Generation X has had a lot of nicknames throughout their existence. Some of them, like The Latchkey Generation, are quite valid. But the nickname that has really stuck hard on Gen X is this one: Slacker.
It’s hard to say exactly where the name came from, although many argue it comes from the Richard Linklater movie, Slacker, in which the aimlessness of young adults in the early 1990s is on full comedic display.
[ Is the movie “Slacker” an accurate representation of Generation X? Check out my movie review HERE. ]
I think there are a number of unfortunate reasons why this moniker stuck to Generation X and I’ll lay out the argument here. Then I will explain why it’s a completely inaccurate description of our generation.
…I’m a Toys R’ Us Kid
To older generations, like the Greatest and the Silents, the youth of the 90s didn’t want to grow up. These generations expected adults in their 20s to establish careers, get married, and have children. That’s what your 20s are for!
But Generation X stalled on all those things.
…Go Together Like a Horse and Carriage
Gen X are children of divorce. Divorce rates in the U.S. flourished during Gen X’s youth, peaking in 1980. They were raised by divorced parents, feuding parents, unhappily married parents, and single parents. They grew to be marriage cautious.
With the accessibility of birth control and the declining stigma of long-term live-in relationships, Gen X was able to postpone marriage for as long as they wanted.
Widespread birth control access also allowed them to postpone having children. As a generation often left alone while their parents worked, much of Generation X felt neglected as children.
One could argue they were neglected by society. As Strauss and Howe put it in their book about Gen X, “Gen Xers were children at a time when society was less focused on children and more focused on adults.”
Gen X was slow to marry and reproduce as a pragmatic response to their own experiences. They also held off on marriage and children while they focused on building careers and financial stability. But that was problematic.
…What a Way To Make a Living
Generation X didn’t jump into traditional careers. For one thing, the early 90s was a time of downsizing and offshoring. In many cases, they entered the workforce during a recession, when finding employment was not easy for the young and inexperienced. This forced them to flex their entrepreneurial muscles early on.
Beyond that, the work landscape was not very appealing. Their parents and grandparents were entrenched in long careers with the same companies before retiring with a healthy pension and a gold watch. Their advice was to get in at the ground level of a good company and work your way up.
But times were changing, and that advice didn’t pass muster. There were no more pensions and no more gold watches. There was no longer an expectation that if you were loyal to a company they would be loyal to you.
Generation X saw corporate soul-suckers trying to steal their dreams. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t that dramatic, but there was a distinct understanding that one had to look out for themselves in the corporate world and long, loyal tenures at the same company became a thing of the past.
Generation X was taking different career paths. They started businesses, had side gigs, and job-hopped.
I Want My, I Want My….
Generation X grew up with VHS tapes and video rental stores. Their parents could only see a film if it was showing in the local cineplex. But Gen X could rent an armload of tapes for a home movie marathon. Enter the independent film industry. Gen X could expose themselves to all kinds of art and ideas outside of the mainstream.
Sometimes called the MTV generation, Gen X grew up with music videos. Music had a look, now, and it was anything but the look of traditional Ed Sullivan acts.
Out of Generation X came grunge rock. It was dirty and sloppy and unintelligible. It was brilliant if you understood it, but to older generations, it looked the way the rest of Generation X was starting to look to them. Lazy.
The grunge rock era affected their fashion choices. They wore flannel overshirts and baggy pants. They rode skateboards and BMX bikes. Their hobbies and apparel seemed childish and enforced a layabout stereotype.
Anyway You Want It….
The truth is, Generation X has always been cautious. This is rooted in their upbringing.
Generation X grew up with Stranger Danger, Satanic Panic, D.A.R.E., and M.A.D.D. They were inundated with threats of HIV/AIDS and nuclear war. And if that wasn’t enough, they were warned how they would be crushed by the national debt and they could just forget about social security.
Gen X is deliberate about their lives and they see a necessity to look out for themselves. Can you blame them for taking longer to establish themselves?
…Break Me Off a Piece of That Kit Kat Bar
There is some argument that the generations complaining about the up-and-coming Generation X were, in fact, complaining about Boomers.
It was the Baby Boomer generation that really broke apart a lot of societal norms. They ushered in the concept of “free love” and oversaw the accessibility of the birth control pill and abortions. They popularized two-income families and no-fault divorce. Generation X simply grew up in the world that was made for them. Then they lived with the consequences: HIV, latchkey childhoods, divorced parents, single parents, and fewer siblings.
While the older boomers had touted “free love” and “fighting the man”, the younger boomers, in an epic betrayal, became the “greed is good” yuppie generation. They were ultra-consumers. Money, money, money. This u-turn may have added to some of the Gen X disillusionment and a stronger sense of breaking out of the mainstream.
It also left Gen X holding the societal deconstruction bag.
[ The trailing end of the Baby Boomer generation is also referred to as Generation Jones. Curious about them? Read HERE. ]
…It’s The Thrill of the Fight
The reality is that Generation X is now viewed as the hardest-working living generation. Sociologist Mike Males, in the LA Times, referred to Gen X as the true greatest generation. They are mainly responsible for the tech revolution of the 90s and 2000s and are known as the most entrepreneurial generation, earning themselves yet another nickname, Generation 1099. (This is in reference to the tax forms filed by a small business rather than a W2.)
…chka chka Slim Shady
So, as Time magazine put it, Gen Xers aren’t slackers after all.
Are we upset that the nickname stuck? I don’t think so. I think we own it. To us, Slacker just means we didn’t buy into the societal hierarchy we were told to accept. We decided to remake it instead. If that makes us slackers, then so be it.
Whatever.
Are you into all this Gen X stuff? Here are some more you might like.
Generation X is Ready to Make Their Dreams Come True
We Need a Generation X President But We Aren’t Going to Get One
Or just visit the Home Page and explore.