Millennials are defined as those born between 1981 and 1996, while the Baby Boomer Generation is officially identified by the US Census Bureau. Pew Research states that defining generations helps understand how global events and technological advancements shape perspectives and interactions.
By Brad Nakase, Attorney
Email | Call (888) 600-8654
Have a quick question? I answered nearly 1500 FAQs.
If you are wondering “What generation am I?” I will try to explain this in this article.
The Baby Boomer Generation is the sole generation that the United States Census Bureau has officially identified.
Nevertheless, this hasn’t deterred demographers from grouping different cohorts according to their birth years. This is frequently done in order to gain a deeper understanding of how foundational experiences, such as global events or advancements in technology, influence people’s perceptions of and interactions with their environment.
The Pew Research Center officially defined the conclusion of the Generation Millennial a few days ago, classifying Millennials as people who emerged between 1981 &1996. This kind of clears the confusion around “What generation am I?”
Generations are increasingly recognized as an instrument for comprehending how opinions and concepts change rather than as rigid classifications that determine who people are, according to The President of Pew Research Michael Dimock, who explained the decision.
While younger and older Millennials may have differing opinions on many issues, the majority of Millennials had been in school between the ages of five and twenty on 9/11. This indicates that when those individuals grew up, the attacks and subsequent fallout loomed large. Not to mention that the 2008 financial crisis struck right when a large number of Millennials began entering the job market. Moreover, Millennials “grew up amid the internet growth,” as Dimock stated.
Currently, Pew uses the following official method to classify generations according to birth year:
A generation may consist of an assortment of years of birth. Pew estimates that the age range of millennials is 16 years. The Boomers and Silent Generation had 19 and 18-year age ranges, respectively, while the Gen X cohort had also 16 years of range. This age range adds more insight into the question “What generation am I?”
Naturally, selecting a threshold year is challenging since groupings evolve progressively over the years.
Dimock wrote, “The oldest and youngest members of a cohort that is commonly defined may feel that they have more in connection with neighboring generations than with the generation that they are ascribed. Differences within and between generations can be equally as substantial as those between them.”
However, defining a threshold aids in the investigation of how comparable events have shaped a group and also answering “What generation am I?”
Though several terms have been floated, such as Generation Z or the Post-Millennial generation, Pew believes it’s too soon to label the age group that follows Millennials. The US had essentially developed into a country where it was easy to be continually linked to the web, typically with a smartphone or tablet (the iPhone debuted in 2007), by individuals born in the year 1997 or later became teenagers.
While individuals born in the latter part of the nineties and later generally can’t recall a period without social media and a steady internet connection, Millennials have largely become used to these tools.
The children of today, however, will probably be regarded as belonging to a new Gen that follows Generation Z.
Still, Dimock noted that fresh information might provide researchers with a cause to reconsider these generational divides. He claimed that the generation that comes following Millennials would be particularly fascinating to watch in the interim. So people born after the millennial generation will have to wait a bit more to understand “What generation am I?”
“We’re excited to spend the upcoming years researching the current generation while it approaches adulthood,” wrote Dimock. “Throughout, we will remember that generations are not a categorization used to oversimplify distinctions between social groupings, but rather a prism that allows us to look at society’s evolution.”
Have a quick question? We answered nearly 2000 FAQs.
See all blogs: Business | Corporate | Employment Law
Most recent blogs:
Contact our attorney.