If you were playing a word association game, whenever you’d hear, “Generation X,” the word, “slackers,” would likely follow.
Ah, but not any more.
According to a new study, Gen-Xers — those 84 million Americans between 30 and 50 — aren’t the detached, aloof, melancholic bunch we’ve been labeled as. We’re actually technologically savvy, active, balanced and — get this — happy.
In “The Generation X Report,” a research report from the University of Michigan’s Longitudinal Study of American Youth, this generation — born between 1961 and 1981 — are defying the stereotypes.
For example, Generation X devotes more hours to work than average and pursues continuing education, compared to all U.S. adults. A whopping 86 percent are employed and devote at least 40 hours a week to work. And half of all Gen-Xers have completed a post-secondary degree.
That myth that we’re hopelessly single and pessimistic about marriage? Turns out a higher percentage of Gen-Xers stay married than Baby Boomers — I know! — two-thirds are married and 71 percent reported having children in their homes. The vast majority — 83 percent – say finding the right person to marry and having a happy family life is very important.
And my misunderstood generation isn’t made up of existential isolationists. After all, we are the “Friends” generation. We are social, networked and active in our communities. Two-thirds are happy with their jobs. And on a scale of 1 to 10, the median happiness score was 8. (Read more at CNN.com)
Yeah, but I knew this.
I knew were weren’t slackers.
We were part of the Yuppie movement. We’re creative in very deceptive ways. We are part of the generation that founded, defined and evolved the Internet. We used email first. We pirated movies. We traded music online illegally.
We weren’t a bunch of slackers. We just dressed like it.