The Xers -- The Quiet Generation

” like Walter Mondale (too young to have served in WWII,”

AKA the damn lucky generation. Probably too old for the draft by the time of Vietnam. Pete Campbell from “Mad Men” was of that age.

Me and DJ are Xers.

I was far from quiet.

This is a great point!

The addiction to computers and smartphones is real. They are the ultimate distraction to learning about real life, relationships, and work.

People born in my age range (right smack between the end of Gen Xer and the beginning of Millennials, placing us in generational limbo), include Natalie Portman, Paris Hilton (ick!) Ivanka Trump, MacCauley Culkin, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jessica Simpson, Prince William & Kate Middleton, Aston Kutcher, Zoe Salandra, Seth Rogan, and Justin Amash.

We're "too old" to identify with any of the crap stupid Millennial teenybopper hipsters experienced growing up, and "too young" to have experienced any of the things Gen Xers remember growing up.

I found the most interesting trivia is my little "micro generation" is apparently the only people who can remember BOTH having to use the old Dewey decimal card catalog system, and using modern web browsers, to research material for school classes at the library. Gen Xers exclusively used the former when they were growing up, Millennials have exclusively used the latter. The switchover occured in the early 90s.

The next "generational limbo" is those born about 1965ish, making them "too old" to be Gen Xers and "too young" to be baby boomers. People in that age range include Brett Kavanaugh, Robert Downey Jr., J.K. Rowling, Chris Rock, Ben Stiller, Charlie Sheen, Brooke Shields, Sarah Jessica Parker, Scottie Pippen,Piers Morgan, and Rob Zombie.

I wonder if they a feel a similar awkwardness whenever the media discusses some topic where there's a noticeable and polarizing "generation gap".

>> AKA the damn lucky generation. Probably too old for the draft by the time of Vietnam. Pete Campbell from “Mad Men” was of that age. <<

Heh. It does say one of the nicknames for that generation is "The Lucky Few" (who the heck was having kids in the depths of the great depression and the middle of World War II anyway? No wonder the birthrate so low back then) That, and "the silent generation", supposedly because they were "the silent majority" politicians spoke of in the 1960s, but moreso because they get noticed by the trends of society even less than the now middle aged Gen Xers.

It says some of the older "silents" served in the Korean War, so there's that.

Googling people born the same year as my Uncle, it looks like the tail end of that era ("too old to be baby boomers") produced quite a few notable icons in American music, so they got that to gloat about:

https://www.famousbirthdays.com/year/1943.html

And on the older end of the "too young to have served in World War II, too old to be baby boomers" crowd, there are pretty notable Hollywood figures, like Sean Connery and Clint Eastwood (both still with us):

https://www.famousbirthdays.com/year/1930.html

And looking at the previous generation of "cuspers" (those of born on the cusp BETWEEN two notable generational demographics), the earlier equivilent to "Xennials" (grrr I hate that nickname for my "generation"), was the "Jones Generation" (cusp between Baby Boomers / Gen X cutoff), for "Keeping up with the Joneses". Well, at least they get a cute nickname. If my mom was still here, she'd probably see Robert Downey Jr. as a "kid", even though he's 55 years old, as he was born post-JFK assassination and thus has no memory of it (Baby boomers ALWAYS seem to tell me that JFK getting killed is etched into their memories like 9/11 was for us)

It does kinda make sense to make those years the cusp though, society went thru VERY rapid, radical changes from 1963-1969 or so, and again from 1977-1985. A person born in 1961 would have experienced a VERY different childhood from one born in 1966, despite only being five years apart in age. We're basically talking growing in the doo-woop era with beach music vs. the counter-culture flower child era where everyone is on acid.

I have a hard time identifying with the culture of most of the Gen Xers, who were born in the 70s and loved E.T. and Star Wars when they were kids. And don't me started on the stupid crap millennials are into...

BTW, my parents and grandparents all fit nicely within the standard "generational" groupings. Grandparents were all "Greatest generation", born in the 1910s, grew up during the depression, and served in the war, my parents were both "baby boomers" born in the late 40s, kids in the late 50s, young adults in the Vietnam war era.

Being born in the early 80s just puts me and my sister in generational limbo.

Heh. And I just realized something. Biden (born 1942, DURING the war) ends up in the "damn lucky" generation, as Impy puts it. So he and Mondale both fell into that rarely seen demographic that avoided WWII AND Vietnam. Dick Cheney (b. 1941) too, so its a good way to get the veep slot.

Clinton, GWB, Trump, all born post-WWII in 1946, were all at the start of the baby boom, and their life experiences reflected that demographic. (Monica Lewinski, b. 1972... very typical Gen X "young adult" during the Clinton presidency. hee hee hee)

JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan AND GWHB, all "Greatest Generation" and all in the military during WWII (Carter came close to missing it though, and I think graduated from the Naval academy AFTER the war was over?)

Obama, technically a very young baby boomer (b. 1961, JFK would be shot when Obama was a toddler), but meh, he was raised in Indonesian anyway and probably FAR removed from any cultural influences of that era. Had kooky "flower child" mom, though.

Sarah Palin, b. 1964, is a textbook example of a Generation Jones "cusper" between Baby boomer and Gen X. Too old to be a Gen-Xer, too young to be a baby boomer (and indeed I think the media convinced gullible baby boomers she wasn't ready for prime time)

Kamala Harris, also b. 1964. Attacked Joe Biden in the RAT primary for NOT supporting the FAILED, DISCREDITED 1970s era antiquated policy to bus kids to schools nowhere near their neighborhood to achieve "racial harmony". "That little girl was me!". Ummm, okay, Kamala, and let's bash Republicans in the primary for NOT supporting the failed Smoot-Hawley tariff. Makes as much sense!