Generational Theory Forum: The Fourth Turning Forum: A message board discussing generations and the Strauss Howe generational theory

Full Version: Caught Between Gen X and the Millennials
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http://www.usnews.com/news/best-countrie...illennials


Quote:You see them everywhere, the articles about millennials. As a culture we’re obsessed about what they wear, what technology they use, what careers they pursue. I’m no exception. No matter how vapid the article, I devour the click bait like a hungry shark. But my interest is beyond what millennials believe about parental leave or Hillary Clinton. I have a far stronger motivation: I desperately want to know whether I’m one of them.

Experts who study generations and the reporters who talk to them don’t quite know how to handle those of us born in the early 80s, “cuspers” wedged between millennials and Generation X. Depending on whom you ask, the generation started in 1980, ‘81 or ‘82 and ends somewhere in the late 1990s...


http://www.usnews.com/news/best-countrie...illennials
(05-16-2016, 10:40 AM)Dan Wrote: [ -> ]
Quote:You see them everywhere, the articles about millennials. As a culture we’re obsessed about what they wear, what technology they use, what careers they pursue. I’m no exception. No matter how vapid the article, I devour the click bait like a hungry shark. But my interest is beyond what millennials believe about parental leave or Hillary Clinton. I have a far stronger motivation: I desperately want to know whether I’m one of them.

Experts who study generations and the reporters who talk to them don’t quite know how to handle those of us born in the early 80s, “cuspers” wedged between millennials and Generation X. Depending on whom you ask, the generation started in 1980, ‘81 or ‘82 and ends somewhere in the late 1990s...

Yeah, join the club. 1961-1964 cohorts have the exact same problem.  We can pick:
1. Boom
2. Jones
3. X

Never mind we're all in our 50s now, but there is still no consensus. Undecided  If the early 80's cohorts follow the same path as we early 1960's cohorts, y'all will still be wondering well into middle age.
Quote:“In general, people born in 1980 and after don’t remember when they started using a computer,”

Are they including video game consoles? Because I never touched a PC until elementary school. Home PCs were not truly ubiquitous until around 2000 as far as I remember.
(05-18-2016, 05:55 PM)taramarie Wrote: [ -> ]
(05-18-2016, 05:51 PM)Odin Wrote: [ -> ]
Quote:“In general, people born in 1980 and after don’t remember when they started using a computer,”

Are they including video game consoles? Because I never touched a PC until elementary school. Home PCs were not truly ubiquitous until around 2000 as far as I remember.

Wow i started using a pc when i was 5 and console games when i was a tot.

I grew up in a poorer rural area, so that could be why.
(05-18-2016, 07:15 PM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: [ -> ]
(05-18-2016, 05:51 PM)Odin Wrote: [ -> ]
Quote:“In general, people born in 1980 and after don’t remember when they started using a computer,”

Are they including video game consoles? Because I never touched a PC until elementary school. Home PCs were not truly ubiquitous until around 2000 as far as I remember.

There are definitely socioeconomic and regional / microregional elements to this as well. For example upper middle to upper class Bay Area people were giving their kids PCs / Macs (or at least giving them access) starting in the 80s. But outside of these sorts of bubble worlds, you're right - many people were not on PCs / Macs until the 00s. Heck, there's a whole element out there whose introduction to all this has been supposedly-smart phones.

Quite true. The first computer I remember interacting with was when I was about 4 or 5 so that would be 1984-1985 range. It was a Texas Instruments computer and was little more than a glorified calculator. By 1988 though I was regularly using a desk top computer and programming in basic myself.

The end result is of course I'm the household IT guy. The kid or my mother have a problem with either of their computers they holler for me. I'm working to change that with the kid...my mother is a lost cause--she refuses to listen. Particularly to things like "maybe the reason you have this virus on your computer is the 90 different cursor thingies you downloaded.".
(05-19-2016, 04:07 AM)Kinser79 Wrote: [ -> ]Quite true.  The first computer I remember interacting with was when I was about 4 or 5 so that would be 1984-1985 range.  It was a Texas Instruments computer and was little more than a glorified calculator.  By 1988 though I was regularly using a desk top computer and programming in basic myself.

The first computer I used was in 1977 when I was about twelve.  It was a TRS-80 and then an Apple II both with 4K of memory.   The first computer I ever owned was a Timex-Sinclair computer with a 16K memory expansion.  It had nothing to do with economics, in my case, the personal computer simply didn't exist before that time.

I would have access to anything with a mouse and graphics until about a decade after that.
(05-19-2016, 12:32 PM)Galen Wrote: [ -> ]
(05-19-2016, 04:07 AM)Kinser79 Wrote: [ -> ]Quite true.  The first computer I remember interacting with was when I was about 4 or 5 so that would be 1984-1985 range.  It was a Texas Instruments computer and was little more than a glorified calculator.  By 1988 though I was regularly using a desk top computer and programming in basic myself.

The first computer I used was in 1977 when I was about twelve.  It was a TRS-80 and then an Apple II both with 4K of memory.   The first computer I ever owned was a Timex-Sinclair computer with a 16K memory expansion.  It had nothing to do with economics, in my case, the personal computer simply didn't exist before that time.

I would have access to anything with a mouse and graphics until about a decade after that.
The first computer that I had access to in 1963 was a mainframe with 64K memory. Used Fortran programing language.