>

I kinda have the problem that I grew up in Germany, on the country side. Due to this, a lot of media & games, but stuff in general that got here & was done around always had some form of cultural delay. So even though I was born in 2002, I only can identify with the millenial experience and not the zoomer experience.
Hence, I can't really call myself Gen z and generally don't. Doesn't matter what other peeps say
1996-1998 are zillenials. They don’t really fit into either.
Also using TikTok does not make someone fit into a generation. There are plenty of 50 years old on tiktok. >

I feel like Zenillels could even go down to 92, that whole cohort are really between true millennials and gen z >

I tend to agree with you. I've always viewed the change in generation being based on the internet going mainstream and adoption of certain technology. Being born in like 94, for example, by the time you really start to remember, you have a decent amount of exposure to computers and internet. If you grew up before it dominated a large part of your childhood I feel like your a millenial for sure, and being born in 90 im very much the tail end of that cause i saw the change just with my fruends younger siblings. I distinctly remember computers and the internet really getting introduced to us when we were in late elementary early middle school so we had a large part of our childhood where computers/internet just didn't play a part. Sort of the last era of independence with playing outside and be home when the streetlights turn on mentality. I think AIM went big when I was in 6th or 7th grade and that is my first memory of really using the internet. >

You're exactly my cousin's age. 1990 is about the last year people would have some fuzzy memories of a pre-internet world. 
Barney was his definitive childhood TV show, mine was more Sesame Street with Big Bird being the main star (pre Elmo era) and Mr Rogers. 
His first game console was the Nintendo 64. Mine was the NES. We're both millennials, but his first Nintendo game was Mario 64, mine was Super Mario 3... he got the better deal there ;) >

My first console was SNES and first game Super Mario World. Still randomly play it to this day! >

I was born in 1997 and I align more with millennials based on mutual shared experiences than zoomers but in the end it doesn't even matter lol 
Gatekeeping this sort of thing is dumb. >

I think at the edges it probably depends on your upbringing. I’m only a year younger than you, but because my parents are relatively young Gen X and I don’t have older siblings I think I had a very zoomer upbringing, whereas I know ppl my age who have millennial older siblings and boomer parents who think of themselves as millennials >

I definitely agree. >

This Gen Z or millenials thing is even more odd outside of the US or english speaking countries. We got movies or pop culture stuff 6 months, a year, maybe 2 years later or even never. As someone who was born in 1999, that makes it difficult to associate myself with any generation. >

You'd still be Gen Z going by the cohort. Because you likely don't clearly remember a pre-internet world. >

I do? My dad used the internet, sure, but I think the first time I really used it was in 2007 or so. My sister and I loved this one Barbie online game collection, but couldn't even think of playing it before I could read the instructions reliably. My favourite movies were on VHS, I remember my dad installing the first CD player. And the shift to blu-rays happened many years later. >

First experience with the internet being in 2007 would be clearly Gen Z. I was already graduated from college and working in my first job by then. 
If your first experience with the internet was AOL 4.0 in 1997 after school, that’s a millennial story. >

WHO GIVES A FUCKING SHIT >

Generations in general are just dumb.
Every person is different. The year you were born does not affect your beliefs, interests, or experiences. >

Whether or not you use TikTok has no bearing on the generation you were born in. There are set years for generations and that’s it. With the evolution of technology we are seeing more rapid changes and a smaller timeframe for generations to be “different”. But that really doesn’t matter. You’re GenZ plain and simple. >

These labels are fucking stupid and not real in the first place
It's just a stupid way people of different age groups can gatekeep each other "you didn't grow up with this" or be ageist. "Haha your old" shit. >

A lot of people who scream about this, also casually forget that not everyone is from the USA.
I remember getting into an online fight about this. Basically, it was a typical "only millenials remember" thing. Including the show Danny Phantom. Except...I'm from Germany and remember growing up with the show. It was reruns, most likely, but they also have to dub them, mind you. I also remember older gameboys (though tbf they were partially from my cousins) and a lot of "typically millenial things". 
The other person thought I was nuts. I couldn't have watched Danny Phantom, because it was already off air over there. Or that I "still" used those things.
At this point, I realized that people are way too obsessed with lables. I generally see everyone roughly around the start of TikTok as the Gen Z era. Millenials is everyone who's roughly around the millenial change. Forwards and backwards. And with 2002, I think that's still close enough. >

Technically many generation classification sites cap Millennials at 1996, but potato poTOTTo. >

Who honestly gives a fuck >

Easy test: do you remember 9/11? 
Yes? You're a millennial. 
No? You're Gen Z. >

So a 27 year old from Manhattan is a millennial and a 27 year old from Montana isn't >

A 27 year old in Montana would've saw it happening on the news. Literally every damn TV station that broadcasted the news on TV, covered 9/11 on TV. Hell, I was 6 at the time growing up in Texas, and I still remember 9/11, because me and everyone I knew saw it tv, it was unavoidable. >

A 27 year old was 6 in 2001. How are you gonna say that everybody who was 6 in 2001 remembers 9/11 just because you do.. >

That's not even my point. I'm saying that if I could remember 9/11 when it did happen, then chances are a 27 year old in Montana would remember it to. >

So you're saying it's likely that most people who are not 27 would remember 9/11 which just isn't true >

I'm 26 and remember it. I was 5 when it happened.. we were in kindergarten, it was a huge event. It's pretty hard not to remember something that big UNLESS your parents shielded you from it. People called our generation "the 9/11 generation".
But I remember in school we had an assembly about it the next day, also a few months later a military guy came to talk to our school... 
Most people my age can remember it, or at least remember the events surrounding the aftermath instantly like the patriotism, 9/11 memorials, and footage. >

I was also in kindergarten at the time, and you're right, it was very hard to miss because most people were in a panic that day, and it was all over the news and everyone was talking about it. >

Yep it was a huge deal. I get that some people a little younger might have remembered it. But not very many at least... Like someone 3-4 years younger than us it would be impossible to remember since they were 1-2 years old. I suspect some people who were 3-4 might have some memories of 9/11 but they also weren't in primary school at the time. There was a huge panic of parents trying to get their kids that day. >

Agreed, and I remember parents picking kids up early from school that day, and teachers crying. It always chills me to think about because although I knew it was a plane crash, I had no idea just how terrifying and devastating it was, and I can't imagine having experienced that as an adult. >

That's not how generational group labels work >

This isn’t an unpopular opinion, it’s just factually wrong. >

Generations are a social construct and the boundaries between them are fluid. People can have differing opinions on where they start and stop. It’s kind of arbitrary to say someone born December 31st, 1996 is a millennial and someone born on January 1st, 1997 is a zoomer. They were only born a day apart from each other. Ultimately if you disagree with me, that’s fine. >

That is not arbitrary, it is fact. It’s based on years. >

The dates are influenced by more factors than a set amount of years. Tho it doesn’t usually go over 20. 
There is no scientific formula, they just group generations based on events so it’s easier to keep track. >

Is this exclusively an American thing? Never heard of this anywhere else >

I'm born in 1999 and feel the same. Had to work with a bunch of 17/18 year olds last year and they made me feel like a grandad, I didn't get their slang, I don't use tiktok etc. Fit in perfectly with people my age and above, but I feel a distinction between me and those born 4-5 years after me.