50 ‘Memes From Generation X’ To Entertain You While Prepping For Midlife Crisis (New Pics)
No matter when we are born, many of us feel very nostalgic for our childhood and young adulthood. This sense of nostalgia offers a rare glimpse into how other generations used to live: what trends, products, shows, and cultural icons dominated their day-to-day.
The ‘Righteous Memes from Generation X’ Facebook group is a fantastic social media project that captures the essence of Gen X—people born roughly between 1965 to 1980 in the United States. And all in meme form! We’ve collected some of the freshest ones to share with you. For Gen Xers, it’s a blast from the past. For everyone else, it’s an interesting history and pop culture class. Don’t forget to upvote your fave pics as you scroll down.
We wanted to learn about what makes Gen X so unique in the US and why each generation seems to be critical of others, so we reached out to Glenn Geher, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the State University of New York at New Paltz and a published author. You'll find Bored Panda's interview with him as you scroll down.
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And these things were made like tanks. No matter how hard you smashed them in a total anger tantrum, not a single scratch was to be found afterwards.
I bet you could crush diamonds into dust with these things!
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Somebody needs to build an app that simulates a lot of noise for the other end like your slamming the phone when you hang up.
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Mitch Hedberg used to say, "I got into an argument with my girlfriend in a tent. And that's a bad place for an argument, because then I tried to storm out and slam the flap. How are you supposed to express your anger in this situation? Zipper it up really quick?"
Slamming down a phone was soooo freaking satisfying. That ding was just a beautiful touch; an exclamation point for the anger
Boy, did it ever. Sometimes if I slammed it fast enough I could pick it up a few times and slam it again and again until the person on the other side hung up.
They were really heavy, too. I remember my sister ripping the rotary phone off the wall and throwing it at my other sister. Did some serious damage, lol. Phone did not break though. They were built like a tank.
I remember flip phones having maybe 25% of this effect, but still satisfying. Now it's just a button...on a screen.
Very true, but the trade-off of this horrid little rotary monstrosity is that just ONE MISTAKE meant you had to start dialing the whole number over again, especially exasperating when calling long distance. Grubby fingers would create hidden greasy, sticky biofilms you couldn't even see, so when you tried to slide your finger across while dialing, it would trip you up and you'd have to start all over again. In those days, we ABSOLUTELY HATED people who had 7s, 8s, 9s or 0s in their numbers. Why, in some of the hilly hollers, they'd run a person right outta town with pitchforks and torches, if you were unlucky enough to be assigned a SENZ number. Once, my pa even slipped a phone technician a whole $5 bill(!) to make sure we didn't get a SENZ. Those were dark days. Dark days indeed...
Put it on the wall and you now have the origins of the idea of “hanging up” on someone.
I miss those so much!! We got rid of our landline after Mom passed away, but at the time we had cordless phones. Hanging up on someone was not as exciting as being able to slam down the phone. But being able to press and hold down that button was still better then hanging up on a cellphone.
My grandmother still has a rotary princess phone in her bedroom. Just for giggles, we asked my teenage daughter to call her cellphone with the rotary. She pushed the circle, twisted the hole part, etc. After 5 minutes, we were laughing so hard that my mom peed a little. I wish I had filmed it! She could try driving a stick next, if I can find a manual transmission!!! 🤣
I was born in the early 90s, so I definitely grew up with and remember a lot of this!!
Still have my landline with first phone number given to our family.....We even updated the first rotary phone with another one! Touch tone wasn't to be for several more years. And, you had to upgrade your phone service! We still had "party line" phones where several other home phones rang at the same time, so you had to listen for the rings: 2 shorts & long for Smith's, 2 longs & short for unknown "family", 3 longs for us, etc. Also, when you picked up the phone, it was entirely possible for someone else to be on the "party line". Sometimes we just listened even though we didn't know any of them!
It was more effective than even the choicest words you might fling at the person on the other end. So satisfying!
In the past, with flip phones, you almost got the satisfaction by snapping that baby closed with vim and vigor!
Does anyone rember "party lines"? Thats where if ur on the other person cud hear the convo. Usually neighbors or is it just me?
Now when you hang up on someone they just think one of you lost signal. That’s no at all satisfying.
I remember how long it took to dial a number on this artifact!!! Mine was a lovely shade of puce! 🤣
It's pretty funny how this can still be done for most people at work. Every job I've ever had, even now, has a phone that I can slam down.
Yup. Can't tell you the number of times I've slammed the phone down after dealing with an entitled a*****e customer
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I was literally saying this the other day - angrily pressing end call just isn’t satisfying at all
I miss coiling the cord around my fingers while talking. Don't miss getting tangled because I have a habit of pacing while talking
Yeah, pushing a button adamantly just doesn't have that same feel of satisfaction
Omg it was so much fun. Oh and leaving the phone off the hook so no one could call you
I remember phones attached to walls with 10-foot curly cords that in theory could stretch 30-feet but would get tangled so you had to stand 1-foot from the phone. Ironically we had similar 10-foot curly cords for our headphones that never got tangled. We took care of our audio equipment, but left the phone to be a family member's problem!
Oh what a feeling.... and you could leave the headset wherever and they would get the busy sound. Love it and miss it
One of the most satisfying sound, after an argument on the phone. Too bad, mobile phones doesn't have that kind of effect.
I hung up on someone today and they called back assuming we were disconnected. When I hung up o people in the 90s there was no mistaking it. I do kinda miss that.
We always had spares in the closet because my mother would slam down the receiver and break it.
The funny thing is, at least in Denmark people still use the danish version of Hanging Up (lægge på) when they talk about ending a call.
Me and my husband simulate the sound . We say boof and hang up. Not as satisfying as that slam. 😩
It was great especially if you had more of an old fashioned phone. The one in the photo was very light.
I remember when our rotary wall phone died on us. I was 12 years old (1979) and the Manitoba Phone truck pulled into our farm yard. It turned out that some neighbor ladies were trying to get ahold of Mom to ask her if she could make fried chicken for a pot luck. They all tried phone, but could not get through. The rotary wall phone was replaced by a state-of-the-art touch tone wall phone.
My stepsister and I used to have phone wars with these. How exactly? Easy, we would each grab one and try to knock each other out with it! I miss her.
I still have one of these and modified it to work with VoIP - has a better sound quality than most new ones. Of course I cannot dial with it...
I once threw a desk model after a break up call. Put a hole in the wall. Stayed there for years until I sold the house. Phone worked fine. Hole was a good reminder to not be such a fool in love.
I loved that feeling. Immense satisfaction you just don't get anymore
I might actually buy a landline just to be able to understand that feeling
And if I was really angry, I would banged several times over. It felt so good!
I still have my landline. Cheap. Won't give it up. I have my cell phone, but I can hear better on this cheap phone. Mine does have a receiver, but is different than the one pictured. Iit has answering machine in it.and big number pad. But the satisfaction of banging that receiver down on another telemarketer is truly the sweetest feeing. It's a $19.95 special at Wal-Mart. Everyone should have one.
One time I slammed my cell phone down. It wouldn't break. This pissed me off more because I wanted to break it and if I dropped it accidentally it would have shattered. I slammed it a few more times. Nothing. I'm not a psychopath. Just a bad day. I'll end story here.
SO satisfying!! But gone forever... now when you hang up on someone they just think the connection failed.
The person on the receiving end was treated to a dramatic physical sound, too.
I still have a landline and it's so fun! edit: not having caller I.D. is a little annoying tho
"There are various reasons that members of each new generation seem to think they see things more clearly relative to members of previous generations. Partly, this fact results from people surrounding themselves with like-minded others. If all of my friends and I tend to see the prior generation as having ridiculously outdated views, then our attitudes are bolstered and feel like a sort of reality," Dr. Geher, from the State University of New York at New Paltz, told Bored Panda via email.
"Further, in a time marked by rapid technological and cultural advancement, members of each new generation often do, in many ways, have a genuinely advanced understanding of the world relative to prior generations," the psychology expert noted that there's a kernel of truth in the idea that all generations tend to criticize others.
We wanted to find out what it is that makes Gen X unique in the United States, compared to other generations. Dr. Geher was kind enough to shed some light on this.
"We Generation Xers saw—and largely created—profound technological advances in our lifetimes. We saw the realization of the full human genome, the shift from paper mail to email, and shared global issues such as climate change. Our world is truly and permanently changed relative to the world of prior generations," he said.
I miss the excitement of going to rent a video for our betamax. If we were really lucky we could pick some sweets from the local shop to go with it,not once did we have a snack from the video store
The psychology professor added that Gen X "absolutely" enjoys different memes and internet content than other generations. "Memes tend to often be generation-specific," he said.
"Gen Xers may find memes about having difficulty resetting passwords hysterical while the younger generation seems to have better figured out things like account passwords and they seem to be onto other things when it comes to what they find funny and how they see the world in general."
Members of Generation X are the parents of Millennials and Generation Z (aka Zoomers). Meanwhile, Gen X themselves are the kids of the Silent Generation and early Baby Boomers. According to the US Census data, there were over 65 million Gen Xers as of 2019. Compare that to roughly 72 million Baby Boomers, as well as another 72 million Millennials in the United States.
There is some confusion as to how exactly to define Gen X in terms of when they were born. Investopedia notes that some researchers like William Straus and Neil Howe describe them as being born from 1961 to 1981. However, Gallup states differently, that the range runs from 1965 to 1979. But broadly and culturally speaking, Gen Xers are individuals born between the mid-1960s till the very early-1980s. This time span and cultural values will differ in other countries.
Gen Xers, who are known as an ‘in-between’ generation, are approaching the middle of their careers and (hopefully) peak-earning years right now. However, they may be the first generation in the United States that is worse off than their parents when it comes to retirement prep. Only the future will tell.
That would have been a sweet set up back then. And the speakers would have been almost the cabinet size too
A few key events may have done a lot of harm to Gen Xers’ potential savings and earning power, including the dot-com bubble, as well as the financial crisis of 2008. And this is clear from the numbers. Investopedia points out that as of 2021, Generation X households have estimated median retirement savings of $87k, compared to $162k for Baby Boomers and $50k for Millennials. What’s more, a third of Gen Xers have taken loans or early withdrawals from their retirement accounts, compared to 24% of Baby Boomers and 46% of Millennials.
As dorky as that sounds…. It’s true. I’m never got to have my pastel baby blush pink bedroom and now at 51….I’m getting my wish !!! Lol
The ‘Righteous Memes from Generation X’ Facebook group currently has 92.3k members, and the community is focused on having fun, posting good memes, and being excellent to each other. The moderator and administrator team running the whole show asks anyone posting and commenting to “leave their politics at the door” because it will serve to divide the community.
Moreover, the mods and admins want the community members to stay on-point and post memes that are relevant to the theme of the entire group: namely, things related to Generation X, not random stuff they find elsewhere. They also note that current events are rarely relevant.
Meanwhile, members should avoid posting videos, reels, and TikToks. And there’s no place for any sort of generation-bashing. That means that nobody should be attacking older generations for messing up things or young generations for having a weak work ethic. Anyone who writes‘ ok Boomer’ in a comment will get a 24-hour-long mute. And though personal stories from the ‘Good Old Days’ might be fun, the point of the group is to post memes.
If you don't remember Madness, and you don't remember them doing this song in "The Young Ones", then I'm afraid we have nothing in common, sorry.
These Gen X memes are incredibly funny and relatable if you know the cultural context of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. And though nostalgia has plenty of upsides, like energizing us and helping us power through tough times, too much of a good thing can have a very negative impact. Someone who’s constantly stuck thinking about the past may ignore genuinely good opportunities in the present. And it isn’t healthy to be overly cynical of how much the world has changed ‘for the worse,’ yearning to go back.
Yeah they did that on purpose. They knew. They knew we were trying to build the perfect mix tapes for free.
Whenever I talk about how much I hate the snow cause it turns to ice, and how me and ice don’t get along (for obvious reasons) I reference these commercials and refer to myself as the Life Alert lady who’s fallen and can’t get back up xD It’s embarrassing when it happens to me but that’s how tf it feels 😅
Psychologist Valentina Stoycheva, Ph.D., writes on Psychology Today that there is a difference between helpful and harmful nostalgia. It’s rooted in “the difference between incorporating the positive emotions of reminiscing into the present versus renouncing the present for the sake of reinstating and perpetually reliving some moment in the past.”
According to the psychologist, some individuals go completely overboard glorifying the past, and get stuck. They might start hoarding items, getting excessive plastic surgery done to create the illusion of youth, or they might stalk their former partners on social media. Stoycheva urges anyone yearning for a period of time that is long gone to ask themselves what emotions and former self-states they’re after.
Which of these Gen X memes did you enjoy the most? How many Gen X Pandas do you think we have? What are you the most nostalgic for, whatever generation you might be? Swing by the comments, tell us what you think. In the meantime, for some more awesome memes from ‘Righteous Memes from Generation X,’ check out Bored Panda’s previous feature over here.
I used to fantasize about getting such an amazing job like she does on accident in this movie. If you think this movie is unrealistic, rewatch Home Alone and contemplate how a single salary afforded that house! Like, WHAT?
Lol, this is so true. There's so much from the 80s that is just absolutely bizarre, and much of it geared toward young people.
I had a shell suit. Atleast that's what we called them in the UK. I wanted one soooo bad. Felt really great when I first wore it
You could wait 10 minutes before eating it,foolishly thinking it would of cooled down,right until you bit into it and burnt your bottom lip and chin!
in a strained voice: It was the 70-s, man... S**t was wild...! /takes a deep drag.
I have not seen a pic of axl in a long while, wow he morphed into Benny
Note: this post originally had 131 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
This made me so nostalgic. Were we really that happy and carefree or have I just forgotten the bad things?
We didn't have internet. Our worlds were smaller. Less to no responsibilities. I think we were happier and more carefree.
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It is different depending on where you are from. This here is very US based.
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Early 1970's (20yo at the time). Unique mainstream fashions for men were longer sideburns and more lambchops, more moustaches, unbutton to second or third button with no T-shirt, and my personal favorite *** leisure suits ***. They did exist and went mainstream for a short time. Fashion gurus tried to push the men's short shorts but it never took hold.
Several of these are too old to be Gen X things. The Love Bug came out in 1968.
I'm the oldest a GenX can be, and I was 3 years old in 1968 so...
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Great fun, thank you. Though some of these seemed a bit younger for the post. Still a good laugh
Finally! Someone recognizing there is a generation between Boomers and Millennials!
I may be a millennial, but I'm close enough to the cut off that these resonated so beautifully. If not for me, especially for my oldest brother! Well done on this one, Pandas!
Fantastic post, laughed so much the dog got mad and got off the bed.
I remember going to high school when buffy and smallville were airing on tv and working to buy clothes so I could look like my favorite tv actors. Oh my gosh that was the life watching your favorite tv shows on regular tv no streaming are paying crazy s**t amounts of money to watch good tv. Working going to school, hanging with friends, no iPhones we just knew were to meet up, laughing, after school hangs, weekend work and then go shopping to look cute for new school week. Darn I miss those times.😥🤍 so simple, so pure and So So real.
Omg I was going to high school when buffy and smallville were airing on tv, I just remember working in the summer and trying to buy clothes to look like my favorite tv actors, I didn't care about nothing else no cell phones, no crazy streaming apps, no Facebook are instagram nothing no social media, just great television and working on the weekends and after school, so I could hang with friends and go eat out and buy cute clothes to impress cute high school guys.
The guys who tried to look like this in the 70s were nerds. Guys I knew wore cut off jeans or jeans in the summer. We all wore desert boots, year round, and tee shirts and flannel shorts.
This made me so nostalgic. Were we really that happy and carefree or have I just forgotten the bad things?
We didn't have internet. Our worlds were smaller. Less to no responsibilities. I think we were happier and more carefree.
Load More Replies... It is different depending on where you are from. This here is very US based.
Load More Replies... Early 1970's (20yo at the time). Unique mainstream fashions for men were longer sideburns and more lambchops, more moustaches, unbutton to second or third button with no T-shirt, and my personal favorite *** leisure suits ***. They did exist and went mainstream for a short time. Fashion gurus tried to push the men's short shorts but it never took hold.
Several of these are too old to be Gen X things. The Love Bug came out in 1968.
I'm the oldest a GenX can be, and I was 3 years old in 1968 so...
Load More Replies... Great fun, thank you. Though some of these seemed a bit younger for the post. Still a good laugh
Finally! Someone recognizing there is a generation between Boomers and Millennials!
I may be a millennial, but I'm close enough to the cut off that these resonated so beautifully. If not for me, especially for my oldest brother! Well done on this one, Pandas!
Fantastic post, laughed so much the dog got mad and got off the bed.
I remember going to high school when buffy and smallville were airing on tv and working to buy clothes so I could look like my favorite tv actors. Oh my gosh that was the life watching your favorite tv shows on regular tv no streaming are paying crazy s**t amounts of money to watch good tv. Working going to school, hanging with friends, no iPhones we just knew were to meet up, laughing, after school hangs, weekend work and then go shopping to look cute for new school week. Darn I miss those times.😥🤍 so simple, so pure and So So real.
Omg I was going to high school when buffy and smallville were airing on tv, I just remember working in the summer and trying to buy clothes to look like my favorite tv actors, I didn't care about nothing else no cell phones, no crazy streaming apps, no Facebook are instagram nothing no social media, just great television and working on the weekends and after school, so I could hang with friends and go eat out and buy cute clothes to impress cute high school guys.
The guys who tried to look like this in the 70s were nerds. Guys I knew wore cut off jeans or jeans in the summer. We all wore desert boots, year round, and tee shirts and flannel shorts.
