Wondering why you can't get along with people outside your age group right now? Here's a quick-crash 2024 guide on 21st century generations and why they can't find a way to mix properly. 

The Elders

Boomers are a spoiled generation. Let's just be frank from the start about this fact. They are the children of the 1950s and 1960s who didn't have to fight in any wars except Viet Nam but they claim all the same rights and respect as their parents who survived and functioned with one-tenth the assets and income as Boomers. They are quick to claim credit for the economic success of the Western World and reaching the moon, but much of what they claim was really the result of the industrial war complex from the 1940s generating the foundations for mass consumption and 20th century economics. This becomes extremely evidenced as one maps out both the transition of war production companies to generic industrial purpose as well as the ownership of central bank gold (which are both more than enough for an encyclopedia set of writing in their own). However, because the generation was so big as a result of a push to repopulate after the World Wars, their shared opinion and mindset has been for decades extremely widespread. One runs into the same attitude whether they are in Germany, the U.S. or Japan. 

Now, as Boomers are well into their late 60s and 70s, with mortality knocking on their door, many are either deep into spending all their net wealth or hoarding it for fear of social change. While they are the benefactors of many distribution models ranging from civil rights and social justice to Medicare & Social Security, Boomers are first to say everyone else hasn't worked hard enough and just want a handout. 

The Grandkids

Generation Z is uniquely digital. They are probably the first generation that is almost 100 percent raised, grown and having lived in the digital world. As a result, the concept of doing without the Internet or things-computer are entirely foreign to most. In fact, they are the most likely to have never been to a public library, but their reading skill is off the charts in terms of comprehension capability. They are uniquely tied and connected to networks of hundreds on average and even thousands in uber-social cases, but their in-person social skills are many times sub par. 

Pissed off at being one of the first generations who, en masse, will be unlikely to own a home, much less have a career that can afford one, Generation Zers tend to be in an ugly situation of being highly-educated and expecting it's worth while being unable to obtain any of those assets or opportunity right away. Of course there are plenty of individual exceptions, but as a group Generation Z is feeling more and more left out of what they believe is an entitlement to the American Dream (or similar in other countries). They are the embodiment of the 99 percent. Their parents had it, so why can't they?

The Current Sandwich Generation X

Generation X is the ugly duckling of the mix. Bitter from years of insults from Boomers telling them they are spoiled kids and have no idea how to work hard or a sense of duty, this generation not only fought two Gulf Wars, they went through two recessions/depressions (1992 and 2009), lost any chance for a respectable pension retirement (living early enough to know what a pension is in the first place), have to gamble with savings accounts or 401Ks instead, and they have scraped together middle-careers while also being the first to actively work two or more jobs in decades, start thousands of small businesses, and develop the foundations of do-it-yourself e-commerce on the early Internet. They get no thanks from their kids or parents, but they have solidly provided with some of the least amount of dependence on social welfare benefits or "handouts." They are now also the primary caregiver for Boomers who are aging fast and, interestingly, seeing a higher level of dementia occurring as well than in the past. Much of this last point has to do with modern medicine and populations living longer.

The 20th century is unique in that the majority of people not dying from violence are living well past their 70s. Where, in the 1970s, the average age of mortality was 65-70, today it's well over 76 and reaching the 80s. While the body lives longer, that doesn't mean the brain works the same as in one's twenties. Diet, fitness, pollution, poor living and more can all contribute to early and mid-onset dementia, which is skyrocketing in caseload. And most countries are ill-equipped to deal with the wave coming in with Boomers. That leaves Generation X family members as the safety net, which they will do out of obligation; the governmental system is betting on it.

Generation Xers are also a yin-yang split of college-educated people who have been laid-off more than once and scrapped again to recover in the office world or blue collar people who have seen an erosion of their jobs and skilled careers by digital inroads. They are, by and large, the majority of the characters from the January 6 riots, and they also now provide the bulk of modern consumer income, both for households as well as tax bases across the U.S and modern Western countries. Generation X is also the smallest generation out of the three discussed here, so their voice tends to get associated with Boomers or overwhelmed by the larger numbers of Generation Z. There's never a really good time for a Generation X person, basically getting shit from all sides. Folks should be worried when a Gen Xer is actually in a good mood. It may mean they won the lottery and can tell everything else to go to hell.

Who's Driving the Car?

Right now, by and large, Generation has X has come into its own and is finally pushing out the last vestiges of Boomers who aren't retiring and resisting giving up the reigns in many things. At the same time, Generation Z and similar are chomping at the bit for their own, expecting opportunity to be handed over automatically. This traffic jam will have ramifications for the next decades as the generational conflict repeats again and again until the overall population system finds a way to deal with people living longer as well find new purposes for more people involved than ever before. In the meantime, however, it's very clear that there are not enough jobs, life, career, opportunity or growth to go around. And that's going to continue to generate angst, especially as everyone continues to finger-point at each other why their own situation isn't good enough.

One thing is consistent: no generation here is perfect. They all have faults. However, no one is planning anymore for the overall system growth, and that will be felt for years to come. Blame it on consumerism, capitalism or socialism; the labels don't matter. When a social system stagnates, it breaks down. We need growth again, bigtime. We just don't know anymore how to collectively start the engine again.