30 Reasons Why Being Gen X Is Actually Pretty Awesome

Being the last unreachable generation. There were hours where no one knew where we were and our parents has zero way to contact us.

For me the most jarring thing is hearing people refer to records as "vinyls".

THEY'RE NOT CALLED VINYLS. THEY WERE NEVER CALLED VINYLS. CALLING RECORDS VINYLS IS LIKE CALLING CDS "PLASTICS". FFS, STOP THE MADNESS!!!

Records. They're called records. 12" records are also called LPs, short for Long Playing Records. 10" records are EPs, short for Extended Play Records, or 78s (if they are 78RPM). 7" records are 45s (because 45RPM) or singles.

GET OFF MY LAWN.

Being old enough to remember (and appreciate) life before the Internet and cellphones but being young enough to transition into that world without a hitch.

I admit to getting tired about hearing how easy it was for me to get through college and such 25ish years ago. I also remember the 70s and 80s, and amazingly, my parents could not afford a giant house with one person working as a coffee shop attendant.

Every generation has some hardships, and today's young people have been screwed over in some ways, but they go way overboard with how easy it was for everyone before them.

I was there. I literally have social security tax records since I was 12, because I had to work. It was not some magical paradise.

Buying something and owning it forever instead of paying an endless monthly or annual subscription.

LOL my oldest kid told me how OJ Simpson may have not committed the crime and the matching DNA was likely his son Jasons. Listen here, I didn’t watch court TV for 6 weeks and read 20 books on the case to have you lecture me about a 10 second Tik Tok clip that “solved” the crime of the century!! You don’t even know who Kato is !!!

My son came home from High School one year and pulled out his phone so I could hear this great new Band.

Aerosmith....

Imagine being a person who grew up in former soviet union listening to young people talk about the benefits of communism.

I most recently remember this in 2020, after the election, when Trump was still challenging the results. Even after Biden was declared the winner, I remember seeing posts on Twitter from Trump supporters saying things like "Don't give up! Back in 2000 the liberal media spent a month calling Gore the winner and referring to him as President-Elect, until the Supreme Court declared Bush the rightful winner!" And I was sitting there going, no, that's not what happened at all. How you are lying about something that was 20 years ago? This isn't ancient history?

I'm just on that border between Gen X and the oldest Millennials but my sister is 8 years older than me. We would call the local rock station to request a song then sit there with a tape at the ready to hit record as soon as they played our song. Repeat that about 10x and you've got a nice mixtape.

Just getting on your bike and being GONE for six or seven hours.

Can't reach me, I'm with friends doing WHATEVER.

The freedom of not being tethered.

My dad got laid off twice in the early '80s, when I was a kid. It was a rough period for a lot of my relatives also. You never hear about that early-'80s recession anymore, people just go, 'Oh, everyone could buy a big house with just a high school degree.' There were a ton of homeless people in the '80s where I grew up also.

Remembering phone numbers.

Massive CD collections neatly stored in binders for easy access.

Politics being mundane, and not teeth-grindingly insane and divisive.

I know things were just as bad back then, but it wasn't shoved up our faces sideways with hot sauce in a 24 hour news cycle.

Yup. My favorite is when they are like: "What's your source? You have no proof!" and it's like: "I didn't read about this, I lived it.".

The fact that our generation was kind if passed over. When I started my career, they wanted us to be deferential to older more experienced co-workers, “pay your dues and wait your turn!” As soon as we became more seasoned, they were like, look at all these amazing millennials and their great ideas! We’re like the Jan Brady of generations.

I’m a HS teacher and use Lies my Teacher told me by James Loewen as a reference for American history.

My good knees.

I took my son to a dinosaur exhibit, literally everything I learned about Dinosaurs is now wrong, including names of dinosaurs.

Calling your girlfriend's house and hoping that her dad does not pick up. Kids will never know this fear.

Video arcade. Before Gen-X, graphics weren’t good enough, and after Gen-X, you’d play the games on your own home console. No other generation claimed them like we did.

I miss the not putting your trauma all over TikTok/Instagram/social media. Kinda sick of all the overshares for the sake of "like" endorphins.

I'm also heavily sick of influencers.

You paying for your market research? I’d bring back the buying power and stability of the middle class. I’d bring back strong labor unions. I’d bring back affordable housing. I’d bring back a full cart of groceries for $80.

Memorizing geography. How many of those countries do not exist anymore? All of Yugoslavia, many countries in Africa, Burma, anyone?

Our time would have been better spent understanding the history of these areas, and not arbitrary lines set up by colonizers who didn't have an ounce of sense.

Being able to entertain ourselves for hours. This came from being latchkey kids.

I didn’t mind the covid lockdowns too much at all.

Life without social media.

I had to unlearn everything i was taught about the age of exploration, and american history in general.

We had a serious problem with making heroes out of powerful, and very flawed, individuals while minimizing the experiences and suffering of others

Swatch Watches.

Affordable housing.