You Are Now What You Were Then

As I was preparing for an upcoming speech, I was enthralled with how world events have shaped people’s lives resulting in generational differences. For instance:

Civics or Traditionalists

•       Born before 1946

•       Youngest are 68 years old

•       27 million. Six million currently employed.

•       Great Depression

•       Wars

•       Before penicillin, polio shots, frozen food, plastic, credit cards, dishwashers

•       Either fought in WWII or were children

•       Men typically worked and women stayed home

•       Children seen, but not heard

•       Cold War

•       McCarthyism

Baby Boomers

•       Born 1946-1965

•       49 to 68 years old

•       76 million. 55 million employed

•       Beatles.

•       Rock and roll music

•       Moon landing

•       Woodstock

•       Had the largest numbers of people of any generation to date

•       Viet Nam War

•       Assassination of JFK and MLK and RFK

•       Nixon’s resignation

•       Gasoline shortages

•       Oil embargo

•       Watergate

Gen X or Busters

•       1965-1978 (some say until 1981)

•       36 to 50ish years old

•       60 million. 45 million employed

•       HIV/AIDS

•       Berlin Wall

•       Single parent families

•       Pill

•       Legalized abortion

•       Divorce

•       Drug epidemic

•       Women and minorities

•       No major war

•       VCRs and video games

•       Dual-income household

•       Independent

•       Highest volunteer rate

Gen Y, Boom Echo or Millenials

•       Born 1980 –1994

•       36 and younger

•       88 million. 32 million currently employed

•       Comprise 75% of workforce by 2025

•       Iraq

•       Educated

•       Diverse

•       Connected

•       Oklahoma City bombing

•       Rise of the internet

•       OJ Simpson

•       Death of Princess Diana

•       CD’s/DVD’s

•       Columbine

•       Y2K

•       Terrorism

Gen Z or Digital Natives

•       Born after 1994

•       20 and younger

•       23 million

•       Children of Gen X

•       9/11

•       Terrorism—they do not remember a time without war

•       Internet after 1991

•       Great Recession—2008

•       Swine Flu—2009

•       Hurricane Katrina— 2005

•       Ipod—2001

•       Facebook—2004

It made me think about each generation’s music and the device they listened to it. The Traditionalists probably sat around a radio or an old phonograph in a wooden piece of living room furniture. The Boomers may have had a small record player and eight track tape players. Gen X was carrying a boom box on their shoulder listening to cassette tapes. Gen Y listened to their Walkman CD player through earphones and Gen Z has an IPod with ear buds.

Today’s gift was to give away a pair of computer speakers, that I found in the closet, on FreeCycle. I was keeping them as a backup if my speakers stopped working. However, as quickly as computers change, I’ll need to buy new ones anyway. This generational comparison helped me understand that who I am now is because of who I was then—whether it was how I listened to music, played board games or rode my spider bicycle. Things of my generation made a lasting impact on me.

In Giving,

Robin