Gen Y vs. Gen X
26Apr2007 Filed under: ObservationsAs part of my new job, I’ve been reading a lot about the work-styles of Gen Y (aka the Millennials). Although my birth-year (1975) technically puts me into Gen X territory, after reading various articles discussing how Gen Y is hyper communicative and assertive but also plagued by narcissism and an obsessive need for connectivity, I would like to proclaim that I identify more with Gen Y. Then I wonder if perhaps this is because I spent so much time at raves in my early 20s — raves where most everyone was 5 years younger than me. Is Gen Y contagious? All this makes me want to read Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled–and More Miserable Than Ever Before.
12 Responses to “Gen Y vs. Gen X”
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Hey there. I'm Ariel Meadow Stallings, a native Seattleite who's written my way up and down the Left Coast. Electrolicious is where I post daily randomata, but I also write for a living. My first book, Offbeat Bride, was published last year.
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emily
April 26th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
I might own that book.
If so I will bring it to our cocktail night.
I am part of the generation that needs flex hours. I can’t stand wasting time at work just because I have to put in the 8 hour day.
Sonya
April 26th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
I love the idea that the mentality of a generation can be contagious…
I’m excited to hear more about the research you are doing, because so far it sounds exciting
Serene
April 26th, 2007 at 2:57 pm
I hate the idea of generation tags since my birth year (1979) is somewhere in between Gen X and Gen Y. But I can definitely idenify with the hypercommunication aspect of Y. It looks like a fascinating book.
ben
April 26th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
my ramble: i was born in 1969, and have embraced the geekier shades of gen X for most of my life. come the Seattle move, my embrace of SocNet culture didn’t seem like too much of a stretch from the old days of BBSs. regardless, i’m not so sure that the old parameters can avoid evolving - like yourself, there’s so many X’rs who are digging Y’s toys. since X’rs lived through the paranoid isolation of the low-tech 80s, we appreciate the continuing high-tech boom in a way those born immediately into a world with cellphones and fiber optic cable cannot.
this isn’t meant as a slam to them or us - it’s just a unique layer that profoundly crystallizes the experience we’re currently having. we spent some significant period of our youth longing for a sense of connection and identity, but often lacking the means, tools or skills to find it (can you tell i grew up in the suburbs?). but now? oh wow. with the exception of flying cars, we have about every gadget ever dreamed up at our disposal, being utilized by more tribes than i can count.
i can’t help but compare our experience to that of the stereotypical boomer, who was a teenager in the 60s and a grown-up by the 80s - judging their identities in the first decade (chaos) through the eyes of the second (order). some of them stayed hippies, but more of them evolved into other, more complex creatures. as for us, we may not really have a handle on what we’ve become until the first one of us is elected President.
in the meantime, i say we continue to grab from whatever decade and culture we wish for our eternal construction/deconstruction. regardless of our Gen, we’re all Remix Kids these days…
leandra
April 27th, 2007 at 9:43 am
i’d agree with ben completely. born in 68, i thoroughly identify with the Y gen definitions, though i’ll admit i think many of the traits have been borne and defined by being intimately involved with the high tech industries..i make the gen Y toys, so i think i’ve assimilated many of the attributes that gen Y kids possess intrinsically. i think your idea that gen Y is ‘catching’ is real. its really about how we perceive information and relationships thus shaped by the technology we use and the people we live with.
my daughter is classic gen Y and we’re really not so far apart except she gleams with a certain laissez-faire attitude about her briliance which astonishes me. i learn from her everyday. i feel the gen Y generation has come to a place in our cultural history where they can harvest what we’ve learned the last 50 years as a society and now move forward in positive ways with the learnings. i’m excited to see what they do…and excited to lead them along the way : )
leandra
April 27th, 2007 at 9:44 am
i’d agree with ben completely. born in 68, i thoroughly identify with the Y gen definitions, though i’ll admit i think many of the traits have been borne and defined by being intimately involved with the high tech industries..i make the gen Y toys, so i think i’ve assimilated many of the attributes that gen Y kids possess intrinsically. i think your idea that gen Y is ‘catching’ is real. its really about how we perceive information and relationships thus shaped by the technology we use and the people we live with.
my daughter is classic gen Y and we’re really not so far apart except she gleams with a certain laissez-faire attitude about her briliance which astonishes me. i learn from her everyday. i feel the gen Y generation has come to a place in our cultural history where they can harvest what we’ve learned the last 50 years as a society and now move forward in positive ways with the learnings. i’m excited to see what they do…and excited to lead them along the way : )
Therese, Air's Mom
April 27th, 2007 at 10:26 am
This is an interesting and useful perspective, this difference between Gen X and Gen Y, and the ones before that, and how our communication technologies impact our relationships. As someone born in 1950, I watched things evolve from one rotary dial phone per family to the current frenzy of communication modalities that can keep ya plugged into somebody else during every waking moment. The question I pose is this: are the relationships developed in the midst of this frenzy fulfilling? Or are we trying to compensate for quality by adding quantity? Ultimately, what is our capacity for deep intimacy? how many people can we hold in our ‘extended family’ without blitzing out? Whether Gen X, Gen Y or something else entirely), it seems we DO have to be vigilant so that our primary in-the-flesh relationships do not get neglected because we are so distracted and overstimulated, pulled by so many in the modern day communication frenzy. Somethin’ to think about…..
DOUG.
April 27th, 2007 at 3:39 pm
Gen X remembers life before spellcheck. We can out-spell those Millennial punks. Just bring it on and we’ll go all Billy Idol on your asses!
Rob Barac
April 27th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
I’d say I was genX if I wasn’t so busy hating baby boomers, feeling alienated, generally lazy and lacking ambition.
jameshigham
April 28th, 2007 at 6:08 am
I’d be very interested how you feel about that, on the cusp. I’ve also been writing a fair bit about the generations in the last few months [for my work].
Juju
May 1st, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Hi Ariel,
nice to meet you, I have just discovered you through dooce. What is your take on astrology? Have you taken a look at generational astrology, how the outer planets can influence generations? It is very interesting, since it tends to coincide with all the labeling (i.e. boomers where children with pluto and uranos in leo, therefore the selfcenteredness and all the attention given to them; Xrs are pluto and uranos in Virgo, the final years of Xrs have such planets in Libra, etc. The years like 74, 75, 76 that tend to be indecisive to which label they might belong to are usually years when the generational planets are moving back and forth between signs). It might shed some interesting light to your investigation.
Hope it was helpful.
Amanda
July 2nd, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Okay, all you gen Xers that say you are not Xers because you identify more with the gen Yers, that is just proof that the gen Y mentality is catching. Also, one quality of a gen Xer is that they are always trying to keep up with the times (i.e. gen Y). Although, maybe having the “me” mentality will not play as well for the gen Yers. We shall see.