What generation am I? A breakdown of each generation

Why do generations matter?

While it can be comforting to feel like you are part of a community of like-minded individuals, that isn't really the purpose of designating different generations. Instead, it's a fairly practical system, as it makes it easier for people to be understood by broad, defining characteristics.

Because of this, generational breakdowns are most often used in sociology, marketing, and workplace management settings. In all of these fields, it is vital to understand how the people you are communicating with think. While each person has their own ideas and beliefs, it can help to start by using information about what their group has lived through.

Of course, this is only one marker for these professions to use when trying to connect with people. Particularly for those who were born in contested years or on the dividing lines between generations, it can be easy to be misled. That's why it's so important to allow our understanding of different generations to change as time goes on.

Those born after 2020 are part of what is currently known as Gen Alpha, but we cannot begin to imagine what world events will guide them. Will Covid be a defining factor, as many have suggested, or will it be a simple fact of life, as many members of Gen Z understand 9/11? It's impossible to know now, but it is just as difficult to know how the other generations may change in the coming years.

There are detailed descriptions of how each current generation understands the world around them, but how might Millennials change when they approach retirement? Or Gen Z, when they begin having children? It's a helpful starting point for understanding the values and needs of different populations, but we must approach it flexibly, or we'll risk catering to demographics that no longer exist.

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