Which generation do you think you are?

That quiz sucked. It says Jones for me, but I don't fit most of it. I was born in 1971 but my parents were very young, so I think most of my childhood was a reflection of theirs. I grew up with MTV and John Hughes. Cobain changed the world for me. I really have no idea, and I really don't care, I march to my own beat.
Yeah, you're definitely a Gen-Xer. I was born in '72 and no doubt I'm an Xer. Complete product of the 80's/early 90's.
 
I was born a Boomer (at the very end...), but attitude wise I have always test as Gen X very solidly - including several tests that were WAY better than that one.
Share a link or two. That test was just the first one I found, and I was actually more interested in the discussion of the Strauss Howe article.
 
Gen-X-logo.jpg

Amusingly, I'm a couple of years too young to be a Gen X'er, but have pretty vivid, thorough, and vivid memories of all of those, save for 2 or 3. And one of them is because I didn't live in the US at the time.
 
Share a link or two. That test was just the first one I found, and I was actually more interested in the discussion of the Strauss Howe article.

The main one was not an online test - it was a test they did at work administered by a consulting firm. Wish I could remember what it was called.
 
If these generations are defined by years, why do we need a test to know what generation we are? The tests just seem to determine which stereotype you fit.
 
If these generations are defined by years, why do we need a test to know what generation we are? The tests just seem to determine which stereotype you fit.
Well, I think that was part of the points discussed by Strauss Howe. That generations were not only defined by years, but also by social experience. Could be criticized as less empirical, and glossing over differences among generations to some extent (well, obviously. These are broad brush concepts.) But, I think it is interesting nonetheless.
 
Gen X. That's what the quiz says, too. Born in '66, eligible for AARP this year.

I even have the book, Generation X, floating around someplace.
 
I tested as a Gen X but Jones seems to fit me too. I was born in '65, had the banana seat bike and all the other stuff of a Jones, but I had many friends who were latch-key kids and I ended up being one myself. Mom and Pops separated when I was 13 but the first five years of my life he was a Naval Aviator flying two tours in Vietnam. When he got out he went to work for the family drudge factory and for about eight years, was rarely home, choosing to work out of town jobs.

The Gen X description about home life and socio-political leanings seems to fit me, but then my music tastes lean more toward grunge and '90's/early 2000's rock with roots in late '70's early '80's rock such as UFO, Rush, Triumph, etc...
 
If these generations are defined by years, why do we need a test to know what generation we are? The tests just seem to determine which stereotype you fit.

I think the test is just gauging how similar your experiences were relative to the typical experiences of others in your cohort.

Where you might actually quibble about demography/generational descriptions is that they're rarely, if ever, appropriately adjusted for race/gender/class/geography.

These pop generational descriptions are only really ever descriptive for the assumed Western "default" of middle class heteronormative white folk--with a significant bias toward the interests and experiences of the dudes in that group.

I mean, a poor black woman living in the rural South born the same year as me would likely have a radically different Gen X experience than I did. Same for a Boomer/Joneser of similar circumstances vs the conentional suburban white people experience of my parents. And do you think people in Haiti or Iran or Poland were Boomers or Xers in any recognizable way according to the rules of this quiz?

Generational descriptions, as they are played, can be useful in marketing and management theory, and they have some power insofar as people self-identify with them as concepts. But they're no more "true" than gender norms or some other context-specific element of identity.

So, what I'm saying is, of course these things are kind of baloney...but they can be useful baloney. Like psychology.
 
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