Another Change of the Guard

Dr. Jean Twenge is at it again. She has studied generational differences for the past 30 years and has written several books on the subject, notably Generation Me (about Millennials) and iGen (about Generation Z). There is always a new generation on the rise, however, so there is always room for a new book. After all, even Generation Z is now able to shake their heads and sigh “These kids today!” as they look at Generation Alpha (called “Polars” by Twenge but by hardly anyone else) who were born after 2012. In Generations she chooses not to focus on a single generation but to compare and contrast all six currently existing in significant numbers in the US. Though her book is very US-centric in part because of the large data sets available, she notes that there are close similarities in other Western (especially Anglophone) countries. There is always some question about the boundaries of generations, but one has to draw the lines somewhere, and Twenge’s choices are pretty conventional:
 
Silents (Born 1925–1945)
Boomers (Born 1946–1964)
Generation X (Born 1965–1979)
Millennials (Born 1980–1994)
Generation Z, aka Zoomers (Born 1995–2012)
Polars, aka Alphas (Born 2013–2029)
 
The parents of each group usually belong to one or two generations earlier. Boomers, for example had either GI Generation (gone now but for a handful of centenarians) or Silents as parents.

 
Analyses of this kind always bring objections about generalization and stereotypes. Twenge acknowledges that we are talking about overlapping bell curves when discussing generational characteristics. Every generation has its prudes and libertines, slackers and workaholics, communitarians and individualists, and so on. There are always outliers. Yet the averages – the centerlines of the bell curves – really do differ from one generation to the next and are worth noting. For example, a 20-y.o. Zoomer woman getting married in 2023 is widely regarded as too young; her friends and family likely will try to talk her out of it. Yet 20 was average for a Silent in 1960 when nearly half of all brides were teenagers. This difference profoundly affects life courses and personal outlook for most members of each group – even ones who are not average.
 
Silents are underrated. Nearly all the major political and cultural changes of the late 20^th century for which Boomers often take credit were instigated by Silents: Martin Luther King, Bob Dylan, Gloria Steinem, Abbie Hoffman, and the Beatles just to mention a few players were all Silents. The Boomers embraced the changes and made them mainstream, which counts for something. Generation X, the latchkey kids generation, was the last to grow up with relatively light supervision. Millennials were the first not to remember a time before the internet. The oldest of the Zoomers were only 12 when the iPhone was introduced. Alphas don’t remember a time before smart phones.
 
Twenge argues that changes in technology (TV, computers, and phones primarily) are a major cause of generational differences – more so than general world events.
 
Twenge makes use of the enormous amount of data collected by government and non-government sources to track and chart marriage rates, birthrates, crime, mental health, income, home ownership, employment, drug use, alcohol use, political affiliation, sexual orientation and “fluidity,” education, and more across time. If there seems to be a constant trend, it is that each generation gets off to a slower start at what is now called “adulting” than the one before. Adolescence keeps getting extended. In part this is because more people go to more school for longer, but there is more to it than that. Millennials and even more so Zoomers have delayed everything from driver’s licenses to sex to alcohol use. Parents are probably OK with that, but it seems odd to someone whose youth is best depicted by Dazed and Confused.
 
Those looking for political red meat will have to tease it from Twenge’s charts themselves. She is inclined to report trends rather than judge them one way or the other. All-in-all Generations is a well-documented overview of the current generational divides.
 

The B52s – Song for a Future Generation