Please forgive me if this topic breaks any rules, but this has been annoying me lately. I've been hearing news reports here where they talk about Generation Y. One report claimed people between 15 and 30 are millennials. Other reports say those between 18 and 34 are millennials. I always thought Generation Y ended in 1995 or 1996. Why would people born in the early 80s and early 90s be grouped with people born in the late 90s and early 2000s? That makes no sense to me.

Don't know if it makes sense to contribute to another such thread, but my guts say around 1980-1995, maybe until 97, but certainly not 98.
Many articles I see, take a cut off around 2000, but that is too late, I think, and it is based on the original generation cycle theory, which was published before 2000, so it was unclear back then how things would develop.

Thanks. I know these types of threads appear a lot but it's been kind of on my mind lately. Every time I hear a news report on Millennials the age range is always different. The other day there was a news report about how young teens don't know who Paul McCartney is and they were calling them Millennials. I'm pretty sure 99% of Millennials know who that is. It's almost like the media doesn't know know what generation comes after Generation Y so they just label everyone Millennials. I know this is a total first world problem :)

Past 1997 is a bit of a stretch. 1997 at the latest in my opinion. Don't forget, the media is screwed up these days!

What defines the Millennial Generation?  Because I think a 15 year range a little too much of a range for a generation if it is based on affinities of growing up with certain pop-culture references or technological shifts.

Past 1997 is a bit of a stretch. 1997 at the latest in my opinion. Don't forget, the media is screwed up these days!
I agree. I think Millennials are defined by growing up when technology was constantly advancing. I think if someone was a teenager anywhere from the late 90s to around 2011 they are Millennials. People born in the late 90s and 2000s experienced technology in a completely different way and are still teenagers now. If I were using high school graduation years I would say the class of 2000 through 2014 at the latest. So in birth years that would be 1981-1996. Teenagers now don't even remember 9/11. That was a significant event for Americans. I was only 10 but I still remember it.

I'd say millennial babies span the years of birth 1982 through 1996. 15 years.

There is no agreement on end or beginning even, but I can tell you I'm a millenial and my experiences growing up are very different from a late 90's born person.

...but when did the Millennial generation begin?


The year 2000? ???

I am going to refer you to this chart, which seems as reasonable as any other explanation:
http://thesocietypages.org/graphicsociology/2011/10/04/who-is-the-millennial-generation-pew-research/

I would say judging by how they have broken out the generations, most marketers are using the same/similar research.