As Google turns 25 this week, let us pause to consider how VASTLY different our lives are from this site/tool/service/company, that is if you’re old enough to know The Time Before.
And let us consider that while your brain–and society-wants you to think of Gen Xers as a small, do-little generation, it’s important to remember how each generation impacts society in different eras.
In its young adult and midlife years in particular, Gen Xers (the Nomad archetype) put significant societal energy into technology, business efficiency, cutting out the middle man, focusing on the bottom line, cutting out unnecessary steps and expenses, and focusing on the physical needs of people, and the survival of the nation. (That latter part is coming. Oh, my dear, Xers, you are the lynchpin by which Society and the nation make it through the coming crisis years–peaking around 2028 and resolving around 2032, per Neil Howe.) But I digress..
Think about it. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin are both 50 this year and both mid-point Xers.
imagine your life without google
Yeah, that’s Xer energy to the nth degree there. Google, large and omnipresent as it is, is but one of many, many Xer-created contributions that go unacknowledged yet vastly impact the *comfort and ease* of your lives. Imagine life without all the quality-of-life, technology, ease and function improvements, companies, services and support made possible mostly by Xers.
Ebay
Paypal
Zoom
AirBnB
Amazon
Salesforce
Tesla etc
Shopify
WhatsApp and more
real-life effect matters for xers
Xers don’t orient toward speeches or rhetoric. Nor toward philosophy or the discussion of the spiritual.
They orient toward what matters, on the ground, real world. tangible, things.
Nor do they move as quickly or easily into national politics as other generations do, preferring local politics if any politics… you know, where they can actually make a difference.
So, while various articles and blogs and TikTok Whomevers are blathering on about the media-creation of Gen Z and the yahoo-yippee-ay wonders of Millennial Magnficience, let us ponder for a moment our lives.
I can tell ya, your life wouldn’t be a FRACTION as easy as it is now in terms of services, technology, efficiency and business functionality if it weren’t for the 88 million or so U.S. Xers who have done what they’ve done to make a buck and make the world suck less.
You’re welcome.
