- Hello my dudes, welcome
back to my series,
Internet Analysis.
My name is Tiffany and today
we are gonna be discussing
millennials and Gen Z and
the people in between.
In my last video I was
trying to understand
a bit about Gen Z culture,
specifically I was exploring
Vsco girls and e-girls.
By the way, that video
has been very popular
and well-received.
And I think I got some
new viewers from it,
so thank you guys for watching.
Dorky ass hands.
Anyway, I guess I made the
mistake, in that video,
in calling myself old.
But it keeps becoming more relevant,
even for older people like me.
I'm 23, so I am a little bit
out of the range of Gen Z.
I'm out of the loop.
So I guess I was a bit
unclear in saying that,
but what I meant from that was just that
as somebody who graduated from
high school five years ago,
I am just out of touch from
high school culture or trends.
I definitely did not mean
to imply that I am old,
at 23 years old.
I know, I'm young.
But I am literally older than teenagers.
Anyway, in that video and in other videos,
sometimes I mentioned
offhand that I'm a millennial
and sometimes people want
to get technical with me,
and try to tell me that I'm part of Gen Z.
And I don't know why but
it bothers me so much.
So here is a whole damn video
dedicated to this question,
which generation am I a part of?
Let's settle this, here and now.
But I think a lot of you guys
can probably relate to this.
You know, whether you're
a millennial or Gen Z
or stuck somewhere in between.
Like, what is a generation exactly?
And does it even matter?
So for this video I've
done a lot of research,
aka, I've done a lot of Googling.
And I started with Googling,
"millennial birth years".
And frustratingly you will
find many a different,
conflicting results.
But I did cherry-pick and
find the Pew Research Center,
which in January of this year
redefined the age range for millennials.
Currently they describe millennials
as being born between 1981 and 1996.
And then Gen Z is anyone who
was born from '97 to 2012,
and they don't categorize
anyone born later than that
because they can't really
determine their generation yet.
But later I will get into why and how
generations get molded.
So anyway, for the record, I
was born in October of 1996.
1995.
Literally, out of all the
information in this video
that's the most important.
Now there's gonna be a grand conspiracy
that I am, in fact, born
in 96 and then I am Gen Z.
I'm exhausted. (laughs)
Which means I am a millennial, hell yeah.
Well actually, there is
no official consensus.
"The dividing line between Millennials
"and the following
Generation Z is 'tentative'.
"You can't be sure where
history will someday draw
"a cohort dividing line
"until a generation fully comes of age."
So in addition to the Pew Research Center
there are lots of other research groups
that have their own definitions.
So we've got some up to '96, '95, '99,
even 2000.
So let's get into what
defines a generation.
How do those research groups
create their birth year ranges?
And first of all, to be clear,
I am not referring to
familial generations.
As in there are six
generations in this photo.
Cool.
In this video I'm referring
to generational cohorts,
but for the sake of brevity
I'm gonna refer to them
as generations.
"Generational cohorts are groups of people
"who were born about the same time,
"or during a specific time period.
"Have similar characteristics
and behaviors.
"Are different from members
of other age groups."
I sounded like a robot there.
Basically, the purpose of
actually defining people
and putting them into generations
is to be able to generalize an age group
based on their shared
experiences and characteristics.
Generations aren't defined by
a specific number of years.
So it's not like every
generation lasts 15 years
or something.
One generation may encompass
a range of 20 years,
while another encompasses a range of 14.
There are a number of factors,
such as political, economic,
social, technological,
that helped to define a generation.
Generations are more
about shared experience,
rather than an exact cutoff birth year.
Which can make a person's
relationship with their generation
a little bit more complex.
So continuing to use myself as an example,
my birth year is 1995.
Oh, thank God.
And in most of those classifications
I would be grouped in as a millennial,
but again, in some I
would be called Gen Z.
And honestly, this makes me
really insecure about my status.
Like, what the hell am I?
I just want this to be as clear and exact
as the fact that I am a
Libra Sun, Rising Capricorn
and Pisces Moon.
But honestly, I feel like
a lot of people like this.
We like being able to put in
data and specific information
and then get given a very clear result
that tells us something
about ourselves, apparently.
We wanna easily define ourselves,
but also to be able to define other people
and put them into these
little arbitrary boxes.
You're team millennial, you're Gen Z.
Boomers, can you hear us in the back?
Later I'll get into why it doesn't matter
which group I fall into,
millennial or Gen Z.
It changes literally nothing
about myself or my life.
But for the sake of comedic effect
I'm exaggerating the fact
that this is really
fucking important to me
and labels are everything.
Now the problem here is I'm a
cusper and you might be too.
A cusper is someone who
basically falls on the border
of a generational range
and, yes, I acknowledge
that cusper is a gross word,
but unfortunately I
have to keep saying it.
Typically, cuspers, are born
within three to fives years
of an age range.
Which is funny because this can become
another distinction to argue about.
Like, technically you're a
little too old to be a cusper.
You're on the cusp of being on the cusp.
Anyway, with the birth year of 1995
I am among the youngest
of the millennials,
if you consider me to be one,
and barely older than the oldest of Gen Z.
It's a pretty tricky spot to be in.
The thing is I don't exactly relate
to all of the classic
millennial characteristics
because I'm just a little bit
too young for some things.
But on the other hand, for
many Gen Z characteristics,
I can't exactly relate to those either
because I'm ever so slightly too old.
So in this situation
sometimes I feel like I
am neither generation,
but really, more likely,
I'm a mix of both.
I'm in the gap.
Recently, Olivia Catherine, made a video
which is actually super
relevant to all of this.
Basically the video was about
classic early YouTube videos.
And at the time that they
came out Olivia and I
would have both been
in early middle school.
So she mentioned this age range
of the youngest millennials
slash older Gen Z'ers, who
feel like we don't fit in
super well with either group,
and she referred to it as the gap.
We're in the gap.
And it's funny because
there were some arguments
in the comments, I guess.
There were people who are like, "I'm 35
"and I've watched 'Charlie the Unicorn'."
Or "I was born in 2004
and I have seen 'Shoes'."
But, it's like, that's not
the point of the video.
She wasn't trying to say that only people
in this tiny little age range of the gap
have seen that content.
Like, literally, all of
those videos went viral.
Everybody saw them.
And even if you didn't
watch them at the time,
you've probably seen
them in some time since.
Basically, it was like, shout out to you
if your childhood or preteen years
were shaped by weird early YouTube videos.
And then recently, I also saw
a tweet from D'Angelo Wallace.
"Millennials?
"Gen Z?
"Baby boomers?
"I reject these labels.
"They need to make a new Generation S,
"where it's not defined on age,
"but whether or not you drew
that weird S in middle school."
And D'Angelo actually stole
that tweet from his friend.
So I just wanna give
credit where credit is due.
And of course, that's a
joke, but in the comments
I saw people like, "I'm older than that
"and I used to draw those S's.
"Everybody's been drawing those S's."
It's like, you can't
even make a joke anymore.
But anyway, clearly a lot of
us are thinking about this.
A lot of us in this little
age range are confused.
What are we?
And apparently people have
called this group zillennials.
I don't know if the name
is a keeper, but you know,
you get the point.
And of course there are cuspers in between
each group of generations,
so we are certainly not the only people
to have ever experienced this
weird in-between feeling.
Technically, based on birth year alone,
some of my friends who were born in 1996
would be considered a
different generation,
even though they were literally
in the same grade as me.
And this shows how it's
kind of meaningless
to care about the exact distinction
based only on birth year.
Because clearly a person
that I'm friends with,
that I was in the same grade
with, who's roughly my age,
has likely experienced
very similar things to me.
Anyway, we're gonna come
back to this minutia,
but first I wanna dive in
and define what it
means to be a millennial
and what it means to be Gen Z.
Millennials, ah.
For a while millennials became
synonymous with young people.
So anybody under the age of 35
was referred to as a millennial.
Which is just incorrect. (laughs)
Technically.
Because, again, most research
groups and sociologists
define millennials as being
born between 1981 and '96.
So if someone were to point
out a 16-year-old today,
who was born in 2003 and
call them a millennial,
that's just pure nonsense.
'Kay?
They are not a millennial,
they are a young person,
but millennial and young person
cannot be used interchangeably.
Especially as time passes,
it gets further and further
away from the truth.
But more important than
the exact year of birth
is the experience of the millennial.
So what exactly has defined
this generation politically,
economically, socially
and technologically?
"Most Millennials were between
the ages of five and 20
"when the 9/11 terrorist
attacks shook the nation.
"And many were old enough to comprehend
"the historical
significance of that moment,
"while most members of Gen Z have little
"or no memory of the event.
"Millennials also grew up in the shadow
"of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
"which sharpened broader
views of the parties
"and contributed to the
intense political polarization
"that shapes the current
political environment.
"And most millennials
were between 12 and 27
"during the 2008 election, where
the force of the youth vote
"became part of the political conversation
"and helped elect the
first black president.
"Added to that is the
fact that millennials
"are the most racially
and ethnically diverse
"adult generation in the nation's history.
"Yet the next generation, Generation Z,
"is even more diverse."
So those are some of the
factors that define millennials.
And again, I am among the very
youngest of this generation.
And the thing is for
any generational range,
the people who are most
likely to relate the strongest
to the generalizations
of the generation, wow,
are naturally the people who are born
solidly in the middle of that range.
Like, I was in kindergarten
when 9/11 happened.
And I do remember that.
I remember staying home
from school that day.
But at five-years-old I absolutely did not
understand the concept of terrorism.
But anyway, the important thing
is that those specific
events, among others,
shaped the trajectory of this generation.
So of course, these events,
affected people older
and younger, obviously.
But again generational cohorts,
typically point out the events
that shape the adolescence
and young adulthood, sometimes,
of a specific group of people.
"Beyond politics, most
millennials came of age
"and entered the workforce
facing the height
"of the 2008 economic recession."
See, I was a little bit too young
to personally feel the
effects of the recession,
like, in work context because
I wasn't working in 2008.
Of course my family, like
pretty much everyone's,
was impacted by the recession.
But specifically a lot of millennials
were either in college
or entering the workforce
when the recession happened,
and in the years after,
where obviously the economy
hadn't recovered yet.
So they experienced unusually
high student loan debt
and unemployment after
graduation, underemployment.
And their high student loan debt
has made it difficult for
them to purchase a home.
So millennials had a
very unique experience.
And I think that they
were the first generation
that's been projected to have
a worse standard of living
than their parents.
I'm laughing, 'cause
it's so sad and so true.
Anyway, the oldest millennials
came of age, as in legal age,
around the year 2000 and
the youngest millennials
came of age around 2014.
So, of course, millennials
are in completely
different stages of life.
Some are in their late-30s,
some are in their mid-20s.
So there is a big divide
within millennials.
"The Millennial Divide:
"How a Generation Can Be Split
"into Two Very Different Halves".
"The world in which we live
was a very different place
"in 2000 compared to 2014."
So then there's technology, specifically,
and within the millennial group
there is a huge difference
in their relationships with technology.
The oldest millennials
had tech free childhoods.
And they would have been in their mid-20s
around 2006, which was when
Myspace was really popular
and Facebook was opened to the public.
So you could say that they
didn't have social media,
as we know it, until their mid-20s.
And I'm not sure when this age group
would have gotten their first cell phone,
but it probably looks something like this.
That's probably not the type of phone
that you'd be chilling, using all day.
You know what I mean? (laughs)
'Kay.
The first iPhone came out in 2007,
when these oldest
millennials were about 26.
So moving on to young millennials.
Tech was not a big part of my childhood,
it probably wasn't a big part
of my life until about 13.
So my entire childhood growing
up before that, you know,
I road bikes and scooters.
I hung out with my neighbors.
Not to be like the classic,
"I used to go outside.
"Kids these days don't
even play outside anymore."
But it is true that things
are different these days
and, based on data, kids do
spend less time playing outside.
Around my age group, I think,
was the time where it became more common
to give young kids cell phones,
just for the purpose of safety.
Whereas in years before, kids
would just play unsupervised
and be told to come
home at a certain time.
"The younger millennials were
arguably the last generation
"to have an internet free childhood.
"We grew up trying to climb
trees and play kiss chase,
"rather than doing educational
Peppa Pig games on iPads."
I don't think a lot of you could relate
to the Peppa Pig games either,
but actual kids these days might.
Anyway, here's some more information
about tech in my childhood,
slash, early teen years
that other zillennials
can probably relate to.
Using the home desktop
computer on dial-up.
Nothing was more of a
cursed sound than this.
(dial-up modem screeching)
AIM, AOL Instant Messenger.
Do I still use my AOL email address?
Hell yes, I do.
Should not, but I do.
My first phone was a flip
phone, which I got at age 11.
And then I had a few other
cell phones including the enV.
(scoffs) Jealous?
And then I got my first iPhone, slash,
I think my first proper
smartphone around age 17.
Remember back then when we
had limited text and minutes?
Until I was a teenager
my friends used to call my house phone.
We had house phones.
♪ They used to call me on my house phone ♪
Back in those days we
used to go to Blockbuster,
or my local spot, Hollywood
Video, to get physical DVDs.
Y'all remember this?
And when I was a kid, we had VHS tapes.
Really though, it is such a huge change.
I remember when I was younger
when DVR was a new thing
where you could record your show
and skip through commercials,
it was life-changing.
And then I remember when Netflix,
as a streaming platform, was
new and almost nobody used it
and there was only kinda
shitty stuff on there.
'Cause most people still
just watched cable TV
or rented DVDs.
And this is also true with music.
You know, as a kid I had a lot of CDs
and then when I was a teenager
I started to use LimeWire
to steal music.
Don't arrest me, FBI.
And now I just rely on Spotify.
So, based on what I've said
already, you may be like,
"Yes, I can relate, this is so true."
Or you may totally disagree
and be commenting right now
that none of this is accurate.
But I just think it's
funny to argue about this
because obviously no one
would ever be able to
present this concept
of what the exact
millennial experience is,
or what the exact Gen Z experience is.
We all have different experiences.
Even someone your exact age
could have a very different experience,
based on their upbringing
and other factors.
Like I could generalize
and say, "Millennials love Harry Potter."
And then somebody would stand up and say,
"I was never allowed to watch Harry Potter
"because my mom thought it
was satanic witchcraft."
Even that sentiment
alone is very relatable.
But anyway, yes, I'm making
a lot of generalizations.
Anyway I think technology,
obviously, with so many changes
and changes happening at an
increasingly accelerated rate.
Technology is making the
biggest difference, I think,
in between these age groups.
Like, between 1990 and 2000
tech definitely changed a lot,
but not nearly as much as
tech and the internet changed
between 2000 and 2010
or 2010 and nearly 2020.
It is crazy.
So anyway, the point that
I'm trying to emphasize
and something that I think
the zillennial cuspers
can specifically relate to,
is yes, there may only be
a few years difference
between certain age groups.
But especially because of
these technological changes,
a few years can make a big difference
in the overall experience.
And when you interacted
with or got introduced to
specific elements of technology,
can have a very different impact.
You know, does that make sense?
For example, imagine joining
Instagram when it was new,
say you're in your 20s versus
joining Instagram today,
as a 10 year old.
What's interesting is
on the topic of cuspers,
there's also a concept
of micro-generations.
And some people suggest that zillennials
should be classified as
their own micro-generation
because our experiences
are distinct enough
to potentially be classified
as our own micro-generation.
I don't know if I believe
that, necessarily.
I think I'm kinda comfortable
be in a cusper. (laughs)
It's growing on me.
Though I need to stop saying it.
So now, finally what defines Gen Z?
Again, most people say
that Gen Z'ers are born
sometimes as early as
'95, '96, '97, and onward.
It can be hard to define
a generation that is young
because again, generations are defined by
their life experience.
So if you're not old enough
you can't be defined yet.
So only recently have
researchers and sociologists
been able to kind of, roughly,
mold what defines Gen Z.
By the way, also, I think the people
who are most representative
of Gen Z, right now,
are the oldest Gen Z'ers.
So again, they're kind of around my age,
20 to 22 or 23ish.
So I can relate to a lot of
the older members of Gen Z
because again, some people
would argue that I am Gen Z.
Anyway, tech, again, is a hugely
defining element of Gen Z.
So much so, that another name
that was floated for this
generation is iGeneration.
And I just wanna point
out that I feel like
I look a little bit like
Steve Jobs, right now.
And it's an aesthetic that
we all love and enjoy.
iGeneration reminds me of
"iCarly", so, I don't know.
"Members of Gen Z are
true digital natives.
"From earliest youth,
they have been exposed to the
internet, to social networks
and to mobile systems."
The way that that describes
everything just sounds archaic.
Youth.
Internet.
Social networks.
Mobile systems.
"A Pew study last year found that
"nearly half of all
Americans aged 13 to 17
"said that they were
online almost constantly."
Another defining characteristic of Gen Z
is that they are the most
racially and ethnically
diverse generation ever.
"One in four is Hispanic, 6% are Asian.
"14% are African-American."
"And that racial and ethnic diversity
"is expected to increase over time
"with the U.S. becoming majority non-white
"in less than a decade."
48% of post-millennials are
from communities of color.
Gen Z is also known for intersectionality
and being very open minded socially,
very willing to learn and adapt.
"Generation Z came of age
"just as the Black Lives
Matter movement was cresting,
"and they are far more comfortable
"with shifting views of identity
"than older generations have been."
It really is incredible
when you think about
the advancement of so many issues.
Race, gender, sex, identities.
There are so many new concepts
that have been introduced recently,
that I think older people
feel confused about
because, honestly, it's
kind of hard to keep up.
But, you know, the
concept of using pronouns.
Or having spectrums of
sexuality or of gender.
I think Gen Z is not only pioneering this
and helping to define
a lot of these terms,
but also, a lot of Gen Z'ers
are more likely to identify
with these different new terms.
Also defining Gen Z is
the climate crisis, yay.
Obviously, the climate
crisis is scary to everybody,
but I think specifically for Gen Z.
Because they're the youngest
and they have not lived much life yet,
it is all the more
terrifying to face a future
that may, frankly, not exist.
Being aware of the imminent
destruction of our planet,
and current destruction,
is just really depressing.
And that's a hard thing to
discover and learn about,
as a young person, let alone
when you're coming of age
and trying to plan for your future.
Is there gonna be a future at all?
Yikes. (sighs)
Speaking of, I hosted a
documentary for Brut Media
about the climate crisis
and the climate activist
group, Extinction Rebellion.
If you guys wanna to check it out
click the link in the descripish.
People in Gen Z also tend to be
a little bit more aware about
ethics and sustainability,
in terms of consumption.
So again, these are kind of new concepts
and it makes sense that the younger people
would be a little bit
more willing and open
to understand those things
and care about them.
And politically, I think that Gen Z
is probably the most
progressive generation ever.
It's usually said that young
people are typically liberal.
Not really liberal
because that isn't an
inaccurate representation.
More like leftist.
And people say that
we will tend to get more
conservative as we age,
but I don't know if that's the case.
And then, economically, I
think there's definitely
a big part of Gen Z and
cuspers, zillennials
and even millennials, whatever.
A lot of young people are
more anti-capitalistic
because I think we have seen
what capitalism has destroyed.
Such as the economy, the
middle-class and the environment,
to name a few.
So then a lot of younger
people are more open
to different economic
structures and systems,
such as social democracy
or democratic socialism.
And also Gen Z has some amazing
really, really inspiring activists.
Such as the survivors
of the Parkland shooting
who almost immediately got to
work on gun control reform.
And then you've got Greta Thunberg,
who is such a badass fighting
against the climate crisis.
I also think that Trump's
presidency, in general,
has been encouraging a lot of
this activism and young people
because Gen Z pretty much grew up
during Obama's administration.
Which was historic because he
was the first black president
and it was very inspiring
and we thought we were
moving in that direction,
and then Trump gets elected.
And it was just very jarring.
It has been jarring.
So anyway, in conclusion.
First of all, I feel a lot more inspired
and a lot more accepting of
the potential label of Gen Z.
Again, I don't know, I don't really care
whether I am literally
a millennial or Gen Z'er
or is zillennial or a cusper
or I'm in the gap. (laughs)
And honestly I think that
we all have a lot in common.
You know, young people.
Whether you're 35 or 15,
I think a lot of us have
the same common goals.
And we may have had
different life experiences,
we may have grown up a
little bit differently,
but we are the people who
are shaping the world today
and tomorrow.
Wow, it's really gonna get
really cheesy, right about now.
But seriously.
For a long time older people
have criticized millennials.
Calling us narcissistic,
referring to us as the
me generation, you know.
We're the people who
started this selfie craze.
We're obsessed with ourselves.
It's like, okay, and we
also like social media
and so do you grandma.
Not you grandma, love you.
Also millennials have
been called snowflakes.
Gen Z and millennials have been criticized
for being too sensitive.
Caring too much about being
PC and using trigger warnings.
Or wanting safe spaces
available to people who need it.
Or the fact that a lot of us are more open
about our mental health struggles
and willing to go to therapy
and talk about therapy,
then past generations have been.
Yes, we love our phones and memes,
but we are also really caring
and compassionate people.
And we care about this planet.
And we're thinking of
things in a global context.
We're thinking about everyone.
And I actually think that
we're not narcissistic,
we're not selfish we're not
thinking about ourselves
because if we were
we wouldn't give a fuck
about climate change,
or any of these other
social issues or anything.
We have been presented
with this terrifying world
and instead of succumbing to hopelessness,
we're doing what we can to fight back.
We're trying to change the world,
we're trying to fix these problems.
So I wanna take this time, specifically,
to tell my Americans,
but not just you guys,
honestly, everybody, to vote.
We need to vote in every election.
Whether it's a primary.
Whether it's local, state, national.
Older people literally think that we think
that Twitter is real life,
and they think that we don't
care enough to go to the polls.
And yes, we are activists online,
but we also protest and we go to marches.
So it is important that we show
up at the polls and we vote.
You know, millennials
and Gen Z'ers over 18
make up the largest voting bloc.
So we literally have the
potential to be the most powerful
and we've gotta take advantage of that.
So I'm gonna leave some
resources and information
in the description.
Please, if you're registered,
just check and make sure
that your address is right
and that you're affiliated
with whatever party
you'd want to vote for in the primary.
If you haven't registered please register,
get a friend to register
and get ready to vote bitch.
(laughs) Get ready to vote bitch!
Way too excited, sorry.
Anyway, thank you guys
so much for watching.
This video actually changed my mind
and I would not mind being
called a Gen Z'er now.
Gen Z is sick.
But honestly, millennials are sick too.
And zillennials.
And my cuspers.
We're all the same, kind of, similar.
I don't know.
Anyway if you guys wanna
to follow me on Instagram
for some mediocre pics, you can do that.
And stay tuned for future
Internet Analysis topics.
'Kay, thanks, bye.
Recently in a video
Ashley from Best Dressed
did a peace sign at the end of her video
and then she said that
she's too old for that
and it made me really self-conscious.
So Ashley if you're watching this,
I've been doing this for too many years
and I can't stop.
'Kay, thanks, bye.
(jaunty music)
