me3dia.com
The personal weblog of Andrew Huff since 2001. (Pronounced "me-three-dia.")

The Modern Generations

Feb 09 2010

the modern generations

We had a brief debate about who was Generation X, Generation Y and Millennial Generation. There seem to be varying starting points and cut-offs for each (Gen-X being the closest to settled at this point), and depending on where you look Gen-Y and Millennials may be the same generation. So I thought I’d put some numbers on a chart to show just how much overlap there is. The ranges for Generation X and Generation Y are from Wikipedia — which considers Millennial Generation another name for Gen-Y — while the start date for the Millennial Generation (which may or may not still be gaining members — has anyone named the “Post-Millennials” yet?) comes from MillennialGeneration.org, a project of Futurist.com.

Just reading the Gen-Y/Millennial Gen Wikipedia page gives you an idea of how much controversy there is over when this generation begins and ends, and whether it’s one or two or multiple generations. On the chart, Gen-X ends in 1981 and Millennials pick up in 1982, which makes sense. So why does Gen-Y start in 1976?

What are your thoughts on where one generation ends and the next begins? And what do we call kids born after 2000?

Notes (2)


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2 Notes

Feb 15 2010
12:02PM

eee

Honestly, I find it odd that Gen X goes all the way to 1981. I know people born in ’81, and there are almost zero similarities between them and the people I know born in the early ’70s. Frankly, I think the only thing that skews me (‘78) towards Gen X and not Gen Y is that I have an older sibling firmly entrenched in Gen X. If it weren’t for her and her influence on me, I think I’d relate more with Gen Y than Gen X. My husband (‘77) is the oldest sibling in his family, and he’s much more Gen Y than Gen X. So I think the placement of your family/friends on the scale greatly influences those people right on the cusp of either generation.

As for the “Millennial Generation,” I’ve never even heard of that one before. I don’t really understand why it overlaps so heavily with Gen Y, though.


Feb 20 2010
05:52PM

Ms. Jen

There is some debate about when Gen X starts 1960 or 1966 and some when it ends 1976 or 1980?

As a 1968 baby, I tend to view my generation as about 1962 to 1976, the folks born after 1976 have a different way of thinking about quite a few things from my set of folk.

But as eee noted, if one is on the cusp of a generation having older or younger siblings in another group can influence.

As for Gen Y it is usually seen as 1976 to 1988/90. With the folks after 1990 as the Mils.

Where do I get these dates, lots of articles sent to me by a friend who is required to know this stuff for her job. Have I saved any of the emails, no sorry.



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