Mia spoke to The Project on Channel 10 yesterday as part of a ‘battle of the generations’ series. She’s calling it for Generation X. Are you convinced?
Q: Mia, what defines Generation X?
MIA: Our awesomeness? Well we’re quiet achievers – Boomers and Gen Ys make such a fuss, we just get on with it. Gen Xers are independent, resourceful, laid-back and self-sufficient. We had to be. We grew up in such uncertain times – we saw our parents lose jobs in the recession and we had to deal with AIDS and the ozone layer and the cold war… things were tough.
Q: Do you identify as an Xer, and if so, how?
M: Yeah, I totally do. So much of it is about pop culture touch points: Haysi Fantayzee, Chances, Helen & Mikey on Triple J, Desperately Seeking Susan, Kramer Vs Kramer, Breakfast Club, Reality Bites, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Melrose Place…
Q: What was life like growing up in the 1970’s 1980’s?
M: Well, the Puberty Blues years were awesome in many ways – there was a lot of freedom. Our boomer parents were all in the workforce – the first generation of women to do so en masse – and we were pretty much left to our own devices. I was a latchkey kid – everyone was!
Q: Gen X were also known as the MTV generation, so why did your music suck so much?
M: Suck? Our music didn’t suck! We had Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Midnight Oil, U2, Kylie… Wham!
Q: The Boomers protested wars, civil rights, gender equality and seemed to have a lot of fun doing all of that…what have you lot done for the world?
Q: The Boomers and Gen Y say you’re a miserable bunch of complainers. Is everything okay?
M: I think Gen X are a bit like the middle child. We’re sandwiched by Gen Y and the Boomers who suck up all the oxygen. We’re under-appreciated, dammit!
Q: Gen X was known as the generation that refused to grow up. How are you handling middle age?
M: The great thing about following the Boomers is that they keep moving the goalposts. Right now they’re saying that 60 is the new 40, so that must mean 40 is the new 20.
Q: How hard is it to be looking after ageing parents and young kids all at the same time?
Q: I can’t afford to buy a house, who should I blame?
M: Your bank manager.
Q: Mia, you probably had to pay for your education, whereas many Boomers went to uni for free. And pretty soon we’ll all be paying for the Baby Boomers retirement. Is that fair?
Q: Let’s now look at the generation that came after you: what defines Gen Y?
M: They live their lives so publicly. So I think they’re defined by this scrutiny and self-scrutiny.
Q: Does anything annoy you about them?
M: When I first had to work with them, Gen Y drove me BONKERS. They couldn’t seem to stay in a job for more than 5 minutes and they needed soooo much feedback and validation at work.
Q: What do you admire about them?
Q: They seem to have this confidence and in some ways a sense of entitlement about them. Where does that come from?
M: Their Boomer parents have spent a lot of time telling them how fabulous they are and wrapping them in cotton wool. Gen Y are the first generation to be raised in the culture of ‘self-esteem’ and this absolute focus on building it up.
Q: What kind of world have you and the Boomers left them?
Q: They’re the most educated generation in history, but they don’t have the job security of the Boomers. Do you feel sorry for them?
M: How can I possibly feel sorry for them? They have THE INTERNET. No, I certainly feel sorry for all the journalism students who are going into an industry in turmoil with very few jobs available.
Q: When we’re all long gone and historians are looking into the three generations we’re discussing today, which will they say was the most influential and why?
M: Definitely Gen X. We had Kylie and Google. The end.
Top Comments
I'm Gen Y but can hardly relate to the Gen Y you speak of. Mobiles and Internet weren't 'common' until my late teens. Sexting didn't exist for us and while the era of self esteem was on the rise it definitely wasn't the issue it is now. The generation you speak of is more Gen Z (if Gen Z is a thing - surely it has to be there is a large gap between Gen Y (aka 80s baby) and the 'naughties' babies so I assume the gap is Gen Z. Is there a Gen Z? Can someone help me with that?!
I'm a gen X. I feel both sorry for and optimistic for gen Y. Here's why:
I feel sorry for gen Y because they are the first to feel the impact of the end of the 'growth' era. We've relied on expansion and growth over the last 150 years to create a sizable middle class system on which we could then perpetuate the growth model, creating empires for the rich. Now due to our world becoming fully and irreversibly globalized, growth is coming to an end and we are seeing the effects like a game of tumbling dominoes - from country to country the economy is failing. Without a middle class, growth stops. Average consumers cannot buy.
GenY is the first generation to well and truly be affected by the reality that an education will not get them a job. In the USA there are more graduates of law than there are jobs for them - by a long shot. And these graduates have huge student loans to pay back. Gen Y-ers could feel there is no hope. The old carrot stick of 'go to university and make something of yourself' will no longer hold true.
I feel optimistic for Gen Y because there is an opportunity here for things to be done differently. The system we have in place is crumbling, and Gen X and babyboomers cannot fix it and are unwilling to change it. Gen Ys will have to do something because they are about to inherit our current global mess. Once they figure out it is our old system that will not work - and in Australia we may become more aware of this toward the mid to end of 2013 (although in the other western countries the penny has dropped or is dropping now) - they will have to create something different.
Many Gen Ys are so creative and inventive and able to work together toward communal projects - traits that are so desperately needed instead of the old cutthroat competition model - that I would not be surprised that they will come out of all this as the best of all generations. I just hope that they can bring about the needed change soon enough, before we older generations create world war 3.