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This whole "[decade] kid" thing - is it accurate?

[Generation Y] 
10K views 24 replies 16 participants last post by  karlpalaka 
#1 · (Edited)
It has been quite popular to judge things/people based on the decade they were born or grew up in, but I've recently started to question whether decades are a good indicator of ones experience in their (earlier) formative years. Given that the cultural and political climate can vary widely in a span of a couple of years, I'm starting to think the "[decade] kid" term is an incredibly poor descriptor of the experience one had growing up (negating individual or regional differences). For example, the WWW didn't even exist in 1990 but was in the early/mid mainstream by 1999. Social media and smartphones barely even existed in 2003, but by the end of 2009 they were mainstream or at least early mainstream. Popular American music in the early 90's had lots of grunge, whereas the late 90's was full of hypersaccharine boybands and girl groups. World War II only occupied the first part of the 1940's, as with the Vietnam War for the 70's. Someone who was born in 1933 and someone born in 1941 might both be considered "40's kids" but the older one would likely have remembered WW2 from start to finish (and a bit before) whereas the younger one would barely remember anything about it if at all. People born in 1993 and people born in 2000 might both be considered "00's kids", but the former is usually considered Generation Y and the latter is typically considered Generation Z.

What do you think? Do you think that defining one's childhood based on the decade it primarily occurred in is an accurate description?
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Early 00s kids
July 1991 - October 1994
(8.5 years old between January 2000 - April 2003)

Mid 00s kids
November 1994 - February 1998
(8.5 years old between May 2003 - August 2006)

Late 00s kids
March 1998 - June 2001
(8.5 years old between September 2006 - December 2009)
 
#4 · (Edited)
The point of this post is about the entire concept of the whole "[decade] kid" thing, not what qualifies as one. The point I was trying to make is that culture/society can't always be lumped into decades, as the cultural climate can evolve rapidly in even less than 5 years. Heck, sometimes two "[decade] kids" aren't even considered the same generation by researchers. What might have been one "[decade] kid"'s central childhood experience may have occurred in another's infancy or high school years. Decades are not monolithic time periods when it comes to culture or technology.
 
#6 ·
I think the whole concept of "[decade] kid" is flawed when it comes to Generations. You're right. A person born in 1993 and a person born in 2000 are both 2000s kids, but the former mainly grew up in the early 2000s, and the latter grew up in the late 2000s. The difference between 2000 and 2009 is huge. Everybody has a differnet opinion on who is considered a '90s or '00s kid. Core childhood is based on peoples experiences and vary from person to person. There is no precise definition.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Here's how batfan2005, a user over at inthe00s defined the decade eras, I'm briefly paraphasing what he said.

Early 90s Era (Bush Sr.'s only term): 1989-1992
Mid 90s Era (Clinton's 1st term): 1993-1996
Late 90s/Y2K Era (Clinton's 2nd term): 1997-2000
Early 00s Era (Bush Jr.'s 1st term): 2001-2004
Mid-Late 00s Era (Bush Jr.'s 2nd term): 2005-2008
Early 10s Era (Obama's 1st term): 2009-2012
Mid 10s Era (Obama's 2nd term): 2013-2016
Late 10s Era (Trump's current term): 2017-2020

I really like this! I wish I had the link, but I forget what thread it was from.

EDIT: I have the link now.
http://www.inthe00s.com/index.php?topic=56576.0#top
 
#9 ·
Here's how batfan2005, a user over at inthe00s defined the decade eras, I'm briefly paraphrasing what he said.

Early 90s Era (Bush Sr.'s only term): 1989-1992
Mid 90s Era (Clinton's 1st time): 1993-1996
The late 90s/Y2K Era (Clinton's 2nd term): 1997-2000
Early 00s Era (Bush Jr.'s 1st run): 2001-2004
Mid-Late 00s Era (Bush Jr.'s 2nd time): 2005-2008
Early 10s Era (Obama's 1st term): 2009-2012
Mid 10s Era (Obama's 2nd term): 2013-2016
Late 10s Era (Trump's current run): 2017-2020

I like this! I wish I had the link, but I forgot the name of the thread.
There should just be one megathread on "cultural shifts"
 
#12 ·
2001-2005: Post Y2K Era
Defined by 9/11, Bush Jr., PlayStation 2, Windows XP, and early social media.

2006-2008: Futurism Era (Pre-iEra)
Defined by the rise of Youtube, Xbox 360/Wii/PS3, and 1080p full HD.

2009-2012: iEra (Post-Futurism Era)
Defined by Barack Obama, Windows 7, smartphones, Facebook, and other popular social media.

2013-20??: Secondary iEra
Defined by a larger surge of smartphone and tablet users, PS4, Xbox One, Windows 8 and 10, Instagram, Vine, and Snapchat. Also defined by new age feminism, legal gay marriage rights and the 2016 election.
 
#13 ·
Definitely not accurate. We also have to keep in mind differences between countries and the generation of the siblings. My 3 siblings were born n the 70's while I was born at the end of the 80's (1987), I ended up inheriting a lot of toys and things from the early 80's. I listened to vinyl records from the 70's, I had casettes with children's music from the 60's or 70's (the casettes were new but the music was old, it was this... Italian thing). There was only one Tv channel for kids that played cartoons mostly from the 60's and 70's, early 80's. Computers weren't popular in my country until around 1998 , but I didn't use a computer at home until I was 12 (there were some at school where you could use Logo maybe since 1994 or 96). I had a regular mobile phone (with the novelty that you could play Snake) in 2000 but I didn't have a "smartphone" until 2007 when I was already 20 years old (by smartphone I mean that you could take pictures and listen to music but it wasn't touchscreen). I didn't have internet at home until 2004. I used some dial-up in 1999 but only for a few months and then I don't remember what happened, I think the computer broke and we couldn't buy a new one. I didn't have a cd player until 2001. So we cannot base generations on technology or culture in First world countries. We cannot base generations either on political events in First World countries.

I feel like although I was born in 87 my experience maybe would have been similar to someone born in 82 but in another country. At least in relation to technology and "kid culture" since in Argentina everything happens pretty much 10 years later technology-wise. Except for the Tamagotchi.
 
#14 ·
The real Millennials were born between 1977 and 1994, even people born in 94 didn't have cell phones as eight year olds, they didn't necessarily remember Internet as an automatic given thing (this REALLY should be a cut off point) more so that they remember Internet as a part of their intellectual forming, not as a "given." Gen Z doesn't know a world without Internet and cell phones, it's just "is what it is" to them. Many of them won't remember a world without legal marijuana in California. Gen Z won't fundamentally understand so many things about the rest of us it's STAGGERING.

Gen Y should be a generation of shock, of awe, of "wow" that they watched the Internet and cell phones become common place, that they watched the world become intensely populated, that they were uniquely victimized by their parents ignoring global warming even as they lived through it, there are lots of things Gen Y share that have NOTHING to do with Nike or Nikolodean.

I mean for the "comfort" zone in which most people choose marriage/romantic partners, they will choose someone who remembers New Wave the way they do..but the real deal is that we remember a world of 4 billion rather than 8 billion people, a world much less environmentally devastated, we remember a world without corporate radio in some cases, in other cases we only remember small family business existing, but these things are really more important than Sponge Bob or Oh Mickey You're So Fine.
 
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#15 ·
I don't really agree with any 70s borns as being Millennials, tbh.
Late 70s borns and early 80s borns are XY cusps at best. As for 90s borns, the entire decade is a YZ cusp. That decade seems to be the most controversial since it's disputed quite often. Generally, the earlier you were born in the 90s the more Y you are. The more "later" you were born in the 90s the more Z you are. If you were born in the mid 90s, you'd be in the peak of the transition; practically YZ, perfectly.

All generations have a quintessential decade, meaning everyone born within that range of 10 years or so is a well known representative of the traits of that generation. For example Gen Y's quintessential decade is the 80s. If you were born in any year of 80s, it's almost guaranteed that you're a Millennial. With Gen Z, it's the 00s. But for people born in the 90s, they're literally in between the two generations. It's all one big transition, and cut-offs are completely subjective and not set in stone.
 
#24 ·
I think the generations are meant to encompass most everyone but "XXs kid" is a more specific phenomenon that is not that meaningful of a descriptor for many people.

I was born in 1989 so I'm in that place to be that peak insufferable 90s kid (and 00s teen) :crazy: But if I were born a few years earlier or later my childhood would be more spread out among decades and so I doubt it would be a salient identifier, for me at least.
 
#25 ·
First of all, it depends how you define decades kids. On forums like this, people define it as someone who spent at least fifty percent of its childhood in that particular decade. I always thought it just meant having some childhood in that decade or being born in that decade. That is why the term is just ridiculous slang to me. It has a meaningless definition basically.
 
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