I don’t know about you, but I keep getting my generations mixed up.
That’s easy to do these days, what with pop culture references constantly bombarding us with the opinions and preferences of people belonging to Gen X, Gen Y, and Gen Z.
Throw in Millennials, Gen Alpha and Gen Beta and I’m lost in generational confusion. Who are these people? When were they born? How can we have so many “generations” living at the same time?
It’s a head-scratcher, especially when Parade magazine reports that most of Gen Beta – said to be born from this year to 2039 – isn’t even here yet. These folks, says Parade, are and will be “the children of younger Millennials and older Gen Zers.”
So that explains it…I guess.
I’m not the only one who finds all this confusing. A writer for Good Housekeeping magazine asserts, “I’ve spent half my life being told I was a Millennial and the other half being told I was Gen X.”
So, how to make sense of all this? One researcher says new generations are now being named every 15 years, which accounts for why there are suddenly so many of them.
And who comes up with these labels, anyway?
Researchers say the names get into the mainstream by consensus, after they first appear in newspapers, magazines, books, dictionaries, on social media, and wherever else public opinion is woven.
Wide acceptance is also given to musings at the Pew Research Center in Washington, a think tank that assigns dates to the various generations but cautions that “Generational cutoff points aren’t an exact science.”
In fact, says the center, the only generational name officially recognized by the Census Bureau is for Americans born as “Baby Boomers” in the postwar birth surge starting in 1946.
Pew’s definitions include my own “Silent Generation,” born from 1928-1945; Boomers, 1946-1964; Gen X, 1965-80; Millennials, 1981-96; Gen Z, 1997-2012; and Gen Alpha beginning in 2013.
And let’s not forget the Beat Generation of the hippie era, the Greatest Generation of World War II, and the Sandwich Generation – midlife adults who are caring for their children and their aging parents.
As for my own “Silent Generation,” I take issue with the name, since we did make lots of noise, both nonsensical and deep, from Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog” to MLK’s “I have a Dream” speech; from “Rock Around the Clock” to calls for gender equality from Ruth Bader Ginsberg; from “Wake Up Little Susie” to the whoosh of Eagle landing on the moon.
For sure, we left a lot unresolved. But the “Silent” Generation did sound off in its own way – and much of it was good.
Gerry Goldstein (gerryg76@verizon.net), a frequent contributor, is a retired Providence Journal editor and columnist.)