Great reading . . .
For those who are "Gen Y/i" or "Millenials," of the people who say you (as a generation) are used to getting what you want, entitled, spoiled, overscheduled, dependent on your parents, etc., many are not griping "Gen Xers" -- they're also psychologists and sociologists of various ages studying cultural trends.
The "Baby Boomers" have been and continue to be (as a generation) doted on and adored. First they were a celebration/outcome of the end of a major war. Then came the anticipations of what this enormous group would do. Now, among other things, they're marketing targets. It's not only people younger than the BBs who sometimes feel overshadowed -- talk with people born before the baby boom and you may hear the same thing.
It makes sense that kids of the BBs (Gen Y/i/M) would have some of these characteristics when you look at their parents, who want their kids to be all, do all, and have all to a higher degree than in the past.
All of these are generalizations, of course, but I've always found the categorization of generations to be odd, anyway. It's hard to see how when I was 24, I had much in common with someone who was 13 or 14, but it all depends on the definition of the generation which, as noted above, often seems to change. Speaking of which . . .
To my knowledge, author Douglas Coupland has always been credited with coining the term "Generation X." His book of the same name was published in 1991, and the book is a "salute to the generation born in the late 1950s and 1960s." The three main characters are in their 20s, and the stats in the back focus on people who were 18-29 between 1984 and 1987. That means I, as a child of the '70s, shouldn't be considered Gen X! But that's what I've been labeled.
Make of it what you will. I've always liked this quote:
Everyone is the age of their heart. -- Guatemalan Proverb
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