Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z, etc. are marketing bullshit that need to stop being used in the common lexicon.
Oh, but not “Boomer” so you can still say “Ok, Boomer?”
They should just be numbered. From best to worst, so Millenials would be 1 and Boomers would be like… 6? 7? How many generations have we had 🤔
To me, “boomer” is a mentality. Sure, they were the kids born after the WW2 economic boom, I get that. But I feel that the mentality is “old and dying off and not worth considering”.
Based on what I could find, the generations are made up demographics with no real actual definitive delineation. Too many sources can’t agree on where one starts and the other ends.
Sauce? I just make stuff and opine freely. I think none of that is bullshit, but I’ll debate it on a case-by-case.
Unfortunately, I can’t find anything that really matches my statement, but I recall seeing it somewhere.
Based on what I could find, the generations are made up demographics with no real actual definitive delineation. Too many sources can’t agree on where one starts and the other ends.
Agree… Cringe.
I, a millennial, built computers as a hobby. My daughter, a Gen Alpha, has no concept of computers and no interest outside of school work and tablets.
Use the forbidden fruit or caged reward method to teach.
Start with something like (assuming they have have a low tier phone) giving them a Google Pixel, but with the stock ROM erased, as a random day gift (not birthday or such).
When they ask why it won’t turn on right, tell them it’s because it needs a ROM to be installed to be used. When they ask what that is, open up Wikipedia for them, along with the GrapheneOS instructions.
You can do it with other stuff too, like “no wifi at home past 7pm”, but give them a router that needs something installed to run and say “but if you setup this and plug it in to the internet, it’ll be your own wifi you can use at all times” and so on.
That’s an incredibly cool idea.
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Shhh - let the Millennials do it, they need the validation, and most of us need a nap.
Shh, we get to be anonymous, tech literate and be able to buy our own houses.
And we GenX are happily left out of this one.
Yup.
I wish
It’s OK - whenever we’re not left out we opt out anyway…
Left out of the meme, not left out of being called to fix shit.
We truly are the middle child of generations, forgotten until we are needed.
Gen Z / alpha: “fix the computer? Do you mean the phone?”
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To my fellow Gen X’ers…
Shhh!
Let someone else deal with the inept on the other end of the phone. Be happy we’re being ignored again.
Millenial here:
This is good advice, sage even.
…
EDIT:
I didn’t forget the couple of extremely cool and also very knowledgable Gen X mentors/bosses I had, hahah!
I was going to complain, but you’re damned right.
Silence is golden.
And duct tape is silver
I’ve spent the last decade training Millennials just for that task.
I’ll be over here screwing with the K8S cluster if you need me.
You seniors and your K8s I tell you whut
The meh generation
Nah, they’re the last “boomer” generation. Fed a diet of TV and no internet growing up, but just in time to secure the last slice of normal with owning a home and having a family on a decent income.
You’re using that word again. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Boomer is a mindset not a timespan.
You’re completely wrong, but if you want to confuse the word even more, go ahead.
Lol
Wooooooooooosh
the last “boomer” generation. Fed a diet of TV and no internet growing up
Boomer is a mindset not a timespan
Lol.
Yeah?
You don’t have to be born from '46 to '64 to be a boomer, you have to act like a boomer to be a boomer. Being fed a boomer media/social diet growing up tends to make people grow up into boomers.
You’re conflating and confusing a term that has existed since the 60’s to describe a time span, with complex societal, economical effects on peoples mindset today.
Your inability to describe and explain the things you want to argue is the issue. Repeating the word again and again is not helping.
so middle of the road that they are left out of every discussion about generations. Boomers may suck, but at least they’re memorable lol
I for one am happy to be left out of the ‘generation war’. It’s stupid. In my day blah blah blah- no one cares gramps. Live in the now.
Back in my day we had weed. We still do, but we did back then too.
In my day you would either get trash weed with seeds all in it, or pay out the ass for ‘kind buds’. You can get whole Ounces in Michigan right now for what we had to pay for a quarter in the 90s… damn it, you got me doing it! ;)
I used to get my weed in a big trash bag behind the high school from a guy on a yamaha scooter. It was mostly seeds and stems and you had to smoke a lot to even get high but it was great because it gave you something fun to do with friends. I can’t handle the weed people smoke nowadays, one toke sends me straight to the nether realm.
Gen X - who, let’s face it, wrote most of this stuff - gets forgotten again.
no, they’re just choosing to not fuck with this shit because they’ve had enough
By that logic, Bill Gates and Steve Wozniak were Boomers so Boomers all know how to fix computers.
Let’s face it, “generational” assumptions are all too coarse to be valuable - and are probably just another way to separate and divide us all so we stop thinking about how to take down the ruling classes.
My dad is close to 80. He’s been PC savvy since the super early 1980s and he still is, although he is stuck in Windows because he’s a monster in the astrophotography world and most of his software isn’t supported in Linux etc. I dated a girl in college whose dad was one of the founding creators of the internet. Unlike Al Gore lol.
I taught my younger brother how to program in basic and pascal in the 80s. He’s now a super successful programmer. I’m pretty poor but I like to build fix and upgrade people’s computers as a hobby. I am gen x.
I am Gen X
This sounds like a commercial (fellow GenX here), haha
Here’s a 40 second video of Vint Cerf saying Al Gore did help create the internet:
I dated a girl in college whose dad was one of the founding creators of the internet. Unlike Al Gore lol.
Bullshit. If her dad was one of the founders of the Internet, you’d know that the Al Gore meme was a Republican smear campaign.
I worked for Vint Cerf in the early 90’s. This is what he wrote to defend Al Gore against the Republican smear campaign:
Al Gore didn’t need a smear campaign for his nonsense. I was there too, we were laughing our asses off at the shit he said.
“We don’t think, as some people have argued, that Gore intended to claim he “invented” the Internet. Moreover, there is no question in our minds that while serving as Senator, Gore’s initiatives had a significant and beneficial effect on the still-evolving Internet. The fact of the matter is that Gore was talking about and promoting the Internet long before most people were listening.”
- Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn
He was a hell of a lot more of a founder than Al Gore was. Gore was a marketer at best.
Edit: you all are downvoting without even knowing who he was. Drink piss assholes.
Al Gore never claimed to have been the founder of the Internet. Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn both defended Al Gore against idiots like you.
Rush Limbaugh was on the radio daily in the early 90’s calling Al Gore’s information superhighway a Democratic Boondoggle. Republicans were fighting to kill the Internet. Al Gore was fighting since the 80’s to fund it so it could grow into something bigger than a research network.
If Eisenhower can get credit for the US Interstate Highway system despite not pouring a drop of concrete, then Al Gore gets credit for the Internet.
You really love that piece of shit don’t you?
I worked for Vint Cerf. I later started my own ISP. I know the history of the Internet because I lived it.
I quoted Vint Cerf. What do you have to support your claim?
Hey, Millennial here. Just a friendly reminder to drink your metamucil today
I don’t know about you, but I quit doing that soul crushing work as soon as I could something I really loved.
Eh. Genx understood how to work a VCR and deal with the rat’s nest of cables behind the TV
Computers are millennials
Older Millenial here. It was definitely GenX that paved the way for the computer world I learned, and it was mostly GenX who wrote the books and taught the lessons (often informal) that brought us what knowledge we have, at least in the beginning. Plus a small selection of exceptional individuals from older generations, including, dare I say it,… the baby boomers.
Older millennial here, too. This is absolutely correct. (Btw we are called xenials 1981–86)
There is a big difference between having the people who invented something and being the people who families (and companies…) depend on to keep them running. This being about the latter.
Or, at least, in my family, we tended to not tell the engineers at Ampex to get their butts downstairs because dad didn’t understand why the color was off on the football game he recorded last night
I had home computers 10 years before the internet really hit.
When I joined the company maintaining Unix, I was one of the younger ones. It’s older X who knows how it’s all built; because they did it.
Very late Gen X or early millenial no. We came through VCR DVD it was a wonderful change. Also Torvalds would be Gen X.
Utter BS. I’m on the old end of Gen X and I’m still building PCs for people and troubleshooting their shit when it breaks. I have yet to meet a much younger person who can do it as well.
Gen X seem to be either computer people or totally unaware. Millennials seem to be generally much less knowledgeable than the former and much more knowledgeable than the latter. Obviously there are millennials who are computer people, but my conception of them is more people who got computer science degrees than the person who lives in a shack in the woods and builds his own robots. Boomer computer people are even more formidable.
I’m not saying that’s true, but it’s the stereotype I have in my head.
Well put.
Your also on Lemmy so you’re the exception not the rule.
People can be exceptions to the norm. Most GenX we all interact with are as hopeless as the boomers.
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No we’re not!!
Its almost like the “generations” are mostly arbitrary with a lot of overlap
We were the first (of non-computer types) to adopt the web. We rode the AOL Instant Messenger train. What are you talking about.
Most millenials I deal with don’t know how anything works. They know apps and swiping screens. They are computer competent, knowing how to use them. Like knowing how to drive a car doesn’t mean you are a mechanic. They frequently know how do basic fixes like rebooting or reinstalling but less frequently have any true troubleshooting understanding. I don’t claim all millenials are like that, but broad stroke its not uncommon. I’d never say the generation as a whole is THE technical one though. I know more Gen Z that are technical by far, but that seems more matching Gen X to me. They either know technology or don’t. Nothing in between.
AOL instant messenger was late to the party. ICQ started the instant messaging fad… that little “uh oh” notification sound is permanently burned into my brain.
presses Ctrl+G to foghorn
Fuck that sound.
I was on ICQ as well, but most people weren’t. I was generalizing to the contemporary audience.
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Whatever
Fine with me. Leave us the hell alone.
Oh it’s a printer? I, uh, yeah, no I don’t know anything about printers sorry.
PC Load Letter? What the fuck does that mean?!
Ahhh I see. So what you’re saying is that Gen X is actually the root of our problems? Boomers were just another symptom that needed a GUI.
at this point it’s pretty funny….
And this is how we prefer it.
Gen X is the Aslan lion meme: “Do not cite the deep computer repair magic to me, Millennial. I was there when it was written.”
Asian lion?
Damn autocorrect.
They mean Aslan, aka big kitty Jesus, from the Narnia books.
I read big kitty Jesus as big titty Jesus and was confused
You’re thinking of Gandalf Big Naturals. Easy mistake to make.
Better than Wither Big Naturals
As one of those Gen-X that actually helped create the dumpster fire we call the modern Internet, I have come to realize that we fall into two camps. You either look young enough to be classified as a Millennial (my wife) or you look old enough to immediately be thrown in the Boomer bucket (me)…which is really unfair because no other generation has hated and fought the fucking Boomers longer than us.
I’d love to show some GenZ photos of Matt Damon, Bem Affleck, Cillian Murphy, etc. and ask them what generation they think they are.
The struggle is, we all live long enough to be the next boomers. Maybe in 10 years it is: “OK, Gen-X”
I think what’s happening is Millenials are starting to get the “OK Boomer”.
Yep it’s just a phrase now and people don’t know what boomer was.
Before I deleted Facebook entirely, I briefly flirted with a Facebook group of Aussie gen xers for a bit of nostalgia, and I had to quit after only a few weeks because the ‘back in my day’ crowd became too insufferable. It’s already happened.
And while gen X definitely were instrumental in creating much of modern tech, most of them are still pretty hopeless at it. Watching some of my similarly aged colleagues trying to use a computer is an exercise in frustration.
That’s cool. We’re used to being forgotten and this way nobody will ask us to fix their computer.
If they want to take over from my gen-X ass from doing everyone’s fixing shit, I’m all for it.
Millennials are supposed to be the generation that ends the capitalist age tribalism propaganda
Tribalism: a strong, sometimes prejudiced, loyalty to a group or tribe, often leading to negative attitudes towards outsiders.
For example:
Millennials are supposed to be the generation that ends the capitalist age tribalism propaganda
r/iamverysmart
No, you’re not.
interestingly, here in the balkans, there are plenty of gen z techy guys. they aren’t full blown engineers but they can fix a lot of basic everyday problems. proud to be slavic lol
The difference between Gen X and Millennials is that at around age 35 (circa 2009) I started telling people, who were almost always friends of friends who wouldn’t actually hang out with me normally, that I charge $100 an hour. Millennials still do it for free…
I wouldn’t even suck dick that low… Why would I take less pay for something I DONT like to do???
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Haha…fair enough. Honestly though, I suspect anything above free would have worked. Some people have absolutely no respect for other people’s time. Especially since I don’t “fix computers” for a living.
Gen Z lookin fine as hell.
I’m actually, genuinely shocked by the ageism in such debates every single time. There’s no such thing as age-based incompetence, TBH. There are sound people for every field available everywhere. Why do we have to assume this? Every generation has at least a few people who are competent in their field, even in computing. It’s more important that the literate of us unite to end illiteracy and stop injustice performed in the name of technology. This, honestly, is just making fun of each other, for apparently no sound reason. And I’m talking about the comments, not the meme. I might, or not, get some sour disagreements, or straight-up very bitter replies for arguing even this, …and again, I ask: Do we reeaaally have to do this?
Technology too has a supposed duty of bringing people together…!
Ok boomer!
LOL thanks.
Also FYI I’m 19.Funniest bit is that I am 42 hehe
Ageism has been around long time
"In all things I yearn for the past. Modern fashions seem to keep on growing more and more debased. I find that even among the splendid pieces of furniture built by our master cabinetmakers, those in the old forms are the most pleasing.
And as for writing letters, surviving scraps from the past reveal how superb the phrasing used to be. The ordinary spoken language has also steadily coarsened. People used to say “raise the carriage shafts” or “trim the lamp wick,” but people today say “raise it” or “trim it.” When they should say, “Let the men of the palace staff stand forth!” they say, “Torches! Let’s have some light!” Instead of calling the place where the lectures on the Sutra of the Golden Light are delivered before the emperor “the Hall of the Imperial Lecture,” they shorten it to “the Lecture Hall,” a deplorable corruption, an old gentleman complained."
Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness), Yoshida Kenkō 1330 - 1332 AD
For gen X and older, computers were more niche. They were more difficult to use and mostly reserved to enthusiasts. For gen Z and younger, computers were always just there, and they’d become a lot simpler, a lot more plug n play, and resources to fix them became cheaper and more accessible. Millennials were in just the right environment where computer use became mainstream, but computer software was less developed and user friendly and they frequently had to learn to fix problems themselves.
Every individual will clearly have their own unique experience and not everyone will fall into these buckets, but it’s these factors that lead to millennials likely having higher tech skills than average compared to those older and younger than them.
That’s it. It’s not ageism. It is absolutely generalizing, but mostly, it’s social commentary in the form of a joke.
What in the utter fuck is this dog shit take??? lol. Dude, Boomers INVENTED fucking computers. GenX, grow up along side them. We pretty all had a vic 20, Commadore 64, or Spectrum 48k/128k, or Amstrad CPC464. And later on an amiga, or an ST. The list is fucking endless, and thats before you get to to the Apple II, the trs80 and Commadore PET and later 386 PCs.
We grew up with ham radios, VCRs, TVs that only played games on one channel. We had Nintendo and Sega battling it out in the 80s, then Sony, nintendo, panasonic, Sega, NEC, SNK, Philips, Atari, Casio(who created a console exclusively for girls for some reason), Bandi, apple, and fuck knows how many others battling in the 90s. The idea that all these things were invented by/or used by boomer and genx, and you can sit there thinking we dont know how to use shit… We’re the fucking figure it out generation, son. If something broke, we had to learn to fix it ourselves. And without youtube videos and FAQs to hold our hands.
Millennials, absolute kings of the terrible takes and pulling information out of their arse.
We’re the fucking figure it out generation, son.
You’re the throw it out the window and buy a new one materialist generation, gramps.
You’re clearly an enthusiast and are one of the exceptions I spoke of. Calm down and think critically, please… Most people did not have Spectrums, Commodores, ham radios, etc. Enthusiasts like you absolutely did, and yes, you knew your shit if you did.
These days everyone has advanced electronic devices. Eveeeeryone.
You really came out swinging for no reason there, eh?
Not an enthusiast. Im the average. And you calm down, or send you to bed without any supper!!!
And as for “coming out swinging”, youre god damn right. Cos you people are either ignoring us, or just making up dog shit about us. And now youre giving the shocked Pikachu face, cos someone got sick of the bullshit lies? Dude… I guess that another thing your generation love to do. Make it look like the bullied person standing up for themself is the asshole. Fuck, how you lot love to do that.
When you always assume bad intent, don’t be surprised people treat you as shit
By generalizing a generation, you’re doing the exact same thing you’re accusing people of doing, I hope you realize this
No shit, sherlock. Did you figure that out all by yourself, or did you have break out a special magical box of crayons to help?
I mean, I couldnt have made any more obvious if Id written it in pink glittery neon shit.
I’m not at all giving a shocked Pikachu face in reaction to your comment, if you believe otherwise, you’re misreading my intent. I’m also not talking down towards you as a person, doubting your skills, or bullying you. Based on your responses here, I believe you to be a very tech inclined person and are probably highly skilled. A lot of us here on Lemmy fall into that category regardless of age.
What I am saying is that you came into this conversation unnecessarily hot and that your view is likely skewed because you yourself are a tech enthusiast. You come from and are a product of tech, and as such may not realize the lack of tech abilities of those outside of your bubble.
I’m also not saying that Boomers/Gen X have to be bad with tech, or even that all Millennials are. My main point is to highlight median household exposure over different generations leading to memes such as this. For example, in the U.S., only ~8% of households had a computer in 1984 and ~15% in 1989; the UK was ~9% in 1984 and ~17% by 1988 (Source on Census.gov, page 6). PCs didn’t become mainstream at home until the mid to late '90s. By then, late Gen X/Millennials were the teens/20-somethings doing the hands-on fixes, which is why the “Millennial IT support” meme resonates. Skip to kids nowadays growing up on iPhones and tablets and other out of the box easy to use devices that Just WorkTM, they didn’t get the same experience learning to fix shit themselves like the older or middle generations had.
To reiterate, none of this says older folks, nor younger, can’t be great at tech, just that cohort exposure and the kind of tech we grew up with differ and has had it’s influences on the whole of generational groups, while not defining every individual within those groups.
If you still feel attacked at this point, that’s 100% on you and I don’t know what else to say.
“Im not talking down to you” then proceeds to talk down to me… What a prick.
Im not in any “bubble”, cunty chops. But you might be. Once again, not an enthusiast. Is there another language I can say that in? And my experiences, the ones I was talking to you about, were from the 80s and 90s. EVERYONE had some form of computer, like I said. If theres GenX around today that dont know about them so much that they need to annoy their genz kids, they are the fucking minority.
As for feeling attacked, no. You misunderstood. Im utterly fucking sick of wee dicks, spouting generational war bullshit. You know, like you dweeby little millennials pricks that cant even get a fucking girl to touch you without an app.
proceeds to talk down to me
I wasn’t talking down to you, I was explaining my perspective backed up with facts you clearly did not look at. I’d ask if you could point out where you feel I’d done so, but as you can see later in my comment, I no longer care.
EVERYONE had some form of computer
This is statistically impossible as you can see from the source that I provided from the US Census Bureau.
What a prick. … cunty chops … you dweeby little millennials pricks
Name calling. Nice, dude. For your age, I’d expect you to be more mature. I’ll just be reporting, blocking you, and moving on. I tried to have a cordial conversation with you, but you are clearly not capable of doing so. Have a nice day, and a nice life.
^^^ I love this human. ^^^
Not only did they post a nice answer towards my comment, they’re actually settling what could turn into an internet argument from the get go!Another vote for that human, some people (others) make internet feel like working in retail…
Awe shucks! 🤭
I dunno, I’ve spent enough time in online communities that I’d rather not start fights over things that can simply be talked through. I’m happy to hear Bennyboy’s response too if they still disagree with me and believe me to be mistaken, but there’s certainly no reason for hostility!
I’m like this these days, too! Absolutely annoyed (in a funny way, but still…!) by internet drama LOL.
Thanks! Bye!
Am I the only one that demands to be called gen y?
gen x
You do realize Gen X were the ones who were building their own computers back in the late 80’s and all through the 90s and loading them with Windows 3.1 and the original flavors of Linux, on top of fostering the open source world everyone here relies upon? All before Millennials graduated from Jr High.
