A lot of people ask why Generation Jones insists on being its own thing.
After all, we’re usually lumped in with the Boomers.
The answer is simple.
We may have been born during the Baby Boom, but we did not have the same formative experiences as the older Boomers, and we did not have the same upbringing as Gen X.
We were the bridge generation.
The oldest Boomers remember where they were when President Kennedy was assassinated. Many of us do not. Kennedy was buried on my first birthday.
They were old enough to remember the optimism of the early 1960s, the moon landing as teenagers, and the cultural revolutions as participants.
Most of us arrived too late for that.
Likewise, Gen X grew up with personal computers, video games, cable television, and a world that was already becoming digital.
We didn’t.
Generation Jones grew up in a world that was almost entirely analog.
We used rotary phones.
We looked things up in encyclopedias.
We learned the Dewey Decimal System.
We used card catalogs.
We balanced checkbooks by hand.
If you wanted directions, you unfolded a map.
If you wanted to know something, you went to the library.
If you missed your favorite television show, you missed it.
There was no streaming service waiting for you.
But unlike previous generations, we didn’t stay there.
We had to adapt.
We watched computers move from climate controlled rooms into offices and homes.
We learned on mainframes and Wang systems.
We used Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect.
We fed giant floppy disks into computers that had less computing power than today’s coffee maker.
We learned email.
Then the internet.
Then cell phones.
Then smartphones.
Then social media.
And now artificial intelligence.
Most generations learn one world.
Generation Jones learned several.
That’s what makes us different.
We are one of the last generations that remembers life before digital technology became part of every waking moment, but we were young enough to adapt and thrive as it arrived.
We didn’t just witness the technological revolution.
We had to reinvent ourselves to keep up with it.
Every decade brought another transformation.
Every decade required new skills.
Every decade demanded adaptation.
Perhaps that’s why so many Generation Jones people are independent, resilient, and skeptical of anyone claiming the world has always been the way it is now.
We know better.
We’ve lived through too many versions of it.
Generation Jones isn’t defined by what we were born into.
We’re defined by everything we had to learn along the way.
On this, the third anniversary of Dad's death, I quoted one of his frequent expressions. Miss you, Dad. From online: It looks like you are trying to say "che cazzo," a very common and vulgar Italian slang phrase that translates to "what the fuck?" or "what the hell?"
Turns out my Roman Empire was taking the subway today 🏛️🚇😂
I spotted these Roman centurions riding the train through Manhattan and had to follow them.
Turns out they were heading to celebrate the first-ever National Pinsa Day, bringing a taste of Rome to NYC 🍕🇮🇹
Only in New York