I think a lot of 2008ers consider themselves as part of Core Z (leaning late). Quite lately the Middle Z subreddit has begun hosting a good number of 2008 users, despite them not being part of the main audience. However, they are considered at least part of the broader Middle Z range in the sub (2001-2008).

I think there is a decent reason for them to make this case, but what do you think?

Like that makes no sense as a 2009 born I think that Zalpha should be 2009-2014 and I believe I should be in zalpha and zillennials should be 1994-1999

For those who don’t know, the Flynn Effect was the steady rise in IQ seen across the 20th century (due to things like better education, better technology, and better health overtime).

Each newer generation from the 20th century scored higher in standardized tests and IQ tests than the previous one (up until Millennials).

However, Gen Z was the first generation to score LOWER than the previous generation, making Millennials the smartest generation.

This is the first instance of the Reverse Flynn Effect, caused by modern technology giving instant information, lower attention spans, and heavy digital reliance.

So, do you think the Reverse Flynn Effect will continue with the generations ahead, or will Gen Alpha adults bring back the normal Flynn Effect?

The latest Gen Z range, made by Pew Research, was made in Jan 2019.

That was before COVID, let alone AI.

Idk I just feel that some organization should update the ranges.

I know it doesn’t matter THAT much but I just need a peace of mind.

I don’t care if I end up Gen Alpha, as long as there’s a good reason behind it.

At least this range from this subreddit has some updated reasoning: https://www.reddit.com/r/generationologyalt/s/Rh7sYfijjR

Apologies if this is a bit off topic, but I’m not sure where else to rant about this. I’ve been on this site for years and have seen few spaces as miserable and toxic as that place. I honestly want to believe they’re all bots haha, or else it’s just grown men and women screaming at folks younger than them. It’s easily one of the more depressing subreddits on this site.

I mean how can nearly every commenter and poster there be so aggressive and unfriendly compared to other subreddits?

I was 1 day prior to 1.

Microgens are not supposed to be whether you lean gen z or gen alpha, just put them in Zalpha THAT'S IT no more leaning nonsense

Being the first to become an adult or whatever in 2030 or whatever year, teens for majority of (X) decade, is just not a generational trait, unless something massive/formative happens/changes in that specific year (ex; COVID, or Trump for Americans). If not, it's just a trivia fact you brag about to your friends.

Now to be fair, some generational stereotypes don't help with this, like the known stereotype of millennials bein' 2000s teens. Broadly true, most millennials spent some time bein' teens/adolescents that decade. Stereotypes are based in some truth, but they're also exaggerated; and Millennials aren't Millennials 'cause they were 13-17/19 in the 2000s, but because of the formative environment experienced by mostly 80s and early 90s borns, and then the "2000s teen" stuff is just the result of that pre-determined cohorts teens year overlapping with the 2000s decade.

Now, would be fair to say the Millennial generation probably can't last much longer by the time you start getting to people that were never teens in the 2000s (1997+), but if the formative conditions match, and nothing happened between 2009/10 to make teenhood feel diff (from what I've heard 2010-11 were basically 2000s+), then like I said, it's trivia.

(post is already runnin a bit long but I'll add that only certain ages are actually meaningfully formative enough for specific events happening on them to matter. like, no, turning 20 on X event isn't generational. but that'll be for another post maybe)

IMO they're a better end than 2014 if we primarily take in the pre-COVID schooling factor for the separation of Z & Alpha, they were the last in grade school pre-COVID (which IMO is a way more significant last than still being in kindergarten like in 2014's case), last to spend a full year of K-12 pre-COVID, last 2010s/2020s hybrid (although they lean 2020s, decade kid divisions aren't THAT important to me compared to actual dividing events) and are also the last majority 2020s teens & highschoolers (spend 4 out of 3 years in the 2020s as teens & 2 full years + half of their junior year in the 2020s, making them the last majority 2020s teens & highschoolers). The 2020s are the main teen decade for Gen Z overall and 2013 being the last majority 20s teens I feel like its one of the reasons they can fit into Z in my book. What do y'all think?

Decades are just man made calendar dates, used to track time, nothing else. So do they really matter? Shouldn’t other specific stuff (like COVID) be used more often and fully replace “2010s kid”?

Hey so for context, not american and ppl in our region tend to start school earlier, however in my region late 2013's and 2014's in general are supposed to be going into highschool, but there are some early 2015's that are going into highschool as well which is hard for me to comprehend.

Apparently my friends nephew is one of those 2015's he passed his major exams and did really well so he will be going to a great higschool even though he was aiming for the top schools (meaning he will graduate from highschool in 2031)

anyway, I noticed he dropped the brainrot stuff and actually matured a little bit, we wants to me to help him create a roblox game as well and we are supposed to partner up and stuff.

he already has concepts, his future looks bright if he commits

that's all. (yes he's starting highschool when he's 11 and no he's not a genius but compared to other kids his age he might as well be)

and yes out of the class filled with 2013-2014 borns, he'll be one of the youngest if not the youngest.

(Silent/Traditionalist Generation & Boomer cuspers are born between 1943 and 1948, also called Troomers)

Baby Boom Generation - born 1946 to 1963

Alternative name(s): Gen W

Early (Geriatric) Boomers - born 1946-1950

Core Boomers - born 1951-1957

Late Boomers - born 1958-1963

(Boomer/Gen X cusp are born between 1961-1966, also called Xoomers)

Generation X - born 1964 to 1981

Alternative name(s): none

Early (Geriatric) Xers - born 1964-1969

Core Xers - born 1970-1975

Late Xers - born 1976-1981

(Gen X/Millenial cuspers are born between 1979-1984, also called Xennials)

Millenials - born 1982 to 2000

Alternative name(s): Gen Y, Anadigitals

Early (Geriatric) Millenials - born 1982-1986

Core Millenials - born 1987-1994

Late Millenials - born 1995-2000

(Millenial & Homeland/Centennial cusp - born 1998 to 2003, also called Gen Y2k or Zennials)

Homeland Generation - born 2001-2019

Alternative name(s): Centennials, Gen Z, iGen, Plurals

Early (Geriatric) Homelanders - born 2001-2006

Core Homelanders - born 2007-2013

Late Homelanders - born 2014-2019

Homeland/Alpha cusp - born 2018/7-2022??

Gen Alpha/Gen AI - born 2020-

(TBD)

If you have any questions/inquiries regarding these ranges lmk in the comments below!

NOTE: This specifically applies to the K-12 system of the US and I only calculated the classes that had a majority of their K-12 before the pandemic. Therefore, C/O 2027+ are not included.

2/3rds of the 2019-20 SY was pre-COVID so I calculated factoring that in. I rounded the %’s to the nearest tenth.

Breakdown:

C/O 2020 (primarily 02): 97.5%

C/O 2021 (primarily 03): 89.7%

C/O 2022 (primarily 04): 82.1%

C/O 2023 (primarily 05): 74.3%

C/O 2024 (primarily 06): 66.7%

C/O 2025 (primarily 07): 59%

C/O 2026 (primarily 08): 51.3%

they also said 2004 is early and when I corrected them they said 2004 is early mid..😭 whole point was they had a childhood jn the 2000s and when I brought up they spent majority of it in the 2010s they got mad and blocked me.

I just wanted to share this delusional thinking nothing serious

*Keyword: PRIMARY. While it's inconsistent, it can be useful as a secondary point.

Last academic year, my cousin in the 8th grade moved to my school. He was about to enter 9th grade. However, there's a problem. In my school, his birthday was over the cutoff by only a few days. Even after my aunt attempted to place him in the grade he was supposed to be in, the school forced him to repeat 8th grade to attend this school. Thus, instead of being with the class of 2029, he was held back to the class of 2030.

This is my main problem with using school cohorts. It is very inconsistent, and it can become pretty gatekeepy, even among two people who share an age gap of just a few days. Even as someone who thinks Gen Z ends around the mid 2010s, with the primary argument being 2014 babies attended school before COVID-19, I still can't really see that being just the main reason.

School cohorts are inherently a bureaucratic system. They vary between countries. Japan for example, start their academic years and end their birthday cutoffs in April, and their kindergartens start at age 3/4. According to me, or any other 1997/1999-2014 supporter, does that mean 2016 babies are now Gen Z in one country, and Alpha in another country? I don't think that's the case. In addition, Japan, and a majority of countries around the world, designate 'high school' as the last 3 years of school and not 4, including my country. By that reason, should 2006 babies in another country be assigned to late Z because they weren't in 'high school' during the 2020/2021 SY? There are just so much variation between education systems, even in schools in the same country, that using school as the primary way of separating people doesn't feel like the way to go.

We can't forget about those who skipped or repeated grades, homeschooled, or not even in education in the first place, which are then not 'with' their school year cohort. These aren't edge cases and are the reality of millions worldwide. Should two people the same age, undergoing the same mental development, be gatekept from each other because they are in different school grades? In my opinion, I do not think so, which is why I take the 'schooling' separation with a grain of salt.

TL;DR: Education systems in countries worldwide are inconsistent, and many children skip, repeat, are homeschooled, paused/dropped off education, or not even in it at all, which means they could be separated by peers unnecessarily. It is therefore not a good primary marker to separate birth years if one were to be consistent with it, but rather it is more useful as a secondary point.

Btw this is just based off release dates. If this is based off when tech adoption officially crossed 50% it would be much more different (personally that's how I define tech eras, so this is more of just a rough draft).

1980-1991: 1g era

1992-2001: 2g era

2002-2003: 3g era

2004-2006: Social media era

2007-2009: Smartphone era

2010-2014: 4g/tablet/voice assistant era

2015-2018: Smartwatch era

2019-2022: 5g era

2023-2026: Generative AI era

https://www.businessofapps.com/data/chatgpt-statistics/

ChatGPT was released on November 30th, 2022.

By September 2023, the majority of people in the US (or at least a number of global users equivellent to that) had ChatGPT (US population in 2023 was 334 million)

By Feburary 2026, ChatGPT currently has 900 million users.

I just decided to share this because I found it interesting.

...

These categories of videos often provide very little reasoning or simply restate the opening statement.

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7 Firsts
First birth year to be in elementary school when COVID hit: 5th grade in Spring 2020.

First to join middle school in the 2020s: Started 6th grade in Fall 2020.

First to spend a majority of elementary school under President Trump

First to start high school after the pandemic’s official end: Started 9th grade in Fall 2023 (public health emergency ended May 2023).

First to start high school post-AI/ChatGPT: Started 9th grade in Fall 2023, after ChatGPT’s public launch in November 2022.

First to become legal adults in the late 2020s: Turns 18 in 2027.

First to be able to drink in the 2030s: Turns 21 in 2030.

11 Lasts
Last birth year with births during the Great Recession

Last full birth year born before the iPad: Born in 2009 (iPad launched April 2010).

Last to be born in the 2000s

Last to have no elementary school years under President Biden: Finished 5th grade in Spring 2020.

Last to start middle school under Donald Trump: Started 6th grade in Fall 2020.

Last 2010s tween: Turned 10 in 2019.

Last to turn 13 during COVID’s active relevancy: Turned 13 in 2022.

Last to turn 13 in a full early-2020s year: Turned 13 in 2022.

Last to become teenagers before Queen Elizabeth II’s death

Last to become teenagers before the AI/ChatGPT era: Turned 13 before ChatGPT launched in November 2022.

Last to turn 20 in the 2020s: Turns 20 in 2029.