Demographics of this forum

[SDNR]

The generational demographics of our forum

I thought it might be fun to graph the age demographics of our forum ...I am certain Generation Y are by far the most dominant age group ..but lets see.

I have used US generational terms for the two oldest generations because I am not sure what they might otherwise be called -- but Baby-Boomers, Gen X, and Gen Y, are pretty much universally accepted terms. Also, I realize the years these demographics fall into can vary and overlap (Generation X for example sometimes is marked as 1961 - 1981) but for the sake of fitting these tidily into our survey the years are as follows:


1911 -1924 Greatest Generation
1925 -1945 Silent Generation
1946 -1964 Baby-Boomer
1965 -1976 Generation X
1977- 2003 Generation Y


BTW -- I am irritated I mispelled Generation X on the poll ...sorry about that.

[warot]

Gen. Y

[SDNR]

I have looked around the net and seen the dates for these different generations vary a lot -- also it is interesting to read how sociologists characterize these different generations. Some of the stereotypes are: the baby-boomers are labeled as self-indulgent, trivial, and vain; Gen Xers (the "Me" generation) are often regarded as negative, lazy, and self-absorbed; Generation Y is viewed as tech-savvy, entrepreneurial, and selfish.


Also, I found this list of Gen X "isms" from - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

...I thought Osna might enjoy some of these.

101-ism:

The tendency to pick apart, often in minute detail, all aspects of life using half-understood pop psychology as a tool.

2 + 2 = 5-ism:

Caving in to a target marketing strategy aimed at oneself after holding out for a long period of time. "Oh, all right, I'll buy your stupid cola. Now just leave me alone."

Air Family:

Describes the false sense of community experienced among coworkers in an office environment.

Anti-Sabbatical:

A job take with the sole intention of staying only for a limited period of time (often one year). The intention is usually to raise enough funds to partake in another, more personally meaningful activity such as watercolor sketching in Crete or designing computer knit sweaters in Hong Kong. Employers are rarely informed of intention.

Anti-Victim Device (AVD):

A small fashion accessory worn on an otherwise conservative outfit which announces to the world that one still has a spark of individuality burning inside: 1940s retro ties and earrings (on men), feminist buttons, noserings (women), and th e now almost completely extinct teeny weeny "rattail" haircut (both sexes).

Architectural Indigestion:

The almost obsessive need to live in a 'cool' architectural environment. Frequent related objects of fetish include framed black-and-white art photography (Diane Arbus is a favorite); simplistic pine furniture; matte black high-tech items such as TVs, stereos, and telephones; low-wattage ambient lighting; a lamp, chair, or table that alludes to the 1950s; cut flowers with complex name.

Armanism:

After Giorgio Armani: an obsession with mimicking the seamless and (more importantly) controlled ethos of Italian culture. Like - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER, Armanism reflects a profound inner need for control.

Bambification:

The mental conversion of flesh and blood living creatures into cartoon creatures possessing bourgeois Judeo-Christian attitudes and morals.

Black Dens:

Where - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER live; often unheated warehouses with Day-Glo spray paint, mutilated mannequins, Elvis references, dozens of overflowing ashtrays, broken mirror sculptures, and Velvet Underground music playing in background.

Black Holes:

An X generation subgroup best known for their possession of almost entirely black wardrobes.



Bleeding Ponytail:

An elderly sold-out baby boomer who pines for hippie or pre-sellout days.

Boomer Envy:

Envy of material wealth and long-range material security accrued by older members of the baby boom generation by virtue of fortunate births.

Bradyism:

A multisibling sensibility derived from having grown up in large families. A rarity n those born after approximately 1965, symptoms of Bradyism include a facility for mind games, emotional withdrawal in situations of overcrowding, and a deeply felt need for well-defined personal space.

Brazilification:

The widening gulf between the rich and the poor and the accompanying disappearance of the middle classes.

Bread and Circuits:

The electronic era tendency to view party politics as corny -- no longer relevant or meaningful or useful to modern societal issues, and in may cases dangerous.

Café Minimalism:

To espouse a philosophy of minimalism without actually putting into practice any of its tenets.

Celebrity Schadenfreude:

Lurid thrills derived from talking about celebrity deaths.

Chryptotechnophobia:

The secret belief that technology is more of a menace than a boon.

Clique Management:

The need of one generation to see the generation following it as deficient so as to bolster its own collective ego: "Kids today do nothing. They're so apathetic. We used to go out and protest. All they do is shop and complain."

Consensus Terrorism:

The process that decides in-office attitudes and behavior.

Conspicuous Minimalism:

A life-style tactic similar to - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER. The nonownership of goods flaunted as a token of moral and intellectual superiority.

Conversational slumming:

The self conscious enjoyment of a given conversation precisely for its lack of intellectual rigor. A major spin-off activity of - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.

Cult of Aloneness:

The need for autonomy at all costs, usually at the expense of long-term relationships. Often brought about by overly high expectations of others.

Decade Blending:

In clothing: the indiscriminate combination of two or more items from various decades to create a personal mood: Sheila = Mary Quant earrings (1960s) + cork wedgie platform shoes (1970s) + black leather jacket (1950s and 1980s).

Derision Preemption:

A life-style tactic; the refusal to go out on any sort of emotional limb so as to avoid mockery from peers. Derision Preemption is the main goal of - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER.

Diseases for Kisses (Hyperkarma):

A deeply rooted belief that punishment will somehow always be far greater than the crime: ozone holes for littering.

Divorce Assumption:

A form of - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER, the belief that if marriage doesn't work out, then there is no problem because partners can simply seek a divorce.

Dorian Graying:

The unwillingness to gracefully allow one's body to show the signs of aging.

Down-Nesting:

The tendency of parent to move to smaller, guest-room-free houses after their children have moved away so as to avoid children aged 20 to 30 who have boomeranged home.

Dumpster Clocking:

The tendency when looking at objects to guesstimate the amount of time they will take to eventually decompose: "Ski boots are the worst. Solid plastic. They'll be around till the sun goes supernova."

Earth Tones:

A youthful subgroup interested in vegetarianism, tie-dyed outfits, mild recreational drugs, and good stereo equipment. Earnest, frequently lacking in humor.

Emallgration:

Migration toward lower-tech, lower-information environments containing lessened emphasis on consumerism.

Emotional Ketchup Burst:

The Bottling up opinions and emotions inside oneself so that they explosively burst forth all at once, shocking and confusing employers and friends -- most of whom thought things were fine.

The Emperor's New Mall:

The popular notion that shopping malls exist on the insides only and have no exterior. The suspension of visual belief engendered by this notion allows shoppers to pretend that the large, cement blocks thrust into their environment do not, in fact, exist.

Ethnomagnetism:

The tendency of young people to live in emotionally demonstrative, more unrestrained ethnic neighborhoods: "You wouldn't understand it there, mother -- they hug where I live now."

Expatriate Solipsism:

When arriving in a foreign travel destination one had hoped was undiscovered, only to find many people just like oneself; the peeved refusal to talk to said people because they had ruined one's elitist travel fantasy.

Fame-Induced Apathy:

The attitude that no activity is worth pursuing unless one can become very famous pursuing it. Fame-Induced Apathy mimics laziness, but its roots are much deeper.

Green Division:

To know the difference between envy and jealousy.

Historical Overdosing:

To live in a period of time when too much seems to happen. Major symptoms include addiction to newspapers, magazines and TV news broadcasts.

Historical Slumming:

The act of visiting locations such as diners, smokestack industrial sites, rural villages -- locations where time has been frozen many years back -- so as to experience relief when one returns back to "the present."

Historical Underdosing:

To live in a period of time when nothing seems to happen. Major symptoms include addiction to newspapers, magazines and TV news broadcasts.

Homeowner Envy:

Feelings of jealousy generated by the young and the disenfranchised when faced with gruesome housing statistics.

Jack-and-Jill Party:

A - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTERtradition; baby showers to which both men and women friends are invited as opposed to only women. Doubled purchasing power of bisexual attendance brings gift values up to Eisenhower-era standards.

Japanese Minimalism:

The most frequently offered interior design aesthetic used by rootless career-hopping young people.

Knee-Jerk Irony:

The tendency to make flippant ironic comments as a reflexive matter of course in everyday conversation.

Legislated Nostalgia:

To force a body of people to have memories that do not actually possess: "How can I be a part of the 1960s generation when I don't even remember any of it?"

Lessness:

A philosophy whereby one reconciles oneself with diminishing expectations of material wealth: "I've given up wanting to make a killing or be a bigshot. I just want to find happiness and maybe open up a little roadside cafe in Idaho."

McJob:

A low-pay, low-prestige, low-dignity, low-benefit, no-future job in the service sector. Frequently considered a satisfying career choice by people who have never held one.

Me-ism:

A search by an individual, in the absence of training or traditional religious tenets, to formulate a personally tailored religion by himself. Most frequently a mishmash of reincarnation, personal dialogue with a nebulously defined god figure, naturalism, and karmic eye-for-eye attitudes.

Mental Ground Zero:

The location where one visualizes oneself during the dropping of the atomic bomb; frequently, a shopping mall.

Metaphasia:

An inability to perceive metaphor.

Mid-Twenties Breakdown:

A period of mental collapse occurring in one's twenties, often caused by an inability to function outside of school or structured environments coupled with a realization of one's aloneness in the world. Often marks the induction into the ritual of pharmaceutical usage.

Musical Hairsplitting:

The act of classifying music and musicians into pathologically picayune categories: "The Vienna Franks are a good example of urban white acid folk revivalism crossed with ska."

Native Aping:

Pretending to be a native when visiting a foreign destination.

Now Denial:

To tell oneself that the only time worth living in is the past and that the only time that may ever be interesting again is the future.

Nutritional Slumming:

Food whose enjoyment stems not from flavor but from a complex mixture of class connotations, nostalgia signals, and packaging semiotics: "Katie and I bought this tub of Multi-Whip instead of real whip cream because thought petroleum d istillate whip topping seemed like the sort of food that air force wives stationed in Pensacola back in the early sixties would feed their husband to celebrate a career promotion."

Obscurism:

The practice of peppering daily life with obscure references (forgotten films, dead TV stars, unpopular book, defunct countries, etc.) as a subliminal means of showcasing one's education and one's wish to disassociate from the world of mass culture.

Occupational Slumming:

Taking a job beneath one's skills or education level as a means of retreat from adult responsibilities and/or avoiding possible failure in one's true occupation.

O'Propriation:

The inclusion of advertising, packaging, and entertainment jargon from earlier eras in everyday speech for ironic and/or comic effect: "Kathleen's Favorite dead Celebrity party was tons o' fun" or "Dave really think s of himself as a zany, nutty, wacky, and madcap guy, doesn't he?"

Option Paralysis:

The tendency, when given unlimited choices, to make none.

Overboarding:

Overcompensating for fears about the future by plunging headlong into a job or life-style seemingly unrelated to one's previous interests; i.e., Amway sales, aerobics, the Republican Party, a career in law, cults, McJobs....

Ozmosis:

The inability of one's job to live up to one's self-image.

Paper Rabies:

Hypersensitivity to littering.

Personal Tabu:

A small rule for living, bordering on superstition, that allows one to cope with everyday life in the absence of cultural or religious dictums.

Personality Tithe:

A price paid for becoming a couple; previously amusing human beings become boring: "Thanks for inviting us, but Noreen and I are going to look at flatware catalogs tonight. Afterward we're going to watch the travel channel."

Platonic Shadow:

A nonsexual friendship with a member of the opposite sex.

Poor Buoyancy:

The realization that one was a better person when one had less money.

Poorochondria:

Hypochondria derived from not having medical insurance.

Poverty Jet Set:

A group of people given to chronic traveling at the expense of long-term job stability or a permanent residence. Tend to have doomed and extremely expensive phone call relationships with people names Serge or Ilyana. Tend to discuss frequent-flyer programs at parties.

Poverty Lurks:

Financial paranoia instilled in offspring by depression-era parents.

Power Mist:

The tendency of hierarchies in office environments to be diffuse and preclude crisp articulation.

Pull-the-Plug, Slice the Pie:

A fantasy in which an offspring mentally tallies up the net worth of his parents.

QFD:

Quelle ******* drag. "Jamie got stuck in the Rome airport for thirty-six hours and it was, like, QFD."

QFM:

Quelle fashion mistake. "It was really QFM. I mean, painter pants? That's 1979 beyond belief."

Rebellion Postponement:

The tendency in one's youth to avoid traditionally youthful activities and artistic experiences in order to obtain serious career goals. Sometimes results in the mourning for lost youth at about age thirty, followed by silly haircuts and joke- inducing wardrobes.

Recreational Slumming:

The practice of participating in recreational activities of a class one perceives as lower than one's own: "Karen! Donald! Let's go bowling tonight! An don't worry about shoes... apparently you can rent them."

Recurving:

Leaving one job to take another that pays less but places one back on the learning curve.

Safety Net-ism:

The belief that there will always be a financial and emotional safety net to buffer life's hurts. Usually parents.

Sick Building Migration:

The tendency of younger workers to leave or avoid jobs in unhealthy office environments or workplaces affected by Sick Building Syndrome.

Spectacularism:

A fascination with extreme situations.

Squires:

The most common X generation subgroup and the only subgroup given to breeding. Squires exist almost exclusively in couples and are recognizable by their frantic attempts to recreate a semblance of Eisenhower-era plenitude and their daily lives in the face of exorbitant housing prices and two-job life-styles. Squires tend to be continually exhausted from voraciously acquisitive pursuit of furniture and knickknacks.

Squirming:

Discomfort inflicted upon young people by old people who see no irony in their gestures. Karen died a thousand deaths as her father made a big show of tasting a recently manufactured bottle of wine before allowing it to be poured as the family sat in Steak Hut.

Status Substitution:

Using an object with intellectual or fashionable cachet to substitute for an object that is merely pricey: "Brian, you left your copy of Camus in your brother's BMW."

Strangelove Reproduction:

Having children to make up for the fact that one no longer believes in the future.

Successophobia:

The fear that if one is successful, then one's personal needs will be forgotten and one will no longer have one's childish needs catered to.

Survivulousness:

The tendency to visualize oneself enjoying being the last person on earth. "I'd take a helicopter up and throw microwave ovens down on the Taco Bell."

Tele-Parablizing:

Morals used in everyday life that derive from TV sitcom plots: "That's just like the episode where Jan lost her glasses."

Terminal Wanderlust:

A condition common to people of transient middle-class upbringings. Unable to feel rooted in any one environment, the move continually in hopes of finding an idealized sense of community in the next location.

Ultra Short Term Nostalgia:

Homesickness for the extremely recent past: "God, things seemed so much better in the world last week."

Underdogging:

The tendency to almost invariably side with the underdog in a given situation. The consumer expression of the this trait is the purchasing of less successful, "sad," or failing products: "I know these Vienna franks are heart failure in a stick, but they were so sad looking up against all the other yuppie food items that I just had to buy them."

Vaccinated Time Travel:

To fantasize about traveling backward in time, but only with proper vaccinations.

Veal-Fattening Pen:

Small, cramped office workstations built of fabric-covered disassemblable wall partitions and inhabited by junior staff members. Named for the pre-slaughter cubicles used by the cattle industry.

Virgin Runway:

A travel destination chosen in the hopes that no one else has ever chosen it.

Voter's Block:

The attempt, however futile, to register dissent with the current political system by simply not voting.

Yuppie Wannabe's:

An X generation subgroup that believes the myth of a yuppie life-style being both satisfying and viable. Tend to be high in debt, involved in some form of substance abuse, and show a willingness to talk about Armageddon after three drinks.

[Just_me]

Im Genaration X (sounds cool )

[SDNR]

Me too Just_me .....Gen Y probably hate us ..LOL

[BMW_Dude]

Originally Posted by Roberto

Me too Just_me .....Gen Y probably hate us ..LOL

I'm generation Y, and yes we do hate gen X!j/k (go away oldies!)

[dOmInIX]

I'm Generation Y.

[The Artist]

Y all the way baby..

[Imhotep Evil]

Same here.

[MikeJ]

According to this classification, I'm Gen Y. I feel like such a child.