By ESTEFANÍA ESTEBAN (Journalist Telemadrid)
The 'postwar children' or silent generation: from 1930 to 1948.
Survivors in a time in which they experienced real hardships (especially hunger and shortages of raw materials) and lived the consequences of a First and the Second World War. Great workers, austere, self-sacrificing and very realistic. There wasn't much room 'to dream'. Without contact with new technologies, they observe the dizzying change in society somewhat displeased.
How are they?
Fighters
Sacrificed
Austere
Persevering
Realistic
Nostalgic
Some popular movies:
It’s a wonderful life
Bring it up baby
Casablanca
Gone with the wind
The wizard of Oz.
Video games - chess simulation called Turochamp invented by Alan Turing and David Champernowne.
The 'Baby Boomers': from 1949 to 1968.
Hardworking and with solid principles and values, the 'baby boomers' contemplate (sometimes, with a certain astonishment), how the new generation forgets to stop from time to time and be happy without doing anything, immersed as they are in an excess of tasks and an 'overdose' of information.
How are they?
Workers
Sacrificed
With very solid values
Generous
Nostalgic
Some popular movies:
Casino Royale
Cleopatra
The pink panther
A shot in the dark
Pretty baby
Video games - Arcade
Generation X – born 1965-1980.
Welcome to one of the 'golden ages' of society (as they say themselves). The best music, the openness to greater freedom... 'Generation X' took freedom as their flag and experimented with everything possible. They made 'Carpe Diem' their own but without forgetting the priority: work (but on what they really wanted) and yes... achieve success! You can say that it really is a generation obsessed with getting a good place at work. Free as the wind, they were the first 'devourers' of cinema and television. The 'hippies' of an era of global openness. They experienced great technological advances and began to 'flirt' with the first video games and computers. The future was about to arrive and they felt like protagonists of this change.
How are they?
Emotional creative.
Dreamers.
Fighters.
Very good at working as a team.
Passionate about the future.
Obsessed with success.
They are the ones that best adapt to changes.
Some popular movies:
Breakfast Club
Kids
Clerks
Reality Bites
Singles
Video games -
7 Super Mario Bros. (1983) ...
6 Ghosts N' Goblins (1985) ...
5 Asteroids (1979) ...
4 The Legend Of Zelda (1986) ...
3 Castle Wolfenstein (1981) ...
2 Hero's Quest (1989) ...
1 Final Fantasy (1987)
Millennials – born 1981-1993.
Also known as the 'nini generation'. Suddenly the great advances created confusion, a certain chaos. Their parents (the 'Baby Boomers') wanted to give their children everything that they could not enjoy themselves. That's why they were granted everything. The problem? They thought life was simpler...until they faced it. And they had to live through a very difficult time: the great economic crisis of the late 20th century. They are also known as 'Generation Y', they are between 29 and 41 years old and yes, among 'their ranks', there are many frustrations and broken dreams. They had to wait a long time to be emancipated, and some emigrated and looked for work in other places.
How are they?
The great frustrated (and rebels).
Lovers of Globalization, they consider themselves citizens of the world.
Interested in protecting the planet.
Many of them, obsessed with healthy eating.
Challengers to established norms.
Self-taught and autonomous. They find it difficult to work as a team.
Some popular movies:
Superbad
The Millenial
Twilight
The Blair Witch Project
Clueless
Video games - Millennials Spend More Time Playing Video Games Than Gen Z and Teens, New
Study Finds. Millennial also preferences in playing games tend to be more challenge and skill oriented. They like games that require a lot of strategy and focus, such as role-playing games (RPGs) and strategy games.
Generation Z – born 1995-2010.
They are the so-called 'Centennials'. The first natives of the new 21st century. Without a doubt, the most irreverent. Passionate about social networks, they devour all the information that comes to them digitally. Now they are between 12 and 26 years old (between 10 and 24 years old, according to the OECD), so the vast majority are teenagers or have just entered the world of work. Overexposed to so much news, often unable to distinguish reality from fiction, it is a generation with problems developing critical sense, delving into abstract thinking and dedicating a few minutes to 'doing nothing'. They are impatient to the highest level. They want everything at the moment, because new technologies offer them all the information instantly. They think it can be extrapolated to their desires. Half of Generation Z youth receive treatment for mental health problems. They enjoy a type of humor that only they understand... as if it were a generational 'hieroglyph'. Because they even have their own 'vocabulary'.
How are they?
Social media addicts.
Standard bearers of diversity and globalization.
They use 'generational' humor and vocabulary.
Activists.
Obsessed with external perfection.
Impatients.
Fervent followers of Instagramers and Youtubers.
Some popular movies:
The boys in the boat
American fiction
Migration
The holdovers
The iron claw
Video games -
Poptrica
Wizard 101
Club Penguin
Generation Zero
Fortnite
Social media is a huge trend for this generation. Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok are, by far, the most frequently used platforms. One-quarter of Gen Zers spend five hours or more per day on TikTok.
Gen Alpha – born 2011 – 2025.
Hyperactive, overwhelmed by external stimuli, they are capable, of course, of playing while watching videos on YouTube and having a snack, responding to a message on social networks or WhatsApp and doing their homework. Video consumers through platforms that their grandparents, the 'Post-War Children', don't even understand. They handle social networks, mobile phones and tablets like no other. Television? Many never use it. Their way of consuming information goes through other means. Therefore, they are more exposed to the dangers of misinformation and abuse via the internet. They are 'very mature' children for their age, perhaps because they consume content that other generations were not able to access so early. And let's not forget their added 'plus': they are the 'Covid' children. They have grown apart, respecting isolation rules that will surely mark them when they grow up.
How are they?
Hyperactive.
Impatient.
The first generation of 'virtual reality’.
Less emotional.
They have fewer 'real' friends and more 'virtual' ones.
Followers and consumers of online entertainment and information channels and platforms.
It is the 'Covid' generation.
Some popular movies (chosen mostly by their parents):
Video games (chosen mostly by their parents) -
Minecraft
Roblox
Fortnite
A ten-year-old YouTuber, with a subscriber count running in the tens of millions, recently created an interactive world for his fans to hang out in on Roblox. If you want clues into what makes Gen Alpha unique, that’s not a bad place to start.
More than any other generation, Gen Alphas are reimagining what’s traditionally done in video games by using them as social hangouts and launchpads for learning.
If millennials had Facebook, and Gen Z have TikTok, we can call Alphas the Minecraft or Roblox generation after the popular sandbox games, which are having a powerful influence on their ideas, behaviors, and future plans.
If you want to understand what Gen Alpha will be like as fully-fledged consumers, you’ll need to know the platforms they’re using right now. Companies that grasp their gaming motivations and habits are best-placed to win them over, and to stand out in the years ahead. The next generation already has a name. It will be 'Beta'. There is still no data on the exact date of its beginning and characteristics.
It’s important to understand that all generations habits and behavior are a result of prior ones and the way parents allow kids to be diluted in the vast sea of video interaction will determine if their characteristics as well as their behavior are capable of leading human kind to evolve to their highest potential for all or it will sink into the abysses of involution.
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