As promised a couple posts back, I'm going to pick the appellation that best fits our generation from all of the names that have been suggested so far. Here goes:
First, I'm going to dispatch a few in large chunks.
Too narrow/specific:
• The My Space Generation
• The Grand Theft Auto Generation
• The Nintendo Generation
• The MTV Generation
• The MyPod Generation
Focused on time period rather than character
• The thirteenth generation
• Regan Babies
• The Millenials
• Echo Boomers
• The Second Baby Boom
The rest I'll deal with individually.
Generation Y: Nah, I don't want to be defined simply as the ones that came after Generation X.
The Boomerang Generation: This refers to our apparent tendency to return home after college. While it may be something we have in common (and probably a sign of a poor economy), I don't think that it says much about our character.
The Next Generation: Star Trek is more a Generation X thing. This name has little else to offer.
The DARE Generation: Certainly a common theme of our childhoods, and probably had a lot to do with our cynicism. Not terribly applicable now, even less so in the future.
GenerationNext: Too unspecific.
The Google Generation: I think google does embody a lot of what I see in our generation, though it was formed by Generation Xers. Still, while google certainly has staying power, its novelty will eventually wear off and it will become less appealing.
The Einstein Generation: This certainly piques my ego. Refers to our ability to multi-task. A little too narrow a scope, though, and we should resist the pandering for posterity's sake.
The Me Generation: Comments on our tendency to keep to ourselves, communicate online, etc. A little insulting, easily misinterpreted.
Second Place
The iGeneration (or internet Generation): Hard to cross this one off. We certainly have been shaped in large part by the ability to communicate instantaneouly, and to access information at will. Still, while the internet does have a big effect on our lives, I am going to refrain from pinning our identity to a technological innovation.
The Winner
So, my pick of the suggested names for our generation:
The Cynical Generation
We were born into an era of polemics. The older generations are sharply divided on many issues, and every where we turn we are confronted with their angry rhetoric. We see their unwillingness to compromise and win-at-all-cost outlook, and are understandably turned off. There is no unchallenged authority in our lives.
We are skeptical of just about everything. As far as entertainment goes, we gravitate towards the satirical and irreverant--just look at the success of South Park, or The Daily Show, or the resurgence of Monty Python. The first style of music completely our own was the super-cynical Emo, which, of course, immediately created millions of super-cynical Emo-haters. Even in the world of sports, we root against anyone who enjoys too much success, no matter how good their backstory (see the New England Patriots, the San Antonio Spurs, etc.). As far as movies go, we have a predilection to the conspiratoraial (The Matrix, Fight Club) and the one-man-against-the-system (Enemy of the State, Shooter, anything Denzel Washington, may, many others), which hints at our displeasure with the status quo.
This evidence having been considered, I think that The Cynical Generation speaks to our character pretty well, or at least better than anything else that has been suggested to date.
Showing posts with label generations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label generations. Show all posts
Monday, April 9, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Talkin' 'bout my generation
Recently, I've been wondering about just what generation I belong to. I decide to conduct an investigation in the traditional method of my peer group: Wikipedia. Here's what I learned:
There are a few different ways to measure where generations begin and end
• Birthrate Method: Birthrates tend to increases and decreases in a wave-like motion, and a generation is the period from trough to trough, or the period between two low-points in the birth-rate cycle.
• Technological Method: Looks to the level of technical sophistication of a group of people.
• Strauss-Howe Method: Generations divided into spans of about 22 years. Boundaries are fixed by "peer personality", or the cohort's specific beliefs (Question: Can someone belong to a different generation from his/her birth-peers if they share the philosophy of an older/younger generation?).
The different generations I may belong to:
• Generation X/Baby Buster Generation: By some measurements, I could be one of the very youngest members of Generation X. Most sources list the endpoint as 1978, or generally categorize it as encompassing anyone who way in their 20's during the 1990's. However, some have the boundary as 1983. Since I was born a month shy of 1984, I have some claim--albeit a very small one--to being a member of Generation X.
• The thirteenth generation: coined by Strauss and Howe, this describes the thirteenth generation to live in America since its founding. It roughly overlaps Generation X
• The MTV Generation: Bridges the gap between Generations X and Y, usually spannding from the mid 70's to mid 80's.
• The Boomerang Generation: Another bridge generation, usually listed between 1975 and 1986. Describes a tendency to move back in with their parents after intially heading out into the world.
• Generation Y: Was first used to describe those born between 1984 and 1994, but now usually cansidered to extend all the way up to the early 80's. This name was first used almost as a place-holder until a better term could be found, but unfortunatley too many alternate names have been proposed without a real contender coming forth to take the crown. All the generation name below constitute the list of proposed names for Generation Y
• The Net Generation
• Regan Babies
• The Millenials
• Echo Boomers
• The iGeneration (or internet Generation)
• The Second Baby Boom
• The DARE Generation
• The Google Generation
• The My Space Generation (from my point of view, The Facebook generation would be more appropriate, but I don't know the numbers)
• The MyPod Generation
• GenerationNext
• The Grand Theft Auto Generation
• The Nintendo Generation
• The Me Generation
• The Cynical Generation
• The Einstein Generation
• The Next Generation
Some thoughts on what has made us who we are
• The children of the 80's and early 90's are typically the products of the Baby Boomers. More specifically: unlike Generation X, we are the children of the Baby Boomers who waited until their late 20's and 30's to have children. Because parents who have children later are generally better prepared to care for them, I think that this suggests that many of us will be a little better adjusted than Generation X.
• Those of that do well in school do very, very well, probably due to the factor stated above. The competition to get into good colleges has becomes ridiculous, far toughrer than ever before. However, there are also many among us that do not do well, which I feel is a testament to the growing gap between classes.
• We are clever at learning new technologies. Because we were the first generation to own computers, out minds seem to be pretty dynamic in repsonding to new gadgets.
• Roe v. Wade means there are less of us were born unwanted and into bad situations (note: this is not a statement of judgement, just of observation). There are certainly still some kids who grew up in bad situations, but proportionally less than before. We were supposed to cause a massive crime wave in the mid 90's, but crime actually dropped instead.
• Many of us have divorced parents. I think that our generational cynicism has some of its roots in this fact.
• We have a heightened sense that we can make a difference. YouTube, blogs, etc. mean we can get our voices out there. I think this will lead to a diminishing sense of disenfrachisement.
• We have a lot of options as far as media, and as a result are much more discriminating. We hate television news, and that cynicism drives us to the Daily Show. We are skeptical about print newspapers, and look online for our information.
• We are cynical about the government, having witnessed the political war of the Lewinsky scandal and the various scandals of Bush's term in office.
• We experiment with illegal pleasures, like drugs and alcohol. However, statistically we drink less, do fewer drugs, and drop out of school less than our Generation X antecedants. Our missteps are frequently covered in the media, and our reputation
for such behavior may misrepresent how we actually behave.
• We can easily entertain ourselves; we don't need to go out to have fun. As a result, childhood obesity is on the rise.
Where do I belong?
In my next post I'll talk about which of these appellations seems to best descibe my peers and me.
There are a few different ways to measure where generations begin and end
• Birthrate Method: Birthrates tend to increases and decreases in a wave-like motion, and a generation is the period from trough to trough, or the period between two low-points in the birth-rate cycle.
• Technological Method: Looks to the level of technical sophistication of a group of people.
• Strauss-Howe Method: Generations divided into spans of about 22 years. Boundaries are fixed by "peer personality", or the cohort's specific beliefs (Question: Can someone belong to a different generation from his/her birth-peers if they share the philosophy of an older/younger generation?).
The different generations I may belong to:
• Generation X/Baby Buster Generation: By some measurements, I could be one of the very youngest members of Generation X. Most sources list the endpoint as 1978, or generally categorize it as encompassing anyone who way in their 20's during the 1990's. However, some have the boundary as 1983. Since I was born a month shy of 1984, I have some claim--albeit a very small one--to being a member of Generation X.
• The thirteenth generation: coined by Strauss and Howe, this describes the thirteenth generation to live in America since its founding. It roughly overlaps Generation X
• The MTV Generation: Bridges the gap between Generations X and Y, usually spannding from the mid 70's to mid 80's.
• The Boomerang Generation: Another bridge generation, usually listed between 1975 and 1986. Describes a tendency to move back in with their parents after intially heading out into the world.
• Generation Y: Was first used to describe those born between 1984 and 1994, but now usually cansidered to extend all the way up to the early 80's. This name was first used almost as a place-holder until a better term could be found, but unfortunatley too many alternate names have been proposed without a real contender coming forth to take the crown. All the generation name below constitute the list of proposed names for Generation Y
• The Net Generation
• Regan Babies
• The Millenials
• Echo Boomers
• The iGeneration (or internet Generation)
• The Second Baby Boom
• The DARE Generation
• The Google Generation
• The My Space Generation (from my point of view, The Facebook generation would be more appropriate, but I don't know the numbers)
• The MyPod Generation
• GenerationNext
• The Grand Theft Auto Generation
• The Nintendo Generation
• The Me Generation
• The Cynical Generation
• The Einstein Generation
• The Next Generation
Some thoughts on what has made us who we are
• The children of the 80's and early 90's are typically the products of the Baby Boomers. More specifically: unlike Generation X, we are the children of the Baby Boomers who waited until their late 20's and 30's to have children. Because parents who have children later are generally better prepared to care for them, I think that this suggests that many of us will be a little better adjusted than Generation X.
• Those of that do well in school do very, very well, probably due to the factor stated above. The competition to get into good colleges has becomes ridiculous, far toughrer than ever before. However, there are also many among us that do not do well, which I feel is a testament to the growing gap between classes.
• We are clever at learning new technologies. Because we were the first generation to own computers, out minds seem to be pretty dynamic in repsonding to new gadgets.
• Roe v. Wade means there are less of us were born unwanted and into bad situations (note: this is not a statement of judgement, just of observation). There are certainly still some kids who grew up in bad situations, but proportionally less than before. We were supposed to cause a massive crime wave in the mid 90's, but crime actually dropped instead.
• Many of us have divorced parents. I think that our generational cynicism has some of its roots in this fact.
• We have a heightened sense that we can make a difference. YouTube, blogs, etc. mean we can get our voices out there. I think this will lead to a diminishing sense of disenfrachisement.
• We have a lot of options as far as media, and as a result are much more discriminating. We hate television news, and that cynicism drives us to the Daily Show. We are skeptical about print newspapers, and look online for our information.
• We are cynical about the government, having witnessed the political war of the Lewinsky scandal and the various scandals of Bush's term in office.
• We experiment with illegal pleasures, like drugs and alcohol. However, statistically we drink less, do fewer drugs, and drop out of school less than our Generation X antecedants. Our missteps are frequently covered in the media, and our reputation
for such behavior may misrepresent how we actually behave.
• We can easily entertain ourselves; we don't need to go out to have fun. As a result, childhood obesity is on the rise.
Where do I belong?
In my next post I'll talk about which of these appellations seems to best descibe my peers and me.
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