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Displaying the only post..Ayjay Grobbies GENERATIONS

The following information was obtained from Wikipedia (accessed 7 Oct 2010:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generations#List_of_generations

as well as from

http://www.suite101.com/content/veterans-baby-boomers-gen-x-gen-y-and-gen-z-a185353

as well as from the following article:

SHAPING AND SERVING MEDIA COMMUNITIES: TRADITIONAL NEWS VALUES VS POPULAR CULTURE: - MEDIA PREFERENCES OF THE YOUNGER GENERATIONS (by Dr Elsabé Pepler)
(Published Ecquid Novi, 2005 - ajol.info - Ecquid Novi. ISSN: 0256-0054 )

THE G.I.GENERATION (also sometimes called the Hero Generation or the Greatest Generation) is the generation that includes the veterans who fought in World War II. They were born from around 1901 to 1924, coming of age during the Great Depression.


The SILENT GENERATION born 1925 to 1945, is the generation that includes those who were too young to join the service during World War II. Many had fathers who served in World War I. Generally recognized as the children of the Great Depression, this event during their formative years had a profound impact on them.
The label "Silent Generation" was first coined in the November 5, 1951 cover story of Time to refer to the generation coming of age at the time, born during the Great Depression and World War II, including the bulk of those who fought during the Korean War. The article found its characteristics as grave and fatalistic, conventional, possessing confused morals, expecting disappointment but desiring faith, and for women, desiring both a career and a family. The TIME-article stated:

“Youth today is waiting for the hand of fate to fall on its shoulders, meanwhile working fairly hard and saying almost nothing. The most startling fact about the younger generation is its silence. With some rare exceptions, youth is nowhere near the rostrum. By comparison with the Flaming Youth of their fathers & mothers, today's younger generation is a still, small flame. It does not issue manifestos, make speeches or carry posters. It has been called the "Silent Generation."


The BABY BOOM Generation (BABY BOOMERS OR JUST BOOMERS) is the generation that was born following World War II, about 1946 up to approximately 1964, a time that was marked by an increase in birth rates. By the sheer force of its numbers, the boomers were a demographic bulge which remodeled society as it passed through it. In general, baby boomers are associated with a rejection or redefinition of traditional values; however, many commentators have disputed the extent of that rejection, noting the widespread continuity of values with older and younger generations.

In Europe and North America boomers are widely associated with privilege, as many grew up in a time of affluence. One of the features of Boomers was that they tended to think of themselves as a special generation, very different from those that had come before them. In the 1960s, as the relatively large numbers of young people became teenagers and young adults, they, and those around them, created a very specific rhetoric around their cohort, and the change they were bringing about.

In general, Baby Boomers are associated with a rejection or redefinition of traditional values. As a group, they were the healthiest, and wealthiest generation to that time, and amongst the first to grow up genuinely expecting the world to improve with time.

As of 1998, it was reported that, as a generation, Boomers had tended to avoid discussions and planning for their demise, and avoided much long-term planning. However, beginning at least as early as that year, there has been a growing dialogue on how to manage aging and end-of-life issues as the generation ages. In particular, a number of commentators have argued that Baby Boomers are in a state of denial regarding their own aging and death, and are leaving an undue economic burden on their children for their retirement and care.


GENERATION X (born during the 1970s and 1980s) is the generation generally defined as those born after the baby boom ended, and hence sometimes referred to as Baby Busters.

Individuals considered to be within Generation X were born, and grew up during the later years of, and in the decade following the Vietnam War. This generation saw the inception of the home computer, the rise of videogames, cable television and the Internet as a tool for social and commercial purposes. Other attributes identified with this demographic are peaks in U.S. urban decay, the Dot-com bubble, the New York City blackout of 1977, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, the Iran hostage crisis, the Iran-Contra Affair, Desert Storm, the rise and fall of disco, 1980's rock "hair bands" such as Motley Crue and Bon Jovi, new wave, techno and punk rock, gangsta rap, Heavy Metal, 1990's grunge/alternative rock bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam, and the hip hop culture. Along with early members of Generation Y, Generation Xers are sometimes referred to as the MTV Generation.

The members of Generation X are thought to be the first generation to be raised in an age of postmodernism. Understanding the transition from modernism to postmodernism is relevant in order to understand the perspective and modalities of this generation. Compared with previous generations, Generation X represents a more heterogeneous generation, exhibiting great variety.

Often the children of divorced parents, change is more the rule for the people of Generation X than the exception. Unlike their parents who challenged leaders with an intent to replace them, Generation X tend to ignore leaders.

“Xers can be loosely defined as those old enough to remember apartheid and be judged by history, to have been part of it, but not quite old enough to have been involved in any form of struggle against, or to have fought in favour of, apartheid. White Xers have just missed national service, and black Xers would not have been old enough to joining the school children of ’76 who demanded liberation before education. Yet they have all grown up in the shadow of these events, sensing that ‘something had gone wrong’”. They seem disloyal, pessimistic, overly independent, self-reliant and headstrong. They are regarded by bosses as “rude slackers, always on the Internet, hiding in headphones without a shred of loyalty”. How else? They have grown up in divorced homes with working moms, where everything the Boomers believed in, came apart.

They often had both parents working, were exposed to daycare and divorce, and became known as “latchkey kids”. They are a well-educated generation with many having tertiary qualifications and are resourceful, individualistic, self reliant and sceptical of authority. Unlike the Baby Boomers they are not interested in long-term careers, corporate loyalty or status symbols.

In the workplace they focus on relationships, outcomes, their rights and skills. They tend to change employment and even careers frequently and will leave a job if they are unhappy. They often have a “what’s in it for me” attitude.


MILLENNIALS//Millennial Kids: (Born between the mid-eighties and 2000s). These will be the first school leavers in the new millennium. Popular culture [e.g. movies and books] stigmatise hands-off parenting and recasts babies as miracles, which corresponds with the heavy use of children and babies for example in advertising and marketing. Child abuse and safety are priorities, and virtues and positive values are becoming popular once again.

They are assertive, optimistic and incredibly brand conscious, and extremely money-wise. They advise parents on shopping, particularly when it is online. They all own cell-phones and call their parents to collect them from school. Many have credit or debit cards. They grow up in a world of computers and other information technologies and media. They play video games for fun – mostly violent in nature – and listen to music on digital cd-walkmans.

They surf the Net for homework projects, and all have compulsory computer classes. They have in their homes more raw data processing power than most nations ever had, which give them a different way of interacting with information — and therefore they know that they are smarter than their parents, holding their hands in scary movies and keep the light on to comfort Dad as he reads Harry Potter

They are also known as the Millennial Generation, Generation Y, Generation Next, or Echo Boomers. This generation is also sometimes referred to as the Boomerang Generation or Peter Pan Generation, because of the members' perceived penchant for delaying some rites of passage into adulthood, longer periods than most generations before them. These labels were also a reference to a trend toward members living with their parents for longer than previous generations.

The rise of instant communication technologies made possible through use of the internet, such as email, texting, and IM and new media used through websites like YouTube and social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, may explain the Millennials' reputation for being somewhat peer-oriented due to easier facilitation of communication through technology.

Gen Y are also known as the Net Generation. Millennials are very technology wise and are comfortable with ethnically diverse groups. Their values are optimistic, confident, sociable, and they have strong morals and a sense of civic duty.


Gen Y are not brand loyal and the speed of the Internet has led the Net Generation to be flexible and changing in its fashion, style consciousness and where and how it is communicated with. They expect great workplace flexibility and are likely to change employers even more frequently than Gen X’s.