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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"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 If all of my friends and I tend to see the prior generation as having ridiculously outdated views, then our attitudes are bolstered and feel like a sort of reality," Dr.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.
And the neighbor's too, if they helped your uncle fix a car last weekend.
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No allowance, but it instilled in me the concept that I’m not entitled to anything and have to work to earn money.
Me too! I only got $$$ if I babysat for other people, never my brother & sister!
Yeah, well. Helps if your mom always has you run errands. She may or may not ask for change.
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If I did the housework and dishes with my sister and without half-killing her, my parents paid $3.00 for me to go roller skating.
Worked for ALl the neighbors when I was a 13+. Bought my own car and paid for the insurance. The alternative was walking four miles to town.
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When I was about 6, my parents made a chore list for allowance. I did my chores the first week, no problem. Second week Mom noticed I hadn't done any and asked me why. I said "I don't need any money this week." That was the end of my allowance. Hahaha
Sounds right, even for Boomers. If you were lucky, they also fed you, but you had to do some chores.
Half a crown was my pocket money (early 60's in England).
I think all generations can relate to this. no one I know has an actual allowance lol
My parents would dole out some money for whatever whenever, kinda a good arrangement. It probably worked out in their favor since I'm introverted. Clever of them.
Doing chores paid my rent. Then I would get a 5 dollar bill to go to the rollerrink on Friday nights.
OMG, yes! My mom just about laughed in my face when I asked for an allowance!
I got $2 on mom's payday. $1/week. I got that for doing dishes, cleaning the bathroom, cleaning my room, and running the vacuum cleaner. Every week.
Same. But I also learned life skills that I wouldn't have otherwise learned had I not been raised by a single working Mom. I knew how to take care of myself right out of High School and now I'm a professional cook thanks to making my own after-school snacks.
What's an allowance? I was told to find a job for after school and start paying rent!
Once I told my dad nobody ever thanks me for doing chores and I almost lost my life in that moment.
Oh, this is so familiar. Especially the doing all the housework and being allowed to live there. If I was lucky, I might get $5 a week allowance for my labors. This was the mid to late 60s and 70s. At least comics and paperbacks were a lot cheaper back then (12-15 cents for comics and 40-60 cents for a pbk.)
When we walked to the grocery store for groceries, I got to keep any change under a quarter if it was my mom and change under a dollar if it was my dad.
It depended on if they noticed how many soda bottles I stole and turned in at the liquor store.
$4 a week at 13. My younger sisters received $3. As long as we did chores, kept our rooms clean, etc. Our Dad figured this would instill financial responsibility in us. I don’t know how far he thought $4 would go, but it sort of worked. There were no rules on how we spent it, so I’d buy a Richie Rich comic, maybe a Mad Libs, and some penny candy, and the rest went in a mayonnaise jar on my desk. Meanwhile, $1/hour was the going rate for babysitting. Between that & my leftover allowance, it took me nearly a year to save up for a 10-speed bike. When I was 2-3 months away from having enough, Dad took me to check out models at Lindner’s Bike Shop. I wanted a Gitane (so cool then), but it was $150, so that meant waiting a bit longer. A month later, it was Christmas. Late in the morning, Dad called upstairs saying there was someone at the front door asking for me. I came down to find no one, but there on the front lawn was my 10-speed. The only time I was so happy I burst into tears.
Mum bought what she thought a teenage girl might use. If I wanted anything different I paid out of my $1 per week. 1975
I had a paper route at 10 and was working for wages at 14 . There was no "allowance".
I remember feeling so rich when my dad raised my allowance to $5 per week in the mid-70's.
I grew up next to a real rich neighnorhood so while my peers were getting 10-to 20 bucks, yes in the 80s, for making their bed, I got 75cents for doing the dishes, helping with the laundry, taking out the trash, keeping my room clean, cleaning the bathroom on Saturdays, etc. Makes me wonder how those kids turned out. Not that I've gone to any reunions. They wanted 50 bucks per person to cover the cost of the fancy rental place and catering. What's wrong with a potluck in the school gym?
I was allowed to pay rent, give up all the money I had otherwise to someone who presented me with a bill for being born, and so long as I kept my mouth shut, I was allowed to do homework and maybe, today, if i was quiet enough, and the old b***h was in a good mood, I was allowed to have a day without having the s**t beat out of me for daring to be born male, instead of the 'perfect little girl' she got pregnant with to save her marriage to someone who was so desperate to get away from her he had a vasectomy, and later on, suicide.
My son wanted an allowance. Told him I wanted one, too. Want to compare who will get the most?
I was allowed to babysit the neigbor's kids around 36 hrs/week so I could buy my own clothes and pay for activities. No money in my purse? No football game or school dance.
10 bucks a freakin week. Clean the house every day after school. Do my homework and start over the next day. Somethings never change.
We were paid for our grades. $1.00 for A's, 50¢ for B's and 10¢ for C's. Mom never went broke. 😄
Babysit for my siblings n neighbor kids n housework, n other chores too long to list lol
I did my chores And my stepsister's chores...she was super PO'd that I also got her allowance 😎
I get it per month, 20 bucks, it's bumped up to 40 since my parents are both working and me and siblings are watching younger siblings and cleaning
Feet. Paid with Sees candy (just one though).
Load More Replies... I was allowed to keep the money I earned at my job I got when ai was like 12. Is that the same thing?
I don't remember how much my allowance was, but I got it once a month as a teen. Parents wanted me to learn budgeting you see.
When I was 14 I got $20 a week the that tripled dipled when I got in high school.
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.
