Generations

I have been asked many times "How old are you?"  I also reply with my exact age (now 75). I never lie about my age, because it pretty evident by looking at my face, well most of the time. I probably puff out my chest when they say,"Wow, you don't seem that old."  Everyone likes those kind of compliments.

I am a 'Boomer', or a 'Baby Boomer' to be exact. Born during and after WWII, and the largest generation. of the seven.  As we all know when we were younger, we all thought our parents were a different generation and maybe slow on the uptake about our likes and dislikes, because they were. We liked different things like music, TV shows, cars, vacations and foods. Each generation have different Idiosyncrasies. I guess I always knew this, but did not really realize the differences until a read a report from a research group. Since I am sort of a history buff, and a people watcher, I wanted to learn more about the differences between the generations. But, I won't bore you will more charts and links to websites I looked at.

My belief is, the single most reason businesses can not get and keep employees is because of the 'generation gaps'. New young employees want different things in their work and workplace. Well, here is a chart showing it better than I can explain.

 Our daughter owns a medical practice and she had a young girl quit because she said the was not enough of 'phone time'. She meant cell phone time ... while she was getting paid to work? Come on!

Unlike the chart that only shows 4 generations, there actually 7. The years may vary according to the research groups, but you'll get it.

Here are the generations by years born. Great generation - 1901 to 1927, Silent generation - 1928 to 1945, Boomers - 1946 to mid 60s, Gen X - mid 60s to 1980, Millennials - 1981 to 1995, Gen Z - 1996 to 2012, Alpha - 2011 to 2025.

All of these generations differ greatly according to what society dictated at the time and the world events such as WWI and II, the 'Jim Crow' era and civil rights movement, televisions, Viet Nam, the 60s Free Love era, the computer era and the fast moving economy of today and so on. Politics also played a big part in shaping each generation. Presidents became more outgoing and outspoken, unlike the very dignified and proper image of a president of the 1910 until the Trump era. Some bent to the times and some refused, as did some generations. Change is everlasting.

As one of my elderly relative said, "I like movies that say 'The End' so I don't have to guess what's coming." And we don't know what is coming, so it's best (I guess) to just keep up with younger generation so we are not surprised by what comes next. So what Gen are you, and what are your experiences. I'd love to hear them. Take care.