Geriatric Millennial

September 18, 2021

Move over millennials, Gen Z is the new ‘it’ generation

gen z baggy jeans — Gen Z has taken the driver’s seat.
Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images

No longer cool, millennials have fallen as the ‘it’ generation. That title belongs to Gen Z.
As the oldest millennial turns 40, Gen Z has lambasted them for their side parts and skinny jeans.
On the surface, millennials feel outdated. But the real issue is that they’re reckoning with a new life stage.
See more stories on Insider’s business page.

I was sipping a Moscow Mule in the corner of an East Village bar one night when a sense of déjà vu came over me.

The room was a sea of spaghetti straps, claw clips, baguette bags, and bright colors, catapulting me into my teenage past – more than a dozen years ago.

Confused about how these trends became cool again and when I aged out of my favorite bars, I looked down at my frayed skinny jeans and wondered if I should find new spots that attracted an … older crowd. My peers feel the same, taking to TikTok to cry about feeling old and outdated in their favorite NYC haunts.

@rixiecipollina
##nyc ##newyork ##newyorkcity ##ny
♬ original sound – rixieee

At 29, I recognize my youth, but am also painfully aware of the cultural gap between a late 20-something and an early 20-something, especially when they’re divided into two generations: millennials and Gen Z.

I would know – I’ve been writing about millennials for the past two-and-a-half years, so I’ve been particularly attuned to how generational conversations changed during the pandemic.

I watched as the media pounced on Gen Z mocking millennials on TikTok for how they wear their hair and for their love of coffee and wine. I saw headlines pop up deeming millennials “ancient” or “officially old” when their cult-favorite brand Glossier launched an anti-aging retinol. And I noticed how the millennial narrative shifted to middle-aged experiences like having kids and buying houses, while new lifestyle trends and consumer behavior increasingly fell to Gen Z.

Between last spring’s lockdowns and this spring’s economic reopening, we’re all a year older than we once were. But the lost year of 2020 accentuated the starkness of the cultural shift as a new generation enters young adulthood.

Millennials, many of whom suddenly became known as “geriatric” or “cheugy,” are no longer cool. Gen Z has taken over as the ‘it’ generation.

The oldest millennial is now 40

Millennials began to lose ‘it’ status when the oldest turned 40 this year. While the youngest millennials are just 25, the vast majority of the generation are no longer in their 20s. A term even popped up to describe the oldest cohort, much to the internet’s chagrin: geriatric millennial.

This homeowning millennial isn’t the avocado toast-loving, Instagram-obsessed, living-with-their-parents millennial that the world has learned to love and hate. That title now goes to Gen Z, except they’ve swapped out avocado toast for oat lattes and Instagram for TikTok.

geriatric millennial — Millennials have entered middle age this year.
Noam Galai/Getty Images

While millennials aged, so too did the generation behind them, the oldest of whom turn 24 this year. Much like millennials graduated into the Great Recession, Gen Z has their own tale of economic plight: graduating in the pandemic. And, as does every generation, they have certain hallmark traits: They’re activists, favor neon colors, and dress in 2000s clothes.

The world has noticed it all. After all, the fascination with young people is not about any particular generation, but about whoever is driving trends and influencing consumer spending. Now, it’s Gen Z’s turn to take over the economy as their collective income reaches $33 trillion. (It’s set to surpass that of millennials in 2031.)

It’s a natural evolution, Jason Dorsey, who runs the Center for Generational Kinetics, a research firm in Austin, Texas, told me. “At around this age and life stage, the next generation sort of takes the mantle as the ‘it’ generation, because they’re old enough to really start to exert their influence.”

Society feels like it finally understands millennials, he added, switching their focus to the generation that remains a mystery. That leaves Gen Z “shifting and driving much of the conversation,” which he predicts they’ll do for the next 15 years.

Awakening from the pandemic to a cultural shift

Pandemic or no pandemic, everyone turned another year older in 2020. But a year at home heightened the millennial-to-Gen-Z cultural transition.

Skinny jeans and side parts are out. So too are Hogwarts houses and the term “doggo.” The frowning face emoji now carries a more sexual meaning than a frustrated one, and “elite” no longer means excellence, but hitting the spot. Y2K fashion has re-entered the trend cycle, and a Chanel suit from 1995 is now considered vintage.

Digital bonding helped many of these new trends take root. Gen Z, already digital natives, had ample time to scroll on their phones during quarantine. They connected with one another, Dorsey said, as many underwent the fortifying experience of moving back home during the pandemic at a similar life stage.

At the center of this cultural shift was TikTok, which blew up during the pandemic. By September 2020, the social media app grew by 75%, expanding into intergenerational use. It signals the growing influence of Gen Z in leading consumer behavior, much the same way millennials did with Instagram.

TikTok became the place not just for dance videos, but for Gen Z’s jests at millennials and exploration of fashion trends, from tie-dye loungewear to baggy jeans. They’ve made their way to the streets, explaining why I came out of the pandemic feeling the need to update my wardrobe.

It’s all part of growing up

The downfall of millennials as the ‘it’ generation is symptomatic of the inevitable – getting old. It’s the natural evolution of generations, with one always superseding another as everyone ages, much the same way millennials overtook Gen X as a hot topic around the time social media emerged.

Millennials are having a difficult time reckoning with getting older. As my 29-year-old roommate said when I mentioned I was writing this piece: “That’s so sad!” followed by a deadpanned, “I’m not into this article.”

I, too, lamented to my therapist about how my world is going to end when I turn 30 this year. Overly dramatic, sure, but my peers and I are grappling with a major life transition that we may not be ready for – not the fact that Gen Z is making fun of us.

“It reinforces to many millennials that they themselves are entering a new life stage, whether that’s marriage or kids or buying houses or seeing friends doing that,” Dorsey said, describing it as an uncomfortable adjustment. “There’s this real sense of getting older, heightened when the new generation who are now adults is telling you that you’re older and outdated.”

Aging comes with societal pressure to settle into major life events like buying a house or having kids. Many millennials feel stressed that we’re unable to do so because of all the economic pills we’ve had to swallow. We’re also confronting the fact that our parents are aging, too, as we worry about their health risks during the pandemic.

The pandemic has forced millennials to grow up. While still young by many measures, we’re old enough to ponder existential life questions while also questioning past choices – whether a financial regret, or our skinny jeans.

The ironic part of millennials’ newfound uncoolness at the hands of Gen Z is that the latter doesn’t really care about being cool at all. Gen Z may enjoy their time in the limelight for now – until Generation C takes over.

Read the original article on Business Insider

September 15, 2021

Are you a geriatric millennial? It depends on how comfortable you are with TikTok, and whether you remember MySpace.

The term “geriatric millennial” divided the Internet this spring in a viral Medium article.
The author spoke to Insider about why it both resonated with and offended readers.
She also shared the hallmarks of a geriatric millennial and how they straddle the workplace’s digital divide.
See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Author and leadership expert Erica Dhawan never expected the term “geriatric millennial” to go viral.

A self-identified geriatric millennial (which she defines as elder millennials born in the early 1980s), Dhawan told Insider she first heard the term at brunch with friends and related to it. But when she wrote about this micro-generation’s influence in connecting older and younger generations in the workforce for Medium this past spring, it quickly went mainstream and divided the Internet.

While many, like Dhawan, related to the term, others were offended by it.

“I think that the fact that the word ‘geriatric’ carried such a negative connotation really also has the question: What’s wrong with being old?” she said. “The way that individuals reacted, I think should encourage all of us to start a reflection on how we view older members of our society.”

Dhawan said she’s spent a decade investigating, researching, and finding new ways to encourage collaboration and communication in the workplace, which she explores in her new book, “Digital Body Language.” She said that while interviewing American workers, she found that some micro-generations were “impossible to ignore.”

She said that geriatric millennials are unique because they straddle a digital divide between older and younger generations in the workplace, which enables them to bridge communication styles.

The hallmarks of this micro-generation aren’t meant to exclude younger millennials who may have experienced them as well, she added.

“What it’s really meant to do is pinpoint a specific moment in time where the digital tools were primitive and where we were coming of adulthood,” she said. “We can look at all millennials as being the same, but there are differences based on our experiences at different life stages.”

Meet the typical geriatric millennial, according to Dhawan.

You were born in the early 1980s, making you in your mid-to-late 30s or early 40s.

A woman wearing a blue top and white jeans is working on her living room floor with colourful toys next to her. — Marka/Getty Images

Dhawan defines geriatric millennials as those born from 1980 to 1985. That means they’re turning ages 41 to 36 this year.

But age is just one component. “Micro-generations are not simply just the years you were born, but, the strongest indicator is really how you use and engage with technology,” Dhawan said.

You remember PCs, the days of early dial-up, and MySpace.

classic pc — secret agent mike/Getty Images

Whereas younger millennials don’t know a world without digital tools as a primary form of communication, Dhawan said, geriatric millennials remember when they were very primitive.

“They were the first generation to grow up with a PC in their homes. They joined the first social media communities on Facebook and MySpace. They remember dial-up connections, collect calls, and punch cards,” she added.

They also remember things like Napster for burning CDs, as well as the regular flip phone. “Those that are maybe two to five years older than us know truly a world of, you know, mobile phones and never had to memorize people’s phone numbers for landline,” she said.

But you also feel comfortable on TikTok and Clubhouse.

clubhouse app — Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

While geriatric millennials are fluent in the early days of the internet and digital technology, they’ve also been able to easily adapt to newer forms of digital media, like TikTok, which may be unfamiliar to older generations like baby boomers and commonplace among younger generations like Gen Z.

“This is a unique cohort that straddles digital natives and digital adapters,” Dhawan said, adding that they’ve spent the same amount of years in both analogue and digital forms of communication, making them fluent in both.

Despite your digital skills, you’re also aware of the importance of personal communication.

A woman speaks in a one-on-one professional setting with a bulletin board behind her. — Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images

Geriatric millennials also remember the importance of traditional body language, Dhawan said. “The lean-in, the direct eye contact … those are critical traits, even in our digital world.”

That means they’re comfortable with communication styles of boomers and Gen Xers, she added, while adapting to the the communication style of younger, digital native millennials and Gen Z.

“It’s critically important to keep adapting to the times while, remembering the importance of physical, face-to-face communication,” she said.

You act as a bridge in the workplace.

Dhawan believes that being skilled in both digital and personal forms of communication enables geriatric millennials to serve in a hybrid role in the workplace.

For example, she said, a geriatric millennial would know to send a Slack message to a Gen Z co-worker instead of calling them out of the blue, which they might find alarming. But they would also know to be mindful of an older co-worker’s video background and help walk them through such technology.

“They can help straddle the divide,” she said. “They can teach traditional communication skills to some of those younger employees and digital body language to older team members.”

She likened the geriatric millennial’s role to being a translator, akin to learning a new language in a new country. “They can cater to the needs of different people and have different degrees of understanding of the digital world, but also they have a patience for the digital world that maybe future generations won’t because they don’t know a world without it.”

Read the original article on Business Insider

September 5, 2021

How the pandemic made millennials uncool

millennial dog selfie — Millennials aren’t cool anymore.
Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

No longer cool, millennials have fallen as the ‘it’ generation. That title belongs to Gen Z.
As the oldest millennial turns 40, Gen Z has lambasted them for their side parts and skinny jeans.
On the surface, millennials feel outdated. But the real issue is that they’re reckoning with a new life stage.
See more stories on Insider’s business page.

I was sipping a Moscow Mule in the corner of an East Village bar one night when a sense of déjà vu came over me.

The room was a sea of spaghetti straps, claw clips, baguette bags, and bright colors, catapulting me into my teenage past – more than a dozen years ago.

@rixiecipollina
##nyc ##newyork ##newyorkcity ##ny
♬ original sound – rixieee

I would know – I’ve been writing about millennials for the past two-and-a-half years, so I’ve been particularly attuned to how generational conversations changed during the pandemic.

Millennials, many of whom suddenly became known as “geriatric” or “cheugy,” are no longer cool. Gen Z has taken over as the ‘it’ generation.

The oldest millennial is now 40

Awakening from the pandemic to a cultural shift

Pandemic or no pandemic, everyone turned another year older in 2020. But a year at home heightened the millennial-to-Gen-Z cultural transition.

It’s all part of growing up

Read the original article on Business Insider

July 10, 2021

How to tell if you’re a geriatric millennial

The term “geriatric millennial” divided the Internet this spring in a viral Medium article.
The author spoke to Insider about why it both resonated with and offended readers.
She also shared the hallmarks of a geriatric millennial and how they straddle the workplace’s digital divide.
See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Author and leadership expert Erika Dhawan never expected the term “geriatric millennial” to go viral.

While many, like Dhawan, related to the term, others were offended by it.

She said that geriatric millennials are unique because they straddle a digital divide between older and younger generations in the workplace, which enables them to bridge communication styles.

The hallmarks of this micro-generation aren’t meant to exclude younger millennials who may have experienced them as well, she added.

Meet the typical geriatric millennial, according to Dhawan.

You were born in the early 1980s, making you in your mid-to-late 30s or early 40s.

Dhawan defines geriatric millennials as those born from 1980 to 1985. That means they’re turning ages 41 to 36 this year.

But age is just one component. “Micro-generations are not simply just the years you were born, but, the strongest indicator is really how you use and engage with technology,” Dhawan said.

You remember PCs, the days of early dial-up, and MySpace.

Whereas younger millennials don’t know a world without digital tools as a primary form of communication, Dhawan said, geriatric millennials remember when they were very primitive.

But you also feel comfortable on TikTok and Clubhouse.

Despite your digital skills, you’re also aware of the importance of personal communication.

professional woman conversation — Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images

Geriatric millennials also remember the importance of traditional body language, Dhawan said. “The lean-in, the direct eye contact … those are critical traits, even in our digital world.”

That means they’re comfortable with communication styles of boomers and Gen Xers, she added, while adapting to the the communication style of younger, digital native millennials and Gen Z.

“It’s critically important to keep adapting to the times while, remembering the importance of physical, face-to-face communication,” she said.

You act as a bridge in the workplace.

Dhawan believes that being skilled in both digital and personal forms of communication enables geriatric millennials to serve in a hybrid role in the workplace.

“They can help straddle the divide,” she said. “They can teach traditional communication skills to some of those younger employees and digital body language to older team members.”

Read the original article on Business Insider