Generational Differences: It's Not Your Fault
October 7, 2024
Okay, Boomer. Why do Gen-Xers roll their eyes at your antics? And why are Millennials (and Gen-Xers) impatiently waiting for you to get out of the way?
The answer is: they can’t help it. Gen-Xers, Millennials – and Boomers, too – are all products of the world that they grew up in. Each generation carries the imprint of defining events (and differing childrearing tactics) that have affected how each perceives the world – and life.
What Happened to the Boomers?
At least three defining events contributed to the Boomer psyche:
- Boomers recognized the injustices that led to the Civil Rights Movement which occured during their formative years.
- They experienced the horrors of the Vietnam War. Either they were drafted and sent to Vietnam (nobody went by choice), or they saw real-time reporting about the atrocities of war – a war they did not want to fight.
- They lost confidence in our nation’s political leaders, as they watched the crimes of Watergate unfold, ultimately leading to President Richard Nixon resigning from office in disgrace.
Consequently, they entered adulthood questioning many American institutions, while embracing personal expression and individual liberty. Their motto was: “If it feels good, do it.”
And along the way they became “The Me-Generation,” focused on satisfying their own self-interests and not necessarily the greater good.
Then Came the “Middle Child.”
Generation-X is like an overlooked “middle child,” a smaller cohort wedged between the larger Boomer and Millennial cohorts. They were the “latchkey kids” that grew up in the first generation of dual-income households, where they returned from school each day to an empty home as Mom and Dad both worked full-time.
Beyond being left to raise themselves – referred to as “free-range parenting” – they missed out on the hands-on parental nurturing that previous generations had enjoyed. In addition to having to raise themselves, there were other defining events that framed their views on life, including:
- The Challenger disaster undermined their collective confidence in American excellence, as many sat in their school classrooms and watched the explosion of the Challenger shuttle on television. That spacecraft carried, among others, Christa McAuliffe, a science teacher who had been given the honor of participating in the mission as a way to promote student interest in space exploration.
- Over a four-year period (1987-1991) they witnessed the birth of a new world order, as the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union collapsed. The “Evil Empire,” as labeled by Ronald Reagan, was no longer a threat.
- Gen-X wealth was generally wiped out by a financial collapse when the Dot-Com Bubble burst in 2000.
- And there was 9-11. Suddenly America – despite being buffered from our enemies by oceans on the east and west – was no longer the safe place we had thought it was.
As a result of these influences, Gen-X values and priorities were far different from the Boomers. “Family” became their highest priority – Xers were as committed to their families as their parents had been to wealth-generation. Work-life balance was more important than compensation, leading many Xers to participate in the gig economy, rather than looking for the structure and financial security large corporations could provide.
This also meant that they had to lower their expectations about attaining wealth, which in turn meant they were doomed to work later into retirement than previous generations.
Which Brings Us to Millennials…
Millennials are the most planned and wanted generation in history, thanks to the availability of birth control and abortion. They were raised in a time of optimism. The economy was good. There was no more Soviet Union to threaten America. And parents wanted their children to experience a more positive upbringing than they had experienced themselves. “Self-esteem” became a primary focus of childrearing.
Furthermore, childrearing included heavy emphasis on civic virtues that led Millennials to a craving for teamwork, a desire for fitting in, a tendency toward compliance with authority and a preference for low-risk lifestyles.
Despite the positive upbringing, the reality of life eventually intruded on Millennials. In early adulthood they were hammered by two financial crashes. The Global Financial Crisis of 2007-2009 saw the housing bubble burst and the subprime mortgage market collapse. That was followed by the Pandemic Crash in 2020 that caused 22 million job losses and a $16 trillion hit to the economy. Among the outcomes of these financial collapses is the fact that unlike independence-minded Gen-Xers, Millennials have chosen to eschew entrepreneurial ventures to find safety and job stability in large organizations. But like Gen-X, they will have to continue working long into their retirement years.
It's Not Your Fault
None of these cohorts had a chance to be different than what they have become. The prevailing environments Boomers, Gen-Xers and Millennials grew up in molded each generation to be the way it is. Boomer desire to break away from the social standards of their day also led to their focus on personal expression and individual liberty – ultimately turning them into the “Me-Generation.”
Generation-X – the Latchkey Kids – did not value material success and wealth. While they achieved the work-life balance that is so important to them, they are now finding themselves unprepared for retirement.
Despite a positive upbringing and their high expectations for the future, Millennials are finding disappointment with the realities of adulthood.
The point is this: none of these generations brought this on themselves…