Anonymous wrote:Gen X here -- our worst quality is jaded cynicism. We have never been optimists. Our parents got bad, damaging, angry 80s divorces. We had little to no supervision so we made every mistake. We graduated into a recession. And then we watched the economy get better and saw new college graduates get hired at the salary that we worked 3 to 5 years to attain. I feel like I deserve my jaded outlook, but it is not my best quality.

+1

Gen X here -- our worst quality is jaded cynicism. We have never been optimists. Our parents got bad, damaging, angry 80s divorces. We had little to no supervision so we made every mistake. We graduated into a recession. And then we watched the economy get better and saw new college graduates get hired at the salary that we worked 3 to 5 years to attain. I feel like I deserve my jaded outlook, but it is not my best quality.

boomers selfishness

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I totally agree with OP. People used to get masters and other advanced degrees while working. Now your average 30 year old has student loan debt the size of a mortgage and they don't even know what kid of a job they'll be able to get. Plus people are putting off starting families until ridicilously late (I know I'll get flamed for this, but the science supports it). Is it really any wonder we have more and more kids with special needs.

I also have the belief that we'd be better off if we could have families younger, but I don't think maternal age is correlated with most disorders classified as "special needs".

Also, I'm a Generation Y-er, and apart from the ridiculously generic name we've been saddled with, I'd say our worst trait is Facebook. Honest to god, every shallow, narcissicistic, exhibitionist, black-or-white trait humanity has ever experienced is amplified and nurtured by Facebook. But I'm an old codger on the X/Y line, so maybe I need to eat some more bran and watch the Mentalist.

I completely agree. I hate Facebook. I am 31, so I don't know if that makes me Gen X or Gen Y. Regardless, I cannot believe my peers waste so much time on Facebook. I don't understand how they have time to live the life they constantly post updates about.

Boomer here. We are so concerned with avoiding the obligations and limits our parents faced and want everyone to love us, especially our children. We are the last generation to have experienced a generation gap with our parents. Now our parents are dying and we cannot deal.

Anonymous wrote:I am almost 33 (born in 1979). What generation am I in?

Tail end of Gen X.

I am almost 33 (born in 1979). What generation am I in?

Gen X. We are tied with baby boomers for the douchebag award, although ours differ in subtype. Theirs are more of a "hold up the line / berate the waiter / argue with the checkout clerk" variety, IME. Xer douches cut people off in their leased 328xi BMW more often where the toll road merges with 495. While sending an email.

Gen X. Disgruntled entitlement. Pomposity. We're so cool we invented everything blah blah blah.

Anonymous wrote:I totally agree with OP. People used to get masters and other advanced degrees while working. Now your average 30 year old has student loan debt the size of a mortgage and they don't even know what kid of a job they'll be able to get. Plus people are putting off starting families until ridicilously late (I know I'll get flamed for this, but the science supports it). Is it really any wonder we have more and more kids with special needs.

I also have the belief that we'd be better off if we could have families younger, but I don't think maternal age is correlated with most disorders classified as "special needs".

Also, I'm a Generation Y-er, and apart from the ridiculously generic name we've been saddled with, I'd say our worst trait is Facebook. Honest to god, every shallow, narcissicistic, exhibitionist, black-or-white trait humanity has ever experienced is amplified and nurtured by Facebook. But I'm an old codger on the X/Y line, so maybe I need to eat some more bran and watch the Mentalist.

18:58 - the elephant in the room! Thanks for stating what most should know.

I totally agree with OP. People used to get masters and other advanced degrees while working. Now your average 30 year old has student loan debt the size of a mortgage and they don't even know what kid of a job they'll be able to get. Plus people are putting off starting families until ridicilously late (I know I'll get flamed for this, but the science supports it). Is it really any wonder we have more and more kids with special needs.

Gen X. Our "worst quality" is that we're so desperately outnumbered by Boomers and Ys that no one cares what we think.

*Sorry, not prolong- put off.

I'm a Gen Y-er. Late 20s. I got into a discussion the other day with an acquaintance about something I've been noticing my peers doing: they graduate college, then find some sort of degree to pursue- a second degree related to their first, or a Master's, usually. Once they've gotten this degree out of the way, they start making plans for the next degree, which tends to be a J.D. All said and done, they're planning on being done with school riiiight around the age of 30. The thing is, until my generation, it didn't seem like advanced degrees and continuing education were a bad thing- it was seen as being ambitious and motivated. Unfortunately, my generation has totally flipped that, to where now it's the exact opposite- now it's just a way to avoid being a part of the real world and actually having to work. When I hear about some upper middle class kid I went to school with entering school for their third degree at age 28, I just roll my eyes. At what point do you actually want to grow up and be a real adult and not a perpetual student? I decided this is the worst quality of my generation: the desire to prolong adulthood and live like a college student as long as possible. Grow the fuck up, Gen Y-ers.