I’ve seen a lot of these, and oddly, I don’t hate it. Let's the conversation forward and encourages us to interrogate the data. WHY I DISAGREE: “A generation is something that happens to people; it’s like a social class or ethnic group they are born into; it does not depend on the agreement of its members. Someone doesn’t have to know or care that they are a millennial to have been influenced by the technology and culture present when the generation was growing up.” (Landon James) Jean Twenge taught me how to respond to 2 misconceptions about generational research: 1?? "The age cutoffs are arbitrary, so the differences are more like horoscopes than science!!" It’s true! Birth year cutoffs are somewhat arbitrary. But, it’s clear people have different experiences depending on the year they were born. There is no exact science to determine which birth year belongs to which generation, but the line has to be drawn somewhere - just like city boundaries and voting age requirements. They persist because they are useful. 2?? “But I’m a Gen Zer, and I don’t spend much time online! These things are BS!” Generational differences are based on averages. When someone says the above they are committing a fallacy. No single anecdote disproves the average. Groups differ within themselves as well as between each other, but the group difference still exists. "Consider this scenario: today, Ethan is a 21 year old college grad - he decides he wants to get married and have children. If it were 1968 he would have little trouble finding a young woman in his social circle who wants to get married and have children. But in 2023, few women are thinking about marriage or kids in their early 20s. And even if Ethan does find someone to marry, the couple will probably be the only people in their peer group who have kids, making their experience markedly different from young couples in the 1950s." No one has a choice in the year they were born. Thus we belong to a generation whether we like it or not.
Gen Z doesn’t exist. ? Neither do millennials, Gen X, boomers, or the silent generation. ? Cohorts like these are totally made up. ? And using them carries risk. ? It feeds stereotypes, encourages laziness, and causes people to imagine traits. ? We should stop pretending clichés are insights. ? Like these ones… ? Gen Z Outraged, tech-savvy, environmentally and socially conscious. ? Millennials Overwrought, juggling new children and aging parents. ? Boomers Preoccupied with healthcare, and who to leave their money to. ? These generalisations just loosely describe young, middle aged and old people. ? Making assumptions about tens of millions of people based on their birthdays. ? That’s not social science. ? It’s astrology. ? #businessofcreativity #GenZ #Millennials #Boomers