I'm against ageism completely. I don't judge people's relationships based on their difference in ages, nor do I attribute one's work performance (bad or good) or personality traits to a particular decade or other timeline in which they were born and raised.

People make too much of an issue over this and are defined as ageists. Only in America has this obsession happened where people pass judgement on people using the decade(s) they were raised in as a conclusion.

Now as for we 90'ers, I see us as not being that far off different from any mid to late 80'ers or an early 90'ers, in my opinion. Any 89 or 90er is kind of more like a "half breed" compared to our other fellow 80s and 90ers brothers, when the beginning to the ending of each decade is a carry over into the next and not too much change will occur for at least another year or two.

So we are the same and love you guys and seek no ill will towards any of you, regardless of year.

As far as I can tell, defining a generation by an exact year is complete crap. Why should I belong to a generation that defines itself by concepts that are alien to me? A typical "Gen X" person seems to have been born in the late 60's/early 70's and has very little in common with me. The same applies to a teenager born over 15 years after me.

"Generational" drifts occur from the eye of the beholder; my "generation" tends to be anyone roughly within a ten year radius of my own age, usually leaning towards those who did *not* spend most of their adolescence/youth in the 80's. Is it any coincidence that most of my friends were born roughly between 1974 and 1984? We share the same music, can remember the same trends and spent most of our formative years in a very similar environment. The common factor among most of us is that a large portion of our youth occurred during the 90's and/or early millennium. I am as incapable of understanding the appeal of hair metal bands as I am of desiring an emo hairdo - any attempt to do either would be considered "retro" or "too young" for my age.

Twenty years is way too long to define any given group of people. And pinning cut off points down to a specific year is just ridiculous.

Because of my early association with computers, I was highly interested in the Internet and have had access continually since 1994 -- this is also true for many of my friends, and by 1996 it would have been strange if a person *didn't* have a connection. I should also mention that if you were one of the early computer households, networks and online communities were a pretty well known phenomenon, as early as the 1980s we had BBSs and shortly afterwards, dial-up services like Prodigy, Compuserve, and AOL had become commonplace.

I hope this is a joke. Seriously, I was born in 1970 and have spent a great deal of time around kids born as late as 1986 -- and culturally, they are almost identical to me. Film, music, clothing, and even politics pretty much click exactly with mine, which I (and my cohorts) have held since we were teenagers.

The only limiting factor to my having long term friendships with kids so young is the experience gap, since it's hard to watch them rediscover everything that I had spent the last 15-20 years discovering.

I could remember seeing Pac-Man coming out and E.T, being a toddler in 1982. Many of these individuals today in their late twenties and early thirties remember these movies from almost 30 years ago. So there may be a small generation between 1978 to 1986, if researched by sociologists.

Some say the new millennium started with 2001, since there was no year 0. Either way, Gen Y definitely includes those born in 1980 and 1981 since they came of age at the very end of the millennium.

Gen Y also includes all those who came of age at the turn of the millennium and after. People born in 1980 and 1981 also came of age with the internet, which was an important tool that took us into the 21st century and third millennium.

Gen X got generalized like this because of their bad grapes and now they do the same thing. We are not lazy. We got Barack Obama into office. Also, a lot of people belief that we need to pull an ideologically split country from the cliff. In order to do this you need different thinking. The old systems of religion, media, politics are over. If we go back to the good old days this country is doomed. Gen X and Gen Y have come too far to go back now.

I certainly wouldn't paint all Y-ers with the same brush, by any means, but I work with a variety of people in my profession, and the newest crew coming in just seems to have this lackadaisical attitude that, I must admit, really bothers me.

One of our department heads has the most cavalier attitude toward everything, and has no problem with dumping features simply because *she* isn't interested in them, regardless of how many of our subscribers might be. She comes into work pretty much when she feels like it and leaves when she wants. In contrast, one of the people in her department is near her age, and her boss's laissez-faire attitude drives her nuts. So obviously, not all Gen-Y members are like that. However, we've had a number in my office who have been. They seem to have fewer social graces, and some even lack a basic sense of what's professional behavior. While some of that is certainly attributable to inexperience, trying to help them in that area is met with resentment and the attitude, "OMG. Like people don't really care about that Bleep anymore." Is that so? Try to get along with people you need to work with when you have that attitude.

I've found the cavalier attitude less prevalent in earlier Gen Y-ers than later ones. Somehow, a number of them missed out on how to conduct themselves in a business environment. I mean, I'm creative and something of a free spirit with little patience for bureaucracy or bullcrap, but I do know how to act at work. Apparently, some of these kids just don't. Not all of them, but a disturbingly large number.

I don't think it has a thing in the world to do with technology. I think they were raised by a bunch of people who didn't instill any kind of social niceties in their kids. When parents teach their children proper behavior, it carries into their adulthood, and into the workplace.

But those are just my observations.

That people can assume technology automatically isolates people is illogical. Here are some personal examples of how I maintain a very happy, healthy social life whilst consistently using technology:

I keep in contact with my family almost constantly. Through texting and IM me and my parents have managed to stay close even during the stages of young adulthood, where family is often pushed to the back burner.

By using a Facebook message or by sending a mass text I can get 30 - 40 people together for a wonderful evening, even if I plan it at the last minute. As well, I know when and where every local band is playing, am informed of the best places to socialize every night, and can sign up to volunteer for these social and artistic events on a dime, instantly expanding my social circle to include people I wouldn't have otherwise known shared common interests or even ever met.

I volunteer as a student ambassador for my university. By sharing my mobile number and Facebook profile with foreign students unfamiliar with not only the university, but the country, I have helped countless exchange students become more familiar and comfortable with their surroundings. I have even went as far to house an exchange student who lost their spot in residence.

In short, it seems to me that the generalization of Gen Y being rude, selfish etc. etc. seems to be caused by a misunderstanding of how we communicate. Which, is no better nor worse than other generations, only different. However, we do care about society around us just as much, if not more than previous generations.

First of all, the generation of Americans born after 1980 or so that grew up under the wave of technological innovation that exploded from the Information Revolution, will be America's Final Generation.

But Poster 47 missed a couple of things.

First of all, it is not this generation that we have to blame for the destruction of Western civilization. (Believe me it is coming, regardless of your birth date. You are a dreamer if you think this is sustainable).

We sowed the seeds for our own destruction back in the 20th Century. That's when corporate America figured out that the easiest way to ensure future profits and stability was to develop technologies that could completely enslave their consumers.

It began with a relatively non-invasive tool (radio), then took a huge leap forward with television in the 60's and 70's. This is when you really began to see the success of information technology controlled consumerism, which is dependent upon a customer base whose psyche is effectively intertwined with, and an extension of, electronic information networks. The great advantage is that these consumers are predictable, and these technologies also ensured that they remained controllable and placid.

The Information Revolution that began with the personal computer, and then the Internet and now extends forward through various emerging technologies, has become the ultimate tool of the corporate state. It has succeeded in providing users with a near-total replacement of reality, which can be manipulated at will. The pure genius of this approach is that "users" don't even realize anymore that they are being controlled or manipulated; that would require a perspective that they can no longer attain.

These people are simple pawns of the Corporate State, no more no less. How can you blame them for being self-absorbed or self-destructive? Consumerism's rules are simple; you get what you want, when you want it; the consequences to our society are meaningless compared to a loss of profitability or control.

America simply won't survive its next big crisis. Do you really think we could win a war with China, for example? The latest generation of mindless mushbrains believe there can't *be* another conflict or disaster of that magnitude.

1. An online chart proves that the annual birthrate really began to dramatically increase in 1977, when 3.3 million babies were born compared to 3.14m in '76 (difference = 160,000). The birthrate leveled off in '95.

2. Those born in '77 just came of age when the internet really started to become popular in '95 (hence the "net generation").

3. Studies show very big similarities between those born in the late 1970s and the babies of the '80s. For example:

A) People born in '78 were the first to have voted 66 - 32 for Obama, as surveys prove.

B) A poll around 2005 show 53 percent support for same-sex marriage among those who were in their early and mid-20s at the time.

When it comes to reason no. 3, you don't really start to see socially conservative attitudes until you look at those born before the late 1970s (therefore, 1975 are '76 are the XY cusp). I was born in '79 and I have nothing in common with Gen X.

However, her husband was tragically killed in a boating accident last summer. So what does she do?

Enroll in an accelerated nursing program to get her B of S in Nursing to combine with her B a A in Finance and Business Administration. She is motivated and will be OK. Not all GenY people are lazy. She works her tail off, attending an accelerated post graduate degree and raising a family as a single mother. As her mother, I help as much as I can and i am proud.

I knew about the internet when I was younger, but never used it until my teen years. I use correct spelling and grammar when I talk online and don't use things like "omg, lol, g2g". I hold open doors for people and say please and thank you.

While a lot of people my age are on there phones or computers a lot, it doesn't mean we all need them constantly. Some of the people from older generations talk about how as generation Y, we are self-absorbed, rude people who don't care about others, and can't spell or use grammar correctly. You yourself are being rude and judgmental by generalizing my generation as a whole.

So, while I was born in 1990, I can still associate with some things from genX. My whole life wasn't brought up with technology, but I still know how to use it for the most part.

One thing I do consider to be kind of weird is the whole 2012 theory and the galactic alignment of the three planets being sucked into the black hole in between the two layers of the milky way, where supposedly all planets are born. Kind of seems incredibly farfetched! I'm not a believer but hey! It's also the end of our generation cycle. 2012 is Generation Z'ers.

Now the next generation after this is called the Alpha Generation. Does this mean that they are going to follow the phonetic alphabet now? That would be hilarious!

So people born at the end of generation y, might associate better with people born at the beginning of generation z. Although, I believe generation y is roughly from 1978 to 1999. I can easily talk to people who were born in the late 70s to the late 90s. But I can also easily talk to people born in all generations, because I know how to relate to people. So it doesn't matter what generation you're in, it matters how well you can relate to people.

Yes, there are things that you wouldn't have seen that happened. But that's no excuse for you to not know about it. Like the Space Shuttle explosion of 1986. Just because you might have been 4 or you were years from being born, doesn't give you a right not to learn about what happened, and why it exploded. So stop thinking you're not in the same generation as someone born in the 70s because you think you're too young. You're just too stupid.

Most people say the generation starts around 1995-2001, but i mean, generation Zs are considered "digital natives", right? that's exactly what we are.

There's no way I'm in the same generation as people born in 1975. i mean, they were in high school and college when the internet came? they were in their 20s while i was still in diapers? they used those gigantic cell phones with those antenna things? they were 26 when 9/11 happened.

Not that i think I'm in the same generation as people born in like 2003. i really think that the "generations" are much shorter than people make them out to be.

He lives with us so I'm really getting to know him. I guess we can stop worrying about him? He isn't rude at all by the way! He's very sweet, sweeter than other generations! Maybe all that doting on from parents and teachers makes Y'ers more compassionate?

And the there's the internet. It's this vast technological development that almost defines the global sharing of ideas and global marketplace. The no. 1 use for it, according to statistics, is still porn.

And then there's facebook. It's like a substitute for a social life. Why experience anything in real life, or go through any risk? Just live vicariously through others by visiting someone's facebook page, or go look on your wall and see if someone said anything to you.

One can spend their time trying to connect with others on the net: in chat rooms, forum postings, the comment sections for various sites and you'll never meet these people. They could live in another country and are probably not who they say they are, and they're just like you. So, go ahead and flame them, start trolling (I promise this all has a point --just stick with me here) And this rudeness is all over the net and the crassness carries over into advertising, marketing products and T.V. That's why the negative stereotypes about y-ers exist: because of the culture that has developed around them.

When I grew up in the 80's and 90's, we still hung out with other people, but if people are on their cellphones, or texting, on their facebook or on their ipods, then people associate those people who use those excessively with them. Honestly, people now seem more like robots towards each other. Where one used to be able to connect in a public place, now that's deemed unsafe or not worth one's time.

Go plug yourselves into your favorite technological device, but even that won't save you, and you can't run away from this crass culture. And that's why boomers, and even some from gen. x associate negativity with generation "y" – it is because of the media and culture of today. And older people don't understand how something like texting can be fulfilling.

Now I know Y'ers aren't plugged in to their ipods, cellphones or facebook all day long. But a boomer, and many from gen x can't fathom what's so special about texting a friend on your phone. (isn't “y” a convenient, lame name because it comes right after "x"?)

And here's the clincher as to why we might see gen "y" in a negative light and what is their primary challenge: How can they accomplish an identity for themselves if communication modes like the web, cellphones, facebook are the main things they have to identify themselves with?

Doesn't one get lost in another's identity, since communication involves sharing, connecting and the self getting lost? Is the net and all this a reasonable way to form an identity?

Since "Y's" are just beginning to become self-consciously aware of themselves, it will be interesting to see if anything gets attributed say, 20 years from now.

Other forms of communication seem so "old-school" to many of the snobby kids who prefer texting (letters, books, and actually talking to someone) that older people sense this and so attribute negative 'snottiness' with younger people- because older people just couldn't understand the high forms of communication like texting or facebook wall writing (there's sarcasm there in case you didn't catch it).

In the end though, it all seems like a bunch of pretentious b.s as another user stated. And for the record, I was born in 1981- graduated high school in the class of 99, so I'm either from generation x or on the cusp of y and have never identified with the latter.

The reason they pick those years? Well, the 1982 was simple- they turned 18 in 2000 (start of a new millennium? Not!), and the birthrate reached its lowest point after the Boom in 1975, thus a "new generation" was born every year after- including that. Plus, 1975 is still part of the 18-34 demographic (that's too large a span!) in 2009.

Thinking about presidential races. In 1996, the newest voters (18-21) were born from 1975 to 1978. Sounds to me like these new "Generation Y" voters were targets of the candidates. Why Y? Well, I can't call them "Generation X" as today many people argue they're all part of Y! I mean they all came of age in the 2000's after all; that's the whole identity of Generation Y- the new young adults of the 2000's.

Yeah, that's right, after 2000, they could drink, vote, gamble, smoke. Wait a minute! They could do all that at some point during the 1990's! Oh well, they're still part of Generation Y though, the ones who came of age after 2000. (If you can't find the sarcasm, it's there. look harder!)

I think I identify most with people born from 1972 (at a push) to 1984 (in regards to them understanding pop cultural references and my sense of humour) Also someone on this had a kid at 22 (born 1977 had a child in 1999). That isn't the norm in most developed countries (I'm still childless).

Admittedly, I'm now possibly in a minority in regards to that but it's becoming more common for people to take their time growing up and then having kids of their own (i.e. not being in an economically or personally stable situation conducive to raising kids - if they have any common sense). Anyway, some theorists say 1976 was the start of Gen Y not 1977 or 1979.

Also, the dude born in 1989 who doesn't identify with me as I was born in the mid to late 70s - as I said I don't identify with folk born in the early to mid 1960s (they're proper grown ups compared to me!), I think generational classification is just a way of identifying trends in birth rate e.g. lots of babies born after the Second World War. Once men were back with their women having a celebratory shag fest, experienced by my grandparents' generation.

It's ridiculous to suggest someone born in one year before the split can't identify with someone born a year later but then again I still think of peeps born in 1975 as having a wee bit more seniority over me (especially when you're a wee kid at school). A final thought: I find 90 percent of pop music today to be absolutely useless crap. I think it's cool not to like pop music (of now).

However, the next generation that is starting to leave its mark on the world is not a place-marker! It is a technologically-savvy, ultra-connected, intelligent and entitled tribe!

Are you an iGen? Are you part of the tribe?

i would have to agree a lot with anon127390. well currently, I'm reaching towards the end of my high school years (graduating in 2012..lol i know it has its significance to some of us) and indeed what makes a difference between generation Y and Z is that it's not about the music and the culture or the attitudes, but the events and the experiences that they go through. for me the biggest difference between gen y and gen Z is that if you remember watching 9/11 either live (or the next day like me because i was born on a different side of the world), in a way it does force us to grow up and learn the world isn't a big playground and it is the real deal especially with the recent financial crisis. you are gen y or maybe if you remember the millenium party, and i remember both.

All right, it is our human nature sometimes to feel that you belong to something, but worrying about labels too much is never a way to go and i do have a purpose with this relaxed format of response, just to give it a bit of a joke with the labels. Well, most of these cusps will age sometime this decade of tennis (2010s).

Oh by the way, the next generation preceding the gen z is generation Alpha(A). Weird reason how they have that name (from a forgotten source, damn it!) but it's suppose to represent a new cycle in the generations based on the first pure 21st century born people and it is the first generation to be completely growing with 21st century events and this generation are born around now (2010)up to 2024 and my nephew fall into this category and will largely be children of generation Y younger generation X and oldest of generation Z. Suit yourself, people.

Keep in mind, this was when the internet was new, cell phones were just starting to get into the hands of the common person- (at a monthly cost of nearly $100 as well!) and 9/11 was still another two years away.

I heard from the mid-90's until around 2001 or so that I was part of Generation X. What year was I born? 1977. I heard it said by quite a few that Generation X ended in either 77 or 78. I did not one time hear that 1977 was any other generation.

So, fast forward into 2010, and I'm seeing articles putting me into Generation Y. Now come on. How in the world am I supposed to be in the same generation as someone born in 1992 just entering college?

When I entered college in 1995, there were no cell phone users. The internet was just in its infancy, and was not heard of outside academia. I wasn't even using it, because it was primarily a porn outlet back then. Few sites existed, and I was doing my research from encyclopedias, while typing papers on a typewriter.

Now, compare that to today. Most college kids are using the internet to look up information, while yapping or texting on their cell phones, so they can copy and paste that online information in their term paper, while they update facebook or twitter of what they're doing. You all can agree in 2010 this is the case.

There is no way I'm in the same generation as them. I made a comment at Thanksgiving how before Google, I was a Yahoo!'er. That reply led to a baby boomer relative saying before Google, they were an Encyclopedia user- so was I! I used the Britannica as a major source of research in high school and most of college.

I started using the internet in 1996, email in 1997, and as a viable research tool in 1998- that was my senior year of college! The three years before that I was still using books to look up information!

So, after hearing my comparisons to college kids today versus my college experience from the 90's, am I really part of this "young" crowd of Generation Y?

If you really want the final punch, when those Encyclopedia Britannica commercials aired in the early 90's, I was in high school, and looked just like that teenager in those commercials, doing the same work he talked about!

I'm from the middle bulk of Generation Y (born in 1989) and I already know some subtle yet important differences between me and those born in '85 and '86 (though we are of the same cohort and had mostly identical youths).

Right now in college, I'm meeting early 80's-born kids, and while we all feel the same at first, I notice a big gap when it comes to talking about high school and middle school. These kids had a relatively calm and peaceful middle school life in the midst of Clintonian utopia (depending on your point of view) where the biggest worry was whether there would be a US-Russian conflict in the Balkans.

By contrast, my middle school was all about 9/11, the Patriot Act, whether we should invade Iraq, and worrying about a potential Al-Qaeda attack on midwestern suburbia. When I was in fourth and fifth grade (1999) I was always intimidated by the teens up at our high school (those born between 1981-1984) who we saw as distant "big kids".

With the passage of time, I think sociologists will notice enough discontinuities between the turn of the millenium and core 2000's cohorts to start talking of two generations around the millennium: those who came of age during the millennium celebrations and those whose formative years were defined by them. I fall in the latter group. The former were kids who knew the last years of the 20th century substantially, having been kids during the end of the Cold War and teens during the Clinton years. They entered the millennium with promise of a new adulthood, only to be humbled by 9/11.

The latter only perceive the 20th century distantly as a time of innocent childhood (the 1990's) and felt no real political impact until 9/11. 9/11, rather than being a dam against the river of 20-something dreams, was the big event of our childhood, forcing us to grow up and realize the vulnerability of our way of life. We may not have had the revolution and social upheaval of the 60's nor the promise of prosperity with the end of the Cold War in the 80's, but we experienced the limits of the bravado of American Bush-Cheney neoconservatism in Iraq. It taught us to take a more nuanced and saner look at geopolitics and not to get caught up in the "dead or alive" hysteria that captivated our preteen years.

Entering the workplace with computer skills is beneficial to any industry, however those same abilities can lead to challenges keeping employees on task and motivated, especially with a blackberry lying around. I've personally had a hard time with my new 'talent,' but I came across this article and thought it might help a little with the challenge of hiring new Gen-Y staff.

DaPore makes some interesting points about the employee pool in the service industry, so it's definitely worth a look.

I don't even identify with people born in the early 80's. Even at a reasonable generation Y start date such as 1985, I've noticed certain differences between me and my friend born in that year, particularly in what our high school years were like (him an early 2000's teen, me a mid-late 2000's teen).

Late 70's-early 80's born kids constitute a cusp generation whose name I don't know. The people I most identify with were born from 1987-1993.

Since you were born in 1977, you are a late X'er near the cusp. You probably can identify with X and Y.

Actually, the gap is right. Generation Z'ers are the children of Generation X and older Generation Y'ers.

I will tell you what -- I am sticking to Y because I like what Y represents, and it defines me more than X. But now I am being told that I am a millennial, heck my 11 year old was born in 1999, are me and my son in the same generation? LOL. Please someone put the hammer to the nail and make sense of all of this.

Generation X: 1965-1979

XY Cusp: 1978-1982

Generation Y: 1980-1994....."4"

YZ Cusp: 1992-1995

Generation Z: 1995-2009

Shut the hell up and stop spreading mis-information. Finis.

P.S I'm a Millennial (1986) and I'm the youngest. My mother is a Boomer (1949) and father was a GI/Silent (1933). I know my mother loves older men.

Older siblings: Generation X 1968, 1970, 1973 and a XY Cusper 1982.

Generation Y identifies with this transition, and the many subsequent cultural changes that happened during their childhood years. "70's" culture did not technically end until around 1984.

This was established years ago. And it is still true today. Generation Y holds Gen X values, with high tech sensibilities. Digital technology and connectedness are very much a part of this generation.

They were the dominant social networks of early Web 1.0, when millennials were still in preschool/elementary.

This makes them different from both Gen X and Millennials. Look around you. They are in their late 20s-early 30s now, quietly texting like crazy, and may "hint" at 80s fashion since they were very young during that decade, and are about 2/3's removed from it (Millennials are 100 percent removed since they were born in that decade).

The Millennials generation technically starts in 1985-86, when the 80s really began.

Hope that makes sense.

Teens 12-17

Gen Y 18-32

Gen X 33-44

Younger Boomers: 45-54

Older Boomers: 55-63

Silent Generation: 64-72

G.I. Generation: 73+

It's all the same now. Each of us is too much a part of everything else to be one specific thing.

Our music, style, social habits, and coping methods, along with when we were born, and multitudes of other things has nothing to do with what label we get.

I was born in 1993. As far as I have found, I have not yet been excluded from the GenY 'label'. I took a test a while back and found that I am more of a Gen Xer.

I say screw the damn labels and live. But if you want to live with the labels, then don't let me stop you. It's your loss for not living out of the box.

Being the Generation Yer that I am (1988) I know many people around my age range that are still very sociable and get out a lot and aren't mostly glued to their computers or cell phones or ipods or whatever you other generations want to label us as utilizing 24/7.

This is how influence comes about; it's not a matter of generation.

Otherwise, if generations really do matter, i would say our first generation is inclined to "animal is to behaviour like beast", second to "cultural values is to behaviour like philosophers", third "technology is to behaviour like robot." --Jads

1. Why are you insulting us about technology when you have posted 13 comments about the subject? Someone obviously knows their way around a keyboard.

2. Not all gen Xers are all about the language of "like totally um like kinda um like" I am 16 and have a very extensive vocabulary.

I myself try to smile, hold the door open for people, be kind and respectful to everyone else, and in my experience I get the same kind of rudeness from the older folks as I do from the younger ones!

And to say that us young rude kids are the only ones obsessed with the new technology and talking loudly on our phones is just plain ridiculous!

Every generation has put up with the one before them talking about how much better they are and when they were that age they didn't act like that -- please!

Maybe some of you who want to complain about the rude Gen Y should step back and realize that you might've had something to do with that. Some of you have raised us Gen Y's.

I consider myself the opposite from my generation. I valued/still value my parents opinions, I've respect, I love to be dressed in suits and overall I don't even have a cell phone while looking at the bigger picture of things.

At the end of the day, we've similarities, but nothing like the first poster tried to compare the majority of gen Y to other people in that generation.

They seem to be a very superficial bunch. Obsessed with appearances and being seen with the latest iphone etc. They are completely obsessed and sucked in by all the techy gadgets and usually pay more attention to these overpriced landfill items than they do other people. The big companies are rubbing their hands together in glee knowing that they have an entire generation captive. Meanwhile they'll all end up with brain tumours due to over usage of their phones.

I hate the way they speak also. I can't understand a lot of them. They tend to use the word 'like' and 'totally' to punctuate their sentences way too much.

"Like when you can like totally say a sentence without like using the word like 10 times like I might totally like listen to what you have to say."

Oh and while I'm at it. They have no idea nor do they care about spelling or grammar.

The late 70's (77-81) are bit of a cusp between Gen X and Gen Y in my opinion. That is, the teens graduating high school in the late 90's.

I'm a Generation Y'er and I graduated high school around 2007 (born in '89). My brother was born in '91 and graduated this year. I'd say the teens in high school now are still pretty much Generation Y. The Millennial party's going to end probably around 2014 (as far as high school is concerned). I think the rest of the 2010's will be a cusp between Gen Y and Gen Z I guess. The 2020's, on the other hand, will be a hardcore Generation Z decade.

Generation Y are called The Millennials. I was born in 1981 and graduated high school in 1999. I was always called the last of Generation X. I have a best friend who was born in 1982, and her high school class was called The Millennials.