Over the last month, I’ve had the ultimate experience of interacting within an interesting subculture which has really laid down some really sharp demarkifications between Generation X (my generation) and Generation Y – that I find, personally, extraordinarily frustrating but equally interesting.

So, first, let me clarify the generational periods – because there is some overlap and some debate about where each begins and where each ends.  When I talk about Generation X, I’m using the general criterion of birth between 1961-1981 – loosely.  Generation Y, on the other hand, covers (semi-officially) the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s.  Generations are typically 25.2 years (for those of us in the U.S.) – but, as you can see, there’s a great deal of overlap between these two.  So, for my purposes, we are going to let that grey area go away…and consider Gen X 1961-1981 and Gen Y become 1981-1995.  In other words, I think the greatest differences in these two generations took place somewhere *outside* of those gray areas – almost a pre-early 80’s v. post-early 80’s.  The gray areas being a transitional period where the generational differences are not as severe or defined.

Before I go further – a few caveats – there are always “exceptions to the rule” – and this isn’t any different.  I know Gen Y members who are not necessarily like this (at least in my presence), or whom I can not speak to how marked the difference is.  These are mostly friends of my kids – so, they are better “editted” when they are around me…or, I am not as readily able to discern there Y-isms, simply because I’ve seen them grow up and are used to that trait from that particular person.  And, of course, there are always going to be those Y’s who simply don’t seem to belong in their own generation (just like individuals in other generations).

The second caveat – Gen X has grown up….so, we (generally) do have very different world views from people who are still trying to figure out what/who they are (Gen Y).  This, in and of itself, can be a major factor in the cross-generational phenomena.  I remember being a late teen (18, 19), and remember my early to mid-twenties.  I also distinctly remember thinking that I had it all figured out.  I’ve cross the chasm of “it all figured out” at this point in my life – from the “definitely have ….” to “accept I never will have…”  But, I definitely was not there in my late teens and early to mid twenties.  Still, there are days when I sit in class and wonder if I was like this – and feel complete pity for anyone in a different generation that I came across during those years if that is the case.  Also, with age comes the possibility for greater self-understanding.  Read that carefully – I didn’t say self-understanding comes with age…..only the possibility of self understanding comes with age.  The rest is up to the individual.

I have only started composing the “list of differences” from my own personal experience over the past month.  I’m sure this will change and update over the next few years.  So without further ado….let’s do a little vignette exploration of Gen Y.

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