Generation Jones slunk into my consciousness a few years ago. It’s a subgroup of the Boomers, and I definitely consider myself a Jones-er. So what are the characteristics of Generation Jones and why do I feel that way?
What Is Generation Jones?
Wikipedia tells me that Generation Jones people were born between 1954 and 1964. I think it’s more like 1958-1964…
Anyhow, we had distinctly different life experiences to the “early Boomers.” Our parents usually weren’t WWII vets (or we were the youngest of the kids born to those vets.) We didn’t have mandatory military draft, either. We did start life with a booming national economy. But that crumbled as we hit our teens and twenties.
The term “Generation Jones” was coined by Jonathan Pontell in 2011 in a USA Today article. Here is the older, original website, and the current website that’s been live since 2020. Research on the contemporary site suggests that Jonesers are our own Generation, and not just a subset or cohort of Boomers. I’m no boomer, that’s for sure.
Generation Jones is around 25% of the US population.
Why Jones?
We grew up in a time when the phrase, “keeping up with the Jones’s” was popular. It suggests a longing for something you can’t afford and really want. To ‘jones” for something is to crave that thing – whatever that thing may be.
Generation Jones Experiences
Experience is the biggest thing that sets Generation Jones apart from the Boomers – and from Gen X, too.
- High School in the very late 60s and throughout the 70s
- College in the late 70s and early 80s.
- Have never lived in a world without television.
Here’s a video showing a typical school day at Andover High School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1977 – peak Generation Jones time.
I Am Not A Boomer
Unlike Boomers, we probably don’t remember where we were when JFK was shot or when the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan. We didn’t go to Woodstock or protest Vietnam. Instead, we had these things.
- Pong and the birth of PCs.
- Star Wars, ET, Indiana Jones, Animal House, Grease.
- Watergate, the oil crisis, stagflation & recession.
- Big feathery hair like Farrah Fawcett.
- The Brady Bunch and the Partridge Family.
- The first latch key kids, home alone while both parents worked.
- Can drive a stick shift and build a database.
- More punk, less Beatles.
By the time I got into the workforce after college, it seemed like all the jobs were already taken. Some of that was me, and some of it was those ‘early’ Boomers ahead of me. There were just a lot of people working who were just a little older than me with just that much extra experience. It made it hard to find work that made sense for me.
(Of course, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Or, I thought I knew, but I really didn’t so I floundered for a long time. Eventually I stumbled into the job I currently have. There were long spans of time with little or no health insurance, and I’ve never worked a job that offered anything remotely close to a pension.)
To this end, user KathySRW said on TikTok, “Always arriving slightly too late for the party. Schools closing for low enrollment. No prep for high tech jobs. Now full retirement just out of reach.” I’d further suggest that we’re the first generation in a long time to have less than our parents.
More Quintessential Generation Jones
Born in 1953, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty are Boomers. But their music and lyrics with downtrodden characters who always have hope for a better tomorrow spoke to Generation Jones. We longed for the economic success we experienced in early life.
We watched Laverne and Shirley, All in the Family, Happy Days, MAS*H, The Waltons, Sanford and Son, Starsky & Hutch, Welcome Back Kotter. We probably know who shot JR, and crowded around the TV to watch Luke and Laura get married.
A Generation Joneser probably couldn’t stand Lawrence Welk but were forced to watch it anyway because there was only one TV in your house. In the US, you probably clapped for the Wolfman and watched the Midnight Special.
We mostly survived these:
Are You Generation Jones?
Have you ever heard about Generation Jones? Here are a few more resources.
- Generation Jones Reddit
- New York Post article
- Forbes article.
- One New York Times article. And another. These two articles may be behind pay walls 🙁
- The Wrinkle on Substack explains Generation Jones.
- This podcast looks interesting: Creative Conversations with Generations Jones
