You Can Do It, Gen X 

I tell my husband this all the time

Absolutely! 💯

I was born a few years earlier, 1959, but completely agree! I love our modern technology as an adult, but so thankful I didn't have it as a youth.

@@louissivo9660 so true.

Yes!

and times were WAY better

@@wolfcalls Yeah but here we are. I don't have a cell phone though.

25.6k dialup was mind blowing

​@@MiddleAgedMike I had a 1200 baud modem when I was first on CompuServe.

Likewise. Some might be surprised how many people were "online" with no Internet.

the single cost as much as the album too!

Yes!

Or buy the whole album to find out you hated the rest of it when you got it home.

One time when I was living with a guy we had the system built up between the both of us heard the radio that could record cassettes was in the living room part of the house. We both loved A lot of the same music so we decided we would leave a fresh cassette always in the player so that if one of us happened to walk by or we were in the room for some time and one of our favorite songs came on we could just hit record. Whoever finished one side of the cassette had to flip it over to the other side and put it back in before leaving the room. Likewise whoever finished a complete cassette would have to replace it with a new one before walking out of the room. We would do this until each cassette was done for and as I was next in the room if I saw a completed cassette or if I finished one I would be the one to take it out put it in a case and label the case with the date or whatever Journal music I knew might be on it. One time I picked up a completed cassette and put it in a labeled cassette case. I actually had time to spare so I decided this one I will label every single song on it while I sit here and listen. So I sat and listened ready to write down the title of each song and who it was by. The entire cassette, both sides, was just the same cure song over and over and over and over and over and over. 😂

I always hated it when the DJ would talk over the song before it was finished too!! 😤😝

Sorry for your loss. You got this. You are GenX! ❤

😢 I feel your pain... My dad passed away very suddenly last week and I may need to retrain professionally at 44... Tis a hard time...

I'm so sorry for your loss.

What was your dream job?

@@anniekate76 Freelance writing and editing, which left time for indie fiction writing on the side.

Hang in there. You are not alone. Many of us are having to start over for the same reason. We can do this...we are Gen X!

@@faraboverubieskerry ❤

@@Fox-Mann-Fam AI sucks. It can't write real stories

Whose generation was the Gen X parents? Couldn't be the youngest boomers. Mystery is what led to Gen X being self-raised. Did 2 jobs become a survival thing?

My parents were born in 1939 and 1945, and I am the oldest. My parents were married a little later than the norm at the time. I’m grateful for the perspective I gained from them! Most kids my age either had younger parents or were close to the end of their family. I didn’t raise myself, but I did become a “latch-key kid” when I was 11 because my mom had to return to work following my dad’s prolonged job loss. We played outside a lot more than some kids I know today. I know that there were some pretty crazy things that happened with the economy in the 1970’s and 80’s that made things difficult for a lot of people.

@@user-tc6cj7sh9t I'm '72, & my parents are/were '51 & '52, so they're boomers. The youngest boomers were '64, so you probably won't find a lot of them with GenX kids (not to say none, because teen pregnancy, but not as many), but you will still find a lot of early to mid boomers with Gen X kids. As far as how so many of us became self-raised? Yes, 2 jobs became very much a survival thing. I think I can count on one hand the number of people I knew who had a stay-at-home parent. I was one of the lucky ones in that my mother was a teacher, so she was mostly home at the same time us kids were.

​@user-tc6cj7sh9t The reasons ranged from both parents having jobs to being kicked out of the house to do some undefined play until dinner time.😊

@@user-tc6cj7sh9t The boomers, the 80’s were the “Me” decade, and the Boomers were busy with self fulfillment. That’s why Gen X’ers are so family focused, we over boomeranged to make up for what we didn’t have.

🥺 🫂 It's so hard, Friend

@@homethatilove4595 Thank you, love your handle! I’m making my house a home that I love!

I believe in you my fellow Gen X. You've got this...

@@tinastanley4444 Thank you so much. We are the best generation! Take care of you.

@@fionaschiffl8065 cheers my friend! Gen X is the best!!!

At least every generation in the 20th century

Yep. Every 10 years or so there's always something brand new and the old way we used to do it doesn't work anymore. That's how it's been through my whole growing up.

~Elder Millenial raises hand~ I remember all these things from my childhood too. My elementary school always had a Christmas concert where the different grades would each sing a song. One grade sang a song about current technology to the tune of 12 Days of Christmas. "And a brand new Apple II-E!" Later I remember when they taught us about this new thing called the World Wide Web, and how a search engine works.

@@meljordan220 Well, I just visited a store whose Internet went down: "Only cash and checks". I think the last store that got a written check from me was in the 90s. I'm either pre-check or post, either cash or card. Not YET Googlepay or Applepay. Stuck between technologies.

My Grandmother lived through horses and buggies, cars, landline phones, radio, and TV, then talked to me on my parent's Cell phones or as she called them traveling phones. She was a Centurian. The transition you lived through was minor compared. Computers ran your schools they were in schools in the 60s, just extremely basic. You had the basis of copy machines in the blue Xerox prints or are you actually old enough for that. Calculators were becoming a thing back in the early 70s. Nothing you lived through was that big of a change, the bases were all laid. You obviously were oblivious to those changes. I missed Gen X by 1 year, yet I was building my first computers back in the 80s. My dad was part of the silent generation and was on the first version of the internet when it still looked like DOS. Again, it was still the mid-80s when he was doing this. All the technology that you claim to have had to relearn how to do things was there all along you just weren't paying attention. We aren't that special!

I gave away my VHS machine. My wife has dozens of tapes. But for years she never watched them. Now she bought a player for $5. But we can't figure out how our flat screen TV can connect.

Or the atlases, where you'd have to continue on "L16"!

@@joshuagoldstein8116 Confused. Despite Google, we have kept updating our atlases.

AAA flip book directions for vacations!

vcr ya you had to use a little plastic thing to tune in the channels.. .13 channels and I HATED when stations changed their location had to reset everything. I kept the plastic tool little cross tool.

We are the older Gen X'rs June 1968 here. That #2 pencil and cassette hit home Hard.

You found them a year ago? Have you watched their season of The Amazing Race yet? It’s well worth the watch. You’ll fall in love with them even more. Literally was my first [and probably my last] time ever watching a season of The Amazing Race. I actually tried watching another season but eh, I couldn’t get into it…My guess? -Key and Peele- *Kim and Penn* totally _made_ it _actually_ an AMAZING show. The others…just sub-par amazing, I’m guessing-I couldn’t handle *all* the bickering from those previous seasons/teams. 🤣

My b-day is 10/8/1966. 🎉 Definitely go back through the H Fam video catalogue! I found them during lock-down & have a RU-vid folder called Holderness Gold to save my favorites. 🏆 Also strongly recommend watching TAR season they won. I was super lucky to get tickets to the funale party here in FL. I got to meet them & get my book signed, then danced & partied with all the cast members that were there. It was awesome & I tell my husband it was the 2nd best event of my life because he would be hurt or pissed if I said it beat our wedding, but... 💕

@@maryroberts589 LOL... I have caught quite a few of their videos from before I subbed to them. I look forward to their new releases. I'd love to collaborate on some goofy something sometime. Each time I share a video to my wife she comments about how much Penn's sense of humor reminds her of me. Lol. Maybe some day. 😂

I thought my year was the last of gen x. 1968 too. That’s why he doesn’t remember gopher. Popcorn? 8 tracks in our youth

We had Melways .

😢Loved those days 🥺... before stress became a Thing

🏆. It's our Strength

Ahem... Boomer here. I was drinking from a hose before you were born. For us, CDs were a revelation, you could easily skip to any song! We had dusty, scratched LPs. Gen X had everything so good.

LPs have auto-skip,kip,kip,kip,kip,kip,kip...

@@nurmr Yes they do, so whining about suffering with the drastically better CDs is kind of lame in comparison. Gen xers trying to seem tough because they had to deal with digital music encoded on laser disks, like it was the wild West. Just weird.

@@itsROMPERS... if you had scratched lps.. you didn't take care of them.

Yep!! That was our '80s life... Genesis , Whitney, Cyndi, Van Halen ~ BEST Days Ever

Used to record American Top 40 skipping the commercials on my school bus yellow Panasonic cassette player.

There are some songs I remember from my teen years as ending with a DJ talking over them, because I listened to them on a radio-recorded tape so many times.

@@ScubaFanatic60 I had a small pale blue radio with a pastel rainbow strap. I stuck a few fuzzy, orange scented stickers on it. Eventually a button broke off and to record I had to push down on some rough metal, but the indentations were totally worth it.

Thanks, I needed that!❤

Penny?! 😂

@@llamasugar5478 I know!!! I didn’t proofread (clearly!!!!) Sorry to Pen!!!!!

@@rhondaallen3617 Or you could "edit". ;)

​@@thatswhatisaidCA it wasn't a mistake.

Likewise. I was born in 1980, same as Liza Schlesinger who coined that term.

Same!! 🎉

Totally!

Yup

As a geriatric millennial I got to play Oregon trail on both an Apple II in black and white and later in color. 😂

😂

keywords "into the song"

I’m with you on this. 1985 is considered millennial but I did all of these things!! The radio recording was particularly nostalgic

Same!

I was born in 88 and experienced these things too!

I was born 1982 and I claim the Gen-X label (there's different views on when Gen-x ended). But this whole video was so true, lol

@@danielcummins5092 You're an Xennial

I know that was a typo (bloomers) but it seriously made me laugh out loud. :D

​@@zaynamoore I didn't ever catch it until you pointed it out, but that is gold!

Me too, 1964...

I'm glad that you had a laugh. I am so bad with typos. After looking at it, it is funny.

Yes, even born in ‘60, I feel like genX; did take Fortran in college when computing was “new” and used punch cards. 😵‍💫

Thank you, just had that discussion yesterday. Born in ‘60, but definitely don’t align with baby boomer feels; way more Genx-ish.

My hubs is right there with you! Born in April '64, but never once identified with the Boomers. All of the stuff that his older siblings & other Boomers like leave him cold (except in an "appreciating the classics" kind of way).

I was born in 62 and some I don't have much in common with the 1946 crowd. I'm Gen X all the way!

Love being an xennial!

@@Cooksongrl It's funny how I remember 90% of that stuff but I seemed to have compartmentalized it as if it's part of a past life. Didn't think about it until I saw this video then laughed. I feel like I'm living in today's age and trying to keep up with everything as if I'm a kid again

Gen X is the generation after boomers. Boomers are 1946-64. Gen X are 1965-1980.

Or the beginning of the next song blended into the end.

@@blighted2013 LOL! Yessss!

💯

Don't forget the buzzer on "Operation".

TRUTH !! About ALL 3 ... The Operation shock was terrible! But made me a very steady crafter 40 years later

I'm a Millennial, was born in the late 80s--we experienced the same thing as Gen X, just a little younger. There are some younger Millennials born in the 90s that might not have experienced as much, but us Millennials born in the 80s were experiencing things right along with Gen X.

Same! The only things I didn't do were use the rotary phone (though I knew how) and crimp my hair. I still have the daily up Internet ba-dang screeches living in my head rent-free.

Hate to break it to you, but older millennials experienced all these things.

@@adedow1333 My wife is sentimental. She bought her phone when the time came you could own it. It is a rotary, and sits in her office. Old fashioned bell that rings.

*It's (contraction of "it is" or "it has") its = possessive pronoun All contractions have apostrophes. Possessive pronouns never do. *a LOT Two words, not one. Think of it like this: a few, a little, a bunch, a _whole_ bunch, a lot, a _whole_ lot. *internet.

My family's first computer was a TSR-80 from Radio Shack. The "hard drive" was a tape deck. 😂

@@JChiibs I remember thinking people in the early 80s who had an Atari with a tape drive were rich! I was shocked and had never heard of the amount my Dad spent on ours. My Mum wanted it for work but I didn’t know how much help it would be to her.

@@fionaschiffl8065 We certainly weren't rich, my dad was just a geek. At 6 years old I thought I was pretty smart being able to ask ELIZA questions and getting answers that essentially the program didn't know. When ChatGPT became public, one of the first questions I asked it was if (essentially) ELIZA was it's grandmother or something. 😂 At first I got the "I'm not a person but an AI program" response, but then I asked it if it was a person, would she have been it's grandmother. The answer I got was pretty much "by that logic, probably yes." 😆 ChatGPT is so much fun to play with. Although trying to have it tell innocent children stories always takes a turn for the worse pretty quickly. 😖 I'm not doing that to make books or anything, its just for fun. My mom used to walk across the room to avoid the TSR-80 because she was convinced that computers were going to take over the world. She was genuinely scared. Now I have to remind her to clean off the splatters on her keyboard and monitor. I asked her the other day how it got so dirty and she said "I don't know! I don't eat in here and I don't touch my monitor!" (She lives alone.) Yeah right mom, the crumbs say otherwise. 😄

Hi fellow ‘75er!!

Me too! 1975👊

I was born two weeks before January 1st, 1975.

We're called Xennials. We're both Xers and Millennials 😎👍

Solidafrity from us "geriatric millenials" (Ugh. Hate that term).

I do 😂

Yup!

When did mousse replace hair spray? Was that in Gen X or later?

@@user-tc6cj7sh9t I used both when I was a teenager in the mid 80's...actually, when I do bother to get dolled up (which is rare these days) I still do. I didn't realize that mousse had replaced hairspray.

My wife was born in Russia in 1985 and says the same thing. I am 11 years older than her and yet she feels like we had the same experiences growing up. too funny.

He could spend a verse on now-defunct search engines alone. lol

@@kynn23 And Netscape. And other 90s flashes in the pan. I actually took a network management course in something being replaced by a Microsoft product. That was sweet.

@@kynn23 Yahoo, Lycos, Altavista, were just a few. I think I used every one that showed up.

Oh my goodness, I remember that game. It was stressful.

Happy birthday! We are BOTH 50 now!!!! And Gen X!

Mapquest used to be the new cool way to get directions. Now we’ve forgotten about it. And perhaps there won’t even be Google Maps when my kids are learning how to drive.

Sometimes I still accidentally say, “I’ll need to MapQuest that.” Out here keeping the memory alive. 💪😉