Thread by @GabriellaCKelly

I use the term Xennial a lot. It’s a term for the microgeneration between Gen-X & Millenial. I grew up w/ out a phone, mailing letters, renting VHS tapes AND also the VCR. But in my teens/early adulthood we got the internet, AOL, cell phones. Analog childhood/Digital adulthood.

I also grew up in a rural place that lacked technology that was more common in the cities. If we wanted to watch MTV, we’d have to ask a friend who lived in town to video tape it & physically pick it up, because we couldn’t get cable. We got a house phone when I was in 2nd grade.

I had pen pals & walked letters to the 1 store in my village to mail them. We had to ask the store clerk to check “our box” & he would flip through all the mail & separate them from my other family members’ before handing it over. “Are you picking up your grandma’s?” ::nods head:

I learned how to type in school. We had computer classes & played Oregon Trail, typing/math games. I still use the MS-Dos computer “shortcuts” that were just standard before we had mouses. I remember being blown away when my teacher got a mouse. I remember MS-Paint being amazing.

I learned the Dewey Decimal system in elementary school, knew how to look for and find a book (fingers crossed it wasn’t checked out). I moved to town in HS. It was still acceptable to turn in a handwritten paper, book sources required cause they were the ONLY sources available.

Learned how to use search engines in library classes in high school. Googleplex was my fav because it showed you O’s for each page of results. T1-83s were required for math. We sneakily installed Tetris/Snake games on them when teachers weren’t looking. Sometimes passed notes.

We were literally taught how to narrow down searches and how to determine a credible website from just a blog. My husband and I saw each other at school, but confessed our real feelings through AOL Instant messenger. I had a MySpace page. I made a FB in college but didn’t get it.

When I was really young Some of the cars we drove around in still had 8-Track. But then we had cassette tapes & sometimes we recorded the radio. But mostly just listened to the radio. In HS we started making the shift to CDs, burning CD’s/Napster & MP3 players were rarer.

I didn’t have my first cell phone until I was 20. I was already a mom, my car kept breaking down, we HAD to finally invest. I rolled my eyes the first time someone told me about texting. “That’s so stupid. It’ll take longer than just calling them. What’s the point?” I had T9 cell

I remember using real maps, the yellow pages, dialing 411 & stopping at gas stations to find locations. I remember the first time I used Mapquest and thinking it was amazing. I wrote down turn by turn directions. When I talk about ppl needing directions I still say “mapquest it”

I’m definitely not a millenial, but I’m not a Gen-Xer either. Xennial is the perfect in between. I love feeling comfortable with technology, but I also love knowing how amazing it is because I remember what we did before we had it. I definitely don’t take it for granted.

Yes, I know there will be people older than me who’ve mastered technology more than me, & those younger who still struggle with it. But my experience is pretty typical for people born in the late 70’s to mid 1980’s. We’re called Xennials or Elder Millenials.
#XennialElected