Generation Jones - Growing Up in the 60s and 70s

Born in 1966, for years I considered myself lost - a woman without a generation to claim as her own.

One day I learn of Generation Jones and proclaim, "Hey, that's me!" Yet there is a minor problem. My birth date is off by a year, technically months. As a whole generation lingers it seems like a valid time to ignore age requirements, unlike in my teens.

With Boomer parents and decidedly cynical Gen X siblings, the cultural influences, global attitudes, and motivational differences are easy to see - as are the variations in wrinkles, incidentally.

So, Generation Jones may offer an identity to the lost children of the 60s who have largely ridden Boomers' coat tails, until now.

What is Generation Jones?

The short and informal description of Generation Jones, originally penned by historian Jonathan Pontell, proclaims that people born between 1954 and 1965 make up this distinct generation.

A formidable 25 percent of the population, Generation Jones is now of particular import to politicians and advertisers.

The term "Jones" bares several meanings. According to the Generation Jones web site, "Jones" symbolizes moderation between the "personality extremes of the Boomers' idealism and the Xers' cynicism." Additionally:

Generation Jones yearns for or deeply craves (slang term: Jonesin') a better life, having many unrealized expectations.

Jones, like Doe, is anonymous. This lost generation was passed over by society as the focus leapt from Boomer to Gen X'ers.

Jones represents mainstream - moderate viewpoints and realism are common to Generation Jones.

Growing Up as Generation Jones

We, as I claim my new generation, were the first to embrace and financially support the Internet. In fact, we invented it. Yes, Al Gore is a Generation Jones'er, so is Bill Gates and Steve Job. (Vinton Gray Cerf, a founding father of the technology, however, is a Baby Boomer.)

Long before the Internet revolution, children of the 60s shared a unique culture growing up, some common experiences include:

-- Watergate interrupted our favorite television shows.

-- School was generally a safe place, though Generation Jones students were among the first to experience the folly and furor over desegregation busing.

-- Pong was the first video game we played and perhaps largely responsible for our technological bent.

-- We remember a quality life before remote control, microwaves, cordless phones, and cable TV. Jiffy Pop Popcorn, on the other hand, was once considered one of the greatest inventions of all time. Landing on the moon, however, may escape our memory.

-- Parents fretted about the 1973 Oil Crisis, the 1979 Energy Crisis, and Iran.

-- Nuclear war with the Soviet Union was a quizzical and looming threat and the Russians were evil.

-- Disco: Love or hate it, Saturday Night Live, the Bee Gees, and silver globes overtook our paisley world. Sparkles and cocaine, rather than LSD, made people more sophisticated and knowing, somehow.

-- The words inflation and recession were part of our early vocabulary.

-- Bras, or lack of them, were more than a fashion statement.

-- Ronald Reagan was an arguably great president, though big hair, cool music, and a wallet full of credit cards made the 80s great. Then, the bills arrived, including the federal deficit.

-- We bought, or desperately wanted, the new Sony Walkman and paid close to $100 for it. (So, unlike our parents, we can justify the price of tech entertainment, such as the price of X-Box games).

-- MTV was PG and parents were glad to see teens occupied, until they witnessed Adam Ant.

-- Parents would have no more indulged us 10-year-olds with a cell phone (had they been available) then they would have a sports car.

-- Forgotten influences include Mary Hartman, Adelle Davis, Erma Bombeck, Rona Barrett, and Masters and Johnson.

-- Shows like All in the Family, Sony and Cher, Love American Style, and Laugh-In entertained us -- representing the humorous and not so humorous undercurrents of society.

-- "Please," "Thank You," and "I'm Sorry," remained building blocks of proper etiquette.

Optional Generation Jones Characteristics:

-- You love the Beatles and you don't know why.

-- You hate the Beatles and you don't know why.

-- Forrest Gump fills in the fragmented memory gaps of childhood.

Differences among Generation Jones

A wealth of additional commonalties exist as do some major differences. Some children of the 60s remember Kennedy's or Martin Luther King's assassination while others' first memorable celebrity trauma was the death of Elvis.

Some will have fought in the closing years of the Vietnam War, and others will have served with distinction in the Gulf War. Though the majority of Generation Jones were not compelled to military service.

As a whole Generation Jones maintains optimism that Generation X, perhaps somewhat rightly, lacks; and the disappointment that Baby Boomers do not quite understand.

Generation X didn't receive promises of a better life, so why try. Boomers, on the other hand, both expected and received. Generation Jones rode on the lingering promises given to the Boomers and then a new world order came as did sizable disappointment.

The Future of Generation Jones

It's difficult to say whether the term Generation Jones will stick for this group of 54 million individuals, but it garners modest media attention and support.

A curious thing about the Generation Jones web site is that it hasn't been conspicuously updated since 2001, though it is now under construction.

Maybe the state of the web site, beyond procrastination, best represents our generation overall, whatever the term: review, disappointment, revision, and, eventually, hope for improvement - the ultimate goal.

What defines childhood, your generation, for you?

For more on Generation Jones, see the author's video on BoomJ - a social network designed for Generation Jones.