Gens X, Y, Z - why they don't really exist and why Genealogy needs to adapt

We've all heard about the various generations and their characteristics.

Wikepedia defines the last 3 generations as follows (emphasis is mine):

Generation X (commonly abbreviated to Gen X) is the generational cohort following the baby boomers. There are no precise dates for when this cohort starts or ends; demographers and researchers typically use starting birth years ranging from the early to mid-1960s and final birth years ranging from the late 1970s to the early 1980s.

...

Millennials (also known as the Millennial Generation[1] or Generation Y, abbreviated to Gen Y) are the demographic cohort between Generation X and Generation Z. There are no precise dates for when the generation starts and ends. Demographers and researchers typically use the early 1980s as starting birth years and use the mid-1990s to the early 2000s as final birth years for the Millennial Generation.

...

Generation Z (commonly abbreviated to Gen Z, also known as iGeneration or Homeland Generation) is the generational cohort following the Millennials. There are no precise dates for when this cohort starts or ends; researchers and demographers typically use the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s as starting birth years and the late 2000s to mid-2020s as ending birth years.

In the above you will note that the start and end dates fluctuate wildly.

For example, Millenial births "start" between early 80's to mid 90's or early 2000's.

Anyone with a clue of the real world (genealogists apparently don't have a clue) would instantly realize that kids born in early sixties have nothing to do with kids born in early 80's. Likewise kids born in 1980-85 have nothing to do with kids born between 95-2005. 

The whole environment an 80's kid grew up, is totally different than the environment a 90's kid grew up and is yet again different compared to the environment a 2000's kid grew up. Technology, education, family structure and morals, everything is different.

There are three main fallacies in the whole generation labeling and grouping:

1) The world is changing so fast that 25 year generation gaps cannot reflect the changes occurring. Even when vagueness is introduced purposefully to "muddle" the waters, the fact remains: We live in a world where even 5 or 10 years can produce significantly different generations. This type of categorization might have been useful in the past but it is highly irrelevant right now.

2) The vagueness of the start and end point of births doesn't allow for much accuracy or credibility and certainly cannot be used for any useful conclusions on how a particular "generation" has these or that characteristics.

3) Local conditions -depending the country- can offset differences in years. Say a boy grown in a poor country with very poor IT capabilities will have grown in the 2000's like a boy in the west during the 1970's or 80's - as they'd have similar lack of access to technological resources. In some places the world is fast-paced and all caught up with the latest trends, in other places they may be lagging behind  by as much as 10-20 years. Even inside the same country you can have a city versus a village where growing conditions can be extremely different.

So next time you read a news item, a forum discussion or see something on TV about a generation like "Millenials" and the supposed characteristics of this supposedly homogeneous group, remember the above: It's not based in any real science.