[ramesh31]

Boomers get all the hate but GenX really is the absolute worst. They took the me-me-me of Boomers without the civic minded temperance of their G.I./Silent grandparents. Life goals of that generation include climbing mount everest, writing a novel, really anything that would make you sound "cool" at a cocktail party, but they never realized that nobody cares unless you've made the world a better place for others.

[Pxtl]

Gen X was the peak of lifetime lead poisoning contamination.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2118631119

https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/117h6n5/ge...

[PaulHoule]

I like "...lead is responsible for the loss of 824,097,690 IQ points as of 2015" which is something I never hear from the people who are so interested in IQ and who can't stand it that the rest of us aren't.

[kstrauser]

We were told, non-stop and repeatedly, that we would probably all die in a nuclear holocaust before we reached adulthood. And yeah, lots of my generation decided that they'd rather spend their few remaining months touring South America rainforests or hiking Nepal than doing the "productive" things that the people likely to blow up the world wanted us to.

And then they didn't blow up the world. Well, crud. What do we do with ourselves now?

I'm not even slightly exaggerating, by the way. About half the popular media was depictions of how the US would blow up Russia, Russia would blow up the US, or what live would be like after the US and Russia blew each other up. Red Dawn. Most movies with Sylvester Stallone. The Day After. Threads. I assure you those weren't kitschy, ironic things we winked at. We generationally kinda reconciled ourselves to the idea we'd never grow old enough to drink. And then, we were labeled "slackers" for not having followed the same traditional routes as previous generations.

I'm hugely sympathetic to Gen Alpha. I get it, kiddos. I see you there, and I understand.

[Shalomboy]

Well you didn't die of nuclear holocaust, but the mindset stuck anyways. I call foul.

[khazhoux]

Generation <mine - 1> is really the worst!

Also, drivers in <my city> are really the worst.

[FatherOfCurses]

I strongly disagree with this assessment. (I am GenX so take this with a grain of salt).

GenX grew up during an era when hyper-capitalism began to take off. Manufacturing was offshored and layoffs became commonplace. Government institutions were privatized and subcontracting gave companies ways to abdicate responsibility. The corporate world didn't care about building a company and brand for the long haul, it was shareholder value and quarterly earnings. We watched our parents work their assess off for companies and then get tossed out in the name of a few more cents per share. So no one was motivated to follow the traditional Western dream when there was no assurance of any sustainable life at the end of that grind.

GenX was far more civic minded than you give them credit for. The term "political correctness" entered the lexicon because of the work GenX college students were doing to try to combat racism, sexism, and homophobia. We marched against apartheid, raised money for Amnesty International and Greenpeace, and AIDS awareness. We were the first to carry around reusable mugs for coffee and drinks and got recycling mainstreamed.

Generational warfare, like class warfare, is designed to keep us at each others' throats instead of realizing that, no matter what generation, a wealthy few hold the true power.

[reaperducer]

Life goals of that generation include climbing mount everest, writing a novel, really anything that would make you sound "cool" at a cocktail party, but they never realized that nobody cares unless you've made the world a better place for others.

Replace "cocktail party" with "social media" and you've described Millennials.