Generations

[monster]

What is the name of the current generation? And how long is a generation? I understood that a generation was 25 years, but apparently for naming purposes, it's more like 15-20

http://geography.about.com/od/popula...enerations.htm

I think the suggested names for the current generation SUCK. we can do better.


For starters, I suggest:

Hashtag (my personal fave)
Facebook
Twitter
Selfie

[xoxoxoBruce]

Looks like they don't use a set number of years so I guess they must use some sort of social happenings, like the end of WW II or JFK shot, for the breaks.

I agree they (whoever "they" are), are coming up with sucky names.
This bunch isn't any better than the ones you linked

The Population Reference Bureau provides an alternate listing and chronology of generational names in the United States.

2000/2001-Present - New Silent Generation or Generation Z
1983-2001 - New Boomers
1965-1982 - Generation X
1946-1964 - Baby Boomers
1929-1945 - Lucky Few
1909-1928 - Good Warriors
1890-1908 - Hard Timers
1871-1889 - New Worlders

Are these generation names for the US? For North America? For English speaking countries? First world nations? Everybody?

[Clodfobble]

2000/2001-Present - New Silent Generation or Generation Z
1983-2001 - New Boomers

How telling that the older generations are trying to name the younger generations in terms of themselves.

"New Boomers" is obviously crap, everyone calls them "Millenials." (And by everyone, I mean your average journalistic fluff-piece, the ultimate indicator of vernacular culture.) And like Bruce said, generations are drawn along lines of experience. The beginning of Generation X is basically anyone who was too young to remember the Vietnam War. Millenials are those who are too young to remember a time with zero computers. We don't know yet what the defining thing of this generation will be, partly because it literally doesn't exist until the generation is already 5-7 years old. It could be smartphones, I think. My kids don't remember a time without smartphones, and they were born 2006 and 2008. Then again, if World War III breaks out next year, that will probably be a more memorable legacy that we will define my kids' generation by instead.

[Undertoad]

Strauss and Howe have done the most work on the generations and even though Strauss is dead I feel like we should respect them. So, the right answers:

1860–1882: Missionary Generation
1883-1900: Lost Generation
1901-1924: G.I. Generation
1925-1942: Silent Generation
1943-1960: Baby Boomers
1961-1981: Generation X
1982-2004: Millennial Generation
2005-?: Homeland Generation

Looks like they don't use a set number of years

Strauss and Howe emphasize that the precise boundaries of generations and turnings are erratic. The generational rhythm is not like certain simple, inorganic cycles in physics or astronomy, where time and periodicity can be predicted to the second. Instead, it resembles the complex, organic cycles of biology, where basic intervals endure but precise timing is difficult to predict. Strauss and Howe compare the saecular rhythm to the four seasons, which inevitably occur in the same order, but with slightly varying timing. Just as winter may come sooner or later, and be more or less severe in any given year, the same is true of a Fourth Turning in any given saeculum.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

1982-2004: Millennial Generation
2005-?: Homeland Generation

Ah yes, Homeland seems to me to imply "pre vs. post 9/11." It's a reasonable cutoff, but it means I'd put the start date at more like '96, i.e. kids old enough to remember 9/11.

Even without that event, though, I strongly disagree with grouping a kid born in 2004 with millenials who actually lived through the millenium. The millenium was a cultural awareness thing, an attitude-shaper that screamed "future!" and made all our consumer products predominantly chrome-colored for awhile. You're a millenial because you were shaped as a child by the cultural promise of a new millenium, not because you were born 4 years after it happened.

[monster]

Facetime Generation?

[Gravdigr]

The Smartphone Generation

The Phablet Generation

[xoxoxoBruce]

Fuck Strauss and Howe, how dare they move me from the "Lucky Few" or "Silent Generation" to "Baby Boomers". I won't stand for it, I won't.

The ones born after 2000 are whippersnappers.

[sexobon]

Originally Posted by monster

... I understood that a generation was 25 years, but apparently for naming purposes, it's more like 15-20 ...

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Looks like they don't use a set number of years so I guess they must use some sort of social happenings, like the end of WW II or JFK shot, for the breaks. ...

Ah yes, reminds me of watching the Dr. Massey tapes, all of them in one sitting, especially Program 3 - "What you are is..." which separates generations along those lines:

"As Massey discusses value programming, you’ll discover how significant events have shaped the value systems of different generations - and you’ll learn how to work better with individuals by viewing each in light of his or her past. This program will help reveal how value systems and prejudices are formed. You will learn to handle personality obstacles. 145 minutes"

I'm surprised you can still buy those tapes on DVD for a mere $1,350.00; or, rent them for five days for just $475.00.

[tw]

I thought they were called the "Pepsi Generation" based upon the size of thighs and bellys.

[monster]

Googlies

[sexobon]

& Bingos

[Griff]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Fuck Strauss and Howe, how dare they move me from the "Lucky Few" or "Silent Generation" to "Baby Boomers". I won't stand for it, I won't.

But I support them because they moved me out of the free ride gimme gimme boomer generation.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Bah, regardless of your remarkable talents and accomplishments, you ain't an X-Man.

[Gravdigr]

Here Is When Each Generation Begins and Ends, According to Facts