Generations

Question

Please explain to me like I’m 5
Why is the inconsistency in the age ranges of generations?
Lost Generation: 1883 – 1900 (17 Years)
The Greatest Generation: 1901 – 1927 (26 Years)
The Silent Generation: 1928 – 1945 (17 Years)
Baby Boomers: 1946 – 1964 (18 Years)
Generation X: 1965 – 1980 (15 Years)
Generation Y/Millennials: 1981 – 1996 (15 Years)
Generation Z: 1997 – 2012 (15 Years)
Gen Alpha: 2013 – Present (Currently 9 Years)

In: 0

Answer 1

“Generations” are a vague cultural concept or marketing idea. While the broad strokes of the timeline you provided will match others, the exact years won’t. If I had to speculate at the thought process of the person who made this:

Step 1) Divide the first two generations at the turn of the century. They’re mostly dead or very old now, so who cares?

Step 2) Put a break at 1927 because the “Greatest Generation” is so named because they may have fought in WWII, and 1927 is the latest you can have been born and been an adult while the war was happening.

Step 3) Put another break 1945 because that’s the end of WWII, and the “Baby Boomers” are supposed to have been born to soldiers returning home from war

Step 4) Continue the Baby Boomers into the mid-60s because that’s the rough consensus on when they ended.

Step 5) Break the rest into exactly 15-year chunks because their names don’t tie them to specific historical events. Just make sure all the Millennials are alive in 2000.

Answer 2

“Generations” are a vague cultural concept or marketing idea. While the broad strokes of the timeline you provided will match others, the exact years won’t. If I had to speculate at the thought process of the person who made this:

Step 1) Divide the first two generations at the turn of the century. They’re mostly dead or very old now, so who cares?

Step 2) Put a break at 1927 because the “Greatest Generation” is so named because they may have fought in WWII, and 1927 is the latest you can have been born and been an adult while the war was happening.

Step 3) Put another break 1945 because that’s the end of WWII, and the “Baby Boomers” are supposed to have been born to soldiers returning home from war

Step 4) Continue the Baby Boomers into the mid-60s because that’s the rough consensus on when they ended.

Step 5) Break the rest into exactly 15-year chunks because their names don’t tie them to specific historical events. Just make sure all the Millennials are alive in 2000.