Gen X Hits Middle Age

Feeling old?

Many (Gen Xers) remember Bruce Springsteen's smash hit Dancing in the Dark, which in the mid-'80s was a staple of early MTV, MuchMusic, and Gen X high school dances. He turned 60 a few days ago.

And that girl in the video -- Courteney Cox -- who would become a staple of Gen X TV, first on "Family Ties" and then on "Friends," just last week she took on a new role: a 40-year-old single mom in the new series Cougar Town.

Writing in Canada's National Post, Shannon Proudfoot says that Gen X -- born between about 1961 and 1981 -- "were children of the divorce revolution, teenagers in the early years of MTV and disillusioned young adults during the recession of the early 1990s." Now that half of them have reached middle age, some of Proudfoot's sources see continued Gen X disengagement while others see pop culture adapting to their humor and attitudes.

"Slackers" or "resilient?" The article's a fun read and argues that the slacker stereotype has evolved into something more ... adult.

--- One note: Proudfoot writes that "The parameters of Gen X vary slightly, depending on who's counting, but tend to encompass those born between 1961 and 1981," but the Baby Boom is generally considered to have run from 1946 to 1965 ... which only goes to show that those of us born 1961 - 1965 are the original 'tweeners. Too young for Elvis and Woodstock, too old to have a teen crush on Winona Ryder.