The true dividing line between the generations isn't 1980. It's 1988. And we now have Mark Zuckerberg to thank for accidentally drawing this now-conclusive boundary.
A deleterious result of Facebooking people seems to have also been the fragmenting of peoples' identities down into the smallest slivers of definitions and sub-definitions. As a slightly older GenX (1976) I grew up surrounded by a different ethos, which was that we're all one human family, don't label yourself because labels are limits, etc. Sorting people was "bad." Now we've got people who happily sort themselves into as many fragmented sub-cultures as you can imagine. Rather like how the explosion of different musical genres and varieties in the 70s and 80s destroyed Top 40 radio. You can't really have a top 40 off *all* music.
But Zuck handed everyone a Sorting Hat and people happily crammed that thing onto their heads. Meanwhile I'm so diligent about tracking cookies and surveillance that sites have no idea what kind of ads to serve me, so I get some unintentionally hilarious results.
Such a fun read. As a solid Xer, I absolutely see X in your writing (and millennial, too). Totally Ok with me if your cohort adopts “Baby Xer”.
Billy Corgan might be a Baby Xer thing. Pavement, who i think were a quintessential Gen X band (by X for X), summed up Smashing Pumpkins perfectly in “Range Life”.
It’s not your writing so much (which is excellent, but the way), but your particular cultural experiences - early Facebook, Harry Potrer movies and all that. And Billy Corgan…
I’m from the Bay Area, so it was hard to miss what was happening with tech, but I had zero interest in any of it until I stopped wanting to be out every night. I did do a lot of eBay, but that’s not social media. My Gen Z niece created my Instagram account for me when she was 11. I never logged into it until like a month ago (12 years later - had to change my password).
A deleterious result of Facebooking people seems to have also been the fragmenting of peoples' identities down into the smallest slivers of definitions and sub-definitions. As a slightly older GenX (1976) I grew up surrounded by a different ethos, which was that we're all one human family, don't label yourself because labels are limits, etc. Sorting people was "bad." Now we've got people who happily sort themselves into as many fragmented sub-cultures as you can imagine. Rather like how the explosion of different musical genres and varieties in the 70s and 80s destroyed Top 40 radio. You can't really have a top 40 off *all* music.
But Zuck handed everyone a Sorting Hat and people happily crammed that thing onto their heads. Meanwhile I'm so diligent about tracking cookies and surveillance that sites have no idea what kind of ads to serve me, so I get some unintentionally hilarious results.
This is some damn fine writing.
Such a fun read. As a solid Xer, I absolutely see X in your writing (and millennial, too). Totally Ok with me if your cohort adopts “Baby Xer”.
Billy Corgan might be a Baby Xer thing. Pavement, who i think were a quintessential Gen X band (by X for X), summed up Smashing Pumpkins perfectly in “Range Life”.
🎶 Out on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins
Nature kids
They don’t have no function
I don’t understand what they mean
And I could really give a fuck🎶 “
I appreciate you, Ruth. How does the millennial come out in my writing?
It’s not your writing so much (which is excellent, but the way), but your particular cultural experiences - early Facebook, Harry Potrer movies and all that. And Billy Corgan…
I’m from the Bay Area, so it was hard to miss what was happening with tech, but I had zero interest in any of it until I stopped wanting to be out every night. I did do a lot of eBay, but that’s not social media. My Gen Z niece created my Instagram account for me when she was 11. I never logged into it until like a month ago (12 years later - had to change my password).
You should do Gen Z… they scare me a little and I’m not kidding.