#MINDANAO
If, like me, you are in your early 50’s, you belong to Generation X. Our sister publication Balita produced a nice online article explaining that Generation Xers are born between 1965 and 1980, between the baby boomer generation and the millennials, born between 1981 and 1996.
The same article said that the subsequent Generation Z are those born between 1997 and 2010. This cohort represents most of our children, many of whom entered adulthood right before or during the height of the pandemic. The same article cites Generation Alpha, a term coined by demographer Mark McCrindle, as a cohort composed of those born between 2011 and 2024.
The latest Beta generation, born in early 2025, has also been named by the McCrindle research agency in a now widely distributed online article. It looks like many of them will be the grandchildren of GenXers like us.
Three decades after entering the workforce in the 1990s, our Generation X is beginning to receive their first senior citizens cards and getting the first taste of retirement, as those in the early part of GenX, born in the mid 60’s, will be turning 60 in the next few years.
The term Generation X became popular after the release of the widely read book by Douglas Coupland in the early 1990s titled "Generation X: Tales From An Accelerated Culture." Since then it seems that we have a fixation with the generations we are born in and how similar, or different we are from those who precede and come after us. Much of it has to do with how we use technology, and how this shapes us and our view of the world, the relationships we engage in, and the way we lead others.
When I first joined the workforce almost 30 years ago, we in Generation X were perceived as indecisive or even lost, raised watching television, and able to exercise choice of entertainment through home gaming consoles. Nonetheless, our Generation X was the first, in my view, to adapt and replace technology as it emerged and faded into obsolescence within a short span of time. We were among the first to stop using facsimile machines and graduate to electronic mail to communicate, progressed from using beepers to the now ubiquitous smartphone. How this rapid pace of technological progress has shaped how we view the world, and lead it, is a likely template for the next.
Many in the incoming Beta generation are the children of our Generation Z kids. The wonder surrounding the birth of the country’s first Generation Beta babies will spark discussions on how their perspectives will probably be different from the generations that preceded them.
As with various generations such as ours, the environment and culture of the people they interact with as they grow will help shape their responses and perspectives.
We will begin to see how the generations after us will view work and life, regard the past and future, treat the haves and have-nots, love us and raise their children, manage their waste, and how they will lead the world as they mature into the same age we find ourselves in today.
Such interesting times.