Birth Years, Traits, and Culture

Generation X mapped the youth culture in motion. Gen Xers laid the intellectual, social, political, creative and personal ground for the Millenials to walk and communicate today, says professor Christine Henseler.

Although depicted as the ignored generations, GenXers have made significant impacts on our culture and shaped the world.

The "Sandwich Generation"

The demographic of people born between 1965 to 1981 are aged around 43 to 58 years old. They are often called sandwich generation as they fall between the louder generation Baby Boomers and the flashier generation Millenials. 

Being sandwiched between two large generations, GenXers have a major influence on both. They act like a bridge to connect the traditional lifestyle of Boomers and the modern ones of Millenials.

Boomers tend to have their own home and live in traditional nuclear families. While millennials tend to rent a house rather than buy one and generally put off marriage and having kids. 

Similarly, Boomers are weak in technology as there were not enough computers and smartphones during their time. Millenials, on the other hand, can't imagine their life without a smartphone, the internet, and social media. Gen X having lived through both times can understand each other quite well and are adept in both scenarios. 

Other aspects like parenting styles, finances, retirement, and education also differ vastly between baby boomers and millennials. So, being sandwiched between the two, Gen X can solve many issues and create an understanding.

The Rise Of Alternative Culture

Gen X helped bring out many of the creative awesomeness we love today. They are the ones who started to socialize digitally, made great innovations in technologies, and became the big bosses at several corporate businesses.

They gave rise to the social media and influencer culture as they were the ones who founded the first social media platforms. For eg, Friendster in 2002, MySpace in 2003, and Twitter in 2006 were all founded by Generation X individuals.

The Friendster, created by Gen X, acted as a model for Facebook and was later founded by the millennial Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, and other platforms would be impossible to reach if those companies were not founded by Gen X.

Similarly, Google and Amazon were also founded by Gen X. Thanks to their tech-savvy childhood, they engaged in technology a lot and brought several innovations.

According to a report by the State of the Startup, 55% of startup founders are GenXers. Having the entrepreneurial spirit and the ability to dominate the business field, this generation has made really great impact on society by breaking the traditional values and norms.

The Decline Of Traditional Institutions

In traditional institutions, men and women believed that institutions transcend personal needs, wants, egos, and preferences. Gen X tend to leave such company because of their self-reliant, independent and entrepreneurial characteristic.

Now, with Gen X as the leader, they face a crisis of faith in the legitimacy of such institutions. The new institutions are now filled with University-educated individuals having a haughty sense of social responsibility and an unrealistic sense of their own abilities. There is equality among genders in the workforce from Gen X.

Gen X is also dealing with the high-maintenance personal needs and dogmatic social ideals of newer generations. Organizations and institutions are rapidly changing due to Gen X, and the traditional ones are getting forgotten.

Therefore, Gen X is the most influential generation despite being sandwiched between two louder cohorts. With self-reliant formative years, their belief system gravitates towards ideas and policies that promote tolerance, security, and stability. 

Being more socially progressive and tolerant, they were the wealthiest generation, even on the brink of poverty. But due to financial pressure for loved ones, excess housing loans, and student debts, they have very few plans for retirement. 

In the coming future, Generation X will be in a world where there is extreme inequality in wealth among individuals, new advanced technology revolution, and instable environmental conditions.

But since they are familiar with sudden change and aversion to any insecurity, this generation will be unaffected and can guide the world facing these challenges head-on to make a stabilizing difference for newer generations.

Read about all the generations names in order of birth year in the previous article written by our team.