I've never bothered much with the convoluted naming conventions for generations. After the 1980s, it all turns into a chaotic mess-perhaps the generation-naming committee hit some internal union dispute leading to disagreements and rogue naming committees being formed While my parents' generation, affectionally called the "Baby Boomers" , and my own, "Generation X" , feel etched in stone, the ones that follow keep shifting shape. Today's kids cycle through labels like "Centennials, " "iGeneration, " and-most ominously-"Generation Z, " evoking an end-of-the-alphabet finality that's largely overlooked.
In truth, only three generations truly count: the ones before mine, mine, and the ones after. For simplicity, I dub them the Pre-Technologists, the Technologists, and the Post-Technologists. Those of us born between 1965 and 1980-the Technologists-had prime seats to humanity's most explosive transformation: the Information Technology Revolution. Our parents, the Pre-Technologists, weren't just unprepared; they were utterly baffled by it. Our children, the Post-Technologists, know nothing else; they grew in homes where computers, video games, and other electronic gadgets occupied every power outlet.
Only we bridged the divide, witnessing life before and after the digital dawn. We grasp its profound pivot in human evolution. That's why many in my generation eye AI with a mix of skepticism , excitement, and ultimately, resignation-it's the culmination of a momentum building for half a century. Sadly, many of our parents have passed on, but honestly, given their struggles with programming a VCR (think Netflix on tape), it might be merciful. I doubt many would have bonded with Grok or Claude. Our kids, immersed in tech from birth, treat ChatGPT like a search engine, work assistant, and therapist rolled into one.
To them, AI's ascent is inevitable-just another upgrade in a world they've always known as smart, useful, and accessible. But for us Gen Xers, it's different. We see this as the gripping final season of a 5 decades-long saga, hurtling toward a finale that's equal parts relief and heartbreak, like the end of Friends.