Calling everyone born between 1980-1985 to once more, as the wise and inspirational Robin Sparkles once said, “put on your jelly bracelets, and your cool graffiti coat”
“Throw every last care away” as this micro-generation gets a totally rad new descriptor: “Geriatric Millennial.” This may sound a bit like a back-handed compliment, but what it really means is that this is a generation “comfortable with both analog and digital forms of communication”
Dubbed by Erica Dhawan, a leading expert on 21st century teamwork and communication, she explains in an article for Medium that “Geriatric Millennials” are people who were born when computers started becoming a household staple, although still have memories not involving sitting in front of a screen. Their ability of being “neither ignorant of technology nor so engrossed in it that a voicemail inspires fear” makes them a prime employee that would help a company thrive amidst a hybrid workspace.
“They have a varied skillset to refer to—one that lets them cater to the needs of people with different degrees of understanding (and patience for) the digital world”. Dhawan explains that Geriatric Millennials can “help you translate the experiences of both digital adapters (Baby Boomers) and digital natives (Gen Z). They can “teach traditional communication skills to younger employs and ‘Digital Body Language’ to older team members”
With an openness to change, it seems that Geriatric Millennials are in good company among one another. Notable world leading CEO’s hail from this micro-generation, namely Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg (born in 1984), Reddit’s Alex Ohanian (1983) and Airbnb’s Brian Chesky (1981).
Now this all sounds well and good, but the Geriatric Millennials of Twitter had some things to say about their new title… specifically the “geriatric” part.
There were some that did not at all resonate with their new classifier.
Although some felt like this identifier described their souls completely.
With the mixed reception from 1980-1985 babies, Medium made the considerate choice of creating a Twitter poll to conjure up a name that they may all be proud of, some options being a bit more creative than the original. The poll resulted in the name “Original Millennial™” as the preferred name of this micro-generation.
In the spirit of unity, find your favorite Geriatric (or Original) Millennial (™) today and check up on them, give them a heartwarming and encouraging message… they just might need it.
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