parents and other family members was not my experience, but I know many who were. I hated being called "the sandwich" generation which was one of the names the BBoomers called us because they liked labels for what they created. That's all I have to say.
That slacker label was a lie, its been proven that Gen X'ers worked more hours per year than the previous generations that tried to brand us with that.
The Generation X moniker was created by the media in 1989 or 1990. Before that, we were called The Lost Generation.
*rolls eyes*
whatever.
I am part of the Gen X . I remember Drakkor Noir was my favorite scent. Ripped jeans and high tops. I miss the early 1990's the most. From 1990-1995 was the best time ever. Such good memories.
It was. Graduated in 1996.
We did have PCs, but they were REALLY expensive.
and not user-friendly
@@sarahbrown2789 - D.O.S. with a monochrome CRT monitor.
Best generation ever... and the 90s was our finest decade. Never better!
Say what you want but millennials and Gen Z always wear 80s gear, know 80's songs and movies by heart, and would live in the 80's if possible. Couldn't be that bad.
Early 80's interest rate on a mortgage was 18%. People are panicking over 7% today. You would have gotten your ass handed to you in the 80's.
@@robertauclair2278 My stepfather had to renew the mortgage on our house in 1980 or 81, I remember the gloom over the interest rate he was trapped into.
@robertauclair2278 Exactly! And cocaine was more expensive back then too.
As an older GenX myself, I really enjoyed this video and found a few shocking facts, as well. But yes, I think our defining trait is that we ushered in the Tech age. We were the first to grow up with video consoles and computers in our homes, and many of us remain tech-savvy to this day.
I think it was ushering in the Age of Cynicism.
Institutions were already starting with being defamed, and just kept getting worse with every passing decade.
I think Millennials have never known anything but war, and god knows how the rest of this century will play out.
Which video game consoles did you have?
The old school video games were great. 🎉
I liked the video game arcades.
Gen X - Tech Savvy, not Tech Dependent
I had dinner with Douglas Coupland in the early 90s. He wanted to meet my then-boyfriend, because he'd been in Slacker, "Steve with the van". I guess Douglas liked him so much he wrote an article for the NY Times, calling him "The Edie Sedgewick of our generation" or something to that extent.
I also got to meet Richard Linklater a few times while he was making "Dazed and Confused". He was a super nice guy, and it was great to meet him back then before he was such a famous director!
I love our generation, and I'd hate to be a little kid right now, growing up with an iphone. Kids should be outside, climbing trees, riding bikes, just doing kid stuff!
The 'Valley Girl' dialect may have started the upspeak and vocal fry phenomenon that is so common today, but it's the Kardashians that really blew it up. That show single-handedly turned the language into the conceited mess it is now.
As people who born in the late fifties my husband I feel more akin to gen xers than baby boomers. We came of working age during the Reagan recession years and have not received any benefits that our older siblings . Our entire working lives have been the experience of things being taken away..pensions insurance pay raises I could go on and on. In 1976 I started working at minimum wage 50 years later the same. Also college educated twice😂
Gen X kids: First thing you did when you got a new bike was take OFF the reflectors
Go to radio shack and get a 30ft phone cord so you could talk in your room
Stop by the 7-11 on the way to elem/middle school to load up on candy you could SELL IT throughout the day at school
Everyone knew where someone had built a RAMP
If you didnt own an atari you had at least one friend who did
BB guns were responsible for a lot of dead wildlife and broken glass
Schools never had the need to be FENCED and actually had WOODEN playgrounds with old big truck tires we used to hide in with the spiders
Skinned knees and elbows were badges of honor
Fire, oh how we loved fire
1 DOLLAR movie theaters
We built our own APARTMENTS in the trees
My theory is Gen X was the first generation that was psychologically manipulated in mass. Most of these first attempts were crude and easy to spot but it caused the kids to be less likely to be engaged and more likely to distrust almost everything. Lack of family interaction along with a quickly changing technologically landscape and quickly changing swings in economic conditions left a feeling of disconnection from society.
If Gen X is sometimes called the MTV Generation, does that make Millennials the Nickelodeon Generation?
Nope. We had that too. Original Nickelodeon and Nick at nite.
Nickelodeon made its debut in 1979.
@@btetschner Yes but it’s golden years we’re the late 80s and the 90s
@@DragonKazooie89 Which was supported by Gen X'ers (including myself). In the summer it was Nickelodeon by day, Nick at Nite at night.
I would probably say yes, because before NICKELODEON they had this on cable tv but it was on CBC Canadian Broadcast Television Canada 🇨🇦 the show was called “You Can’t Do That On Television!” And it was an absolute Classic to watch as well! But you had to have a good antenna for it to be seen on your tv 📺!
After watching this I have serious questions about where she got all this information. Almost none of it fit.
Actually I can say 80% does fit. The rest is debatable.
Have you guys noticed no one talks about us Gen X’ers? They jump right to millennials. Boomers and millenials. It seems it’s all there is. Also most of us are not aging like our parents did. I am 52 and look like I am 38/40.🤷🏻♀️ no one believes my age. Same with my sisters, cousins, friends. We don’t look like the40/50 year old people from when we were younger. Best generation EVER. The last best generation to put it exactly.
Foo. Lucky you. I must look my age, I get asked if I want senior discount cards & want to explode into tears every time.
I think it is because we are indoors more and smoke less.
Oh and our Mom’s were not offered hormone replacement therapy because of false clinical trial results. Low estrogen ages women.
We consume "nostalgia" thanks to technology and the internet. We can now experience everything that was happening anywhere we weren't as kids and teens and 20-nothings. If we were growing up country in the Ozark Mountains during the 70s and 80s, thanks to the internet we can now experience New Wave music, Valley Girls, or parachute pants.
Good point! A boatload of good music and tv and moves came out at once and I still feel like I've only consumed a fraction of it
A lot of you youngsters aren't aware that VR isn't new. When I was a teenager (I'm a GeXer BTW), VR was pushed heavily in arcades. We didn't take to it because it sucked. If anything, I'm way more excited about augmented reality headsets today than VR (which IMO still sucks).
That's because it never went anywhere
I do remember early VR. It was interesting, but it was limited. By technology or by the people working in it, I don't know, but it was limited.
@@RutabegaNG In the early 90s there was this movie with VR - Lawnmower Man. The movie was quite bad, but I enjoyed as a teenager the VR scenes.
I'm fine with 3d glasses not puking with a vr
That nasty grand theft auto smoke pot thing
Well, we're the first generation to have easy access to our nostalgia. Whereas prior generations had to do a lot of digging (figuratively speaking) to find/connect with stuff from their past. We're also the transition generation between the analog and digital world.
The phrase "The lost generation" was coined by Author Gertrude Stein to describe the young World War 1 veterans that she met in the 1920s. About a hundred years ago.
Sexual promiscuity is not surprising among Gen X. After all, one of our common themes was "If it feels good, do it."
We also know how to talk to each other in person, like down to earth normal people, which helps. I mean most of my high school class got along like friends so no wonder there was a lot of activity.
I think Millenials have gotten stuck with online dating apps, and I suppose it's harder to get things off the ground online, especially when it's a generation raised with porn, high expectations, etc.
My fellow gen X colleague once described our students (college), as "not ready for life". That is the feeling we have about the generations that came after us. We are the last generation who was allowed to play freely and to take some measure of risk as children. We climbed trees, we roller skated on roads, we came home drenched from head to toe or covered in mud, and sometimes bleeding. We spent hours without adults working things out with other chidlren. Having those kinds of experiences as children makes for fearless young adults and adults (having survived childhood). We are doing a complete disservice to our Gen Z children by overprotecting them. Forget about helicopter parenting, I've seen it described as bulldozer parenting. A helicopter parent allows their children to face life and hovers, ready to swoop in at the first sign of trouble. The bulldozer parent goes in first and tries to prevent any kind of difficulty to arise for their child. They will visit a college dorm and interview the roomates before their child even sets foot on campus. Baby boomers started that with the millenials they raised and we can't come back from that.
From one of the "grumpy" and "lazy" Gen Xers, my entire working career has been in the customer/public service area. My first job was in retail pharmacy and dealing with and serving sick people gave me the patience to deal with almost every type of person I now serve (even grumpy people 🙂). This list is great and spot on in many ways.
I spent 10 years in retail pharmacy. It teaches you patience and that everyone has value. I would be a much worse person without those years of experience.
Until my current position, the vast majority of my employment history involved customer service, and I was damn good at it. I never needed a manager's intervention. But I also didn't sugarcoat anything. I listen to people. I responded to what they said. And I didn't blow sunshine up their skirts.
Bad at customer service? I don't think so. Good at not taking it personally? I know that's true for me.
I appreciate people who are great at customer service. It's not easy. Personally, I'd rather get shot at than ever work customer service again, and I can say that from personal experience in Afghanistan.
Lol I was going to give this video an ironic up yours then I thought that would prove her point about that point. But I completely agree. Being someone who works with the public and feels we are the last generation that understands irony. Great point. 😊
Grumpy smurf I hate this girl
You do know that you have black gen x. We had fresh, Illing, word up, dope, etc
I'd have to say MTV really made an impact on us.
Old age? No baby, we're never going out of business
I’m in generation X and I’ve _never_ heard “based” being used as other than a present tense verb until just a year or so ago. And I’d rather not know what perverted meaning kids these days gave it as an adjective unless it’s rooted in the Latin _basis_ (base, foundation, pedestal.)
Context. She wasn't saying that was our slang, she was saying that was slang of a more current generation.
What does it mean as slang to the more current generation? I was born in 1977 and my children were born in 1994, 2003, and 2009. We are in every generation lol I haven’t heard of this slang.
To the maker of this video, I am a Gen X, and John Hughes is my father.
Yes, my dad was a Baby Boomer....so is mom.....my parents were born in the 50s....I was born in the 70s.....my siblings and I were the basis of certain characters, or characteristics......for example, I fucking hated going to school, and I tried many different things and ways to get out of it. I often succeeded. This would piss off my older sister a great deal, to the point she became very resentful.
My younger sister didn't get included much, not until at least the late 80s/90s stuff.....my older brother is included in various ways, even if he's not aware of it.
My older sister was, and is, a very stuck up, cruel, bitchy person. Sneaky & secretive.
She stole one of dad's cars once, and she was later caught in Iowa.
Dad even put us in a few of his movies....cameos, in the background....I'm in Career Opportunities...most of that was filmed inside the Target in Chino, California in 1989, at night, when the store was closed. I'm in the background during opening credits. I was 12 at that time. Dad died over a decade ago. I miss him. Mom is still with us, but not for much longer.
I loved your father’s films. They were to me the epitome of era. I grew up in a tiny town in a rural area (no McD’s for a 45 mile radius), so it was one of the only ways we could see what life was like in more suburban settings.
I loved your Dad’s movies!!! So cool of you to reply to this video!!!
Your father was an amazing film maker. To me, The Breakfast Club is the best representation of our generation EVER! I am a middle Gen Xer (1972) and the timing of it was perfect for me!
As a '77 baby, I'm actually drinking coffee and have am playing a game on my phone as I watch this video.
that's what I do too😂
I'm Gen X! Born 75. And I've never heard of those Coke cans!! 🤔🤔
Aug 25 78 here
'70 here and I have never heard of those either. I can see why they didn't go anywhere though. Yikes! Boomers trying to while actually not knowing anything about us, best I can figure.
Same here X😎
1976 here. I question the official GenX dates. To me it should be 1970 to 1978. Never saw those coke cans and never had to practice for a bomb in class. The dates shouldn’t include anyone born in the 1960s or the 1980s.
76 here and yeah, never saw those in my life
I've heard a different origin story, it said the term was based on the extreme difficulty marketing firms had when trying to advertise and otherwise market products to this age group, and therefore the answer to their problem = x.
That is one of the theories, yes.
For many generations x, consumerism was a trap they saw their parents fall into. They also had less disposable income, but also just found the advertising shallow and manipulative.
I'm an older Xer but finished university in 2001. Graduated with debt that will never match my salary. It is what it is but I wish I'd finished earlier and stuck with engineering.
I just think it would be strange to walk in a museum of my childhood bedroom when it REALLY wasn't that long ago. Maybe my Grandmas. She was born in '36. This is to let you young whipper snappers know that time really does fly!! And not even my grandparents ever used that phrase!! 😉✌💖 GEN X ROCKS!!! 🤘😝🤘
I am a supporter of the RUclips channel Our 80s Life. They often go to antique stores and find items they like.
They once said it has to make people feel old when the items they played with as children now are at antique stores!
Much of our experiences are now displayed in museums.
The whole tobacco thing is surprising. My boomer parents were both compulsive chain smokers. I lived the 70’s and 80’s encased in a cloud of cigarette smoke and had around 2-3 cases of bronchitis a year.
I figured most other Gen-Xers experienced the same thing and hated the idea of smoking as much as me.
I know, right? Most of my siblings don't smoke. We watched my mother died at 64 from smoking. We used to get after her all the time to quit.
I remember that cloud of smoke. I remember sitting on the couch and slumping down to dry and get below it. Born in 72.
Today I learned just how atypical I am as a GenXer (not that I'm surprised at all). Just about every time Erin said, "More than half of Gen X does/believes this," it was something I don't do/believe. 🤣
do you think millennial suits you better? I was born at the very end of 1980 so I am an inbetweener....maybe you are too 🤷♀️
@@blessedveteran I'm closer to the other end (born at the very beginning of 1968), but I'm even less like the Boomers than the GenXers. If Millennial does suit me better, it's not because I'm close to being one. 🙂 There are plenty of GenX elements that do fit me; it's just that the "more than half of GenXers" points in this video usually didn't. 🙂
@@btetschner Born in 1968, which is included in pretty much every definition I've ever seen of GenX. 🙂
@@btetschner No...
@@btetschner Yes, I'd say so. What do the other letters stand for? Google isn't finding anything helpful about this acronym.
I mainly feel cheated. We were brought up by either the silents or the boomers, and were told ‘get a decent job, work hard, and reward will follow’. It worked for them, right? Well, now I’m in my fifties and expect to reap what I sowed through the years. Nothing there. Retirement age, pension plans, shorter workhours, my own house, vacations, healthcare, it’s all gone or unbelievably expensive. Got a job I like with decent pay, thank god. But that one salary used to be enough for a whole family to live in reasonable comfort. Now it’s not. Payrises never kept up with inflation. I’m too old, unmotivated and not schooled enough to change career by now, so I’m stuck. And still I get told I should create opportunities, invest in myself and grab chances. I should keep on sowing and never ever expect to reap the rewards. They sell it like it’s a golden opportunity, too. The maniacs!
My dad could stop working altogether on a prepension at my age. I’m tired and turning sour in anger, with more than a decade to go yet.
That’s GenX to me. The promises made to us were all broken. So much for trust.
It's mostly the Boomers who tell that stuff "Get A Good Education" and "Get A Good Job" mentality. And the same Boomer, who never bother to tell their kids to watch out for a recession
Yeah, that's what my boomer mom told me and now I'm almost fifty and, though I have a graduate degree and a supposedly good job but it pays no more than what I would be making as an assistant manager at a fast food restaurant. I have zero retirement savings and rent an apartment. When I was a broke waitress they said "this is what you get for not finishing college." So I finished college and all the jobs I could get were bad and they said "that's what you get for not choosing the right degree." At this point I feel like they just keep moving the goal post. If I try to go back and get a tech degree then tech is going to become low paying and insecure. The boomers enjoyed the days of milk and honey and made sure to suck it all dry before the later generations could get any of it.
Gen X dude that recently retired from the military - we were the Global War on Terror generation (GWOT). No for or against it, just saying 9/11 affected our lives just as we were coming into adulthood. Was definitely gnarly
For sure!😊
Love being a Gen X!
Hi Millenial lady talking about Gen X in bullet points and not seeming to grasp some of the more comprehensive, unifying concepts. Maybe that is due to too much Powerpoint growing up? Also, how could you not mention that we were the first generation to go through puberty and become young adults when AIDS was spreading and not much was known about it, while many of the people we admired were dying of the illness, including artists, writers, friends...
As an old Gen Xer, quite literally from the first year, it's great to finally have some sort of discussion about us. It's usually Boomers then Millennials (my kids). (Edit: I wrote that before you mentioned it!)
Many good things happened but we tend to be a lot poorer than our older siblings. We went through the first post war housing boom then collapse, just when we'd bought our first houses at the high prices. Hence the worries about now.
I'm so glad I didn't grow up in the USA though, our typical names here sound a lot better to my ears.
Your point re us moving to the right is something I've noticed in people older than me. Funnily enough, at least here in the UK, Gen Xers I know have gone further left. We started more liberal (a bit left of centre) as a rule.
American Gen X'er here (born in 1979)....was there any cultural events that were distinctly British Gen-X there?
We had things like raves and pizza parties.
I'm gen-X in America and have gone from being somewhat liberal to about as far left as you can get - extreme progressive... But then, I don't think it's my positions changing so much as the spectrum here in a America sliding VERY hard right. The center here is now what would have been considered far right conservative when I started voting.
@@backpacker3421 Exactly this. Having an unfavorable rating of Biden does not automatically mean your conservative. He's too far right for me. Still voted for him, but he's too far right. He is a bit better than he was when he was VP.
@@backpacker3421 i agree I'm tok am American genx, I'm conservative on some issues and liberal on others, we are more center today, because of spectrums sliding
I think genxers are balanced conservatives
I agree with most of these facts. Gen X is definitely the best generation, we can handle technology, yet still have conversational skills. We are F'd when it comes to retirement though, unless you are lucky. Boomers definitely are the generation that reaped the benefits with the ability to actually retire and live comfortably.
Fight Club was right: we are the middle children of history.
It’s an odd comment, “The micro generation known as xennials failed to catch on.” As though all of us and the unique set of foundational experiences that make us distinct from garden variety Gen Xers just sort of faded out of existence? I promise we are still here and still very much defined by having grown up in the landline/rabbit ear antenna/huffy banana seat age, yet being young enough still when the information age started to be the first native users. It’s not a trivial distinction.
Born in 1980 and when I try to hang out with actual real people, I either feel like the baby in the group of Xers or old dude in the group of millennials, and people act like I don't really fit Also: people need to be nicer to eachother. Who cares if I have a little gray at the temples? People are all basically the same. Who cares if we listened to different music in 1993
Yeah, the xennial thing is definitely real. I was born in 76 and usually have way more in common with people born in 81 or 82 then I do with people born in the mid sixties. Those folks seem like young boomers to me.
On the subject of reboots and remakes, Gen X had to suffer through plenty of Boomer nostalgia in our time. When Millennials move into positions of power in Hollywood, you'll see Millennial nostalgia take over, and eventually Gen Z will have its time.
I think generation turnover explains a lot of the periodicity in fashion, entertainment, and home trends.
If you grew up genx, you'd know automatically that any idea or definition as to WHY we were called genx meant absolutely nothing to us, we didn't care. The closest we EVER came to caring about the title GenX was that it had the letter X and we were in it's defined timeframe. These people explaining WHY and WHAT genx is/means actually knows nothing about it.
Being born youngest of four kids in 1965, the oldest Gen Xer I caught the end of Vietnam war, the Hippies, I remember seeing the Manson girls with shaved heads in front of the LA courthouse, I was made to sit down and watch the Apollo moon landing, Nixon resigning, and the gas crisis when there were odd and even number days when you were allowed to buy gas or not. I remember on the last Friday of every month at 10:00 am the air raid sirens would sound off and we would be in class, except summer time, and we had to get under our desks as if that would help during a nuclear strike. I remember disco becoming huge and then the trend was country western then punk rock and new wave. I remember a friend who had cable tv before everyone else had thrown a party for the very first airing of MTV and the first video played was a band called The Buggles and the song was Video Killed The Radio Star.
We watched Michael Jackson go from a Black man to some kind of whitish freak but was the biggest pop star in the world. We lived through the end of the cold war, AIDS, here in LA the Bloods and Crips gang violence, crack cocaine, New Wave, Grunge, beepers, then cell phones, we went from vinyl records, 8 track tapes, cassette tapes, still vinyl records, then compact discs, Sony walkman, Sony Discman, from having 5 channels on television, black and white tvs, having to get up and change the channel yourself, to cable, satelite tv, video games were brand new playing pong on tv, then Atari, Sega, desk top computers where you didn't have graphics for games you typed in DOS and responded to directions.
I think we went through the most changes in technology. We saw microwave ovens become a household product that not everyone had. Skateboards went from metal or clay wheels to urithane and changed the sport forever. Too many things to list.
I don’t know. There is/was a generation that went from horses to trains to automobiles, the introduction of telephones, electric lights, radios, black and white tvs then color tvs. From silent movies to talkies. Outhouses to indoor plumbing. Refrigerators and gas/electric stoves. While dealing with several economic depressions and many wars.
@@juliefore you are not wrong but, yoy are talking about a span of almost 200 years. Think about what progress has been made in the last 50 or 60 years.
I knew people who still has an outhouse and not an indoor bathroom. We saw the propeller airplane turn jet, then going to the Moon. I remember only having black and white televisions with only four or five stations to choose from, having one telephone in your house and it was installed where you wanted it but it was there forever. If you wanted to talk privately you had to beg your parents to spend the extra money for the phone company to install a long curly six foot cord between the handset you held to your head and attached to the body of the phone , it also had a rotary dial for entering phone numbers. Then there were cars that didn't have radios, you had to order it special and you got AM radio with one small speaker in the top of the dashboard that might as well have been a paper cup with a string attached
There were car phones back ij the 1970s but it was more like a two way radio but you needed an operator to connect you to someone's land line and it was super expensive. Then the pager became popular then the "Brick" cell phone by Motorola, a giant the size of a brick and shaped like obe also, phone that was very expensive to buy so there wasn't many people you could call, plus the phone company charged you for outgoing and incoming calls. And then pocket electronic games and then Blackberry personal devices and then cell phones became affordable, kinda. Then the home computer, etc... there are too many things to list that we don't think twice about how we lived without things before. Things that some people who are under 40 or 30 and definitely those younger than that who just assume we've always had these modern conveniences.
Every generation goes turough it to a certain extent.
There are some people around the world who still live like Westernized Countries did before electricity and before having cars and still cook and heat their huts or shacks with fire and have to get water from wells, and it wouldn't take a whole lot of some bad events and or bad politicians to put us right back in that way of living almost overnight. We're finding out new things daily that point at the fact of mankind having been in way more advanced civilizations than we have now but being wiped off the planet through disaters or war and not just once but many times we have had to start over from the beginning with no available information or history to teach us about what we had before. What scientists and archeologists are finding is being taken and hidden from the average people by the politicians and religious leaders so that they can remain in power by having us believe their lies about how we've only veen able to thibk as modern beings for thr last 10,000 years which is absolutely a blatant lie.
@@13_13k I was more thinking of my Grandparents who were born in the 1880’s and died in the 1970’s and how much change they went through. From not having a phone to having a phone. From driving a living being to driving a machine (horse->car) etc. We are not the only people who went through massive shifts in technology as a generation.
And yes, if you’re curious, my parents were both born in the 1920’s. So I’m totally out of the boomer parents debates. lol
You're responses here are really interesting -- thanks @@13_13k
@@juliefore I doubt things will stop changing either. In fact, the changes are just speeding up. In 100 years who knows what thing swill be like. Will humans even live in bodies in the "real world," or everyone live as part human-part-AI meta-cyborgs in virtual reality?