Birth of the Slacker | Generation X 

“Slackers might look like the left-behinds of society, but they are actually one step ahead, rejecting most of society and the social hierarchy before it rejects them. The dictionary defines slackers as people who evade duties and responsibilities. A more modern notion would be people who are ultimately being responsible to themselves and not wasting their time in a realm of activity that has nothing to do with who they are or what they might be ultimately striving for.” -Richard Linklater

One thing's for sure, GenX had night and day best music

Born in 74, guess I'm a gen x slacker, still don't know what I want to be when I grow up ;)

Boomers: the economy was amazing when I was 20. What's wrong with you?

Coming out of High School in 1989 I saw my friends that had graduated in year previously were all having a hard time even finding a factory job. I didn't see many opportunities in my small rural mountain town so I decided to join the Army. I retired in 2009. So im thankful that the market crashed and jobs were hard to come by. Worked out well for me.

And just like that, us Gen Xers fade right back into obscurity after the 1 min and a half shoutout.

I was born in 1965 , I thank God everyday I got to go to experience the end of the party as it exploded into the 80's and then die .

My dad graduated college in 1988 and he remembers that the oil business was in a ditch around that time so his petro geology degree meant nothing so he had to work for environmental geology instead.

I'm Gen X and I'm really beginning to feel it,physically wise

Slacker was a common label for our generation

I’m Gen X. Poured steel at 18. I’m a woman. I ain’t a slacker. But I still love Punk Rock🤘💕👍

Yep, I remember those days. Graduated college in 1989...companies were being bought and then sold off into little pieces prior to that recession...I sent out out over 1,000 resumes and didn't even get a nibble until 1993...there were no decent jobs. We had to be creative, adaptable, frugal, resilient and flexible to survive...and we didn't have social media available to gripe about life...we just dealt with it the best we could.

In the 80s I was astonished to hear some Boomer media person refer to Gen X as the "Me Generation". Holy smokes. I explicitly remember the Boomers being called the Me Generation when I was a youngster. Now, we're the "slackers"? I don't recall this. It sounds like something that would have been applied to hippies in the 60s and later, pot-smoking boomers in the 70s. I'm calling bullshit, here. If anything, there was a strong current of rejection in Gen X for that lazy, pot smoking hippy shit. We wanted to get out and work hard. I want some citations here. Did a Boomer write this thing?

remember 90's and it being so uncool to try hard or take any interests. Cool was sitting around moaning whilst pretending to be cool. If u made it u had make it look as tho it was forced on u. People/Stars we looked up to actually saying on TV to kids "slack off go do what u want, take drugs experiment. strange slice of time like a Limbo between the old world to the new.

Thumbs up for Kevin Smith!

And now that's what RU-vid personalities are

This is a little off. The market recovered in less than a year from the '87 crash. They are mixing the fallout from the '91 recession with this.

IDK I am a gen-x-er and never had a problem finding a job even without a college degree. Granted, I was never rich by anyone's standard but never did without either.

Graduated college in 90. I got a job 2 weeks before our first homecoming (phew!) and there were, maybe 25 people out of ~500 there. Nobody wanted to come from our class without a job. The second homecoming was packed. It seemed like half the class was there. One of the best weekends of my life.

Slackers really? Everyone I knew worked in high school, and after graduating.

Looks interesting. Wish I could find a job so I could get cable and watch it.

Born 67, graduated in 85. I am a old gen X. Kid sister of baby boomers. My parents were born in the early 30's. Had a job since 14. At 16 was locked in a cellar for a week as punishment.

There were some slackers among gen X (ask any gen xer). But there were a lot of creative people, as well.

I'm shocked. Gen X got shit for being born in a climate that wasn't their fault and now they're the ones claiming Gen Y is "spoiled" and "entitled" even though we've been economically hit harder than they have. Round of applause for logic and empathy. (Also, I really like how National Geographic got diverse with their casting. It's not like women and people of color existed or were affected by the stock market crash or anything).

this is perfect....

Lol I'm gen x. I work from home and play on my Play station.

I was in school and working. I also started, modeling making hats and writing.

Gen X was the first generation in modern America to expect a lower standard of living than our parents enjoyed, and our response was to shrug our shoulders and sigh, apathetically, "well, whatever, never mind". The Cold War, the constant threat of nuclear war, Reganomics and its so-called trickle down economics, the erosion of the middle class, the end of the stability brought by the facade of the nuclear family, the death of the ideals of the Flower Power generation, who traded their dreams for stock market futures, the acceleration of environmental devastation, and the sense of nihilism in the air so thick you could cut ut with an overhyped Ginzu knife made some of us feel so overwhelmed, unless your parents were yuppies with a business empire to look forward to inheriting, and plenty of those kids weren't immune, either. The Boomers called us "slackers," but what's there to strive for when we had little to expect but a trap we couldn't escape? In response, we adapted. We found new ways of doing things, because we had no choice if we wanted to survive. We invented the new conveniences newer generations enjoy and take for granted. We were a feral generation, many of us latchkey kids with little to no supervision or guidance. "It's 10:00. Do you know where your children are?" That was a real commercial, on local TV stations, to remind our parents that we existed. We were an invisible generation, but the world feels the impact of the world we created. Whatever.

Slacking is a result of life being made easier by machines,tools,and entertainment by machines.

Why did you interview silent bob

Imagine how much trouble those in the 1700s had finding a suitible job

I grew up in the rust belt as a generation Xer. No jobs, but lots of boomers were losing theirs and selling off their assets. Nice cheap houses and muscle cars. Cougars became the easy to bed X-wives of boomer men. Lots of great stuff sold and given away. We had to be savvy, no breaks, just creative thinking and hard work.

GENERATION X STARTED A NEW BRANCH OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES. I SAY THAT'S PRETTY IMPRESSIVE. GENERATION X ALSO BROUGHT YOU... YAHOO, GOOGLE, JAY Z AND BEYONCE. WELL THOSE LAST TWO AREN'T A BRAG BUT HEY GET OFF OUR BACKS WE TRIED ✌😊

Me and my friends never had an issue finding a job right out of college, and we all have business degrees.

I can't even get my foot in the door for a minimum wage job I turn 29 soon I've got no retirement saved up local places don't seem to hire I used to do construction I got tired of getting abused so I left I'm not an indentured servant I'm not going to throw my life away for one career

Anybody know what song plays at the beginning of each episode of this show? It's driving me insane that I can't find it, anywhere.

I'm gen x and I lived through hard times!

As I always say, there are good and bad apples in every barrel, so from my observation, there are slackers from EVERY generation (just as there are impactful individuals from every generation). To the universe, humanity (regardless of age) is only one complexitity out of all natural ecosystems. 100 years from now, life will commence with both young and old people with both strengths and weaknesses of both parties (just as how it has always been in earth's history). For that matter, I don't really understand why so many conform to this common misconception that people 40 and younger, for instance, are any worse than people ahead of them when, in reality, every generation has a sad, but actual balance of good and evil, accountability and unreliability, etc. so, generational criticism is a waste of time. If 12 year old ("wise") cats will steal food from a stay kitten, it's essentially no different in humanity when the elderly (such as Charles Manson) perform evil acts. That's reality folks. No generation is ever superior when ALL of them are too diverse among individual personalities.

slack is creativity

What song plays in the beginning of the opening credits of the show?

A lot of Millenials here complaining how bad they have it. They don't know what bad is. They need to sit down and watch the documentaries on TV about Generation X and see what bad is and what we had to go through. We didn't get shit handed to us, we had to grow up real fast, and if we ranted and raved about we're entitled and are owed shit we would have got cracked in the mouth. Compare the Gen X documentaries to the Gen Y (Millenial) documentaries and you will see and appreciate you have it pretty easy and would never say another thing bad thing about us Xers again.

looks familiar...

Well now were in the era of Generation Alpha

Since we are the kids of Gen X and grandkids of Baby Boomers. It's up to the Baby Boomers to give their grandkids generation a name, since they share their wisdom and are a huge impact in their grandkids lifes.

I was 17, my main concern was getting laid.

Naaah-we aren't slackers. We did essays, HOURS of homework, walked miles to school every day, did chores every day, mowed the lawn AND worked part time in high school. I was no slacker. I went on to dead-lift and care for quadriplegics-and I'm a woman.

THAT SOUNDS LIKE TODAY 2022!!! graduate College no JOB

Wow. Look athistory repeating itself XD

Mr robot?

I’m just glad we all survived the coat-hanger and the educational system long enough to pop out Millennials who want us ‘Xed’ out of existence just like our parents did.

GenXers aren’t called “Slackers” anymore, now are we? 😝

GenZ and Millennials are in the same boat

we were socio conformist in the 1980s 84 to 90 in the 90s the slacker became the dafter hippie it was our 60s!

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We both had our problems. Many of those problems were quite similar. I empathize with my children's generation because they have become the victims of a system that they have no control over. The big difference between GenX and Millennials, though... GenX became self-sufficient and actually DID something about it. Millennials just complain and hope somebody will do it for them.

Gen X wanted change so we changed ourselves to fit Our own needs. This Gen wants everyone else to change to fit Their needs.

Biased much?

Makes you creative...

Millenials had/have by far the lamest music

This is b.s. I'm generation X and look how I turned out.

So because someone that was born in Gen x made the music in the time of the millennials does it make it Gen x music or millennials music!?

I thumbs down this video cuz it is so short. I hate all these short videos. Put some real content on your RU-vid channel please. I don't own TV and don't want one. So will never watch this but on RU-vid. Make better content please.

Gen X wasn't really slackers. For the most part we got up, got dress and did something with our day from a young age. As a teen I was rarely home and was still exploring the world. My goal was to have a nice car and a place of my own. The problem with young people today is they often sit in the house in their bare feet and play video games, communicate of social media and watch TV. That is why so many are overly sensitive and lack any real motivation.

Wait what?? There was a recession before 2007/2008?

what about Gen y?

This seems to have repeated in 2008 and a lot of blame lies on gen x for that one

Reagan sucked

Gen X > Gen Y Gen Z > Gen Y

Slackers? And then the BLM movement came along.

Why does everyone have to compare problems like it's a competition? How about we just fix it. Millennials ads snowflakes and gen xers are cry babies.