If every 20 years it was officially declared 'sex day' and people were allowed to concieve on that day and only that day; then there would be generations.

Seems like gen x is trying to lump everyone that comes after them into one convenient-to-blame group for all the shit they fucked up in the 80s and 90s

Generations are very poorly defined anyway; "Generation X" got its name from nobody knowing what distinguishing characteristics to give it, and "Generation Y" / "Millennials" is little more than a recognition that there's surely got to be another generation by now.

There are differences in perspectives that seem to track with age, and from that perspective you can distinguish between Millennials and GenX, but it's a loose correlation at best.

You people are talking about what they call "The Oregon Trail Generation" because generations are totally for real an actual thing and not just a media construct.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_Trail_Generation

Wait sorry I misread that as 1993-1998 because I am old.

I understand what you're getting at Bort, people of all generations struggle if they don't have money or connections. But as a whole Millennials have had it way worse than your generation. College tuition is way higher than it was for you and the job market is far shittier.
And believe me I'm actually envious of your temp job. When I was struggling my Gen X brother recommend I look into temping, there was nothing there.

5 for cringe

"Fuck Gen Xers. They didn't graduate college around 2008. They didn't struggle."

Is that a fact.

I was mentioning that generations track loosely with certain attitudes, and if there's one attitude I associate with Millennials, it's the belief that they are the only generation that's ever had it hard.

When Bill Clinton was running for office, one of the points he was running on was a lack of opportunities for the young. People were saying then what they're still saying today: the Boomers benefited from the postwar economic boom and then pulled the ladder up behind them.

Not that I think there's any point in turning this into a "which generation had it hardest" contest ... or in blaming everything on the Boomers for that matter. Grossly generalizing, as soon as people start making good money, their veneer of egalitarian principles drops and their eyes suddenly open to how the government overtaxes the virtuous. When Millennials start making better money, it will happen to them too.

I'm sure the generation that reaped the benefits of the roaring 20s said, "Oh all generations have their challenges..." to the generation who got tripped up by the Great Depression.

I don't know if you know this, but the 1990s started with a recession too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_1990s_recession

And the biggest employer in the 1990s was a temp agency, Kelly Services I believe. Same story as the Millennials are going through today: an economy coming out of a recession where the recovery hasn't quite reached the people on the bottom. This will continue until people vote the Republicans out of power ... but Millennials voted in the lowest percentages of any demographic, and a majority of white Millennials voted for Trump.

Maybe Millennials have it harder than Gen X or maybe they don't, but Lord knows they're shitstains on Election Day. As far as I'm concerned, they make their own problems and wallow in them.

My older brother and I both went through Kelly services for a while.

I was aware of that "recession". It was a mere bump in the road, then the rest of your days was .coms and cocaine. Millenials would have loved to have had temp jobs, but we didn't even get that cause you Xers and Boomers sent all the low level white collar jobs to India.
It has nothing to do with getting rid of the Republicans, sure they suck, but Clinton would have had neo liberal policies as well. Your generation voted for Trump as well. Don't put this on us.

I will put Trump on your generation just as I will put Trump on mine; we share the blame. But let's not make like the Millennials are fundamentally better than anyone else; selfishness in the young simply manifests differently, in a paper-thin veneer of egalitarian principles. You and yours will make for very entertaining sellouts.

Ugh, but you still think we're the same. You bringing up the early 90s recession is akin to a dude who started a race with stubbed toe wondering why the guy with two broken legs is still struggling. You and your fancy temp job, all we had left was the service sector. How would you like your late?
We don't have egalitarian principals like the previous generations. We already know the score. We'd all sell out if we could, too bad you left no opportunity to sell out for the next generation.

Oh, and grunge music is overrated.

"Bort
"Fuck Gen Xers. They didn't graduate college around 2008. They didn't struggle."

Is that a fact."


I graduated from college in 2002 during the aftermath of the .com crash and 9/11, which at the time everyone was calling the worst economy since the Great Depression, until 2008 came and we had an even worse worst job market and economy since the great depression.



The truth is, for anyone who isn't exceptionally wealthy, we've been in a constant economic decline since the 70s, with the occasional bright period of mere economic stagnation like the Clinton years (unless you needed welfare in which case the 90s fucked you over big time).

Agreed on the ongoing economic decline. At the same time, some of that has been offset by advances in other areas -- for example, partially- or fully-subsidized health coverage is now available. And in terms of creature comforts that people categorize as a semi-need, powerful computers are cheap, cell phone service is flat rate, and even digital broadcast TV gives you something comparable to basic cable. I'm not prepared to say who had it worse overall, but then again, I'm not the one who started with, and I quote, GenX "didn't struggle".

I started that, and I'm sticking to it. I'm not saying some Gen Xers didn't struggle, but you'd have to be a real fuck up. Millennials on the other hand are struggling despite doing everything right.

"doing everything right"

Just like these fine specimens of Millennialness:

http://www.poetv.com/video.php?vid=152838

Hoo doggies, when Millennials are making enough money to turn Republican, their sense of entitlement will make the Boomers look like Tibetan ascetics.

What's your problem with the Millennials in that video? They're talking about doing things for the world. They're sharing ideas, empowering communities, teaching and being taught all though building forts.
"When Millennials are making enough money to turn Republcian"? It's not going to happen, the previous generations fucked up the economy for us.

It sure won't happen if you spend all your time making shit blanket forts!

You had cushy temp jobs.

all we have now is everyone has to be a contractor.

being a contractor in the 90s meant you charged 2x or more the regular wage for the time you worked, now it's shit wages or even less than minimum wage...lovely little workaround.

Mike Nelson was a temp. Look what happened to him.

Seriously, you've got this mythologized view of the 1990s where everyone had more money than they could spend. The economy was on the upswing from the 80s all right, but the wealth increases still favored the wealthy. The young still struggled to land a good job, same as they do today.

Before someone goes there, no, I'm not saying that a harsh economy is simply the way of things. I am challenging the notion that GenX had it super easy and the poor suffering Millennials are the first generation to have to struggle.

I mean, we could just use actual facts and statistics to compare the two recessions, or does that get in the way of some Gen-Xers keeping their moral superiority complex?

http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/07/american-rec essions-and-recoveries

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/02/comparing-recessi ons-and-recoveries/?_r=0

I understand what you're getting at Bort, people of all generations struggle if they don't have money or connections. But as a whole Millennials have had it way worse than your generation. College tuition is way higher than it was for you and the job market is far shittier.
And believe me I'm actually envious of your temp job. When I was struggling my Gen X brother recommend I look into temping, there was nothing there.

SolRo - is there some reason you aren't willing to provide actual facts and statistics that go past 2012? The fact that the economy has recovered tremendously since then might be worth some small degree of credit. The unemployment rate in January 2012 was still 8.3%; in November 2016 it was down to 4.6%.

Cena_mark - if you had led with simply saying that Millennials struggled MORE than GenX, I would have felt it was more or less true, because you probably have had it rougher overall. But what you said, and stood by, was that GenX "didn't struggle". Yes we did; we too found ourselves with student loans and a shortage of good jobs waiting for us. Sound familiar?

This business of trying to make it all about you is the same sort of narcissism that Boomers indulge in; it's not a good look on them, and it won't be a good look on you. As with GenX, you'll gradually find yourselves making your way into better jobs, and the generation after you -- maybe the Naughty Generation -- will rightly accuse you of leaving them a crap job market. And you'll respond in incoherent 140-character bursts of defensiveness, and retreat to your crappy blanket forts. GenX, meanwhile, will do what they've always done: quietly sigh and go about their business.

Generational stereotypes treated more seriously than they should be because this whole discussion has gotten ridiculous and I'm getting sick of being even a little fair-minded.

Bort: because those are old articles and you can't be so dumb as to act that it wasn't so bad for the 2008 grads because the market may have recovered ALMOST TEN YEARS LATER

You didn't have anywhere near the student debt that is required now and even your shitty jobs were better than the shitty jobs now.

And did you really just say 'all generations suck except mine'? God god you're self entitled

Bort, you just happened to have been in the small window of Gen Xers who were really affected by the recession of the early 90s. You keep ignoring the grander scale of the 08 recession, and the in general shittier economy and job market, which effects the young far more than the older folks.

As a Millennial, defending my generation is not a hill I'm willing to die on.

We are a generation of precious, precious phonies. We kinda suck, admit it Cena.

I mean if there is actually such a thing as a generational temperament, you should identify the part of you that is a Millennial and do everything you can to do destroy it.

Our generation elevates narcissistic, ironic cowards. Look at the majority of our art, especially music.

Eat really good, clean food
Fetishize the past
Sincerity as a liability.
Hashtag activism
Graphic Design
Indie gyros
Selfies
Something, something Bob Dylan
Instagram picture of thus spoke zarathustra and tea

FUCK OFF

But, you're probably better off taking pictures of sandwiches. I'm not that popular.

I don't think I'm joking.

The only thing worse than a Gen Xer or Baby Boomer in my book is an Uncle Tom Millennial. Look at all stuff you listed, it's not like that sort of thing is unique to our generation. Fetishize the past? The Boomers did the exact same thing with Happy Days, Grease, and American Graphitti. Graphic design existed long before us. I have no clue what an indie gyro is. Hashtag activism changes things. We took down Joseph Kony #Kony2014. There's something called "the new sincerity. Look it up. Steven Universe is a prime example of the new sincerity.
Practice your sandwhich pictures.

The New Sincerity? No thanks.

If I remember right, you're in NYC? I'm pretty sure I made up "indie gyro," but if it's a thing, it'll be available to you for $26. Be careful out there.

If I seriously had to pin down what I don't like in a lot of people our age it's the social media personal brand building. That is something that is truly unique, is sad for everyone involved and it grosses me out.

Yeah, I'm a New Yorker now. We give you all the best food trends. Remember gourmet cupcakes? Thank New York. Cronuts are where it's at now.

Social media isn't just for Millennials and personal branding. Old business types love it. Vince McMahon wants the announcers to announce whenever a WWE related thing is trending on twitter. Practically all businesses and products have their own social media pages, and old racist aunts love Facebook.
I know at times it seems nauseating, but that's today's media. It's how we connect with the world. You sound like the old farts who hated radio when it first came out, talking about how it'd be the death of print and literacy.

So wait minute, you hate millennial cynicism, but you don't like the new sincerity? Make up your mind.

>>Social media isn't just for Millennials and personal branding. Old business types love it.

Yeah, that's another reason to be wary of it.


Well, the old farts were one wave of technology off. I think twitter ect is the death of literacy.

>>It's how we connect with the world.

In moderation, no biggie. But, I think the heavy users, and there's a lot of them, end up alienated and stressed out. It's a horrible replacement for real relationships.

>>Thank New York
New York is a dumpster.

NYC rocks! Name a city in the US that's better, you can't! NYC and Millenials are so in tune. NYC has the Millennial vibe.