Gen X to GenAI: From analogue to AI

If there is a generation perfectly built for the era of GenAI, it is the one nobody ever talks about. Gen X grew up in the slipstream of every major technological shift of the last forty-odd years. We went from PONG to PlayStation, from three TV channels to cable chaos, from cassettes to CDs to streaming, from rented VHS camcorders to shooting films on a phone. We lived through every upgrade in real time, usually with no instructions and no complaint.

One of the odd perks of being Gen X is that no one quite knows what to do with us. We are not needy enough to be fussed over, not shiny enough to be endlessly profiled and just inconveniently mid-career enough to be left off most leadership decks. Which, if we are honest, we were fine with until we realised that being quiet often meant being overlooked.

What people miss is that our upbringing was a masterclass in adaptation. We learned to make each new leap feel normal long before anyone framed it as a skill. We became improvisers without ever calling it that.

We lived every media shift first-hand

Our media diets shapeshifted constantly. Cassettes rewound with a pencil. CDs that felt like objects from the future. MiniDiscs that vanished almost as soon as they appeared. Then streaming, which turned the whole idea of “owning music” inside out.

And photography. Family snapshots were once a budgetary decision. A finite roll. A trip to Boots. Many of us had dads who would rent enormous VHS camcorders for birthdays, the sort that made every event look like a low-budget nature documentary. Then camcorders shrank. Then the phone absorbed everything.

If you want someone who truly understands the arc of communication, find a Gen Xer. We remember what clarity felt like before the noise. We know how messages behave when the world speeds up. We can spot fluff at fifty paces and translate chaos into something human. It is muscle memory by now.

The generation in the squeeze, and the one you need most

In comms and creative roles, that balanced instinct matters. We are not dazzled by shiny new platforms because we remember when the platform was a beige plastic box plugged into the family telly. We are not rattled by trends because we have already outlived most of them. And we are not intimidated by tools like GenAI because our whole lives have been one long technology upgrade with no instruction manual.

Which brings us to the awkward truth. Gen X is the generation in the squeeze. Boomers above us who never quite retire. Millennials below us who require a steady stream of pastoral care. And there we are in the middle, quietly keeping the whole thing moving while no one remembers to check how we are doing.

The irony is that we are needed now more than ever. We are the translators, the steady hands, the calm heads who can separate substance from hot air. If your organisation wants creative thinking that works and communication that actually lands, hire us, listen to us and use us properly. We are not the forgotten generation. We are the glue.

Not bad for the kids who grew up blowing dust out of game cartridges and coaxing an overworked VHS battery through a birthday party.