Why Gen X is the real loser generation
'We suffer', said Seneca, 'more often in imagination than in reality'. The Stoic philosopher could have been talking about the generations. Members of Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012, say that social media ruined their childhood. Millennials, between 1981 and 1996, complain that they cannot buy a house. Baby Boomers, between 1946 and 1964, grouse that they face an uncertain retirement.
Many forget about Generation X, which is made up of those born between 1965 and 1980. Proxied by Google searches the world is less than half as interested in Gen X as it is in Millennials, Gen Zers or Baby Boomers.
There are few podcasts or memes about Gen X. Aside from Douglas Coupland's Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, a novel published in 1991 which popularised the moniker, there are few books discussing the cohort. In Britain, Gen Xers are less likely than members of any other age group to know the generation to which they belong.
Gen Xers may have no place in the popular imagination but, contrary to Seneca, they really do suffer. This is true both because Gen Xers are at a tricky age, and also because the cohort itself is cursed.
A recent 30-country poll by Ipsos finds that 31 per cent of Gen Xers say they are 'not very happy' or 'not happy at all', the most of any generation. David Blanchflower of Dartmouth College finds all sorts of nasty things, from unhappiness to anxiety to despair, top out around the age of 50.
This is consistent with the 'U-bend of life' theory, which suggests that people are happy when young and old, but miserable in middle age. Baby Boomers went through it; before long millennials will, too.
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The U-bend exists in part because chronic health issues start to emerge in middle age. People also come to realise they will not achieve everything they had hoped in their careers. On top of this, Gen Xers often have to look after both their children and their parents.
In America, they devote 5 per cent of their spending to caring for people under 18 or over 65, against just 2 per cent for boomers. In Italy, the share of 18-to-34-year-olds living with their parents has increased from 61 per cent to 68 per cent over the past two decades. In Spain, the rise is even more dramatic. To which generation do many of these parents belong? Gen X.
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