The Lazy Generation

I don’t think that there is any more loosely defined a generation than Generation X. This, as I understand it, is people who were born after the baby boomers of post WWII, at the end of the cold war, which would have made them between 1965 and 1980.

The reason, I believe (this is an opinion, should you have come here for solid facts, you know where the exit is) is because of the independence of these people in gen x. They are defined as the “latchkey kids”. This means that the kids would leave for school (or any other time consuming event) and when they come home the parents are at work still.

This leaves the kids unsupervised and alone. This causes for intense dependence on individuality so that they can take care of themselves, not just when it is they are at home, but because they develop those skills and put them into practise in their everyday lives.

This individuality is what came to develop the main cultural perspective on the whole world. Generation x has also been reflected on as the “lazy” generation; with no one to tell these kids that they needed to be active, they became lazy.

Though, being alone allowed for lots of these kids to come out of their shells and develop the music out of the 80’s. Music which has become an audible illustration for the time. Bands like Michael Jackson, Duran Duran, Prince and Madonna.

Not only pop culture greatly influenced generation x, it was also the rock and metal music. Iron Maiden, Metallica, Def Lepard… You get the idea.

Well hopefully this can give me some insight as to what I should write about for my research paper for media and culture. I picked it thinking I knew exactly what generation x was and that’s when I realized how loosely defined it was or how many layers there was to the whole thing.

See ya next week.