Spring break in 7th grade was when I found out after watching MTV Top 20. They had fallen to 5 after a peak at 2 with All Apologies unplugged before plummeting to 13 and 19. The 13 position played the whole video out of respect.
I wore a Cobain tshirt to my new school way out in the country after moving in with my grandparents. I got asked who the chick on my shirt was. It was 1994.
You're not a Xennial you're Generation X. There is no such thing, rejected by every single academic research institution. Only Millennials born after 1980 claim this dumb title lol
Someone asked me to explain why we're a sub generation. I gestured to all the technology around the two of us at the time: "We grew up at the same time all this tech was growing up."
This was probably the last generation to have film cameras. It was also the first to have CDs, but still relied on cassette tapes for recording music and video tapes for TV recording. That should have been touched upon, because, suddenly, upon entering our early 20s, cassettes and film cameras fell by the wayside. Shortly thereafter, TiVo became a thing, rendering VCRs obsolete. It was all so sudden in adulthood, after just having left an analogue teenage era. I like the whole, "Last generation to have an analogue childhood, first generation to have a digital adulthood." And it happened (seemingly) suddenly.
Thanks for sharing! I felt like I was missing some things/the cassette info could have been mentioned in tech. It was common for people born later to have exposure (😛) to film cameras, but more often at a younger age/ many were less likely to use them themselves/their parents used them. A lot of the tech transitions did happen relatively quickly! Around the time Xennials reached adulthood is when a lot was going on in particular
I remember the paralysis of choice having to graduate from the disposable cameras my mom bought me to actually INVEST in like a 1.2 Megapixel camera for $300.
Born in 78. One of the key points for many of us wasn’t just the whole “analog childhood, digital adulthood” it was that we constantly shifted between the two. In Canada at least, we would have computer classes/labs a couple times a week and learned how to use the programs (yay .dos!), how to create essays and projects (giant banners on dot matrix daisy wheel printers) on this technology. Then we would go to the next class and have to write everything by hand with proper spacing/margins. We would play games on the new Nintendo systems for a while… and then go outside to ride bikes and play in fields. Later, we learned how to use pagers and cell phones while out for the night…then come home to a phone with a 10 meter cord. By the time we got to post secondary and internet was a thing…we learned how to navigate the muddy (dangerous) waters of that early system to find fun and cool stuff; and then turned to encyclopedia’s and library card catalogues to do research for school. We would have the newest music on CD but would flip back to cassette tapes and records when we wanted. We constantly had one foot on each side and got very good at switching between old and new. I notice today that my contemporaries and I are very good at still bridging this divide. We can quickly adapt to using a smartphone one minute and then an address book/planner the next. We often will use a combination of digital and analog and don’t get phased by new or old things being thrown at us.
Though not a Xennial and was born in 1983, but this is the best way to describe that era so well. Never thought of it that way, the constant switching of digital and analog technology like recording a radio show using a cassette tape and then listening to the latest singles using CDs with the same Hi Fi system. Lol.
Born in 81 and definitely feel like a mix between Gen X and Millennial but feel most of the experiences and memories that stood the test of time lean more toward Gen X. Musically was into early alternative and Grunge and even remember Prodigy before AOL!
Born in 82, got to enjoy all the great cartoons Transformers, G.I. Joe, He-Man and She-Ra, Voltron, Thundercats, Silverhawks, Gobots, Ninja Turtles. Survived the original death of Optimus Prime on the big screen, played on the wood built park playscapes and survived hot @$$ metal slides, merry go rounds, fireman's poles. Disney was a pay channel but you didn't have commercial interruptions. What a time to be a kid.
I'm a Xennial. I remember being a tad frustrated being labeled Gen-X in high school because I didn't relate to most Gen-Xer's. I wasn't a child during the Vietnam War, (I wasn't born!), & computers were always part of my life, (computer lab started in 1st grade). Later I learned about the Xennial generation & it made total sense! I had a good deal in common with Gen-X, but technology was massively different during my childhood....which had a big impact on my upbringing & education. I was online before www was a thing. I convinced my parents to buy a PC in 1996 to help with my school work, (& it did....plus I got to have fun in chat rooms too, LOL).
Chat rooms were the modern day rape vans of the time. Sorry, that was the first thing I thought of when I saw "chat rooms". But yeah, sometimes they were cool when you meet someone that liked the same music as you and what not.
@@UpsonPrattJr. Chat rooms could be scary, but early on, (prior to www.), I went to local chat rooms. We actually had in-person meet-ups once a month. It was a mix of every type of person, but we were all 'tech geeks'. 😅 Later on when garbage like AOL came into existence & EVERYONE was online, chat rooms became a bit treacherous. 😮💨 They were still fun though, you just had to know how to safely navigate them.
We had to program a computer ourselves when we got new software. We had to know basic computer maintenance without taking courses or watching TH-cam to figure out computers.
Very true about the mix of analog and digital for the xennials. I remember using both the “microfiche” machine and a computer at my public library for research when I was a kid. At home we had a typewriter and also a computer and a modem that I connected to BBS systems with (and also learned BASIC, just as your video showed, ha ha). As a teenager, we relied on payphones but then in college we all had cell phones.
Interesting, thanks for sharing! Glad you like the video. Just curious, was BASIC something your parents were thinking would be good for you to learn? I think it makes sense, probably helps you understand more of the tech basics 😛
@@TheGenerations1 No, my parents had no clue about any of it al the time. I was just a bored kid and figured it out from a book at the library and documentation from BBS systems.
I got my first cellphone in college. But in Jr High, our school's first ever typing class had games on 5.25" floppy disks. And yes, we spent most of our free time in the bright, dangerous world known as "outside," returning home when the street lights came on. For those who don't know, be afraid, be very afraid. We have the imagination, ferality, and "f around and find out" mentality of Gen X *and* the tech savvy of millenials. A powerful combination.
I was born in 1984. I have older and younger cousins. Older is GenX and the younger is a Millennial. I bridged every gap. I navigated out in the middle of no where by poleline and I was the first to buy a gps in my mid 20's. I rigged a stereo to play radio, cds, tapes, 8 tracks, and vinyl. I was also the first to buy an mp3 player and hooked it up to THAT monstrosity with aux. I have seen our phones go from call to text and our computers go from text, to call, to video call. I owned VHS growing up, bought dvds, and stopped when I went to college because I knew we would start streaming in the next 5 or so years (I didn't have that word I think I said something along the line of you'll live download it). At the time wi fi wasn't a thing and no one had a cell and this was on a computer science campus. *shrug* I don't care where you peg us but I'm neither my older or younger cousins generation. I seriously think we are the next silent generation. We exist, no one talks about us, but we keep bridging culture gaps.
I’m a xennial. I have heard the term oregon trail generation used before. I do remember playing the Oregon trail game as a kid in the late 80’s.I have always felt different from Generation X and Millennials. I do remember using both analog and digital devices growing up. Clueless was always that movie that spoke to me about my micro generation. I remember the internet boom of the late 90s when started college and also that’s when I started seeing more people starting to use cellphones on campus as well. I also had a cd case in high school and college.
When I started college in 1996, I had an electric typewriter for my papers. By the time I graduated in 2000, I had a top of the line desktop computer for papers, art, entertainment. I had a Geocities website, ffs. So I very much had the analog-childhood/digital adulthood.
Nicely done, thanks for the video! Here's a text that I wrote in 2021 about my generation. Ever since it's release, the 1994 album by The Prodigy 'Music for the Jilted Generation' hit very close to home, but I never quite knew why. Come to find out, I'm not alone in this, as millions of people born on the event horizon between GenX and GenY (Millennials) have been feeling this as well. We can't fully identify with either GenX or GenY, but we have a lot in common with both. Just recently though I heard of the term Xennial generation and things just clicked. Apparently I'm part of a so called "micro-generation" born roughly between 1977 and 1983 (or 1976 and 1985 according to some), that lived a fully analog childhood and a fully digital adulthood. So please welcome the Xennial generation, fashionably late as always. Born at the very end of GenX and in the middle of the Xennial generation (1980), I know first hand what it was like to grow up (as a cis male) in the rapidly evolving world of the Xennial. If you're a Xennial too, you'll likely find some resemblances here and if not, hopefully it'll be a fun read for ya. As a Xennial, my first TV was black and white and without remote control. My first music was played from vinyl records and cassette tapes (CD's didn't exist yet). My first movies were from VHS tapes and we actually recorded things from TV that we wanted to keep or would otherwise have missed (same goes for radio, we made mix tapes)! Cellphones weren't even a thing, nor was texting and I knew about 30 phone numbers by heart! When we called a friend, we called their home and had to ask their parents to hand them the phone. I grew up watching shows like He-Man, Scooby-Doo, Transformers, ThunderCats, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Pee-wee Herman Show (in the US) and the DJ Kat Show (in the UK and some European countries), while faithfully watching shows like Star Trek the Next Generation, Twilight Zone and Tales from the Crypt every week with my parents. But I was to old for shows like Power Rangers and Pokemon. Xennials were born into an entertainment golden age with great movies like Star Wars, Back to the Future, The Goonies, Indiana Jones, RoboCop, Terminator and many many more amazing flicks releasing around our birth and during our youth! The Titanic was huge and as a young male I hated it, along with the Backstreet Boys and the Hansons. But you went anyways, because the girls loved it! When it comes to music, we heard all the great stuff from the 60s and 70s, because our parents listened to it all the time. While also getting all the great music from the 80s and 90s from MTV, when they actually played music! Bands like U2, Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nirvana were all the rage! Our generation witnessed the (re)birth of the game industry, with the Nintendo Entertainment System! But was to young to comprehend it's fall (most prevalent in the US), thanks Atari! For many of us, the very first home computer we ever used, was equiped with a Hercules graphics card (monochrome, black and green visuals), or at the very least we used them at school. If you lived in the US, you'll likely remember playing Oregon Trail. We played in arcades and took part in the console wars between Sega and Nintendo, because Sega does what Nintendon't. We witnessed the birth of the internet and before that, some of us would take part in LAN-parties! Multiplayer wasn't online, it was together with your 'real life' friends, it was social like board games! Online reviews didn't even exist yet, so we relied on books and magazines for information, or simply word of mouth. Awaiting in anticipation to see what's new! Growing up, we used physical dictionaries and went to the library. We would rent movies (remember the rewind policy) and video games, or borrow them from friends and when someone didn't return what you borrowed to them, you would immediately know where they stood. Just like generations before us, when we went outside it was true freedom! Sure, some of us had pagers (they were mostly just to let us know when dinner was ready), but most of us were completely cut off from our parents. So unless you could somehow get to a landline (usually at a friends house or a payphone), you were on your own. Which is why we were taught to be responsible with this freedom, from a very young age. Later, when we first started to drive, GPS wasn't wide spread, nor did everyone have a cellphone yet. Life was an adventure though and just like generations before us, we were forced to be resourceful! During our first years of clubbing or bar hopping, smartphones didn't exist yet. So you didn't have to worry about being recorded and social media wasn't even a thing until the mid 2000s. The Y2K bug was a joke and many of us still view the internet as nothing more than an extremely useful tool, because we know what life was like before it. We witnessed major events like 9/11, both wars in Iraq (and there certainly won't be a third, looks at Iran and the Saudi's), the fall of the Berlin wall and the USSR (the Soviet-Afghan war left their economy in shambles and the Chernobyl disaster caused mass distrust, all while Gorbachev was actually moving the USSR towards a real free and social democracy, bless his soul), the Tiananmen Square Massacre (th-cam.com/video/uuoXCki1jss/w-d-xo.html) and the economic rise of China along with a slow but steady increase in 'foreign investments' aka power grabs by the CCP. Along with millennials and the generations before us, we lived during times of innocence (we only saw what was fed to us), so we thought the future would be brighter! But to quote Cypher in 1999s the Matrix 'Ignorance is bliss'. For when the information age finally hit in the mid 2000s, we could all feel a shift in consciousness slowly creep in. As we became globally connected, we became more and more informed and aware of the world, as it truly is. The innocent beauty, the ugly truth and the forest behind the trees. In today's day and age, with the world's knowledge at our fingertips, the only way ignorance can propagate is with bad legislation and misinformation. Sufficely to say, things evolved very quickly during the 80s, 90s and 2000s, technology brought us some amazing things and has an impact far beyond mere convenience! It's been an incredible journey and if it taught me anything, it's that on an individual level we're powerless to the ever-changing world around us. So you better keep up and be ready adapt, because it's a dog-eat-dog world out there... Unless we're truly united and DON'T TAKE NO for an answer, we'll either be ignored or eaten alive! Until then, we're all slaves to this system and the greedy powers at be, no matter how good you have it. The hustle is real! It's exactly this understanding and ultimately accepting my own powerlessness in the grand scheme of things, that turned me into an existential nihilist, while also being a humanist at heart. Our very existence is but a molecule in a vast sea of possibilities! While this vastness might feel trivializing at first, it also means our existence is pretty damn special and unique! Surrendering to this reality is what allowed me to fully embrace hedonism into my life, in a truly mindful way. In a way this saved me, or at least my sanity, and I'm very grateful for it! My eyes are wide open and I will not hide, but I won't let this prevent my own happiness either! So I enjoy every little moment, because when it comes to happiness in this world we live in, it's the little moments that really matter most! My grandpa always said, when you take the biggest apple every day, your last apple will still be the biggest. Life is precious and can truly be miraculous, so live it to the fullest!
Woww damn. I read the whole thing. I could relate so much with what you said as I was born in 1983 but not in the US. You are so spot on with the "we were so innocent cos we were only fed with the information that they wanted and we see the world with a bright future!" LOL.
@@imhong28 Thanks for reading and commenting! It's pretty scary to think back on how blind we were to the world, just because of the narrative that was fed to us. Then realizing that a billion people in China (among other places) only see what those in power wants them too.
It's fascinating hearing younger peoples perspective on my generation. We had PC's since I was 12, 1990. We had computers into adulthood. Laptops were the novelties in the late 90s and dial up internet was free if you didn't mind ads. An although we they were popular at the time, New Kids on the Block were the playground jokes of my generation. Regardless of a few minor things, you did a good job in describing Xennial's.
Thanks for the feedback, John! Yes, it is harder to capture it when I didn't experience it myself. I only know a couple Xennials - it would be nice to have some on here speaking about their experiences I think. I have noticed people seem to say they had computers earlier than the stats say. Maybe offset by people over a certain age not having them. Interesting about NKOTB too!
@@JanetStarChild even the most under privileged in our country own a cell phone. You think computers in the 90's we're only for the wealthy? Every class room in public school had a PC. Most school library's in my small town had a computer lab. Maybe you grew up in a state that didn't invest in public education. That doesn't make me wealthy an has more to do with geography than privilege.
@@Tivo78 Oh, my school did have computers, but I'm referring to personal home computers; a luxury that most people (particularly those from black, native and immigrant families) lived without. Our generation grew up with parents that were not tech-savvy and weren't going to invest on an expensive paperweight. Speaking as a Xennial, I didn't get my first computer until my early 20s, and my first cellphone until my mid 20s (a cheap Nokia from a 7-11). That said, I did know some peers with home comps, but most had to use one at the library or cyber cafe back then.
@@JanetStarChild I'm Latino an grew up in secion 8 housing. My mother was a full time student. At times we lived off food stamps government cheese an powdered milk. I never owned my own PC or cell phone until I was 20. When I say "we" I meant generational but you misunderstood an assumed it meant me, my family, my story. I just have a different perspective an looked at those material things differently. My inability to purchase a PC never blocked my access to computers. That doesn't denote privilege, but rather my ability to see beyond my disparity. Also I love how your throwing around BIPOC while comming at the brown guy. 🤦🏽♂️
Makes sense! It is interesting how people have different experiences and interpretations with siblings. Some seem to feel that seeing their sibling makes it evident that they feel like parts of different generations while others feel more like their siblings because they grew up more around their culture, opinions, etc. There is at least exposure to it in both cases! I do see other people born in 1984 who feel this too - the cusp of the cusp I suppose!
@@stevensteven3417 No, in fact, she isn´t. This isn`t maths. You can´t label a person whose experiences in life were those of a Xennial because of a "1 year difference" definition. It isn´t based on reality that way. There are more variables in the equation, one being having older siblings. She can´t be a Millennial if she didn´t experience things Millennials supposedly experienced.
I'm late '79, and yes, the switch of everything going completely digital seemingly happened over night, and it was definitely shocking. I honestly prefer a healthy mixture of analog and digital instead of solidly one or the other. With most things, I lean more GenX than Millennial, and I'm sure that has something to do with me hanging out with older kids most the time, and my only sibling being born in '64, and my parents both being Silent Gen, but I understand a lot of Millennial's points of views and how they grew up, too.
This is an excellent breakdown of what it is to be a xennial. My wife and I were born in 1981 and the microgeneration describes our young life perfectly.
I consider myself to be a Xennial. I was born in August of 1979. I have an older brother who is an early Gen X'er. He was born in July of 1965. Our childhoods were way different from each other. Nintendo and MTV were major parts of my childhood. Whereas my older brother graduated high school in 83 and so he was already an adult when I was still a child. By the time I was 18 years old I was already using the internet and downloading music. So yeah I was still a teenager at that point
Due to the span of years, people at the beginning and end (basically cuspers like you) do often have quite different experiences. That is interesting with you being siblings. It is kind of like my mom and her mom (one born in 47, one born in 64). Technically still Boomers (64 sometimes put in Gen X) but definitely different experiences! Thanks for sharing the details
Born mid-78. I always say we were the only generation that never had nuclear attack drills OR active shooter drills. We had…. fire drills. That’s it. Or region-specific drills (earthquake, tornado).
I consider myself closer to the xennials than a millennial. I remember new kids on the block sheets and curtains at female friends houses, I still have my first generation cabbage patch, grew up on he-man and shera. Loved grunge and 80s punk and metal growing up. I watched almost every show you mentioned. Didn't get a cellphone until I was an adult and married. The issue is I was born in 85. I don't relate to millennials. I think because of my parents being in bands and such I may be a late anomaly to the xennials group. Influences from my parents probably caused that. Knowing Metallica before I was even in kindergarten, tracing Eddie from the iron maiden covers from the vinyl collection. Idk. Doesn't really matter I suppose. Just never considered myself a millennial
@KitTheMisfitToys I think there is definitely an amorphous nature to gens. I consider myself xennial but I was held back in kindergarten (born late '83), so I went to school with people who are out of my cohort.
Ruby Ridge, Bill Clinton impeachment, Waco Texas, Earthquake in LA, AND LA riots, and beating of Reginald Denny were all huge. I also remember the Berlin Wall coming down and talk of acid rain. We remember before cell phones and that way of life has stuck to our core memories.
most of my family are cuspers. my brother is Xennial born on October 1983 and I'm a zillennial born on October 1995 that were raised by the same mom whose a cusper from generation jones. we're totally different people, he's not a tech or social media person so he'll ask for my help once a while.
Yep, this sounds like my aunt for sure, born in 1977, the very year of the first Star Wars. It's kinda interesting how well we get along, considering I'm a Zillennial and thus a cusper myself. Perhaps our similar "transitional era" childhoods had something to do with how our personalities were shaped.
As an elder millennial myself, born in (1986) my peers and I consider our self-more of a (Xennial, 1978 to 1983 and some say to 1985) We have nothing in common with younger millennials, but we are more in common with people being born in the early 1980s, which includes (while growing up) common interest in TV shows, music, movies, culture, fashion, politics and so on. If you are a older millennial, born around the early to mid 1980s, look up the generation (Xennial)
I was born in ‘86 also. I think we were the last ones to grow up in a time without the internet and without much of the later technology that defined later generations. I didn’t get my first cell phone till I was a senior in high school. The first computer I used was an Apple computer in elementary school where we learned to type. We didn’t have internet in my house till I was 12 years old. So growing up most of my time was spent outside playing sports, playing with the neighbors, etc. We watched a lot of tv and played video games but there was only so much of that you could do.
I was born in ‘84. Grew up reading my brother’s Bloom County and listening to They Might Be Giants. He was born in ‘69. For me, I believe this familial experience cemented me into the xennial cohort, as I was a kid while he was going to college for comp sci and would bring back his new computer and I could watch him play the entirety of LOOM he beat in like 4 hours over some Christmas break visiting home from college.
I'm an '83 Xennial. Adopted the Skater culture in the early 90's which was made mainstream by Tony Hawk. This included snowboarding which was frowned upon, even banned, from many slopes early on.
Yes there is still some negativity toward snowboarding (particularly from older skiers) but it is weird to think now how relatively recently it came into popularity.
All I know is that my brother (1989) and myself (1983) are close in age but I had a "pager/beeper" during high school and he had a cell phone during his high school years
I mentioned this a few days ago but Core Gen Xers were mostly into cassette tapes and Core Millennials were mostly into digital media (such as IPods) but the Xennials were the one who were mostly into CDs.
Being born in 82, I would also call myself a Xennial. I would define us mostly by our quick adoption and use of new technologies. The spreading use of personal computers, the world wide web, digital cameras, cellphones. That was mostly us! Older people laughed at our ideas, but we were the ones, who stayed up all night, learned HTML and gave our schools their first websites. Unimaginable to most of our teachers, we had the first, very thick cellphones in our backpacks. We bought these first ugly 640x480 digital cameras. Younger people took all of that for granted. We were the generation, who first jumped at those new concepts! Today, I think most of us found a good balance between the analogue and the digital world. We feel at home on the internet, but we also know when to turn our devices off. We can change a tire and also fix our computers.
It`s interesting how a lot of people don´t know about this term. I was born in 1984 and I'm definitely a Xennial. It`s funny how some people will blindly tell you: "No, you are a millennial, Xennials generation ends in 1983"... altough all my experiences in life indicate otherwise. I have much more things in common with people born in the late 70´s, than late 80s or worst, early 90s. I guess it also depends on the individual and (very important): in what country you were raised (technology, for example "arrives later" in some countries) or if you have older siblings. Just to give an example: I grew up with cassettes and walkman (even finishing highschool), played atari, used DOS, didn`t have a cellphone or social media until I was 24 and so on. So... absolute numbers and definitions don`t always reflect reality.
Xennial here glad I was able to experience the awesome arcade fighting scene of the late 80's to the mid 90's the Beat 'em up's like Final Fight, The Simpsons, TMNT ect.. also you had the birth of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. I miss going to the arcade and playing Mortal Kombat 2 there was never a game that had me so hyped to play.
Being born in 83, and getting my GED at 16, i was basically an adult when 9/11 happened and signed up and spent years at war in Iraq. My formative childhood years were essentially pre-internet (it existed when I was a teen, but obviously not what it is now). I used a rotary phone at my grandparents house. And yes, I played in the yard and drank from the hose. It was just a different world to grow up in. I didn't have a cell phone of any kind until I was 22, and it was a nokia brick. People born at the other end in 95 or so just can't relate to a lot of that, and being in the Army I missed a lot of early 2000 culture.
Oh come on... What Xennial had a cellphone during highschool? Maybe if they came from a wealthy family; that's a hell of a minority. Pretty much every Xennial had to share the house phone and stretch the cord around a corner just for a little privacy. Speaking as a Xennial, I didn't get my first cellphone until my mid 20s; and it was a cheap Nokia with pre-paid minutes from a 7-11.
@@JanetStarChild yeah, I never had a cell phone until university (a cheap Qualcomm), but I remember some of the students having flip phones in grade 13. Keep in mind that Xennial covers an 8 year stretch and tech changes a lot in a short period.
Born in '81 I had a cabbage patch doll & my little ponies. Loved Fraggle Rock! I had access to a home computer around age 9-10, played the Monkey Island game & Mavis Beacon typing program. I Played Oregon trail at elementary school. I got my first cellphone around 22yo & a few of my friends had pagers in Highschool. I really appreciate your research because I never felt like a Millenial. I'm so happy to have my own sub-generation! Perfect 😁👍
I was just recently sorting this thing out for myself, as I'm an autistic elder millennial that always felt older and separate from my peers. My partner is 3 years younger than me though, ADHD but not autistic, and *very* much a millennial. Some days he feels young even for me >.< But he respects and appreciates my older ways, and our kiddo has a preference for older things like myself despite being a zoomer. I didn't get into TH-cam until our kid discovered it. I watched a video occasionally if it was linked from elsewhere, usually Facebook (back when I used it). When I left Facebook, TH-cam was the solid replacement and preferred due to its educational opportunities. I see the value in a lot of modern things, but I also see the cost. New isn't necessarily better, and seeing how ill-equipped young people are due to taking the internet for granted is frightening.
Thanks for sharing! TH-cam definitely seems like it can be more educational than Facebook. And it sounds like you have a nice balance on things - a lot of people get stuck into thinking only the old or new is better. At the same time, I agree we do need to be careful and it is kind of strang that entire generations are growing up with a very new existence relative to the past due to certain technologies like the Internet
I’m right on the edge of the cusp of Xennial since I was born in Dec of 1983. But I remember the era before cell phones, the Internet, Windows 95, etc. I used to use MS-DOS code to play Oregon Trail as a elementary school kid lol. Definitely always considered myself more relatable to the Gen X generation then Millennial generation. I thought a lot of my friends older brothers were cooler then my friends & a lot of them related with me more at the time then their younger sibling since they felt they were to immature.
I was born in 84 and consider myself a xennial. We were poor so digital technology came later to our household and I had the street light curfew. My first tv was black and white. I didnt know NES was able to have color till we were able to get the living room color tv as a hand me down. I feel like the poorer you were the more the previous generation was more your experience.
OMG!! Gem & the Golograms! Fraggle Rock! You Can’t Do That On Television!! He-Man! She-Ra! Punky Brewster! Blossom!! I’m almost crying - it’s like you just brought my forgotten childhood back to life with these references 😭 It took remembering to realize how forgotten I have felt 😔
Born in May '82, I always feel closer to Gen X than Millennial. I was born before cellphones and the internet, while millennials (1990s babies) were born into the internet world. Xennial make sense now.
I’m happy to hear about this, as a person who is born the last year of the millennials, I felt like I didn’t belong since I was graduated before most people had cell phones and only some had internet, yet unlike gen x (which I longed to be part of as they seemed so cool but I was still too young) I only have vague memories of the last few years of the 80’s.
Yep, this is me in a nut shell. 😆Born in 83' my favorite song of all time is More than words by Extreme, I remember what I was doing when princess Diana died--I was the first in my family to find out, and no one believed me until they saw it for themselves on the news.
Xennial checking in from Canada... I always thought I was considered the last of Gen X but apparently someone made up another subdivision of generations called Xennial. Never heard of that Oregon trail game, but I did play some games on the good ol Commodore 64 and MS Dos back in the day... a lot of the generational interests you cited was very 80's focused and I was aware of a lot of them, but was not my personal interests. I got into music pretty late in the 90's... that influenced my taste in music, I tend to love Alternative rock and have a huge appreciation for grunge as my main tastes in music but I do appreciate other stuff too. I did have dialup internet, I used Compuserve instead of AOL. I had a cell phone in highschool out of safety concerns and tracking I was up to something productive from my parents. I often cite my most formative and interested tv shows growing up in my teens to this day was Seinfeld and Frasier, Star Trek Next Generation/Deep Space Nine/Voyager.
You can be both! Gen X and millennial are what will generally be used in research etc. but over time Xennial has become a more popularly used term for people on this cusp/born right around this time. Thanks for sharing your experiences! I think Oregon Trail was probably most popular in the U.S. but overall I would expect a lot of general overlap with Canada.
Dec 77. Squarely in the #Xennial cohort and it is so validating to have a cultural descriptor for this microgeneration. First generation daughter of immigrants so my West African parents were definitely not taking us to Star Wars. I never saw ET (still haven’t). I never saw Jaws (still haven’t) so most early GenX references are lost on me. Jared Leto was *BAE* from “My so-Called Life.” College was Y2K. 9/11 happened the morning of my first day of graduate school. I grew up on the Cosby Show and Steve Urkel. I watched the ‘Golden Girls’ on Saturday nights as a kid with our babysitter but also have earlier random memories of ‘Three’s Company’. I had internet access by the end of high school and a (not very smart) cell phone in college. I was obsessed with ‘Sex And the City’ but I can’t keep up with the Kardashians. You are in my #xennial tribe if you remember how *TiVo* changed your life before streaming technology. I love my generational niche. Also, every conversation with my Gen Alpha kids: starts with *“mom how do YOU know this song?”* and ends with don’t forget to #LikeAndSubscribe 😂
@@TheGenerations1 did you know? Xennials born between 1974-1980 were actually the first millennials but However, the 1974-1980 cohort was later re-identified as the last wave of Generation X, and by 2003 Ad Age had moved their Generation Y starting year up to the early 80s
@@TheLastMillennials I have seen that take! There are some people who used to think they were a part of Y only to later find themselves classified as Xers it seems.
And sunshine a vast majority of gen x had a basic commodore computer or access (oh and we utilized libraries) by the early 90s and cell phones about 5yrs later
Born in 76, first computer we had was an Apple 2C at 8 and a cell phone at 16 or 17. It was a brick 😅 before that i had a beeper amd had to use the pay phone. We were early adopters. I have 2 degrees, radio and TV with both, I learned both analog and digital editing. I shake my head at the amount of money I spent on tech and software to do what can be done on a phone or tablet. I learned to edit audio on an actual reel to reel. Analog video editing was a literal nightmare and I'm certain there were points I was reduced to tears.
Interesting! I considered becoming either a film or RTV (that is how it was referred to at my college) major after taking a documentary film-making class but never did go down that path. My husband is an animator and learned about how his professors used to do things though. It certainly was different not even so long ago
Born 77; this is correct, as a Xennial this in this group have always been Xennial, as in if asked what generation are you? We would not know as we did not relate to X or Millennial. The characteristics is our population drop and our generation had the VCR, that is what defined us. Unlike true gen-X we were first to have easy access to movies (VHS and Cable) this meant we could and did re-watch our favorite movies, we also lived for movie rentals. Mini-golf, roller rinks, malls and arcades were on the decline, they were folding and those still open had much older kids or younger kids. As a consequence our generation bonded over movies and movie theaters were our bonding site. As children we rented movies and movie theater hoping was a staple for us.
I'm happy to why now. I love talking with the older and younger generations more than my own era. It's like being able to share the knowledge with the younger generations that will be the future.
Here's why Xennials are a subset, and I'll use myself as the example: grade school: I was using the card catalog and the Dewy Decimal System Middle School: We got computers, but they were for Oregon Trail and we still had the card catalog system going. High School: the catalog system was now online, but you still needed Dewy, and dial-up internet was born. Pagers, pay phones, because only Gordon Gecko had a cell phone College: T1 LAN line, maybe a cell phone. Grad school: modern internet, cell phone but with T9 texting. So we literally aged along side all of the technology that dominates our modern life which gives us a weird perspective on it all.
love it never heard the phras,e just born in 1980, heard i'm gen x, heard i'm a millennial depends who you ask, so you know, i really like you giving us lost in between a voice, it's nice being able to identify with something, it's all us lost people can ask for, something
I was born in 1981. I remember using cassettes briefly, and soon after switching to cds. Many stores had stopped selling cassettes. Same thing with film cameras.
Here is why us Xenials have different characteristics: 1. We grew up poor bringing our own lunch and no way where we ever paying $6 for a coffee since it cost $0.02. 2. We have seen the world change from poor to buying whatever you want on free loaned money and know you can not buy things you cant afford and a while after the loan everything gets taking from you to repay it with interest. I must say most of us are bad parents because we never tough these lessons and values to our kids Gin I/Z we made them to believe they are special,they can do and get whatever they want and the world stops turning without them :). In short most of us have thrown this valuable knowledge and life experience away and after we worked hard to achieve stuff in our optimism we totally forgot what has brought us here.
At least you're taking responsibility 😅 There are difficult things people encounter though - lately inflation has been hittng the essentials for a lot of people unfortunately. There certainly are people who could be managing their money better though, and trying to keep up with people they see on social media doesn't help.
Love this channel. Bought the Strauss and Howe book, because of this channel. . But I still don't get how you can come of age in 11 years???? [1:46] Why isn't there a standard in the amount of years in which you are adolescent? isn't that usually like 18 or 18+ years? [ 18 - 20 years?] All kind of Dutch websites say around the age of 22 years. That is even more. . Maybe this could be the topic for a video? - how come that the 7 Generations vary in the amount of years they have as a generation? . Thumbs up + already subscribed.
Nice! Thank you :) And yes people use "coming of age" so differently and inconsistently! I always feel unsure about using that wording but it's also frequently used in association with the generations. I think it is meant to be longer. The fact that generations are different lengths also can make it more difficult in a way to compare them. Part of it is affected by when events/experiences that would have been influential occur. I will consider that!
I was born in 83; my brother was born in 80. My elementary school started letting us "check out" computers to take home when I was in 4th grade (92). We spent hours playing Oregon Trail together.
I think birth order plays a part in bridging generations as well. I was born in 1985, but I grew up with a sister was born in 1981. I also think your parents generation is also worth noting. My parents are boomers, but my husband who is the same age as I am, his parents are Gen X. We had two different styles of upbringing. All these very specific things will contribute to the development of how you respond to generational differences. My experiences are much closer to that of a Xennial than a Millennial.
Born in 83. When I was a kid, I looked up to my older Gen X cousins and got treated like a baby by them. I shunned my younger sister's toys and TV shows and just couldn't relate and didn't want to relate. She was born in 87
Thx much, I was born early 80s and I can not identify with millennials at all! I have a lot more in common with Gen-X and shared experiences. Because I didn’t grow up with social media I still don’t use it. I have used it and can use it, but view it as a huge waste of my time. I would much rather call people but grow up around corded phones all the way till I got my own place. My father had a cell phone, but I didn’t have one till I was out of the house. We experienced laptops computers first, but I also remember playing on Atari. This generation, Xenniel, spent a lot of time outdoors. Our parents highly encouraged us to get out and there were a lot of places to go for kids. I don’t mean like children’s museums even though they existed, but rather into the woods, ponds, creeks, into the desert - I moved around a lot and that was something I experienced everywhere I went. Kids were blindly trusted to go out and experience nature get lost in it and come home when the street lights went on. It was an amazing time and yes, we are “the lucky ones.” we lived in the Age of Cinema, we lived in that Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll too, many of us remember going to roller rinks, and we got along a 1000 times better than millennials. I mean that! It was not hard to make friends with anyone of any race. Yes, people are using racial slurs but we were post - most - of the racism. Homosexuality was still really look down on, sad truth - the worst things to be called a derogatory terms for homosexuals. We also remember some of the worst crimes against them in the media (in the USA) and this is really when a lot of thought about how he treated them started. This was early in the thinking stage, the acting on these thoughts definitely belong to Millennials. This generation didn’t really try to change the world, it was too busy experiencing it, having fun and enjoying life. I feel a little bad for my son, I look at the experience he has in this generation, and it saddens me. It’s just so different now. And yes 100%, We are the lucky ones!
Every Xennial remembers going to the computer lab in elementary school, and playing learning games on those old Tandy computers with the giant floppy discs
I was born in 85 in the uk we had a computer at home with AOL dialup. We did really basic computer work at school the graphics on games were very rubbish. I watched sister sister religiously love it nickelodeon was my go to most of my childhood. I didn't have a phone till I was about 17 and it was a brick. No Internet access and could only text and call. It was all about who had the best ring tone back then 😂 it's funny to look back as I don't feel I fit in eathir box. Im enjoying how far tech has come but I still think I have the gen befores attitude to life. This video made me realise were a different breed altogether really.
I'd say its the Gen X kids born in between April and Dec 1980 as the Millennials kicked off in January 1981 and ran until Dec 1996 Millennial here and proud of it
I use the dating of 1975 to 1985 because I think that the Xennials are a two cohort (think of the four years in High School). I grew up a Military Brat and move a lot in the 1980s and 1990s and what I discovered was what was happening in one place was not necessarily cool in another. This of course was pre Internet and even when the Internet came out, it was nothing like it is today. Depending on where you live there is a cultural lag (think of how all the references in Napoleon Dynamite were dated when that movie came out) and kids in the sticks or in smaller cities had a bit if a lag behind major cities. Overall Xennials are pretty cool and down to earth people from my interactions. Most are not high on their own drama. I do agree that we get things done as even compared to Gen X we are overlooked in-between the Boomers and the Millennials. I have two younger siblings who are very Millennial and my Xennial sister and I are very different from them. Two things that I think really separate us from Millennials is that we actually had Civics course in school growing up and we were the last group of kids that didn't have to worry about mass shooting incidents while going to school.
I was a military brat too and feel you on that! I remember one time I moved and I already knew what all the trends were going to be because the new place was about a year behind. There were also slightly different trends by place. Although it's not typically how it is "supposed" to work, I can see the argument for changing the way we view people born around this time and making it that long. Those are interesting points!
@@TheGenerations1 Thanks! I came to my conclusions after chatting on Reddit with other Xennials and people just slightly outside of both age ranges. When you consider the culture and product lag of major cities (think New York to Los Angeles to Chicago) and then factor in smaller cities (say Kansas City to Dayton to Eugene) you can see pre Internet how that lag lasted even longer to "hicks in the sticks" and how attitude and trends allowed them to have similar childhoods to ours. So I definitely understand how the original 1976-1983 could be seen in major cities as a real core time for Xennials but the 1975-1985 adjusts for smaller cities as well as rural people. I had people on the Xennials Reddit thread say they had similar childhoods when they were born after 1985 but that is stretching things and their experiences were slightly different as they got the left overs from Upper Class and Middle Class hand me downs to what they worked with. I have two siblings that are born 1988 and 1991 and they are very Millennial and not Gen Xers nor Xellinials. I acknowledged those Millennials that feel like they are more Xennial than Millennial but those dates are outside of a "two cohort" micro generation. It's also a bit sad how socioeconomics play delayed reality for people past a particular date and social class. That said, I told them that they were definitely "honorary members" and welcomed them even though the dates were off. I did not interact a whole lot with pre 1975 people as they mainly identified as Gen Xers.
@Randy_Richmond I agree with you. I finished HS in 1996 so Columbine was after my school years but I was in college then. Columbine was a hard line of before and after that event so fortunately for me, I was before. I can relate to many cultural references in the 1980s and 1990s but actually living it, I was very aware my whole life that I am an outsider and that is definitely hardwired and baked in to my personality. I am pretty easy going and can make "fast friends" but deeper friendships I am much more pickier about.
My oldest sister was born 1984 I see her as a xennial as she started school in 1990 and has memories going back to 1987 I’m pure millennial born 1992 i remember 9/11 like yesterday
I was in 2nd grade when the Challenger catastrophe occurred. It was a huge deal for the challenger to be taking off that day and the media build-up to the launch was something like a pay-per-view event. We watched live in class that day (also big because most broadcasts had tape delays for editing purposes for FCC reasons). When the explosion happened I remember trying to figure out what I had watched. Reality TV isn't a thing at this moment in time. It was weird But OJ I Remember As Were Yesterday. The Ford Bronco event happened on my birthday. JUNE 17 1994 I was supposed to have a party that day😢lol😂 Long story short. The party did not happen. As I stated earlier Reality TV at this point was in its let's see phase. The Real World had come out on MTV but that was geared more towards my age range. I was 14 that day. I understood exactly what was going on as well as other things that may have been divisive among groups that I wish not to describe at the moment. This day in more ways than one. Genetically, being one of them but also this was the first Reality Television event that hooked our parents that wasn't a game show. If a show were to have started that day it would still be running today because the ultimate benefactors of that day have made their spoils in other ways. The OJ Simpson event changed everything. Plus it was close in time range from when the Rodney King Police Brutality Court Case decision was made. This time period is definitely when lines were beginning to be drawn as well. Iono 😊
Born in ‘84 and consider myself a Xennial. Analog childhood, digital adulthood. I don’t freak out without electricity or electronics. Didn’t have Google to use as references, only library books and Encyclopedias. Computer at home in high school but AOL was too pricey. Remember all the events mentioned and My So Called Life was everything for that one season. Jem, He-Man, She-Ra, Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, Smurfs, GI Joe, Transformers, and TMNTs were amazing. I hate that my child doesn’t have family friendly Friday night shows or Saturday Morning cartoons. Cell phone in my twenties. Worked during the recession. This was a great time in history because you literally grew up in the best of both worlds.
2:10 was born at the end of the 70s', but grew up in the 80s... "My so-Called Life" was filmed at the high school that I attended along with my mother, my father all of my uncles and my sister. I actually worked on the set because I was in drama club.
@@TheGenerations1 No, was definitely VERY HOLYWOOD. Most of my work was on the Continuity side, and we were not allowed to speak, or approach Ms. Danes, or Mr. Leto. One member said we could utilze the Craft Services... But another person complained. It was very wierd.
Xennial here, and let me tell you all, I was _not_ a fan of music in the '90s; I think most of it sucks balls. I don't know if this counts as a coincidence, but I actually prefer music that was made and released in the late '70s to early '80s. Disco, funk, goth rock, new wave, etc..
I was in 6th grade when OKC happened. I was in 7th grade when OJ was found not guilty. I got my first cell phone when I was 21. I had ICQ, MySpace, etc. My family didn't have a computer in our home until I was 16 and it was dial up. I am glad that I had an analog childhood and social media free teenage years.
I was born very late in 76 technically an X but I consider myself a Xennial. I programmed computers in multiple languages at a young age and can remember using disks that were literally floppy. I've seen technology jump from humble beginnings to what it is now. I remember going to a class that used typewriters and computers in an alternating pattern and having to learn to type without looking at my hands. I remember a world, in my opinion, that was more free, diversely creative, and far less homogenous than it is now.
As a Xennial, I had my first PC in 1993 at the time I was finishing junior high and already using AOL for internet by the time I was finishing high school, I got my first pager (or beeper as we used to call them) by the time I was a freshman and my first cellphone two years later when the rates became accesible. There wasn’t anything technology wise I wouldn’t know about or how to use by the time I became legal adult. IC chat and other chat rooms were a way to make new friends until social platforms like Myspace came into the scene. I’m grateful to have lived an analog childhood without social media, 1980s bullies were bad enough 😂😂😂
Born in 81 here, I grew up with no technology, just a tv in the house. In 1989 we got our first video game system (NES), and I was obsessed with technology, I took everything apart, I made things out of motors and batteries, but I didn't get my first computer until I was 16 (where I built it myself). The lack of technology in my life made me crave it, and I became "tech savvy" making me into an engineer. We went through all of high school writing in cursive and we had "computer lab" time where we were taught to type and write papers, but it was never expected of us to have a computer at home and produce our reports using it. I went to college later than most and by the time I was in college all the millennials had years of experience writing papers on a computer and I had NO idea how to do it, I had to learn the MLA style, it was daunting, however I realized it was what I learned doing hand written papers carried over to typing, so it wasn't as bad as I was thinking it would be. I was 19 when 911 happened, and graduated high school 1999-2000. Yes Oregon trail was the first game we played in school.
I would say births during the Carter and Reagan presidencies is accurate. Xennials are 35-45ish right now. My sister born right after Raegan is 100% Millennial.
What is something you consider “xennial”? Know a xennial? Share this video with a friend: th-cam.com/video/Yl21oIAYw9k/w-d-xo.html
when the term was originally created it actually included between from 1975 to 1983
Scholastic Book Fairs at school in the library! Buying the Baby Sitters Club Books!!!!
Msdos
Highlighters magazine
Zoo books
Xennials
1- Anyone who was in Junior High or High School when Kurt Cobain committed suicide.
2- Anyone who graduated high school before Sept 11, 2001
Sounds about right!
Spring break in 7th grade was when I found out after watching MTV Top 20. They had fallen to 5 after a peak at 2 with All Apologies unplugged before plummeting to 13 and 19. The 13 position played the whole video out of respect.
I wore a Cobain tshirt to my new school way out in the country after moving in with my grandparents. I got asked who the chick on my shirt was. It was 1994.
@@gingerkid1048 🤣🤣🤣
Check on both 1 and 2. Class of 1999 . I graduated high school shortly after The Columbine Massacre.
Born in 77 and the analog childhood digital young adulthood describes our cusp generation well.
I've seen different groups claim it, but overall I do it think maybe applies best for Xennials!
You're not a Xennial you're Generation X. There is no such thing, rejected by every single academic research institution. Only Millennials born after 1980 claim this dumb title lol
Yeah agree it's been interesting 😂
Someone asked me to explain why we're a sub generation. I gestured to all the technology around the two of us at the time: "We grew up at the same time all this tech was growing up."
Yup...us born in 1977 are the start of Xennials!
This was probably the last generation to have film cameras. It was also the first to have CDs, but still relied on cassette tapes for recording music and video tapes for TV recording. That should have been touched upon, because, suddenly, upon entering our early 20s, cassettes and film cameras fell by the wayside. Shortly thereafter, TiVo became a thing, rendering VCRs obsolete. It was all so sudden in adulthood, after just having left an analogue teenage era. I like the whole, "Last generation to have an analogue childhood, first generation to have a digital adulthood." And it happened (seemingly) suddenly.
Thanks for sharing! I felt like I was missing some things/the cassette info could have been mentioned in tech. It was common for people born later to have exposure (😛) to film cameras, but more often at a younger age/ many were less likely to use them themselves/their parents used them. A lot of the tech transitions did happen relatively quickly! Around the time Xennials reached adulthood is when a lot was going on in particular
Last generation that would have to go to CVS to have film from a camera developed.
pretty accurate.
I remember the paralysis of choice having to graduate from the disposable cameras my mom bought me to actually INVEST in like a 1.2 Megapixel camera for $300.
@@STMARTIN009for many years CVS was my home base when I traveled to new locales.
Then I lived in Philly for 10 years and CVS kinda “FELL OFF” 😂
Born in 78.
One of the key points for many of us wasn’t just the whole “analog childhood, digital adulthood” it was that we constantly shifted between the two.
In Canada at least, we would have computer classes/labs a couple times a week and learned how to use the programs (yay .dos!), how to create essays and projects (giant banners on dot matrix daisy wheel printers) on this technology. Then we would go to the next class and have to write everything by hand with proper spacing/margins.
We would play games on the new Nintendo systems for a while… and then go outside to ride bikes and play in fields.
Later, we learned how to use pagers and cell phones while out for the night…then come home to a phone with a 10 meter cord.
By the time we got to post secondary and internet was a thing…we learned how to navigate the muddy (dangerous) waters of that early system to find fun and cool stuff; and then turned to encyclopedia’s and library card catalogues to do research for school.
We would have the newest music on CD but would flip back to cassette tapes and records when we wanted.
We constantly had one foot on each side and got very good at switching between old and new.
I notice today that my contemporaries and I are very good at still bridging this divide. We can quickly adapt to using a smartphone one minute and then an address book/planner the next. We often will use a combination of digital and analog and don’t get phased by new or old things being thrown at us.
Good point
Absolutely! I remember having a handful of new CDs and recording the CDs on to cassette tape just so I could listen to the music in my car.
Though not a Xennial and was born in 1983, but this is the best way to describe that era so well. Never thought of it that way, the constant switching of digital and analog technology like recording a radio show using a cassette tape and then listening to the latest singles using CDs with the same Hi Fi system. Lol.
I'm an '83 baby. I graduated highschool class of Y2K. I miss actual mix tape cassettes we used to make for each other.
@@imhong28I'm '83- we're the last of the Xennials
Born in 81 and definitely feel like a mix between Gen X and Millennial but feel most of the experiences and memories that stood the test of time lean more toward Gen X. Musically was into early alternative and Grunge and even remember Prodigy before AOL!
with you man never felt like I was gen x and def do not relate to millennials either.
Prodigy!
'81 baby here too 😃🙌
Born in 82, got to enjoy all the great cartoons Transformers, G.I. Joe, He-Man and She-Ra, Voltron, Thundercats, Silverhawks, Gobots, Ninja Turtles. Survived the original death of Optimus Prime on the big screen, played on the wood built park playscapes and survived hot @$$ metal slides, merry go rounds, fireman's poles. Disney was a pay channel but you didn't have commercial interruptions. What a time to be a kid.
I'm a Xennial. I remember being a tad frustrated being labeled Gen-X in high school because I didn't relate to most Gen-Xer's. I wasn't a child during the Vietnam War, (I wasn't born!), & computers were always part of my life, (computer lab started in 1st grade). Later I learned about the Xennial generation & it made total sense! I had a good deal in common with Gen-X, but technology was massively different during my childhood....which had a big impact on my upbringing & education. I was online before www was a thing. I convinced my parents to buy a PC in 1996 to help with my school work, (& it did....plus I got to have fun in chat rooms too, LOL).
Makes a lot of sense, thanks for sharing :) I'm sure chat rooms were interesting at that time... 😛
Chat rooms were the modern day rape vans of the time. Sorry, that was the first thing I thought of when I saw "chat rooms". But yeah, sometimes they were cool when you meet someone that liked the same music as you and what not.
Yes, chat rooms! I look back on that as an adult and shudder! Fortunately nothing bad happened to me or my sister but 😳
@@UpsonPrattJr. Chat rooms could be scary, but early on, (prior to www.), I went to local chat rooms. We actually had in-person meet-ups once a month. It was a mix of every type of person, but we were all 'tech geeks'. 😅 Later on when garbage like AOL came into existence & EVERYONE was online, chat rooms became a bit treacherous. 😮💨 They were still fun though, you just had to know how to safely navigate them.
We had to program a computer ourselves when we got new software. We had to know basic computer maintenance without taking courses or watching TH-cam to figure out computers.
I think there is an advantage to that!
I taught myself web design in the late 90s and then stupid me never did anything with it.
If you know what Garbage Pail Kids are you are probably a Xennial.
Had to search it, but I'm not one 😛so could be!
Exactly; to hell with those ugly dolls; we '80s kids reveled in their mockery through those grotesque cards.
Oh yes we had the collector cards at school, they were a spoof of the Cabbage Patch Kids and they were slightly disturbing lol😅
I can smell the gum stick now
and My Child dolls!
Very true about the mix of analog and digital for the xennials. I remember using both the “microfiche” machine and a computer at my public library for research when I was a kid. At home we had a typewriter and also a computer and a modem that I connected to BBS systems with (and also learned BASIC, just as your video showed, ha ha).
As a teenager, we relied on payphones but then in college we all had cell phones.
Interesting, thanks for sharing! Glad you like the video. Just curious, was BASIC something your parents were thinking would be good for you to learn? I think it makes sense, probably helps you understand more of the tech basics 😛
@@TheGenerations1 No, my parents had no clue about any of it al the time. I was just a bored kid and figured it out from a book at the library and documentation from BBS systems.
@@wrxpilot Nice! Yes boredom can definitely motivate you to learn some things
“Microfiche” ? I think we called it microfilm 🤔
man I remember those machines in the 80s and 90s haha we did have it good and we didn't even know it. haha
I got my first cellphone in college. But in Jr High, our school's first ever typing class had games on 5.25" floppy disks. And yes, we spent most of our free time in the bright, dangerous world known as "outside," returning home when the street lights came on. For those who don't know, be afraid, be very afraid. We have the imagination, ferality, and "f around and find out" mentality of Gen X *and* the tech savvy of millenials. A powerful combination.
I was born in 1984. I have older and younger cousins. Older is GenX and the younger is a Millennial. I bridged every gap. I navigated out in the middle of no where by poleline and I was the first to buy a gps in my mid 20's. I rigged a stereo to play radio, cds, tapes, 8 tracks, and vinyl. I was also the first to buy an mp3 player and hooked it up to THAT monstrosity with aux. I have seen our phones go from call to text and our computers go from text, to call, to video call. I owned VHS growing up, bought dvds, and stopped when I went to college because I knew we would start streaming in the next 5 or so years (I didn't have that word I think I said something along the line of you'll live download it). At the time wi fi wasn't a thing and no one had a cell and this was on a computer science campus. *shrug* I don't care where you peg us but I'm neither my older or younger cousins generation. I seriously think we are the next silent generation. We exist, no one talks about us, but we keep bridging culture gaps.
And I add that Xennials are Woodstock 99 generation
I should probably watch the documentary!
Late genX and early Xennial perhaps, but woodstock 99 is exclusively US of course.
The horror of woodstock 99 wouldn't have been possible without the total nihilism of gen X.
I’m a xennial. I have heard the term oregon trail generation used before. I do remember playing the Oregon trail game as a kid in the late 80’s.I have always felt different from Generation X and Millennials. I do remember using both analog and digital devices growing up. Clueless was always that movie that spoke to me about my micro generation. I remember the internet boom of the late 90s when started college and also that’s when I started seeing more people starting to use cellphones on campus as well. I also had a cd case in high school and college.
Thanks for sharing! Seems like an interesting time to be born/grow up!
When I started college in 1996, I had an electric typewriter for my papers. By the time I graduated in 2000, I had a top of the line desktop computer for papers, art, entertainment. I had a Geocities website, ffs. So I very much had the analog-childhood/digital adulthood.
That sounds like the transition we're talking about!
1979 baby here. Perfect generation. 😊
Good song too.
Nicely done, thanks for the video! Here's a text that I wrote in 2021 about my generation.
Ever since it's release, the 1994 album by The Prodigy 'Music for the Jilted Generation' hit very close to home, but I never quite knew why. Come to find out, I'm not alone in this, as millions of people born on the event horizon between GenX and GenY (Millennials) have been feeling this as well. We can't fully identify with either GenX or GenY, but we have a lot in common with both. Just recently though I heard of the term Xennial generation and things just clicked. Apparently I'm part of a so called "micro-generation" born roughly between 1977 and 1983 (or 1976 and 1985 according to some), that lived a fully analog childhood and a fully digital adulthood. So please welcome the Xennial generation, fashionably late as always.
Born at the very end of GenX and in the middle of the Xennial generation (1980), I know first hand what it was like to grow up (as a cis male) in the rapidly evolving world of the Xennial. If you're a Xennial too, you'll likely find some resemblances here and if not, hopefully it'll be a fun read for ya.
As a Xennial, my first TV was black and white and without remote control. My first music was played from vinyl records and cassette tapes (CD's didn't exist yet). My first movies were from VHS tapes and we actually recorded things from TV that we wanted to keep or would otherwise have missed (same goes for radio, we made mix tapes)! Cellphones weren't even a thing, nor was texting and I knew about 30 phone numbers by heart! When we called a friend, we called their home and had to ask their parents to hand them the phone.
I grew up watching shows like He-Man, Scooby-Doo, Transformers, ThunderCats, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the Pee-wee Herman Show (in the US) and the DJ Kat Show (in the UK and some European countries), while faithfully watching shows like Star Trek the Next Generation, Twilight Zone and Tales from the Crypt every week with my parents. But I was to old for shows like Power Rangers and Pokemon.
Xennials were born into an entertainment golden age with great movies like Star Wars, Back to the Future, The Goonies, Indiana Jones, RoboCop, Terminator and many many more amazing flicks releasing around our birth and during our youth! The Titanic was huge and as a young male I hated it, along with the Backstreet Boys and the Hansons. But you went anyways, because the girls loved it!
When it comes to music, we heard all the great stuff from the 60s and 70s, because our parents listened to it all the time. While also getting all the great music from the 80s and 90s from MTV, when they actually played music! Bands like U2, Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nirvana were all the rage!
Our generation witnessed the (re)birth of the game industry, with the Nintendo Entertainment System! But was to young to comprehend it's fall (most prevalent in the US), thanks Atari! For many of us, the very first home computer we ever used, was equiped with a Hercules graphics card (monochrome, black and green visuals), or at the very least we used them at school. If you lived in the US, you'll likely remember playing Oregon Trail. We played in arcades and took part in the console wars between Sega and Nintendo, because Sega does what Nintendon't.
We witnessed the birth of the internet and before that, some of us would take part in LAN-parties! Multiplayer wasn't online, it was together with your 'real life' friends, it was social like board games! Online reviews didn't even exist yet, so we relied on books and magazines for information, or simply word of mouth. Awaiting in anticipation to see what's new! Growing up, we used physical dictionaries and went to the library.
We would rent movies (remember the rewind policy) and video games, or borrow them from friends and when someone didn't return what you borrowed to them, you would immediately know where they stood.
Just like generations before us, when we went outside it was true freedom! Sure, some of us had pagers (they were mostly just to let us know when dinner was ready), but most of us were completely cut off from our parents. So unless you could somehow get to a landline (usually at a friends house or a payphone), you were on your own. Which is why we were taught to be responsible with this freedom, from a very young age.
Later, when we first started to drive, GPS wasn't wide spread, nor did everyone have a cellphone yet. Life was an adventure though and just like generations before us, we were forced to be resourceful!
During our first years of clubbing or bar hopping, smartphones didn't exist yet. So you didn't have to worry about being recorded and social media wasn't even a thing until the mid 2000s. The Y2K bug was a joke and many of us still view the internet as nothing more than an extremely useful tool, because we know what life was like before it.
We witnessed major events like 9/11, both wars in Iraq (and there certainly won't be a third, looks at Iran and the Saudi's), the fall of the Berlin wall and the USSR (the Soviet-Afghan war left their economy in shambles and the Chernobyl disaster caused mass distrust, all while Gorbachev was actually moving the USSR towards a real free and social democracy, bless his soul), the Tiananmen Square Massacre (th-cam.com/video/uuoXCki1jss/w-d-xo.html) and the economic rise of China along with a slow but steady increase in 'foreign investments' aka power grabs by the CCP.
Along with millennials and the generations before us, we lived during times of innocence (we only saw what was fed to us), so we thought the future would be brighter! But to quote Cypher in 1999s the Matrix 'Ignorance is bliss'. For when the information age finally hit in the mid 2000s, we could all feel a shift in consciousness slowly creep in. As we became globally connected, we became more and more informed and aware of the world, as it truly is. The innocent beauty, the ugly truth and the forest behind the trees. In today's day and age, with the world's knowledge at our fingertips, the only way ignorance can propagate is with bad legislation and misinformation.
Sufficely to say, things evolved very quickly during the 80s, 90s and 2000s, technology brought us some amazing things and has an impact far beyond mere convenience! It's been an incredible journey and if it taught me anything, it's that on an individual level we're powerless to the ever-changing world around us. So you better keep up and be ready adapt, because it's a dog-eat-dog world out there... Unless we're truly united and DON'T TAKE NO for an answer, we'll either be ignored or eaten alive! Until then, we're all slaves to this system and the greedy powers at be, no matter how good you have it. The hustle is real!
It's exactly this understanding and ultimately accepting my own powerlessness in the grand scheme of things, that turned me into an existential nihilist, while also being a humanist at heart. Our very existence is but a molecule in a vast sea of possibilities! While this vastness might feel trivializing at first, it also means our existence is pretty damn special and unique! Surrendering to this reality is what allowed me to fully embrace hedonism into my life, in a truly mindful way. In a way this saved me, or at least my sanity, and I'm very grateful for it!
My eyes are wide open and I will not hide, but I won't let this prevent my own happiness either! So I enjoy every little moment, because when it comes to happiness in this world we live in, it's the little moments that really matter most! My grandpa always said, when you take the biggest apple every day, your last apple will still be the biggest. Life is precious and can truly be miraculous, so live it to the fullest!
Thanks for sharing, a good read!
@@TheGenerations1 My pleasure, keep up the good work! 💪
@@Supersly666 thank you :)
Woww damn. I read the whole thing. I could relate so much with what you said as I was born in 1983 but not in the US. You are so spot on with the "we were so innocent cos we were only fed with the information that they wanted and we see the world with a bright future!" LOL.
@@imhong28 Thanks for reading and commenting! It's pretty scary to think back on how blind we were to the world, just because of the narrative that was fed to us. Then realizing that a billion people in China (among other places) only see what those in power wants them too.
It's fascinating hearing younger peoples perspective on my generation. We had PC's since I was 12, 1990. We had computers into adulthood. Laptops were the novelties in the late 90s and dial up internet was free if you didn't mind ads. An although we they were popular at the time, New Kids on the Block were the playground jokes of my generation. Regardless of a few minor things, you did a good job in describing Xennial's.
Thanks for the feedback, John! Yes, it is harder to capture it when I didn't experience it myself. I only know a couple Xennials - it would be nice to have some on here speaking about their experiences I think. I have noticed people seem to say they had computers earlier than the stats say. Maybe offset by people over a certain age not having them. Interesting about NKOTB too!
You sound like you grew up wealthy. Most kids and teens didn't have the luxury.
@@JanetStarChild even the most under privileged in our country own a cell phone. You think computers in the 90's we're only for the wealthy? Every class room in public school had a PC. Most school library's in my small town had a computer lab. Maybe you grew up in a state that didn't invest in public education. That doesn't make me wealthy an has more to do with geography than privilege.
@@Tivo78
Oh, my school did have computers, but I'm referring to personal home computers; a luxury that most people (particularly those from black, native and immigrant families) lived without.
Our generation grew up with parents that were not tech-savvy and weren't going to invest on an expensive paperweight.
Speaking as a Xennial, I didn't get my first computer until my early 20s, and my first cellphone until my mid 20s (a cheap Nokia from a 7-11).
That said, I did know some peers with home comps, but most had to use one at the library or cyber cafe back then.
@@JanetStarChild I'm Latino an grew up in secion 8 housing. My mother was a full time student. At times we lived off food stamps government cheese an powdered milk. I never owned my own PC or cell phone until I was 20.
When I say "we" I meant generational but you misunderstood an assumed it meant me, my family, my story.
I just have a different perspective an looked at those material things differently. My inability to purchase a PC never blocked my access to computers. That doesn't denote privilege, but rather my ability to see beyond my disparity.
Also I love how your throwing around BIPOC while comming at the brown guy. 🤦🏽♂️
Even though I'm born in 1984, I feel like a xennial. All my siblings were true Gen Xers so I was heavily influenced by them.
Makes sense! It is interesting how people have different experiences and interpretations with siblings. Some seem to feel that seeing their sibling makes it evident that they feel like parts of different generations while others feel more like their siblings because they grew up more around their culture, opinions, etc. There is at least exposure to it in both cases! I do see other people born in 1984 who feel this too - the cusp of the cusp I suppose!
You are a Millennial.
@@stevensteven3417 No, in fact, she isn´t. This isn`t maths. You can´t label a person whose experiences in life were those of a Xennial because of a "1 year difference" definition. It isn´t based on reality that way. There are more variables in the equation, one being having older siblings. She can´t be a Millennial if she didn´t experience things Millennials supposedly experienced.
@@FontenlaAndres when you were underaged in 2000 you are per definition a Millennial.
@@stevensteven3417 Don´t bother man. I´ve already seen you have been spamming everywhere.
This is my exact experience. 78 here. The jump from Analog to Digital was shocking.
I'm late '79, and yes, the switch of everything going completely digital seemingly happened over night, and it was definitely shocking. I honestly prefer a healthy mixture of analog and digital instead of solidly one or the other. With most things, I lean more GenX than Millennial, and I'm sure that has something to do with me hanging out with older kids most the time, and my only sibling being born in '64, and my parents both being Silent Gen, but I understand a lot of Millennial's points of views and how they grew up, too.
This is an excellent breakdown of what it is to be a xennial. My wife and I were born in 1981 and the microgeneration describes our young life perfectly.
Yay, I'm glad! I think you're the first xennial to comment so it's good to hear from someone on this cusp :)
Me and my wife were both born in November 1981. She’s Scorpio and I’m Sagittarius.
I consider myself to be a Xennial. I was born in August of 1979. I have an older brother who is an early Gen X'er. He was born in July of 1965. Our childhoods were way different from each other. Nintendo and MTV were major parts of my childhood. Whereas my older brother graduated high school in 83 and so he was already an adult when I was still a child. By the time I was 18 years old I was already using the internet and downloading music. So yeah I was still a teenager at that point
Due to the span of years, people at the beginning and end (basically cuspers like you) do often have quite different experiences. That is interesting with you being siblings. It is kind of like my mom and her mom (one born in 47, one born in 64). Technically still Boomers (64 sometimes put in Gen X) but definitely different experiences! Thanks for sharing the details
Born mid-78. I always say we were the only generation that never had nuclear attack drills OR active shooter drills. We had…. fire drills. That’s it. Or region-specific drills (earthquake, tornado).
Good addition!
I consider myself closer to the xennials than a millennial. I remember new kids on the block sheets and curtains at female friends houses, I still have my first generation cabbage patch, grew up on he-man and shera. Loved grunge and 80s punk and metal growing up. I watched almost every show you mentioned. Didn't get a cellphone until I was an adult and married. The issue is I was born in 85. I don't relate to millennials. I think because of my parents being in bands and such I may be a late anomaly to the xennials group. Influences from my parents probably caused that. Knowing Metallica before I was even in kindergarten, tracing Eddie from the iron maiden covers from the vinyl collection. Idk. Doesn't really matter I suppose. Just never considered myself a millennial
In this case I do see how you relate/maybe fit more with the Xennials! That also must have been interesting growing up having your parents in bands.
@KitTheMisfitToys I think there is definitely an amorphous nature to gens. I consider myself xennial but I was held back in kindergarten (born late '83), so I went to school with people who are out of my cohort.
Ruby Ridge, Bill Clinton impeachment, Waco Texas, Earthquake in LA, AND LA riots, and beating of Reginald Denny were all huge. I also remember the Berlin Wall coming down and talk of acid rain. We remember before cell phones and that way of life has stuck to our core memories.
Thanks!
most of my family are cuspers. my brother is Xennial born on October 1983 and I'm a zillennial born on October 1995 that were raised by the same mom whose a cusper from generation jones. we're totally different people, he's not a tech or social media person so he'll ask for my help once a while.
That's neat! And nice of you to help out your brother
Yep, this sounds like my aunt for sure, born in 1977, the very year of the first Star Wars. It's kinda interesting how well we get along, considering I'm a Zillennial and thus a cusper myself. Perhaps our similar "transitional era" childhoods had something to do with how our personalities were shaped.
Could be, that's neat :)
As an elder millennial myself, born in (1986) my peers and I consider our self-more of a (Xennial, 1978 to 1983 and some say to 1985) We have nothing in common with younger millennials, but we are more in common with people being born in the early 1980s, which includes (while growing up) common interest in TV shows, music, movies, culture, fashion, politics and so on. If you are a older millennial, born around the early to mid 1980s, look up the generation (Xennial)
I was born in ‘86 also. I think we were the last ones to grow up in a time without the internet and without much of the later technology that defined later generations. I didn’t get my first cell phone till I was a senior in high school. The first computer I used was an Apple computer in elementary school where we learned to type. We didn’t have internet in my house till I was 12 years old. So growing up most of my time was spent outside playing sports, playing with the neighbors, etc. We watched a lot of tv and played video games but there was only so much of that you could do.
86 is Millenial you were 14 in 2000
Very accurate!!I'm a Xenial born in 1981
Thanks 😊
I was born in ‘84. Grew up reading my brother’s Bloom County and listening to They Might Be Giants. He was born in ‘69.
For me, I believe this familial experience cemented me into the xennial cohort, as I was a kid while he was going to college for comp sci and would bring back his new computer and I could watch him play the entirety of LOOM he beat in like 4 hours over some Christmas break visiting home from college.
I'm an '83 Xennial. Adopted the Skater culture in the early 90's which was made mainstream by Tony Hawk. This included snowboarding which was frowned upon, even banned, from many slopes early on.
Yes there is still some negativity toward snowboarding (particularly from older skiers) but it is weird to think now how relatively recently it came into popularity.
All I know is that my brother (1989) and myself (1983) are close in age but I had a "pager/beeper" during high school and he had a cell phone during his high school years
Yes I do see how your high school experiences might have been a little different. That was a big time for changes
I mentioned this a few days ago but Core Gen Xers were mostly into cassette tapes and Core Millennials were mostly into digital media (such as IPods) but the Xennials were the one who were mostly into CDs.
Born in 82 I had cassettes and CDs
@moneyilltee I had cassettes as well but mostly had CDs
Being born in 82, I would also call myself a Xennial. I would define us mostly by our quick adoption and use of new technologies. The spreading use of personal computers, the world wide web, digital cameras, cellphones. That was mostly us! Older people laughed at our ideas, but we were the ones, who stayed up all night, learned HTML and gave our schools their first websites. Unimaginable to most of our teachers, we had the first, very thick cellphones in our backpacks. We bought these first ugly 640x480 digital cameras. Younger people took all of that for granted. We were the generation, who first jumped at those new concepts!
Today, I think most of us found a good balance between the analogue and the digital world. We feel at home on the internet, but we also know when to turn our devices off. We can change a tire and also fix our computers.
It`s interesting how a lot of people don´t know about this term. I was born in 1984 and I'm definitely a Xennial. It`s funny how some people will blindly tell you: "No, you are a millennial, Xennials generation ends in 1983"... altough all my experiences in life indicate otherwise. I have much more things in common with people born in the late 70´s, than late 80s or worst, early 90s. I guess it also depends on the individual and (very important): in what country you were raised (technology, for example "arrives later" in some countries) or if you have older siblings. Just to give an example: I grew up with cassettes and walkman (even finishing highschool), played atari, used DOS, didn`t have a cellphone or social media until I was 24 and so on. So... absolute numbers and definitions don`t always reflect reality.
Yep, lots of factors!
Xennial here glad I was able to experience the awesome arcade fighting scene of the late 80's to the mid 90's the Beat 'em up's like Final Fight, The Simpsons, TMNT ect.. also you had the birth of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. I miss going to the arcade and playing Mortal Kombat 2 there was never a game that had me so hyped to play.
Being born in 83, and getting my GED at 16, i was basically an adult when 9/11 happened and signed up and spent years at war in Iraq. My formative childhood years were essentially pre-internet (it existed when I was a teen, but obviously not what it is now). I used a rotary phone at my grandparents house. And yes, I played in the yard and drank from the hose. It was just a different world to grow up in. I didn't have a cell phone of any kind until I was 22, and it was a nokia brick. People born at the other end in 95 or so just can't relate to a lot of that, and being in the Army I missed a lot of early 2000 culture.
As a Xennial, one tech change I think of is how we used rotary phones as children, flip phones in high school, and then smart phones in adulthood.
Z = Zombie
Oh come on... What Xennial had a cellphone during highschool? Maybe if they came from a wealthy family; that's a hell of a minority.
Pretty much every Xennial had to share the house phone and stretch the cord around a corner just for a little privacy.
Speaking as a Xennial, I didn't get my first cellphone until my mid 20s; and it was a cheap Nokia with pre-paid minutes from a 7-11.
@@JanetStarChild yeah, I never had a cell phone until university (a cheap Qualcomm), but I remember some of the students having flip phones in grade 13. Keep in mind that Xennial covers an 8 year stretch and tech changes a lot in a short period.
@@JanetStarChildI graduated high school in 1999. No one had cell phones. Some people had beepers though. I believe those kids sold weed .lol
Born in '81
I had a cabbage patch doll & my little ponies. Loved Fraggle Rock!
I had access to a home computer around age 9-10, played the Monkey Island game & Mavis Beacon typing program. I Played Oregon trail at elementary school.
I got my first cellphone around 22yo & a few of my friends had pagers in Highschool. I really appreciate your research because I never felt like a Millenial. I'm so happy to have my own sub-generation! Perfect 😁👍
Classic Xennial!
I was just recently sorting this thing out for myself, as I'm an autistic elder millennial that always felt older and separate from my peers. My partner is 3 years younger than me though, ADHD but not autistic, and *very* much a millennial. Some days he feels young even for me >.< But he respects and appreciates my older ways, and our kiddo has a preference for older things like myself despite being a zoomer.
I didn't get into TH-cam until our kid discovered it. I watched a video occasionally if it was linked from elsewhere, usually Facebook (back when I used it). When I left Facebook, TH-cam was the solid replacement and preferred due to its educational opportunities. I see the value in a lot of modern things, but I also see the cost. New isn't necessarily better, and seeing how ill-equipped young people are due to taking the internet for granted is frightening.
Thanks for sharing! TH-cam definitely seems like it can be more educational than Facebook. And it sounds like you have a nice balance on things - a lot of people get stuck into thinking only the old or new is better. At the same time, I agree we do need to be careful and it is kind of strang that entire generations are growing up with a very new existence relative to the past due to certain technologies like the Internet
This is the best Xennial breakdown I've seen!!!! Two Thumbs Up!!!
Thank you Dana! 🥰
Miss making mixed tapes, and very happy social media didn’t exist until the 2000s lol.
I’m right on the edge of the cusp of Xennial since I was born in Dec of 1983. But I remember the era before cell phones, the Internet, Windows 95, etc. I used to use MS-DOS code to play Oregon Trail as a elementary school kid lol. Definitely always considered myself more relatable to the Gen X generation then Millennial generation. I thought a lot of my friends older brothers were cooler then my friends & a lot of them related with me more at the time then their younger sibling since they felt they were to immature.
I was born in 84 and consider myself a xennial. We were poor so digital technology came later to our household and I had the street light curfew. My first tv was black and white. I didnt know NES was able to have color till we were able to get the living room color tv as a hand me down. I feel like the poorer you were the more the previous generation was more your experience.
True particularly when it comes to technology
Full on Xennial here. Born in 75. Barely remember Voltron, but too old for Power Rangers heh
80.
Voltron was my jam, 2nd to thunder cats
OMG!!
Gem & the Golograms! Fraggle Rock! You Can’t Do That On Television!! He-Man! She-Ra! Punky Brewster! Blossom!!
I’m almost crying - it’s like you just brought my forgotten childhood back to life with these references 😭
It took remembering to realize how forgotten I have felt 😔
Aww I'm glad I could bring some nostalgia
Born in May '82, I always feel closer to Gen X than Millennial. I was born before cellphones and the internet, while millennials (1990s babies) were born into the internet world. Xennial make sense now.
I’m happy to hear about this, as a person who is born the last year of the millennials, I felt like I didn’t belong since I was graduated before most people had cell phones and only some had internet, yet unlike gen x (which I longed to be part of as they seemed so cool but I was still too young) I only have vague memories of the last few years of the 80’s.
It's always nice to feel seen and have something you relate to! Thanks for the comment!
Yep, this is me in a nut shell. 😆Born in 83' my favorite song of all time is More than words by Extreme, I remember what I was doing when princess Diana died--I was the first in my family to find out, and no one believed me until they saw it for themselves on the news.
Xennial checking in from Canada... I always thought I was considered the last of Gen X but apparently someone made up another subdivision of generations called Xennial. Never heard of that Oregon trail game, but I did play some games on the good ol Commodore 64 and MS Dos back in the day... a lot of the generational interests you cited was very 80's focused and I was aware of a lot of them, but was not my personal interests. I got into music pretty late in the 90's... that influenced my taste in music, I tend to love Alternative rock and have a huge appreciation for grunge as my main tastes in music but I do appreciate other stuff too. I did have dialup internet, I used Compuserve instead of AOL. I had a cell phone in highschool out of safety concerns and tracking I was up to something productive from my parents. I often cite my most formative and interested tv shows growing up in my teens to this day was Seinfeld and Frasier, Star Trek Next Generation/Deep Space Nine/Voyager.
You can be both! Gen X and millennial are what will generally be used in research etc. but over time Xennial has become a more popularly used term for people on this cusp/born right around this time. Thanks for sharing your experiences! I think Oregon Trail was probably most popular in the U.S. but overall I would expect a lot of general overlap with Canada.
@@TheGenerations1 The most popular computer game during my elementary years was Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego
@@MedalionDS9 A good one!
Dec 77. Squarely in the #Xennial cohort and it is so validating to
have a cultural descriptor for this microgeneration. First generation daughter of immigrants so my West African parents were definitely not taking us to Star Wars. I never saw ET (still haven’t). I never saw Jaws (still haven’t) so most early GenX references are lost on me. Jared Leto was *BAE* from “My so-Called Life.” College was Y2K. 9/11 happened the morning of my first day of graduate school.
I grew up on the Cosby Show and Steve Urkel. I watched the ‘Golden Girls’ on Saturday nights as a kid with our babysitter but also have earlier random memories of ‘Three’s Company’.
I had internet access by the end of high school and a (not very smart) cell phone in college. I was obsessed with ‘Sex And the City’ but I can’t keep up with the Kardashians.
You are in my #xennial tribe if you remember how *TiVo* changed your life before streaming technology.
I love my generational niche.
Also, every conversation with my Gen Alpha kids: starts with
*“mom how do YOU know this song?”* and ends with don’t forget to #LikeAndSubscribe 😂
Aww thanks for sharing :)
Yes!! This is becoming one of my favorite channels, great to see a new video as always!!
Thanks for the encouragement! 😃
@@TheGenerations1 did you know? Xennials born between 1974-1980 were actually the first millennials but However, the 1974-1980 cohort was later re-identified as the last wave of Generation X, and by 2003 Ad Age had moved their Generation Y starting year up to the early 80s
@@TheLastMillennials I have seen that take! There are some people who used to think they were a part of Y only to later find themselves classified as Xers it seems.
@@TheGenerations1 yeah generations are weird but they definitely play a big part in history 🤗
I learned HTML 5 and Java at age 12 because I spent a lot of time editing my profiles on MySpace as well as tumblr.
Fun times!
Yeah that wasn't HTML 5
@@tmorelli1982 HTML and HTML5 are basically the same minus the upgrade functionality.
yea xennials were in their early 20s for Myspace
hmm true 🤔 maybe they're thinking Zillennial
1978 to 1983. We are that in-between. We are not special but we feel different. We work hard and have hang ups but we treat everyone the same.
And sunshine a vast majority of gen x had a basic commodore computer or access (oh and we utilized libraries) by the early 90s and cell phones about 5yrs later
My dad was born in June 82 and my mom was born April 83.
Two Xennials - they would probably relate!
Born in 76, first computer we had was an Apple 2C at 8 and a cell phone at 16 or 17. It was a brick 😅 before that i had a beeper amd had to use the pay phone. We were early adopters.
I have 2 degrees, radio and TV with both, I learned both analog and digital editing. I shake my head at the amount of money I spent on tech and software to do what can be done on a phone or tablet. I learned to edit audio on an actual reel to reel. Analog video editing was a literal nightmare and I'm certain there were points I was reduced to tears.
Interesting! I considered becoming either a film or RTV (that is how it was referred to at my college) major after taking a documentary film-making class but never did go down that path. My husband is an animator and learned about how his professors used to do things though. It certainly was different not even so long ago
Did anyone else's mother let you play Leisure Suit Larry? 🙋🏽♀️😂 I didn't understand how he caught crabs on the beach from Tawny, until I got older
That looks... interesting! 😂
Xennial here and I didn't have a computer until my early 20s. I was going to cyber cafes prior, but mainly to play Diablo and Counter-Strike.
@@JanetStarChild Cyber cafes - fun!
Are you Afraid Of The Dark❤️🏆✌🏾
Still am ... Best show ever- those creepy eyes 👀 lol
@@kimanakimana8265 We all Grew up in the Greatest Era✅ from Movies, to Cartoons, to Music and Fashion❤️
Born 77; this is correct, as a Xennial this in this group have always been Xennial, as in if asked what generation are you? We would not know as we did not relate to X or Millennial. The characteristics is our population drop and our generation had the VCR, that is what defined us. Unlike true gen-X we were first to have easy access to movies (VHS and Cable) this meant we could and did re-watch our favorite movies, we also lived for movie rentals. Mini-golf, roller rinks, malls and arcades were on the decline, they were folding and those still open had much older kids or younger kids. As a consequence our generation bonded over movies and movie theaters were our bonding site. As children we rented movies and movie theater hoping was a staple for us.
I'm happy to why now. I love talking with the older and younger generations more than my own era. It's like being able to share the knowledge with the younger generations that will be the future.
That's good!
I’m was born in Sept. 1980. I’m a certified Xennial! 😎
That’s gen x
Here's why Xennials are a subset, and I'll use myself as the example:
grade school: I was using the card catalog and the Dewy Decimal System
Middle School: We got computers, but they were for Oregon Trail and we still had the card catalog system going.
High School: the catalog system was now online, but you still needed Dewy, and dial-up internet was born. Pagers, pay phones, because only Gordon Gecko had a cell phone
College: T1 LAN line, maybe a cell phone.
Grad school: modern internet, cell phone but with T9 texting.
So we literally aged along side all of the technology that dominates our modern life which gives us a weird perspective on it all.
Nice example of the transition!
I’d say anyone born 1981 - 1983 is a Xennial. Those born in 1979, 1980. Are still Gen X.
1977 was a great year to be born. I "identify" as Gen X, and never heard of Xennials. Interesting.
love it never heard the phras,e just born in 1980, heard i'm gen x, heard i'm a millennial depends who you ask, so you know, i really like you giving us lost in between a voice, it's nice being able to identify with something, it's all us lost people can ask for, something
I'm glad! 😃
Then 1984 has to be considered Xennials because I experienced the majority of this ❤
Maybe so!
Me too!
I was born in 82’ this is me in a shell my so called life in the beginning was all I needed to see
I was born in 1981. I remember using cassettes briefly, and soon after switching to cds. Many stores had stopped selling cassettes. Same thing with film cameras.
Your video is great, it is very accurate!
Thank you :) Glad to hear it!
Here is why us Xenials have different characteristics: 1. We grew up poor bringing our own lunch and no way where we ever paying $6 for a coffee since it cost $0.02. 2. We have seen the world change from poor to buying whatever you want on free loaned money and know you can not buy things you cant afford and a while after the loan everything gets taking from you to repay it with interest. I must say most of us are bad parents because we never tough these lessons and values to our kids Gin I/Z we made them to believe they are special,they can do and get whatever they want and the world stops turning without them :). In short most of us have thrown this valuable knowledge and life experience away and after we worked hard to achieve stuff in our optimism we totally forgot what has brought us here.
At least you're taking responsibility 😅 There are difficult things people encounter though - lately inflation has been hittng the essentials for a lot of people unfortunately. There certainly are people who could be managing their money better though, and trying to keep up with people they see on social media doesn't help.
Love this channel.
Bought the Strauss and Howe book, because of this channel.
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But I still don't get how you can come of age in 11 years???? [1:46]
Why isn't there a standard in the amount of years in which you are adolescent?
isn't that usually like 18 or 18+ years? [ 18 - 20 years?]
All kind of Dutch websites say around the age of 22 years. That is even more.
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Maybe this could be the topic for a video?
- how come that the 7 Generations vary in the amount of years they have as a generation?
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Thumbs up + already subscribed.
Nice! Thank you :)
And yes people use "coming of age" so differently and inconsistently! I always feel unsure about using that wording but it's also frequently used in association with the generations. I think it is meant to be longer.
The fact that generations are different lengths also can make it more difficult in a way to compare them. Part of it is affected by when events/experiences that would have been influential occur. I will consider that!
I was born in 83; my brother was born in 80. My elementary school started letting us "check out" computers to take home when I was in 4th grade (92). We spent hours playing Oregon Trail together.
I think birth order plays a part in bridging generations as well. I was born in 1985, but I grew up with a sister was born in 1981. I also think your parents generation is also worth noting. My parents are boomers, but my husband who is the same age as I am, his parents are Gen X. We had two different styles of upbringing. All these very specific things will contribute to the development of how you respond to generational differences. My experiences are much closer to that of a Xennial than a Millennial.
Born in 83. When I was a kid, I looked up to my older Gen X cousins and got treated like a baby by them. I shunned my younger sister's toys and TV shows and just couldn't relate and didn't want to relate. She was born in 87
As a xennial...things like MASH and thirtysomething went completely over our teenage heads, but I enjoy straddling the analog and digital ages.
My parents were boomers. I was raised as a latchkey kid. I wanted to join the military because of 9/11
Thx much, I was born early 80s and I can not identify with millennials at all! I have a lot more in common with Gen-X and shared experiences. Because I didn’t grow up with social media I still don’t use it. I have used it and can use it, but view it as a huge waste of my time. I would much rather call people but grow up around corded phones all the way till I got my own place. My father had a cell phone, but I didn’t have one till I was out of the house. We experienced laptops computers first, but I also remember playing on Atari. This generation, Xenniel, spent a lot of time outdoors. Our parents highly encouraged us to get out and there were a lot of places to go for kids. I don’t mean like children’s museums even though they existed, but rather into the woods, ponds, creeks, into the desert - I moved around a lot and that was something I experienced everywhere I went. Kids were blindly trusted to go out and experience nature get lost in it and come home when the street lights went on. It was an amazing time and yes, we are “the lucky ones.” we lived in the Age of Cinema, we lived in that Age of Rock ‘n’ Roll too, many of us remember going to roller rinks, and we got along a 1000 times better than millennials. I mean that! It was not hard to make friends with anyone of any race. Yes, people are using racial slurs but we were post - most - of the racism. Homosexuality was still really look down on, sad truth - the worst things to be called a derogatory terms for homosexuals. We also remember some of the worst crimes against them in the media (in the USA) and this is really when a lot of thought about how he treated them started. This was early in the thinking stage, the acting on these thoughts definitely belong to Millennials. This generation didn’t really try to change the world, it was too busy experiencing it, having fun and enjoying life. I feel a little bad for my son, I look at the experience he has in this generation, and it saddens me. It’s just so different now. And yes 100%, We are the lucky ones!
I'm sure others can relate. Hopefully the younger generations can look back and say they enjoyed when they grew up too, even if it is different
Every Xennial remembers going to the computer lab in elementary school, and playing learning games on those old Tandy computers with the giant floppy discs
I was born in 85 in the uk we had a computer at home with AOL dialup. We did really basic computer work at school the graphics on games were very rubbish. I watched sister sister religiously love it nickelodeon was my go to most of my childhood. I didn't have a phone till I was about 17 and it was a brick. No Internet access and could only text and call. It was all about who had the best ring tone back then 😂 it's funny to look back as I don't feel I fit in eathir box. Im enjoying how far tech has come but I still think I have the gen befores attitude to life. This video made me realise were a different breed altogether really.
Don't forget Thundercats, Transformers, Ninja Turtles, Smurfs and ALF.
i was born in 83 but I relate to all of this
I'd say its the Gen X kids born in between April and Dec 1980 as the Millennials kicked off in January 1981 and ran until Dec 1996 Millennial here and proud of it
I use the dating of 1975 to 1985 because I think that the Xennials are a two cohort (think of the four years in High School). I grew up a Military Brat and move a lot in the 1980s and 1990s and what I discovered was what was happening in one place was not necessarily cool in another. This of course was pre Internet and even when the Internet came out, it was nothing like it is today.
Depending on where you live there is a cultural lag (think of how all the references in Napoleon Dynamite were dated when that movie came out) and kids in the sticks or in smaller cities had a bit if a lag behind major cities.
Overall Xennials are pretty cool and down to earth people from my interactions. Most are not high on their own drama. I do agree that we get things done as even compared to Gen X we are overlooked in-between the Boomers and the Millennials. I have two younger siblings who are very Millennial and my Xennial sister and I are very different from them. Two things that I think really separate us from Millennials is that we actually had Civics course in school growing up and we were the last group of kids that didn't have to worry about mass shooting incidents while going to school.
I was a military brat too and feel you on that! I remember one time I moved and I already knew what all the trends were going to be because the new place was about a year behind. There were also slightly different trends by place.
Although it's not typically how it is "supposed" to work, I can see the argument for changing the way we view people born around this time and making it that long. Those are interesting points!
@@TheGenerations1
Thanks! I came to my conclusions after chatting on Reddit with other Xennials and people just slightly outside of both age ranges. When you consider the culture and product lag of major cities (think New York to Los Angeles to Chicago) and then factor in smaller cities (say Kansas City to Dayton to Eugene) you can see pre Internet how that lag lasted even longer to "hicks in the sticks" and how attitude and trends allowed them to have similar childhoods to ours.
So I definitely understand how the original 1976-1983 could be seen in major cities as a real core time for Xennials but the 1975-1985 adjusts for smaller cities as well as rural people. I had people on the Xennials Reddit thread say they had similar childhoods when they were born after 1985 but that is stretching things and their experiences were slightly different as they got the left overs from Upper Class and Middle Class hand me downs to what they worked with. I have two siblings that are born 1988 and 1991 and they are very Millennial and not Gen Xers nor Xellinials. I acknowledged those Millennials that feel like they are more Xennial than Millennial but those dates are outside of a "two cohort" micro generation. It's also a bit sad how socioeconomics play delayed reality for people past a particular date and social class. That said, I told them that they were definitely "honorary members" and welcomed them even though the dates were off. I did not interact a whole lot with pre 1975 people as they mainly identified as Gen Xers.
@Randy_Richmond
I agree with you. I finished HS in 1996 so Columbine was after my school years but I was in college then. Columbine was a hard line of before and after that event so fortunately for me, I was before. I can relate to many cultural references in the 1980s and 1990s but actually living it, I was very aware my whole life that I am an outsider and that is definitely hardwired and baked in to my personality.
I am pretty easy going and can make "fast friends" but deeper friendships I am much more pickier about.
I use those same dates as well
My oldest sister was born 1984 I see her as a xennial as she started school in 1990 and has memories going back to 1987 I’m pure millennial born 1992 i remember 9/11 like yesterday
Both of you are Millennials.
@@stevensteven3417 nope Xennial is often listed as ending in 1985 so there
I was in 2nd grade when the Challenger catastrophe occurred. It was a huge deal for the challenger to be taking off that day and the media build-up to the launch was something like a pay-per-view event. We watched live in class that day (also big because most broadcasts had tape delays for editing purposes for FCC reasons). When the explosion happened I remember trying to figure out what I had watched. Reality TV isn't a thing at this moment in time.
It was weird
But OJ I Remember As Were Yesterday.
The Ford Bronco event happened on my birthday.
JUNE 17 1994
I was supposed to have a party that day😢lol😂 Long story short. The party did not happen. As I stated earlier Reality TV at this point was in its let's see phase. The Real World had come out on MTV but that was geared more towards my age range. I was 14 that day. I understood exactly what was going on as well as other things that may have been divisive among groups that I wish not to describe at the moment.
This day in more ways than one. Genetically, being one of them but also this was the first Reality Television event that hooked our parents that wasn't a game show. If a show were to have started that day it would still be running today because the ultimate benefactors of that day have made their spoils in other ways.
The OJ Simpson event changed everything. Plus it was close in time range from when the Rodney King Police Brutality Court Case decision was made. This time period is definitely when lines were beginning to be drawn as well. Iono 😊
Thanks for sharing!
Born in ‘84 and consider myself a Xennial. Analog childhood, digital adulthood. I don’t freak out without electricity or electronics. Didn’t have Google to use as references, only library books and Encyclopedias. Computer at home in high school but AOL was too pricey. Remember all the events mentioned and My So Called Life was everything for that one season. Jem, He-Man, She-Ra, Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, Smurfs, GI Joe, Transformers, and TMNTs were amazing. I hate that my child doesn’t have family friendly Friday night shows or Saturday Morning cartoons. Cell phone in my twenties. Worked during the recession. This was a great time in history because you literally grew up in the best of both worlds.
Thanks for sharing, it is too bad the younger generations don't have some of that
2:10 was born at the end of the 70s', but grew up in the 80s...
"My so-Called Life" was filmed at the high school that I attended along with my mother, my father all of my uncles and my sister. I actually worked on the set because I was in drama club.
Very neat! Did you think your high school experience you had there was at all similar to the show?
@@TheGenerations1 No, was definitely VERY HOLYWOOD.
Most of my work was on the Continuity side, and we were not allowed to speak, or approach Ms. Danes, or Mr. Leto. One member said we could utilze the Craft Services... But another person complained. It was very wierd.
@@ETC_Rohaly_USCG Thanks for sharing!
Xennial here, and let me tell you all, I was _not_ a fan of music in the '90s; I think most of it sucks balls.
I don't know if this counts as a coincidence, but I actually prefer music that was made and released in the late '70s to early '80s. Disco, funk, goth rock, new wave, etc..
Haha it's true not everyone likes the music of their generation!
Hi there and watching from 🇲🇾. Thanks for sharing and yes I am a Xennial 83 too 😊
Thanks for watching :)
I was rocking a pager at age 20 but I'm a late Xer who grew up on Ms.Pac-Man, Q*Bert and Galaga
79er here. Every generation is a nice one. Enjoy yours.
True 😀
I was in 6th grade when OKC happened. I was in 7th grade when OJ was found not guilty. I got my first cell phone when I was 21. I had ICQ, MySpace, etc. My family didn't have a computer in our home until I was 16 and it was dial up. I am glad that I had an analog childhood and social media free teenage years.
I was born very late in 76 technically an X but I consider myself a Xennial. I programmed computers in multiple languages at a young age and can remember using disks that were literally floppy. I've seen technology jump from humble beginnings to what it is now. I remember going to a class that used typewriters and computers in an alternating pattern and having to learn to type without looking at my hands. I remember a world, in my opinion, that was more free, diversely creative, and far less homogenous than it is now.
As a Xennial, I had my first PC in 1993 at the time I was finishing junior high and already using AOL for internet by the time I was finishing high school, I got my first pager (or beeper as we used to call them) by the time I was a freshman and my first cellphone two years later when the rates became accesible. There wasn’t anything technology wise I wouldn’t know about or how to use by the time I became legal adult. IC chat and other chat rooms were a way to make new friends until social platforms like Myspace came into the scene. I’m grateful to have lived an analog childhood without social media, 1980s bullies were bad enough 😂😂😂
Born in 81 here, I grew up with no technology, just a tv in the house. In 1989 we got our first video game system (NES), and I was obsessed with technology, I took everything apart, I made things out of motors and batteries, but I didn't get my first computer until I was 16 (where I built it myself). The lack of technology in my life made me crave it, and I became "tech savvy" making me into an engineer. We went through all of high school writing in cursive and we had "computer lab" time where we were taught to type and write papers, but it was never expected of us to have a computer at home and produce our reports using it. I went to college later than most and by the time I was in college all the millennials had years of experience writing papers on a computer and I had NO idea how to do it, I had to learn the MLA style, it was daunting, however I realized it was what I learned doing hand written papers carried over to typing, so it wasn't as bad as I was thinking it would be. I was 19 when 911 happened, and graduated high school 1999-2000. Yes Oregon trail was the first game we played in school.
Oh I could see that, interesting - thanks for sharing!
I would say births during the Carter and Reagan presidencies is accurate. Xennials are 35-45ish right now. My sister born right after Raegan is 100% Millennial.
77 and i know we are different than gen x or millennials. Im happy its labled i was tired of explaining it all the time haha
😀
Born in 85 and i definitely feel more in between.