Generation X

1965–1977

Also known as Gen X

The last generation to complete a job application by hand and unbothered about it. Went from projectors and reels and a white sheet (or an actual screen, if you were larny) to Betamax to VHS to YouTube and Netflix in one lifetime.

Key traits

Analogue-to-digital pragmatism
Self-directed learning
Low-drama adaptation
Scepticism of hype
Long-view context

Defining moment The late-1990s internet turned an analogue working life digital.

Generation X holds the last fully analogue stretch of working memory. A handwritten application, a filing cabinet, a film reel – none of it was a retro affectation, it was simply how the task got done. Then the sequence sped up. Projectors, Betamax, VHS, YouTube, streaming; paper systems, desktop software, cloud platforms, each arriving with less ceremony than the last.

The history leaves behind a kind of technological shrug. The machine changes, so you learn the next machine, usually without a manual and never with a launch party. What survives every switch is the habit of keeping the device separate from the job it is meant to serve. This generation has watched a good few confident futures arrive, dazzle everyone and settle down into ordinary infrastructure nobody notices any more. So their scepticism is earned rather than sour. A faster method is welcome, and it still has to answer the old question: does the work hold up when a person has to stand behind it?

Generation X Humans Interviewed