Chat GPT on Gen X

[CarolinaFever]

I was born in 74. Went from records to cassettes to CDs to streaming. Loved the 80s. Still listen to 80s music, along with 60s, 70s, 90s and 2000s. Don't listen to much after 2009. I think rap and hip hop really dropped off in the 2010s. I remember making mix tapes all the time in the 80s. Used to listen to the top.40 countdown and make tapes. Also loved listening to the mix on the weekends on Foxy 107 in Durham in the 80s and recording it.

 

[farce©]

I think Gen-X really is two sub-generations and find that folks too young to recall a 1970s childhood tend to be more like older Millenials.

This subgeneration applies to boomers as well. My older sisters were adolescents in the 50s, they were in college when the Beatles arrived. I was in 4th grade (born in ‘54.) Their teenage experience was more saddle shoes and poodle skirts, mine was more Woodstock and lousy Mexican dirt weed. There are people born 10 years after me in the early 1960s who are still Boomers but have few common influences in their upbringing with me and even fewer with Boomers like my sisters who were born in the 40s.

But we are all Boomers.

 

[SmilingJack]

Generation Jones: teens of the '70s​

Born 1955–1964
While Early Boomers had major icons to look up to, Generation Jones was too young to remember these icons in their zenith. These Gen Jonesers were too young for Woodstock, the “I have a Dream” speech, and the assassination of the first Catholic president. The youth-driven counter-culture movement had accomplished many of its goals, and those kids that had been fighting for change were fighting for career growth by the 1970s. Instead of the idealistic and optimistic outlook of the Early Boomers, this generation was experiencing the backlash of an economy that was falling dramatically. This economic hardship and slipping post-war optimism defined the atmosphere that Gen Jonesers experienced as they were coming into their formative years.

Life at home was more different for Gen Jones than the more traditional setting that Early Boomers experienced. More homes were being forced into having two working parents due to changes in the economy and job availability. When Gen Jones went to school, there were not enough desks or books in the classroom because the school system wasn’t ready for this large cohort. They weren’t ready to put their kids in the same situation, so families were beginning to shrink in size. The pill became available so birth control and family planning were easier than in the past. With the competitive job market and economic stresses, divorce was on the rise as Gen Jones entered their formative years, causing teens to spend more time working independently and caring for themselves. While this wasn’t the generation of latch-key kids, Generation Jones was on the trailing edge of Generation X, which saw a dramatic spike in divorce rate and latch-key kids.

While the economy took a nose-dive, fuel prices spiked, the oil embargo impacted the nation, and job opportunities shrunk. Gen Jones had to become more independent and learn to fight for their future, because they quickly understood that nothing would be handed to them. With the tight job market, they knew they had to put their head down and work hard, dress for the jobs they wanted not the jobs they had, and develop methods of standing out. This was important for career growth, but at the time the main focus was on simply keeping their jobs. This period of fierce competition for job stability has stayed with the Gen Jonesers, who earned their names because they were constantly striving to “keep up with the jones” or “jonesin” for something more.

KEY EVENTS + CONDITIONS
Watergate, Stagflation, Oil Embargo, Iran Hostage Crisis, Deindustrialization

Early Boomers Generation Jones: Meet the Two Boomer Subgroups

Helping organizations recruit, retain, and engage each generation of talent.

www.generations.com