12. Being a "Zillennial" or the Gen Z Millennial: the limbo generation

18 May, 2023

People are hardwired to sort things into boxes. Humans take the time to organize the mess of data and information right before our eyes and simplify them to make sense of the world. However, I do not like to categorize people. That's just a crazy concept to me.

For a categorization to have value, two things must be true:

First, it must be valid. You can’t just arbitrarily divide a homogeneous group. As Plato put it, valid categories “carve nature at its joints”- as with snakes and sticks.

Second, it must be useful. The categories must behave differently in some way you care about. It’s useful to differentiate snakes from sticks, because that will help you survive a walk in the woods.

One of the worse things that humans came up with is this "generationology" concept. There's a subreddit called r/generationology where they discuss the history, statistics, and trends of certain generations. One of the most polarizing things on that subreddit is the cusp between the Gen Z and Millennial generations. Based on the criteria above, I personally think this categorization is invalid and useless. To me, it's just another way to divide people even further, allowing people to develop a "back in my day" mentality and make the younger generations feel inferior if they can't relate to them. This is sorta like... gatekeeping right? I know, I'm being grumpy. yet... Okay, sure, categorizing by age groups/generations is fine. It holds some truth. I still stand by my claim of "separating by generation" is dumb and silly (well, maybe it's easier for companies to market towards certain demographics like this), but it's kinda fun.

According to the majority of users, I belong in the cusp based on my birth year. This cusp label is totally on-brand for me (a very in-between individual that can go in between cracks and masquerade as anyone? that's so enticing!); however, this such a stupid label- "Zillennial? Gen Zillennial? Cusp?" what?? So silly.

About 10 years ago, the "cusp" people were all labeled as "millennials", until this label was ripped out of our hearts a few years ago. I was personally blindsided and lost at first. I really thought I was a Millennial? I'm actually Gen Z? First of all, what does that even mean?

I found out more, I started to get some mental anguish as I was being suddenly grouped into a new generation I couldn't really relate to at its core (I'm way too old for some of the slang and the problems). How am I suddenly a Gen Z now? I looked back at the Millennials- I also didn't relate to them that much (apparently I am very green to the Millennial experience?).

After discovering the term "Zillennial" I rolled my eyes. I can't believe it. Okay, this term really brought some clarity, but I can't believe humans have the insistent need to categorize again and again (Why am I complaining, I am a scientist lol). The people around my age (a conservative range I would say is from 1993-1999? although, the majority of Zillennials, I would say, belong to a narrow range of the years 1996-1999. These are outliers- the oldest year being 1991, the latest being 2002) and I were ruthlessly split down the middle. You're too young, you're too old. Where do we belong?

I'll take it though. Zillennials are micro-generation born on the cusp of Millennial and Gen Z demographic cohorts. Being a ‘Zillennial’ is strange because the spectrum is so wide. On one side I have friends that have children, are married, and successfully building their career. On the other, there are friends that are okay with the fact they are still figuring out what’s right for them.

I found a "community" where I relate a lot more to rather than the other two. I had an analog and digital childhood and I'm not afraid to admit it and embrace it now.

here's a (exhaustive) list of totally Zillennial things below (please note that I am American- though I would like to be as universal as possible)

1. Just Dance (the video game and the Lady Gaga song)
2. Using a dial-up and then using WiFi
3. Nokia or flip phone and then SmartPhone
4. Habbo Hotel
5. YikYak (American)
6. The Drake era, "swag", and "yolo"
7. Facebook as a pre-teen or high schooler
8. Digimon
9. Pokemon
10. VCR to DVD to Blu-Ray to Netflix
11. Webkinz (I took my animals to school lol)
12. Club Penguin
13. Adventure Quest
14. RuneScape
15. The era of online flash games in general (freemathgames)
16. Good kids shows from:

• Disney Channel (Kim Possible, American Dragon: Jake Long, Suite Life of Zack & Cody, That's So Raven, Lizzie McGuire, Wizards of Waverly Place, Good Luck Charlie, Hannah Montana, Phineas and Ferb, Jonas, Phil of the Future, Even Stevens, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Handy Manny, Lilo and Stitch, The Proud Family)
• Nickelodeon (iCarly, Drake and Josh, Spongebob, Danny Phantom, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Fairy Odd Parents, Victorious, Rugrats, Hey Arnold!, The Wild Thornberrys, Rocket Power, My Life as a Teenage Robot, Zoey 101, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Big Time Rush)
• Cartoon Network (The Powerpuff Girls, Ben 10, What's New Scooby Doo?, Total Drama Island, Mucha Lucha, Chowder, Xiaolin Showdown, Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Duck Dodgers, Ed, Edd n Eddy, Dexter's Laboratory, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi , Johnny Bravo, Johnny Test, My Gym Partner's a Monkey, Codename: Kids Next Door, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, Teen Titans, Batman: The Brave And The Bold, Regular Show, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Justice League, Robotboy, Camp Lazlo, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Samurai Jack, Naruto)

Fun fact: I fondly remember watching The Wiggles, Bananas in Pajamas, Hi-Five, Koala Brothers, The Upside-Down Show, Cyberchase, and H2O: Just Add Water because I only had access to Australian kids shows in my early childhood.

17. Nintendo DS
18. Knowing what an Ethernet cord is and how it connects to the modem
19. Portable video players
20. Skype
21. Emo scene kids
22. Carrying an actual rectangle-shaped digital camera
23. Skinny jeans
24. End of MySpace
25. Converse
26. Alternating nail polish or cracked nail polish
27. AIM (AOL Instant Messenger)
28. Formspring
29. PS2
30. Wii
31. Robots (2005)
32. Experiencing one's childhood throughout the entirety of the 2000's
33. The plastic shutter shade glasses that Kanye wore
34. Tumblr
35. Vine (the heyday was in middle school and high school)
36. Tapes
37. Remembering weird trends like: the weird duct tape craze from 2010 - 2012; bacon mania; the Harlem Shake
38. Buzzfeed quizzes
39. NOW CD's
40. The Crazy Frog ringtone
41. Furbies
42. Groovy chick
43. The Twilight saga
44. (from English speaking countries)

• Slang from Millennials (bae, doggo, high key, clap back, shook, keep it 100, gucci, on fleek, swol, I can't even, humblebrag, totes, cool beans, do it for the [redacted] (vine/gram), awesomesauce, smol, werk, literally, etc.);
• Slang from Gen Zer's (rizz, stan, cancel culture, e-boy/girl, simp, camp, tea, living rent free, hits different, vibe check, main character, sending me, it's giving, era, touch grass, sleep on, [_____]-core)
• then feeling cool but cringe at the same time [please note: the gen z slang list is still growing, but I feel like these current terms definitely define this generation]

45. Silly bandz
46. Polly Pocket, Pixel Chix, and My Scene dolls
47. Learning to do Microsoft Office at school
48. Walkman to MP3 player to iPod Nano
49. Had a family computer at home
50. Witnessed the "Rise of YouTube" in real time and the content creator monetization
51. Shopped at Limited Too before it became Justice.
52. Vaguely remember 9/11, but don't have an elaborate "where were you" story because you were too young (Apparently I was at Disneyland and my parents told me I was upset that the parks were closed... yikes..)
53. Burned mixed CD's
54. Napster and limewire
55. Was taught how to write cursive, but never really used it that much
56. Tamagotchis
57. Played CD-ROM games (Freddi Fish, Putt-Putt, Spy Fox, Pajama Sam)
58. Drew on Microsoft Paint for fun
59. Used Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 in school
60. Spent a majority of your childhood playing outside and a majority of your teen years behind a screen.
61. Manually rolled up car windows as a kid before electric windows were a standard thing.
62. Moon shoes
63. Razor RipStik
64. McDonald's happy meals toys
65. Blackberry phones
66. Instagram's Valencia filter
67. Forever 21, Topshop, New Look and American Apparel
68. Justin Bieber
69. Snapchat
70. Maplestory
71. AMV's
72. Experiencing Blockbuster before it was closed
73. "Taylor Swift" (2006) then "Fearless" (2008) then "Speak Now" (2010) then Red (2012) then "1989" (2014)
74. John Green books
75. Side parting your hair but also middle parting your hair
76. Harry Potter
77. F.R.I.E.N.D.S
78. The rise of #hashtags
79. American Idol
80. Dream Life (a video game)
81. Birthday parties at Chuck E. Cheese
82. Climate change
83. Avocado toast
84. Selfie sticks
85. Ombré hair
86. Nobody wants to listen to your opinions because older millennials think you’re too young while the younger generation thinks you’re too old and won’t take your advice
87. Social media comes more naturally, even though you grew up with a flip phone like millennials
88. Being generally open-minded and idealistic, but also stay in-group and loyal to you lifestyle and culture
89. Lives with parents/family; or with a partner; or with roommates; or you're living alone.
90. Receiving Farmville requests from your mom on Facebook
91. Participating in the 2016 voting election
92. Saying that you don't understand TikTok, but you actually do
93. Have the same general cynicism and distrust of institutions that Gen Z touts so proudly… but not teenagers, so we can’t exactly blame it on teen angst.
94. Using the laughing emoji 😂
95. IMVU
96. Gaia Online
97. World of Warcraft
98. The transition from Sim 1 to Sims 2 to Sims 3 (let's not talk about Sims 4)
99. General feeling of being terribly lost and confused, but generally optimistic

And lastly,

100. Being called Gen Z by the millennials, but a millennial by the Gen Zers

Zillennial: Growing up in the transition of Millennials to Gen Z, but being the scapegoat for the cringe of both generations

Honestly, finding a date to divide generations is completely arbitrary. Time is a continuum and our experiences can differ so much regardless of when we are born.

Making this list was kinda fun for me, though. Very Buzzfeed-core. I feel like I should add more. Also this list is very "American". I'm wondering what international Zillennials had in their respective countries. I am very curious.

~ the worst result ever on a "what dog are you based on your lifestyle choices" personality test,

<3 K

#bears #culture #generation #genz #growingup #life #millennial #thoughts #writing