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Big Brother and online Hunger games.

The not so subtle differences between Gen X and Gen Y(Millennials)

Jul 23, 2018 by tomhartnell
I'm posting this here, due to the fact that this site consists of members of 3 generations. Generation X, Generation Y, and Generation Z. There are a couple baby boomers and we love them, but the majority of this site is out of those 3, in fact at this point we can cross off Gen Z as well, due to the fact that Gen Z are just becoming old enough to use social media.

So let's look at Gen X vs Gen Y (millennials) In a non survivor perspective. Over the last few days I've come to realize the not so subtle ones. A subtle difference is the use of smart phones and google. And the not so subtle are things I'm starting to realize.

Before I start on that, I want to point out not so subtle differences between Gen X and the Baby Boomers. Reason being, back until the mid 2000s that was the generation clash. The Baby Boomers were raised by a generation of people that came out of The Depression, The Civil Rights Movement, and WWII. They were raised to get jobs right out of high school, raised to believe college was for the rich and privileged. And have a work ethic, and opinions that far differ from our own. It's them who have the issues with things like gay marriage and immigration. I was raised by baby boomers, so I know. You can't fault them, they come from a different era, and that's not their fault. They come from an era where a mixed marriage was Catholic and Protestant. So to fault them for not supporting things is wrong. But without them, we wouldn't have Generation X

Generation X was the generation raised by the baby boomers. They had it a hell of a lot easier than the baby boomers did, but they also had struggles that we Millennials don't. And I'm noticing the differences today. Gen X had to work harder to get things that we don't. Colleges were now accepting people that were from lower income families, Civil Rights had passed so blacks, latinos, and other races were allowed to succeed. But, due to the privilege they received from their parent's hard work, they had to show appreciation for it. They were given time constraints; you had to go to college after high school, you had to be married before 30, etc... Gen X's biggest fears were the time constraints of growing old. And that's not even discussing the racial and gender issues. Women and minorities had to work even harder, due to the patriarchy that was installed for thousands of years (and yes there's a privilege, but it's changing) people were finally starting to take these different people seriously, but to do so meant you had to work for it.

Generation Y (Millennials): Each generation pursues to make life better for their children's generation, which is why Baby Boomers of color were allowed to enter the workforce, women were being allowed to excel; things that their parents never saw. For the most part, our parents love us, and want to see us do better than them. They want us to be happy, and for us to be happy we have to progress. We have to make things better as a whole, and we've come a long way so far; the passing of gay marriage is probably the biggest example, as well as drug education. To many Gen X'ers smoking weed is something for losers. For us it's natural.

We have the privilege of being able to change careers, Gen X didn't, they had to excel in one area, because their parents weren't allowed to excel unless they had the money to do it. We have the ability to take a few years off and figure out what we actually want to do with our lives, we can enter the workforce and earn enough money to help us in other avenues. Back in the day, jobs were means of life and family. I have so many friends that don't have children it's crazy, and most of my friends who do, got pregnant in high school. There are more grants than ever for college, financial aide has become much different than it was back then. And the knowledge that we have is going to be passed down. I spoke to my sister about wanting to go to college, I entered the workforce after high school, because I had no clue what to do, and I wanted to take my time to figure it out. She told me that it was too late, at the age of 27 I should be employed, and frankly have a family by now. But, most of my friends are in that same situation. And some of them, were born into wealth.

So, despite the differences, negatively and positively, we should be willing to accept the fact that change happens. It happened with the baby boomers, it happened with Gen X, and it's going to happen with us. Gen Z kids are fucking smart. My niece who is 13 made a joke about oral sex. How did she know about oral sex, and why did she feel it was appropriate to make the joke around adults? Gen Y (Mil) would never make that joke, for fear that our parents would slap the shit out of us. And Gen X'ers if they even said that around adults would get the belt. Things have changed. Things are changing. You don't have to accept it, but it's happening, because that's how the world goes.

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