The "Oregon Trail" Generation: A cross of Generation X and Millennial......

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Mister B.
Mister B. Members, Writer Posts: 16,172 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited April 2017 in For The Grown & Sexy
Also known as "Xennials": Link

Who are the Xennials?

Born on the cusp of Generation X and the Millennials is a micro-generation called the Xennials. They are a bridge between the two generations and “members” are often conflicted about which generation to affiliate with or claim as their own.

What-is-a-Xennial.png

Who are the Xennials?
Xennials are a small demographic between Gen X (1961-1981) and the Millennial (Gen Y) Generation (1982-1996).

They were born between the late 70s and the early 1980s.
Roughly, the birth years are 1977 to 1984.
They graduated high school in the early-to-mid 1990s.
They attended college in the mid-to-late 1990s.
They entered the workforce just prior to 9/11.

Brief Definition
The lives of Xennials have been a unique combination of analog and digital; cynicism and optimism. The kids of younger Baby Boomers and older Gen-Xers, they were protected as children, but not necessarily subjected to helicopter parents or over-parenting. They enjoy freedom and individualism, but also know how to work in teams. This makes them very attractive to employers.

A few names have been used to describe this demographic including the Oregon Trail Generation and Generation Catalano. The former was a popular video game. The latter was inspired by Jordan Catalano, a character from the TV show My So-Called Life. The name Xennials is a kind of portmanteau that blends both meanings and components of Xers and Millennials. X + Millennial = Xennial. Clever.

Unique Demographic
This Oregon Trail generation represents the last Americans to come of age without social media and cell phones. In addition, they were the last to use pay phones and commit phone numbers to memory. Also, they used both the card catalog and typewriters for research papers, but the Internet and personal computers.

Historical Events and Cultural Touchstones
Xennials entered adulthood around the tragic events of September 11, 2001. They remember the Cold War and have lived through the War on Terror, but their school years were for the most part pre-Columbine.

They were already engaged in the workforce during the Great Recession of 2007, but were old enough to be cognizant of the financial meltdown. These events have made Xennials more politically conservative than their younger Millennial counterparts.
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  • TheGOAT
    TheGOAT Guests, Members, Writer, Content Producer Posts: 15,916 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    I guess im a millenial according to the years but basically everything in xennial definition applies to me
  • Mister B.
    Mister B. Members, Writer Posts: 16,172 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2017
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    13 Signs You're stuck between Gen X and Millenials

    If you feel left out of most discussions about Generation X and the millennial generation, it might be because you fit in with neither — and both.

    Both millennials and those who consider themselves members of the Generation X tribe feel strong attachments to specific experiences and traits that they can claim as theirs and theirs alone. I’ve always thought it must be comforting to identify as a true Gen Xer who is, technically, a person born anytime between 1964 and 1984 (because the powers that be who create “generations” prefer that they fit within a neat 20-year time period).

    Millennials are the generation that came right after (you can disregard any mention of Generation Y, which has, in recent years, garnered a reputation as a phantom generation). If you were born between 1984 and 2004, there's a decent chance you are a tech-savvy multitasker who has a booming social media empire and gets paid to look pretty in clothing on Instagram.

    But those of us who were born at the tail end of the ‘70s and early ‘80s know we’ve been forgotten and tend to get tossed in with Gen X, even though we never truly feel cool enough to belong there. At the same time, it's difficult to identify with millennials, who are often known as rule followers whose parents hovered over them a lot more than our relatively absent parents.

    Experiencing an identity crisis? Here are 13 signs you’re not a true millennial or Gen Xer. (not posting all of them, but some that applied to me)

    1. You feel guilty about not calling someone back when they leave you a voicemail message. At the same time, you moan and groan because you’d rather be involved in a noncommittal text relationship (something you can actually get away with because you're a bit younger than Gen Xers), but you know that a voicemail message deserves a voice reply.

    2. You made mixed tapes for friends as a teen, but you’re not lamenting those days and have effortlessly made the transition to creating playlists, which you find superior to tapes (which Gen Xers seem to forget were constantly unraveling).

    3. You played Mario Kart when it first came out, but also used to kick butt in Super Mario Brothers.

    4. You’ve mastered the subtle art of using sarcasm when it calls for it and feel neither Gen X nor millennials achieved quite the same artful balance.

    7. Kurt Cobain’s death affected you, but you were either too young to attend a Nirvana concert or so tragically unhip that you chose instead to see Aerosmith on the same concert night. Years later, you took relief in discovering less despondent bands like Weezer.

    10. You're on board with the idea that digital journalism is just as valid as print journalism, but a physical copy of Vogue will always delight your senses more than a web page.

    11. You only have a landline because your parents guilted you into getting one — you never actually use it, but you keep it just in case.

    12. You’d never pledge your undying commitment to a corporation because you or 10 of your closest friends were viciously laid off during the early '00 recession. Since you were probably fetching coffee for your bosses at the time, you bounced back. You're idealistic enough to believe companies should have a conscious — you’re just not completely sold on the idea that it will ever happen.
  • Kat
    Kat Members Posts: 50,667 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    ? all these labels. According to them, I'm both a Gen X and a "Xennial".
  • Built 4 cuban linx
    Built 4 cuban linx Members Posts: 12,285 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2017
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    I been hearing older people ? on millennials, I'm laughing and ? thinking that millennial meant people born after the 2000. Little did I know I'm a damn millennial
  • konceptjones
    konceptjones Guests, Members, Writer, Content Producer Posts: 13,139 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Gen X = GOAT generation.

    hqdefault.jpg
  • onetoughmiracle
    onetoughmiracle Members Posts: 2,242 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    TheGOAT wrote: »
    I guess im a millenial according to the years but basically everything in xennial definition applies to me

  • Broddie
    Broddie Members Posts: 11,750 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    These ? labels lmao so now I'm a xennial but still a millenial? ? this whole generational bs. Confusing for no reason.
  • jetlifebih
    jetlifebih Guests, Members, Writer, Content Producer Posts: 4,655 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Bruh I used to hog the ? out of the computers in school for Oregon trail....my hunting game was A1....but ? kept gettin bit by snakes n ? ....never beat the game.... ..
  • Fosheezy
    Fosheezy Members Posts: 3,204 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    This ? is right on the money too.

    Hell yea we need our own category than to be lumped in with these mindless millennials and clueless gen xers
  • Like Water
    Like Water Members Posts: 5,265 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Gen X = GOAT generation.

    hqdefault.jpg

    ? malaria!
  • Fosheezy
    Fosheezy Members Posts: 3,204 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    It was either Oregon Trail or Number Munchers
  • whatevathehell
    whatevathehell Members Posts: 4,015 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Fosheezy wrote: »
    It was either Oregon Trail or Number Munchers

    That ping pong game arkanoid
  • TheGOAT
    TheGOAT Guests, Members, Writer, Content Producer Posts: 15,916 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Fosheezy wrote: »
    It was either Oregon Trail or Number Munchers

    That ping pong game arkanoid

    That was my ?

    arkanoid-mx300.jpg

  • Fosheezy
    Fosheezy Members Posts: 3,204 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2017
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    Fosheezy wrote: »
    It was either Oregon Trail or Number Munchers

    That ping pong game arkanoid

    I rmemeber that. My school never let us play it when we went to computer LAb though :[
  • konceptjones
    konceptjones Guests, Members, Writer, Content Producer Posts: 13,139 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Fosheezy wrote: »
    It was either Oregon Trail or Number Munchers

    y'all new wit it...

    karateka.gif

    42928-castle-wolfenstein-apple-ii-screenshot-then-shoot-them.gif

    Drol_1983_Broderbund_screenshot.gif

    We were trading ? like Karateka, Drol, Wolfenstein, Snack Attack, and whatnot on floppies back in '82 and 83.
  • ineedpussy
    ineedpussy Members Posts: 7,252 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    TheGOAT wrote: »
    Fosheezy wrote: »
    It was either Oregon Trail or Number Munchers

    That ping pong game arkanoid

    That was my ?

    arkanoid-mx300.jpg

    had to goat you on this. loved this muthafuckin game. man ? couldnt see me in this, number munchers, or oregon trail. yall wouldnt of want those problems back then
  • Broddie
    Broddie Members Posts: 11,750 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Fosheezy wrote: »
    It was either Oregon Trail or Number Munchers

    Carmen Sandiego the GOAT.
  • Broddie
    Broddie Members Posts: 11,750 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Fosheezy wrote: »
    It was either Oregon Trail or Number Munchers

    y'all new wit it...

    karateka.gif

    42928-castle-wolfenstein-apple-ii-screenshot-then-shoot-them.gif

    Drol_1983_Broderbund_screenshot.gif

    We were trading ? like Karateka, Drol, Wolfenstein, Snack Attack, and whatnot on floppies back in '82 and 83.

    Yeah Wolfenstein on the real floppys not the harddisk and Commander Keen and Monkey Island. That early computer game era was ? . My dad used to have all that ? in his crib.
  • ghostdog56
    ghostdog56 Members Posts: 2,947 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Control,apple,reset
  • Shuffington
    Shuffington Members Posts: 3,775 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Mister B. wrote: »
    13 Signs You're stuck between Gen X and Millenials

    1. You feel guilty about not calling someone back when they leave you a voicemail message. At the same time, you moan and groan because you’d rather be involved in a noncommittal text relationship (something you can actually get away with because you're a bit younger than Gen Xers), but you know that a voicemail message deserves a voice reply.

    Yes, I hate talking on my phone. Im disgusted at my phone for ringing sometimes.
    Mister B. wrote: »
    13 Signs You're stuck between Gen X and Millenials

    12. You’d never pledge your undying commitment to a corporation because you or 10 of your closest friends were viciously laid off during the early '00 recession. Since you were probably fetching coffee for your bosses at the time, you bounced back. You're idealistic enough to believe companies should have a conscious — you’re just not completely sold on the idea that it will ever happen.


    They laid off a bunch of people at my first job and that experienced scarred me for life. (this was in 04) I was only a year in. Then their were subsequent lay-offs every other damn year.
    They let go of some really talented people. Thats probably part of the reason why I hate big businesses.



  • Shuffington
    Shuffington Members Posts: 3,775 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2017
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    And Mario Kart on SNES was the best video game ever created.




  • 808HiLife808
    808HiLife808 Members Posts: 1,072 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Fosheezy wrote: »
    It was either Oregon Trail or Number Munchers

    Odell lake
  • Swiffness!
    Swiffness! Members Posts: 10,128 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    having real memory of the Cold War sets you apart, ? terrorism fear has nothing on the knowledge that NORAD could end civilization over a computer error at any given moment. A 1980s nuclear war would be maximum savage - even Africa would see its capitals become radioactive
    Fosheezy wrote: »
    It was either Oregon Trail or Number Munchers

    Odell lake

    real ? post