Generational Characteristics

[1of4]

Watching the news about the election; no this isn't going to be a political thread: they talked about policies that will impact on this or that generation, be it X,Y,Z, millennials, ect.

Never been sure what years each generation starts and finishes.  So did what most of us now do, when looking for information. I Googled it.

The site where I found this information, gave a brief description of each generation and their characteristics.

Apparently the first generation to be given a name were the Lost Generation, those born between 1883 to 1900.

Me, I'm from the Boomer Gen and according to the site. Unlike my parents who had come through the war and hardships. I apparently, along with other Boomers are great consumers and spendthrifts. A characterization that for me, is wrong.

This got me thinking, do most of each generation, actually fall into these characterizations. Or are these generalisations like horoscopes, pure bumkum.  

[ariotofmyown]

We talk at work a lot about this. Most of the people in charge of where I work are Generation X, and I would suppose this is true for many companies as this is people around 45 and over. Most boomer would have retired by now.

However, there almost never a clickbait article that mentions Generation X. It's always about Gen Z and Millenials. And sometimes about Boomers. Even work related articles, the generation "in charge" is never referenced.

There basically aren't many weak stereotypes about Gen X (maybe slackers) so much easier to talk about "rich, bigoted" boomers, and "self-obsessed millenial" Snowflakes, of which I would be if born 2 years later.

Maybe it would just be easier to group people by the decades they were born in, then distinguish by technology.

Eg, smartphones took of about 2010, internet about 2000, home computers around 1990, video players 80s, colour tv 70s etc.

[Crewton]

There can be quite significant differences between the opportunities and experiences of people at different ends of such brackets - an obvious one would be that women born before 1955 were able to retire at 60 and take the state pension, while women born after 1955 suddenly found themselves having to work longer and wait 5 years for the state pension. There are many other examples which show that applying generalisations to brackets of people is unreliable.

[DarkFruitsRam7]

19 hours ago, 1of4 said:

Watching the news about the election; no this isn't going to be a political thread: they talked about policies that will impact on this or that generation, be it X,Y,Z, millennials, ect.

Never been sure what years each generation starts and finishes.  So did what most of us now do, when looking for information. I Googled it.

The site where I found this information, gave a brief description of each generation and their characteristics.

Apparently the first generation to be given a name were the Lost Generation, those born between 1883 to 1900.

Me, I'm from the Boomer Gen and according to the site. Unlike my parents who had come through the war and hardships. I apparently, along with other Boomers are great consumers and spendthrifts. A characterization that for me, is wrong.

This got me thinking, do most of each generation, actually fall into these characterizations. Or are these generalisations like horoscopes, pure bumkum.  

I think they're fairly useful generalizations. I'm only just starting to notice significant differences between Millennials and Gen Z. A few years back, it was Millennials that pretty much ran social media, for example, but now it's dominated by Gen Z. You can see a big difference in humour and personality.

[Mucker1884]

3 minutes ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

... generalizations...

Ooh!  Look at you, getting a grip of the local lingo!  🤓

[Crewton]

19 minutes ago, Mucker1884 said:

Ooh!  Look at you, getting a grip of the local lingo!  🤓

How do they pronounce Ztoke City?

[Ram-Alf]

7 minutes ago, Crewton said:

How do they pronounce Ztoke City?

Zhit hole

[DarkFruitsRam7]

34 minutes ago, Mucker1884 said:

Ooh!  Look at you, getting a grip of the local lingo!  🤓

Even worse, Canadians use the same spellings as Brits. It's the Yanks I've been infected by.

[1of4]

2 hours ago, Mucker1884 said:

Ooh!  Look at you, getting a grip of the local lingo!  🤓

 Nothing wrong with using ize as opposed to ise. The Oxford dictionary states the use of ize in the British language goes back to the sixteenth century. While the more commonly used ise spelling originated in France.

[ramit]

There appears to be this popular human need to compartmentalize everything and everyone, I get that, at the same time that it annoys me, especially if I am to be generalized, wrapped up, classified, boxed and housed on a widely agreed upon shelf. 

Some actually take it upon themselves to speak for a whole collection of obviously widely differing individuals, such as so called generations that do not account for those born on it's borders any better than astrology.  The worst of these offenders IMO are the feminists, who will look you in the eyes and seriously without breaking character or cracking up, earnestly announce to you the wants. needs and opinions of all earthly women.

Yet, I must concede, there is this to ponder:

"All generalizations are false, including this one." - (Mark Twain)

Edited May 30 by ramit

[Comrade 86]

Really not a fan of what strike me as incredibly lazy generalisations (note spelling @DarkFruitsRam7 you utter philistine!). Even less so the characterisation of younger generations as soft, needy and worse still, lazy. In fact I f****** hate it with a passion.

Folk are very quick to forget their own generation's indiscretions and even quicker to adopt hackneyed tropes that are for the most part, as inaccurate as they are asinine. The days of couples surviving, much less burgeoning on a single income are long gone and will never return, likewise the ability to join the property ladder for only 2-3 times single income. The most accusatory seem to have absolutely no idea what kids are facing today in a world that seems to perpetually teeter on the edge of oblivion.

As for the labels themselves (yes, that's all they are), I feel like Gen Z can be deal less jaundiced in their appraisals of younger generations, perhaps because they are better able to acknowledge their mistakes, of which there have been many and also perhaps, because it's their kids that are so often targeted by others. To me, it's just another utterly pointless divide that we've created for ourselves in a world that is all the while crying out for greater sense and sensibility.

[Tamworthram]

14 hours ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

I think they're fairly useful generalizations. I'm only just starting to notice significant differences between Millennials and Gen Z. A few years back, it was Millennials that pretty much ran social media, for example, but now it's dominated by Gen Z. You can see a big difference in humour and personality.

Genuine question: How is it useful? Other than for marketing purposes which, means it’s nothing new it’s just that we’ve attached a label to different generations. Any business half decent at marketing (since marketing was invented) would have identified their target audience and designed their product/service (along with the associated branding, promotion and advertising) to appeal to that group.

Edited May 30 by Tamworthram

[ariotofmyown]

15 hours ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

I think they're fairly useful generalizations. I'm only just starting to notice significant differences between Millennials and Gen Z. A few years back, it was Millennials that pretty much ran social media, for example, but now it's dominated by Gen Z. You can see a big difference in humour and personality.

Isn't that just people born at different times will be a bit different, have different reference points etc?

I will have many things in common with people born around late 70s (gen x) and early 80s (millenials)

But less in common with people born in late 60s (same Gen X as me) or people born late 80s (still millenials).

[TimRam]

On 28/05/2024 at 22:37, ariotofmyown said:

Maybe it would just be easier to group people by the decades they were born in, then distinguish by technology.

Eg, smartphones took of about 2010, internet about 2000, home computers around 1990, video players 80s, colour tv 70s etc.

Glad old enough to have experienced all of these when they first became available to the masses. Although I'd say home computing for me was the 80s.

[ariotofmyown]

4 hours ago, TimRam said:

Glad old enough to have experienced all of these when they first became available to the masses. Although I'd say home computing for me was the 80s.

Yeah, I think it might have been in late 80s when I got a speccy. I think the 90s though was when lots of people started to get home computers though, and actually started needing them, rather than just for games.

[Leeds Ram]

I'm a millennial and work with kids/adults who are part of Gen Z. Gen Z'ers by and large seem to be more worried about more things than my generation were. Some of this is enforced upon them and necessary but other aspects are not. On the work side again it's a generalisation but I wouldn't say they are significantly worse than my generation. The lazy ones are generally lazier than the lazy ones from my generation but those who work hard probably also work harder. The big slab in the middle fits both quite neatly. I would say from my experience they seem more sure of themselves than they were of people my age at that time in our lives. But then again it could be me overcompensating and misremembering. 

It's hard to judge the effects of social media combined with the isolation of covid. There are economic factors at play but they'll begin to level themselves out in 10 years i.e., when most Gen Z'ers are hitting their stride if I had to guess. The real economic catastrophe has hit my generation of millennials who are now hitting 30. Chances of promotions oftentimes frozen, entire industries collapsing around us and wages stalled in relation to inflation for a decade. Not to mention house prices just as we're supposed to be getting on the ladder. If I had to guess Gen Z will hit the sweet spot of economic recovery just in time for things to begin shifting in relation to new realities. 

Edited May 30 by Leeds Ram

[DarkFruitsRam7]

7 hours ago, Tamworthram said:

Genuine question: How is it useful? Other than for marketing purposes which, means it’s nothing new it’s just that we’ve attached a label to different generations. Any business half decent at marketing (since marketing was invented) would have identified their target audience and designed their product/service (along with the associated branding, promotion and advertising) to appeal to that group.

Because I think some of the observations they make are accurate, though they tend to bleed into lazy stereotypes.

Gen Z does generally have a very different attitude to work and 9-5s than any other generation before it. I just don't think that can be disputed. The problem is when it becomes "Gen Z are lazy and don't want to work".

[Stive Pesley]

1 hour ago, DarkFruitsRam7 said:

Because I think some of the observations they make are accurate, though they tend to bleed into lazy stereotypes.

Gen Z does generally have a very different attitude to work and 9-5s than any other generation before it. I just don't think that can be disputed. The problem is when it becomes "Gen Z are lazy and don't want to work".

Agreed. I think Boomers in particular struggle to get their heads around why Gen Z kids might have a different attitude to life and work than they did at that age.

The social contract for them was very much in tact. Study for free, get a job, work hard, be able to afford a nice house and a car, progress through the ranks, pay off mortgage and retire, with a society that will look after you along the way

As opposed to Gen Z who have to pay to study, leave Uni with a huge debt, get a job, work hard, but then have to take out more huge loans to be able to buy a tiny house and a crappy car - realise that if your job is in anything other than a small business, you are simply enslaved to a corporate machine who will bleed you dry for as little as they can get away with paying you. Society crumbling around you. If I were them, I'd probably want to lose myself in my smartphone too

[Gee SCREAMER !!]

4 hours ago, Leeds Ram said:

I'm a millennial and work with kids/adults who are part of Gen Z. Gen Z'ers by and large seem to be more worried about more things than my generation were. Some of this is enforced upon them and necessary but other aspects are not. On the work side again it's a generalisation but I wouldn't say they are significantly worse than my generation. The lazy ones are generally lazier than the lazy ones from my generation but those who work hard probably also work harder. The big slab in the middle fits both quite neatly. I would say from my experience they seem more sure of themselves than they were of people my age at that time in our lives. But then again it could be me overcompensating and misremembering. 

It's hard to judge the effects of social media combined with the isolation of covid. There are economic factors at play but they'll begin to level themselves out in 10 years i.e., when most Gen Z'ers are hitting their stride if I had to guess. The real economic catastrophe has hit my generation of millennials who are now hitting 30. Chances of promotions oftentimes frozen, entire industries collapsing around us and wages stalled in relation to inflation for a decade. Not to mention house prices just as we're supposed to be getting on the ladder. If I had to guess Gen Z will hit the sweet spot of economic recovery just in time for things to begin shifting in relation to new realities. 

You missed the worst on that one.  Sold my house for 38 k in 2001, by 2002 the same house sold for 72k.  House prices went truly bonkers. 

[Carl Sagan]

All the generations (whatever they are - I simply can't retain that pointless info so it would be great if someone posted a list) are a daft Americanism. We're boomers or Z or Millennials... So what? 

However... 

The correct spelling of generalization is obviously with the z. As someone who was an Oxford University Press publisher for over a decade, I can assure you all of that. Look in the Oxford dictionary and you will see Z. Inspector Morse even solved a murder one time because a professor's apparent suicide note was obviously fake because it used S spellings and no educated person would do such a thing. 

What happened was the founding fathers went off to the new world spelling everything with a Z, and America has stayed true to those British spellings. But some here tried to subvert the language to bring in these new-fangled S things.

Meanwhile, generational characteristics...