Who Decided to Name the Generations and Tell Us Who We Are?

Sunday Real Talk

I started thinking about something.

Who decided to name all these generations?

And not only name us…

Who decided what each generation is supposedly known for?

😂

Because somehow we have gone from simply knowing when somebody was born to having an entire personality attached to their birth years.

The Greatest Generation.

The Silent Generation.

Baby Boomers.

Generation X.

Millennials.

Generation Z.

Generation Alpha.

And now we are entering Generation Beta.

Lord.

We have made it all the way to Beta.

😂

So, of course, I started looking into it.

And what I found interesting is that there is no official government office sitting somewhere saying:

Okay, everybody born between these years will now be called this.

There is no Generation Naming Committee.

😂

These names have developed over time through demographers, researchers, journalists, authors and eventually popular culture.

Some names came from actual historical circumstances.

Baby Boomers were connected to the huge increase in births after World War II.

Generation X became widely known after author Douglas Coupland’s 1991 book Generation X.

The term Millennials was developed by researchers William Strauss and Neil Howe for the generation coming of age around the new millennium.

Then we moved into Generation Z, followed by Generation Alpha, and now the name Generation Beta is being used for children beginning to be born around this time.

But here is where Real Talk comes in for me.

I understand using generations to look at history.

That makes sense.

Someone born during the Great Depression experienced a completely different childhood from someone born with an iPad sitting next to their crib.

Someone who grew up before television had a different experience from somebody who grew up with cable television.

Someone who remembers life before the internet had a different experience from somebody who has never known a world without Google.

Those things absolutely shape us.

But somewhere along the way, we went from studying what happened during a generation to deciding what the people in that generation are like.

And that is where I start asking questions.

Baby Boomers are supposedly hardworking, career-driven and loyal to their employers.

Generation X is independent and skeptical.

Millennials are collaborative, socially conscious and focused on purpose.

Generation Z values authenticity, mental health awareness and digital expression.

Generation Alpha is expected to be highly technological and highly educated.

Okay.

But…

Who says?

😂

Because millions of people are born during each one of these time periods.

They don’t have the same parents.

They don’t have the same education.

They don’t have the same culture.

They don’t have the same financial circumstances.

They don’t have the same race or ethnicity.

They aren’t raised in the same country.

They don’t experience the same trauma.

They don’t have the same opportunities.

And they definitely don’t all have the same personality.

So how did we become comfortable saying:

This is what your generation is like.

I think this connects to something I have been thinking about more and more lately.

We love putting people into groups.

Then once we create the group, we start creating characteristics for the people inside of it.

Now instead of getting to know Susan, Tom, Maria, James or whoever is standing in front of us, we already have an idea of who they are because somebody told us what their generation is supposed to represent.

She’s a Boomer.

He’s Gen X.

They’re Millennials.

Those kids are Gen Z.

And sometimes the label becomes an explanation for everything.

That’s because they’re Boomers.

That’s such a Millennial thing.

Gen Z doesn’t want to work.

Boomers don’t understand technology.

Gen X doesn’t care.

We laugh about some of it.

I laugh too.

Some of the stereotypes can be funny because we recognize pieces of ourselves in them.

But when did a general observation become somebody’s identity?

That is the part I question.

I also think we forget that generations overlap each other.

People raise the generation behind them.

Grandparents influence grandchildren.

Teachers influence students.

Seasoned workers influence new workers.

Neighbors influence children.

Communities influence families.

We aren’t living inside little generation bubbles.

At least we shouldn’t be.

A young person can have an old soul.

An older person can embrace every new piece of technology that comes along.

A Millennial can believe strongly in traditional values.

A Boomer can be completely unconventional.

A Gen Z young person can have an incredible work ethic.

And somebody from any generation can be lazy.

😂

That isn’t a generation.

That’s a person.

Another thing that makes me curious is how these descriptions change over time.

You don’t really know what an entire generation will become while they are still growing up.

Generation Alpha is still young.

Yet there are already predictions about what they will value, how educated they will become and how technology will shape them.

Now Generation Beta has barely started and we are already naming them.

Can they at least get here first?

😂

Let these babies be born.

Let them learn to walk.

Let them live some life before we tell them who they are going to be.

Because history will shape them.

Technology will shape them.

Their families will shape them.

The economy will shape them.

The world will shape them.

But ultimately, life will shape each one differently.

That is what I believe we sometimes lose when we spend too much time labeling groups of people.

There is value in studying generations.

It helps us understand history.

It helps us understand social change.

It can help businesses, educators, healthcare systems and researchers understand broad patterns.

I get that.

But broad patterns should never replace getting to know the individual person.

Your birth year tells me when you entered the world.

It does not tell me everything about what happened after you got here.

That story belongs to you.

And maybe that is the part we need to remember.

We are influenced by our generation.

But we are not defined completely by it.

We are products of our families.

Our choices.

Our mistakes.

Our opportunities.

Our struggles.

Our communities.

Our experiences.

And everything we have learned along the way.

So yes…

Call me whatever generation my birth year puts me in.

😂

But if you really want to know who I am?

You are going to have to get to know me.

Because no generation chart can tell my whole story.

And I don’t believe yours can either.

Sunday Real Talk.

Just another one of those things I started thinking about and had to go look up.

😂🌻

From Flava in Her Tower 🌻