Gen X? Millennial? Gen Z? Who Cares?

If you are like Cedar you could care less what younger Americans think. Being at the tail end of the boomers gives me a profound perspective on stupid and lazy.

My experience with Millennials is that they are lazy and have a hubris sense of entitlement, yet they are not as lazy or lacking common sense as Gen Z. 

My neighbor's daughter we'll call her "crash" has not even the basic concept of traffic laws. But it is not just the stop sign running, speeding and texting while driving that scares me.

Every morning she attempts a "3 point turn" in the street before heading off to high school. Never mind that if she just drove around the block an added distance of .14 miles, she would be headed in the right direction. 

Most mornings the "3 point turn" attempt is full of near misses; the mail box, other parked cars, a speeding school bus, and other drivers leaving for work. This is not a pull into a nearby driveway and reverse course, but a legit and rather ugly 3 point in the road turn around. This lack of common sense is perplexing but not unique to this generation.

Which brings me to the question who is Gen Z often called "Zoomers" yep "Crash" is a Zoomer formally defined for your reference below:

The Pew Research Center periodically updates the age ranges it uses to define the generational groups, and that includes the Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials. In 2019, the organization officially added the birth years for Gen Z. Since then, other sources have weighed in on the suggested age ranges for Gen Alpha. 

The Silent Generation: Born 1928-1945 (78-95 years old)

Baby Boomers: Born 1946-1964 (59-77 years old)

Gen X: Born 1965-1980 (43-58 years old)

Millennials: Born 1981-1996 (27-42 years old)

Gen Z: Born 1997-2012 (11-26 years old)

Gen Alpha: Born early 2010s-2025 (0-about 10 years old)

When Pew Research revised its guidelines for generational classifications in 2018, Gen Z and Gen Alpha didn’t appear on the list as separate categories. People born between 1997—the cutoff for Millennials—and the present year were simply called “Post-Millennials.”

Gen Z has since grown into an economical and cultural force that’s hard to ignore. The world’s teens and young adults have been behind many of the biggest fashion trends, political movements, and memes of the last several years. Even though the oldest Millennials are in their early 40s, the generation has long been synonymous with young people. With Gen Z and Gen Alpha gaining attention, that’s finally starting to change.

While the dates are still a bit up in the air (some argue that the oldest Zoomers were born in 1995), Pew Research defines members of Gen Z as anyone born between 1997 and 2012. That means the group spans ages 11 to 26 in 2023. The organization cites important political, economic, and technological factors that helped them determine the cutoff from Millennial to Generation Z. Most American Millennials were shaped by 9/11, the Iraq War, and the economic recession of 2008, while members of Gen Z may have little to no memory of these events. Gen Z is also notable for being the first generation to be totally immersed in the world of the internet since birth.

The official birth years for Generation Alpha are still up for debate, with some contending that they start in 2010 (syncing up with when the first iPad was released) and end in 2025, while other sources cite 2012 (or just the early 2010s) as the jumping off point for this group. As Pew Research still hasn’t officially included them in their guidelines as of 2023, chances are that debate will continue to persist. However, what is clear is that any babies born right now definitely belong to Generation Glass, a nickname they’ve gotten thanks to how omnipresent technology has been in their formative years. Another huge factor in shaping these younger kids will be COVID-19—kids born at the start of the pandemic in 2020 will be turning 3 this year and will have no memories of life before quarantine.

As they gain influence, you can expect to hear a lot more about Gen Z and Gen Alpha, plus the industries they may or may not be blamed for killing in the 2020s.

In short like it or not here they come! Look out America!