Tuesday, December 13, 2011

WHAT ARE WE?



My husband is a TRUE 'baby boomer', and my Skoot is a 'generation iY' for sure (anything Apple gets her attention as well as many new movies...the technology and the sights intrigue her generation to the maximum).
 


Knowing I was on the 'twilight' of the 'baby boom'...and knowing I had given birth to an IY'er, I was curious as to WHAT my generation had become known as.  (I'm sure this probably shows my ignorance of reading a lot of newsprint) so I googled. 

Yes, my generation does 'google'...there is 'lots of information' at our fingertips now.  However, one must remain steadfast and check references because of the 'false writers' placing many untruths onto the net as facts.

Image DetailWhile scanning the voluminous writings about the 'babies of 1957-1965,' I found statisticians are calling us "Generation Jones".  Jones because of our trying to accomplish and gather as much or more than the Joneses...you know...that pie-in-the-sky couple who 'want it all' 'wear it all', 'travel to it all' and 'show it to everyone' along the way.

They say we're the "high-spending, influential adults who were raised on television, with our likes and dislikes being heavily defined by the 1970s and early 1980s.  (this explains why my hubs doesn't like 'my' music; he's specifically into 50's/60's).

There are apparently three main groups of us: Mainstream, Conservative and Radical.
Members of Mainstream Jones, 65% largely influenced by The Godfather and Blondie; favourite magazines--Radio Times and Good Housekeeping.  (well, what do you know, I do get Good Housekeeping monthly)
The Conservative Joneses, 20% influenced by The Waltons, glam rock, Saturday Night Fever and Wings.  Favourite magazines--Woman's Own and Sainsbury's Magazine.  MTV was a preferred channel.  (I watched the Waltons a lot...jes sayin')
The Radical Jones element, 15% influenced by Apocalypse Now, Rock Against Racism and punk, particularly the Sex Pistols. Favorite programs include The Office, the Rugby World Cup and the news.  Celebrity Radical Joneses are headed by Madonna, Nick Hornby, Sting, and Bono. (I still enjoy Sting)
The Joneses were promised an easier life by the advent of electronic technology but were scarred by the economic crises and mass unemployment of the 1970s and 1980s. (I was deeply involved in the technology birthing into the telephone industry...I started working there at the age of 20 and saw MANY new technologies brought online while learning just WHAT a computer was.)
 I had been raised using a correcting IBM Selectric...iYers won't know what that means (it was my ELECTRIC typewriter that had a 'correcting' feature built into it...it stood alone and didn't connect to any network or web)

Pieces of all the sub-types describe me, I think, so I'm not going to definitively choose which one is me...(guess that would be that old "having it all" kicking in again, guess once a Jones always a Jones).  Where do you fall into these generational schematics? 

ANYONE feel like sitting with me tonight, sipping decaf cinnamon-bun latte and sharing some reruns of the WALTONS? 
It's almost Christmas and I'm feeling the need to say GOOD NIGHT, JOHN BOY--sweetly bringing some sweet memories back into this 50-something body. 

Blessings,