Generation X Has to Clean Up the Mess of the Baby Boomers Demotivational Meme

In every crunch, there is an opportunity. Among a global pandemic, it looks like my own Gen X has finally found ours. As the generation raised in the age of stranger danger and Only Say No, our inherent risk aversion is finally being recognized equally a cracking strength and nugget to the survival of the species.

Our independent streak was fostered past our need to fend for ourselves while our boomer parents toiled for long hours at work, making usa more than comfortable with self-reliance and an afternoon spent on the couch playing video games. At present, for the first fourth dimension in our lives, the question "Why can't everyone be more like Generation X?" is being uttered.

There'south more to our pandemic best practices than having been born from 1965 to 1980 and raised on the movies "Outbreak" and "Home Alone."

And we Gen Xers have been quick to pounce on the moment. "Shout out to Gen 10, the simply generation who can keep our asses at home without beingness told, the motherf***ing latchkey kids, the generation used to existence neglected past f***ing everyone," writer Lauren Hough declared in a self-congratulatory tweet final week. "Nosotros'll be the but ones left."

The best minds of my generation chop-chop responded to Hough with more backpatting. "As an X'er, I experience similar my whole life has led upwardly to this important moment when my nation will call upon me to do aught," replied one tweeter. Some other added: "We survived Reagan, the cleft epidemic, the AIDS epidemic, the War on Drugs, mass incarceration, the S&L collapse all the while living on nothing but PB&J and ennui. The other generations should follow our lead on this ane."

Yeah, a global pandemic has at present get yet another generational divide. Headlines have called out Generation Z and millennials for their disability to skip brunch, chastised the boomers for not taking the threat to their health more than seriously and celebrated the Gen X talent for hanging out and doing nothing.

Far be it from me to take away from this rare moment of generational glory. But in fact, in that location'due south more to our pandemic best practices than having been built-in from 1965 to 1980 and raised on the movies "Outbreak" and "Home Alone" — merely as at that place's more to the impolite behavior of many (though not all!) boomers, millennials and zoomers than their generational divisions.

Our differing reaction to and compliance with the directives on COVID-19 likewise reverberate the phase of life each of us finds ourselves in, which is why information technology's important to understand that dimension, equally well, earlier we indicate more than fingers at one another. Or at to the lowest degree so we can point them at i another for the right reasons.

When it comes to Generation X, the formative experiences tweeted higher up have indeed positioned us well for our present reality of sheltering in identify. Still, our electric current life stage also gives us increased motivation to be role models for staying home.

Gen X is the "sandwich generation," with many taking on dual responsibilities for caring for aging parents while still being in accuse of growing kids. So while we are personally more than game to lie low and will brand our children do the aforementioned, we are also calling our baby boomer parents and pleading with them to please stay in, besides. It'south the ultimate role reversal for grown kids, suddenly stricken with worry nearly where their parents are and reminding them they need to wash their easily.

And why is it that we adult children are stomping our feet at boomers who aren't willing to heed the warnings, despite overwhelming evidence that they are at the highest take chances from COVID-19? Generational bug are at play for sure: Babe boomers, built-in from 1946 to 1964, grew up in the era of optimism, literally conceived every bit the promise of an America victorious from World War Two. They successfully fought for civil rights and women's lib, congenital impressive careers and, as a whole, experienced a level of success unthinkable to their parents.

And while their parents' generation was willing to accept the direction and say-so of its regime and leadership when sent to fight in the Second World War, boomers didn't follow suit when faced with the Vietnam War; many openly protested and even avoided military action, leaving a lingering distrust in their government'southward decision-making.

But once more, their attitude has much to practise with the stage of life they're in. Equally the land'southward elders, many boomers experience they have earned the right to make their own decisions and don't need their children giving them unsolicited communication.

During one of my own attempts to offer such advice, I asked my dad (71 and a proud boomer) why then many people in his generation were pushing back. After arguing that he idea the question was somewhat loaded to brand boomers await like sometime curmudgeons, he finally replied: "We raised yous and protected y'all and guided yous along, how come you know everything all suddenly? We take all our marbles (mostly) and feel competent to run our own lives."

Interestingly, there's some other stage-of-life dynamic going on for many boomers — stemming from the unprecedented lengthening of life spans and, with that, the introduction of the menstruum known every bit "agile retirement." Many younger boomers are nether the lx-year-old threshold to exist considered at higher risk for coronavirus complications, and many over 60 don't look, experience or act "old." They don't connect those warnings for elderly people to themselves.

On the other end of the age spectrum is Generation Z, members of whom seem to exist defying the social distancing rules fifty-fifty more than than their grandparents. To some degree, it makes sense: Zoomers are the generation that'southward experienced a scandal or crisis in the headlines almost every day of their lives, leading them to selectively filter out the severe warnings as more "fake news." And for all their internet savvy, there's data showing Gen Z puts a high value on face-to-face contact, which may be fueling this urge to meet up with people regardless of the outrage directed their way.

Merely for them, too, their place on the arc of life feel makes a difference. The oldest of Gen Z are but 23 years one-time and probable responsible just for themselves. This reality, coupled with information that the virus is less likely to affect them severely, has led to what I call the "beach and brunch" phenomenon.

Youth, of course, is also synonymous with misperceptions of invincibility. As I heard one Gen Zer proclaim on the news the other night, "If I get corona, I get corona— I've been planning this trip with my friends for a long time!"

Millennials, together with Gen Z, belong to the most socially connected generations, then we would expect them to be OK with a little social distancing. Notwithstanding, this is where Gen Ten really distinguishes itself: Millennials were raised on play dates and back-to-back enrichment activities, making them the overscheduled generation, with many now feeling at loose ends with the sudden lack of management.

It's the ultimate role reversal for grown kids, suddenly stricken with worry well-nigh where their parents are and reminding them they need to wash their hands.

That doesn't hateful all millennials are shrugging off the restrictions. In fact, millennial compliance is probably much more than a gene of their life phase than their generation, because they currently bridge ages 23 to 39 — oftentimes a menstruation full of shifting priorities. Older millennials are likely in the aforementioned gunkhole equally Gen X (nosotros'll let you in; we're laid back that way), worrying about their older parents and their young children. Younger millennials are more than probable to be joining their Gen Z friends in heading out to beach parties and restaurants.

Indeed, generational identity and life stage are both contributing to how nosotros are reacting to our current reality. Thankfully, both are giving an ego heave to Gen Xers, who volition take our fourth dimension in the spotlight wherever we tin go information technology — and hope that means more people are listening to the sage communication we have to share with other generations when it comes to heading exterior: Just Say No.

Related:

• How I got my stubborn boomer dad to stop downplaying the coronavirus risks
• Young people didn't social distance because the authorities kept telling them not to worry
• The 'OK, boomer' meme hurts Gen Z more than the older generation it'southward aimed at

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Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/coronavirus-quarantine-gen-x-was-made-boomers-gen-z-not-ncna1168021

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