'Gen X' Trends On Twitter, Reviving One Of The Internet's Favorite Generational Arguments And An Army Of Memes
“Gen X” trended on Twitter today, marking a return to one of the internet’s favorite arguments: Which generation is really the best, and which is the worst?
Generation X typically refers to people born between 1965 and 1980, sandwiched between the Baby Boomers and the Millennials. At the moment, most Gen Xers are between 40 and 60 years old and are the last generation to get online en masse as adults. As many tweets of the past two days demonstrate, Generation X grew up without staples of modern life, such as GPS.
Amid the trend, there was a lot of Gen X hate going around, bringing to mind the 2019 labeling of Gen X as the “Karen Generation,” but perhaps the most famous instance of intergenerational conflict is the argument between Boomers and Generation Z, summed up in the famous catchphrase “OK Boomer.”
The central tweet of the trend, which was frequently quote-tweeted and replied to, was posted by user @goldengateblond — though it has since been deleted. The tweet celebrated the resourcefulness of Gen X, who did not grow up with much of the modern technology Millennials and Zoomers are accustomed to. The user did, however, comment on the throng of replies they received.
Some commentators broke down a bit of the history behind the generations and their feuding in order to analyze the Forgotten Generation, as they're often called online.
Others made fun of the way in which Gen X's identity was described in the posts of others, while many more took the opportunity of the trend to post memes.
The generation dispute is ultimately an argument about history and identity, mingled with an appreciation for nostalgia and pop culture from the 1980s. While the focus is often centered around Boomers vs. Millennials vs. Zoomers, Gen X occasionally gets their moment in the generational meme war too.
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The Math Hatter
"Gen X"is literally short for "Generation Xerox", Xerox being a brand of fax and copy machine. They were literally thought of as carbon copies of Boomers.
They have done nothing to dispel this notion.
AtlasJan
Isn't that a TV Tropes article?
Soldout
No it isn't, not remotely. That is something you either made up or copied from someone who made it up.
It is X for 'unknown' as in without purpose, given by Boomers to say the exact opposite because Gen X was so very different than Boomers.
Soldout
In fact, it became popular particularly due to the generation shunning the decadence of the 80's, which gave rise to Grunge, which was the polar opposite of the flashy, glamour 80s.
If anything, Millennials brought that back with the obsession with flexing on Instagram. Millennials are far more like Boomers in their obsession with self, demanding that everything be about them and how they are owed more than anyone else.