Xennials for the Win: Why It's Time For Those Born 1975-1989 to Take Charge
Low-level lead poisoning is stupefying the old and a screen-addicted adolescence warped the brains of the young. Time for mature adults to take charge (36-50).
What if a big part of the reason why we're seeing so much political polarization and cultural coarsening is because of the totally unpredictable consequences of two technologies, one that transformed the 20th century; the second having defined the 21st?
I refer, of course, to the automobile and the smartphone.
The proliferation of each has had an unintended consequence that is barely understood and far from being reckoned with:
Leaded gasoline (coupled with lead more broadly in paint and other substances) caused the generations exposed to it to suffer cognitive decline, becoming less intelligent, more emotional, and more criminal. When legislation transitioned away from leaded gas, the subsequent generation saw major drops in crime and mental illness. Psychological problems plummeted for a generation, not beginning to jump again until the early 2010s.
And what caused it then? In The Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt lays out the evidence that the emotionally addictive nature of smartphones has impacted the brain development of the Gen Zers raised on them in a physical, chemical way. Having a phone-centered childhood, rather than the play-centered childhood of older millennials and those before, has literally caused brains to develop differently, leading to greater timidity and increased mental health problems. Gen-Zers see slower development overall.
If the previous generation was poisoned by too much lead, this generation has been poisoned by too much dopamine.
Haidt also positions this screen-driven trend in tandem with the rise in a restrictive, fearful parenting style. Neither of these trends were unique to Gen Z. They also hit the younger millennials - those born 1990-1994 - too. (This is the cohort who embodies the various millennial stereotypes most fully and to the most annoying degree.) They're also fucked to a lesser degree.
So now we have both of these trends colliding. As I theorized in this piece embedded above, the lead taken in by those born 1940-1974 is now beginning to drip out of their aging, crumbling bones, to greater effect in those who: A) were exposed to more lead during their developmental period of childhood through adolescence, and B) who have not adequately taken care of their bone health through their life. Those who have worked to prevent their bones from weakening (and who start aggressively preventing it now) will experience less lead release - and thus less of an impact on their personality and intelligence.
Haidt also points out that young people use smartphones differently, with females drifting to Instagram, TikTok, and social media, while males move toward video games, arguments, and pornography. These both intensify feminine and masculine characteristics, sometimes to unhealthy degrees. I'm reminded of this quip from Alex Nowrasteh, my favorite Xennial libertarian thinker, whose views on immigration I’ve proudly promoted over the last 15 years:
This applies both at the young end, in the ‘90s millennials and Gen Zers, as well as in the older end, in Xers and boomers. These trends among smartphone-addicted Gen Zers will manifest in anyone, just not at quite the same intensity, since this is not occurring for old people during their formative years of adolescence, which are long past. However, we might hypothesize that the low-level lead poisoning of the old might essentially push them to revert to an adolescent mentality without even realizing it.
So think about it: 79-year-old Boomers still working in politics and at the crown peak of cultural production, addicted to rage-tweeting on their smartphones at all hours, taking in endless amounts of angry conspiracy theories, stimulated by a stream of the Mar-A-Lago-faced, porn star-style plastic women, and lead has dripped into their blood and brains for decades—they certainly aren't getting enough calcium by eating too many Big Macs with fries.
Now, there's an understandable temptation to be all doom-and-gloom about this. These are physical problems, caused by technology, that are largely permanent and that impact both collective cultural and societal health. And it’s worth remembering, too, that, well, they do actually kill people. This mental degeneration through lead poisoning and smartphones means more crime and suicide. It means more shattered marriages and destroyed relationships between friends and family members.
However, there are simple, practical things that can be done to reduce the levels of these poisons in the individual. This applies to old, adult, and young alike:
1. We need to get back to more pre-phone culture. That means reading books, going places, taking in real music that is not streaming. Put on a vinyl record. Go out and hear people perform music live. Go and play it yourself! We need to start engaging with the culture of the 20th century, before things were so tainted by 24/7 emotional manipulation in our pockets all the time.
2. Our actual physical diet is closely tuned in with our emotional regulation and intellectual abilities. Eat too much dumb and angry shit and you’ll become dumb and angry and shitty as a person. Perhaps we already have become too much so as a nation.
3. Spiritual engagement. Damage to the brain through things like lead poisoning or screen dopamine addiction will make one more vulnerable to spiritual attack. Trauma to the brain does that, regardless of whether it's a huge amount, like a near-death experience, or a smaller amount, imparted just by hearing about the greater trauma, or small levels like poisoning through physical substances. We need tools and language for responding to these strange experiences that result, and while conventional psychiatry will work for many, so will a spiritual discipline from any number of traditions, from Eastern religions (Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism) to Western religions (Judaism, Christianity, or Islam), to the mystical paths which merge both.
Massive, systemic, generational problems do seem overwhelming. And maybe we're right to be overwhelmed by them. The impact we're seeing now from both the old and the young "going crazy" from being poisoned through different chemicals is profound. But the solutions are right at our fingertips. Poisons have their antidotes. And we need to especially encourage the young and the old to see what has happened.
Friends, family, you've been fucking poisoned by technology! It's not your fault. It's time to detox and to get healthier physically, mentally, and spiritually—things will improve. And if enough people start moving this way broadly, then we'll see the change, too, in our culture.
I'm not optimistic yet about this. It seems like the world will get much worse over the next decade before we have the chance of really getting better as more powerful AI steps in to help us counter the increasing poison-fueled stupidity and cruelty.
But maybe I’m wrong—perhaps as books like The Anxious Generation may signify, what if these mental changes are starting to become too significant to ignore? What if more people are gradually starting to realize that there are some hidden factors shaping this strange mutation of America that has emerged 249 years after our founding?
Maybe things will get better sooner. Maybe fewer people will die. Maybe we’ll be able to transition back to more mature culture instead of existing in perpetual adolescence.
But if this is going to happen, then it needs to be those of us not fucked up by too much lead or too much dopamine doing it. Back in 2013, when I was an editor at PJ Media, I wrote a piece arguing that looking at generations in 20-year chunks oversimplified things too much, and that it was better to look at 5-year mini-generations: It looked to me like the edges of the groups seemed to bleed together. Born in January 1984 and very much raised in the cultural shadow of Generation X, I felt more kinship with them than with millennials born after 1989.
The schema that I developed then seems to hold up, with those stuck between Xers and Millennials to varying degrees in bold. I designate the various five-year “pureblood” periods wherein the generations’ peer personalities manifest in the most clear, stereotypical expression:
“Pureblood” Boomers = 1950-1954
Xer-leaning Boomers = 1955-1959
“Busters” (Boomer-Xer hybrids)= 1960-1964
Boomer-leaning Xers= 1965-1969
“Pureblood” Generation X = 1970-1974
Millennial-leaning Xers = 1975-1979
Xennials = 1980-1984
Xer-leaning Millennials = 1985-1989
“Pureblood” Millennials = 1990-1994
Gen-Z-leaning Millennials = 1995-1999
The varieties of Gen Z hellscape = 2000 and beyond (they’re screwed!)
And now, 12 years after I wrote the first version of this, “Gen-Alpha” has now emerged onto the scene, those born 2010-2024 or so. I have not yet studied this cohort enough to speculate on what the future holds for them or how Gen-Zers would blend with them. And Sally Shideler tells me now that apparently a “Gen-Beta” is being born right now. In other words: the first generation to always know AI has been born. Chew the fuck on that for a moment.
And so I say, fellow children of the 1980s—we’re not the ones going crazy, the old people and the young people are. It’s now up to us to defend fucking sanity on this planet. This Xer-Millennial hybrid cohort was raised in an analog world and grew into the digital era one step at a time. We have a unique perspective on how to navigate the future of our species.
So step up!
Things are going to get weirder and more extreme as people get crueler, stupider, and more childish. “Idiocracy” is beginning. Give it another rewatch.
Now’s going to be the time for the actual adults to show up again. Bad news, kids - that's us now.
This makes sense and made me feel more hopeful today. As always thanks for your thoughtful writing.
The leaded gasoline observation is no joke.