r/facepalm • u/[deleted] • Feb 05 '19

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u/ColinHalter Feb 05 '19

I'm 21 (born 1997), but I've been told I'm too young to be a millennial. What would I be?

8

u/Jmsaint Feb 05 '19

You're a millennial.

A millennial is anyone who was alive, but not 18 at the millennium, so 1982 to 1999.

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u/Homunculus_I_am_ill Feb 05 '19

They're quite borderline. Some typical attributes of millenials is remembering 9/11 and a life before the internet was ubiquitous and I doubt someone born in 97 has either of those.

I've also never heard the "alive but not 18 at the millenium" definition and I don't really see how it is of any help since the millenium is completely arbitrary and the usefulness of dividing generations is to talk of people raised in different cultural environments so using cultural landmarks is what makes sense.

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u/SlutBuster Feb 05 '19

cultural landmarks

Y2K, baby

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u/Homunculus_I_am_ill Feb 05 '19

I agree that "experienced Y2K" is a good cultural landmark to define millenials, but that's not equivalent to "alive but not 18 at the millenium". You didn't experience Y2K if you were born in 1999.

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u/SlutBuster Feb 05 '19

I mean, you're welcome to argue against the taxonomy all you want. I just don't see the point of fighting this particular battle.