Generation Z - Is there something different about this generation?

[Trilby]

That's really interesting considering your teen years were fully immersed in Internet culture while the iPhone debuted when you were in ninth grade or so. How do you feel you have more in common with your parents?

I'm either the youngest Gen Xer or the world's oldest millennial. Can't say I identify much with either.

My childhood was shaped by the personal computer revolution of the 80's and 90's. My mom was a banker but I don't know if she ever really used a computer for her job back in the 60's when she was an ace in math. My dad's first cell phone was one of those that featured a receiver connected to a bag you had to tote along with an antenna sticking out. By the time I was in the 9th grade, the Internet was just getting out of its BBS/Compuserve/Prodigy roots.

 

[Just Some Other Guy]

Honestly, people tie these generation labels too much to actual age. I've always thought of them as a mindset. At the end of the day, you're you. Not a Gen X, Millennial, etc, unless you buy into the stereotype.

Are you 30, can save money, didn't take out a student loan for a useless degree, or maybe can change your own oil? Congrats, you're not a Millennial in my eyes.

Do you get offended by old people saying stuff like "Back in my day..."? If yeah, you might be a millennial.


As for gen Z, I think we're still trying to solidify a stereotype. Give it some time.

 

[The Great Chandler]

Part of it was that I grew up in a rural area with shoddy internet connection until I was fourteen and most of my online experiences in my youth tended to hew closer to Web 1.0 and early Web 1.5 until I moved to a more suburban locale shortly before starting high school.

When the iPhone debuted, I didn't have the money to afford one and I didn't own a smartphone until 2018 when my old flip phone finally crapped out on me.

I also didn't like a lot of the pop culture that my peers in high school were into. My music tastes hew closer to that of a Boomer or a Gen X'er, and I was the kind of guy who preferred The Lost Boys and Vampire: The Masquerade to Twilight (back when Twilight was still culturally relevant) and despised Harry Potter even before it became a Millennial SJW meme. The only things I shared in common with my peers were video games and anime, and even then there were often discrepancies between what I liked and what was popular.

I don't know why, but I don't connect as well with most Millennials compared to the Gen X'ers or older Zoomers that I know. Whether it's pop culture tastes or social and political issues, I really do feel like that tired meme of "being born in the wrong generation"

In my case, I grew up around no cable TV, internet on the family computer, 90s game consoles, and the like. I am bashly unashamed of being the proto-90s kid in the 2000s.

 

[Dimetrodon]

Regardless of where we draw the line between millennials and Gen Z, anyone born in the early to mid '90s should consider themselves fortunate that they just barely avoided having a childhood in a social media dominated world.

 

[Oskar Dirlewanger]

Are americans even aware of the fact that the whole generation thing is exclusive to them as much as the NFL? "Generation X/Y/Z", "boomers/zoomers/doomers/peepeepoopoomers" literally nobody out of the US uses or cares about these cookie cutter terms. If you somehow feel more connected to your abstract "generation" than to your father, grandfather etc. you are exceptional.

 

[Shadfan666xxx000]

Are americans even aware of the fact that the whole generation thing is exclusive to them as much as the NFL? "Generation X/Y/Z", "boomers/zoomers/doomers/peepeepoopoomers" literally nobody out of the US uses or cares about these cookie cutter terms. If you somehow feel more connected to your abstract "generation" than to your father, grandfather etc. you are exceptional.

Go eat a baguette or some shit. Your continent is full of losers if you aren't Australian, foreigner.

 

[The Great Chandler]

Go eat a baguette or some shit. Your continent is full of losers if you aren't Australian, foreigner.

lol calm down

It's just his opinion.

 

[Christ Cried]

Gen Z is roughly 40% SJW, 50% normies, and 10% redpilled.
t. 19

 

[Basil II]

Gen Z is roughly 40% SJW, 50% normies, and 10% redpilled.
t. 19

eh the younger u go the less SJW they get.

 

[Trilby]

In my case, I grew up around no cable TV, internet on the family computer, 90s game consoles, and the like. I am bashly unashamed of being the proto-90s kid in the 2000s.

For me, I had video games, VCR and cable before I was 5! The start of the 80's saw that flood of new technologies just oozing out of the woodwork.

Regardless of where we draw the line between millennials and Gen Z, anyone born in the early to mid '90s should consider themselves fortunate that they just barely avoided having a childhood in a social media dominated world.

Yeah, you guys would be the last for any of that normal childhood stuff we all had before the end of the 20th century, at least long before being globally connected became a thing.

 

[Teazel]

I think that something that the generation theory really ignores is the age of your parents. I'm a young Millennial, almost in Generation Z, but one parent is an early Boomer and the other is from the Silent Generation. I was raised with not just much more conservative values, but entirely different post-war ones. I've always felt that what gets mentioned about Millennials isn't inaccurate in broader scope, but certainly the cultural and family values I grew up with affected me a lot more than whatever general wave I was part of. But I guess sanctioned multiculturalism and also the fact that globally we're all raised with the same media pushed at us creates a real homogenizing of values.

 

[Syaoran Li]

I think that something that the generation theory really ignores is the age of your parents. I'm a young Millennial, almost in Generation Z, but one parent is an early Boomer and the other is from the Silent Generation. I was raised with not just much more conservative values, but entirely different post-war ones. I've always felt that what gets mentioned about Millennials isn't inaccurate in broader scope, but certainly the cultural and family values I grew up with affected me a lot more than whatever general wave I was part of. But I guess sanctioned multiculturalism and also the fact that globally we're all raised with the same media pushed at us creates a real homogenizing of values.

True. My parents were Gen X'ers who became parents at a very young age (they were both 20 at the time) while most of the people I went to high school with had Boomers as parents.

They came from a middle-class/upper-middle class suburban background while I came from a poor rural background, which played a further role in the disconnect.

I admit I felt it was a little weird at the time, having parents born in 1973 while all my classmates had parents born in the 1950's and early 1960's.

The media also plays a major role in generational culture, especially as it becomes more widespread and consolidated and I'd wager that part of my disconnect with the typical Millennials is also rooted in the fact that I never really got into following trends and just followed whatever media I personally liked, regardless of its age or relative popularity.

 

[User name: Required]

Damn you guys are all fucking 30 year old boomers.

Stop being old.

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

Regardless of where we draw the line between millennials and Gen Z, anyone born in the early to mid '90s should consider themselves fortunate that they just barely avoided having a childhood in a social media dominated world.

I hear you, I still remember when the internet was nothing more than message boards and online flash game sites, and when VCRs were still a regular staple in households.

 

[AnOminous]

Are americans even aware of the fact that the whole generation thing is exclusive to them as much as the NFL? "Generation X/Y/Z", "boomers/zoomers/doomers/peepeepoopoomers" literally nobody out of the US uses or cares about these cookie cutter terms. If you somehow feel more connected to your abstract "generation" than to your father, grandfather etc. you are exceptional.

>thinking generational conflict is new or uniquely American

O tempora o mores!

Yeah, you guys would be the last for any of that normal childhood stuff we all had before the end of the 20th century.

We would play a "game" called "smear the queer" where you'd throw a football at one guy, or be the guy, and have to catch it, and then everyone would beat the holy shit out of you. And then do it to whoever "won" by getting the ball. Can't imagine how that would go these days.

 

[Dimetrodon]

I hear you, I still remember when the internet was nothing more than message boards and online flash game sites, and when VCRs were still a regular staple in households.

What's particularly sad is that the modern day equivalent of those things are often a step back. Mobile games are consistently worse than flash games given that the bulk of them are just there to take advantage of a minority of people that have addiction/gambling problems. Social media is very scattershot with how useful the posts or discussions are. Can't say I prefer VHS over streaming though.

 

[Mr. Faget]

We would play a "game" called "smear the queer" where you'd throw a football at one guy, or be the guy, and have to catch it, and then everyone would beat the holy shit out of you. And then do it to whoever "won" by getting the ball. Can't imagine how that would go these days.

Shit, I remember that game. No one really thought anything of it at the time, it was just another variation of grab-ass games we played. Today, people would get crucified for calling it that.

 

[User name: Required]

Wow, this really is the boomer conplaint thread, there has been zero zoomers here till I showed up

 

[Un Platano]

Mobile games are consistently worse than flash games

I have to disagree there, they're both equally bad. There were good flash games out there but to say that the average flash site wasn't completely overblown with dreadfully bad and low-effort games like mobile stores are now is looking at the past with rose colored glasses. Both are plagued by the same problem: anyone could look up "how do i make a flash game" in google and be quickly on their way to making their own little piece of hot garbage. 15 years later nothing has changed, and people can with the same amount of effort and talent (read: none) make a game that is equally bad, except now it's in badly rendered 3D instead of MSPaint 2D.

The only thing that's worse about modern phone games is that they're printing pennies for a pajeet somewhere because they filled it with ads, whereas people used to make shitty flash games only for the novelty of it.

 

[Slimy Time]

Regardless of where we draw the line between millennials and Gen Z, anyone born in the early to mid '90s should consider themselves fortunate that they just barely avoided having a childhood in a social media dominated world.

Man is this true. I have younger cousins who are almost eternally glued to the phone, almost always on social media. I still remember what it was like having to rewind tapes as a kid or use floppy discs to save data, or when the only online entertainment was flash game sites before Youtube was a thing.

Speaking of games, maybe it's me, but it feels like there was more game variety back then, even on consoles. Some/a lot of it was shit, but compared to today, where something like DMC5 feels kinda out of place, just felt like there was more variation.

I think it's also dependant on your upbringing, because plenty of people my age were into social media. What amazes me is how it has affected those in the millennial to Gen X range. You have 40 year olds worrying about "looking good/being a good parent" on social media, writing posts about how great their kids (and therefore, them and their parenting) are. Or the need to constantly put information out for people to see/use. Really don't know why it's hit the Gen Xer. For the Millennials, it kinda makes sense, but I see it with the ones older than them as well.