‘Generation Jones’ theory shakes things up in Baby Boomer world — here’s how to find out which group you belong to

Okay, Boomer — are you keeping up with the Joneses?

A new generation has landed — but they weren’t born yesterday. That’s according to a resurfaced theory from the 1990s suggesting that Baby Boomers , said to have been born between 1946 and 1964, would be better off broken down into two groups.

Cultural critic Jonathan Pontell suggested back in 1999 that the younger members of the cohort, the ones born between 1954 and 1965, are different enough from their older peers to deserve their own title.

Pontell, himself a proud member of this possible microgeneration, suggested Generation Jones as a label — referencing both the idea of “keeping up with the Joneses,” as well as the slang term “jonesing,” popularized by the generation, meaning craving more.

Joneses, for instance, are said to be too young to have been drafted into war — unlike their older peers. That would be one striking example of the cavernous differences within the 18-year birthdate span, the longest of any generation since. Gen X is said to span 15 years (1965-1980), Millennials 14 years (1981-1996), Gen Z 15 years (1997-2012) and Gen Alpha 14 years (2010-2024).

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“It comes down to identity. Fact is, most Jonesers simply don’t feel like Boomers,” generational trends expert Daniel Levine recently told Newsweek , noting that those born on either end of the range would have “very different experiences.”

“I continuously see that people in this generation who become aware of it are attracted to the concept and feel like it fits quite nicely,” he added.

While those born between 1946 and 1965 were in fact part of the same population spike that came after World War II, the pivotal events that occurred during their lifetime have impacted them in unique ways.

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“The first half were in their teens and twenties during the Summer of Love. Whereas Jonesers came of age during Watergate, and they relate to music of the 80s more than the 70s,” Levine explained.

“Boomers were active in the protests of the 60s, but by the time Jonesers went to college, protests had died out.”

Experts suggest that Generation Jones possesses both the idealism of Baby Boomers and the pragmatism of Gen X.

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“What makes us Jonesers also makes us uniquely positioned to bring about a new era in international affairs,” Pontell wrote in Politico in 2009 shortly after Barack Obama — the first president of Generation Jones — was elected. (Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, born in 1964, would be second.)

“Our practical idealism was created by witnessing the often unrealistic idealism of the 1960s. And we weren’t engaged in that era’s ideological battles; we were children playing with toys while Boomers argued over issues. Our non-ideological pragmatism allows us to resolve intra-Boomer skirmishes and to bridge that volatile Boomer-GenXer divide. We can lead,” he said.

And they’re not alone in wanting to distinguish themselves.

According to a poll by YouGov, about 27% of people don’t identify with their generation and 15% said they aren’t even sure which one they technically fall into, Newsweek reported.

Despite the many nuances within Baby Boomer culture, 86% claimed to match the official definition of their generation.

That’s in stark contrast to Gen Z, where a whopping 45% said they felt misrepresented by the title. Which could explain the rise of the term Zillennials, a popular term for anyone born between 1992 and 1998 .

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