As we grew up, we learnt how to thumb-type on phones and replaced our scratched Compact Discs with Spotify playlists. We embraced Facebook in the late 2000s, but now, we have mostly migrated to Instagram to feel less obsolete.
We are also always learning new vocabulary. In the old days, we did not use today’s lexicon like “toxic” or “mental health wellness”, but that did not mean we did not fight against bad bosses and stifling office culture. We began pushing for work-from-home policies and work-life balance.
Now, as people live longer and AI reshapes the workforce, we must figure out the current phase of being the “sandwich generation” (yet another label!) where we provide for both aging parents and growing children.
But guess what, we will simply deal with this problem, just like the ones that came before.
Gen Xers’ economic troubles are nothing to sniff at – I have over a dozen friends who have been laid off in the past few years. Yet, I have observed how these friends have gotten up and reinvented themselves.
And from our vantage point, we can see that every generation before and after us has their own unique set of challenges. The Boomers risk getting left behind by technological shifts. Gen Z is entering the workforce as the global order is shifting and climate change is getting worse.
With one foot in the past and another in the future, many Gen Xers who are now in leadership, coaching and parenting roles can show others how to “keep calm and carry on”.
Even if we are forgotten, know that we are not finished.
Ian Yong Hoe Tan is a strategic communication lecturer at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University. He has more than two decades of experience working in the media and technology industries. He was born in 1976, making him a young Gen Xer.
