Zennial

People born in the years of 1995-2001. They share characteristics of both millennials and generation Z.

1995 borns were the first to graduate in a year ending with -teen and 2001 borns are going to be the last. Class of 2002-2012 = solidly Y, class of 20teen = zennial, class of 202X = solidly Z. i think this works pretty well because 1995 borns aren’t ancient or anything, they’ll be part of the 18-24 demographic until 2020, meaning they have been/will be spending a decent amount of their young adulthood within Z culture.

Zennials are those of us born in the micro-generation occurring between 1992 and 1998 – in the blurring of time that manifested itself between the Millennials (roughly 1980/81/82 to 1994/95/96) and Generation Z (roughly 1995/96/97 to 2010/11/12).

There has been a lot of debate as to whether the last cutoff year for Millennial Gen is 1994 (as some start the 15 year Millennial gen in 1980), 1995 (my preferred cutoff and cited on Urban Dictionary a lot), or 1996 (now becoming more popular as the cut-off date as the generations mature and congeal). Therefore, to arrive at the Zennial micro-gen years, take the middle of those 3 years (1995) and extend it 3 years before (1992), and then 3 years after (1998).

Some of us remember 9/11 clearly (the oldest Zennials were 9), others barely so (the youngest Zennials where 3 or nearly so) – but we all were raised with the consequences of our changed society afterwards.

• On one side, we’re considered lazy. We don’t want to work in the real world, our shelves are lined with participation trophies and “activism” is a dirty word.
• On the other side, we’re the new world saviour. We work hard with the technology that’s native to our lives and find that activism is the only way we know how to change the political and economic world.

This dichotomy is the life of a Zennial. How can we save the world with fiery activism and technology while also being too lazy to amount to much of anything?

A person born between 1998 and 2003. This is a micro-generation between Millennial and Zoomer. Zennials often have the same childhood as young millenials but also got modern smartphones not to late in their childhood.

Zennials are those born in the micro-generation between around 1991 to 1998 – in between Millennials and Generation Z. Some of us remember 9/11, others don't – but we were raised with the consequences of our changed society afterwards.

Zennials often have the same aspects of a young millennials childhood but also grew up with technology.

For example, we grew up with scooters and books but also with portable DVD players, Gameboys, and iPods (Apple being known for iPods before iPhones). We had the Motorola RAZOR era as our first phone.

Zennials (sometimes called Zillennials) are the micro-generation of individuals born on the cusp of the Millennial and Generation Z demographic cohorts. Researchers and popular media cite birth years for this micro-generation from the late 1980s to the late 1990s. The majority of this cohort graduated high school in the late 2000s, reaching adulthood at some point in the 2010s. They are often the children of members of Generation Jones (younger Baby Boomers) and Generation X.

Zennials are described as being kids and toddlers at the time of the September 11th terrorist attacks, making them the first cohort to experience adolescence in a “post-9/11” world. Their outlook on life was further shaped by later crises such as the Great Recession of 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, this cohort witnessed the digital transition of the 2000s and 2010s throughout their childhood and youth: from dial-up Internet to high-speed mobile LTE Internet, from corded home phones to cell phones, from home computers to mobile devices with the capability to connect to the Internet, and from cellular flip phones to smartphones.