Generation X

61 - 80 is a ridiculous category.

Anyone born after 73 has a different outlook largely because of cultural changes affecting their parents and thus them also - society really did change in that period leading up to 73 and 74 is more like 1980 than anything like 61 or even 68-69.

Technically, Gen X started beyond 1965, because 1965-70 was the population downturn right after the peak of the baby boom generation. But attitudinally, the children of the era were raised after Vietnam, which mean they had an anti-gov't attitude, but not the identical anti-gov't attitude of the hippie generation. I was born in '65, and I DEFINITELY would describe myself more as Gen-X than baby boomer. My young adulthood was appreciating punk music, and you had to be finding work in 1990-1992 to appreciate the different perception about how adults from the baby boom generation treated employment, and how they do in my generation.

Usually you categorize "a generation" as a 15 year period, so its probably better to say the Gen-X generation started in 1960, because if you were born by 1980, you'd be 20 by 2000, and no way are the young adults in 2000 are like the young adults in 1990. There's going to be overlap anyway. Figure the "grunge" music period (1990-1995) as the swansong of the Gen-X era. If you look at it as "dinosaur" music you'd never be caught dead playing today, then you're Gen-Y.

A generation by unofficial definition tends to span 18 years. Officially they list Boomer as 1946-1964, GenX is 1965-1983, and Y...who gives a flying "F"? It was an unoriginal name anyway.

18 years...how the hell could you possibly have anything in common with someone with an 18 year age difference?

Front end and tail enders of a generation tend to share characteristics of preceding and succeeding generations mainly because they have friends and siblings slightly older and younger. This is why a lot of people say, "Hey you know, I'm a little Boom and X all mixed together".

My theory (based on much observation and study of the nature of people) is this:

Boomers born in the 40's aren't Boomers. They are something else...god only knows what.

Boomers were born in the 50's. They want to pretend that the Boomer generation extended into the 60's because they are in complete denial about the fact that they are actually aging, so they try to associate themselves with people much younger. Get over it Boomer a-holes...you're old and we don't want to associate with you.

Gen X was born in the 60's. I will grant that those born in 1960, 1961, and maybe even 1962 have dominant Boomer characteristics, but if you were born in 1963, you are GenX and that is all there is to it. I would say GenX might stretch to 1975 at the latest. Anything after that and you fall into the who gives a flying "F" category.

There was an interesting generational handle "invented" a few years back called Generation Jones. This is supposedly a hybrid of the Boomer and X generations. You apparently had the optimism of the Boomers and the Cynicism of GenX and they were constantly doing battle with each other. The result is a generation that has felt largely disappointed with the way things have turned out. Generation Jones is officially considered to apply to those born between 1954-1964. I would disagree and say it is more accurately a designation for those born in the small window of 1957-1962.

GenX is a breed apart. Slackers? Not really. Just people that aren't interested in working at something they don't give a damn about. They do if they have to, but usually not for long. GenX has always just wanted a chance in the "real world" and never got it. This is why they are so entrepreneurial.

So you see, it is tough to define. In the end, you are what you are, despite when you were born. You just have to play the cards you were dealt and quit the damn self-pity and whining. It will all come out in the wash anyway.

a generation is ten year span. 1968-1978