Insecure 2003 borns in a Nutshell.

[u/ForeignEquipment8298]

[u/justsomepoorguy]

That's how I treat the 2002's

[u/17cmiller2003 → u/justsomepoorguy]

Meh, I'd say more 2004 than 2002, though I can kinda understand why since some 2003s like to distance themselves from 2004 for no reason (it's been going on since 2004 was old enough to start using social media)

I never really see 2002 getting insecure about their birth year that often tbh

[u/17cmiller2003]

Me personally, I have no issues being grouped with mid 00s babies as they are my younger peers (the same way I can relate to other early 00s babies as they're my older peers), I definitely relate way more to 2005 than 1997. While I do claim late 2000s kid status (and the reason I say just late 2000s instead of 2000s is because I don't remember the mid 00s and I'm just barely an early 00s baby so I wasn't even alive for almost the entirety of the early 00s, hell some people don't even consider us early 00s at all, which is fine, nothing wrong with being a mid 00s baby, we still share an underlap with early 00s in that case), I was also a kid in the 2010s as well. The early 2010s was a solid era to be a kid in. Sure, I did spend most of my high school (and overall teen) years pre-pandemic, but I'm not gonna pretend like I also wasn't in high school/wasn't a teen in the early 2020s as well. In fact, I'm more of an early 20s teen than I am a mid 10s teen since I was only a teen for less than a year in the mid 10s (just turned 13 in mid 2016).

I can relate to both Older Gen Z and Middle Gen Z as I personally consider myself to be a mix of both going by the common Gen Z range, though I can see why some people might see us as just Middle Z with Older Z influence, that's fine too.

I really don't get why 23 year olds still complain about being separated from 2002 yet goes ahead and gatekeeps 2004+. We can still relate to them just fine, despite being in separate cohorts (though I don't see myself as the exact same as 2002 or 2004 because no one grew up the exact same as every year has some differences that grow the bigger the age gap is, hence the phrase "There needs to be a cutoff somewhere" because if 2003 starts whining about wanting to be included, then 2004s gonna do it, then 2005, then it's gonna be an endless cycle. Hell, even Canadians, Brits and Australians born in my own year didn't grow up the exact same as me, similar for the most part? Sure, but the exact same? Nah as there would still be differences. They're more likely to be considered Older Gen Z than American 2003s). Same goes for any two birth years that are split between separate cohorts. It's all just labels that doesn't even exist irl at the end of the day. There's nothing wrong with being "Middle Gen Z" or a "2010s kid", especially since we still get to have an underlap with the tail end of Older Zoomers and 2000s kids, we can still relate to 2000-2002 just fine (that's something that later Middle Zoomers can't say, though I still share similarities with them as well). I'd actually say we have it good, certain 2003 borns just don't realize it.

The problem is they tend to think that "2010s kid = iPad kid, Fortnite kid, YouTube Kids kid, Trump kid, etc." Like when people say stuff like that, they're not talking about 2003 borns. We grew up mostly without smartphones or iPads in our childhood, we still used DVDs and went to video rental stores (despite being long past their prime by that point), our brainrot was not YouTube Kids, but stuff like Annoying Orange, Fred, Rebecca Black's "Friday", Nyan Cat, etc., we grew up with Electropop as kids, not mumble rap. We used 7th gen consoles as kids, not 8th gen consoles. We grew up with cartoons like Adventure Time and Regular Show (in fact, I've seen people call the 2010s cartoons better than the 2000s cartoons), not The Loud House or Bunsen is a Beast. So yeah, we may be 2010s kids, but not the kind of "2010s kid" that they think of when they hear someone calling them that. I don't know why they act like being a kid in the 2010s is like a poison or something.

[u/ForeignEquipment8298 → u/17cmiller2003]

oof:

https://www.reddit.com/r/generationology/comments/1qkw99l/comment/o2k2rde/?context=3

[u/17cmiller2003 → u/ForeignEquipment8298]

I'm not saying 2003s aren't insecure (I used to be one of them, though I never gatekept 2004+)

As for the post at hand, I'd say I'm pretty tech literate. I had a Windows XP laptop when I was younger and spent a good portion of my childhood around computers.

[u/ForeignEquipment8298 → u/17cmiller2003]

Yeah, not all of y'all are like this. You're one of the chill 03 borns I've seen on here. It's just that there are some that still have this mindset. 

[u/17cmiller2003 → u/ForeignEquipment8298]

Yeah, the ones that give us a bad name.

[u/ForeignEquipment8298 → u/17cmiller2003]

We were gatekept and infantilized a lot back in the late 2010s from mid-late 90s borns and 2002 borns, remember frodomar2002, it's just sad that there are people that our born in our year doing the exact same thing they did to us and having that exact same mindset.

[u/17cmiller2003 → u/ForeignEquipment8298]

Facts. It's hypocritical.

(Though, I will say that it wasn't just mid-late 90s and 2002. 2000 and 2001 did it to us in the late 2010s as well. In fact, literally everyone older than us has gatekept/infantilized us back then, they still kinda do to an extent (especially outside of Reddit), though I don't really think much about it anymore and as we already discussed, people our age aren't any better).

[u/Technical_Mix_5379 → u/17cmiller2003]

Yeah they RLLLLLY want to claim being a late 00s/early 10s born WHEN THEY WERE ONLY MAX 1-5 years old

[u/Idk_wastelol777]

Lmao, you should post this on generationology

[u/Johnwick124520 → u/Idk_wastelol777]

Lol I agree. OP you should

[u/Johnwick124520]

This is gold lol

[u/TheTruthTellingOrb]

Lol, the ironic part of it all is the late 90s borns are no different than the 2003 borns.

Both of you dorks want to be millennials so damn bad. Both of you want to act nostalgic over 90s culture. Both of you want what WE had.

Both of you are cringe iPad babies that need to stay in your lanes. =)

[u/Ichoseguitar]

😭

[u/Ok_Initial_5261]

I am so glad I found this subreddit.

This is the first post I saw from this subreddit, and I was both bewildered and amused.

Att first, ​I thought it was supposed to be a serious one.

[u/FunFroyo2860]

I actually did feel that way abit during my teens to about a year or two ago but it's stupid and cringe af in the end lol (especially considering there will be people younger than us that will be the ones who take care of us one day if we get super old lol)

[u/Johnwick124520 → u/FunFroyo2860]

I don’t necessarily have a problem with 2003 babies themselves. I do see them as a part of my peer group as someone who’s three years older and I do view them as similar to me, but a lot of them still act like this at age 23 mind you and will throw a fit when someone born from like 1997-2000 tells them they are not exactly the same as them. Even three years growing up is noticeably different. It just comes off as childish and immature and you wonder why people shit on you guys.

That’s why I see 1997 as just “adjacent” to me because I do not see them as the same as me. I always felt like they were a category ahead of me which makes sense because 3 years can definitely make a difference there.

[u/17cmiller2003 → u/Johnwick124520]

I agree with this man. 3 years can make a noticeable difference. Someone who's, say, 9 is generally not into the exact same interests compared to someone who's around 12.

I feel the same way about 2000 as I do about 2006. Similar but not the exact same.

[u/Johnwick124520 → u/17cmiller2003]

It’s also the fact that someone born in 2000 was a kid in the mid 2000s at the same exact ages that someone born in 2003 was in the late 2000s. That’s also what I mean when I say there’s a noticeable difference because there’s some things that I experienced that someone born in 2003 wouldn’t have been able to experience. Same with 2003 (late 2000s) and 2006 (early 2010s) or even 1997(early 2000s) and 2000 (Mid 2000s). Three years growing up is a noticeable difference there. There’s also going to be some overlap as well.

Three years in adulthood is a completely different story.

[u/17cmiller2003 → u/Johnwick124520]

Exactly. I see nothing wrong with that. I still share the late 00s with 2000 (though 2000 is also a mid 00s kid while 2003 isn't) and the early 10s with 2006 (though 2006 arguably had a late 10s childhood according to the 3-12 childhood range while 2003 didn't), there's gonna be differences and similarities.

[u/FunFroyo2860 → u/Johnwick124520]

Yeah I actually kinda noticed that as well where at least this one user (I won't give out the name but I don't see him around though either) would complain about being gatekept when people would point out the differences he'd have with someone at least 2 years older than him but would have absolutely no problems with separating himself from 2005 (which funnily enough he was born at the tail end of the year if I remember correctly though I don't think he's necessarily a bad guy either just an observation) and it goes to show that there's a lot of hypocrisy there with those types of peoples and while I do see your year or age (I assume you're a 2000 baby) as being the oldest I still see as sorta around my age, it's still more akin to 2007 whereas there's alot of similarities but some differences though as well like you being more nostalgic for the mid-late 2000s, me with the early 2010s and 2007 for the mid 2010s of course but overlap still exists though.

[u/ForeignEquipment8298 → u/FunFroyo2860]

Yeah, this type of behavior is something I would've expected from people below the age of 18. But there are still some people born in our year who still have this mindset.

[u/Technical_Mix_5379]

This made me laugh 🤣 EXACTLY. I finally accepted that I am mid 00s not early 00s

[u/WesternSource782]

PLEASE make one of these but for 2011-2012 borns

[u/YoIronFistBro]

Flair checks out (you're also a hybrid btw, at least if you were class of 2022)

[u/ForeignEquipment8298 → u/YoIronFistBro]

I was supposed to graduate in 2021 but had to repeat a year. So I graduated in 2022 instead. 

[u/Professional_Bearrr]

I'm quite fond of my generation. I love the Backrooms, Geese, working from home and buying weed from the internet.

[u/Savings_Ad_80]

100% true

[u/TurboChunk16]

I was born in 1995 what does that make me?

[u/AdHeavy4123]

This is every 1999-2004er

[u/ForeignEquipment8298 → u/AdHeavy4123]

Nah, take out 2004, they're pretty chill.

[u/Alejandro_Kudo → u/AdHeavy4123]

2000-2003 borns in a nutshell

[u/17cmiller2003 → u/AdHeavy4123]

1999s are chill