How Boomers, Gen Xers and Millennials differ
It’s a dangerous thing to label people, to group all males, females, country folks, city folks, all colors and creeds together under one “name” and then assign characteristics to them.
We love doing it, however. We are Virgos and Type Bs and Blues and Winters. We take fun and funny tests on Facebook to see what animal we are, what Disney character, what flower, and then we look for others like us among our friends.
The largest label we wear, however, seems to be determined by our birth year and where that places us in history. I am a Baby Boomer. My children are either both Generation Xers or one Gen X and one Gen Y or Millennial, depending on whose birth-year chart you choose to go by.
General consensus seems to be that Baby Boomers are those born from 1946 to 1964, followed by Gen X from 1965 to 1984, with Millennials following to 2002. The next generation is sometimes being called Generation Z, but mostly remains unnamed right now.
Being a fan of the television show “Survivor,” I am currently watching the fight between Gen X and the Millennials, the theme of this season’s show.
There is no doubt that what was going on in the world around us – war, industry, technology – shaped who we are. There is scientific and sociological proof that those of us called Baby Boomers pretty much react the same way to life. We are a brick-and-mortar generation, hard-working and loyal. We like our “stuff” and have always worked hard to get more of it.
Generation Xers are more independent, less likely to depend on a corporate entity. They hate being micro-managed – whether by a boss, teacher or parent. They are super-involved parents.
Millennials are described as being impatient and entitled, yet laid-back and nonchalant about others' expectations. They are creative, especially when it comes to their work life. Millennials are creating careers – and make good money at them – that didn’t exist 10 years ago.
One of the joys of having adult children is watching them redefine the things I have so carefully put in boxes. While my younger son is on the cusp of the Gen X and Millennial groups, having been born in 1983, attitude and actions place him in the Millennial group, while his brother is definitely a Gen Xer. They are alike in so many ways, and there are days when I look at each of them and can tell them: “You are your mother’s (or father’s) child.” But most days, they are aliens, both from their parents and each other. When it comes to comparing them to each other, our most common refrain is “Did they really grow up in the same house?”
Technology, of course, separates us all into our respective age groups. It began when the children had to program the VCR and has just gotten wider as we age. I find it interesting, however, that there are differences in attitudes about technology even between the Gen Xers and the Millennials. You can still get a Gen Xer to talk to you on the cellphone, for example, but you might as well forget it and just text the Millennial.
I had a Millennial help me recently with a cellphone issue that truly had perplexed quite a few Baby Boomers and Gen Xers. The age 20-something woman, however, would not give up. With fingers flying across her iPad, she searched and searched until she found the answer, then fixed the problem.
“It drives my mother crazy,” she told me, “that I won’t give up when there is something wrong with technology. I just can’t let it defeat me. It’s not smarter than I am.”
And that attitude, I think, may be the greatest hope of our new world.
Sherri Gardner Howell may be reached at gardners@tds.net.