Apparently there's a new generation we can judge: Xennials

Are you a child of the "Goonies" generation? Congrats, you're probably a xennial. Are you a child of the "Goonies" generation? Congrats, you're probably a xennial. Image 1 of / 40 Caption Close Apparently there's a new generation we can judge: Xennials 1 / 40 Back to Gallery

It would appear that some social scientists were really struggling to draw a clear division between the flannel-wearing generalization of the generation known as Gen-X and the tech-obsessed labels thrown at Millennials, so they've decided to form a "micro generation" known as Xennials.

Essentially, people who were born between 1977 and 1983 are being singled out as a group that is comfortable both using a dial-up modem AND ordering sushi via a smartphone app. They were raised in the analog world but had no real trouble adapting to the new technology of the 21st century and looking for a job online.

In recent days, explanations of the term have begun popping up online after an interview on the female-focused Australian lifestyle blog Mammamia.com in which University of Melbourne professor Dan Woodman - himself an Xennial - says the group had a very different set of shared experiences from the better-known generations.

"We hit this technology revolution before we were maybe in that frazzled period of our life with kids and no time to learn anything new," Woodman told Mammamia. "We learned to consume media and came of age before there was Facebook and Twitter and Snapchat and all these things where you still watch the evening news or read the newspaper."

Some publications have been using the term for several years. But since Woodman's interview, the term has taken on pop culture websites. The Guardian even posted a quiz to help you confirm your new generational label, complete with true-or-false questions like "You were actually scared the first time you saw The Goonies" and "You had, or still have, a hotmail account."

As Good magazine pointed out in 2014, people born around 1980 have been told they don't quite fit either generation. But that was partly a stroke of luck.

"We landed in a fleeting sweet spot before the Recession that plagued Millennials' launch. Yet we were still young enough that when the market crashed, we hadn't yet invested much and didn't lose as many homes or as much in retirement savings, unlike many Gen Xers," authors Sarah Stankorb and Jed Oelbaum wrote.

Woodman says that sweet spot has allowed the xennials to blend the pessimism of Generation X and the optimism of Generation Y, but he warns against drawing too much from the new label.

"It gets too simple sometimes and it treats everybody who lives under a certain set of conditions as if they're exactly the same," he told Mammamia.

That said, we expect someone to fully explore how much Xennials are willing to pay for a used 'Singles' DVD or a decent slice of avocado toast.