Generation X

Generation of young people who were young adults in the early 1990s. Defining characteristics of Generation Xers include apathy, lack of direction, and a cynical outlook on life.

The term was coined by Canadian author Douglas Coupland, who drew on sociological studies of youth rebellion carried out in the 1960s. Coupland has described Generation X as not a chronological age, but a ‘way of looking at the world’. Generation Xers are also referred to as the slacker generation, and the MTV generation.