There is a new generation that predates the Millennials and Generation X. If you were born between 1977 and 1983, then you are apparently included in a micro generation called xennials revealed by Dan Woodman, an Australian associate professor at the University of Melbourne.
According to Woodman, Xennials are a mix of the optimistic Millennials and pessimistic Generation X. Professor Woodman himself is a Xennial, being born in 1980. Xennials are the ones who were born before the “Star Wars” era began and grew up loving TV shows such as “Friends,” “Dawson’s Creek” and “Beverly Hills 90210.”
For Xennials, technology was still in its infancy
For people who were born in this time period, they would say that they were able to taste a little bit of technology.
I say a little bit because technology back then is not as cutting-edge as it is now.
For instance, one of the hottest games on PC that time was “Carmen Sandiego.” ”Space Invaders” and “Pac-Man” were also quite popular on the Atari gaming console. Xennials do have mobile phones but would mostly keep it inside their glove compartments as it only had voice call capabilities and would only be used for emergencies. Besides, they also have their pagers as an alternative.
They were the first to experience the internet, only they used dial ups, which make weird noises before it can connect to the internet, instead of broadband. They also used Instant Messenger to communicate with one another via the internet.
Professor Woodman’s description of the new micro generation
According to Woodman, although Xennials have grown up with technology, they also experienced life without it. In other words, they are the generation that grew up without having to worry about what to post on social media because it was the time before Facebook, Twitter, and even Friendster have arrived.
Woodman said, “Around technology they do have a particular experience – we hit this social media and IT digital technology boom in our 20s,” as cited in Mamamia.
To reiterate, Xennials not my term. Around a while online, earliest ref I've found: by @sarahstankorb & @jedoelbaum https://t.co/SsK8zpH35l
— Dan Woodman (@DrDanWoodman) June 27, 2017
Xennials are described as having experienced an analog childhood and a digital adulthood.
It also means these people are capable of being tech savvy but aren’t chained to their devices as much as Millennials or Generation X would.
However, not all people born in this time period fit in this category. Individual experiences, culture and even gender can all become factors. Xennials have a little bit of everything which makes them very unique.
