# Are the differences between the lettered generations (X, Y, Z) merely incremental?



## donnie darko (Oct 12, 2012)

I was thinking how the asserted differences between Y and X, or between Z and X tend to cite more or less the same things. 

In the early nineties when Gen X was coined as a term by Coupland and became a popular topic of discussion, the idea was the under-25 generation was growing up in this time of pluralism, mass media, offshoring, and so on. 

In the early noughties Gen Y was supposedly different from Gen X because they grew up with even more pluralism and the Internet.

And now, in the early tens Gen Z is supposedly different from Y because they have had the "i" line of products from the Apple renaissance since they were small kids, have Facebook and texting in middle school (or even younger), as opposed to the not-so-fancy dial up and ICQ/MSN us Gen Yers loved right?

Boomers ranged about 20 years, 1943-1964 or so give or take, yet they are defined by that "moment" of the late 60s/early 70s when everything changed. 

With the people born in 1965 and later there's hardly any unity or real justification for the generations. I've heard Generation Y defined as being as early as 1975-1989 and as late as 1990-2004, seriously, I mean those definitions do not even overlap!

Even people born in the same decade don't seem to have much of a commonality, being a "90s kid" for example means a completely different thing if you were born in the 80s vs the early 90s vs the late 90s. 

It's almost like anyone born after the Boomers might as well be Generation X because there isn't really a cohesive thing that unites any of the younger generations together as coherent blocs.

Basically all that really is happening is that every year in the future a person is born, the more deeply immersed into digitality and global capitalism they are. Even though Gen X ends around 1977 there's nothing really hugely different about people born in 1975 vs 1980. 

Same with Gen Y and Z, I don't think people born in the late 90s seem all that different from how late 80s borns seemed 10 years ago. They ride skateboards, listen to rap music and say things like "sweet" and "dude" just like the teens of 2003 did. The major difference is just how much of "back in the day" they can remember or were alive for.

What do you think?


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## Glenda Gnome Starr (May 12, 2011)

Boomers are actually defined by our numbers and by the fact that the war ended and there was no more Great Depression. The soldiers came home, married, and had lots of children. The Boomer generation is just a demographic designation, not a cultural one, which is why someone born in 1946 and someone born in 1964 are part of the same generation. Of course, their experiences were vastly different.


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## NighTi (Jan 1, 2013)

donnie darko said:


> What do you think?


I think it's a byproduct of Market segmentation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia . Any actual social phenomena are self-fulfilling prophecies. 

I'm not denying cultural trends over time. I am saying that the lines are arbitrary. Twenty year buckets are a convenient way for marketing professionals to think about their business.


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## TheProcrastinatingMaster (Jun 4, 2012)

The next generation can be the resource war generation!
And then maybe the atomic war generation.


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## Glenda Gnome Starr (May 12, 2011)

After the atomic war generation, there will be no more generations. 



TheProcrastinatingMaster said:


> The next generation can be the resource war generation!
> And then maybe the atomic war generation.


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## TheProcrastinatingMaster (Jun 4, 2012)

walking tourist said:


> After the atomic war generation, there will be no more generations.


No, there can be the vault dweller generation.


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## Glenda Gnome Starr (May 12, 2011)

It will be a very short-lived generation because all of the food sources will be contaminated with radiation. It will probably also be a generation of mutants and angry at previous generations for the poor decisions that caused this sickly generation to be in such a terrible condition.



TheProcrastinatingMaster said:


> No, there can be the vault dweller generation.


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## TheProcrastinatingMaster (Jun 4, 2012)

walking tourist said:


> It will be a very short-lived generation because all of the food sources will be contaminated with radiation. It will probably also be a generation of mutants and angry at previous generations for the poor decisions that caused this sickly generation to be in such a terrible condition.


Haha, I gather you haven't played Fallout?


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## Glenda Gnome Starr (May 12, 2011)

You are right about that. Is that about the world after it's nuked?



TheProcrastinatingMaster said:


> Haha, I gather you haven't played Fallout?


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## TheProcrastinatingMaster (Jun 4, 2012)

walking tourist said:


> You are right about that. Is that about the world after it's nuked?


The most recent (Numbered) game is set two centuries after the atomic war, in 2277


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## Glenda Gnome Starr (May 12, 2011)

And they are living in a vault because the world is still too radioactive to support life? How do they get food?



TheProcrastinatingMaster said:


> The most recent (Numbered) game is set two centuries after the atomic war, in 2277


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## TheProcrastinatingMaster (Jun 4, 2012)

walking tourist said:


> And they are living in a vault because the world is still too radioactive to support life? How do they get food?


Not everyone lives in a vault, lots of people left the vaults after a few decades. The vaults weren't really designed to save lives though, many of them were allocated to be social experiments.

In Fallout 3 you begin in Vault 101, Vault 101 was to stay closed indefinitely, as a study of the human condition, the genetic impact of a small group of individuals breeding through several generations, and the role of the Overseer when a vault never opened, though the limited genetic material would probably result in inbreeding.

Food is produced hydroponically and the vault is powered by a fusion reactors, which at least in the Fallout universe, are advanced enough to power the vault for centuries.


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## Arclight (Feb 10, 2010)

Generation X was so named due it's lack of identity at the time. They were neither considered old school or new school, thus they had no "brand" and as such, the moniker of X was bestowed upon them. 
Gen Y made sense on a number of fronts.. The world become more focused on the youth..And as the information age dawned, the first question in the pursuit of information is almost always "why?".

However , to me, calling the latest generation Gen Z is just lazy and shows a serious lack of creativity. OK..so it follows X and Y.. So what? What are their children going to be called then? Do we invent a new letter ? 
What does Z signify in regard to the generation? Zombies? 

I have seen the "iGeneration" used in rare cases and I find this title much more applicable. It's iconic and truly represents the era on a pop culture level. This is the internet generation. And.. It's is clearly the "Me" generation. 
It makes much more sense than Gen Z.


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## Glenda Gnome Starr (May 12, 2011)

The original name for Generation X was the Baby Buster generation. They were called Baby Busters because the birthrates started declining in the mid-1960s. It was originally a demographic designation, as was "Baby Boomer Generation." Generation X, of course, is a much cooler name than "Baby Boomer" or "Baby Buster." It gives the image of film noir... anonymous people drinking something that is not identified in small, dark bars. They read in the dim light and they talk of the dismal world and their talk is in iambic pentameter. 



Arclight said:


> Generation X was so named due it's lack of identity at the time. They were neither considered old school or new school, thus they had no "brand" and as such, the moniker of X was bestowed upon them.
> Gen Y made sense on a number of fronts.. The world become more focused on the youth..And as the information age dawned, the first question in the pursuit of information is almost always "why?".
> 
> However , to me, calling the latest generation Gen Z is just lazy and shows a serious lack of creativity. OK..so it follows X and Y.. So what? What are their children going to be called then? Do we invent a new letter ?
> ...


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## Glenda Gnome Starr (May 12, 2011)

This is great stuff! Thank you!!!




TheProcrastinatingMaster said:


> Not everyone lives in a vault, lots of people left the vaults after a few decades. The vaults weren't really designed to save lives though, many of them were allocated to be social experiments.
> 
> In Fallout 3 you begin in Vault 101, Vault 101 was to stay closed indefinitely, as a study of the human condition, the genetic impact of a small group of individuals breeding through several generations, and the role of the Overseer when a vault never opened, though the limited genetic material would probably result in inbreeding.
> 
> Food is produced hydroponically and the vault is powered by a fusion reactors, which at least in the Fallout universe, are advanced enough to power the vault for centuries.


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## Sapir (Jan 19, 2013)

donnie darko said:


> I was thinking how the asserted differences between Y and X, or between Z and X tend to cite more or less the same things.
> 
> In the early nineties when Gen X was coined as a term by Coupland and became a popular topic of discussion, the idea was the under-25 generation was growing up in this time of pluralism, mass media, offshoring, and so on.
> 
> ...


I would have to say this all depends on the person too, and were they are from. Were I was from we still used msn, infact i am pretty sure much of the world was still continuing the 90's trends throughout the early 2000's besides America that is. My memories of childhood are more like generation y's then generation z. And It all just depends on the location you are from. We had a doss computer, game boy color/game boy advanced, msn messanger, hotmail, vhs, cassets, etc. I started to notice the technology differences in america really. But I would have to say that I think mid 90's kids dont get the credit they deserve. I grew up for the most part with all the things that someone who was born three years before me had, and not only that but considering tv shows are always way behind outside the us, most of the shows I had watched were from the 80's/90's. I would agree though that the 2000's children are much different, I would even include the late 90's (1998 +) to the catagory with the 2000's. lol


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## donnie darko (Oct 12, 2012)

Arclight said:


> Generation X was so named due it's lack of identity at the time. They were neither considered old school or new school, thus they had no "brand" and as such, the moniker of X was bestowed upon them.
> Gen Y made sense on a number of fronts.. The world become more focused on the youth..And as the information age dawned, the first question in the pursuit of information is almost always "why?".
> 
> However , to me, calling the latest generation Gen Z is just lazy and shows a serious lack of creativity. OK..so it follows X and Y.. So what? What are their children going to be called then? Do we invent a new letter ?
> ...


And Gen Y _isn't_ the Internet generation? The Internet's been mainstream since 1995. Even the older part of Gen Y has had it since they were children.


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## Arclight (Feb 10, 2010)

donnie darko said:


> And Gen Y _isn't_ the Internet generation? The Internet's been mainstream since 1995. Even the older part of Gen Y has had it since they were children.


To answer your question .. No. 
Not all of Gen Y was born in the internet age.. All of Gen Z is/was.. This is not my opinion but rather the opinion of the people who decide such things.. Plead your case to them if you feel otherwise. It is generally accepted worldwide that Gen Y.. also known as the Millennial Generation, began in 1982-83.. No triple W dot com in 1982-83.


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## donnie darko (Oct 12, 2012)

Arclight said:


> To answer your question .. No.
> Not all of Gen Y was born in the internet age.. All of Gen Z is/was.. This is not my opinion but rather the opinion of the people who decide such things.. Plead your case to them if you feel otherwise. It is generally accepted worldwide that Gen Y.. also known as the Millennial Generation, began in 1982-83.. No triple W dot com in 1982-83.


Actually the first .com was in 1985, so not too far off! XD

Seriously though, you are right all of Gen Z was born during the Internet Age (after ~1995). 

My point is, though, that even someone born in 1983 is still young enough I'd consider them more native than adaptive. Granted they grew up in a middle class or wealthy family in a Western country of course. They could have been IM'ing their middle school friends at the age of 12 back in 1996. If that's not "digital native" it's pretty damn close.

I consider people born in the early to mid 80s in affluent Western families the first "digital natives", though even people born as late as 1992ish can appreciate the transition to digital first-hand to a certain extent.


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## nevermore (Oct 1, 2010)

donnie darko said:


> I consider people born in the early to mid 80s in affluent Western families the first "digital natives", though even people born as late as 1992ish can appreciate the transition to digital first-hand to a certain extent.


The transition was also obviously gradual. The early web had a rather limited interface. Even when it arrived, few people had digital cameras till after the start of the new Millennium, so not everything in their life was "synched up" to the digital world.


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