I am a Y/Z cusper, and people born around the same time as me can label themselves either one. I remember so many arguments back in the day on these forums and a lot of emotions get stirred up even if it's not important. Everyone born in the 1990s is on the cusp, except literal '90s kids so those born before 1993 you can safely call Gen Y. But it really doesn't matter.

Whether someone calls me Gen Y or Gen Z I don't care. But I consider myself part of Gen Y (millennial, late one, but still one).

It says on Wikipedia that I am a Gen Xer. Other sites vary saying I'm a Millennial. I guess none of these generational terms are very accurate. I'm going with Wikipedia, though. Because they seem to be the most accurate to me. Still, people shouldn't be labeled. If we want to be part of a generation, how about a decade generation. The decade we came of age in. Sounds better to me.

I'm Born in 1957 and don't particularly care what generation I get associated with. I'm born in 1957, that's the generation I'm in.

Generations don't exist. They have no mathematical or statistical proof of existing (with the exception of the baby boom). They're just terms conjured up my marketers to keep themselves employed and people latch onto it without thinking critically.

That's not to say age groups don't have similar experiences to each other, and differences with other age groups, but there is no proof that "1981-1996" is any more of a cohesive generation than 1972-1987, or whatever random range you can think of. It's all imaginary and involves seeing patterns that aren't really there.

There is no reason why I, a 1993 born, should be able to relate to someone born 1983 just because we're both "Gen Y" and not to people born 2003 because they're "Gen Z". Likewise for that 1983 born, there's no reason for them to be lumped in with me over their peer group (1979/1980) a few years older than them. How do people not realize how silly this is? Even well-respected authoritative institutions like Pew have bought into this charade. (I was going to mention newspapers like NY Times but then I remembered they also have a horoscope section).

I'm Born in 1957 and don't particularly care what generation I get associated with. I'm born in 1957, that's the generation I'm in.


You were born in the same year my mom was born!

I feel that a generation should be groups of people who grew up in the same decade.

Generations don't exist. They have no mathematical or statistical proof of existing (with the exception of the baby boom).


You may have a point. I have a first cousin who would be 100 years old if she were still alive.

Generations don't exist. They have no mathematical or statistical proof of existing (with the exception of the baby boom). They're just terms conjured up my marketers to keep themselves employed and people latch onto it without thinking critically.

That's not to say age groups don't have similar experiences to each other, and differences with other age groups, but there is no proof that "1981-1996" is any more of a cohesive generation than 1972-1987, or whatever random range you can think of. It's all imaginary and involves seeing patterns that aren't really there.

There is no reason why I, a 1993 born, should be able to relate to someone born 1983 just because we're both "Gen Y" and not to people born 2003 because they're "Gen Z". Likewise for that 1983 born, there's no reason for them to be lumped in with me over their peer group (1979/1980) a few years older than them. How do people not realize how silly this is? Even well-respected authoritative institutions like Pew have bought into this charade. (I was going to mention newspapers like NY Times but then I remembered they also have a horoscope section).


Totally agree. 

You may have a point. I have a first cousin who would be 100 years old if she were still alive.


I have first cousins who are the same age as my daughter.

I can see some things with generations. Some things I have read say I am at the cutoff for generation x. I tend to relate better with people older than me, and I see more difference with people even just a little bit younger. I think it might have to do with my age being about the last without internet in high school. All my internet experience was as an adult. Even someone 4 years younger probably started using the internet around age 14, which is a big difference in our growing up experience.

Honestly, whoever really made those generation labels really never met anybody that they described. I was born in late 1999 and I'm supposed to be a Gen Zer for pretty skeptical reasons. One of which made me feel insecure about myself because I can't remember 9/11, let alone a pre-9/11 world. It took a toll on my mental health because I defended the 2000s for so long now, where it now made me feel paranoid after one of my general requirement classes had some former stockbroker from Wall Street as a professor. In which he basically went on some monologue on how the 80s were better economically like he was telling us that me (and the rest of my class) should be ashamed for even growing up in the 2000s. Even though we had no choice in what year we were born.

They also seem to think that I should relate more with somebody born in 2009 than say somebody born in 1995. All because we're in the same generation. This makes absolutely no sense because I was mostly 9 during that year and kids born in 2009 don't even remember the early 2010s clearly. Especially when most people around my age graduated high school when they were still in elementary school.

Honestly, whoever really made those generation labels really never met anybody that they described. I was born in late 1999 and I'm supposed to be a Gen Zer for pretty skeptical reasons. One of which made me feel insecure about myself because I can't remember 9/11, let alone a pre-9/11 world. It took a toll on my mental health because I defended the 2000s for so long now, where it now made me feel paranoid after one of my general requirement classes had some former stockbroker from Wall Street as a professor. In which he basically went on some monologue on how the 80s were better economically like he was telling us that me (and the rest of my class) should be ashamed for even growing up in the 2000s. Even though we had no choice in what year we were born.

They also seem to think that I should relate more with somebody born in 2009 than say somebody born in 1995. All because we're in the same generation. This makes absolutely no sense because I was mostly 9 during that year and kids born in 2009 don't even remember the early 2010s clearly. Especially when most people around my age graduated high school when they were still in elementary school.


You should tell that dumbass professor, if you ever see him again, that it is BECAUSE of the 80s that the economy got the way it got. And if he was an economic professor he should KNOW that. There are numerous books written about that very thing. The 80s caused the downturn of a lot of things that we still must live with today. Absolute fact. 

You should tell that dumbass professor, if you ever see him again, that it is BECAUSE of the 80s that the economy got the way it got. And if he was an economic professor he should KNOW that. There are numerous books written about that very thing. The 80s caused the downturn of a lot of things that we still must live with today. Absolute fact.


Yes for sure. And it wasn’t all great economically at the time. In the early 80s, mortgage interest rates were pushing 20%.

You should tell that dumbass professor, if you ever see him again, that it is BECAUSE of the 80s that the economy got the way it got. And if he was an economic professor he should KNOW that. There are numerous books written about that very thing. The 80s caused the downturn of a lot of things that we still must live with today. Absolute fact.


He wasn't an economics professor, he was actually some regular professor who talked about economics in a Social Studies-esque gen requirement class in my college. But I don't blame you. I really don't like how people over glorify the 80s (and 90s) like they were the best decades ever when other people in the world and even America would say otherwise.

Yes for sure. And it wasn’t all great economically at the time. In the early 80s, mortgage interest rates were pushing 20%.


There was also Reagan's economic policy at the time that affected people such as the air traffic controllers who were in the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization. In which he fired all of them over a strike when they wanted better benefits. Not to mention the trickle-down economics that he proposed.

Generations don't exist. They have no mathematical or statistical proof of existing (with the exception of the baby boom). They're just terms conjured up my marketers to keep themselves employed and people latch onto it without thinking critically.

That's not to say age groups don't have similar experiences to each other, and differences with other age groups, but there is no proof that "1981-1996" is any more of a cohesive generation than 1972-1987, or whatever random range you can think of. It's all imaginary and involves seeing patterns that aren't really there.

There is no reason why I, a 1993 born, should be able to relate to someone born 1983 just because we're both "Gen Y" and not to people born 2003 because they're "Gen Z". Likewise for that 1983 born, there's no reason for them to be lumped in with me over their peer group (1979/1980) a few years older than them. How do people not realize how silly this is? Even well-respected authoritative institutions like Pew have bought into this charade. (I was going to mention newspapers like NY Times but then I remembered they also have a horoscope section).


Very true. Some of my best friends were born in 2002 and 1994, and we honestly I notice less and less differences between us as I get older. It’s just a marketing/pop culture thing at this point. Even then it doesn’t make sense, you have REM who were astoundingly influential to Gen X, but they weren’t Gen X themselves. I feel like Millennials and Gen Z could lie and pass off as each other and nobody would notice a thing.

Generations don't exist. They have no mathematical or statistical proof of existing (with the exception of the baby boom). They're just terms conjured up my marketers to keep themselves employed and people latch onto it without thinking critically.

That's not to say age groups don't have similar experiences to each other, and differences with other age groups, but there is no proof that "1981-1996" is any more of a cohesive generation than 1972-1987, or whatever random range you can think of. It's all imaginary and involves seeing patterns that aren't really there.

There is no reason why I, a 1993 born, should be able to relate to someone born 1983 just because we're both "Gen Y" and not to people born 2003 because they're "Gen Z". Likewise for that 1983 born, there's no reason for them to be lumped in with me over their peer group (1979/1980) a few years older than them. How do people not realize how silly this is? Even well-respected authoritative institutions like Pew have bought into this charade. (I was going to mention newspapers like NY Times but then I remembered they also have a horoscope section).


I agree for the most part but I don't think most of us would even be here if we didn't see a little truth to the whole generation thing.

Generations don't exist. They have no mathematical or statistical proof of existing (with the exception of the baby boom). They're just terms conjured up my marketers to keep themselves employed and people latch onto it without thinking critically.

That's not to say age groups don't have similar experiences to each other, and differences with other age groups, but there is no proof that "1981-1996" is any more of a cohesive generation than 1972-1987, or whatever random range you can think of. It's all imaginary and involves seeing patterns that aren't really there.

There is no reason why I, a 1993 born, should be able to relate to someone born 1983 just because we're both "Gen Y" and not to people born 2003 because they're "Gen Z". Likewise for that 1983 born, there's no reason for them to be lumped in with me over their peer group (1979/1980) a few years older than them. How do people not realize how silly this is? Even well-respected authoritative institutions like Pew have bought into this charade. (I was going to mention newspapers like NY Times but then I remembered they also have a horoscope section).


100% agree with this.

I suppose if I identify with any one age group, it'd be people I might have gone to high school with. Since I was born in 1983, that's broadly people born 1980-1986. That identification isn't based on anything particularly important, though. We might have watched the same cartoons growing up, or remember some of the same major events. Big deal.

The truth is, as you get older, age differences matter less and less anyway. I mean, I don't care if my coworkers are a lot older or a lot younger than me, so much as whether they're competent or decent people. And so far, I haven't found qualities like that - particularly basic decency - to be age-specific.

And cultural differences - which is really what we're talking about - manifest in a lot of different ways besides generationally. Income status, education level, race, country/region/city of origin, religious affiliation... etc. etc. People are complex, and I don't think we'd ever generalize about those other categories the way marketers and a few phony quack theorists are allowed to do with "generations."

The truth is, as you get older, age differences matter less and less anyway. 


This is completely correct. I have a close friend who is four years younger than me. Yet when I talk to him I say "people our age...". The four years makes little difference at our advanced age. HOWEVER, it would have made a BIG difference back when I was, say, 16 and he was 12. Big difference! I think when you hit a certain age you go from being "this generation" or "that generation" to being "the older generation". And to younger people all the generations older than them blur into one thing. A perfect example is somebody here once said something like "the Boomers sent all those young men to die in the Vietnam War". !!!!  I mean, REALLY! The Boomers are the ones who were sent like lambs to the slaughter to Vietnam when they were 18, 19, 20 years old. It was the previous generation, the so-called, (misnamed by Tom Brokaw) "Greatest Generation", who sent them.

What's this crap I've been hearing about how Gen Z is attacking Millennials over side parts and skinny jeans? It's Gen Z I see walking around in nothing but skinny jeans.  ::) Supposedly they prefer mom jeans now according to some articles, yeah...no. Not happening. Not owning those ugly things.

What's this crap I've been hearing about how Gen Z is attacking Millennials over side parts and skinny jeans? It's Gen Z I see walking around in nothing but skinny jeans.  ::) Supposedly they prefer mom jeans now according to some articles, yeah...no. Not happening. Not owning those ugly things.


probably because Gen Z stars like Billie Eilish have made it fashionable and a political statement to wear shapeless clothes.