Hi all fellow GenJones ppl!
I just found out that we are different than ‘ boomers’ Kind of a relief cause I do not identify a lot with the earlier part of this gen.
Not a lot of ppl know that there’s a distinction between the different years we were born from the Boomer generation.
Perhaps we need to quantify to others that we are different in our perspective or maybe not. Thoughts?
Isn't that the truth. Never heard of Generation Jones till this sub about 6 months ago. I still think of myself as a Boomer, but not "that" boomer, though technically (1961) makes me a Jones, and a Boomer.
I first heard the term 2-3 years ago, resonated with me immediately. my bro in law was born in 1946. I was born in '59. we don't even come close to growing up in the same era. (but I still love the guy like a brother!)
when I graduated in 1981 unemployment rate in my county was 15% (nationally almost 9%). the interest rate on my student loan was 9% and I made minimum wage - $3.35 an hour. at 21, I thought it was normal to have 3 roommates and eat beans and rice 5 days a week. but we thought that was just the way things were supposed to be when you graduated. I had no idea how good or bad things were compared to those who were older than me.
Another 1961 here. Same. Though I may be unique yet, as I spent 1967-70 on an Army post on Okinawa, so I missed the vast bulk of the Vietnam angst.
Do like I did, marry a Vietnam vet. Then you get to deal with all the angst and ptsd.
I'm joking, of course. It helps me cope. Being a Gen Joneser, I had a healthy does of Mr Roger's neighborhood and positive messages about taking care of each other. Good thing, bc we seem to be better at embracing psychotherapy and positive lifestyles than the boomers.
No, I married an Air Force nurse. The only PTSD she has came from ass-hat doctors. I think she married me cause I was the only “nice” one. Though I still insisted she salute me.
PS-I “paid” for every one if those salutes till she caught up with me. At least our kid could boast that his momma DID wear combat boots.
You too? Mine is over 10 years older than me and we have totally different memories and experiences.
What's funny is my older sis (<2yrs older) married a combat vet with ptsd as well, only he is younger, a Gen Xer. He'd been through a lot before they met, got his rehab done. His experience is so different from ours. Anyway our two vet husbands really get along.
I’m glad they have a bond. It’s important for them to have someone who has been there and done that. Or so my hubs told me.
It's very apparent. Plus they're both Army so they bond on that too.
I did the same, twice. Their issues were my issues.
we seem to be better at embracing psychotherapy and positive lifestyles than the boomers.
We are Boomers.
I always kind of prided myself on being born in the last year of the baby boom, and my previous sweetheart was born in the first (yes we were twenty years apart, shocker). But neither of us ended up being "stereotypical" boomers that are so emergent these days. Probably due to constrained living circumstances.
I really don't relate much to Gen X, although I'm also technically a member, having graduated college in 1986, which supposedly is the generational marker.
Gen Jones sort of fits that in between space.
The baby boomer gen is 1945 - 1965 - seems like it’s too many years for just one.
The term Generation Jones was first coined by the American cultural commentator Jonathan Pontell, who identified the cohort as those born from 1954 to 1965 in the U.S. who were children during Watergate, the oil crisis, and stagflation rather than during the 1950s, but slightly before Gen X.
That's interesting. So as a 1965 baby, I really don't belong here any more than I belong in Gen X. It's a tossup. Oh well. I may just keep telling people that I'm Gen X.
No, you're the last year of Gen Jones. So you do belong here.
I'm also the first year of Gen X. But honestly, I'm not cool enough for Gen X.
Of course you are! You are founding Gen X!
Aww
Bigenerational, or if counting boomer, trigenerational
Yeah basically belong in both.
I'd imagine you'd maybe identify 60% with Gen X forum and 40% with Jones forum?
I'm core Gen X and maybe identify 80% with Gen X forum and 20% this forum. Or to get more complex also some decent bit with Xennials and bit with Millennials as well in terms of nostalgia.
That's about right. I do like these folks best, tho. 😊
Close. Baby boom is 1946-64. The baby boom was defined by the Bell curve created by the surge in the birth rate after World War Two. The start and end dates were determined by a statistical pattern along an axis, nothing more and nothing less.
There’s a little more wiggle room in how and what defines the other named generations, all identified after the baby boom was defined.
Gen Jones is the end segment of boomers and beginning of gen x to further define a sub group of the boomers and the first few years of the gen x population based on social trends, not demographics.
The “generations” that came after (X, Y, Z, Alpha)were named by social analysts and pounced on by marketers. It was a means to identify a segment of the emerging population by social trends and their consumption habits.
The “greatest generation”, that came of age before World war two and sacrificed the most during that time, were so named by newsman Tom Brokaw in 1998 in his book of the same name.
The name the “silent generation” came about later to define those “silenced “ by the difficult times into which they were born, the Great Depression and World war two.
It's 1946 - 1964. Generation Jones is 1954 - 1965. A generation is about 20 years.
But yours is only 11 years long?
I am part of the Baby Boom and a member of Generation Jones. GJ is a subset of the Baby Boom Generation.
How many subsets of the Baby Boom generation?
You are free to Google "Generation Jones."
Yeah it really doesn't make sense, the very, very youngest of you were almost the same as early Gen X or even core Gen X and a bunch of you had all the big hair, colors, music of the 80s. And got into computers late teens or 20s unlike any Boomers, if a bit later than Gen X.
Same for Gen X. Like early and core Gen X, like myself, had 100% 80s formative years, but late Gen X then basically rejected every last bit of our style, music, pop culture, vibe and went 100% the opposite and were all flat greasy hair dingy clothes, baggy clothes, grunge and gangster rap and all nihilistic and angsty rather than the upbeat, light-hearted, stylish, chill, fun 80s vibe and the big hair, bright colors and style. They were more like the earliest Millennials in many ways for their high school years. So they created a Xennial unofficial grouping just like Jones. For whatever reason the popular press and basically everyone seems to consider Gen X the grunge and nihilism generation but that was only for the tail end (which they only added on after someone decided that having osmeone turn 18 in the year 2000 was the most important key to the next generation and created Millennials by getting rid of Gen Y and extending Gen X quite a few years).
Don't overthink it.
I'm core X. Graduated high school and college in the early to mid 90s. We are every bit of the grunge, hip hop era. I was a late teen when grunge premiered. I was in high school at the very latter side of the 80s and don't relate at all. So I don't think that our experiences should be handed over to Xennial. Over half of Gen x graduated in the 90s (9 years). That makes it very Gen x.
Also, early Boomers got into computers in the 80s because of their kids and they had to lesrn them for work.
It sound more like you are Xennial. Early and core Gen X was 80s formative years. It doesn't make sense to split Xennials off so late that you still have half of 90s grunge gen part of Gen X even with a Xennials split. What is even the point of Xennials then? At that point just forget and stick to Boomer,Gen X, Millennial and forget the sub-gens.
Originally Gen X cut off really early. Now it's like the 80s formative years gen are the forgotten of the forgotten we don't even get to be part of our own generation the few times the generation even gets mentioned at all. And we were way more distinct, you have to go back to early 60s for big hair and color and post-80s until.... still waiting 30 years later. But nobody ever talks about Gen X as the 80s years probably since so many of the writers/blogger/music critics and so on tend to be indie/alt types who identify more with grungy sort of stuff. All you hear is grunge, grunge, gagster rap for Gen X and then Boomer this or that or Millennial this or that.
My sibs range from 1948 to 1963. Not too many at all and as #6, I was exposed to lots of years of fun stories, events and music!
I’ve embraced the invisibility and living undercover for a lifetime.
I think it’s cause we’re lumped together cause .. you know we’re older.
Right. 1960 baby here. If you follow the boomers being fools sub; it’s depressing. I definitely don’t relate to crabby, know it all boomers, and I’m horrified that people would assume I’m one of them”them”.
All of this generational stuff is bunk. We need to quit generalizing that because you were born at a certain time, you behave a certain way. What a load of ______!
So many are millennial kids railing against their GenX parents. It's ironic.
Born in 1962, so in theory I could collect early social security later this year. I'm not starting early, it just blows my mind that I could.
Most Gen X are raising gen z. I don't see a lot of Millennials railing against gen x parents. If that makes you feel better.
Nothing I need to feel better about. My kid and I are fine. Your condescencion is noted though
I am just looking at typical ages for having kids (which seems a very common theme in that thread). A couple with young children at home may likely be in their 20s. Young parents in their 20s can easily have parents who are still in their 40s or 50s, which is mostly... GenX.
I know people are trending toward having kids later in life (I was one, so I know generations are skipped per se). But my gut feel is that parents of young children voicing a lot of complaints about boomer grandparents are actually probably GenX grandparents. And no knock on them as a group. We all do/did the best we could. It's just the math. And the subject matter.
I notice that Hen Jones either tries to age X up, or throws us in conversations that are unflattering to feel better.
That's true. Except most of Gen X have Gen Z kids, not Millennial. It is very likely that most of the complaints are against their gen Jones parents, ppl more of the age range to have Millennial.
So it's roughly 60/40 based on the mother's age.
How old are the dads? Based on nothing more than conjecture, but given that older male/younger female relationships are still more common, I imagine that would skew things a bit older, as far as the overall dynamic of the household.
Regardless, still a pretty good chunk of GenX parents have millennial children, who might well be in that interfering grandparent knows it all stage of grandparenthood. Which is frustrating for the parents indeed! I didn't enjoy lectures when I was a young married person and parent either.
And older GenZ is mid 20s. Old enough to be parents with GenX grandparents.
Not to mention those seniors with clear difficulties navigating everyday life slowly or with temper issues... could easily be Silent generation. A lot of the people described sound more like 80 years old, not 60.
That said, they could just as easily be describing my last GenX ex, who was younger than me, lol. Angry cranks span generations
There are far more mothers involved than dads. So that doesn't skew things that much. Also, most people tend to date/marry within 5 years.
30 some% to 60 % is not a "good chunk". That's way less than half.
Then Gen X and Millennial kids are old enough for Jones to be great grandparents.
Why bring Gen x into it is anger spans generations. I notice one thing Jones will do is try to age us up and bring up anything unflattering. Instead of being mentors
Yes unbelievable people can attribute all those characteristics to 28 million people sounds like prejudice to me.
The boomersbeingfools sub is scary for those of us that are born in the same age but aren't those same people. I relate here so much more.
Many of the commenters on that sub are psychopaths who rail on against Boomers just like they complain about Boomers doing to them. If you try and make a rational point against one of their tantrums, they get viscous in response. As the saying goes: you become what you hate.
Or kids that don’t like their parents. I read some of their complaints and think they aren’t really dissing boomers as much as being typical young people that hate their parents. There’s plenty of actual boomer hate there, too.
Right. Just read one where the OP was bitching about the boomers “invading their space” because the boomers came over to talk to them in their yard. I mean, maybe they were trying to be friendly or neighborly? I agree people freaking out in a store or some woman ranting about a driving issue is a boomer being a fool, but some of those posts are a stretch…
Or they’re projecting
I despise those anti-boomer subs and posts. The same people who rail against racism, sexism, gender discrimination, ableism and the like are more than happy to jump on the ageism bandwagon. They don’t seem to realize that they are guilty of the very same thought process that drives all those other “isms.” It’s bigotry, plain and simple. All of it.
Yes, they are such hypocrites! They disgust me.
boomersbeingfools is just the current lexicon kids use to bitch about old people acting old
Right?! I’m so happy to learn that I’m not a boomer!
Yeah but that applies to all ages look for assholes and you will find them, no matter the age. The people writing those divisive posts are the same as the ones they complain about.
r/FuckImOld is (probably) like a happier version of the boomer subreddit. Plus, some of the things in it I remember.
I belonged to that until I found this subreddit a month or two ago. Now I mostly hang out here. 👍
1962 here. I think the reason that sub hits a nerve is that we actually all recognize the entitled, crabby, judgmental, ignorant people described in the posts. I always want to replay “but that’s not us! You’re talking about my parents/inlaws/older siblings!” (Also annoying: that sub uses “Boomer” and “elderly” interchangeably.)
It’s obviously ridiculous to generalize about an entire generation. I also think there are vast differences between the experiences and attitudes of “classic Boomers” and late Boomers. I cringe at some of the stuff I hear from older Boomers.
Late Boomers are some of the meanest people I've encountered. The only difference is that early Boomers don't try to be you and infringe on your experiences. Classic boomers are too young to be your parents.
I’m saying the behavior described on r/BoomersBeingFools — being closed-minded and judgmental and bad at technology— sometimes reminds me of my parents/in-laws. Maybe it’s just that each generation has some resentments about the previous one. Though technically it’s possible for the oldest Boomers (born 1946) to be parents of trailing “Boomers” born in the early 60s.
I agree that there are people my age who are mean. Do you have any theories about why you’d consider GenJones folks “some of the meanest”? How old are you, if you don’t mind my asking? Genuinely curious.
I don’t know what you mean by “infringe on your experiences.”
A lot of them don’t relate to it either
Born in 64, that puts me on the fence
Naw, you're a Joneser. 🙂
It's a weird fence, all right. My parents were 5 and 6 years old in 1946, and yet we're technically classified as baby boomers? By who? By The Man, that's who! Yeah, no - I don't think so. F THE MAN! We were in high school when MTV started. We are O.G. Gen-X, if you ask me.
Happy 60th this year, btw. Cheers!
Nah. You're diffent from Gen X. Some of you have gen x kids
My kid is a millennial.
My childhood has nothing in common with someone born in 1950, or even 1957 or 58.
People are allowed to identify with whatever cohort they want to. Your comments suggest you want to be some sort of generational gatekeeper. Either that or I'm responding to a 2 month-old bot.
But a lot of Gen Jones have Gen X kids. My godparents are Jones.
My childhood has nothing in common with ppl born 64 and before.
You can identify. That's doesn't mean you're in that generation. A cohort are ppl who have common experiences. I'm not a gatekeeper. Just as you can proclaim not to have anything in common with 50, 57, 58. I have nothing in common with '64.
Omg I joined this sub cuz I liked it, not realizing that I'm straight up Generation Jones. 1965! No wonder. I never really felt Gen X or boomer, this is it. When wiki said oil crisis, Watergate, and Elvis Costello for Gen Jones, I knew I was in the right place
I'd add "remembers the gas lines, but wasn't driving yet"!
I had just gotten my license and in my state depending on the last number on your license plate being odd or even determined what days you could get gas
I had vanity plates , the gas station operators didn’t car what day it was for me.
Hey, I had vanity plates too????
Mine was all letters LIL CRZD
I'd forgotten that part! People were comparing experiences, two-car families hoped that they had one odd and one even plate so they could go on any day. Siphoning gas from one vehicle to fuel another became a thing.
Gen X remembers the oil crisis and gas lines and 55mph too (well early and core core) and haha very definitely were not driving yet! We don't remember Watergate though (maybe just Ford becoming President or maybe his loss to Carter even more; I can't really recall Nixon having been President but I can Ford and very, very much can Carter; earliest Gen X can probably remember the tail of Nixon though maybe a few of them can remember Watergate actually) and definitely not any moon landing or Vietnam.
The history books fail to mention the most devastating impact of the Watergate scandal - it ruined after school TV reruns. Weekday afternoons were for reruns of Gilligan's Island, the Brady Bunch, Wild Wild West, etc. Then one day I come home and every channel is showing some boring political hearing.
IMO what distinguishes us from our older siblings (or our friends older siblings) is: we don't remember a time without a television in our house. For me at least, it was always 'just there'.
There is good and bad to this. For example I learned classical music from Looney Tunes. To this day if I hear Wagner the image that comes to my mind is Bugs Bunny in a Brunehilde costume.
Ha! Same here. Barber of Seville makes me check the mirror to assess the need for a shave & haircut.
Don’t forget The Scarlett Pumpernickle. ~Daffy Duck.
I think that was one thing we were lucky about. While we were exposed to television when we were young, it was before they had perfected media created exclusively for children (which is mostly crap), so they had no alternative but to show us stuff created primarily for adults in the 1930's and 1940's.
Yep, I can't hear Carmen without silently singing along "Neither a borr'wer nor a lender be! Do not forget, stay out of debt. Think twice, and take this good advice from me - guard that old solvency! There's just one other thing you ought to do, to thine own self be true."
I felt like the writers for Gilligan’s Island wanted to show that they could actually be clever, instead of the normal “hitting Skipper with a ladder after ducking twice, then hitting Gilligan with a hat” shtick. I especially liked how they got all of the music from the same opera, which made it slightly more plausible. Who knew that you could make a record player out of coconuts?
But it may have been black and white TV. Every year when the Wizard of Oz came on I’d have no idea what they were talking about when they said, “Now that’s a horse of a different color.” I was like, it’s a gray horse. What’s the big deal? After I left for college, my parents finally got a color TV. Edit: typo
I definitely remember when my folks got a color TV, though.
According to the numbers, the average boomer is at least 10 years older than me. My experiences growing up were very different from theirs. I preferred the Monkees to anyone who performed at Woodstock. Actually, I didn't even know about Woodstock until three years after it happened.
Exactly. I liked the Monkees too. I didn’t hear of Woodstock for a few years after either.
We have very little in common with ‘leading edge boomers’
I had a Monkees theme birthday party when I was 5
My fav Monkee was Peter Tork. Yours?
Mickey Dolenz
Mike Nesmith!
Davey Jones
Mike Nesmith!
depends on day of the week
Davy jones was SO dreamy.
I saw the Monkees in concert '69 Dane County Coliseum! Davy was my fav!!!
Jimi Hendrix’s first stadium shows were when he opened for the Monkees in concert.
None of us knew who he was, and he got booed off the stage. I literally bumped into him as we were walking into the stadium and he was coming out of his trailer. Scared my 12-year-old self half to death
I agree. 1964 here.
December 63 and I have 0 in common with Boomers. Graduated HS in 82. Feel PaleoGenX
Yep. I was 8 months away from being GenX. Lol. Also class of 82 here. The boomers are a long generation.
Me too Kinsey! "Oh what a night... Late December back in 63!!" 😄 And class of 82.
high five For December 63!
I’m dec 63 too. Hard to relate to being a boomer when we are one by virtue of a few days. I’d never heard of this term until a few weeks ago but it seems to fit me best
You are still a Boomer.
Same here. Dec 19, 1963. Class of 82 as well.
Have 0 in common with young boomers
Same here. As my 60th birthday approaches, I can't help thinking, every day, "JFC I'm gonna be 60!"
1964 and 2024 are the year of the Dragon, so we have that going for us...
same. it is insane to think how fast it went.
Jonesers aren't attached to the Second World War or Korea. We're Vietnam.
I remember watching TV news and Walter Cronkite would tell us that xx amount of Vietnam service people killed. I didn’t understand it at the time.
“Mommy, why are the Gorillas 🦍 fighting in Vietnam?”
I remember seeing hundreds of Vietnamese killed every day to America's 17. "That means we're winning, right, Mom?" Oy.
I remember seeing the news when we decided to come home. I panicked and said “we lost?” My mom said, “nobody won, we just came home.” I imagined being overrun by the Vietnamese in the yard.
I remember Barbara Walters, same era
Yes, the dichotomy was part of our baseline of youth, with none of us actually of the age to serve.
Viet-farking-nam
Same here. I’m the youngest in a large family. My siblings were all born in the forties and fifties, then I came along in ‘62. I don’t feel like the same generation as them at all. We don’t have any of the same cultural references when it comes to movies, music or tv shows, and they were almost all out of the house by the time I was 5 or 6.
Same thing with me and my sis.
I think there’s a good chance we’re going to see something similar where a portion of Gen Z feel a greater commonality with a portion of Gen Alpha, and vice versa, than with the generations they’re officially assigned to. I think the reaction to COVID and the way their lives were affected, and especially their educations disrupted, is going to feel defining for many of them. I won’t be surprised if they end up identifying as Generation Lockdown, or something similar.
I tried telling that to someone on reddit and of course got jumped on and lumped into the whole boomers are all assholes thing.
Yup. I’ve almost given up on Reddit because I’m tired of someone jumping in (even when the topic is lighthearted) and blaming boomers for everything that they’re unhappy about in life. It’s not so much the comments even, but the nasty tone and sheer hatred in them.
It’s awful. It’s as misinformed and clueless as they claim Boomers to be. And I think the term Boomer is being used for any asshat over the age of 35.
I think it is a narrative being pushed so it will be easier to do away with Social Security and Medicare.
Oooh. That's scary. I hope you aren't right. I just thought that age- and weight-based prejudices were the last places people could show their behinds. I may have been naive. What a surprise (not). Always been naive.
I think you’re right about that
That’s OK. They’ll be the old ones eventually.
Funny thing is that Reddit boomers were most likely progressive in their time.
Edit: for to in.
Every ‘advertiser created generation’ has a transitional generation between them, belonging to both and neither at the same time. We were named because it was expected that we would not quite have the benefits of the Boomers but would do our best to “keep up with the Jones’” but yet be anti the governmental polices of the time ( see above comment by boomboom larouge). We weren’t as jaded as Gen x either; who in their own way are a ‘silent generation’ in their own way.
This makes sense.
Though I remember my first home I bought having an interest rate of 10%
Me too! And I thought it was a good deal at the time.
I never felt like a boomer either
When I was young, born 1958, Baby Boomers were 1945-1955. My generation was nameless.
Yeah, they might’ve had the Beatles, but we had Led Zeppelin!!
And Queen!!! 🤘
And John Denver!
I’m a 1961 vintage, too. I’m Boomer in some ways, Gen-Jones in some ways, X in others. Glad I found this place.
My grandfather was the last of 10 kids. by the time he married some of his brothers and sisters were already in nursing homes. He had an only child, my mother, who then had an only child. we broke that 10 kids Business quickly! The only thing I can say though is that I really miss having a larger family. It’s hard to only have two cousins and they live on the opposite coast that you do. It really is very difficult so I only ever had one aunt & one uncle. So everything pretty much that happens on this site duplicates my memories of growing up. by the seventh grade. I was a latchkey child not due to divorce, but just due to the creation of a middle school that ended all the community schools going to the eighth grade. And my drink of choice after playing hours and hours of softball in the church grass was, you guessed it; hose water! There was not one plastic bottle of water around no snacks nothing. We played outside until it got dark or our parents dropped us off at whatever pool we belonged to, and we stayed there until thunder rang out, and then they would clear out the pool. We had reserved phone calls at the payphone and after standing in line saying they had cleared the pool due to rain, and our parents will come pick us up. In the summers, I went barefoot. I don’t remember playing inside unless it was a rainy day and then we would play Barbies or House. I didn’t have any OOTD or any other skincare regimen, other than soap and water. we played hard and we rode our bikes and we had a great time we had community. Now you’re lucky if you know your neighbors we also were very very active in our local church, as were the majority of the other families in the community. Tuesday nights was for visitation, Wednesday night was for prayer meeting, and we all had dinner at the church, then sometimes there would be a planned activity depending on your age rolling into the weekend, and then of course on Sunday we had Sunday school and church and then Sunday night, church and choir practice. we rolled into high school. There was always young Life to attend on Thursday nights. Once I was in college locally here a new group had formed very similar to young life called YOKE ministries. I was a YOKE youth leader for four years. I took kids to camp and I got pied in the face with shaving cream pies; had flour dumped all over me, then was thrown into a creek. I learned that the easiest way to help to get to know a troubled kid was to allow them to dump a gallon of creek water on your face or pie you in the face. in addition to Thursday night clubs for the kids when we signed up to be a leader for a year we signed up to be there every Thursday night for these kids. One of my other teams leaders his deal was with cars and he and one of my best friends that I’ve known since I was one got married and he had a limousine. he fixed up that car and take these kids club every Thursday night to Burger King to get french fries. These kids were living the life going to Burger King in a limousine. Part of becoming a leader, in addition to the background checks and the letters of recommendation and the presentation of you before the board was that you agreed that you would spend five hours a week doing something with your kids. It didn’t have to cost money. It was just spending time with your kids. And when I say your kids, I mean it was just certain children would be drawn to you and they became the ones that you did stuff with. There was no assignments of kids to a leader or anything like that and this was all happening in the late 80s. Yoke is still going strong and I hope that one day it all go national. The only sad part about it is that now instead of one on one time with your kids or one on one time with a kid it has to be two or more leaders just because of the way society is now. You didn’t have all that. He said she said back in the 80s when I was a leader anyway, or not in my neck of the country anyway. So this just brought me back and threw a bunch of memories that I thought I would quickly share. I guess you can tell I talk a lot. Once I got out of college. I was working jobs in my field. One of my bosses told me one time that he was going to get me “a cone of silence.” Extra points to you if you know what that’s in reference to. Here’s hoping you have a great week and that some of these memories trigger happy memories of your own! 😊
Get Smart!
And now we’re speaking into our watch vs a shoe.
Who woulda thunk it?
😅 So true!
The world started changing faster, and 20 years became too long to defign a generation. '56er here. Last year to watch a ping pong ball, though no one in my cohort got called up. All my friends' older brothers and sisters went to Woodstock.
Actually, I'm technically GenX, born 1971, but most stuff on here is still relevant to me.
Late '51 here, I like you Jones folks. You sound more like me than many early Boomers.
I’m getting that we’re a variety of peeps. What bothers me is that a whole generation of older ppl are given an unfair moniker.
Everything is a stereotype anymore.
I prefer not to really get sucked into the generational bashing that’s become popular it adds nothing good to the world.
I’m a 56 and the boomers being fools sub makes me kind of angry. Still I often wonder what happened to the idealism of the 60’s the boomers had driven. Equality, fairness, a sense of right and wrong, and anti establishment feelings. Now older boomers are the establishment, and seemed to have forgotten their own high ideals from back then. Maybe it’s just normal as age increases. At any rate I’m glad I fit in to gen jones, as most of the older boomers depress me.
I have many older friends that are very passionate about those things. They are the ones that organize and show up to rallies for women's rights, lgbtq rights, environormental protections and many other progressive causes. Women over 65 are the second highest group to vote blue.
I was born in 64. Last year for boomers. My want to go to response for "ok Boomer" is STFU. Is this what the world has been reduced to is name calling? I'm not gonna do your age math in my head just to make sure I call you the "correct" generation word. Why? Cause IDGAF. With age comes some wisdom, nobody has to agree with said wisdom. Also with age comes some cranky attitudes because we have seen a lot of stupid shit and just don't care anymore. It's been said, the older you get, the less of a deterrent a life sentence in jail means
56 here...I sure don't behave or think like the "boomer" stereotype. I like knowing I'm not quite lumped into that lifestyle.
I find this sub a comfort as well.
I was born two weeks before the end of 53, so I am including myself here 😀
My mother (1943) and I (1962) are both boomers, but... We have a a lot in common, but have some very different ideas. I found it in inaccurate that were labeled the same. I am def a Jones.
Your mom is not a boomer. She is part of the Silent Generation.
But Mom is anything but silent! Lol
Thanks for the clarification.
I'm 1963, I really have nothing in common with Boomers and almost everything with GenX but was born 1 year too early.
Any way glad to have a group I can actually identify with.
As gen x, we have nothing in common either
Go troll elsewhere.
I was born 12/64. I hated that I was a boomer. So happy I’m not anymore!
I came here to say this! I recently found out GenJones is a thing and felt an immense sense of relief as I don't have any of the typical Boomer behaviors. So I'm glad to know I'm not "one of those", born in 1956. And my sibs are also GenJones (1961 and 1965). Yay, we're all normal!
Come to think of it, most of our cousins are older Boomers, that explains a lot.
I’m late boomer (mid-Dec 64) and my wife is early GenX (mid-Jan 65). I’m just glad to not be a boomer - I’ll take Jones any day!
I worked for the same company for 22 years. My vested pension is $68/month, covering the two weeks I worked between becoming eligible for the defined-benefit program and when the company cut it.
That’s one difference between us and the Baby Boomers.
I'm relieved to hear I'm a Gen Jones. Boomer has such a negative connotation.
Agree. I am 64 and relate way more to gen x. Older boomers too damn old and conservative
We're as far apart in age as you and early boomers
Generation Jones members are Boomers. They are the second half of the Baby Boom generation plus one year, 1965.
As a member of both groups, I don't know why some people are trying to deny they're Boomers. Why don't you fight ageism instead?
Just trying to find the people that grew up with the same markers that I did. As a later boomer - we have different memories about the world around us.
I agree ageism is a thing as everyone that’s lucky and healthy enough to find out.
Although I don't agree with the term "Generation Jones," I agree that the younger Boomers have things in common that the older ones don't. But this is the second time in a few days that I've seen people denying that Generation Jones are Boomers.
I guess there’s a misunderstanding here. I’m not denying - just pointing out the difference because of the years disparity between old and young Boomers.
What I've been saying is that there are people in Generation Jones who refuse to accept that they're Boomers. Period. Last week, there was a guy here who vehemently disagreed that he was a Boomer.
I was born in 1963 and find I relate more to people born in 1965 than I do to people born in 1945. The who idea of generations is stupid - arbitrarily lumping people into 15 to 20 year time periods and then pretending that everyone born then is all the same. I don't remember Woodstock, I don't remember JFK being shot. I was surprised to learn that Paul McCartney had been in a previous band before he was in Wings.
I'm a little older than you and I, too, relate better to people born in the mid-1950s through 1964. But the Baby Boom is an established marker for people born after WWII. The Beatles broke up in 1970, when you were seven. When I was seven I knew who the Beatles were. I think you just missed that.
The most mature and rational post here. I don't get why so many 60+ ppl are so invested in escaping a label. Fight ageism instead
Thank you.
Simply put, we are the grandchildren of men that were sent home from World War II early, either for disability or injury. They started having kids a few years earlier than their fellow soldiers. those children are our parents, who are a sub generation before the boomers. Then they had us just slightly before generation X.
I’m a child of a man who served his time in WWII, but the war ended not too long after he was in Okinawa. His grandkids don’t know what WWII was.
IIRC, my dad was an Army desk jockey during Korea. He wasn't in WWII, he was too young.
Most of gen x and Millennials was raised by boomers. Most of x were born in the 70s.
Born in '62, graduated high school in '80. Just started reading through this thread, and saying "yup, can relate," "yup, I remember that," "yup, had that happen," and so on.
I also never felt like a boomer, I simply have nothing in common with them. I used to say I was part of the "Space Race generation" before I found this sub and saw that there actually is a name for us. 😅
My partner, who was born in '55, has a bit more in common with boomers...well, not really. I keep pointing out things that we have in common that boomers can't relate to, like the beginnings of Punk and Goth music, anime like Speed Racer coming to the US, MTV back whem it used to play mostly music and whatnot.
I think we are truly another "lost" generation. 😭
I was lumped in with the old Boomers until Gen Jones. Being late 1954 born, I share memories of the "big stuff." I had just turned 9 a week before JFK was killed. I went to the NY World's Fair. When I was a freshman in HS in 1968, the seniors were more like parents. Everything changed in 68. Dress codes, music, hair styles political awareness, sit ins, streaking, and the music pulled away from the 50s teen idols to rockers.
I agree. I had never heard of Gen Jones before. I wasn’t even sure it was a real thing. It’s never really spoken of. Personally I’ve always identified more with GenX than the boomers. I was born in 1963. We definitely need our own group. We are not Boomers for sure. 👍
My husband was born in 1955 me in 1958 - he was def didn’t have what is called ‘typical’ boomer mentality
I agree but we're invisible to anyone who isn't us