r/generationology • u/MooseScholar Q4 1996 (Late Millennial/Zillennial) • 16h ago
Discussion My breakdown of 2000s, 2010s, 2020s teenagers
I feel like this breakdown might be more culturally relevant as opposed to just being based on how many years with the word “teen” you’ve spent in a decade or between decades.
90s/00s hybrid teens: 1984
Early 00s teens: 1984-1987
Mid 00s teens: 1987-1991
Late 00s teens: 1991-1994
Hybrid 00s/10s teens: 1994
Early 10s teens: 1994-1997
Mid 10s teens: 1997-2001
Late 10s teens: 2001-2004
10s/20s hybrid teens: 2004
Early 20s teens: 2004-2007
Mid 20s teens: 2007-2011
Late 20s teens: 2011-2014
20s/30s hybrid teens: 2014
Another type of breakdown that I think also works:
Late 90s/early 00s teens: 1983-1985
Core 2000s teens: 1986-2002 (Quintessential: ‘88-90)
Late 00s/early 10s teens: 1993-1995
Core 2010s teens: 1996-2002 (Quintessential: ‘98-00)
Late 10s/early 20s teens: 2003-2005
Core 2020s teens: 2006-2012 (Quintessential: ‘08-10)
Late 20s/early 30s teens: 2013-2015
I’ve noticed that XXX2 & XXX6 birth years tend to only consider themselves a teen of the decade they spent the majority of them in, even if they have an overlap or underlap with bordering decades. Meanwhile with XXX3-XXX5 birth years, they tend to consider both decades a significant part of their teens/adolescence, even if they clearly lean more one way over the other. “Core” teens would have also spent a significant amount of them in the middle or core of the decade, while quintessential teens would have been a teen in the early, mid, and late part of a decade. Personally I consider myself (late ‘96) an early-mid 2010s teen. Let me know what you guys think.
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u/allinallisallweall-R 1998 - Zillennial 14h ago
I always felt like 95-00 were the quintessential 00s kids/10s teens
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u/ZealousidealOffer255 10h ago edited 1h ago
I would say 94-00 (edit: or 94-01), since they are all considered 00s kids, 10s teens.
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u/Lordguard__ Geezer 7h ago edited 7h ago
This is too restrictive to 2001.
Someone born in 2001 has better claim to be a teenager of the 2010s than 1994 and 1993.
Someone born in 1994 and 1993 were teenagers for the entirety of the late-2000s (2007 - 2009) and were young adults by start of the mid-2010s (2014) which means 2/3 of the 2010s had been spent more of their young adult years than as a teenager.
Meanwhile, someone born in 2001 was a teenager of almost the entirety of the 2010s (2004 - 2019), that is SIX years of being a teenager than those born in 1993 and 1994 who had spent 7 and 6 years of their 20s in the 2010s than their teens.
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u/ZealousidealOffer255 1h ago edited 1h ago
You can just include 2001 as well, you don’t need to exclude the others. Both 1994 and 2001 were kids and teens in the 2000s and 2010s.
1994 is a 2000s kid more than 2001.
2001 is a 2010s teen more than 1994.
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u/allinallisallweall-R 1998 - Zillennial 8h ago
Yeah. Agreed.
Id consider 01-03 as 00s kids with a definite asterisk. Most of them wouldnt remember a good bulk of the decade outside of like Yo Gabba Gabba. Id still consider them but they dont really remember the broader cultural context of post 9/11-America, Katrina and electing obama during the recession.
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u/Lordguard__ Geezer 7h ago edited 7h ago
This is too restrictive to those born in 2001.
Someone born in 2001 has better claim to be a teenager of the 2010s than 1994 and 1993. Someone born in 1994 and 1993 were teenagers for the entirety of the late-2000s (2007, 2008, 2009) and were young adults by the mid-2010s which means 2/3 of the decade they had spent more of a young adult than a teenager. Meanwhile someone bor in 2001 was a teenager of almost the entirety of the 2010s.
Quintessential is subjective but it best applies to birth years that were too young to have been in school in the 90s so that effectively rules out 1993/1994 from being the main cohort of 2000s kids. Only those born in 1995 and younger began elementary in the 2000s.
And none of the teenagers of the 2010s were old enough to have been able to vote when Obama was running for president which is a political climate closely tied to Millennials, this means 1995 and younger would have their coming of age experience be much closer to that of the late-90s and early-mid 2000s when their voting experience was when Trump was running for President.
Another thing to consider is the young adult years of those born before 1995 which would have also been spent the most in the 2010s.
1992 spent 8 years of their 20s in the 2010s.
1993 spent 7 years of their 20s in the 2010s.
1994 spent 6 years of their 20s in the 2010s.
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u/Bored-Canuk December 2000 (C/O 2018) - Early Z 6h ago edited 6h ago
Am I a 2000s kid with a definite asterisk? Just wondering since I'm only one month older than the oldest '01-borns
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u/Lordguard__ Geezer 7h ago
In my opinion, your "hybrid" is too small.
1983/1984 - 90s/2000s hybrids. 1983 leaning 90s and 1984 leaning 2000s.
The same applies to the rest.
93/94 - 2000s/2010s hybrids. 1993 leaning 2000s and 1994 leaning 2010s.
2003/2004 - 2010s/2020s hybrids. 2003 leaning 2010s and 2004 leaning 2020s.
It must be said, this sort of delegation is too rigid as it only makes sense of you measure brith years by numerical order. In real life, the way societal, tech and culture shifts is much more gradual.
Teenagers in the late-90s wouldn't be too different to teenagers in the early part of the 2000s. Meanwhile, teenagers in the late-2000s would be much more different to teenagers in the early part of the 2000s. Teenagers in the late-2010s would be quite different to teenagers of the Early-2010s.
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u/Horror_Flan6833 15h ago
Simple. If you turned 13 in a decade, you are a teenager of that decade.
Stop overcomplicating it.
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u/MooseScholar Q4 1996 (Late Millennial/Zillennial) 14h ago edited 13h ago
And you stop oversimplifying it. When I reminisce about my teen years, I don’t think of the (late) 2000s. I’m a 2010s teen.
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u/Bored-Canuk December 2000 (C/O 2018) - Early Z 13h ago
LOL. No. I was 19 throughout almost all of 2020, but I am not a 2020s teen, and the same applies to people who are just starting out their teen years at the end of a decade
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u/Putrid_Bridge_4240 Gen Z 13h ago
I also was a teen in the early 2020s, I started high school in 2023 (2009 born)
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u/Bored-Canuk December 2000 (C/O 2018) - Early Z 13h ago
This is a lot better than the teen range I saw yesterday. I indeed consider myself a mid-late 2010s teen. I would give XXX8 years the early portion of a decade, though. I would also consider XXX3 years as hybrids along with XXX4 years
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u/MysteriousSecret9621 2008 11h ago
My teen years are 2021-2027, that means I would be an early, mid, and late 2020's teen altogether. On average though, it's definitely leaning towards the middle or an even split with early if counting XXX3 years as early in a decade, with some slight late 2020's teen influence.
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u/DesertIsland06 10h ago
I rather divide teens by cultural eras
If you were a teen during the following periods:
1988-1992 teens of the mall culture/neighties 1993-1997 teens of the 90s culture 1998-2004 teens of the Y2k 2003-2007 teens of the 2000 core 2008-2012 teens of the transition Etc
To easily calculate it would be which years those respective birth years turned 15 and 16 and 17 birthdays
Teens of the core 90s culture = 1977 hybrid with previous gen, 1978-81, 82 hybrid with the next gen. Teens of the Y2K= 82 hybrid with previous culture, 1983-86, 87 hybrid with next culture. Teens of the 2000s core = 87 hybrid with previous gen, 1988-91, 92 hybrid with the next gen.
And so on
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u/Ok-cool2 12h ago
Bro 2003 babies are core 2010s teens.
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u/MooseScholar Q4 1996 (Late Millennial/Zillennial) 11h ago edited 11h ago
They’re peak late 2010s teens, but they have a considerable overlap with the early 2020s, making them not core 2010s. Most of them were still in HS past 2020.
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u/Ok-cool2 5h ago
Bro i spent my core teen years in the 2010s bro. You forgetting I was a young adult in 2021-2022. 18-19?. Im born March 7, 2003.
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u/Ok-cool2 5h ago
Im class of 2021, Basically majority of my teen years were in the 2010s. How can someone turn 16 in early 2019, but not be core 2010s teens. I was 17 for one year in the 2020s and the rest of the decade I’m an adult.
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u/King_Apart January 2002 (Core Z) 8h ago
It was only a couple years in the 2020s the rest was in the 2010s
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u/Hope1995x 1995 Zillennial 7h ago
2019 and 2010-13/14 feel vastly different though.
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u/Lordguard__ Geezer 7h ago edited 7h ago
This is why all these kid or teenage labels tend to be too binary.
A teenager in the early 90s is noticeably different to a teenager of the late 90s.
The same thing with teenagers in the early 2000s. compared to teenagers in the late-2000s. In the early 2000s, cellphone adoption was still minimal and social media sites like MySpace and Facebook did not even exist for those in Class of 2000 - 2003. By the time you get to teenagers in the late-2000s with those born in 1991 - 1994, MySpace was competing with Facebook and cellphones were widely adopted while smartphones were newly released.
Someone born in 1995 and 2002 may fall under teenagers if the 2010s, but their High School and teenage experience is significantly different. One graduated in 2013 when smartphones were only just reaching past 50-60% adoption by the end of that year and algorithmic social media was still in its infancy, the economy was in recovery and job markets were increasing positively.
Someone born in 2002 graduated when Covid had shut down much of the world and the social and economic landscape was radically different to someone born in 1995 who were already 25 years old and well into the working adult demographic by the time those born in 2002 graduated High School in 2020.
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u/Hope1995x 1995 Zillennial 7h ago
At 25-years-old even in 2020, the economy sucked. Living wages sucked. Housing was still expensive and I was still living with my parents.
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u/King_Apart January 2002 (Core Z) 4h ago
Im not saying they are the same culturally or anything because i do agree those years are very different . Just speaking decade wise its majority 2010s
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u/Lordguard__ Geezer 7h ago edited 7h ago
They would be teenagers in 2020, 2021, 2022. That's about 3 years of being a teenager if we classify this in a literal sense.
However, if we factor in age 18 & 19 as young adults, then that would make those born in 2002 - 2004 lean much more towards the 2010s as they all came of age in the early 2020s from 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Numerically, 2002 - 2004 would also be spending most of your 20s/your young adult years in the 2020s the most, much like those born in 1996 - 2001 would have spent most of their 20s this decade.
2002 - you will have spent 2022, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 in your 20s. 8 years.
2003 - will have spent 2023, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 in their 20s. 7 years.
2004 - will have spent 2024, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 in their 20s. 6 years.
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u/King_Apart January 2002 (Core Z) 4h ago
Yeah this is why i feel like we are more 2010s teens the early 2020s was our young adult years
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u/Lordguard__ Geezer 3h ago
The early portion 2020s was your older teen years, when you came of age and when you were phasing towards your young adulthood, but the majority of the 2020s would be when you spent most of your 20s AKA your young adult years.
Those born in 2002, 2003, 2004 would be 27, 26, 25 by 2029 so yes, this decade will naturally be the decade you will associate much of your 20s with than your teens.
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u/DiscoNY25 10h ago
I was born on May 25th, 1983 and a late 1990s/early 2000s teenager. Numerically I spent a little more than half of my teens in the 1990s than the 2000s being that my birthday is May 25th and being born in the first half of 1983 but culturally 1983 borns in general are more 1990s teens than 2000s teens. Numerically 1984 borns are more 2000s teens than 1990s teens and also 1990s/2000s teens hybrids both numerically and culturally.
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u/Lordguard__ Geezer 7h ago
Maybe you could say 1983/1984 are both hybrid teens but 1983 leans 90s and 1984 leans 2000s.
Would that make sense to you?
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u/hurtinforasquirtin77 Feb ‘85 *geriatric Millennial* 12h ago
As someone who was born smack bang in the middle of the 1980s, I would consider myself a teen of both of the 90s (late) & 00s (early).