The Last Analog Generation: What It Means to Be a Xennial

Liminality. The space in between. Not quite resonating with one side or another, but a blending belonging to both. The Xennials, not quite Gen-X but not entirely Millennial, exist within such a gap. In their liminality, in their minuteness, they find identity, in what we could call a micro-generation. 

Defining the Xennial Micro-Generation

As one might guess, a micro-generation is, as the label decrees, a generation of a smaller size, one that falls between two others. Generation X, contributing to half the identity of the Xennial, has a reputation for their rebellion. Their childhoods were shaped by quick-changing technological innovations, with grand events like the fall of the Soviet Union and the changing societal values and expectations. Gen X saw the third wave of feminism, the questioning of what it meant to be both a feminist and a woman, with the term ‘intersectionality’ used at the forefront of many such movements. 

Millennials, the other half of the Xennial, were thrown even deeper into the technological deep end, into a world of the internet, of social media, and cyber-connectedness. They are known as socially and environmentally conscious, generally having access to a higher level of education, and a personal drive for purposeful work. 

Technology, Adaptability, and Identity

Of course, there is some truth in many of these stereotypes, but again comes this feeling of liminality. Generations swallow up such a large number of people, people who, despite having to survive through certain social and cultural events, are all rather different.

With Xennials, however, being a micro-generation, you have a smaller group. A couple of years, around eight, to be exact, with camaraderie found in the gaps. The Xennials, when they were children, grew up within the world of analogue technology—a ticking clock, a vinyl record player, cassette tapes—but finished their adulthood thrust into another, digital world. They lived within the transition, adept with technology but knowing when to set it aside. 

Ma, Liminal Space, and Generational Identity

The concept of ma, in Japanese, refers most simply to negative space. A pause in time, a single breath between a flurry of movement, of action, of talk. Ma is what exists in the stillness, in the quiet. The beat of silence between two notes of music, the empty space on a canvas, and the beauty that becomes of this.

Ma cannot fully be used to understand the unique position of the Xennial, but one cannot deny that this micro-generation exists in a kind of “ma” between two generations and generational identities. 

Gen Z is technologically proficient; they know how to multitask and smoothly operate social media. Yet their knowledge of analogue is limited to reading about it in history books or listening to their parents or grandparents. Xennials possess the quiet power of knowing both, without being afflicted by the same rates of screen addiction or technological dependency.

When we grow up caught between two identities, we grow adaptable in order for us to survive. If the only way to persist is to develop, then we do.  

Anthropological Perspectives on Liminality

In anthropology, the concept of liminality embodies a ‘state of uncertainty and transformation’. It is a transitional stage, the movement from one to another, the struggle and disorientation of the in between. The shift between the classical wisdom and art of the Renaissance and the movement towards mathematics, astronomy, and the sciences that defined the Scientific Revolution is just one example.

To have lived in between was a feat in itself, to challenge the values that you had been taught from infancy in order to adjust to a world built upon a different foundation.

Uniqueness, Difference, and Cultural Value

Like Xennials, many of us feel like we occasionally live in an in-between, at least for some period of our lives. Even in our current climate, where technology is advancing faster than we can understand it, it seems we are constantly gasping for air, grasping for something to hold on to and pull us onto stable ground. It is a mighty thing to have survived the liminality, to have the skills of both past and present, and the perseverance gained from the experience.   

The micro-generation was, and is, the cultural translators, niche specialists that can impart wisdom whilst also partaking in the modern workings of the world. When we were little, our differences might have made us want to hide, desperate to fit in and be just like everyone else. Yet uniqueness is power; it distinguishes us, it brings something shining and rare and valuable to our identity. We all live in some form of liminality, even if it is a fleeting moment, and, arguably, we are all the better because of it.