u/MorphTiger

I live in the LA area, and honestly, I almost never hear people talk about this topic in real life. The only person I know who cares about it that much is my friend, who spends a lot of time on social media and really doesn’t want to be considered Gen Z. He was born right on the border years (1997-1999).

But if this topic ever explodes in popularity and turns into a normal part of everyday life, where people check your ID to see whether you belong to a Gen Z workplace or a Millennial workplace, or whether you fit into a Gen Z club vs. a Millennial club, then I could actually see birth year changes becoming a real thing someday. Especially if society starts treating birth-year cutoffs (like 1996) more seriously than age restrictions such as 21+.

Age changes over time, but your birth year is permanent. That’s why I find this topic interesting. Some countries already allow people to legally change their birth year under certain circumstances. At this point, I’d probably change mine to 1996 since that year gets treated like "the last of the kings" on Reddit and social media in general.

Both online and in real life, I come across "decade generations" all the time. 90s babies, 2000s babies, 80s babies, and so on. Sometimes..., they honestly seem even more common than generations like Gen Z or Millennials.

It’s especially common on social media. I’d actually be surprised if someone hasn’t seen posts like: “Only 80s/90s/2000s babies remember this” or “Only X babies grew up with these things”. Those posts are everywhere.

I also know people in real life who identify more with decade groups than official generations. For example, I know people born in 1995 and 1998 who mainly identify as 90s babies. Likewise, I know people born in 2004 and 2005 who identify as 2000s babies.

As an Armenian living in the LA area, I've had the chance to interact with both Georgians and Levantines (mostly Christian or non-religious), and I've noticed that I share far more cultural similarities with Levantines than with Georgians. Food, so on. I'd even say Levantines tend to resemble Armenians more closely in appearance (e.g. Salma Hayek), whereas Georgians look more like other Caucasus groups such as Circassians.

I'm curious whether there's a genetic basis for this.

Starting next year, Gen Z (born 1995-2009) will be adults. In fact, many members of Gen Z are already well into their 30s according to the demographer Mark McCrindle. Meanwhile, Gen Alpha (born 2010-2024) will start becoming adults in just a couple of years. Even celebrities like Timothée Chalamet are already 30 and turning 31 this year.

This is crazy, and I don't know what the future will look like 10 years from now. Will humans change as the birth years change? For better or for worse? We'll see.