Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2019 April 13

= April 13 =

Generation
Is it possible to determine how long a generation is when referring to this "all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation
 * Please date and sign your contribution - this is done automatically if you type four tildes: "~" in a row, thank you. No, that sentence is not taking into account duration. It's intended to present the image ultimately considered when refering to "a generation" independently of any of its more or less arbitrarily (including duration) attributed characteristics. See Generational cohort. --Askedonty (talk) 17:52, 13 April 2019 (UTC)
 * It's 110.151.0.85. And someone asked this question within the last few months, but I don't recall who. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 19:48, 13 April 2019 (UTC)


 * These things are not regulated nor do they have well defined boundaries. It's roughly 20ish years or so, but there's not a lot of consistency.  In the U.S. and some other Western countries, there are some different "names" given to "generations" based on their approximate birthdates, but these are delineations by convenience, and there's not really a stark difference at the boundaries (that is, a convenient "start date" for the Baby boomers is 1946, but there's not a stark difference between someone born in 1945 compared to 1946.  Generations Sidebar, which you can see in the Baby boomers article and several others, lists the major US Generational definitions during the 20th and 21st century.  -- Jayron 32 15:12, 15 April 2019 (UTC)

What generations are they talking about when they mean "all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 110.151.0.85 (talk) 10:54, 16 April 2019 (UTC)
 * Which of those words are giving you trouble? Those are all fairly common English words, and their meaning should be easy to understand.  I'm not sure what it is about that definition that you don't understand.  If you can tell us which words or phrases in that definition are tripping you up, we can perhaps help solve your misunderstandings.  -- Jayron 32 11:34, 16 April 2019 (UTC)
 * To be fair, the "regarded collectively" is somewhat vague and/or self-referential. The mere fact that a cohort is given a specific term means they're being regarded collectively in some way, so to say that explicitly is a little pointless. It has quotes around it in the article for some reason, suggesting the exact structure of the definition is somehow significant. It links to collective, which has nothing to do with demography and in fact is being used in a different sense altogether. Matt Deres (talk) 12:51, 16 April 2019 (UTC)
 * These things are super fuzzy around the edges, but usually there is some major cultural touchstone which can "define" a generation by what it grew up around, be it World War I, the Vietnam War, the Reagan-Bush Era, the Internet, etc. The collective memory of these events (i.e. those people who were young and impressionable when these major events occurred, so the events informed their collective psyche) is what gives a generation shape.  But these definitions are still arbitrary and fuzzy.  The OP is looking for hard limits and numbers and bright lines where none exist.  -- Jayron 32 13:50, 16 April 2019 (UTC)

I'm just trying to understand what "all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively" means. I know what average period 30 years means though. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 1.128.106.156 (talk) 12:34, 16 April 2019 (UTC)
 * If all you want to know is the average length of a generation is, click through the Generations Sidebar and write down the number of years for each so-named generation, then calculate the average number of years. That will give you your answer.  I haven't done that calculation, but I do know that it's much less than 30.  -- Jayron 32 13:46, 16 April 2019 (UTC)
 * Someone who is adept at using the archive search tool (which ain't me) could maybe find the previous nitpicky discussion on this subject. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 17:18, 16 April 2019 (UTC)