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I use the computer for everything now, but I remember waiting in lines to sign up for courses and using library cards to find books and turning my homework in on paper! I’m not as plugged-in as 12 year olds, but I’m not adapting as much as someone 40+. Of course this is a generalization with quite a few outliers (one of my favorite people to work with is a 56-year old grandmother who is also a systems analyst for a 250-member physician group), yet I’ve found that people born between the 1975 and 1985 tend to share similar traits due to similar transitional experiences as they were growing up. They’re liaisons bridging the “old” and the “new” way of doing things.
The biggest disadvantage for this liaison generation is not belonging to either group. Just think of all the buzzwords that have emerged for the identity roadblocks faced earlier than ever before; quarter-life crisis, career angst, job hopping, corporate distrust, etc. The decade’s worth of experience with one mode – the “old” way – is lacking and the innate response to use technology as the first mode for anything – the “new” way – is also lacking.
Out of this though comes the advantage of being translators. Connecting the “old” and the “new”, using what works best depending on the situation, and most of all helping others along the way. For the newbies, the liaison generation can provide a sense of origin, where things began and grew from and why. For the “old”ies it’s much more obvious; providing a simple way to adjust to ever-evolving technology and convert from desk to desktop.
Bottomline: What does all this mean and why is it important? It’s about defining a role. Offering one possible reason (out of many) for the confusion faced by an entire generation. There are business opportunities here, jobs to be created, organizations that stand to benefit. A unification of perspective can only help this cohort of liaisons pave its path more certainly.
I was born in '81. I always had a computer and was computer-savvy, but I didn't get online until I was 17 (later than other people in '81). I remember when Google got started when I was in college.
I see differences even between people my age and people born two years later. The people born in 1983 were on Facebook when I was like the only person I know of my own age who joined. It's apparently also normal for them to talk about away messages in conversation.
I find it easier to get along with younger people, or with older people who act younger, but I don't feel like I fit in anywhere, even with other people born in the same year.
Great post. I remember using a 2400 baud modem, setting up a BBS, and asking the salesman if I could download webpages without the images. I remember asking my younger brother what an MP3 was and paying $600 for an extra 8 MB of RAM.
However, the plus side of being a transitional is that there is a lot of value to bridging gaps. Until Gen Y reaches critical mass and baby boomers retire, there's a lot of demand for consultants and experts in both worlds.
I'm an 84'er and I consider myself part of Gen Y but I definitely see a big difference between me and my friends and the Y'ers who are just 2-3 years younger.
I think the transition came in the late 90's when we started spending every free minute online. Those of us who were adolescents before that spent most of our time growing up outside. You know, playing sports, games, sword fights and hopskotch, etc. We were on the cusp, but the kids who came of age just a little bit later missed out on that organic experience entirely, and so they're much different.
I'm right there with you ('80), but I married a definite Gen Y ('85). She did LiveJournal throughout high school, types well over a hundred wpm, had a cell phone through high school as well. And she usually gives me a blank look when I bring up old cartoons or the like.
It's a different world. And I'm glad to have experienced both worlds as I've grown. I agree - it gives us an interesting, possibly gap-bridging perspective that others may not have.
@Ian, I know what you mean about the year changing. It seems to go anywhere from the '75-'85 range that we're talking about.
It's interesting though. My brother is 3 and a half years younger, and I definitely see a difference in his peer group in comparison to my own.
In fact, I remember that as far back as high school. When I was in my final year (Good ol Grade 13 for those of us "lucky" enough to be in Ontario), I remember the Grade 9's seeming to be completely different. Even from the previous year's group.
@Adam: Yah Grade 13/OAC! definitely a fun year with half the workload & there is something call fast-tracking others opted for.
... now, I feel old ...
I also think that we now have a chance to be mentor bridge as well.
Gen X Mentors us & then we mentor Gen Y, like the big brother & sister in-between the parents & younger siblings.
I just call myself Gen XY or XYer. Same with Holly, I did the VCR thing, libraries & got my cell when I was 21 as well. Plus we all were disappoint with the transformer movie. (since we can remember the original)
In the pass few years, I have seen my year (79) jumps back & forth between Gen X & Y in articles.
I can relate to some part of each Gen part of the time, but not all the time.
We grew-up with internet & search, but still remember the days of computerless homes.
Ahhh! Liaison got spelled wrong on the transfer from my site to BC!
Anyway, gets the point across. I remember one of my friends sending me a short story that was purposefully written with misspellings and you could read it as fast as a normally spelled version. Example: cn yu undrstnd ths sntnce?
@Adam & Holly: Funny thing is I'm '81 too! The way I think of it, instead of being unsure of where I belong, I'd rather just do what comes natural to me and see where I land.
I'm not sure if this is a generational issue or a lifestage one. You do a lot of growing up in your twenties and that growth spurt may be why people in this demographic dont really feel X yet, but don't feel Y either.
I was born in 71 - definitely X. However, I do have quite a few friends who were born in the late 70s. The main difference is that I am farther along in my career, marriage, creating a family than they are. So that's not a generational issue - it's a lifestage one.
Yes! I was born in '81 also, and I don't feel like I'm part of either group... My BF is 34 (solidly in the Gen X realm) and he definitely doesn't consider me Gen X. I don't feel very Gen Y either. I mean, I just learned how to text on T9 a year ago.
I remember 28.8 kbps (!) dial-up and using AOL as the Internet, hooking up two VCRs to copy videotapes (haha)... I didn't have a DVD player until my junior year of college, and I got a cell phone for my 21st birthday. I see 8-year-olds with cell phones now.
It's a strange vantage point, to be sure. It's nice to think about it as an asset.
I definitely feel a little distance even when I meet people a few years younger than me and I was born in 1984. I remember dial up Internet and the excitement I feel when I got my first email account. I feel a little bewildered by the explosion of social media, but at the same time I'm comfortable explaining it to others who are older than me. I think that because we are somewhat of a liaison generation is why you see different rates and degree of adoption among your peers. I have some friends who have jumped in wholeheartedly while there are others who probably couldn't explain what a RSS reader does.
I was born in '84, but I think I tend to mesh better with those a few years older than me more often than I do with people closer to my own age. I did LJ through high school, but didn't have a cell phone through college.
My friends look at me like I'm crazy when I talk about old shows, but co-workers and bosses are surprised when I remember them. I was a VCR pro and I don't think I had a DVD player until college, or my senior year of high school at the latest. I clearly remember renting Trainspotting, Velvet Goldmine, and Magnolia on VHS. Similar to Holly, I remember AOL being *the* internet.
I think in most reports/studies/books, I fall into the Y category, but I often just find myself not really aligning with the X or the Y because I don't really feel like I fully fit in either one
As someone right in the middle of that group (81), I completely agree. We're at that cusp between the generations, which gives us an interesting viewpoint.
Great post.
I was born in 78, but I was into computers for as young as I can remember.
I've been on BBSes, IRC chats, ICQs, MSNs, YMs, Skypes, the whole lot.
I've bridged all generations and across many cultures (grew up in Asia, studied in the US, now live in the Asia).
I think I'm confused. I'm not sure where I fit in. I appeal to everyone and no one at the same time.
I dunno - the age range seems a little wide. I'm '83, and I definitely feel like a Y-er. I vaguely remember some stuff, like the whole VCR to VCR thing - I remember doing that in middle school. So, I don't know if I'd peg the whole thing as ten years worth of transition, though certainly there's more variation at the edges of what the experiences were.
Technically, though, if you've read Millennials rising, Y is supposed to stand for later stage X-ers who aren't quite "X" - approximately 1975-1981. Strauss and Howe picked out this set of people as specifically transitioning out of the "X" mindset. They called the next Generation Millennials in order to differentiate them properly, whereas the Y-ers were supposed to be more related to or a subset of X, hence the similarities in naming.
I was born in 78 and i feel like a cusper too. not quite X or Y. I've been on the internet since 1991 when my family got our first computer, the IBM PS1. I LOVED that computer and played with Harvard Graphics for hours!! - I even used internet sources (from ISPs Prodigy and Promenade, before AOL) for my papers in middle school (because I didn't feel like going to the library) and my teachers rejected them. They only accepted library sources so I had to go back to the library. i was very annoyed with that.
wow, my circle of friends have been on the internet since 1994, so we can relate. its very interesting to experience this. it definitely primed us for the digital age.
I got my first cell phone when i was 23.
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