xennials
Oregon Trail cohort
Xennials are people born in the late 1970s to early 1980s, straddling the line between Generation X and millennials.
The term captures those who had analog childhoods but came of age as digital technology emerged—old enough to remember life before the internet, young enough to adapt to it easily: As a xennial, I typed papers on a typewriter in high school but had email by college.
Phone-line internet connection
- AOLEarly internet provider
- floppy disksFlexible magnetic storage media
- cassette tapesAnalog audio storage medium
- NokiaFinnish telecom corporation
MySpace · early internet · landlines · VHS · CD-ROMs · encyclopedias · card catalogs · answering machines
Release from earthly existence
- grungeAccumulated dirt or filth
- FriendsNineties sitcom, six Manhattanites
- Breakfast ClubIconic eighties detention film
- MTV generationYouth shaped by music videos
Seinfeld · John Hughes · latchkey kids · mall culture · Tamagotchi · slap bracelets · Lisa Frank · roller rinks
Longing for the past
- adaptableAble to adjust readily
- resilientAble to recover quickly
- skepticalInclined to question claims
- pragmaticFocused on workable solutions
independent · work-life balance · student debt · housing crisis · sandwich generation · burnout · adulting · quarter-life crisis
Point of transition
- in-betweenOccupying middle position
- crossoverGenre-blending work or transition
- liminalAt a threshold
- generational identityShared traits of birth-era peers
dial-up
Phone-line internet connection
- AOLEarly internet provider
- floppy disksFlexible magnetic storage media
- cassette tapesAnalog audio storage medium
Nokia · MySpace · early internet · landlines · VHS · CD-ROMs · encyclopedias · card catalogs · answering machines · pagers
Nirvana
Release from earthly existence
- grungeAccumulated dirt or filth
- FriendsNineties sitcom, six Manhattanites
- Breakfast ClubIconic eighties detention film
Seinfeld · John Hughes · MTV generation · latchkey kids · mall culture · Tamagotchi · slap bracelets · Lisa Frank · roller rinks · arcades
nostalgia
Longing for the past
pragmatic · independent · work-life balance · student debt · housing crisis · sandwich generation · burnout · adulting · quarter-life crisis · flexibility
cusp
Point of transition
- in-betweenOccupying middle position
- crossoverGenre-blending work or transition
- liminalAt a threshold
xennialsGen Alpha
Post-2010 birth cohort
Generation Alpha · digital natives · Gen X · millennials · Gen Z