How to Tell if You Are a Millennial

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The millennial generation is one of the 6 main generations still alive today as of 2024. Around 21.7 percent of the United States' population is comprised of people that are millennials. [1] It is called the "millennial" generation because millennials came of age in the 21st century and the 3rd millennium. Millennials are in their late 20s-40s currently. Here are some ways to identify if you are a member of the millennial generation.

Part 1
Part 1 of 3:

Checking Through Facts

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  1. 1
    Know your birth year. People born in the millennial generation were born between the years 1981 and 1996. If you were born between these years, you are a millennial. [2]
    • You could also be in the cusp between Gen X and the millennial generation. These people are called "Xennials" and they are born from 1977 to 1983. [3] These people experienced the 1990s as adolescents.
    • Additionally, you could be in the cusp between millennials and Gen Z. These people are called "Zillennials", and they were born between the mid-90s and the late 90s. [4] [5] They were teens in the late 2000s to early 2010s, which signifies the birth of modern social media and the current digital age.
  2. 2
    Check when you will retire. The average age of retirement is between the late 50s and late 60s, with the US averaging 65 years of age. If you were born between 1981 to 1996, you would retire between the years of 2039 to 2063. [6]
    • Using the U.S's average age of 65, you would retire between the years of 2046 to 2061.
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Part 2
Part 2 of 3:

Checking Through Historical Events

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  1. 1
    Think about how many countries' leaders you remember hearing about. Millennials likely remember world events and local news from the late 1980s to the 2000s in their formative years. This means they likely heard some famous political figures from these decades in their youth. If you remember hearing names such as Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela, Jiang Zemin, John Major in the news in your childhood, you are likely a millennial.
    • If you are on the Gen X-millennial cusp, you may have heard of more 1980s historical figures, such as Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev, George H.W. Bush, and Margaret Thatcher.
    • Additionally, if you are on the millennial-Gen Z cusp, you may have heard of more 2000s politicians, such as George W. Bush, Tony Blair, and Angela Merkel.
Part 3
Part 3 of 3:

Checking Through Shared Experiences

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  1. 1
    Remember the infancy of electronics. Widespread internet and computer use was in its infancy in the early 1990s, but more households started adopting computers throughout the decade. By August 2000, 54 million American households had at least one computer in their home. [7] Computer usage was mainly restricted to one room, designated the "computer room". Computer labs were also slowly established in schools in the 1990s and 2000s. The early internet was primitive, but forums websites and computer games from the 90s and 2000s are very nostalgic to people, especially millennials.
    • Remember Microsoft Encarta. It was a digital encyclopedia made from 1993 to 2009. In the 1990s, it was used on a CD or DVD, but online versions were created in the 2000s. The encyclopedia contained approximately 50,000 articles showcasing summaries about each topic. In the 2000s, Encarta had "Map Treks", which were interactive maps showing geographical features. Literature guides and foreign language translators were also added to Encarta. [8] [9]
    • Recall Windows computer games. Minesweeper and Solitaire were among the popular computer games of the 1990s.
  2. 2
    Remember the early internet. In the 1990s, dial-up internet was used. Instead of broadband internet or WiFi, dial-up internet was used in the 1990s. You would dial a specific phone number from your computer modem in order to connect to the internet. The modem would process the connection by making a beeping noise. [10] [11]
    • Recall early social media websites. In the 2000s, various social media websites were established. LiveJournal was invented in 1999, being one of the first blogging platforms on the internet. MySpace was launched in August 2003. [12] Facebook (launched in 2004) [13] , YouTube [14] and Reddit (launched in 2005) [15] , Twitter (launched in 2006) [16] , and Tumblr (launched in 2007) [17] were other social media sites established in the 2000s.
    • Remember early messaging websites. Instead of Discord, instant messaging on a phone, or Snapchat, there were a whole other series of messaging applications in the 1990s and 2000s. Yahoo and MSN Messenger were used to chat privately with friends.
  3. 3
    Think about the analog technology you used. The 2010s was when digital media rose higher in popularity than analog technology. In the 1990s and 2000s, analog technology was still being used. In the current era, the majority of our entertainment sources are on the internet; videos are watched online and movies are streamed on streaming services. But all of these were analog in the 90s and 2000s.
    • In the 1990s, portable cassette players were used to listen to music. The Sony Walkman was among the first, invented in 1979, but skyrocketed in popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s. [18] CDs were invented in the early 1980s to store digital audio recordings, and the CD Discman was used to play these CDs. r [19] In 2001, Apple created the iPod, which managed to store one thousand songs in only 6.5 ounces of packaging. [20] Music websites used to pirate music were also created (such as Limewire in 2000), allowing people to download songs for free on the internet, with the slight chance of developing a computer virus. [21]
  4. 4
    Recall famous TV shows from the era. Some iconic shows debuted in the 1990s and 2000s. Family sitcoms and coming-of-age shows aimed for adolescents were popular near the start of the millennium. Also, reality TV became a popular television genre in the 2000s. Many of these shows are popular still, such as the iconic 90s sitcom Friends or Desperate Housewives . Additionally, the reality TV genre grew in popularity throughout the 2000s. [22] Some iconic 1990s-2000s TV shows you may have seen include:
    • Twin Peaks (1990-1991)
    • Boy Meets Word (1993-2000)
    • Friends (1994-2004)
    • Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
    • Sex and the City (1998-2004)
    • Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (1999-) [23]
    • Arrested Development (2003-2019) [24]
    • Desperate Housewives (2004-2012)
    • The Office (2005-2013)
  5. 5
    Remember historical events in the news. Think about what historical events you remember happening. Recall important historical events that happened during your childhood. There were many groundbreaking events that happened in the late 1980s-late 1990s, including the fall of the Soviet Union, the Gulf War, and the birth of Dolly the sheep (a cloned mammal). Additionally, the internet was born, allowing everyone to become interconnected. Internet culture developed even further during the 2000s when various social media websites were made. Some events that millennials have lived through include:
    • Sally Ride becoming the first woman to visit space in the Challenger STS-7 shuttle (1983) [25]
    • The explosion of Challenger STS-51L (1986) [26]
    • The fall of the Berlin Wall (1989)
    • The invention of the World Wide Web (1989) [27]
    • The Gulf War (1990-1991) [28]
    • The end of South Africa's apartheid (early 1990s) [29]
    • O.J. Simpson's trial for the murders of his ex-wife and his friend (1995) [30]
    • The birth of Dolly the sheep (1997)
    • Bill Clinton's scandal involving an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky (1998) [31]
  6. 6
    Think about popular movies you saw or heard about. If you saw movie posters for these iconic movies, or if you saw these movies in theaters at the time, you might be a millennial. There were many iconic movies of the 1990s-2000s, with popular actors and actresses starring in them. These included:
    • Dirty Dancing (1987) [32]
    • Home Alone (1990) [33]
    • The Addams Family (1991)
    • Batman Returns (1992)
    • Clueless (1995)
    • Titanic (1997)
    • The Truman Show (1998)
    • The Matrix (1999)
    • The Fast and Furious (2001) [34]
    • Zoolander (2001)
    • The Notebook (2004)
  7. 7
    List how many popular songs from the 1990s-2000s you know. If you listened to music during the 1990s-2000s, you probably know many famous musicians and songs. At the start of the 90s, slow and melodic ballads were popular. It also marked the start of alternative metal and grunge music. [35] Rap was also on its rise, making related subgenres, such as gangsta rap, trap music, and drill also popular. Eurodance and electronic music rose in popularity during the mid-90s. At the end of the millennium, boy bands and girl groups such as *NSYNC, 98 Degrees, and Destiny's Child were very popular. The early 2000s was also a diverse time in music. Music genres such as crunk, nu metal, groove metal, pop, country pop, and trance all coexisted around the same time. Some songs you may have heard as a millennial include:
    • Time After Time, Cyndi Lauper (1984) [36]
    • Eyes Without a Face, Billy Idol (1984)
    • Glory of Love, Peter Cetera (1986) [37]
    • I Want to Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me), Whitney Houston (1987)
    • Never Gonna Give You Up, Rick Astley (1987) [38]
    • Enjoy the Silence, Depeche Mode (1990)
    • Baby Got Back, Sir Mix-a-Lot (1992)
    • Jump, Kriss Kross (1992)
    • Children, Robert Miles (1995)
    • My Heart Will Go On, Celine Dion (1997) [39]
    • ...Baby One More Time, Britney Spears (1998) [40]
    • I Want It That Way, Backstreet Boys (1999)
    • Complicated, Avril Lavigne (2002)
    • Get Busy, Sean Paul (2003)
    • Yeah!, Usher ft. Lil Jon and Ludacris (2004) [41]
  8. 8
    List celebrities or famous figures of the 1990s-2000s you remember. The 1990s and 2000s marked the start of sensational tabloid media. News reporters would exaggerate headlines on newspapers and magazines to sensationalize certain celebrities. [42] You may have heard these people in the news, or by watching their movies or listening to their songs. If you were young in the 1990s-2000s, you may have heard of most of these people. This includes:
    • Actors: Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Tom Hanks, Jodie Foster, Angela Bassett, Nicole Kidman [43] , Kevin Spacey, Samuel L. Jackson, etc.
    • Musicians: Nirvana, Tupac, The Notorious B.I.G, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Snoop Dogg, Jennifer Lopez, the Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, Linkin Park, System of a Down, Britney Spears, Eminem, Coldplay, Beyoncé, Usher, Ashlee Simpson, etc. [44]
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      References

      1. ↑ https://www.statista.com/statistics/296974/us-population-share-by-generation/
      2. ↑ https://www.britannica.com/topic/millennial
      3. ↑ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/12/20/xennials-millennials-generation-x-microgeneration/2369230002/
      4. ↑ https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/10/health/what-are-zillennials-wellness/index.html
      5. ↑ https://nypost.com/2023/05/10/who-are-zillennials-meet-the-microgeneration-between-millennials-and-gen-z/
      6. ↑ https://www.madisontrust.com/information-center/visualizations/average-retirement-age/
      7. ↑ https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2001/demo/p23-207.pdf
      8. ↑ https://archive.org/details/microsoftencartapremiumedition2009
      9. ↑ https://www.britannica.com/topic/Encarta
      1. ↑ https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/glossary/dialup/
      2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDS4B0mM-ew&ab_channel=GamingSoundFX
      3. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/19/business/myspace-user-data.html
      4. ↑ https://www.britannica.com/money/Facebook
      5. ↑ https://www.britannica.com/topic/YouTube
      6. ↑ https://www.britannica.com/money/Reddit
      7. ↑ https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/29/a-brief-history-of-twitter-from-its-founding-in-2006-to-musk-takeover.html
      8. ↑ https://about.tumblr.com/
      9. ↑ https://designmuseum.org/discover-design/all-design-objects/sony-walkman
      10. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discman ?
      11. ↑ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/05/the-music-lives-on/
      12. ↑ https://limewire.com/
      13. ↑ https://www.britannica.com/topic/reality-TV
      14. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?sort=moviemeter&title_type=tv_series&year=1990,1999
      15. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/list/ls000200618/
      16. ↑ https://science.nasa.gov/people/sally-ride/
      17. ↑ https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/year/1986
      18. ↑ https://home.cern/science/computing/birth-web
      19. ↑ https://www.britannica.com/event/Persian-Gulf-War
      20. ↑ https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/south-africa-votes-to-end-apartheid
      21. ↑ https://www.thoughtco.com/1990s-timeline-1779956
      22. ↑ https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/impeachment/clinton-impeachment-and-its-fallout
      23. ↑ https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/year/1987
      24. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/list/ls051041591/
      25. ↑ https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/guide/essential-2000s-movies/
      26. ↑ https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-best-grunge-albums-of-the-90s/
      27. ↑ https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5hnCgJKn1QrbQg75MHIjZP
      28. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbGpJvl-nzk
      29. ↑ https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4F8HDwempz1494fA6orx0v
      30. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUvVaLd_uVI
      31. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAler6zXLxU
      32. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gif0W4BwjCc&ab_channel=Somerandomguy
      33. ↑ https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/2000s-female-celebrities-britney-jade-goody-b1814995.html#:~:text=*%20A%20bodyguard%20for%20Britney%20Spears%20holds,swarmed%20by%20paparazzi%20in%202008%20(Most%20Wanted/Shutterstock)
      34. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/list/ls028820218/
      35. ↑ https://top40weekly.com/top-100-artists-of-the-00s/

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