If you were born after 1980, especially 1985 or later up to about 1991..what is your impression of the generation right before you, generation X? When you see a generation X person or you hear the term, what comes to your mind? I am just curious..I know being a late Xer myself we were compared and contrasted a lot with boomers (especially as the older Xers started to turn 30) and then when the oldest generation Y folks started becoming adults (e.g.1980 borns turning 18 in 1998), we were compared and contrasted with them a lot. I have nothing against generation Y since I am late gen X and have a few things in common with early Y. It seems a lof of generation Y has actually been quite successful in early adulthood even more then us Xers were. We've always had the silly old stereotypes such as wearing flannel and slacking off..even as the oldest Xers are now over 40 the stereotypes are still around. Generation Y seems devoid of stereotypes, other than being somewhat more conservative and getting along better with parents as teens, than gen X or boomers (which does seem true to me, from what I have seen, but not always). I am the parent of a generation Z (born 2004) and her generation will be looking up to gen Y..so I am curious on what you think of Xers and what you think the even younger Zers.

The difference? GENERATION X spent their teen and 20's years drinking Starbucks, going to Panama Beach and getteing drunk,  and listening to the horrors of grunge rock. GENERATION Y has spent the teens and 20's rebuilding hurricane damaged homes, compromising with our elders, working our behinds off, and finding God. I think HIM every day that I was born in 84..a proud Echo Boomer!

The main difference is that Generation Y, or perhaps more aptly the Reagan Youth, are a bunch of brainwashed automatons more wrapped up in narcissism and conspicuous consumption (covered in a foam of family, patriotism and church, at least in the US) than in giving a damn about anything that really matters.

Gen Y is NOT more successful in early adulthood than X was, but they do a very good job of pretending they are (short hair, clean shaven, expensive clothes, electronic gizmos, SUVs and so forth), credit rating be damned.

Who remebers Lambchops play along?! :o

I remember Lambchops with Shari Lewis.

Yeah, the whole 'teenage rebellion thing' was sort of tempered by a generation of so-called 'responsible, conscientious, ambitious, materialistic...yet in some ways even more religious young people'. New Age religions as well as some forms of orthodox religions seem to be increasing in popularity. I see often see GenXers as a weird mix of the easy-going 'slacker', ageing musos who've never held down a 'proper job', the real activists.etc and pure Yuppie/corporate types. In general, however, I think society (Boomers and GenY) view Gen X in a slightly negative light - they are seen as trapped in the 'rat race', without any real direction, commitment or values in life. It will be interesting to see how GenXers 'shape' the world when they replace Boomers at the top of the pile within the decade or so.

Yeah, honestly, I don't know how much is just show, how much is just stereotype, and how much is reality. I do remember though, that in my senior year of h.s. (1994-95), the incomming freshmencl, class of 1998, born in late 79 and early 80, as a whole seemed much more conservative to me. We just didn't get it. I mean, some people my age went to church and some were religious, but was clearly the minority. We were more liberal fiscally and socially. The new kids seemed to have this surface of tolerance, but were quite preachy about God, jesus, etc..and a lot went to more fundamentalist churches. Although not all cared about politics yet, I remember hearing quite a few "Thank God's" by these young teens when Newt and his Contract started..while our class was like "oh crap, Reagan and Bush are back". They always professed this tolerance and acceptance, but I overheard a lot of homophobia and racism coming from their "saved" mouths.