The Invisible Generation
Gen X is hiding in plain sight... but why?
Where The Hell Are You Gen X?!
The joke writes itself these days. In every viral social media post about generational warfare between Boomers and Millennials, or think piece about Gen Z's latest workplace revolution, there's inevitably that one comment: "Everyone forgot Gen X again." And true to form, we respond with our trademark eye roll and caustic wit, perfectly content to be left out of yet another exhausting generational debate.
Now in our mid-40s to late 50s (born 1965-1980), we're supposedly in our power years. We should be running everything, right? Yet somehow, we've managed to reach the apex of our careers while maintaining our characteristic invisibility—a skill we perfected during those unsupervised latchkey afternoons of our youth.
Look at any news coverage about workplace dynamics, and it's all "Ok Boomer" versus "Quiet Quitting Millennials" with a dash of Gen Z demanding work-life balance and filming their resignation TikToks. Meanwhile, Gen X managers are quietly holding companies together, having mastered the art of translating Boomer corporate speak into Millennial and Gen Z terms, all while keeping our own cynical commentary safely confined to group texts.
But are we really as absent as it seems? Let's look at where Gen X actually stands presently.
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