People Are Sharing The Most Gen X Things They Can Think Of, And As A Millennial, This Is Soooo Interesting To Read
When it comes to online discourse about generations, millennials and boomers are typically on the frontlines. But it was FINALLY time for Gen X (aka the forgotten generation) to shine when Reddit user Ruffffian asked, "What is THE most Gen X thing?"
People had A LOT to say. The question received over 5,100 replies! Here are some of the best comments:
1."Gen X is old enough to remember (and appreciate) life before the internet and cell phones, but we're young enough to transition into that world without a hitch."
2."My sister and I would call the local rock station to request a song, then we'd sit there with a tape at the ready to hit record as soon as they played our song. Repeat that about ten times, and you've got a nice mixtape."
"Or they talked over your song, and you had to call back later."
3."Finding porn in the woods while BMXing."
"All of my guy friends have had this experience! Creek porn, field porn, woods porn, ditch porn. The greenish areas throughout our city were just wonders of discovery for middle schooler boys in the '80s."
4."Columbia House collect notices."
Author's note: For anyone too young to know what this is, Columbia Records had a music club called Columbia House. It used aggressive marketing techniques to try to trick people into memberships. Kind of like spam texts before texting.
5."Crank calls."
6."Hair crimpers and getting your hair permed. Riding bikes with no helmets. Buying smokes for my dad at the shop."
7."Arcades. No other generation claimed them like we did. Before Gen X, graphics weren’t good enough. After Gen X, you’d play the games on your own home console."
8."Putting a twenty into the change machine at the mall arcade felt like dropping a house payment on a Vegas poker table."
9."Breakdancing."
10."Looking at scrambled soft core porn on cable has gotta be up there."
"I think I saw part of a boob for a second there!"
11."Putting baby oil on and sun-baking (we were LITERALLY baking ourselves)."
12."Being the last generation to have to walk across the room to change the TV channel or fix the TV by pounding on it the right way."
13."Record stores."
14."Never getting mentioned in the news. It always goes from Gen Z to millennials to boomers."
15."Swatch watches."
For anyone who has no idea what a Swatch watch is:
"They're essentially watch fads. If you buy an expensive Swiss watch, most people will buy one or two for their entire lifetime. That's no good for continued business. With Swatch watches, you buy a cheap plastic watch every year — sometimes more often. I remember the rich kids having five Swatches, and they'd wear a different one every day."
16."Doing whatever I wanted for hours after school by myself because my parents were still working. Being allowed to roam the streets until dark."
17."Massive CD collections that were neatly stored in binders for easy access."
18."Claiming shotgun in the car so you could play DJ for the night with all your friend's CDs."
19."Grunge music. I work with a handful of Gen X'ers, and the only music they can consistently agree on is the Pearl Jam station."
20."Trapper keepers."
21."Blockbuster on a Friday night."
"Hanging by the door to see if any good movies were just returned."
22."Being the last unreachable generation. There were hours where no one knew where we were, and our parents had zero ways to contact us."
23."Parachute pants. The noise was deafening in the halls between classes!"
24.And finally, the most on-brand Gen X reply of all time: "Whatever."
"I’m 46 and will take my jaded apathy to the grave, thank you very much. Now everybody leave me alone 'cause everything sucks."
H/T r/AskReddit
Some replies have been edited for length and clarity.
