Tap to unmute
The Psychology Of Gen X (Raised Without Applause)
Embed
- Published on Apr 14, 2026
- What shaped the psychology of Generation X? In this video, we break down the Gen X mindset, exploring their emotional toughness, independence, skepticism, and the lasting psychological effects of growing up amid economic instability, rising divorce rates, and rapid cultural change.
• The Psychology Of Gen ...
Born roughly between 1965 and 1980, Generation X is often labeled the “forgotten generation,” yet their psychology has quietly shaped modern work culture, parenting approaches, and broader social norms. Traits like self-reliance, emotional restraint, dark humor, cynicism, and adaptability set Gen X apart from both Boomers and Millennials, forming a distinct psychological identity.
In this video, you’ll discover:
The defining psychological traits of Generation X
How latchkey childhoods, emotional neglect, and constant media exposure influenced their development
Why Gen X prioritizes independence, authenticity, and realism
How economic uncertainty and institutional distrust shaped their worldview
Key psychological differences between Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z
Why Gen X is often overlooked, misunderstood, yet remarkably resilient
This deep dive blends social psychology, generational theory, and cultural analysis to explain how and why Generation X thinks, feels, and behaves the way they do.
If you’re curious about generational psychology, human behavior, or why Gen X tends to avoid external validation in ways other generations don’t, this video is for you.
👍 Like, comment, and subscribe for more videos on psychology, generational analysis, and human behavior.
REFERENCES:
1. Latchkey Children Statistics
○ Long, T. J., & Long, L. (1982). "Latchkey Children: The Child's View of Self Care." American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 52(1).
○ This study documented the prevalence and psychological impact of unsupervised after-school care in the 1980s.
2. High-Contingency Environments and Development
○ Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and Human Behavior. New York: Macmillan.
○ Foundational work on how immediate consequences shape behavior and cognitive patterns.
3. Defensive Pessimism
○ Norem, J. K., & Cantor, N. (1986). "Defensive Pessimism: Harnessing Anxiety as Motivation." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1208-1217.
○ Research on how anticipating negative outcomes can be an adaptive coping strategy.
4. Generational Work Patterns
○ Center for Generational Kinetics. (2016). Generational Breakdown: Info About All of the Generations.
○ Research on workplace characteristics across different generations.
5. Social Support Seeking Patterns
○ Sheldon, P., & Antony, M. G. (2019). "Generational Differences in Use of Social Media and Attitudes Toward Organizations." Journal of Adult Development, 26(2), 163-171.
○ Study examining how different generations approach social support and communication.
6. Deeper Encoding and Effort in Learning
○ Craik, F. I. M., & Lockhart, R. S. (1972). "Levels of Processing: A Framework for Memory Research." Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 11(6), 671-684.
○ Classic research on how effortful processing leads to better memory retention.
7. Cold War Psychological Impact on Children
○ Greenwald, D. S., & Zeitlin, S. J. (1987). No Reason to Talk About It: Families Confront the Nuclear Taboo. New York: Norton.
Research on how Cold War anxieties affected child development and family psychology.
Disclaimer: This channel is created for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to replace professional psychological, medical, or therapeutic advice.
![Blueface Ft. Stunna Girl - Bricked Up [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/GJ5s2iBZ06E/mqdefault.jpg)
Hey guys, thank you so much for watching and supporting Big Brain Explains. If you love what we do, please buy us a coffee through the link below.
Every single contribution no matter how small keeps this channel alive and means everything to us. We appreciate every single one of you. ☕👇
ko-fi.com/bigbrainexplains
Outstanding!!!
In the corporate world one of the valuable classes I thought with all the training they're trying to get us to get all get along with the realization we have four generations now working together and that a lot of the problems that we're having might be due to the fact that there's a problem of communication due to generational expectations and misunderstandings of these .
Existing altogether where people of many different nationalities races or creeds
This isn't just about the people you work with it's about the people who are our clients, neighbors and perhaps a growing family of complexity at home.
And this is a fundamental problem today in this nation and in the workplace and it will continue to be more complex as each variable added makes things exponentially more complicated.
And as long as people don't want to talk to each other or can't talk to each other or afraid to talk to each other and don't understand each other it's going to be easier for them to despise one another and not work together.
In other words;
We must learn to learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."
- Martin Luther King Jr.
Be responsible for your thoughts because they manifest in reality.
- anonymous
Our attitude towards others determines their attitude towards us.
- Earl Nightingale
Men often hate each other
because THEY fear each other;
THEY fear each other
because THEY don't know each other;
THEY don't know each other
because they cannot communicate;
THEY cannot communicate because they are separated.
- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.
- James Baldwin
Hate is not the opposite of Love; Apathy is.
-Rollo May
Only the unloved hate.
- author unknown
I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.
- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
In other words the problems you might be having with people is not because they have a problem with you they have a problem with another's acumen or their sincerity or abilities, but often it comes down to just one word, attitude or maybe another word a sense of entitlement or expectation.
Through nonviolent communication as exemplified through the work of the late Dr Martial Rosenberg this could be avoided and through this sort of diplomacy we wouldn't have the problems we've had and we'd get through a lot more problems and we wouldn't be able to dehumanize people so much and we would be able to overcome many of the obstacles if only we can get past our heads, not the problems in and of themselves.
This isn't bad news or to be discouraging it's basically having someone show you why you couldn't solve a problem and people thought there's a problem with the question or it's not possible when in reality once it's explained clearly on the chalkboard everyone gets it, and the the class or the crew exclaims together, ohhhh!.
Eureka!
BTW
There's a reason why people digging for gold don't come back to tell everybody how much they found and where they found it at with an invitation to come back and let them show you. But the idea that they're not finding gold and not wearing it doesn't mean what you might think it means.
Gold by the way, is where you find it, and where you stumble perhaps there it is and the obstacle becomes the way. Opportunity that looks like work.
Oh my!
Generation X Gen X '65-'80
ruclips.net/video/f6IOe2XJd_U/video.htmlsi=UPfw8MoSOFdZ52Js
Nm m
We are better just as the World War II generation showed us what true sacrifice means. So now lie and state that generation that did no have any modern day convenience with electricity and running water and heating and due for cars did not understand responsibility and survival. You are spoils and ungrateful. Afghanistan shows you what you could be like and you would not survive because you were never showed how to survive with nothing and live directly off the land and sea!
First 50yrs of childhood are so important! 🤭
Stress? Stress is something you need to do like go to work. To relieve that stress is to do it. That's the first 2 hours, you still have the rest of the day to deal with others lol.
Who remembers reading encyclopedias when bored?
Still do
1,000 percent
And dictionaries 😂
And reading the back of cereal boxes…while eating breakfast
Weed books in the library senior year high school
One thing definitely shaped our relationships: We don't fear being alone. We've always been alone.
Yes, and it hits hard when you've been trying to convince you otherwise for decades. Eventually, you are.. enlightened.
Quite a few of us actually prefer it.
I thrive alone and learned to think for myself. Could care less about others approval
So f*cking true. I share those same sentiments.
I love being a loner just have associates and don't get involved in anything
"they will never ask you for help with their problems because they've solving their own problems since they were 8 " - so true
Yes even going through their parents divorce they brought on themselves 😏
Exactly!
Plus, I think a lot of us were socialized into not asking for help. "Grown ups" are self-sufficient and pull themselves up by their bootstraps, yada yada yada.
Why would I ask someone else? Everything we needed was available to us...the library, the dictionary, the encyclopedia, the newspaper, etc.
I'm annoyed that he's making it sound like good things that parents weren't available, and that swift discipline - which was frequently spanking - had only healthy results.
To my generation X brothers and sisters... I wish you all well🙏🏻👍🏻
Same to you bud - keep your head down, we know how to survive what is coming but its gonna suck regardless.
Cool thanks
@Coyotecyb Yeah man, gonna suck bad and we'll pick up the pieces and keep going. It's what we do.
You too🫡
For you too.
Who else kept a dictionary next to their bed to occasionally look up words while reading? Better yet: Who else actually READ the damn dictionary? 😂
👋
🖐🏼
Me read and memorize from alphabet A
I had a dictionary and a notebook, I'd find the word and then write it and the meaning in the notebook, because I knew the act of writing it down would help me remember the word, I could also go back over them if I forgot. I recently suggested that to my 2 young daughter's(8 & 11 year old), they looked at me like I was an alien 😂
Born in 1985, I relate
Love the “we respect competence not titles”. Spot on.
Absolutely! Don’t give a damn what your title is-can you do the effing job😅
✊🏼
How is that a Gen X thing? Seems like common sense.
@Li-rm2gjbut it’s not.
@tanyabrown5525 At work, when I think about asking that question regarding my co-workers, "can you do the effing job .." , well, the answer is usually no. And we're not talking no for 1 out of 2, but more like 3 out of every 4. Many will claim that they know their job, but when things go awry, well, it's then when you find out how little they truly know. They can handle most day to day things if they do it often enough; but anything out of that scope, well,.. I work I.T. at a multi-billion dollar corporation.
Two of us are contemplating retirement as early as the end of this year; it will cause chaos because about 75% of the remaining are not used to thinking for themselves. Most of that 75% want someone else to tell them what to do, when, and how to do it, to the point of "Log into this", " Click this", "Select that", "put this value into this field", "now click this", "put in these entries", etc.. In the 22 years I've worked here, literally, I have never written myself "instructions" that I opened up and followed to perform any daily, weekly, monthly, etc task. I've always tried to understand the system so that I'm ready for the possibilities; the others, well, they want someone to spell everything out for them so that they don't have to think about anything.
To be fair, I recently heard that the others were warned, by management, NOT to irk either or because they might just decide to quit ; and management can't afford for either of us to quit. Yet, our pay raise for this year, given less than a month ago, was a measly 1%, or at least mine was.
Fun fact: When others are making significant documented changes, usually there's a requirement for pre-change checks to ensure things will work as expected: Jeff and I ( the two guys contemplating quitting) counter by making the joke that we've just checked our 401K balances, so we're both good to go, inferring we can quit if the task goes sideways..
Who remembers riding your bicycles 15 or 20 mi from home and nobody ever found out as long as you made it home before the street lights came on.
Yep. And, when you came home after the darkness set in, your Dad whooped your ass. (This happened to me and my friends and we were all having problems sitting down the next couple of days!)
Fun times no worries,👍 other than ass kicking! ...😅
Right on
@realismatitsfinest1haha yep the belt was real.
Summer day in 1980, nine years old, rode the bike too far with my friend, discovered a lake and rolled our flared jeans above our knees and paddled. We didn't realise there was a big drop twenty feet out, I went under and almost drowned. Can still remember scrabbling to find the underwater ledge, and the relief getting to the shore. We quietly rode home, never told our parents. Went back with my husband and son during Covid pandemic, boy did that bring back memories (Hawley Lake in England).
As our generation begins to step out of the workforce this next decade, the world will wonder why nothing is getting done, and nobody will know how to fix it.
I say that all the time, once all Boomers and Gen X retire good luck.
😂
So true!
💯
:-D :-D
The generation that still look young but have been adults since they were kids.
Word!!!
Or are still waiting to "become adults" in their 40s because as kids they thought something must change at some point, but it always have been this way and it never changes
👌
I said this exact thing to My older brother a few days back.
🙌🏻
And we were left in the car alone 😂
or mom sent us to the store on our bikes ar 8 years old
Left in the car alone listening to Don McLean’s “Starry Starry Night” and Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle”😭
Car running as dad runs in The packie for beer. But we could take his ( and neighbors) cash and by cigarettes as the gas station for them and they usually let you keep the change
Plus. Had to cross highway to buy them
* buy. Grammar police coming for me😃
Ps. Left in car with my siblings as my dad was in some random woman’s apartment cheating on mom …
What none of these videos add is that the oldest kid was also watching thier siblings and were in charge.
Which also got them the privilege of riding shotgun for all car trips!
Except us that had another GenX younger sister that TOTALLY dominated the situation 😀
As the youngest of three, I'd often had my older brothers looking out for me growing up. It's probably why we're still so tight after all this time.
Ohh, good lord, how I HATED that!!! Most of the time, my kid brother BARELY listened!!
Completely 👍🤙
That quiet time after school was a godsend for mental health. Just me and the cat hanging out for a couple of hours until the noise and chaos resumed.
Unfortunately I had 2 sisters 😂
You're absolutely right...
Allowing yourself to just do nothing / get bored every now and then, really has gone out of fashion.
The Rat Race used to be at work.
Now it's absolutely _everywhere_
So true i honestly think those few hours alone every day must of changed our minds .actually getting bored . And reading the labels on cleaning products on the toilet. Not just once haha but daily.
@gerard2575...and I thought all the time I was the only weirdo kid who read the labels of cleaning products every time I was on the toilet...😅
so true
Waiting for the Saturday morning cartoons and color comics at the back of Sunday newspaper ads 😊
PREACH!!!! 😂 I miss those days!!
Getting up at 6:55 a.m. and your bowl of cereal ready for the Saturday morning cartoons to start at 7 a.m. that lasted until 11 a.m. Good times
@Mike-t8n2d😂😅😂
@Mike-t8n2d, I don't understand how people forget food in the oven or microwave
Saturday morning cartoonssss
Who remembers making mix tapes waiting for your song to come on the radio lol or stuff the corner with tissue to record over something .. man I miss the old days
i have a spotify playlist called mixed tape. i didn't know what else to call it.
1000%. Even call radio stations & request a song. Then wait 2 hrs for it to be played w/fingers on "PLAY & RECORD" simultaneously. It was a great time to be growing up. Born in 74'.
You always get the radio announcer talking over the end of the song
My brother and I called those tapes K-tels, (though we spelled it "Katel" because we only heard and did not see the name) because K-tel made that type of LP. I even had occasion to TRY to make such a collage of hits on an 8-track tape now and then - and anyone who remembers those knows just how hard it was to fix a mistake, since there was no Rewind. Born in '67.
and using a pencil to rewind one tape while waiting to record over another
We are the last generation to remember what life was like before cell phones.
I'm technically a millennial and cell phones weren't really around until I was in college. I mean... some people's dad's might have had one while we were in high school... but yeah, by adulthood cellphones were a thing. Followed swiftly by smart phones.
and it was a hell of a lot better back then.
I think that would be millennials who didn't have cell phones until college or maybe highschool.
We learned from the greatest generation since parents were divorced and living the young single life. Self-discipline, frugality and dependability were core values. It felt like all the hard work paid off too, the budget was balanced, no wars for a decade, no more iron curtain, we welcomed the new millennium then boom everything went to crap.
@132df Yes it was.
Its hard to believe that this is a real thing, but after seeing the Work ethic and the general attitude of other generations I see X is really unique.
I was not prepared for how accurately this video describes my generation.
Me neither. Its so spot on!
I had a stay at home Mom and STILL felt totally alone in my home
Shockingly spot on. Hit deep.
I totally agree its so surprisingly accurate as to how i grew up, all you had to rely on was yourself no one else, all the traits good or bad are so highly recognizable. When i need help might take me months to actually ask for it, when someone else needs help instantly helping out.
100%
No longer thinking of it as being traumatized. I think of it as being trained to be an elite force of awesome.
This!!!!
100% ! It made us strong and able to think and solve problems instead of crumbling under pressure. Basically, the way a human is supposed to be.
Facts.
That’s exactly right. 👍
Fuckin right?
Its actually liberating to know i dont fuckin need anyone, youre in my life because i want you to be not because i need you to be, that goes for friends, family and lovers
The fact that Gen Xers are the only people watching a video on Gen X is the most Gen X thing ever.
This is my favourite comment.
LoL 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I can't Stand the children coming up now, highschool age, I never experienced such entitlement, such spoiling, and YES, this includes several family members, we became almost invincible, and what we are bringing up are totally incapable.
@patriciacook3981 this is so true!
I think u need to edit this
True story
If there was one thing I could give the current generation, it would be the feeling of what life was like looking “up” instead of “down”. The phones and computers are nice, I like them, and they can be great tools. However, there’s a whole world out there and it’s not in the palm of your hand.
I didn't realize that it was a generational thing. I just thought that was my personality.
No, you are our people. ❤
And it's so ALL over the western world, not just the USA...
I'm proud to be
an Gen X'er!
The time of real long during friendship, real good music and movies. Freedom to explore your capacities.
U r not alone my friend. (Me born in ‘76)
Well, you were taught you suck it up buttercup. That was what it was, you don't like it? Do something better to change it but what you didn't do was mope in a corner. Or go on your mobile phone and mope about your life to an entire world of strangers and act like your little phone is your bestie. How sad for some of those kids of today.
We were the generation that parented ourselves
We were 30 at 10 and we are still 30 at 50.
@sid2112This. I concur emphatically.
The more years click by the more I'm thankful for most aspects of Latchkey Life, even the beatings (learning consequence was huge whether painful or not!).
@sid2112 This is the most gen x thing I have seen. I was making breakfast and dinner for my sister at 8, yet playing videogames with my friends at 50. Became a Marine somewhere in the middle. Would not trade any of it for any other era too.
@crowttubebot3075 Damn straight. Well done, Marine from an old DoD network engineer. I was the guy who made the internet go for you guys in the sandbox.
We were the generation that often parented our parents
born in 1969 ....so grateful for the 70's 80's 90's best time to be alive
Agreed
Facts
Yep, I had so much fun being a kid & young adult in the 70s-90s.
I wish we could go back.
facts.
I am gonna show my kids this so maybe it will help them to understand their mother and I.
Same here!! They do already say mom you’ve been an adult your whole life. I mean they spent a lot of time with their grandparents they know.
We rode our bikes, climbed trees , played outside.
Best generation ever.
Even Bullies got Bullied.
Yes❤ lots of bikes and trees and the park
❤❤❤
...and we matured into a flourishing of exciting, organic music scenes, full of free-spirited, laid back, independently thinking, open-minded, creative people who weren't looking over their shoulders, free to create some of the best music since the 1960s, much of which is still regarded as classic.
I was born in 1962, I did the same stuff even though I'm a late Boomer!
We’re not pessimists. We’re realists.
Exactly
This is how I describe myself.
Also, had someone tell me this week "You should have been a lawyer" lol
George Carlin once said scratch the surface of cynic and you'll find an idealist, that's so true.
I've always have said this
I say this to my kids all the time
One of the best quotes ever, “Gen X: adulting since elementary school.”
Love that haha #truth
This is probably going to sound nuts but I was getting up and getting dressed and going to church at 4 for something to do, my brother started kindergarten at the church so I knew where it was. Eventually someone followed me home, that sucked. Getting in trouble for going to church, lol. One of my cousins oldest knew how to microwave his own dinners by himself before he could read, he knew the picture on the box and the buttons to push, passing along generational trauma.
Great one!
Grew up as a poor kid, both parents worked. I was adulting before I had facial hair. I was born in 1981, I'm far from a millennial. No social media, don't care for having too many friends, rather be alone or hanging out with old friends whom I've known for 30+ years than going out and socializing. I rather be out in the yard working on something than sit there on my phone. Give me my gas engines and plastic bags, stop trying to control my life.
@DroneStrike1776💯💯💯
My sister and I played in the woods all day with no supervision, rattlesnakes and all. We survived. I started working at 13.
Recording songs off the radio and praying the DJ would stop talking to get the ending.
And being so disappointed when they cut your favourite ones early. Good old days 😂❤
:)
Exactly 😂
@karls432Yup
Or off those “Pick XYZ number of cassettes for a penny” deals. Columbia House?
The good old days of leaving the house to go play with friends, and coming back when the street lights turn on. Nobody worried or bothered about us and it was a rare form of freedom that doesn’t exist nowadays.
Unless like me you lived in the middle of nowhere so there were no kids OR parents around. Truly a lonely existence but that just created imagination and resilience.
If mom wanted me home sooner she would whistle. I could hear it from a block away.
We had the best time, playing outside with the other kids in our neighbourhood. Summer holidays was endless adventures that made great memories as kids from that time. Friendships were formed for life 💛
Our world was a safer place then. I walked to and from school 3 blocks when I was 6.
And we played by the sea.
Gen X will never ask for help but if anyone else needs help they are first to lend a hand! Amen!
That was me until I came to the realisation
How do you like a comment twice... ❤
So true ❤!
All me. Im too stubborn to accept help cause i know ill figure things out eventually. A trait i learned as a kid. But ill ALWAYS help a person in need. Depending on the need lol
True!!!!
Ah man, this brings back great memories despite all the growing pains. The No pain no gain generation...rock on!
You forgot the section of “I’ll give you something to cry about”
Gen X = Leaders who are winning. It was the best time to grow up. Life was so good in the 80's before cell phones. I can not complain about the internet, as I helped build it. But as a whole, life was better for Americans in the 80's 90's
and into the 2000s. Facts.
I’m gen x. Me and my high school gf used to say we were gonna name our kids. “Why I oughta “ and “ I’ll give you something to cry about “
I remember that
I remember "If you are going to die, can you do it quietly?" :)
Don't forget "You're going to school if you have to go in an ambulance!".
Who remembers looking through the Sears and JC Penny catalogs? I loved it.
At Christmas my sisters and I each had a shape we had to draw next to what we wanted for Christmas. We fought over who got the catalog first as soon as it came in. My mom would pick up 2 more when she went into the store to keep us all alive. Lol We loved it!
@tianerose7736 same except we had different color pens
Holy Sears & Roebuck Batman! I just got a 3 level, 100 yr old house with built in metal kitchen cabinets from Sears & Roebuck! I still can’t believe it 🤣 The drawers & cabinets are solid as F! Still smooth rollers! I’ve been trying to get this guy to sell it for years (his folks passed away 6 years ago & he had it condemned just to get rid of the junkie nephew ruining the place. We got it complete with Sears & Roebuck metal kitchen cabinets 🤣🤣🙈
Ah yeah man that was first fapping material! Good times
For back to school and Christmas!
"Bored? Worried? Depressed...? Get over yourself and figure it out." -Gen-X
Riding your BMX bike fixed all of those things.
@ChrisG.34 Freestylin', bustin' moves, and poppin' tricks.
And you didn’t find something to do, my dad would give you something to do. And that was not fun.
Me coming from school: Mom, I go bullied.
Mom: Well, bully them back.
Me: ...
Mom: I dunno, kick them in the shins, do SOMETHING ...
I once said i was bored when at home as a kid and my dad made me cut the lawns….and never again did insay i was bored..lol and yes we read books and had a sense of humour
Who remembers almost murdering friends by accident with dumb ideas we thought would be fun ... without parents to save us?
Gen X didn’t need a phone book in our pockets. We had it in our heads. 30 years later and I still remember everyone’s number.
Wow.....it was the same with self. The entire office depended on me for a number, especially when they were in a hurry. However, now I'm exactly the opposite. Waves and waves of trauma have affected my memory most of all. No complaints though coz I reckon it as a sort of blessing in disguise.
Yepp so true
Speak for yourself. LOL I have forgotten all the old numbers. And I did carry a small pocket book when I met people. I remember throwing it out in the late 90s when I got my first cell phone. Yes, we have been dumbed down.
My fastest easiest 4 digit password is the last 4 digits of my phone number when I was 5 and had it memorized
@ninaballerina2807
I'm sorry to hear that. Stay strong.❤
Born in 1975, I grew up a latch‑key kid, slipping into an empty house after school and loving the quiet freedom. I learned to cook, wash dishes, wash clothes, finish homework without supervision, and entertain myself long before adulthood demanded it. That independence shaped me-made me resourceful, confident, unafraid to be alone. People call it neglect now, but to me it was training for life, a childhood that taught me how capable I already was.
Dude me too exactly
I never felt neglected...I savored being alone! I still do.
Same, this guy clueless and probably half our age or more to make such ridiculous statements about an entire generation.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Technically, it is neglect. We just don't care 😂
Boomers didn't care or know how to. It was a changing world for them. Moms could no longer stay home but there was no infrastructure to help them with that except grandma's, aunties or neighbors house... occasionally. So they treated us like little adults and demanded that we step up and learn and be useful to ourselves and them, because they needed us to be. It was life and we figured it out without feeling traumatized. That's our super power. Although some of us do need therapy to tone tf down. Because we're competent at everything, we did everything for future generations making them look at neglect and emotional abuse much differently than we do. We take everything in stride (this does not mean we're not affected, that wall, the coldness, is a defense mechanism) while newer generations highlight every wrong and expect a response. We don't. We adapt, we adjust, we cope. We're ok with that 👍🏽
You never told your dad that you were bored. "Your bored! I'll find something for you to do!!"
Haha! Yup...
😁
So true 😂😂😂
😂😂
Boredom is an important part of developing well rounded character
Who else remembers flipping through encyclopedias when boredom struck? Hours would pass as I jumped from one random topic to another-long before Google was even a thing. It felt like going on a mini adventure without ever leaving home. Those were the days! 📚✨
Born in '72 here. Atari and MTV were my babysitters.
Me too
Then came Nintendo
Building models without the instructions. Only to watch your parents freak out that they can't do it. And you're only eight lol.
You were rich. The nutjobs outside was my babysitter
Same and Oh man when the Atari 5200 came out !!! 1972 🙏🏼❤️
I'm 57 and I actually miss when no one acknowledged us, you do your thing and I'll do mine.
Also 57 and I couldn’t agree more 😎
I find that Generation X doesn’t go into the 1960’s
They are very different from us
56 and I agree!!!
I still hate being singled out for “good” work.
@valagal ha! and I just thought I felt like that b/c I was raised Catholic.... I get the double effect
You make the Gen X character look unhappy, but actually, Gen Xers, like myself, LOVED the independence and freedom. I am biased, but I think we are the most well-adjusted of them all.
and STILL do!!
Totally agree
We're well adjusted because we learned from a young age to just roll with the punches
I'm so happy...because I lived inside my head...
Your not biased, your right.
1977 here. This is so spot on. I was a latch key kid. I remember bomb drills at school. Corporal punishment was delivered quickly and harshly, sometimes in public, but once it was over, it was over. Had to get home before the street light came on. My bicycle was my 1st sense of freedom. My friends were everything. Learned to fend for myself. It was a great time to grow up because we learned about actions and consequences but also learned to figure it out.
Pretty much spot-on. The idea of a nine-year-old walking 3/4 of a mile to/from school alone is incomprehensible to people today.
Shoot we walked that or more.
More. Getting a bike was a big deal.
Yes i walked to kidagarten by myself
I went to a Catholic school and was one block to close for the bus. It was a good mile and a half. No cutting through yards or get grounded. So probably 2 miles. Moving back there in June. I’m going to drive it to be sure.
Or not wanting to take the bus in junior high to go home because it was so slow, and thumbing a ride instead.
The phrase 'Raised Without Applause' is the most gut-wrenching and accurate summary of Gen X I’ve ever heard. As a scriptwriter in the psych space, I’m constantly looking for ways to describe that specific 'Latchkey' resilience-where independence wasn't a choice, it was a survival requirement.
You’ve perfectly captured why this generation is so 'eerie' at predicting problems; they’ve been running survival simulations since they were eight years old. Truly profound work for the 'Bridge Generation' who builds the world’s technology but doesn't feel the need to post a selfie to prove they exist.
I relate 100%.
1974. Latchkey kid. Oldest sister out of 2. Divorced parents by the time was 4. Don't like to ask for help with anything.
Why then have I not brought my own 5 children up in the same way?
Because although I am glad I have been self-sufficient from a very early age I am also very resentful at being left alone so much, and I don't want my children to look back and not see me be there for them.
It's both a blessing and a curse.
The X-Files wasn't just a TV show for us.
We were taught applauding yourself was egotistical. We were taught crying and complaining was weakness.
@fallinginthed33pListen!!!! I was posted when X Files came on! Do Not Disturb!!!😂😂😂
Who remembers passing Notes In high school to your friend or someone you liked....and feeling special when you got your first one
haha i never received one.
@sultanabran1....I'm sorry to hear that...
@Šarru-kīn haha all good. we're gen x. we make jokes of these things. i'm married to a hot wife now so it really doesn't matter what happened at school.
@sultanabran1 take this as the note you never received! You waited a long time 😅
Walked to the closest "filling station" at the beginning of summer vacation to buy an inner-tube with a hole for a $1.00. Walked back home and patched it with the patch kit you bought last summer ( thank God the glue was still good) waited for it to cure and boom, entertainment for the whole summer.
To be perfectly honest, this has been the most succinct explanation of my generation that I've ever come across. I genuinely thought it was just me being an a-hole in holding my boss to account all whilst looking them dead in the eye, I didn't realise it was a whole generation. The skills I learned as a kid served me extremely well in my chosen profession as a project manager and it's the very reason on why I struggle with some of the younger generations now.
I'm glad I found this explanation. This is me to a T. Born in 1969, I have no respect for the management who talk big but have no idea how to get the job done. I'm seen as being "difficult" because I hold management accountable. I'm glad to know there are many Gen Xers out there doing the same thing!!!
@Samedi1969 It's funny how you state you're seen as being "difficult", me too and to be perfectly honest I wear that badge proudly but then again it's more likely I'm seen as a pain in the arse. Funny thing though they still insist on giving me the most difficult and complicate programs going around, go figure.
Born 1965! I am never bored. If someone says they ae bored, they are boring!
Love that mindset! There’s always something to do.
I used to tell my daughter this, and she would start crying every time. I hope someday she understands what I meant.
Ha ! I used that term all the time with my kids (I'm 1968 vintage) if I hear "I'm bored" ...reply " only boring people get bored.." ...
I’m also 1965, and I always say I can entertain myself for hours on end! When I was 7-8 I was responsible for locking up the house by myself and getting to the bus stop on time, as my mom and younger sister had already left for preschool and work. Then I was the first one home also, and found endless ways to pass the time!
Kids today are too busy running off to team sports, tutoring, church, etc. These events are scheduled. As a result, kids don't know how to manage time. It i's done for them. They don't know how to be bored nor use down time to create something. Being bored is not negative. It allows the brain to have a needed break from a busy schedule. If you are bored, then that's ok! Use the time to think of new ideas and try them out.
I was cooking, doing laundry, and dishes at age 7 which blows me away when I look at my 9 year old grandson.
Yes, I did the same and looked after younger siblings and changed diapers at 10🤦🏼♀️
Me too! And NOT in a microwave, on a stove top or in the oven!!
I was forced to do dishes at six even the cast-iron skillet
Yes, but that's partly because you're (from your name Lisa) a woman. If you had brothers, you'd notice they did much less of that, if at all.
I AM A MILLENIAL AND I WAS TOO. MILLENIALS KIVED SIMILAR TO GEN X
UK🇬🇧 generation X. Born 1972. I fully endorse this message. A big shout out to my American generation X cousins. God bless and warm wishes. Kind regards.
Same to ya mate❤
Same to you mate, manufactured in 72 myself lol! I still want to come over there but if I'm going to do it I'd better be saving for it!!
God bless you brother, hope all is well.
God bless you too from the other side of the Pond (1970)
✌️❤
We rode our bikes to the local pool in the summer. Mom would give me $.50 cents. It was a quarter to get into the local pool and the other quarter was spent on candy. $.10 cent boxes of red hots and Boston baked beans and $.05 cents for a blow pop. Miss those days!
I was born in the 1970s. When I was 7 years old, my bike got stolen. I was too scared to go home because my father would have been very mad at me. Instead, I went to the neighbor’s kids and asked their older brothers to help me get it back.
We went out looking for it like a small army, about 15 or 20 kids between 6 and 15 years old. After a couple of hours we finally saw it with some random kid. We took it back with our own hands. No daddy, no mommy involved. As a punishment we even took his hat.
The next day his parents came to our house to apologize for what happened, and we actually became friends.
My father then locked the bicycle away for 2 weeks to teach me that I had to take care of my things. Since that day I never lost it again. In fact, I have never even lost a key in my life.
No hard feelings. Life was so simple.
Yeah my dad would have done this. I wouldn't punish my kid, not if he took care of it like you guys did back then. Maybe i'm wrong for that.
Did the dude get his hat back?
My baseball glove got stolen at a church camp of all places. It even had my name on it. Still got punished for "letting it get stolen"
Right on! Practicing complex conflict resolution skills started at a young age.
@SGBassplayer of course no. That was the rent cost for riding my bike. Otherwise he will never learn the lesson ;)
Proud to be a latch-key, outdoors-playing, Walkman-loving, work after school, BMX-ing, phone number remembering GEN-Xer!
I still use our houses original phone number from the 80s for my Safeway rewards, so it will always be with me. Is that weird? Lol
❤
💯
Walkman?! Youngun! ‘69 here. We came up walking home humming songs. Turning on Scholhouse Rock and looking forward to AfterSchool specials on one 3 network channels. If you were lucky you had antennas for UHF channels (17, 29, and 48 for the NE region).😊
@Deanelon98Walkman cassette players came out in 1979, when you were 10 and I was 4. 😂 I grew up with a tv made of wood, with rabbit ears, and 4 channels, just like every other Gen Xer... but hey, you be proud of that 6 years you got on me, OG. Maybe you could learn me sumtin.
What you forgot - we had THE BEST music to listen and the best parties.
Best music 🤘Judas priest Ozzy Iron maiden, and yes the best parties is so true. Underage house parties beer balls and looking through all your friends album collections. Hell yeah.
We had so much music to choose from! Zepplin, Pink Floyd, Ozzy, Bon Jovi, Depeche Mode, Tears for Fears, Toto, Journey, Def Leppard, Pet Shop Boys, Elton John, Simon and Garfunkel, David Bowie - rock, folk, new wave, metal - EVERYTHING! It was an awesome time to be growing up!
Music made by boomers 🙂
So true!
Ummm, no. Not even close. Better than today’s, we agree on that.
Parental neglect was all the rage growing up in Gen X
And no caller ID meant prank phone calls after school until mom gets home 😂
Ohhhh the days of making and receiving prank calls....I miss them 🤣
We used to seek out people in the phonebook with odd names and prank them. So sorry Lt. Colonel A R Barrios
That was so much fun!
Running up the phone bill would result in severe corporal punishment
Yaaaaasssssss!
Great video. Also we never got a trophy unless we actually came in first place....
Not always, in my little league we had 1st 2nd n 3rd trophy , but winning 2nd didn't feel good n nobody kept that little trophy or gave a fk. Played baseball in 1978-81' 10-13yr olds
Facts!
Yep. Second place = First Loser. 😂
I played on a baseball team in 5th grade and I was awful, but the team won the season. I told the coach to keep my trophy and I quit before the tournament because I wasn't contributing anything.
TROPHIES were for Actual winners, 1st, 2nd & 3rd!
Participation Trophies was one thee biggest mistakes Babylinials/GenZers made.
We built forts! We rode bikes for fun.
We drank out of hoses. We did chores.
We had to plan and wait to watch a TV show or miss it.
People always bring up "drinking out of hoses" on these videos. I mean yeah, we did but why does it always get mentioned like it's some big thing 😂😂😂
@htown4175Because a lot of people need their water super duper filtered like 69 times before said water touches their precious lips.
@htown4175 Two main reasons are, people would consider it unhygienic now - which is true to an extent and everyone is "allergic" to the real world these days there would be hospitalisation followed by a lawsuit! But more relevant is the fact that we didn't buy soda and consume it like tap-water the way kids do now. We didn't have the money to waste on that poison - it was a treat.
@htown4175 Because Mils and Zoomers would be "traumatized" by the mere suggestion of drinking from such an unhygienic, outdoor system and go crying to Instagram about how they're being "abused". Talk about making a big thing out of nothing 😂😂😂
In Osteuropa war nochmal anders, ähnlich aber nicht gleich....aber wir waren sicher, es gab Anstand und die Menschen waren verlässlich
Born 72. I never ask for help. I do everything myself. I’m also very negative and cynical. Now I know why
Me too!! All of it, lol.
I always tell my husband the best things in life were from 1972.
The very best from 1972 ❤
same here. 72. we see this world and all the emotional "sharing" and want to punch the sniveling whiners in the nose. ugh. *facepalm* i picked a hell of a decade to stop sniffing glue.
I'm a 1972 as well. I learned early in life, how to be resourceful. I credit both my late parents and scouting for this.
Only very recently have I gotten a lot less negative-in spite of current world/usa crises, still cynical af though.
Born 1967. No safe spaces, no cell phones, no seatbelts, no car seats, no emotional service pets, no participation trophies, no bike helmets, no knee pads, no one home after school. Gen X - Survival of the Fittest
That pretty much sums it up. They grew up without a lot of protections or praise, learned independence early, and just figured things out as they went. subscribe to the channel😊
Yup!!
Born 1975 in Italy, and this description pretty describe me.
@IkonosMedia3DLab1976 Sicily, yep it fits like an Armani dress
Lead gasoline, many of us not actually bright minds but hard workers
Never thought I'd end up exposed in a documentary.
😂 same here brother.
Felt a little betrayed. That is something "we" know about ourselves and others like us. It wasn't meant for everyone to know. Exposed? Felt more like that dream of going to school without wearing clothes.
How cute. How adorable.
LOL
Exposed. 😂
Irony is a Millennial thing; us X'ers weaponized sarcasm.
🤚 Gen X and was completely unsupervised. Drank out of the hose, No safety gear of any kind, Jump from roof to roof top, climbed in storm drains, when at 10 PM at night the tv said “Do you know where your kids are?” They had no idea. I remember when TV went off air every night. Stay strong Gen X. 💪 ❤
Me too.. maybe we're just dead and don't even know it. Could have been the dodgeball game we played or the parachute game we played. Or most likely flag football.😅😅
And because of all that, did the opposite with their millennial kids and screwed them up.
Ohhh! The storm drains!!😆😆
Here , Here 👏👏👍👍!!!
Hey, cuzimpoor7785… Gen X would be too young to birth a Millennial. Did that in my head! 😂
1974 here. Gen X: Raised on garden hose water and neglect. My kid sister (1976) calls us “The Feral Generation.”
1973 here. It didn’t feel like neglect when it was happening. 😂
But garden hose water is so delicious
@jessi4894 that first 15 seconds of scorching hot---good for getting caked mud off the back of your neck and hair!
My sister (all dates are identical) said the same thing!!!
Garden hose water! LOL - I hadn’t thought about that in years and it really gave me a chuckle.
“Thinking 3 steps ahead.” I thought it was anxiety. Apparently it’s also a symptom of Gen X
That's not anxiety. I have anxiety and it makes you freeze. It's called critical thinking.
Me too. My husband always said relax. Impossible. We have to get it done.😁
Fight or flight .
Thinking 3 steps ahead is good, worrying constantly about tomorrow, next week and last wk, anxiety 😊
@debanydoombringer1385 Good to know!🫶
Born 1968.. getting myself to school in elementary school.. empty house after school..
I have social media but don’t post anything.. just watch ..
This really resonated with me as I’m sure it did with a lot of us.
Thanks.. does feel like being seen.
And when there was no more 'more'. TV ended, radio ended, news ended. There were hours without entertainment!!! Reading, drawing, going out on a bike...that was normal.
I got to have a big, comfy, recliner chair in my room when my parents redecorated the living room. I would ride my bike to the library, check out a stack of books, and go through it in a week or so, book after book. I was especially into horses and read a lot of Marguerite Henry's work, over and over. Great memories.
Kids in the 70s, teens in the 80s, and 20-something in the 90s...could not have been more blessed!
ikr....best music too
Some of us also fought in Desert Storm and later were the NCOs and Officers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Strangely noot mentioned in the video.
Man it's been a blast. I was exactly those ages in those decades. We had to explain to everyone what grunge was and why the Breakfast Club was cool.. lol
@fockewulf190d I was over 18 during Desert Storm but still in HS and every day my teacher would tell me, "you could be drafted any day son".. I enlisted after I graduated just after Desert Storm ended.
Agreed
1973 here and I love being a lone Wolf. I feel the less people know about me, the less people know me, the better off I am
72 herr
🎯🎯👍🏼
💯👊🏻
Yep
My father absolutely drummed into my head all through childhood..the less people know about you the better off you are because they will use what they know about you to hurt you. Some call it pessimistic but it was good advice.
I'm Gen X, born 1971. I am an only child born unto workaholic parents. I was a latchkey kid from the age of 5. We didn't have microwaves back then so I learned to cook when I was 5. I did laundry, dishes, and other household duties while my parents worked. Fortunately, I was born unto fantastic parents who loved me so very much. The way of life for me back then was completely normal, in my eyes. Sometimes, my Mom would come pick me up if she had to work late. Her job (US Army Corp of Engineers) was safe for me to be at and it was a treat for me to go with her: I got to see dinosaur bones and play on computers in 1976. We had a nice home, a swimming pool, and a large lot with an amazing backyard. I was an outdoor kid, all the way. My treat was going to Waldens Bookstore for more books. I had already read the entirety of encyclopedias, so I was always starving for more books to read. I had a wonderful childhood. It blows my mind that 12 yr olds need a babysitter in these times. I had a full on babysitting business going when I was 10 yrs old. Boy, have times changed!
Seeing GenX gather in online spaces made me feel a sense of community i didn’t know existed. So much of my experience is shared and i had no idea
That's us, we accidentaly find we were not so lonely in our loneliness. BTW I like to be alone ^^
I agree w/you! I'm 56 and graduated high school in 1987. Can't believe how fast this life is going and not doing well w/the aging process. Anyone else having this issue? Feels like it was just 1999 and I was 29.
@SallyRuss I went from being mistaken as a 20-something to looking my age within a couple years. Hard adjustment for sure.
@SallyRuss Yes and I don;t always feel 57 either. That part I like. Time is flying by and everyone seems so negative these days. Defintiely no patience.
I remember adults saying when I was a kit, only boring people get bored.
Born in 1971, this is all true. We were a tougher generation. It made us independent, able to sit quietly with our own thoughts, not look for attention or validation. Social media has destroyed and still is destroying kids. They can't think for themselves and they have no imagination. I'm so glad I grew up when I did, I would not like to be growing up now.
Every generation has its struggles. Kids today are just growing up in a different world. Parents need to limit the use of social media for their kids.
I'm glad I was born in the 70's. Life was simpler and changing at the same time while we were directly responsible for our actions good or bad we took ownership of it.
Please. We weren't that great .
This new generation is alright.
@RowlessDuck😳
@RowlessDuckthe bell curve of every generation most are decent folk with some outliers of really good & really bad but now we just have all of the idiot/negative amplified due to social media & seemingly everyone on there wanting to be the center of the universe😏
House phones, family dinners, playing outside, and tv going off the air at night was magic..
Party line 😂
family dinners every night, wonderful!
>House phones
I remember when answering machines came out which spawned "call-screening" and it just disgusted me for some reason, and I thought "What kind of pussy sh*t is this?"
Mom and Dad each getting shitfaced in separate rooms and never addressing their problems. Heaven!
Following the cord to see who had the phone…
I'm looking at all the comments and relate to a lot of this video. My parents weren't perfect but they loved us so much. I'd give all the money in the world to go back to that time just to be with them one more day.
I always assumed it was my personality, but this is so spot-on, it's obviously generational. I understand myself better now. "It's not pessimism, it's pattern-recognition."
“And what when you’re neurodivergent?” I wonder. It should be even worse, no?
Not scared... prepared
@petrarafikipffft. Neurodivergent is a modern term. Man, we were just the "dweebs" who got bullied nonstop. Thats just how it was. Nobody gave a shit. You learn to not care what anyone thinks and just do your thing.
Same. This nails me perfectly, yet I always thought it was just me haha
I gotta say, as a 57 year old Gen X'er, I was taken aback by the sheer accuracy of this. To say this resonated as true is a massive understatement. What a thorough and profound take on a generation that stradled the fence between the analog and digital ages.
Only we know what has been lost, while also understanding the tech we gave birth to. I can assure you, the trade off was a big loser for us.
Human existence was VASTLY superior in 1982.
Accurately said. Born 1980
^^. 53, here
Awesome comment and so true!👍
55 year old GenXer. I saw many sides growing up. It wasn't great for everyone and it wasn't even close. I have looked back and compared over the last few years. Human ignorance was more like it. Complicit. Our divorce rate is grossly high. Many with drug and alcohol abuse. We were coddled with scooby doo and the flintstones. Our innocence wasn't lost early like it is with kids today. We watched scooby doo. They watch school mass shootings happen in front of their eyes. WE WERE CODDLED.
This was eerie due to it's accuracy. couple little things slightly off, but 96% accurate.
As a member of gen x I don't understand people's need to run to social media to beg for outside validation for every positive they do and beg for sympathy when things go wrong
I’m “Gen Z” and I have a niece who is younger and we don’t do that. I find it annoying when people run to social media to whine or to flaunt what they have
We don’t! But it sure is a good opportunity to interact with those of the same species!
That's because you shouldn't expect a pat on the back or atta boy, when you did what you were SUPPOSED TO DO. People actually post and brag about being a good person or parent.
@TeresaLS1063 I guess? But all that energy it takes to SORT through the ENDLESS profiles, platforms, and comments just to find ONE person who actually IS of the same species...!!!
@robertbell6230 Why not? It's hard to do what you're supposed to do, very challenging in this world. It's fine to want someone to tell you "Great job" sometimes.
Ok bragging is always annoying, tho.
Born in '66. Saw KISS at MSG in '77. It changed my life. I "needed" a drum set. My parents said "well, get after it" so I got myself a paper route and saved up the money for my drum set. The rest is Rock and roll history...
1969 here One thing not mentioned....our grandparents went through the Great Depression. Through our parents we learned to waste nothing, money, food, gas. If it ain't broke, don't fix or replace it. Through our parents, who learned from our grandparents, that discipline was a swift smack on the back of the head..It wasn't abuse, it was the don't touch the stove, cause it's hot, form of discipline. We learned to think, most of the time, before we acted because we knew the consequences. Our parents were straight shooters, not watered down, soft. We are the last badass generation. The bridge analogy is the perfect descriptor.
That Depression-era mindset definitely shaped Gen X. Resourceful, tough, and taught to value consequences.
That's a great subject you touched on! This is greatly missing in later generations! Respect and reverence for elders. Our grandparents were the greatest generation. None more worthy of such
In my auntie's last years she was working a job because she had no choice, she was in her late 50's.
A younger woman asked her what she had done before to which she answered she'd stayed at home and raised her children, taken care of her household.
The woman, and I use that term loosely, asked how she could do that to which my Auntie answered, I loved my husband, I loved my children, it was easy.
Our Great Grand parents fled Mussolini. I was raised by people from the 19th century.
63 here, I want to say thank you. You nailed it
We hardly ever even saw our mother. She was always working so we basically communicated with notes left on the kitchen counter.
😢
Born in ‘68. My mother never had to work a day in her life.
Completely true. My mother drove a city transit bus
And when mom got home, she was exhausted from the day and just wanted to read the paper. She would make dinner though. That was something.
Yup and one phone call after school on a landline saying we were home
Walking to school by myself at the age of 6.
From the age of 7 for me - walked or rode my bike to school a kilometre away, came home to an empty house much of the time.
Age 5 for me ... kindergarten.
us genx simultaneously care about handling everything and don't give a fuck about anything.
1966. Here’s to 60 this year!
Damn, me too! 😅
We made it to level 60! I'm going to smash it all the way to level 100! 🎉
Right there with ya😊
Me too❤
Yeah, in November…
Who misses the 80s? when musicians actually had talent and soul, where dating someone required real-life contact and courage, and family-run restaurants served honest, homemade food instead of corporate boring menus. Let's bring back that authentic quality, independence and confidence. Go GEN X!
counter point on 80's music - I hate Disco.
It will never happen. Millennials have been told you are old and your thoughts are old and wrong. That is not how things are done now. They think their is new way to do everything even if it fails. Pod casters are the new parents.
YES! Like Milli Vanilli!
@johny2199yes “their” is a new way to do everything for the new generation. Even if it’s misspelled 🤣🤦🏼♀️
Well, the greatest artists of our lifetimes are already Resting With the Ancestors or headed there(Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Sammy Dais Jr., Leona Horne, Prince, Luther Vandross, Aretha Franklin, Gerald Levert, Roger Troutman, David Bowie, Issac Hayes, George Michaels, Freddie Mercury, James Brown, Heavy D, Tupac, DMX, Aaliyah and so many more.😢
It's not that we don't want recognition. It's that we don't *expect* recognition. We don't have faith that society at large recognizes the good that we do.
This comment needs more likes!
that's so true. the millenials crowned themselves as the best generation and we just shrugged.
@thelostchicagogirl Wanting more likes is not the gen Z way :)
It felt like the adults hated us. Parents, teachers, cops, store owners, ticket takers, nuns, priests. There was hostility and negative vibes from everywhere. Enemies all around. It sucked.
@worldsend69 touché
Gen Xer here. Born the first month…of the first year…of a new decade. January 1970. As a child, When I heard a song on radio I liked, I went to the store to purchase a blank Maxell cassette tape then walked over to my friends house to record it off the vinyl album his older brother had in college. Today’s kids simply click an app on the phone. Today’s kids obtain “stuff” too easily and therefore diminish that “stuffs” value too quickly. I still have those cassette tapes in a brief case in my attic. For today’s youth, I suspect most of last years downloads went down the drain.
Came home from school, flipped on the TV and watched I Dream of Genie, Star Trek, and M*A*S*H.
I was in love with the women in, I dream of Geni, Bewitched, 99 from Maxwell Smart
I remember when television told you it was time for bed because the tv station turned itself off
😂😂😂😂😂
I remember watching the white noise for way too long.
Yeah, wasn’t it an American Flag waving while the Star Spangled Banner played and then, station out?
I can'r count how many hours I spent in the library, lol. There was just something so exciting walking into a room filled with shelves full of knowledge. To this day there's nothing like holding a physical book in your hands and opening that cover to a whole new magical world.
A family member once said they would buy me a Kindle as I have always read a lot, I replied that if they did, when I died, I would haunt them forever! Put paid to that nonsense! 68- born Gen X
Same! HOURS! Reading so many different things or just thinking!
I graduated high school in 1989, read everything by Asimov, Bradbury and Clarke that I could get my hands on, and countless other books on other topics as well. The library was my safe space.
We had an Brittanica Encyclopedia set, I can remember reading them like a book.
If i can't smell it, I don't want it. I love the smell of old books. I got a kindle as a gift years ago. Never used it yet.
According to the timeline listed, I just missed this as an 81 baby. But this literally describes my entire life.
Home alone since age 10. Dad laid off after 31 years, even though he was “Manager of the Year” for like 20 some of those years. I can fix just about anything (makes no difference that I’m a woman). I am ridiculously competent and self sufficient. I have always made myself indispensable. Wild how accurate this person is.
At 0:19. I'm a 55 y/o x-er and looked down to see I'm wearing a flannel shirt over a black tee, faded jeans and black boots. Still.
😂
Me too!!
And it's so damn cool!
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Oh Damn… me too 🤣
I rarely comment on any platform, but this is pretty freaking accurate. Much love to all of the X-ers commenting below.Thanks.
I’m Gen X and grew up in the Soviet Union/Russia between 1965 and 1997. Watching this, I kept thinking how familiar it all sounded. Different system, different culture - but the same core attitudes and survival style. Generation patterns seem more universal than people think.
Right on Nikolai! I’m GenX from the States and also thought that we surely had more in common that what separated us. ☮️ & ❤️ my friend
Born 1971 in Australia. My parents worked 96 hours a week. I was completely unsupervised. I liked it, actually.
👍
Whatever. Enemies forever. Rocky 4
Born in USSR 1968 ! Totally agree
That was, by far, the most accurate and detailed description of Gen X I have ever heard. Very well done.
Not to mention we had a full time Job by 14 & still graduated high-school.
I worked 24+ hours per week, just on the weekends, and still managed A grades, went skiing/fishing and tricked out the car I saved up for making $3.35 per hour.
We were driving by 16!!
@kararobbins9216We know many parents who have "kids" that dont drive. College age "kids"
@WillAustinOh I get it....shes a troll. Nice some smart ass who still lives at home and has a degree in some useless field.
Not in the uk we didn’t! We had record high unemployment!
Born in 1968, we were the ones that knew the glass wasn't just half empty or half full, it was both. "At age 10, we turned 30 and 40+ years later, we're still 30."
Born on 4 4 68, so I live with that
Exactly how I feel !!
I always tell people I have been 23 years old as long as I can remember!
Cheers!!!
Growing up with less supervision and more uncertainty really shaped a mindset that values self reliance over attention. It is interesting how those early experiences created a generation that does not chase validation but still carries a deep resilience that shows up in how they live and work today.
💪🏽
Very self-reliant and don’t cry and complain about life, Daly
I now marvel at the freedom I had. I was allowed to ride my bike all over town, with friends or alone, and I was allowed to ride a not-very-safe horse on hilly trails, also with friends or alone. I had many, many close calls (not just from bikes and horses and cars) and it's just dumb luck that I survived without major injury or worse. I think about those who didn't live past the '70s or '80s. That could have been me, so easily...