The Retirement Newsletter: I am not a Baby Boomer?
Issue Number: -91 — If I am not a baby boomer, then what am I? And, does it matter what I am?
Welcome
Welcome to issue number -91.
Well, I had a bit of a shock last week. I am not what I thought I was — a Baby Boomer. I am something else. But what? And does it matter?
Talking about my generation
Or, as The Who put it:
“talkin' 'bout my generation”
I have never been too fussed about the generation idea, and I knew (thought) I was a Baby Boomer but didn’t understand what that meant. Plus, I had no idea about Gen X, Millennials etc. Or whether being called a ‘Boomer’ was an insult or not.
Then, the other week I was chatting with a friend, and she said I wasn’t a Boomer but a Jones. That confused me, so I thought I had better start looking things up.
The first thing I looked at was the number of births in the UK. Why? Well, it seemed to be a good place to start. It turns out it wasn’t; the data is not available. Or if it is, I couldn’t find it. So, I settled for the data for England and Wales, which I found on the Office for National Statistics website — the data.
A quick plot of the data and:
Two things immediately struck me about the graph. First, the total number of births in England and Wales has not increased since 1938, yet the population has increased. That is, the birth rate is falling. Women are having less children. Second, there are some natural peaks and troughs in the numbers.
But where do the ‘generations’ come in?
Well, it turns out the whole generation thing is a Western concept, and, according to Wikipedia, a rough breakdown is as follows:
The Lost Generation — 1883 to 1900 — so-called because of the First World War. This generation would have been between 14 and 30 at the start of the war and thus likely to have served. The generation represents a 17-year spread.
The Greatest Generation — 1901 to 1927 — this generation would have generally been too young to serve in the First World War or not have been born. They would have likely served in the Second World War. The Greatest Generation shows a 26-year spread.
The Silent Generation — 1928 to 1945 — unlikely to have been involved in the Second World War, as they were either too young or born during the war. The generation represents a 17-year spread.
Baby Boomers — 1946 to 1964 — the Baby Boomers were so-called because of the increased birthrate after the Second World War. This is the group to which I thought I belonged, but apparently not. Interestingly, the peak number of births for the Boomers was 1964 — the same year that the BBC started broadcasting Match of the Day (a television programme about football (soccer)) on Saturday nights in the UK. Coincidence? The Boomers spanned 18 years.
Generation X — 1965 to 1980 — this ‘generation’ spans 25 years.
Millennials, also called Generation Y — 1981 and 1996 — a 15-year span.
Generation Z — 1997 to 2012 — 15-year span.
Generation Alpha — 2013 to present day. As each preceding ‘generation’ has spanned 15 to 26 years, this generation will finish between 2027 and 2039.
So, how does this fit on the graph? Any pattern?
Nope… Nothing. (But I did enjoy plotting the graphs).
So, if I am not a Boomer, then what am I? Well, I’m a Jones.
Meet the Jones
According to Wikipedia — Generation Jones are those born between 1956 and 1964. The generation name is derived from "keeping up with the Joneses”.
On the graph, that would be:
The Jones Generation are the Yuppies from the 1980s. All big jobs, big money and big phones — and awful fashion. And the Joneses split the Boomers, in England and Wales, in two:
Generation Jones were children in the 1960s. Full of hope and moon landings. We were promised flying cars and colonies on the moon. And what did we get? The oil crisis, Watergate, industrial unrest, terrorism, and schooling and training for a world of work that would soon no longer exist thanks to semiconductors and the Internet.
Don’t get me wrong; I am not complaining about where we are now. I like the Internet and semiconductors, but we could have done with a lot less of the awful stuff along the way, and the last few years (and the current year) aren’t doing us any favours.
On top of all that, when I started at school, it was all Imperial measurements — pounds (£ or l), shilling (s or /-) and pence (d) with 20 shillings to the pound, 12 pennies to the shilling, so 240 pennies to the pound. We had feet and inches (12 inches (ca. 30 cm) to one foot) and pints and gallons. We switched to metric — 100 pennies in the pound, litres, and meters halfway through school. It made life easier, but it was very confusing.
So, Generation Jones. What does this all mean? Well, pretty much nothing. The Generations and I think Generation Jones in particular, are cynical marketing ploys to lazily pigeon-hole people and sell us more stuff we don’t need.
But all of this is fun to look at and think about.
Mindful Moment
Wow! I am not sure where the above came from. Towards the end, it got pretty ranty!
So, to calm me down and make me think some pleasant thoughts, here are some photographs I took this last week of Bluebells in the local woods.
Spring is a great time to get out and explore the local countryside. Over the last couple of weeks, I have had some great walks through the local woods and fields, enjoying the delights of spring. All of which are great for my mental health.
Useful links
Some useful UK mental health links:
Samaritans phone 116 123 — https://www.samaritans.org
No Panic (anxiety) 0844 967 4848 — http://www.nopanic.org.uk/
Non-Emergency NHS Helpline: 111 — https://www.nhs.uk
Mind — Side by Side — https://sidebyside.mind.org.uk
Online mental wellbeing community — https://www.kooth.com
SAM App — Anxiety Management — https://sam-app.org.uk
Smiling Mind — Mindfulness App — https://www.smilingmind.com.au/smiling-mind-app
Symptoms of dementia —https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/dementia/symptoms/
Next week
Next week, in issue -90, I will look at what might be the start of my old age pill push and realise, for me, it started more than 30 years ago.
Thanks
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Until next time,
Nick
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