For some reason I've been thinking a lot about what generation I fit into. I took a class last year that spent a couple weeks focusing on the generations and there are 2 generations that I could fit into based on the year I was born: Generation X and Generation Y or the Millennial Generation. I could fit into both which means that I fit into neither as well. I suppose I'm more X than Y based on my experiences and the experiences of Gen Y, but it's this strange in between that we all feel. We don't fit into the X's because we were brought up on computers more, we all had a computer in our elementary school somewhere... sure it was "for special occasions," you couldn't do much with it, and it was kind of held in this weird esteem. But surely this does not fit with my youngest sister who doesn't remember a time without a home computer or a cell phone- she was born in 1987.
So where do we fit in?
We are the generation that:
~Grew up watching the Smurfs, from Season 1 all the way through- we were old enough to remember Season 1 and too old to be watching the final season (but probably still did)
~We are the Saved by the Bell generation- those kids may have been a little older, but we knew that's what high school was gonna be like
~Of course, My So-Called Life... we can't forget that. Claire Danes represented us...
~We remember when HIV was the "gay mans disease" but really didn't know what gay meant because we were so little, but we grew up with knowing about HIV and AIDS and the I think personally this made us different as a smaller generation. Generation Xers were already at the clubs.... Generation Y was either barely born or not born yet. We remember and we grew up talking about it.
~We remember the Berlin wall coming down, but had no idea why... and German Gen Xers were there...
~Our generation had after school specials
~We did not grow up with Elmo (or rather he was Baby Monster) on Sesame Street (I was 7 by the time Elmo had a name) or Barney (but the annoying kids we babysat did)
~ We remember Atari, but only those kids with older siblings had it.
~ Nintendo came out at the prime age for us :)
~ We knew our way around 'Where in the World is Carmen Sandiago?' (I still remember the jingle)
~ We went into college when the internet was just beginning to popularize and we remember DOS well. So our college years were spent getting to know the WWW and getting used to not doing everything on paper (or needing paper copies). This has helped us in our careers because we can understand why people prefer paper copies, so we don't get annoyed as easily as our younger counterparts, but don't have the need to print everything off like our older counterparts (and we are generally more computer savvy).
So... where do I fit in? I don't know... any ideas? Is it required that I choose a generation or can I be unlabeled. Any other memories from people born between 1976 and 1982? I feel we are the "in betweeners".
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