The whole Baby Boomer/Generation X/Generation Doofus nomenclature has always struck me as just a marketing tool, especially since so many people seem to be barely left out of categorization. My parents, born in 1944 and 1945, missed inclusion in the Baby Boom (beginning in 1946). I was born in 1974, and it was unclear for quite a while whether I fit into Generation X or not. Now generation labels are thrown around all over the place.

Here’s an interesting test to determine your generation based on technology usage rather than date of birth–it makes more sense to group avid Wii-players together than just people born between Year A and Year B. As an example, I was at Ikea a few weeks ago and was mystified by a teenage girl who, while examining fabric samples and talking to her mother, was furiously writing text messages (“texting,” as the kids say) on her phone at a remarkable rate. It seemed like super-human multitasking.

Apparently, though, I fall on the high end of tech savviness, as the quiz puts me firmly in Generation Y (18 points!). Chronologically, I’m near the end of Generation X, though.

I wore through a Nirvana cassette in high school and once broke a closet rod because of all the plaid flannel shirts I owned–that must merit inclusion in Generation X, right? Plus, I think a great many recent technological advances are stupid (HD television, mostly–a topic I’ll expound upon in a later post.) I feel more Generation X than Y (although I never participated in a mosh pit), so maybe I’ll just split the difference and say I’m part of Generation X.5.

Join us. We have coffee.