Judging each generation: socially, economically, culturally
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Boomers
Socially: They definitely raised the bar with feminism (the actual, "I want to work and vote, too" kind) and integration. Good job.
Economically: definitely a bunch of "head to the grindstone" motherfuckers. Hard workers, but in the traditional way: pick a practical career, keep your head down, don't take sick days, do what you're told, don't job-hop, get your pension.
Culturally: Stephen King said "they had a chance to change the world and opted instead for the Home Shopping Network." I think that pretty much sums it up. Some of the best music, movies, and books were written during their adolescence. Which they all promptly abandoned. Deadhead stickers on Cadillacs indeed.Gen X
Socially: Meh. Didn't do nothing, didn't do a lot. Didn't screw things up too badly.
Economically: Took them a long-ass time to get started, but they got into the fold just like everybody else.
Culturally: Hangout sitcoms, D&D, new kinds of Sci-Fi, made video games the medium it is today. They did their part.Millennials
Socially: racism, doxxing, class warfare, cancel culture, vilifying criticism. Fuck you, Millennials. At least fewer people are getting fired for having Asperger's or Tourette's, I guess.
Economically: Work more hours than Boomers. Popularized side hustles. But spend their money very differently. Instead of houses and Chinese-made shit at box stores, they rent and buy farm-to-table crap at their local artisan eatery. Not necessarily bad or good, just different.
Culturally: This one's a weird one. Hipsters brought knitting, analog photography, quilting, screen printing, leatherworking, vinyl and a whole bunch of other stuff back into popularity. They only half-understand this stuff as it is, but it's all probably good on balance.Gen Z
Socially: Plenty of 'em are even more batshit than Millennials. Hopes are not high here.
Economically: Too early to tell. Too young.
Culturally: Their greatest cultural contributions appear to be ridiculing every other generation's while simultaneously championing music no one listens to, clothes no one wears and NFTs. Joke.Please love yourself.
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“Some of the best music, movies, and books were written during their adolescence. “
And tv. And tv commercials. And cartoons. And a whole world of popular culture.
And yes nothing was done with this massive inheritance other than complaints about how the current generations just don’t understand how good this stuff actually was.
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Boomers
Socially: They definitely raised the bar with feminism (the actual, "I want to work and vote, too" kind) and integration. Good job.
Economically: definitely a bunch of "head to the grindstone" motherfuckers. Hard workers, but in the traditional way: pick a practical career, keep your head down, don't take sick days, do what you're told, don't job-hop, get your pension.
Culturally: Stephen King said "they had a chance to change the world and opted instead for the Home Shopping Network." I think that pretty much sums it up. Some of the best music, movies, and books were written during their adolescence. Which they all promptly abandoned. Deadhead stickers on Cadillacs indeed.Gen X
Socially: Meh. Didn't do nothing, didn't do a lot. Didn't screw things up too badly.
Economically: Took them a long-ass time to get started, but they got into the fold just like everybody else.
Culturally: Hangout sitcoms, D&D, new kinds of Sci-Fi, made video games the medium it is today. They did their part.Millennials
Socially: racism, doxxing, class warfare, cancel culture, vilifying criticism. Fuck you, Millennials. At least fewer people are getting fired for having Asperger's or Tourette's, I guess.
Economically: Work more hours than Boomers. Popularized side hustles. But spend their money very differently. Instead of houses and Chinese-made shit at box stores, they rent and buy farm-to-table crap at their local artisan eatery. Not necessarily bad or good, just different.
Culturally: This one's a weird one. Hipsters brought knitting, analog photography, quilting, screen printing, leatherworking, vinyl and a whole bunch of other stuff back into popularity. They only half-understand this stuff as it is, but it's all probably good on balance.Gen Z
Socially: Plenty of 'em are even more batshit than Millennials. Hopes are not high here.
Economically: Too early to tell. Too young.
Culturally: Their greatest cultural contributions appear to be ridiculing every other generation's while simultaneously championing music no one listens to, clothes no one wears and NFTs. Joke.@Aqua-Letifer said in Judging each generation: socially, economically, culturally:
Gen X
Socially: Meh. Didn't do nothing, didn't do a lot. Didn't screw things up too badly.
Economically: Took them a long-ass time to get started, but they got into the fold just like everybody else.
Culturally: Hangout sitcoms, D&D, new kinds of Sci-Fi, made video games the medium it is today. They did their part.Gen X gave you the commercial Internet, which arguably does quite a number on all things social, economic, and cultural.
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@Aqua-Letifer said in Judging each generation: socially, economically, culturally:
Gen X
Socially: Meh. Didn't do nothing, didn't do a lot. Didn't screw things up too badly.
Economically: Took them a long-ass time to get started, but they got into the fold just like everybody else.
Culturally: Hangout sitcoms, D&D, new kinds of Sci-Fi, made video games the medium it is today. They did their part.Gen X gave you the commercial Internet, which arguably does quite a number on all things social, economic, and cultural.
@Axtremus said in Judging each generation: socially, economically, culturally:
@Aqua-Letifer said in Judging each generation: socially, economically, culturally:
Gen X
Socially: Meh. Didn't do nothing, didn't do a lot. Didn't screw things up too badly.
Economically: Took them a long-ass time to get started, but they got into the fold just like everybody else.
Culturally: Hangout sitcoms, D&D, new kinds of Sci-Fi, made video games the medium it is today. They did their part.Gen X gave you the commercial Internet, which arguably does quite a number on all things social, economic, and cultural.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee and the other most major contributors to the internet were Boomers, not Gen X. Ask Copper.
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@Axtremus said in Judging each generation: socially, economically, culturally:
@Aqua-Letifer said in Judging each generation: socially, economically, culturally:
Gen X
Socially: Meh. Didn't do nothing, didn't do a lot. Didn't screw things up too badly.
Economically: Took them a long-ass time to get started, but they got into the fold just like everybody else.
Culturally: Hangout sitcoms, D&D, new kinds of Sci-Fi, made video games the medium it is today. They did their part.Gen X gave you the commercial Internet, which arguably does quite a number on all things social, economic, and cultural.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee and the other most major contributors to the internet were Boomers, not Gen X. Ask Copper.
@Aqua-Letifer said in Judging each generation: socially, economically, culturally:
@Axtremus said in Judging each generation: socially, economically, culturally:
@Aqua-Letifer said in Judging each generation: socially, economically, culturally:
Gen X
Socially: Meh. Didn't do nothing, didn't do a lot. Didn't screw things up too badly.
Economically: Took them a long-ass time to get started, but they got into the fold just like everybody else.
Culturally: Hangout sitcoms, D&D, new kinds of Sci-Fi, made video games the medium it is today. They did their part.Gen X gave you the commercial Internet, which arguably does quite a number on all things social, economic, and cultural.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee and the other most major contributors to the internet were Boomers, not Gen X. Ask Copper.
I wrote the “commercial Internet”, that comes after the underlying technology has been invented by the likes of Cerf, Khan, and Benners-Lee. Look up Jerry Yang, Larry Page, Sergei Brin, Jeff Bezos, Jack Dorsey, et al.
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I’ve always been amused by the fact that Billy Idol is a boomer
Admittedly, I’m very easily amused
I was only joking
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@Aqua-Letifer said in Judging each generation: socially, economically, culturally:
@Axtremus said in Judging each generation: socially, economically, culturally:
@Aqua-Letifer said in Judging each generation: socially, economically, culturally:
Gen X
Socially: Meh. Didn't do nothing, didn't do a lot. Didn't screw things up too badly.
Economically: Took them a long-ass time to get started, but they got into the fold just like everybody else.
Culturally: Hangout sitcoms, D&D, new kinds of Sci-Fi, made video games the medium it is today. They did their part.Gen X gave you the commercial Internet, which arguably does quite a number on all things social, economic, and cultural.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee and the other most major contributors to the internet were Boomers, not Gen X. Ask Copper.
I wrote the “commercial Internet”, that comes after the underlying technology has been invented by the likes of Cerf, Khan, and Benners-Lee. Look up Jerry Yang, Larry Page, Sergei Brin, Jeff Bezos, Jack Dorsey, et al.
@Axtremus said in Judging each generation: socially, economically, culturally:
@Aqua-Letifer said in Judging each generation: socially, economically, culturally:
@Axtremus said in Judging each generation: socially, economically, culturally:
@Aqua-Letifer said in Judging each generation: socially, economically, culturally:
Gen X
Socially: Meh. Didn't do nothing, didn't do a lot. Didn't screw things up too badly.
Economically: Took them a long-ass time to get started, but they got into the fold just like everybody else.
Culturally: Hangout sitcoms, D&D, new kinds of Sci-Fi, made video games the medium it is today. They did their part.Gen X gave you the commercial Internet, which arguably does quite a number on all things social, economic, and cultural.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee and the other most major contributors to the internet were Boomers, not Gen X. Ask Copper.
I wrote the “commercial Internet”, that comes after the underlying technology has been invented by the likes of Cerf, Khan, and Benners-Lee. Look up Jerry Yang, Larry Page, Sergei Brin, Jeff Bezos, Jack Dorsey, et al.
I'll look them up once you prove you know how to have an actual discussion.
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I’ve always been amused by the fact that Billy Idol is a boomer
Admittedly, I’m very easily amused
@Doctor-Phibes said in Judging each generation: socially, economically, culturally:
I’ve always been amused by the fact that Billy Idol is a boomer
Admittedly, I’m very easily amused
His new single is actually pretty dope.
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Outstanding, Aqua!
I'm curious: were you being reflective when you wrote it, or pissed off?@Rainman said in Judging each generation: socially, economically, culturally:
Outstanding, Aqua!
I'm curious: were you being reflective when you wrote it, or pissed off?Little of both.
Usually when people speak of generations, it's in the context to one-liners. Boomers are boomers because they prefer cable to streaming. Millennials are millennials because they buy fair-trade.
That level of analysis is pretty low-resolution, so I thought it'd be a good mental exercise to try to flesh things out a little more. Some things about that list do indeed piss me off.
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I was born in 1963, but I self-identify as Gen X, since all my friends and wife are. I'd rather be a millennial, but even I can see that would be pushing it.
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I was born in 1963, but I self-identify as Gen X, since all my friends and wife are. I'd rather be a millennial, but even I can see that would be pushing it.
@Doctor-Phibes said in Judging each generation: socially, economically, culturally:
I was born in 1963, but I self-identify as Gen X, since all my friends and wife are. I'd rather be a millennial, but even I can see that would be pushing it.
Okay, boomer.
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Aqua's list is good, but as with any generalization, it's a 50,000 foot view.
Wonder how much overlap exists?
@Jolly said in Judging each generation: socially, economically, culturally:
Wonder how much overlap exists?
That was kind of my point - all the cultural stuff for Gen-x'er's is pretty much exactly what I do. And it certainly took me a long-ass time to get started. Now I'm having a little rest. I know people my age who definitely fit the boomer description, but I know a fair few who don't. You're only as old...
And nobody has ever referred to me as having my head remotely near a grindstone.
