Millennials/Generation Y discussion

Actually, Gen-Xers are in a strange position. Those that came of age in the late-Eighties, early-Nineties have characteristics more in line with Baby Boomers. They may never be better off than their parents' generation, but they're not much worse off either. Those that came of age in the mid-to-late-Nineties (right at the end of the Gen-X boundary) have much more in common with the Millennials.

Unfortunately for late-Gen-Xers, their shared plight with the Millennials hasn't been recognised. As a result, any help now being pushed towards Millennials (as cynical and half-hearted as much of that 'help' is — at least in the UK), tends to be caped at 'under-40s' (i.e., aged 39 and lower).

Take away the Gen-Xers who are at and above the political boundary (currently aged 47 and older) but appear as chameleons (they masquerade as appealing to the Millennials with varying degrees of success; mostly failing, but they don't seem to have either noticed or possibly cared and really identify more with Baby Boomers), and you're left with the Gen-Xers that are between the ages of 40-46 have fallen through the cracks. They're the true origin of Generation Rent, they have all the disadvantages of the Millennials, but none of the recognition.

(By political boundary, I'm talking the average age where the so-called political switch occurs between the majority of a generation being politically 'left' (supporting parties that are perceived to be left-wing, and rejecting things like Brexit and Trump) and the majority of a generation being politically 'right' (supporting parties that are perceived to be right-wing, and supporting Brexit and Trump) — that average in 2016 was determined to be 47). Since 2016, it hasn't been regarded as a 'switch' (in the past, the perception was that there's an age where people 'grow up' — where life makes them switch their politics from liberal to conservative; now, the current thinking is that this isn't a switch people are making, it's a belief system most people have for life, but the conservative voters dominate an increasingly older generation, creating a crisis for their political parties in that they don't have enough youth votes coming in to replace the attrition of older voters. Give it a few decades, and the political wheel will probably turn in a new direction).)

That appears to be the reason why Gen X appears to 'disappear'. It's a boundary generation in terms of politics, social statistics and computer/digital innovation; it results in the older part seemingly identifying more with older generations and the younger part seemingly identifying more with younger generations, leaving Gen X without any characteristics unique to it, beyond it that 'boundary' characteristic that's associated with the mid-Nineties. The older part of the generation benefits from this 'chameleon' aspect, but the younger part is suffering — usually in silence.

Edited by Wyldchyld on Aug 4th 2018 at 2:18:10 PM

I might be mistaken, yet it seems to me most Gen-Xers simply gravitate: the older towards the Boomers and the younger towards the Millennials, it all being part of that whole coasting and sliding thing.
The threshold seems to be around 1973 and the oil crisis, older Gen-Xers still having absorbed some of that Good Ole Dayz nectar and longing for when they Never Had It So Good to keep the UK references.

While all of us are being carried away by the currents of history, which in these days remind me of those of a hundred years ago, as in: not that encouraging.

Luckily, due to my grandfather being a holocaust survivor, and my grandma being from Canada, my mom never had the Baby Boomer mindset.

And I'm not even American. So I'm even more weirded at how everything here is complaning about Boomers.

I don't see what's weird about that, they're responsible for a lions share of the issues we're facing and form a core support group for Trump. Millennial's are scoffed at as weak and pathetic when we're directly saddled with their problems.

The Boomers fading into obsolescence is what should allow some proper reform to occur in the United States and it couldn't have come sooner.

I’m not American either and the societies I’m more familiar with have different demographic compositions.

In First World countries, Boomers have more political and social weight due to being relatively numerous. When young, they enjoyed and often fostered change and progress, yet once set in their ways as creatures of habit, they tend to foster first stagnation then regression.
Since Boomers vote more often and consistently, they are even more influential.

Make no mistake, I make no allowances for Gen-Xers, with no personal resentment to either.

Yeah. I am a Third World-ist. So I am like, Oh well, another thread of Americans complaning about Boomers.

I am also a Millenial/Gen Y-er, but my background is pretty different than First World Millenials. So I am pretty much Out-of-the-Loop here, is...weird because I am actually wanna discuss about how is being a young person in a macro-social view, but I have zero interest on keeping talking about exclusively First World politics, or complaning about old people.

Seriously. I know that this thread is mostry American, but still.

Edited by KazuyaProta on Aug 4th 2018 at 2:05:17 PM

I hear you.

It is of interest to us all though, given the still disproportionate importance the US and the other First World countries have on the rest of the World.
When the more affluent countries which happen to also be liberal democracies advance and progress, their experience and example gives the rest of us not only some measure of hope but more importantly precious information how their experience could be adapted elsewhere.

When they stagnate or worse, regress, it has deep negative effects on the rest of the World.
And while the Boomers don’t own all of that present regression in the more fortunate countries, they own a large slice of that unholy thing.

Edited by AlityrosThePhilosopher on Aug 4th 2018 at 7:22:48 PM

The inter-generational frictions in the First World are specific to it with mild varitations due to the rest of the World not having gone through los treinta gloriosos with a majority of the population acceding to middle class levels of income and relative economic security as well as unheard of social progress.

Third World countries have undergone more acute upheavals that are often more country-specific.
Boomers of Afghanistan having known the relatively benign years of a modernising and reforming constitutional monarchy without reaching full development then collapsing into darkness, while Afghan Gen-Xers and Millennials only knowing the successive waves of that same darkness with no glimmer of light, as just one example.

Edited by AlityrosThePhilosopher on Aug 4th 2018 at 9:54:13 AM

The Boomers are pretty much responsible for Brexit as well. Although, in the UK's case, they haven't become set in their ways over time, they've always been different in their generational view.

The first Europe-based referendum we had was in 1975. All generations voted strongly in favour of joining Europe with the exception of the 18-24 year olds, who voted strongly against Europe. They were singled out at the time as having unusual attitudes compared to all previous generations.

Those 18-24 year olds are the Baby Boomers. The same ones that are driving Brexit now. Their attitude towards Europe has never changed in forty years. The difference between then and now is that they now have the all the power to be able to enforce their preferences on the rest of society. Also, the younger generations are much more pro-Europe than the Baby Boomers, making the Boomers anomalous compared to both the generations prior to them and the generations after them.

I have a question. Were there any significant developments on mobilizing the right wing that correlated with the Boomers' rise to power (and in the case of America, their rightwards shift)? Like the creation of propaganda apparatus (like Fox News), the rise of and conflict with a different political ideology (like the Cold War) or other factors?

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Aug 5th 2018 at 5:37:13 AM

If heard that it seems like generation z is shaping up to be the most conservative generation since WW 2, is this true or was the study a load of crap?

Load of crap based on a single poll that means nothing.

Yeah, if you look at literally any other poll regarding their views, you'll see that they overwhelmingly hate Trump/accept gay marriage/want to remain in the EU, etc.

France seems to be the exception, but that may have been due to young people not really connecting to Macron.

I've been looking into it and they seem to be more financially conservative (likely a result of the 08 recession) but much more liberal in terms of things like LGBT, the environment and other social and political matters.

The statements about their financial conservatism doesn't make much sense — Gen Z are still mostly teenagers and none of them had to find jobs in the Great Recession's economy; they were children back then.

Yeah but we are inheriting that kind of economy. The millennials are struggling hard enough and I know some fellow Gen Z folks are already struggling if they didn't have an financial supportive family already.

Although I am not sure where the cut off is. I was born in '97 and was somewhat old enough to remember 9/11 so I am probably technically counted as a millennial.

Edited by Wispy on Sep 8th 2018 at 10:53:26 AM

I'm curious whether this "financial consevatism" that people talk about is purely personal or actually political.

I mean, it makes a lot of sense that in the context of a post-great recession economy that Gen-Z would seek to be more frugal and financially savy, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they would support austerity, "balanced budgets" and other right-wing economic non-sense. Until I see some proof showing that that is the case I'm not going to worry.

I've see many estimates of who counts as a millennial go was far as counting people born in 2000. I'm not sure if direct experience/memory of 9/11 has been the consistent cut off point. I've also seen the idea that millenials are the last generation to have any knowledge of a world without widespread and immediate internet access, which would probably put the cutoff year earlier.

Edited by Mio on Sep 9th 2018 at 9:15:36 AM

Precisely. A government is not a person. Personal finances should not be handled with the same mentality as a national budget. I am one of those people who saves any money they can get in case I need it for an emergency and not really a consumerist (only video games).

What does that have to do with the way I think a country should balance its budget? Nothing.

I would say the cutoff for Millennial and Gen Z is 1996. Being able to remember a pre-Internet social paradigm means you aren't Gen Z — they were raised alongside a web-based society. Like, when Google became a thing, in like 1997 when I was 7, I remember having a designated slot of class time where we were taught how to use it and it was treated as revolutionary (which it was at the time), but approaching it like that with children born after 1996 or 1997, when their earliest reliable memories would be from 2000 at the earliest, is dated, because they grew up with it.

As for Gen Z's financial conservatism — let's be honest, most members of Gen Z are still subsisting on part-time lawnmowing payments, supermarket salaries, and allowances. Talking about "financial conservatism," besides sounding premature with a generation still in adolescence, demonstrates a poor understanding of scale. How much money does a fifteen year old really have to their name? They're not participating in enough economic activity yet to be conservative or liberal in their economics. Besides, personal frugality demonstrates nothing regarding one's views on systemic economics.

Edited by CrimsonZephyr on Sep 9th 2018 at 2:22:12 PM

Yeah it’s pretty easy to be personally fiscally conservative when you’ve got no money.

I’m at the end of the millennial generation, I remember 7/7 (though not 9/11), I remember the days before social media, I remember not having smartphones, I remember the early handheld gaming devices, I remember being amazed at having a home network (watching the Lego train go offscreen on my computer and appear on screen on my brother’s in the other room was great), I remember when LAN was how you did multiplayer PC gaming.

It’s not just the internet and online activity being a thing that marks the divide, it’s it being an expected and unremarkable thing, Internet shopping was this great new thing when I was a kid, games were single player because how else would you play?

It's even more weird to someone at the tail end of Gen X. I can remember when the internet was the new, mysterious thing. I still don't understand social media like Twitter or Instagram. Why would anyone be interested in the everyday lives and random thoughts of total strangers whom you'll never meet?!

Or food. Why does anybody care what someone else is having for dinner??

Edited by nightwyrm_zero on Sep 9th 2018 at 9:50:23 AM

I admit, I'm somewhat unimpressed by social media too. I can understand following the ones for big companies for news on their products and events and such, but everything else?

It's all pretty manipulative IMHO. Facebook and Twitter take advantage of our innate desire to seek status and show off to others all so that they can harvest our data and sell it to advertisers.

I still kind of use my Facebook since I only signed up to keep track of some friends I made on the AOL/MSN chat. I just never went anywhere with it and I even contemplated deleting my account.....I didn't go through with it but I still rarely use it.

I recall the time before Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter. Youtube was bad back in its early days but in different ways like just really bad quality on the videos because recording was harder back then. Myspace was still around but I never used it.

That cycle repeated with Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Facebook I never understood because I was always taught to be very serious about my own privacy so putting my own person information on social media seemed really dumb to me and I have seen several people do stupid shit while messaging it on Facebook with their full credentials for everyone to see. Twitter was similiar but had the extra issue of people constantly warring over there.

Instagram I am not even very familiar with and Tumblr I am on just for the art. I also am using Tinder but I don't have my real name on mine and am just using it to meet new friends.

I guess my attitude towards social media would make me a millennial? Or just really concerned about my personal info getting out.

It honestly concerns me with how crazy the times are for the younger generation considering the amount of shitty practices and things are out there to take advantage of them (all made by the older generations shitting on them no less).

I also noticed some of the older generations (the ones whom are generally whining and gave rise to the alt-right) have a to be quite frank disturbing idea about how privacy is not aloud cause you should have nothing to hide right?

No, I just don't want to be stalked by assholes online thank you. Its happened to me before from someone I thought I trusted that I did regrettably tell my real name.

Edited by Wispy on Sep 9th 2018 at 7:31:10 AM