# Why are we so obsessed with the generations?



## lungsthatimpress (Dec 22, 2019)

I took a sociology class once that first introduced me to the study of generational trends/behaviors in understanding the human psyche. But I've noticed lately we've started putting an unusual amount of emphasis on the generations, which I find quite curious.

As far as I can tell, the division of generations started ~1920's. My guess would be that as the country (I'm speaking from the US) became more unified (due to WWI), regional differences, and therefore trends in behaviors/personality traits, began to disappear. The importance of regional cultures began to dim and instead _generational_ cultures began to rise, and we saw a larger emphasis of this on an individual's personality/behavior. This makes sense to me why, from an interesting academic standpoint, we would want to study this.

But now I've noticed people get so rigid. For example, trying to discern when exactly Gen Y ends and Gen Z begins...is there really such a difference between someone born in 1995 vs 1996? Does it matter as much to the exact specifics vs just a general, overall trend we can observe in cultural shifts?

People start putting so much stock and identity in their generation title. E.g. "I am a Baby Boomer and we can't stand you Millenials..." It's so very interesting that instead of national/regional identity, we seem to be uniting more on the front of generational identity, how odd. I think this is probably in large part due to globalization and the weakening of national/ethnic boundaries and distinctions.

I apologize if this is all rambling, but anyone have any thoughts?


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## flamesabers (Nov 20, 2012)

I think it's because people have an innate preference to find patterns and create categories. I don't think it's anything unique with generations. Horoscopes and orders of birth are also ways to categorize people. 

As far as a minimal difference between someone born between 1995 and 1996, I agree with you. However, boundaries have to be drawn otherwise categorization is meaningless. In the grand scheme of things, do people undergo a significant mental change the day they turn 18? Probably not, but that's the age the government has determined that separates adults from minors.


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## 74893H (Dec 27, 2017)

I agree that people are being a bit too antsy with them, but I think there are pretty clear differences between each generation, mainly the parents they're raised by, the circumstances they're born and raised in, the things they experience as they grow and the way they'll parent their own kids as a result and therefore how the next generation will be, and key values people of that generation tend to develop as a result, so it helps to have a formal way of referring to those demographics. Most important of all now I think is the divide between the pre-internet generations and those generations who are raised with the internet, or modern information technology as a whole. The world's gonna be a compleeeeetely different place when Gen Y's take over the ruling class.


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## Willtip98 (Jul 11, 2019)

It's really just for marketing purposes. The marketers have to divide people into groups to sell products. And if they can't do that, they can't make a profit.


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## Crowbo (Jul 9, 2017)

Because us humans love putting everything and everyone into boxes.


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## Blazkovitz (Mar 16, 2014)

Need to belong to a tribe?


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## Daeva (Apr 18, 2011)

I think this depends on the circles you find yourself in. Internet forums and other similarly narrow groups have some weird customs centered around identity issues that I just don't find anywhere else in life. I only encounter these ideas when I turn on the computer.


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## Gmkl (Jan 19, 2019)

i never noticed many people outside of this forum thats interested in generations, or stuff such as "what decade kid you are"


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## strawberryLola (Sep 19, 2010)

Brilliant, very brilliant. Yes!!! You TOTALLY Get It!!! I could send you a thousand blow kisses!! Globalization truly has weekend national identity, thus placing more importance in generation differences, which have been popular in the past- having discussions in passing, but never has it been so distinctly emphasized.

I also think it’s because the Internet has essentially helped the groupings to exist due to our very pronounced differences trending with the technologies of our time.

I find it very interesting to notice the differences. I notice Gen Zs are really quick to exchange phone numbers. They’re so friendly. I find this unusual as gen z’s don’t quite have a personal barrier that’s as standoffish, they’ve been so kind towards one another- I do notice a tendency for me to want to be so protective, is not only have the Gen Z’s shown how the fruits of the labors the kind folks of Gen X, millennials, and boomers have helped to create a loving generation that’s ever more so kind, embracing of diversity, embracing towards one another, embracing towards yourselves, you make me proud.

I do notice that about your generation, I truly feel inclusive whenever I speak to you guys IRL- such gentle souls. Makes me feel bad, I wish I knew more about how I can help... Millenials we’re struggling trying to help the previous gens, while taking care of ourselves, and you guys, not having the opportunity at education (some of us) to better our own lives so we could better serve you. My heart goes out to all of you, you truly impress me.


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## ChocStar (Jan 24, 2020)

Probably because Boomers have single handedly destroyed the planet and rather than take responsibility for doing so most of them want to shift it off onto younger people, so every other generation hates them. 

"Ok Boomer" can also be applied to Gen X or even Millennials (though much more rarely) if the person in question is voicing a particularly offensive ignorant opinion about specific things like the climate crisis. 

The exceptionally neat or small categories for generation are probably more harmful. I have only in the past couple of years been able to see a real difference between what I consider my generation and Gen Z. I think I became most aware of Gen Z after 2016. This makes sense because the first Gen Z would be reaching adulthood or going to college, and more of the group would at least be old enough to be in their teens. For a long time I did not feel any strong resentment or separation towards people younger than myself, and it does overlap quite neatly with what approximates Gen Y or Millennials. 

On the other hand, I as an older Millennial have some "Xennial" overlaps with younger Gen X - namely in terms of popular culture and politics from my childhood. What makes a difference though is my attitude or framing of those cultural and political events. People who strongly identify with Gen X may remember the same things that I do, but perceive or categorize those things in a different way. I actually had a quite strong aversion to most things from the 1990s until fairly recently, where as the average Gen Xer tends to view that as their cultural peak as a generation, I think that happened for my generation in the 2010s. Or maybe more like mid-00s to mid/late-10s. My favorite period in music and popular culture took place through the Obama administration, and I don't particularly like Obama but if I carefully consider which years I liked best ...lo and behold, it is approximately 2008-2015. Gen X may on the other hand still glorify the Reagan years or the Clintons. 

Because we're human and culture is subjective and fluid, there isn't going to be a hard and fast distinction on the exact year a generation begins and ends. Also some people may identify with either the older or younger generation if they are born on the cusp, depending on their unique individual experience.

I like it because I've always been interested in literary, musical or other artistic eras in history. I remember even in childhood being proud that I could tell the difference between the 1930s and the 1950s, or the Victorian era and WWI. Not that this is impressive as an adult, but I showed early signs of wanting to be able to categorize and bracket cultural movements. It was only later that I began to ask why it happened as it did.


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## Glenda Gnome Starr (May 12, 2011)

i have no clue as to why we are obsessed with generations.
In my day to day life, I have never observed anyone who cared which generation their friends, coworkers, and acquaintances belonged to. We are more focused on common interests or on projects that we are working on, such as planting trees, picking up litter, rehearsing for a concert, etc., etc. I have friends who range in age from eleven to ninety-six. Each one is a shining light. I have learned about resilience from premature babies and I have learned about wisdom and the spirit of life from elderly people.

I don't believe that any one generation is powerful enough to singlehandedly destroy the world. I feel that this has been a problem that had been ongoing for centuries. Humans have tried to find more and more efficient means of killing one another. They put more effort into sucking the earth dry of its resources to get some energy than they have in figuring out how to conserve the world's resources. And it's all about money. 

It could be that I have this perspective because I am a member of that evil generation, since the only requirement for membership is to be born between the years of 1946 and 1964, when there was a dramatic population spike. But it is only in science fiction that all people born at a particular time are clones of one another. 
Well, maybe in "Brave New World" (Aldous Huxley), a dystopian novel in which sex was banned and all people were cloned in some sort of machine.

But I digress. Digression seems to be my favorite activity.
Plus I am in the process of turning into a pumpkin.

I'd like to say that I'm really not a fan of dividing people by generations and age groups because that really doesn't work. I've known that since I was in seventh grade, when I was bullied for being different (aka having undiagnosed learning disabilities) and... for being (gasp!) short!!! Being only with people who were born in my year was not fun! I was very grateful when I turned eighteen and, therefore, could make friends with people of different ages.

Well, I've done all of my evil boomer deeds for the day, which includes baking cookies and building structures with toothpicks and miniature marshmallows. I'm going to sleep to dream of more wickedness for tomorrow... or for whenever the next Mafia game starts!!!! *insert wicked cackle here!* (here, I insert a plug for the Mafia forum! It's fun! Come and take a look at some games! And sign up for a game! You'll have fun.)


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## Necrofantasia (Feb 26, 2014)

Capitalism is all about dividing people into strata and forcing them to compete. Being socialized into capitalism conditions people to essentially nitpick every single difference they can find in others and to compare and otherize.

It's stuck around for so long because it harnesses the worst tendencies in people and amplifies them.


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## Glenda Gnome Starr (May 12, 2011)

Necrofantasia said:


> Capitalism is all about dividing people into strata and forcing them to compete. Being socialized into capitalism conditions people to essentially nitpick every single difference they can find in others and to compare and otherize.
> 
> It's stuck around for so long because it harnesses the worst tendencies in people and amplifies them.



This sounds exactly right, in my opinion. I would say that capitalism is why we tend to blame all things on whatever generation we decide has become the boogeyman. It is easier than blaming large corporations or corrupt economic systems. And it benefits these corrupt systems, which are fueled by massive amounts of money. As long as we are divided, they get away with everything.


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## Blazkovitz (Mar 16, 2014)

The idea of generations is sound, but it became so baadly commercialized. The definitions are now all based on commercial toys and commercial entertainment.


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## angelfish (Feb 17, 2011)

Actually I've always wondered why the generational boxes don't really appeal to me. IDK. Other sorts of typing appeal to me much more. I guess age and generational influences aren't as interesting to me as personality characteristics.

I do sort of feel a congenial relation with the Millenial generation. Like, I'm cool with Boomers, they're my parents' generation. I like being a Millenial because I had a great childhood and I feel kindred with my sibling who is one too. I also tend to like when Millenials get snarky because there was a lot of shitting on Millenials for a while.


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## GoingNowhere97 (Nov 29, 2019)

I think you'll find the only people that are truly hung up over generations are those that are born at either the very end or the very beginning of them. People born in 1995 and 1980 feel the need to justify why they shouldn't be lumped in with those who are 15 years younger than them, instead of those who are merely a year younger. This leads to them creating their own sublabels, like "zillennial" or "xennial". People who fit firmly into generations are more at peace, and as such they don't let the labels define them. Likewise, you also have people born in 1994 for example who like the idea of being lumped in with people much older than them, so they'll go around talking about how millennials are so superior to "zoomers", when the only people who even care are those a few years younger than them that grew up exactly the same. I have a sister born in 2003 and I'd bet she doesn't spend much time worrying about being labeled gen z, since she'd be able to relate fairly well to people born in 1997 such as myself in addition to people born in 2009. But I on the other hand get angry over the mere thought of supposedly being in the same group as a 2009 baby rather in the same group as my older 1994 born brother.


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## Glenda Gnome Starr (May 12, 2011)

GoingNowhere97 said:


> I think you'll find the only people that are truly hung up over generations are those that are born at either the very end or the very beginning of them. People born in 1995 and 1980 feel the need to justify why they shouldn't be lumped in with those who are 15 years younger than them, instead of those who are merely a year younger. This leads to them creating their own sublabels, like "zillennial" or "xennial". People who fit firmly into generations are more at peace, and as such they don't let the labels define them. Likewise, you also have people born in 1994 for example who like the idea of being lumped in with people much older than them, so they'll go around talking about how millennials are so superior to "zoomers", when the only people who even care are those a few years younger than them that grew up exactly the same. I have a sister born in 2003 and I'd bet she doesn't spend much time worrying about being labeled gen z, since she'd be able to relate fairly well to people born in 1997 such as myself in addition to people born in 2009. But I on the other hand get angry over the mere thought of supposedly being in the same group as a 2009 baby rather in the same group as my older 1994 born brother.



I was born in 1956 and I don't understand why I am lumped in with people who were born in 1946, but not with people who were born in 1965. I think that the whole thing is just very arbitrary and makes little sense. So I prefer personality typing because, if you're typed correctly, you're going to find people who experience the world in similar ways to you, regardless of age.


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## karlpalaka (Sep 11, 2019)

To be honest, people will always relate to those 2-4 years apart in age. Nevertheless, while I love ending Gen Y at 1999, 1999 and 2000 are alike, but due to labels, since we have to end a generation at some point, I chose 1999, since it is the end of that decade, and it is easier to remember for me. Of course, 1999 and 2000 had an alike childhood except one was never alive when the years still began with a 1 rather than a 2. Point is generation labels are meaningless. A generation is basically defined as the heirarchy between you, your parents, your grandparents, your great++ grandparents, not based on what year people were born in. A person born in 1946 could have a child born in 1964.


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## Handsome Dyke (Oct 4, 2012)

I'm not sure many people are obsessed with it. Maybe it's just that boundaries between generations are fuzzy, so the boundaries lead to a lot of discussion (which is interpretable as obsession); without agreeing on boundaries, the categories are rather useless (and they don't seem particularly useful even when people _do_ agree on boundaries, so any sign of uselessness beyond maybe seems rather catastrophic for the whole system...maybe wanting to save the system of categorization at all is what people are obsessed about, if anything). I don't know about the other places where you've seen/heard the generations discussed, but PerC supposdely has a large population of young people, people still in the stage of exploring identity, and the generational categorizing thing is about identity somewhat: the media and cultural circumstances you grew up with, so maybe it appeals to this demographic in particular and so gets discussed more on PerC than it would be be discussed if the forum membership skewed older. It's actually not that popular on PerC compared to the traffic in the other subforums.


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## karlpalaka (Sep 11, 2019)

Saiyed En Sabah Nur said:


> I'm not sure many people are obsessed with it. Maybe it's just that boundaries between generations are fuzzy, so the boundaries lead to a lot of discussion (which is interpretable as obsession); without agreeing on boundaries, the categories are rather useless (and they don't seem particularly useful even when people _do_ agree on boundaries, so any sign of uselessness beyond maybe seems rather catastrophic for the whole system...maybe wanting to save the system of categorization at all is what people are obsessed about, if anything). I don't know about the other places where you've seen/heard the generations discussed, but PerC supposdely has a large population of young people, people still in the stage of exploring identity, and the generational categorizing thing is about identity somewhat: the media and cultural circumstances you grew up with, so maybe it appeals to this demographic in particular and so gets discussed more on PerC than it would be be discussed if the forum membership skewed older. It's actually not that popular on PerC compared to the traffic in the other subforums.


Not to mention this is what to leads to gatekeeping, and with Micheal69, the biggest gatekeeper of them all.


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