Which Generation Is Screwing Up/Saving The World The Most?

Ah, Millennials.

For quite a while this century, and to a degree still, we've heard just how influential the Millennial generation is to society. They've revolutionized all kinds of things, form work places to entire industries. They are at once responsible for all the good taking place in the world, and singlehandedly causing its demise.

Is this guy what you imagine when you think of Millennials?

It's interesting how such perceptions begin. A few decades ago, similar things were being said about the Baby Boomer generation. Not surprising, since a lot of Millennials are actually Boomer offspring.

What's even more peculiar, if not just flat out hilarious, is that the term Boomer became a derogatory term, which according to Wikipedia is:

...a retort for perceived resistance to technological change, climate change denial, marginalization of members of minority groups, or opposition to younger generations' ideals.

If anything, that's the exact opposite of what the Boomers have been known for. From free love to environmental causes, they were the younger generation that championed all of those things during the Vietnam Era and beyond.

Believe it or not, these guys probably are Boomers.

In reality, what's become of the Boomers is an age and maturation cycle that eventually happens to all generations at some point, regardless of how rebellious or counter culture they may be to start with. Some of these folks actually become thought leaders, scions of industry, federal officials, etc. Growing up and being an adult, it seems, changes perspectives.

Oldest Millennials Turn 40

Believe it or not, the oldest Millennials turn 40 this year. So, when we say Millennials now, just like some are saying "Okay, Boomer," we might not even be talking about someone from that generation at all. Generation Z is now the youngest group with college age participants, where a lot of disruption of societal norms can take place. The oldest of them turn 24.

In pondering this idea of blaming youth for societal ills, while simultaneously lauding them for the same upheaval, I wondered just how influential the Millennials have been, compared to any other generation which could have some say in what our society looks like today.

The Breakdown

To set the stage, here are the generational windows that we'll be talking about from here on out. If you've ever wondered which generation you fall into, here's your chance.

The generational groups and their birth years come from the Pew Research Center website. Please note that the ages displayed are for 2019.

Silent Generation—1928-1945

These are those who were essentially born just before and during the Great Depression, through the end of World War II. If there's ever been a time in somewhat recent history that would be a terrible time to be born into, that's got to be it. No other period of time, not even the Cold War era, really measures up as far as I'm concerned.

Why the silent generation?

I'd say a couple of things. First, children of their day were expected to be seen, not heard. Secondly, they may not have been as hard on or as disciplinarian with their children because of all of what they and their parents endured.

On a personal note, both my parents were born in this generation, albeit closer to the tail end. I'd say my Dad was much more the strong silent type as I was growing up. My mother, not so much, so there's that.

Baby Boomers—1946-1964

So called because of the major increase in births that took place after World War II, Boomers benefited from a post-War economic boom too, that lasted throughout most of their childhood. It could also be said that the frugality of their parents and grandparents out of necessity led to an abundance of excesses. Some of it may have been for the better, but a lot of it, not so much, or the jury is still debating the ramifications.

Generation X—1965-1980

Why X? Well, it's hard to define. Literally. X could be a constant, or it could be a variable. Until it's determined, X remains an unknown. For better or for worse, that's more or less the perceived defining characteristics of Generation X.

The Xers have also been known as the Latchkey Generation, because kids would come home from school to an empty house until their parents got off work. They've also been called the Forgotten Generation, because of their supposed invisibility, or lack of major contributions to societal change.

In other words, one could say, they haven't been widely blamed for anything, like the Boomers have been and the Millennials more recently. Since this is my generation, I like to think of Generation X as us quietly going about our lives, living it in the best way we know how, and leaving the glory and blame to others.

Millennials—1981-1996

I've somewhat introduced them already, but I will add that their disruptions as the youngest generation are beginning to wane as the next group, Generation Z, begins to take shape. Millennials will still have plenty of say for years to come, but they will no longer be the youth, but rather the generation that needs to take on the responsibility their parents had.

Both my sons are Millennials. If I were to base their generation solely on them, it would have to be good-hearted, devoted and willing providers for their families, yet too often cynical and down about their circumstances and the trajectory of the world as a whole, thanks to their predecessors. They also tend to be distracted by sports and video games.

I think a lot of that describes the Millennials as a whole. They want change. If they don't like the status quo, they call it out and they move on to something else. Many of them are in that stage of life where they have all the answers, not so much because they do, but more because it seems like no one else does, so what's the difference?

The Greatest Generation And Generation Z

The generations before the Silent and after the Millennials will not be looked at for the purpose of this post, because I'm limiting the scope of influence to the last 20-25 years. While the Greatest Generation definitely influenced the next two after it, their personal contributions have diminished over time simply because they've aged and gone the way of all the Earth. On the other end of the spectrum, Generation Z isn't quite old enough to tell quite yet who they will be or what they will do.

The Experiment

As the title of this post implies, I've been interested in this concept of blame for the world's ills and trying to determine if there truly is one generation or another responsible for our current predicaments. Conversely, is there any particular age group which could be succeeding in bailing us out?

What I've done is take a look at different sections of society which seem to have the most disruptors or sway when it comes to cultural direction. Since the list became exhaustive almost immediately, I'm going to limit these fields to the ones that are not only among the most influential or pervasive, but also the ones that are the easiest to identify.

The three categories are:

• Tech
• Government
• Entertainment

As I said, I could have added in others like Education or Media, but I'm afraid I'll be whittling down my lists just for the sake of length, anyway. Perhaps another time.

Tech

I'll start here because on HIVE, with quite a few developers running around, on an emerging force of technology such as cryptocurrency and the blockchain, there's a lot of us here who see technology as a central force, for good or ill.

Of the three categories I'll be listing the names of main contributors, Tech is the one that I'm the most surprised at as to where the generations fell.

How's that as a teaser?

Here's the list:

The Big Five

We'll start off with the tech conglomerates that are widely recognized as wielding the most influence in the world currently. While CEOs and other personnel have changed over the last 20-25 years, I'm focusing in on founders, the individuals who helped create these mammoths of innovation. I've done the same with the rest of the Tech list.

• Mark Zuckerberg, et al—Facebook—Millennial. Like most of the Tech list, there was more than one founder of Facebook, but the rest of his dorm room buddies that helped to launch this social site are basically his age.
• Larry Page, et al—Google—X
• Jeff Bezos—Amazon—Boomer
• Steve Jobs, et al—Apple—Boomer
• Bill Gates, et al—Microsoft—Boomer

Just for the record, this isn't so much where the surprises were. Microsoft and Apple are the oldest companies, dating back into the 70s, so their founders would have to be older. Google and Amazon are somewhat contemporaries, both from the 90s, so again, Bezos being on the tail end of the Boomers while Page is firmly in the middle of the Xers, are both to be expected. Zuckerberg is perhaps the poster child for Millennial Tech, so he's the most obvious of them all.

Tech Second Round

Here's where I think it gets interesting. I'll admit to being biased, though.

• Elon Musk, et al—Tesla—X
• Chad Hurley, et al—YouTube—X
• Jack Dorsey, et al—Twitter—X
• Sean Parker, et al—Napster—X
• Tom Anderson, et al—Myspace—X
• Reed Hastings, et al—Netflix—Boomer
• Evan Spiegel, et al—Snapchat—Millennial
• Zhang Yiming—TikTok—Millennial
• Kevin Systrom, et al—Instagram—Millennial
• Musk, Peter Thiel, et al—PayPal—X
• Pierre Omidyar—eBay—X

My surprise? The number of Xers on this list! Yes, some of these folks and their creations aren't as prominent now as they were (I'm looking at Napster and Myspace in particular, but to lesser degrees PayPal and eBay), but at the time they came out, until they were superseded by someone or something else, they were the It child, and brought about change in the burgeoning digital space.

Also, I wasn't expecting the founders of Netflix to be in their 60s.

You Say This Is About Tech, But No Crypto?!

Yeah, yeah. Cool your jets. I left that as its own special subcategory.

In making this list, I went after only a few of the largest chains in terms of capitalization. Again, there are surprises here, at least for me.

• Craig Wright, Satoshi Nakamoto, (or whoever the heck really invented it)—BitCoin—X. Obviously, this needs some explanation, since the actual identity of the creator of BitCoin is yet to be determined. Of those who have been singled out as Nakamoto (which is somewhere around a half dozen), the prevailing ages by far put them all solidly into Generation X.
• Vitalik Buterin—Ethereum—Millennial. At 27, Buterin is the youngest on this list, and on the younger end of the Millennials to boot.
• Charlie Lee—LiteCoin—X
• Sergey Nazarov—Chainlink—Millennial
• Jed McCaleb—Ripple/Stellar—X

Not surprised by the Millennial contributors here. Just happy to see so many Xers involved, too.

I suppose the Tech list could go on and on, but hopefully I've hit most of the major ones that have come into prominence within the last 20-25 years.

Time to move on to the next category.

Government

It's possible that these lists might seem American-centric. In the case of Government it's because I live in the United States and therefore are most familiar with the politicians here. Taking the generational time frames I've provided above, you're welcome to see where your own highly influential state officials fall.

U.S. Presidents In Office Over The Last 20-25 Years

Note: Jimmy Carter is the only president still living who is not on this list. For the record, he's 96, and therefore a part of the Greatest Generation.

• Bill Clinton—Boomer
• George W. Bush—Boomer
• Barack Obama—Boomer
• Donald Trump—Boomer
• Joe Biden—Silent

This entire category is where we see the Boomers wielding most of their influence. They fought against the Man, and now, by in large, they are the Man. What's interesting to note is, after four successive Boomers as Commander-in-Chief, our newest president comes from an older generation. Given his age (Biden turns 79), the likelihood of their being another president from the Silent generation from here on out is pretty small.

It's also interesting, given the "Okay, Boomer" mentality prevalent, that a younger person was not selected. But of the major Democrat candidates this time around, Biden's main challenger in the primaries was another member of the Silent Generation—Senator Bernie Sanders.

U.S. Senators, House Members Or Well Known Politicians

• Nancy Pelosi—Speaker of the House—Silent

• Chuck Schumer—Senate Majority Leader—Boomer

• Mitch McConnell—Senate Minority Leader—Silent

• Mike Pence—Former Vice President—Boomer

• Kamala Harris—Current Vice President—Boomer

• Bernie Sanders—Senator—Silent

• Lindsey Graham—Senator—Boomer

• Mitt Romney—Senator, former Republican Presidential Nominee—Boomer

• Dianne Feinstein—Senator—Silent

• Elizabeth Warren—Senator—Boomer
  

  Senator Ted Cruz.

• Ted Cruz—Senator—X

• Mike Lee—Senator—X

• Rand Paul—Senator—Boomer

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—House Of Representatives—Millennial

• Hillary Clinton—former First Lady, Senator, Secretary of State, Democrat Presidential Nominee—Boomer

Lots of Boomers here. I didn't go through the entire list of Senators, but I suspect that more fall into the Boomer time frame than not.

Okay. Time for the last of the Governmental types.

The U.S. Supreme Court

The list includes all the current justices plus one.

• John Roberts—Chief Justice—Boomer
• Clarence Thomas—Boomer
• Stephen Breyer—Silent
• Samuel Alito—Boomer
• Sonia Sotomayor—Boomer
• Elena Kagan—X
• Neil Gorsuch—X
• Brett Cavanaugh—X
• Amy Barrett—X

Since she was on the court up until her passing late last year:

• Ruth Bader Ginsburg—Silent

Thanks to the last four appointments, the Boomers and the Xers are now evenly matched on the Supreme Court.

The last three, Gorsuch, Cavanaugh and Barrett, were all appointed within the last four years. While some will no doubt say they all have conservative leanings and therefore will vote on cases accordingly, I'll say it's still too early to tell what their individual lasting effects will be on the Court, and therefore U.S. Law.

Okay. Last category.

Entertainment

Is crowd surfing still a thing?

The folks on this list are either actors or musicians. They show up here primarily because they made some other list—appearing in some of the highest grossing movies or most popular TV shows, or having some of the highest selling or most popular songs.

Unlike the rest of this list, their influence on culture or society is probably more subjective and perhaps limited to a degree. However, I think it's safe to say they held some sway within the last 20-25 years or at least echoed and thereby helped to perpetuate prevailing philosophies, behaviors and cultural norms.

Here are the entertainers, in no particular order:

• Dwayne Johnson—Actor—X
• Samuel L. Jackson—Actor—Boomer
• Matt Damon—Actor—X
• Tom Cruise—Actor—Boomer
• Chris Evans—Actor—Millennial
• Robert Downey Jr—Actor—X
• Gal Gadot—Actress—Millennial
• Melissa McCarthy—Actress—X
• Meryl Streep—Actress—Boomer
• Sofia Vergara—Actress—X
• Angelina Jolie—Actress—X
• Beyoncé—Singer—Millennial
• Adele—Singer—Millennial
• Taylor Swift—Singer—Millennial
• Lady Gaga—Singer—Millennial
• Eminem—Singer—X
• Jay-Z—Singer—X
• OutKast—Band—X
• The Strokes—Band—X
• Coldplay—Band—X
• Green Day—Band—X

Of the three categories, this one in particular trends younger than any other. Also, it's probably the hardest category to maintain a lasting influence. Movie genres come in and out of style, and musical tastes change more often to something new than they return to something old.

Conclusions?

If we look solely at the individuals behind the Tech, Government and Entertainment unfolding before us, it's harder to pinpoint which individual age group wields the most power or influence, and therefore, depending on your perspective, can therefore be blamed or commended for the state of society today.

In the case of Tech and Entertainment, the fields are fairly mixed, but will probably be trending younger more quickly than say, Government. What's been happening in both cases is that an older generation's tech, movies, television shows or songs have been largely appealing to the group following it. The older folks tend to become the idols or admired, but just as easily transform into the scorned and cast aside if they change their minds on certain subjects, or don't manage to keep up with where the music is going.

Government, however, seems to be one of the more enduring sections of society to hang out in, and thanks to laws, regulations and policies, as well as the resources to enforce them, wields the most influence of all. And of the three groups, the Boomers are the most in charge of Government, at least in the U.S., than any other generation.

Personally, I have no problem laying a majority of blame at the feet of Boomers, simply because, from young rebels to the gatekeepers, the path we are on has largely been set forth by them, and so far, nothing and no one have deterred it.

What To Do?

Can Tech, as many here might think, turn things around? Will it be the minds of the younger generations which actually solve the most entrenched and complex of societal problems through algorithms and intuitive interfaces? Can we innovate our ways to a freer world while Government continues to legislate it's own brand of morality, and thus control?

I think we're still in the process of finding that out. However, there will need to be many more changes taking place in the area of Tech, for the better, and soon, or else the ham-handed fists of government will continue to hold an ever tightening death grip on the individual and society as a whole.

For better or worse, like it or not (and I certainly have my reservations), the solutions will increasingly come from the younger generations. Be it a return to some basic principles that should never have been abandoned, or discovering new ways to bring sovereignty to the one, Millennials and their predecessors will be at the forefront of its development, and its use.

For, in reality, Millennials as a disrupting force has been more about what they adopt and consume, and less about what they're able to create or produce. That might change over time, but it might not, either. Consumers tend to rely on what they're spoonfed. They might be critical of what they're getting, want something more, and even bite the hand that feeds them, but unless they actually come up with alternatives themselves, there won't be any lasting tranformation.

Forcing employers to change how and where the work is done because their youthful employees don't want the stress and aren't as interested in ownership of things as they are in experiences and the freedom to have them, is one thing. Coming up with the solutions that will endure and still ensure the work gets done, is entirely another matter.

At some point, the Millennials will be in charge. Will they do better than their predecessors, or will the generations to come end up saying to them the equivalent of "Okay, Boomer" because they still managed to screw it up?

At this point, as the well-worn cliché goes, it's anyone's guess.

As always, you're welcome to share yours.

_{Images sources—Pixabay unless otherwise noted}