Stuck in the middle? Have some fun with it.
Posted On August 8, 2013
The folks at BuzzFeed got a lot of response to a recent post about the small slice of young adults caught between the associated norms of the Millennials and Generation X. So much reaction, in fact, that they decided to run a poll and let the members of the group name itself. If you were born between 1975 and 1982, what do you think your generational name should be?
Now, mind you, I don’t think this is a very necessary task. Generations always blur at the edges and generational norms are just that – norms. No single person is defined solely by the collective characteristics of those who happen to share his or her birth year. Of course not. But norms exist because society changes and the experiences you have in your formative years make an impact. A generation experiences history in a collective way and it has a collective impact.
So while generations are grouped in birth-year spreads, the science is certainly not exact. More accurately, generational norms are a continuous spectrum. But that makes it whole lot harder to write catchy cover headlines for TIME.