FYI: If you were born between 1965 and 1980 you are a part of Generation X.

We grew up in the 70's and 80's - There are many stereotypes out there
about Generation X. (i.e. slackers, cynical, frustrated, no direction in life, etc.).


Questions:

Is generation X a lost generation?

Are we misguided, cynical, unmotivated slackers (like the media has portrayed us to be)?

What is your definition of Generation X?


([B]Baby Boomers[/B] perhaps you, as the parents of Gen Xers, could chime in)

I'm a generation X-er and at least in my community ( Salt Lake City) the Xers are all over the place, from successful to slacker and everything in-between. I think that it's a really tough group to pin down.

Also, like the boomers, it's a huge age range. According to your post, doomed, the oldest of us is 38 and the youngest of us is 23. It's hard to get a good grasp on what we are about as group when we are all in such different places in our lives.

so my answer would be:



Not as a group.

Douglas Coupland provided the Gen-Xers with the name and pretty much defined the idea. I haven't read Generation X, but I did read Shampoo Planet and Microserfs, all of which touch on the Generational issues, and while I think that Coupland's books are brilliant and he touches on some very interesting ideas, I don't really buy into the common notion that Gen-Xers are all misguided, cynical, slackers. I don't necessarily think that's what Coupland was getting at either.

Obviously, we will have some similarities that are based on a generational experience, an example being people who were affected by the great depression being known for stockpiling goods. I think we've all seen that type of behavior in some of the older generations. It's natural that the Gen-Xers will have their own quirks.

Edited to fix my quotes. I'm a bit of a spaz today.

Yes, each generation has its similarities.

Many of us Gen-exers grew up in what was called
the ME generation. There was a lot of consumption:
Drugs, alcohol, material posessions, etc.

Maybe we are a lost generation to the degree that
we have immersed ourselves in unhealthy habits.

I am a baby-boomer and have some children in the Generation X group.

I think they are the ME generation(as you said) mostly because of their parents(my generation). My generation was so different than the generation before. We were in the love generation and self generation. So in essence we just transported that to our children. They learned from us.

Before anyone kills me, I am not saying that all baby-boomer did this,but a majority sure did.

I am the tail end of the boomers and absolutely hate the idea of labeling generations. That's a boomer trait

The folks I've known in the so-called Gen X lump have all been great people except for a few. Gee, how about that. We might even conclude that in any given population, however demarcated, rotten apples exist in a certain percentage.

But it's handy to herd a few million people together and then talk about historical framework, growing up in certain conditions, and try to find some common experiences/attitudes/beliefs and so on. However entertaining the outcome, it is completely meaningless as far as trying to determine a stereotypical Gen Xer, as it is for boomers. It is in fact an attempt to establish a stereotype, and I'm dead set against such efforts.

That's a boomer trait

I've heard or read that Xers resent boomers due to various things like hanging onto good paying jobs too long. Guess that situation has leveled as we all face unemployment, financial ruin, and a jobless recovery in an economy that has gone global, so we compete not with each other in terms of millions, but with the world in terms of billions.

Whatever. We are who we are, unique in our individuality regardless of arbitrary generation groups. If we feel kinship for being in some generation, guess that doesn't hurt. It's a natural thing and ancient. Maybe because the world changes so rapidly now, we may feel more alienated from older generations. Picked on? Harped at? Misunderstood? Unfairly stereotyped?

Heh. Guess the generations aren't that far apart after all.

I think there are clear characteristics of generations. Of course to create the label is to create a blanket statement, so I will begin with a disclaimer. We are all individuals and in charge of our own fate.

But as a group the generation x tended to have a less stable family environment and parents that left them more to self-reliance and provided them with less doting of the non-material sense. I think they are distinguished by whether their parents leaned more toward the values of the 50s or those of the 60s, but many boomers shared a feeling of powerlessness. Being a much smaller generation they were not looked at economically and politically as they entered into every new age. Xers tended to get the hand me downs of baby boomer programs and came into the job markets without focus and wrestling with the idea of whether to grab for the brass ring (money= good career) or stand off to the side in bemused contempt.

I think the Gen X blended into society as a whole in the 1990s and went many different ways. As we come of age once again the focus is going to be on the aging boomers and how to pay for the bills of their retirement and we look ahead sceptically in terms of our own chance at receiving social security supplements that we are presently paying for.

I think we tend to be skeptics and have a hard to finding the isms that give our world sense and order. As Coupland's novel seems to reflect, we are left looking for daily epiphanies that have to have self-contained meaning. But we hope against hope that the little time spent sniffing flowers as we race about our lives will betray some truth about the greater meaning of life.

We are a generation without revolutionary cultural icons, admirable political leadership, or a clear sense of mission.

But somehow it's all good.