I’m not sure when the Wikipedia page for “generations” was implemented, but I have a feeling the current generational definitions have been defined a lot longer than the past 5 years. Unless your parents are post-end ww2 baby boomers, I see no way for you to have ever been technically considered gen-y.
That being said, I feel like culturally, it wasn’t really until the massive uptick in school shootings (I’m also making a big assumption that you’re American, here) that gen-z was really defined. From memory, I think the high profile Columbine shooting happened in 1999-2001, but school shootings weren’t really considered commonplace until at the earliest the late 2000s, or even early 2010s.
Assuming they weren’t held back in school, the youngest millennial would still have been in highschool until 2014, maybe 2015. Compare that to the oldest millennial, who would have potentially graduated highschool in 1999, maybe 1998.
And since you aren’t even 30 yet (let’s assume 29), that would have the earliest you’d have been slated to graduate highschool at 2014, making you solidly in the shooter generation, gen-z. Again, though, this is assuming you’re American, and the only real culture and history I’m remotely familiar with.
Counterpoint b, though, a lot of people considered people “growing up around the turn of the millennium” to be a millennial. Sooo, yeah. Culturally, sure, close enough, I guess. But technically, nah.
Honestly, it just boils down to how the words “millennial” and “genZ” had their meanings negotiated and decided. The way we were defining Millennials in 2015 was different from how we define them in 2026.
Generations are less about describing an easily definable age cohort, as people are being born every day. Rather, like you pointed out, they’re more about defining cultural experience.
I’m not sure when the Wikipedia page for “generations” was implemented, but I have a feeling the current generational definitions have been defined a lot longer than the past 5 years. Unless your parents are post-end ww2 baby boomers, I see no way for you to have ever been technically considered gen-y.
That being said, I feel like culturally, it wasn’t really until the massive uptick in school shootings (I’m also making a big assumption that you’re American, here) that gen-z was really defined. From memory, I think the high profile Columbine shooting happened in 1999-2001, but school shootings weren’t really considered commonplace until at the earliest the late 2000s, or even early 2010s.
Assuming they weren’t held back in school, the youngest millennial would still have been in highschool until 2014, maybe 2015. Compare that to the oldest millennial, who would have potentially graduated highschool in 1999, maybe 1998.
And since you aren’t even 30 yet (let’s assume 29), that would have the earliest you’d have been slated to graduate highschool at 2014, making you solidly in the shooter generation, gen-z. Again, though, this is assuming you’re American, and the only real culture and history I’m remotely familiar with.
Counterpoint b, though, a lot of people considered people “growing up around the turn of the millennium” to be a millennial. Sooo, yeah. Culturally, sure, close enough, I guess. But technically, nah.
Honestly, it just boils down to how the words “millennial” and “genZ” had their meanings negotiated and decided. The way we were defining Millennials in 2015 was different from how we define them in 2026.
Generations are less about describing an easily definable age cohort, as people are being born every day. Rather, like you pointed out, they’re more about defining cultural experience.