upworthy

xennials

Gen Z kids appalled by lack of internet safety of Millennial teens

The late 90s and early 2000s were certainly interesting times to come of age in America, and elder Millennials were the guinea pigs. We are part of what is known as a micro-generation, often referring to ourselves as the Oregon Trail Generation or Xennials due to our very unique experience of coming of age during the Internet's infancy.

Because we were the first teenagers exposed to the Internet in school and out, there were very little restrictions on what we were allowed to do online. It was essentially the Wild West and we were pretty oblivious to the dangers as were our parents, so no one was checking to see what we were doing. During a chat with my Gen Z kids recently, they recalled all the restrictions placed on them around electronics with access to the Internet. One bravely dared to ask if my parents were as strict about Internet use in the 1900s.

Gen Z; internet safety; AOL chatrooms; Millennial teens; Oregon Trail; Xennials; early internet; parentingoregon trail 80s GIFGiphy

They love to pull the 1900s card as if we were all churning butter on our front porches waiting for our pa to come back from town in a horse drawn carriage. I play along by talking in a drawn out old timey southern accent (I'm from Pennsylvania) to say something along the lines of, "Back in my day we had to walk up the Internet hills both ways while waiting for our dialup connection. Ma and Pa didn't even know how to turn the dang flabbin computer on I reckon so we talked to a lot of strangers in a far off land called an AOL chatroom and told them our ASL."

Gen Z; internet safety; AOL chatrooms; Millennial teens; Oregon Trail; Xennials; early internet; parentingSurprised students with books and open mouths against orange background.Photo credit: Canva

After explaining that ASL stood for "Age, Sex, Location" and not American Sign Language they were genuinely concerned. My younger one asked if we gave out accurate information and their older brother confidently said something about the use of a VPN. The looks of absolute horror that came across their faces when I broke the news that there was no VPN and I wasn't sure they existed then were truly something to behold. Suddenly, I was being scolded by two teenagers telling me how dangerous it is to share you location with strangers on the Internet. One of them even threatened to tell my mother, though I'm not quite sure what they thought the result would be there

Their questions, shock, and seeming disappointment grew when I shared we would meet some of these strangers at the mall and some friends even had them pick them up from their houses. My youngest Gen Zer gasped at that revelation, asking, "How are y'all still alive? Didn't you watch Unsolved Mysteries with that creepy guy telling you all about kids disappearing?"

Gen Z; internet safety; AOL chatrooms; Millennial teens; Oregon Trail; Xennials; early internet; parentingSurprised by what he sees on the tablet!Photo credit: Canva

Of course we watched Unsolved Mysteries and of course we didn't think those things could happen to us. The perk of being a teenager is truly believing that you're invincible while also never fully thinking through the consequences of impulsive decisions. Thankfully, myself and all of my high school and college friends made it to the other side without ending up another story for Robert Stack to tell.

Our late adolescence is also likely the reason many elder Millennials are so vigilant with our children's Internet access. We know what we were doing while unsupervised on the Internet and how quickly technology can develop, leaving parents in the dark and teenagers exposed to dangers. But having the conversation really opened the floor to deeper discussion about Internet safety and additional precautions I took while raising them in a world immersed in the quick paced advancements of the World Wide Web.

Gen Z; internet safety; AOL chatrooms; Millennial teens; Oregon Trail; Xennials; early internet; parentingInternet Web Surfing GIFGiphy

I'm the first to admit that they have reached the age where they have completely surpassed my knowledge of all things Internet. My oldest son rolls his eyes as I call him "Tech Support" when I can't figure something out just as I rolled my eyes when my parents would call me after class to ask where they were supposed to type a web address. Technology is inherently for the young. Sure, old fogies like me and older can catch on and use it, but we're slower at jumping on the bandwagon. We don't particularly like a lot of change and we also don't want to be left behind, which usually keeps us in the same role with our parents that we put our children in with us–show me how you work this thing.

Gen Z 1.0 and Gen Z 2.0

Eleven years ago, there was a generational split where people born between 1977 and 1983, the cusp between Gen X and Millennials, abandoned their generations and rebranded themselves as Xennials. In 2014, writers Sarah Stankorb and Jed Oelbaum referred to them as "a micro-generation that serves as a bridge between the disaffection of Gen X and the blithe optimism of Millennials,” they wrote in GOOD.

Now, writer Rachel Janfaza has proposed another split. She believes that Gen Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) should be divided into halves: Gen Z 1.0 and Gen Z 2.0. Janfaza is an associate writer for CNN Politics in Washington, D.C., covering youth political culture and everything related to young voters in the U.S. Her theory is simple: the generation should be divided between those who graduated high school pre-COVID (Gen Z 1.0) and those who graduated after (Gen Z 2.0).

Janfaza shared her thoughts on X, highlighting the different attributes of each half-generation in terms of technology, social media, and politics.


What’s the difference between Gen Z 1.0 and Gen Z 2.0?

According to Janfaza, Gen Z 1.0 had flip phones before iPhones and grew up with Instagram but without TikTok. Politically, they were influenced by liberal political activism, which included the March for Our Lives, Climate Strikes, and Black Lives Matter Protests. The younger half of the generation, Gen Z 2.0, lived a different life heavily influenced by smartphones, TikTok, and the aftermath of the pandemic, in which a right-wing counter-culture developed.

The older members of Gen Z explained the split to their younger cohorts citing various factors:


How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect Gen Z?

There was universal agreement that the dividing line was between those who graduated high school pre- and post-COVID. Gen Zers who were still in elementary, middle, or high school during the pandemic suffered from a sharp increase in depression and anxiety. In the aftermath of the pandemic, 84% of schools agreed or strongly agreed that students’ behavioral development had been negatively impacted. This puts the dividing line between Gen Z 1.0 and 2.0 right around those born in 2003.


Some see the generational split as a time when online behavior jumped into hyper speed with young people gaining access to smartphones and TikTok.


It’s safe to say that the saddest members of Gen Z are those who graduated high school in 2020 and saw the senior year that they worked so hard to get to blow up in smoke. Many missed out on graduation ceremonies and proms and getting to give their school a proper send-off. They also entered their careers or college on very uneasy footing.


Janfaza’s Gen Z 1.0 versus 2.0 breakdown takes into effect a lot of significant technological, cultural, and political developments that helped shape a generation of people. However, Big Ellie's Single Braid on X may have found another, more critical division line between Gen Zers.

Man shows what it's like to road trip with an Xennial. It's epic.

Being an Xennial is like being everywhere and nowhere at the same time. This group of people are too young to be Gen X but feel too old to be millennials. They're designated as a microgeneration, though they're constantly lumped in with millennials, hence how they got the name "Xennial." But it's this distinct characteristic that has resulted in Xennials having the some of the most eclectic music tastes out there.

Nick Harrison posted a video on social media showing what it's like to road trip with an Xennial and it's an entire vibe. The man starts the video in the car off strong jamming to "September" by Earth, Wind & Fire. The music quickly changes to "The Next Episode" by Dr. Dre causing Harrison to switch up his dance moves.


It's a cornucopia of songs that make up multiple generations of popular music, and as an Xennial, he's grooving to them all, calling himself "polyjamorous." He's not alone either. The comments are full of people that knew every word, agreeing that road tripping with an Xennial is a unique experience that includes lots of seat dancing and fun.


"YESSS!!! I also love Doja Cat and Harry Styles. I’ve said Xennials have the most rich and diverse exposure and taste in music in all of history!! I stand on that! We are unlike any other gen," someone says.

"And this is why my child has superior taste in music," another writes.

"Xennial here. Literally all of these are in my main playlist. lol," one person laughs at the realization.

"4010% correct. I’m pretty sure I have a playlist with every single one of these songs on it," another person admits.

"These are all on my 'road trip' mix. Constantly updated and perpetually giving whiplash," a commenter shares along with the universal sign for rock-and-roll.

The Xennials are living their best life through Harrison's road trip playlist with many of them asking him to share his playlist so they can easily download it. Guaranteed most of the people watching his video had "Love Shack" by the B-52's stuck in their heads for the rest of the day. Party on, Nick!

Xennials, people born between Gen X and millennials just want to be acknowledged.

Are you a Xennial? If you are, you probably already know because you’re staunchly holding on to that moniker until someone pries it from your cold lifeless hands. If you're not a Xennial then you’re probably wondering what one is and why do they care so much about the distinction. Xennials are a microgeneration born between Gen X and millennials, you may remember them as Gen Y but much like the generation itself, somewhere along the way that was dropped and forgotten. They're uncomfortably straddling two generations with one foot planted in both, yet somehow not fitting anywhere.


The span of years that Xennials were born is 1977-1983 but there’s some infighting on where the cut-off should be. It all comes down to how you grew up and when regular exposure to technology came into your life, and whether it was through you or through your friends. Chances are if you don’t remember computers before they were full color, then you were likely born after the cut-off. Xennials' parents rarely knew where they were, as they didn’t have cell phones or pagers as kids and they were babysitting by the age of 8.

Xennials' Gen X siblings supervised them as closely as they were supervised: from a distance, far far away. I know because I am one. We were the Oregon Trail generation—we died of dysentery and drank from the water hose because coming in for water meant you had to stay inside. Google was not yet a thing when we were in high school. We had to Ask Jeeves.

My childhood was vastly different from my clearly millennial husband’s. When I saw that someone decided people born in my birth year were considered geriatric millennials, I was having none of it. So I did the very #Millennial thing of posting to social media to demand that Merriam-Webster stop dallying and finally add Xennial to the dictionary. Turns out I wasn’t alone in my frustration, the responses proved we really are just a generation wandering around confused.

One poster, Becca Zibung Mosier, responded, “1980 here and I’ll die on this hill with you!!!” Another, Jessica Morgan, accurately captured the insanity of being a member of a microgeneration saying, “Yesssss! I’ve always FELT more GenX (‘78), but at the same time not completely. This is perfect!”

Commenter Shane Millsom broke down the general chaos that is the Xennial existence by pointing out that we started high school with encyclopedias and card catalogs but came of age with the internet and cell phones. He noted that we were raised with old-school morals but were the first generation since the industrial revolution not to become wealthier than our parents. Millsom also wrote that we were raised to be environmentalists but have a healthy dose of skepticism, and observed that like Gen Xers, we love straight no-nonsense answers, but we accept everyone as equals like millennials.

The passion in Millsom's comment captures everything Xennials feel. We were raised to believe we could conquer the world with a college education and hard work ethic, then were quickly disillusioned when student loan bills came rolling in. We in-betweeners are just that—in between. Xennials encompass the best of two generations and that’s not a bad thing, we embrace it.

I'm still impatiently waiting on Merriam-Webster to give us this one. Don’t make me start a petition.

From Your Site Articles