Generation Jones. One of the " in between generations."

Cusper - Xennials too.

At this point, there is only the Over-40s and the Under-40s.

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Seems a somewhat grasping and not especially useful distinction; I'm not sure that it explains or adds anything that needed explaining or adding.

Gen Jones birthyears are from when to when?

r5, 1956-1965

Approximately 1956 through 1965. It depends on whose definition you use.

This is me, because I was born in 1960. I feel like I am at the tail end of the Baby Boomers, since both of my sisters are Baby Boomers. But I also feel connected to Generation X a little too. So I don't identify strongly with either generation. I'm just somewhere in between.

Omg that’s me.

People dismiss "in between" generations but there is truth to them.

Truth to them what? Speak up woman!

The elephant in the room (or in the generation) that is not mentioned is Watergate. I am part of this generation. Watergate was FAR more influential than the oil crisis or economic stagnation. Two additional influences: the cultural 180 of the Reagan administration, which dismantle much of the social/environment advances of the 1970s, and dismantled the economic/workplace security or the 50s & 60s, just as the Watergate Generation was entering the workplace, and AIDS. The Watergate Generation got all of the loss, pain, and suffering of the AIDS crisis with out really having been able to enjoy Gay Liberation.

As with "Xennials" and younger Millennials (no name I am aware of yet), identification often depends on birth order.

If you are a "Jones" with older siblings, you probably identify more with Boomers as your family's experience was more similar.

But if you are the oldest child with younger siblings, you probably identify more with Gen X

I totally identify with this! Born in 1961, I have never felt a part of the Baby Boomer experience or inclusion. This Generation Jones thing speaks to me !

I can get behind this r12. I always hung out with people a bit older than I. But the younger sibling - boomer thing has been replaced more by r13 the older I get.

[Quote] Unlike boomers, most of Generation Jones did not grow up with World War II veterans as fathers, and for them there was no compulsory military service and no defining political cause, as opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War had been for the older boomers.[12] Also, by 1955, a majority of U.S. households had at least one television set,[13] and so unlike boomers born in the 1940s, many members of Generation Jones have never lived a world without television – similar to how many members of Generation Z (1997–2012) have never lived in a world without personal computers or the internet, which a majority of U.S. households had by 2000 and 2001 respectively.[14] Unlike Generation X (1965–1980), Generation Jones was born before most of the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s and '70s.

BINGO!

[Quote] Generation Jones is noted for coming of age after a huge swath of their older brothers and sisters in the earlier portion of the baby boomer population had come immediately preceding them; thus, many complain that there was a paucity of resources and privileges available to them that were seemingly abundant to older boomers. Therefore, there is a certain level of bitterness and "jonesing" for the level of freedom and affluence granted to older boomers [Bold] but denied to them.

BINGO!

[Quote] The name "Generation Jones" has several connotations, including a large anonymous generation, a "keeping up with the Joneses" competitiveness and the slang word "jones" or "jonesing", meaning a yearning or craving.[15][16][17][18] It is believed[by whom?] that Jonesers were given huge expectations as children in the 1960s, and then confronted with a different reality as they came of age ***** during a long period of mass unemployment and when de-industrialization arrived full force in the mid-late 1970s and 1980s***** , leaving them with a certain unrequited "jonesing" quality for the more prosperous days of the past.

BINGO!

Generation Jones might be the first latch key kids. I was.

For sure no Boomer was that.

I was once thoroughly scolded for posting that I didn't think I was a Baby Boomer, but that I wasn't sure. I was born in 1961, so this defines me so much better. Growing up in the 60s and 70s, you could see how quickly things were changing, and the huge contrasts, but you were too young to participate yourself.

[Quote] I was once thoroughly scolded for posting that I didn't think I was a Baby Boomer, but that I wasn't sure. I was born in 1961, so this defines me so much better.

It's silly having these expansive generational names. There no way someone born in 1961 has any relation with someone born in 1948. Stupid!

[Quote] Generation Xers, although some sources use birth years beginning as early as 1960 and ending somewhere from 1977 to 1984.

Interesting bit from Wiki.

Nov 1961 here. I do NOT identify with Boomers , They were driving cars and listening to Janis Joplin when I was on my parents bed watching Brady Bunch on their TV cause grownups were in the den talking. People born in 1948 were almost out of college and burning their draft notices. I came of age listening to ABBA and Donna Summer, being a preppy and riding my Honda mini bike. No comparison to the Boomer experience. But I also hate skate boarders and all the 'extreme' sport genre bullshit that comes with it! So, not an X'r !

Another proud Joneser. May of 62

Another 1961 kid here. Someone pointed me to this article a couple of months ago, and it was the first time I'd ever read a description of a "generation" where I felt described.

R12, I was the youngest of three, and I never felt even slightly like a Boomer.

The problem with the definition of this generation, at least as put forth in the Wiki link is that there's little to give an idea of what defines it: the emphasis is almost wholly on what *doesn't* define it. They were not born in this time nor in that time; It's not this and it's not that; it's unlike this and it's unlike that; it was never this and it was never that; they did not grow up with this or with that; "there was no compulsory military service and no defining political cause."

Oh, and they're pessimistic.

I was born in this period myself, but a definition that only defines what a thing isn't + pessimism doesn't fit me any more than the the Baby Boomers or Gen Xer's that frame this inbetween period.

R25, I think I addressed that in R11.

Our generation grew up with organic foods, POW bracelets, vintage clothing, revival houses, macrame, ferns, exposed brick, hot tubs, drug addiction*, Creative Playthings blond wood toys, craft shows, Mr. Rogers, etc. And, yes, even if you lived in Bumfuck, Flyoverstan, some, if not, all of this trickled down to you. This is totally different from Howdy Doody, Elvis Presley, Commie Threat/McCarthyism, poodle skirts (wallpaper, bottle covers, etc.), Atomic Age design, duck and cover drills, etc.

By 1981, that was totally thrown out for "Greed is Good" and "sell the sizzle, not the steak." It was a a huge whiplash for our generation.

* and yes, I know drug addiction is nothing new, but it was openly discussed for the first time in a meaningful way, and was commonly used as a subject for film and TV programs.

Oh, I learned macramé. That was big in the 70s.

Shit I was born in 1964 tail end of the year in fact. But I do not identify with the Baby Boomers. More Gen-x than anything.

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Were the Brady Bunch kids Generation Jones?

Some of them were.

If you Google "Gen X years", it comes up with 1961-1981.

That fits and it comes from Strauss and Howe's book, Generations, which started all of this mess almost 30 years ago. They coined Millennials and all of these other generational names (besides Boomer and Silent Gen).

1961-1981 - that's pretty on point. I don't have anything in common with people born in 1984 or that experience of growing up in the 90's and not even graduated from high school with 9/11.

R32 How old are you?

R33 - born in 1970., right in the middle.

I just don't find the generational cohort distinctions very useful. Sure, knowing someone's age or being able to make a reasonable assumption about their age provides a framework of expectation that *may* be useful in meeting or interacting with others, but it's hardly failsafe. The age estimate plus a sizing up of their outward appearance and speech and carriage again narrows the expectation: "Aha, mid-fifties trust fund hippie chic woman, probably has children named after Greek flowers and a very fancy little ship that sells ridiculous things and makes no money.; always has a guy who's fucking her who does her webpage and photos." But the expectation that a person of a particular ages fits a pattern of optimism/pessimism, brand loyalty, world view generational perspective, etc. seems widely off-mark -- the way it maybe did when your parents announced that stranger was coming to visit and bring their kids, "They're about your age, you'll like them!"

R35 correction: *very fancy little SHOP

R35, the fact that people have made billions of dollars doing just that proves you wrong. Sorry, but the vast majority of people *do* fit into neat little boxes. They *are* predictable. The fact that the majority of the people on DL were the outsiders and the exception, does not change that.

November 62. This fits. I have zero in common with the vast majority of Boomers.

I was born in 1958. I feel like I have nothing whatsoever in common with the Boomers, and I hugely resent the younger folks here who put me in the "privileged" Boomer category. I'm not.

Generation Jones stayed safe on the way home from school by running to a Blue Star home if needed. I'm sure no background checks were done at the time, but Blue Star homes were always your friends' moms' houses.

"They have a daughter just your age!"

Every gay boy's worst nightmare.

We didn't have Blue Star homes growing up but we did know which house we could go to if needed.

What was a blue star home?

It was literally a blue star placard that residents (usually housewives...this was the late '60s and early '70s) would post in their front window. It signified a house where someone was usually home during hours before and after school, and a place where any child could go to if they were being harassed or were otherwise needing help. I remember the sun faded my mom's blue star over the years until it became barely visible. Apparently, the program died in recent years as more households had both parents working outside the home (and therefore unavailable to help out a child in distress).

This resonates with me, early 63 here

What about Generation Cunt?

sounds delish, r46!

It also depends where you lived. I was born in 1962 and we moved from the country to a big city in 1978. Country kids my age were still very much boomers (single income families, only a few TV channels, optimistic, riding bikes everywhere etc) but city kids were home alone some were doing drugs, listening to the Sex Pistols, pessimistic and catching trains and busses all around the city.

December 1959 here. I have no reason to relate to the Boomers. Much more privilege and resources were available to them. I ally with GenX.

How about Buck and Conrad? Were they Generation Jones?

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bump