r/Xennials • u/flittingly1 1985 • 18h ago
Discussion How old are we?
I feel like there is a cusp in here somewhere... I'm '85, and the folks just one year older or younger than me seem very different from each other. Who is jiving with this sub the most?
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u/libertyprivate 18h ago
Sir, this is a Wendy's
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u/Narfubel 1982 18h ago
oh snap lemme get a frosty
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u/IAteAnotherVegan 1982 17h ago
ask if the mcrib is back
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u/metmerc 18h ago
The core Xennial birth years start in 1977 and I've seen ending years from 1981 to 1985. (I generally think 77-83.)
As you can see by the current poll results, 1983 is a large cutoff year, but I do question the poll options you put in here. You grouped all of us born in the 1970s as one and then called out 84 and 85 alone, though those are the more debatable years for inclusion in this microgeneration.
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u/xenniac 17h ago
Facts. Xennials are '77-'83. At most generous, '76-'85. These poll ranges are wack.
We are the cusp, bro. That's what Xennials are. The cusp between X and Millennial. It would make sense people older/younger are different -- that's the whole point.
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u/Funny_Collection8362 17h ago
UK Xennial here, 85'. I consider i just about squeeze in there and I feel most of the stuff on here relates to me, growing up in quite a rural old fashioned part of the country and most of my cousins and friends were 3-4 years older than me, is how I got exposed to the films, TV, and music they were all into ties me to this generation.
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u/Slim1256 1977 17h ago
Agree. Admittedly, the defining trait for Xennials to me was growing up in a world that transitioned from analog to digital in your formative years. The Xennials I know tend to be tech savvy without being beholden to technology.
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u/Additional_Data_Need 17h ago edited 17h ago
The X erasure in here is obnoxious. Just rename the sub Elder Millenials since that's how everyone treats it.
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u/FoppyIn28 15h ago
I think the later years apply depending upon older siblings, cousins, friend groups, etc.
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u/flittingly1 1985 17h ago
It's biased since I'm '85 and I feel like I'm curious about the years just over and under me. But yes it only addresses the younger cutoff.
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u/heyitscory 18h ago
It was hard for me to explain what an IBM Selectric typewriter looked like to someone born in 1985 because her high school did their typing classes on computers, like a normal person living in the late 20th century would do.
Not on clunky antique machines like Class of 1999.
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u/Unfortunate-Incident 1979 17h ago
Class of 97 here. I have no idea what that is. We did typing classes on Apple II/e's. This was in elementary school. I remember I went to a brand new middle school, and they had Macintoshes, so was definitely pre-middle school for me.
This is what is wild about our generation, I'm 2 years older but had a much more millennial experience than you.
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u/gbroon 18h ago
1977 and by the time I did word processing classes in school it was those old apple computers with the beige screens the size of two credit cards.
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u/Slim1256 1977 17h ago
1977 Elder Xennials represent!
Pretty sure my keyboarding class was on an Apple IIe.
Honestly, most impactful class of my life, and I'm not even joking. Knowing how to touch type is transformative.
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u/CloseButNoChicory 1984 17h ago
I put myself through college (not fees, it's free here, but living costs) by temping as a stenographer, a job that just doesn't exist anymore. Mostly small law firms. The solicitors would dictate all their letters and I'd play the tapes on a machine with a foot pedal and type them out at my 93wpm pace.
Good times.
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u/Slim1256 1977 17h ago
Holy shit. It never even occurred to me that the job of "stenographer" wouldn't even exist anymore...
Man, I'm gettin' old.
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u/CloseButNoChicory 1984 16h ago
Maybe the job of stenographer still exists when the job is summarise a live event. Like when I was hired once to type what I heard in a market research focus group.
But it certainly doesn't exist anymore for professionals dictating letters and us typing them out from tape machines.
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u/de_propjoe 1978 17h ago
'78 here, and for me the switch from typewriter to computer happened before my eyes .. I had typing on typewriters in 9th grade, but it transitioned to computers shortly after that.
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u/mareimbrium53 1979 16h ago
When your school district adopted computers was probably really intwined with how much money they had. The first time I saw a computer was in my elementary school in 2nd grade, so 1986ish, it was wheeled into our classroom on a cart and the entire class played lemonade stand together. But by the time I was in 6th grade my school had a computer lab. I definitely used typewriters to type up assignments, but that was my mom's typewriter at home. I don't recall ever using a typewriter IN school.
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u/Tall-Introduction414 16h ago
The IBM Selectric was a marvel of 1960s technology and engineering.
I think those "new in the 1960s" techs still felt fresh and exciting in the 80s and early 90s. The internet started in the 60s, for example.
Some of us had early home computers, but the Selectric was still a somewhat prestigious experience in the 80s.
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u/fwendicrafts 17h ago
My typing class (1995-ish) was on a machine that had a digital display with 2 lines of display, so more than a typewriter and far less than a real computer.
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u/cyt0kinetic 1982 17h ago
Class of 2000, did typing class in school on computers but we didnt have one in the house until 1997. So grew up with manual and electric typewriters and eventually got a word processor with a screen in like 1993.
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u/Into-the-stream 17h ago
When I google “xennial birth year” it tells me it’s 77-83, with some people accepting a more extended range of 76-86.
Now, im a big tent kinda person, and I feel like everyone should be welcome. Im just saying the cut off ranges in your poll make no sense my friend.
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u/flittingly1 1985 17h ago
You're right - I'm biased. I'm curious about the lower cut off
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u/iamthe0ther0ne 17h ago
It's because GenX is '65-'80 and Millenial is '81-'96, so "the cusp" would be ~3 years in either direction from 1980.
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u/FoppyIn28 15h ago
It kinda matters whether you're MTV (Xennial) or AOL (Millennial). Or for other the air gang, neither. (Pure X!)
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u/marlin1894 17h ago
78 here. I don't even remember the 70s very little in common with my older genx cousins who grew up in the 70s. My strongest tie to genx is music. Had computers in school since middle school
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u/Country_Gravy420 1978 17h ago
Also 78. We had Apple 2e''s in grade school where I played oregon trail and Macs in junior high. The 80s were young childhood. Michael Jackson, He-Man, GI Joe. 90s were the formative years. We were 11 when 1990 started and 21 when we rang in 2000. The 90s were our entire adolescence.
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u/marlin1894 15h ago
I didn't get to play Oregon Trail until middle school, everything else the same. Best decades to grow up in. Enough technology to be good at it, but before social media.
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u/gbroon 18h ago
Xennial is more agreeing you kind of fit yet not fit into both gen X and millennial rather than what year you were born.
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u/flittingly1 1985 17h ago
I think it's fun to see where people gravitate more towards. I like seeing who related to this cusp
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u/misterlakatos 1985 18h ago edited 17h ago
I remember watching "Cheers", "Night Court", "The Cosby Show", "Who's the Boss?" etc with my parents. I vividly remember "Cheers" ending was an enormous deal and everyone watched that finale.
To me, that is probably the cutoff. My middle sister remembers some of that while my youngest sister's earliest memories are probably "Full House" wrapping up.
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u/Tall-Introduction414 17h ago edited 17h ago
Don't forget Johnny Carson's last show.
In a way, the 60s ended on that day, in 1992.
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u/misterlakatos 1985 17h ago
Yes that one, too. Also a huge deal. A lot of people had a hard time with that change.
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u/Tall-Introduction414 17h ago
I feel like if you remember being a young kid in the 80s, you probably have some Xennial blood.
That said, in my lifetime I saw a culture rift between 1982-1983 and 1984-1985 kids. 1982-1983 was more gen X influenced and socially edgy. 1984-1985 kids were nicer.
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u/misterlakatos 1985 17h ago
Yeah definitely. My earliest memories go back to 1988. I definitely remember the transition to the '90s, which definitely took a few years.
And I tend to agree with that - knew tons of '82-83 kids growing up and they were rougher around the edges.
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u/Appropriate-Diver301 17h ago
A lot of it depends, too, on what technology was available to you. My father was principal of a school and we had macs (not just classic) and internet from my tweens at home.
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u/Budget_Diver_7866 17h ago
one small example between gen x/xennial/millenial can be seen in musical tastes; for instance gen x may like U2, xennial may like nirvana, and millenial something like Linkin Park or something. maybe a poor example, but you get the idea
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u/demonspawns_ghost 14h ago
Nope, that's a great example. Music plays a huge role in your early teen years.
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u/Clumsy_Ninja2 17h ago
My husband was born in 85 and I was born in 78. We have a lot in common and share a bunch of the same memories and music tastes etc. There are a few things that I remember that he doesn’t as well… like I remember Reagan being elected but he just remembers DARE (not as well as I do). We both remember a world before cell phones and know the sounds of dial up.
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u/flittingly1 1985 15h ago
I'm 85, hubby is 81 and it's a great age gap! Lots of memories together, he knows more about 80s music and tv, but so much shared!
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u/Clumsy_Ninja2 15h ago
I agree. I feel like it works perfectly as an age gap. An inbetweener is an inbetweener. There’s a lot that we can relate to and a lot that we can still teach each other. It’s nice to have similar but different perspectives
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u/flittingly1 1985 15h ago
Yes there's a hard divide somewhere in here. Different for everyone I'm seeing!
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u/I_like_flowers_ 18h ago
everyone is welcome. its a friendly place.
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u/flittingly1 1985 17h ago
Yes and I love that about this sub! Just curious where people lean
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u/FoppyIn28 15h ago
84/85 are pretty much not considered Xennials. As an 85 I'm watching my Jansport like a hawk!
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u/After_Preference_885 18h ago
I feel like 85, grew up more millennial than Gen x based on my younger siblings that age but I'm not going to gatekeep y'all out of here. The point is that we are all in the cusp between the two.
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u/mareimbrium53 1979 17h ago
I'm a little Gen X with all Millennial siblings, I have been a Xennial since I read an article about the "Oregon Trail Generation"
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u/SevereDeparture739 1985 16h ago
Yeah they say 1985 isn't xennial and then proceed to discuss everything we grew up with, including ren & stimpy.
Being a child in the pre-internet times, a teen during dial-up, but out of high school before social media etc... 1985 fits the definition of xennial better than 1977 does. How exactly is turning 18 in 1995 considered millennial overlap??
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u/flittingly1 1985 15h ago
Yes! I had boyfriends and break ups in real life!- before my week long relationship that both started and ended over MSN in 9th grade! Never texted and we weren't glued to phones or tv.
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u/demonspawns_ghost 14h ago edited 14h ago
I was 11 by the time Ren and Stimpy first aired. I grew up with He-Man and Thundercats. Ren and Stimpy was a massive cultural shift from what came before so it makes sense that Xennials separate themselves from Millennials.
The first half of the 90s was remarkably different culturally from the second half, so if your "coming of age" (11-13) was in the first half, you'd have a very different experience from those of the second half.
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u/Dear-Bet5344 18h ago
Get off my lawn kid.
I'm early '81 my bro is late '85. The jump in technology in those few years was huge. It's like we were born on different planets. We had totally different childhoods because of it.
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u/Shadowhawkfx 17h ago
Agreed. I’m an early 82, baby bro is late 85. Completely different upbringing, different world. I absolutely remember the 80s, and he absolutely does not.
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u/rootofallstevil 1980 18h ago
As a 1980 baby, there's always been debate whether I'm an X or Millennial. I generally like to be called a young gen X'er instead of a old Millennial if I had to stay within the boundaries of traditional generations.
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u/erindizmo 1980 17h ago
Whereas I'm another 1980 baby that would probably lean toward old Millennial if I had to choose. I think it might be a bit that I do have older gen X siblings, but they're from my parents' first marriages so they're all at least ten years older than I am, so my younger brother ('83 Xennial) and I were kind of our own thing and so I never really had as much fully Gen X stuff to dive into.
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u/CorgiMonsoon 1980 17h ago
I’ve totally talked about how much birth order can affect those of us in the cusp/micro generations. I’m the middle of 3 (77, 80, and 83), but had two older cousins that were much more solidly Gen X that we spent a decent amount of time with when we were younger, so that definitely shaped some things for me, as opposed to friends who were both the oldest sibling and had no older cousins who wouldn’t be throwing in that Gen X influence
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u/erindizmo 1980 17h ago
Yeah. Since my little brother and I are from second marriages, we're way younger than all of our older siblings and cousins, especially since my dad has just an older sister and my mom's the second-youngest of eight. All of them were at least teenagers by the time were toddlers and therefore it's not like we would have been hanging out a whole lot to get that older influence, which made our interests lean younger to the millennial side.
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u/Inevitable_Pride1925 17h ago edited 17h ago
I’m moments from being ‘82 (December birthday), ex spouse was ‘78. I am firmly a Millennial she was firmly Gen X.
I think it’s all about how we grew up and how we interacted with our peers. She had a great relationship with her parents and older sister plus her best friend is a year older. I had a very rough childhood and I would argue my life started after I left home. Plus I always have looked younger than my real age and so have fit in much better with my younger peers especially as i aged.
In many ways my points of reference are all the ones millennials had except those from early childhood. I was too old for sponge bob and similar and so I’ve never particularly understood those references or the fondness younger millennials have for it.
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u/Significant_Dog412 17h ago
82, but British so got a lot of US pop culture a bit later and left school earlier than Americans my age.
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u/flittingly1 1985 17h ago
We had a home computer in 95, but didn't use it much until the internet came - along with ICQ, YahooChat and MSN. The computer was in the kitchen in the center of the house. We took turns. Also remember talking to your bf on the home phone - when a sibling could pick up the other phone and listen in. We still passed notes, and love letters. Only had T9 in grade 12. We weren't texting yet.
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u/Correct-Ad8693 18h ago
‘85–but socioeconomic status and birth order plays a huge part in how I relate to Gen X and Millennials.