What’s with the arbitrary length of “generations”? Shouldnt the same timeframe be considered a “generation” or the word has little meaning. It’s just a categorizing tool to look at specific age groups after all. Instead they vary in length. Most between 15 and 18 years mostly. But then we’re wishy washy about when gen alpha begins and will end and the greatest generation is a whopping 26 years! Wth? And if it as all just arbitrary, who is deciding when one generation ends and another begins?
Because generations are culturally defined, I think they’re created by shared cultural events. You’re a Boomer if you can remember Kennedy getting shot and the moon landing, but not the end of WWII. You’re a Millennial if you remember the fall of the Berlin Wall but not Reagan getting shot. You’re Gen Z if you don’t remember 9/11 but do remember COVID.
You’d have to be a very early millennial to remember the fall of the Berlin Wall since the upper end of being a millennial is somewhere between 1993 - 1996. They were not even born yet. The distinguishing event might better be 9/11.
I mean, the linked Wikipedia article literally describes for many of them who coined the terms and, in some cases, why. “The Greatest Generation” is the title of a contemporary book about the people who fought in World War 2 (and their cohort), and the name became popular as a way to describe people of that cohort.
Yeah, a generation is just not (entirely) defined by a specific timeframe but by the things that happen(ed) to them and that concern(ed) them as a societal group. That’s the reason why Gen Alpha is not entirely defined yet, and also why generational lines might differ depending which continent you look at.
who is deciding when one generation ends and another begins?
Whoever writes the article. I was born in 77 and find it gets left out or overlaps on many definitions. While my older brothers are decidedly in ‘x’ they wouldn’t let me hang out with them, and I had much more in common with the ‘millennials’ and even married one. It’s not a science, very much like defining artistic periods.
I’ve heard my cohort called ‘the lucky generation’ because I caught the very tail end of housing affordability, spent most of my mortgage with very low interest rates and have it just about paid off now as things are swirling the drain. My friends even 5 years younger than me have none of that luck and it’s complete bullshit. Eat the rich.
Gen X is the post-boomers. Millennials are the boomers kids. Gen Z and alpha and millennials are all very samey because we didn’t have a world war or a post war boom to define us. We vaguely “grew up with computers”
It’s not arbitrary. Just take a good history book, look out for the years and try to think why that year was chosen. You might even look if the generation time spans are different in the US and Europe.
I just adjusted to your style of writing: Shouting around that this doesn’t make sense. Full stop. No more, no less.
I answered it does make sense. Full stop. And gave you hints how to get it by yourself.
However, you need to invest some brain thoughts by yourself. I‘m not teaching you every little aspect of generations and why they named as is. I would but not in your style of shouting. What is this lazy social media attitude? Or just bad style?
They shouldn’t be expected list out the historical events for each generation, it makes sense to just say events happened that shaped an age group of people
I think their point on the year was bad though because people would need to be alive for the event to matter
Because it’s all made up in the end. And now used by the corporate media to drive yet another social wedge, this time between “boomers” and “millennials”.
What’s with the arbitrary length of “generations”? Shouldnt the same timeframe be considered a “generation” or the word has little meaning. It’s just a categorizing tool to look at specific age groups after all. Instead they vary in length. Most between 15 and 18 years mostly. But then we’re wishy washy about when gen alpha begins and will end and the greatest generation is a whopping 26 years! Wth? And if it as all just arbitrary, who is deciding when one generation ends and another begins?
Because generations are culturally defined, I think they’re created by shared cultural events. You’re a Boomer if you can remember Kennedy getting shot and the moon landing, but not the end of WWII. You’re a Millennial if you remember the fall of the Berlin Wall but not Reagan getting shot. You’re Gen Z if you don’t remember 9/11 but do remember COVID.
You’d have to be a very early millennial to remember the fall of the Berlin Wall since the upper end of being a millennial is somewhere between 1993 - 1996. They were not even born yet. The distinguishing event might better be 9/11.
I’m a millennial and the only thing I remember about the Berlin Wall falling is my parents talking about it while I had no idea there had been a wall.
I mean, the linked Wikipedia article literally describes for many of them who coined the terms and, in some cases, why. “The Greatest Generation” is the title of a contemporary book about the people who fought in World War 2 (and their cohort), and the name became popular as a way to describe people of that cohort.
Yeah, a generation is just not (entirely) defined by a specific timeframe but by the things that happen(ed) to them and that concern(ed) them as a societal group. That’s the reason why Gen Alpha is not entirely defined yet, and also why generational lines might differ depending which continent you look at.
I think Generation Alpha is going to be defined by not being school-age when COVID hit, kind of like how even the oldest Gen Zs don’t remember 9/11.
Whoever writes the article. I was born in 77 and find it gets left out or overlaps on many definitions. While my older brothers are decidedly in ‘x’ they wouldn’t let me hang out with them, and I had much more in common with the ‘millennials’ and even married one. It’s not a science, very much like defining artistic periods.
I’ve heard my cohort called ‘the lucky generation’ because I caught the very tail end of housing affordability, spent most of my mortgage with very low interest rates and have it just about paid off now as things are swirling the drain. My friends even 5 years younger than me have none of that luck and it’s complete bullshit. Eat the rich.
That’s just Gen X. You grew up with Care Bears and He-Man. Millenials grew up with Pokemon and Harry Potter.
WW2 and the boomers really started it.
Gen X is the post-boomers. Millennials are the boomers kids. Gen Z and alpha and millennials are all very samey because we didn’t have a world war or a post war boom to define us. We vaguely “grew up with computers”
Maybe gen alpha will have grown up with AI.
It’s not arbitrary. Just take a good history book, look out for the years and try to think why that year was chosen. You might even look if the generation time spans are different in the US and Europe.
Condescending and didn’t provide any helpful information. What is this? Stack Overflow?
I just adjusted to your style of writing: Shouting around that this doesn’t make sense. Full stop. No more, no less.
I answered it does make sense. Full stop. And gave you hints how to get it by yourself.
However, you need to invest some brain thoughts by yourself. I‘m not teaching you every little aspect of generations and why they named as is. I would but not in your style of shouting. What is this lazy social media attitude? Or just bad style?
You’re so weirdly judgemental over a single comment. It was a question on lemmy, not my college thesis. Chill the hell out dude.
You are very fast in throwing bad words. Poor style kid
The irony that YOU’RE criticizing MY writing…
It wasn’t either of those
They shouldn’t be expected list out the historical events for each generation, it makes sense to just say events happened that shaped an age group of people
I think their point on the year was bad though because people would need to be alive for the event to matter
Like 9/11 wasn’t in 96
Because it’s all made up in the end. And now used by the corporate media to drive yet another social wedge, this time between “boomers” and “millennials”.
As long as it’s not rich VS poor they have won.