When does Gen X end and Gen Y begin?
There was a comment on a blog I was reading yesterday (sorry forgot which blog) asking what is the dividing time between Gen X and Gen Y. I thought this was a great questions. I always thought I was Gen X until recently then I started seeing things that made me think that I am Gen Y.
Today I set out to figure out the truth. So when exactly does Gen X end and Gen Y begin? In short: no one knows.
Generation Y or Echo boomers are terms that designate a cohort of people born immediately after "Generation X." It is one of several terms (including The Millennials and the The Internet Generation) used to describe the same group. There is much dispute as to the exact range of birth years that constitutes "Generation Y" and whether this term is specific to North America, the Anglophone world, or people worldwide. The only consensus, by way of its relation to the term "Generation X," is that those born in Generation Y must follow Generation X. - Wikipedia
So my question is, why is there a big media push about Gen Y when there is not an exact line between X & Y. Maybe I am missing something?
I am 25, I was born in 1982, according to …
- List of Generations - I am Gen X (1974 - 1985)
- American Associations of Law Libraries - I am Gen Y
"Generation Y are variable — dates ranging as widely as 1979 through 1994 and 1982 though 2000 have been used." - USA Today - I am Gen Y
"There is no consensus over the exact birth dates that define Gen Y, also known by some as echo boomers and millennials. But the broadest definition generally includes the more than 70 million Americans born 1977 to 2002. Generation X was born roughly 1965 to 1976.
Narrower definitions put Gen Yers as those ages 16 to 27, born from 1978 to 1989." - NAS - I am Gen Y
"With those born between 1977 and
1994 included" - eWeek - I am Gen Y
"Generation Y, made up of those born between 1977 and 1990" - select appointments - I am Gen Y
"This generation, which is characterized with birth dates between 1980 and 1994"
I have decided of all of the definitions I like this one the best.
XY Cusp, also known as the MTV Generation or Doom Generation, was caught between the end of Generation X and start of Generation Y, mainly living out their childhood through the 80s and teen years in the mid-90s. This generation was influenced by the launch of MTV, the popularization of Web technology circa ‘95, segmented musical tastes, the evolution of 80s glam fashions into grunge and the remainder of Generation X, many of whom were older siblings. (1975-1985). - answers.com
So since apparently you can decide when generation you belong to based on which source you look at I am going to use XY Cusp because it sounds more fun. A little interesting tidbit I noticed, on answers.com’s list of generations there are two different sets of dates that contradict each other listed on the same page.
What do you call yourself?
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Comments ( 22 )
Michelle added these pithy words on Sep 07 07 at 8:08 amI definitely like the XY description best. I’ll go with that
Rebecca Thorman added these pithy words on Sep 10 07 at 9:51 amDid you know that cuspers tend to relate to a wide variety of people better than either Gen X or Gen Y as well?
Kristi B. added these pithy words on Sep 23 07 at 5:02 amI like the XY Cusp the best too. That definitely describes me!
Suzann added these pithy words on Oct 02 07 at 1:53 pmLove your blog. I was trying to explain this exact thing to my grandchildren yesterday. I told them they were Gen Y but that when they got older they could re-invent who they were and re-name their generation.
Mike added these pithy words on Oct 25 07 at 9:49 amHehe.. Doom Generation. I like that one.
Vicki added these pithy words on Dec 10 07 at 3:50 pmHey! You know, just today I went through the EXACT SAME THING. I read an article about Gen Yers in the work field, and saw it referred to just about my age (also born in 1982) and I also considered myself Gen X because that’s what we were told, right? So I found your XY Cusp definition you posted, and have been looking it up (don’t find much more about it).. I like it too, because it fits perfectly- doesn’t it?
I also heard Gen Y were those kids that are growing up with more of a stronger grasp on the communications/phones/internet, etc… I just think it’s really crazy how we’re kind of in the middle, you know? Not really here or there- because I know people born 1975 ( considered Gen X, and I definitely don’t see a relation to me, having been born circa 1982 :P) And I don’t think Gen Y should go as far back as 1970s either.. Gen Y I think children of the 90s.
But anyway, XY Cusp- I’m all for it
Sarah added these pithy words on Jan 14 08 at 1:08 amI was born in 1980- I’ve been trying to figure it out for hours now (for a school paper)! I guess I’m XY Cusp, but I identify most with Y.
Anthony added these pithy words on Jan 22 08 at 10:28 amInteresting.
Yes, I definitely like the XY Cusp. Best of both worlds.
Whichever it is, 1982 was one of the best years to be born apparently. I can’t remember where I read it, but we’re meant to be much more communicative, creative and work-focused than other years.
Saying that, I also read (of UK people anyway) that those born in the early to mid ’80’s are meant to find it harder to settle down in the work-world because of the post-Thatcherite society at the time…
dy added these pithy words on Feb 07 08 at 9:19 pmi was born june 1978. i remember the 80’s as a child. the 90s was my decade for sure. i agree with the cusper. that is me. i am not a solid gen xer, even though i consider myself gen x. not a solid gen yer. i am a hybrid of both.
XY cuspers grew up in the analog to digital flux of the 80s and 90s
they are analog-digital split, most of them still teenagers and at home with parents when AOL came out, circa ‘95.
XY cusper Parents got AOL while they were still in high school when Oprah endorsed it, so this group can relate to having internet at home like gen yers.
gen xers are more used to analog and TV shows - they were (21 and up), grown and out of the house by 1995 using the internet/digital technology mainly at work.
gen y are more digital, had internet instruction at school at a young age.
my 2cents anyway
dy added these pithy words on Feb 07 08 at 9:25 pmIMO
gen x 65-81
gen y 77-94
gen z 95-?xy cusper 77-84 or wider 75-85
Jo added these pithy words on Mar 02 08 at 1:15 pmI am looking for Gen Y style as the boss or line manager They are old enough now!
I am also looking for information on how Gen Y manages the generational diversity at work.
Many thanks.
generationxy added these pithy words on Apr 05 08 at 8:50 pmGreat post! I was just searching for those like me born in 1982 that felt sort of…ignored, generation-wise. I’ve always felt like I didn’t fit into either generation — growing up in the 90s, remember how all the media focused on was Gen-X, and since about 2002, it’s been focusing on Gen-Y. They must have forgotten us….
I’ve even recently started a blog called Generation XY (really!), but there’s nothing on it yet, as I’ve been busy with other things.
Dan added these pithy words on Apr 29 08 at 9:45 amI was born in September 1978. I think the cusp XY is pretty accurate. I tend to
gravitate more to Gen X. I feel nothing in common with Gen Y. I don’t use much
technology, hate gadgets, and my TV is nearly ten years old. When I went to college,
email was still MS-Dos based, the net was just starting to become popular, everyone
took notes on a pad of paper with a pen, no kids had cell phones, I didn’t even have
cable in my college dorm room until junior year (1998) of college!!! I grew up playing
with plastic toys more than playing video games. My friends still had Atari, I had C64.
I vividly remember the dot-com bubble. I remember when rap and hip-hop were on the fringe of the musical scene, and synonymous with
the Beastie Boys and Run DMC. I have a hard time relating to people even two or three years younger than I am, in the sense of
cultural influences. MTV was a fringe channel until I was a pre-teen. When I was a kid, we had two computers per classroom, not two computers per student. I can relate better to the frustration and bitterness that many in Gen X felt, compared to the relative material prosperity that I think most Gen Yers relate to.On the other hand. . .
I remember bits and pieces of the 80s, but can’t put them into perspective. I am a
child of the nineties. My adult life wasn’t influenced by the 1990-1992 recession, but
by the 2001-?? recession (in my mind, the economy still hasn’t recovered). I grew up with grunge,
Hammertime, Vanilla Ice, and remember Tarantino’s first big movie. I took a computer language
class in middle school.So I guess I feel more like Gen X than Gen Y, but not totally Gen X. Maybe 3/4 to 1/4.
But that’s ok, as being a “mix” is the American way.
Thanks for the read.
Michael added these pithy words on Jun 13 08 at 6:27 amJust like Dan, I too was born in September of 1978. I have always considered myself a member of Gen X, for a lot of the reasons that Dan has already put forth.
When I look back on my childhood, I definitely have more in common with the Gen Xers (my wife was born in 76, and all my friends were born sometime in the 70’s). I feel like I have a more common bond with them.
The Gen Yers, I just don’t get. There just isn’t that much commonality between them and I.
I see it like this: generally speaking, I consider those born in the 40’s & 50’s to be boomers, 60’s & 70’s to be Xers, and 80’s & 90’s to be Yers.
Lee added these pithy words on Jun 18 08 at 8:09 amI’m a cusper (born August 78) and feel like it. I share the gen-X memories but possess a lot of the gen-Y attributes. Technologically I think I’m probably more savvy a la gen Y, but unlike a lot of Ys I remember rotary phones and record players. I find it normal to more easily relate to say, someone 5 years younger than me than someone 3 years older…
Tricia added these pithy words on Jun 20 08 at 11:23 amHey, so far the youngest here. Born in ‘83 and already married. I like the xy cusp term as I feel it best describes me. Some boomer tried to tell me I was gen y, not gen x so I thought I should look up the different years. I am not technologically dependent-thank god, I don’t own a facebook or myspace page. In fact, I tried once to get a myspace page and wound up with the trojan horse virus. Needless to say my solution to the problem was to buy a new computer. I grew up with an analog tv (turn dial for three channels) and I was the remote control when mom and dad wanted a channel changed or the rabbit ear antennas fixed. When it came to playing nintendo or playing outside, my choice was outside with my toys and imagination. I identify more with older adults and can’t fathom the need that gen y has to constantly keep in touch with one another. Though I must say I had to fulfill a high school computer requirement to graduate. I think that’s a gen y thing.
kardrak added these pithy words on Jun 23 08 at 1:39 amI was born in 1975 but I definitively feel like an XY, why? cause in many things I don’t feel like an X’r and I have strong relations with people younger as well as older than me.. I defintively love the Internet and keep online everyday, though I knew analogue technology I am more arelated with digital
Steven added these pithy words on Jun 29 08 at 12:26 amWow, this hits the nail on the head. I was born in 80, and I can’t stand that list of Generation tries to call me GEN X.
X’ers were the type that went to HS in the late 70s and early 80s, they became the pretentious college students in the late 80s and early 90s.
Culturally, their influences came from different sources, and their just seems to be a different set of values. Not better, not worse, just different.
I don’t think you can have a generation be more than 15 years (at least not in contemporary industrial societies where change happens a lot quicker). The point of establishing generation boundaries is to group people by age and define the culture of that age. GEN X Really should be 1962-1976; making ‘77-91 GEN Y; still I’d accept the cusp thing more than being Gen X
Antithesis added these pithy words on Aug 12 08 at 11:40 pmWho gives a rats ass if your some person born in the 80’s.Do you think thats makes you special or something?All gen y does is rip off the culture from the past wich was cooler and regurgitates it as if they originated it.What a pre fabricated self entitled bunch of nothings.
zarkon added these pithy words on Aug 13 08 at 6:38 amIt’s not set in stone in the cosmos that generation y people “have” to be anything or anybody.There are no no established rules to life and im fuckin hate these people coming off like they are entitiled to be whom ever the fuck they think they are.I mean, for all intents and purposes,you can very well be laying in a dark room throwing up your internal organs and it wouldn’t matter worth a shit.So fuck off generation “Y” or whatever the fuck it’s called.Oh and by the way,It really doesn’t matter that it’s a “futureistic” “modern” time”.Theres a lacking of the avant garde,cool mentality that used to exist that doesn’t now,so in fact,people were cooler in the past an it just sucks know as a consequence of the times.So fuck you and your stupid crap music,and self and what the fuck ever.
Fred Flinstable added these pithy words on Sep 20 08 at 1:24 pmI was born in 1977, and feel I have WAY more in common with those borm between 1975 and 1979 than with those born early 70’s and early 80’s. We remember being kids of the 80’s, and teens of the 90’s, we’re all, for the most part, in our 30’s now, have kids, and are raising another generation. To me, those born in the 1980’s started a new trend in child births, and they are influencing how many are in their graduating classes, and for us 70’s babies, we had some small classes, while 80’s babies are LARGE! The generation that is known as X stops at 1979!
Dave added these pithy words on Sep 23 08 at 7:36 pmI don’t think it matters what year you were born in as much as what class you were in. I graduated in 1998 yet I was born in 1979. All my close friends were in my class. They were born in 1979 and 1980 and I related to them. The people in the class of 97 seemed a little bit different (a little more serious and stern). Many of them were born in 79 as well. The class of 96 was that much more uptight.
