You've heard of Gen-Xers and you've heard of Millennials, but welcome the NKOTB (Xennial reference) to town...the XENNIALS!
Because the people who care were apparently not fond of the term "Mature Millennial" that was being used by the older portion of the demographic like myself (33yrs old), the new term was created to better categorize the group of us born between 1977 and 1985. Apparently we are a "microgeneration that copes with the clash between Gen-X’s cynicism and Millennial optimism."
Articles vary but most say that Millennials were born between 1981 and 1996 and GenXers were born between 1965 and 1980. The term ‘Xennial’ is used to describe the older Millennials who shared a different experience than the rest of the generation growing up.
I read an article earlier that pretty much hit the nail on the head. "Xennials had an analog childhood before riding the digital wave into the 21st century. Xennials were fully aware of the shifting technological landscape, going from a time when the internet didn’t exist, to suffering through the dial-up era, to embracing the latest social media platforms. They were also in early adulthood during the September 11th terrorist attacks, while many Millennials were still in elementary and high school."
We're also called the "Oregon Trail Generation". You know. For obvious reasons. Side note: I once got a note sent home to my mom because a girl tried to snatch the Oregon Trail floppy disk from my hand in after school care and I slapped her hand and told her to "watch herself". I didn't mess around when it came time to die of dysentery.
Millenials can buy cute MTV shirts online that look vintage all day, but did they ever actually watch Singled Out or The Jenny McCarthy Show? MTV SPRING BREAK LIVE (Which always made me want to grow up and go to Club LaVela in Panama City. I visited years later and nope. Just nope.) Do they remember singing Aerosmith's "Cryin" at the top of their lungs while Liv Tyler and a newly famous Alicia Silverstone were way too seductive for us to be watching? We used encyclopedias that our grandmas had ordered off late night TV to look up information for research papers...until ENCARTA came along!
Maybe Mean Girls was your ultimate sleepover movie. If so, you're probably a Millenial. We Xennials were into "Clueless" and playing the board games "Mall Madness" and the awful truth or dare-esque game "Girl Talk" where if you didn't want to answer, you had to put a fake zit on your face. Geez, I loved that game. We would stay up all night watching Jerry Springer and Jenny Jones and then make sure we were watching "Days of our Lives" at 2pm during summer weekdays. The OJ Simpson trail was the first time I remember the news taking over every channel all day everyday. It interrupted my soaps.
We would sneak and call people on 3-way calling. We only used *69 if our parents approved (do you know what that is, Millenials?) and most of us didn't have cell phones until way after we started driving. We flirted on AIM but only when our parents weren't using the house phone.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking Millenials. I think this generation is lacking in credit. They are kind and bright and steadfast in their dreams. We are kind of like that too, just with a touch more sarcasm. The 90's and early 2000's...what a time to be young...
Are you a GenXer, Millenial or the Great Xennial?? (I think it's all ridiculous but you have to admit, it's fun to reminisce)