I always chuckle when I see yet another attempt to pit generations against each other. Most of the time it’s in the context of workplace relations, but lately I’ve even seen it on social media.

I’m a member of Gen X. For the longest time, we were the ones that everyone ignored. Not that we had a problem with that. Flying under the radar brings a lot of freedom, if you ask me.

I might be a bit of an outlier here, but my parents were older when I was born. My dad was a member of The Greatest Generation (1901-1927), and he was a veteran of World War II and the Korean War. My mother was a member of The Silent Generation (1928-1945), who grew up during the Great Depression.

Then there the Baby Boomers (1946-1964), which include my three older siblings and my husband. They have seen some things and experienced even more. Now, a lot of them are retiring.

Generation X members like me were born between 1965 and 1980. My oldest niece and nephew are also Gen Xers, so you can see how my family kind of crosses generations.

Millennials (or Generation Y) were born from 1981 to 1996. For a long time, the beef always seemed to be between this generation and the boomers. Age gaps will do that, I suppose.

Then there’s Generation Z, born from 1997 to 2012. This generation has known nothing but the internet and social media. My youngest nephew is of this generation.

Generation Alpha was born from 2010 to 2024, so they’re still a little too young to be taking potshots at the rest of us. Lastly, there’s Generation Beta, who began to be born in 2025.

No doubt the challenges that come up between the generations result from not understanding or appreciating the background of the others or how different lived experiences have shaped them.

I suppose that’s why I chuckle when a younger generation says we Gen Xers just don’t seem to care. This must be because we’re trying to conserve our energy to get worked up about things that actually matter. We grew up during the Cold War. We all thought that we were all going to die from a nuclear war. For context, check out the TV movie “The Day After.” Or maybe “Red Dawn,” or “War Games.”

We were the generation of “latchkey kids.” We came home from school to an empty house because our parents were working. Although it might conjure visions of a “Home Alone” situation of getting to run amok, it wasn’t like that. We were expected to be little adults, do our homework, do our chores and maybe even make dinner. If we didn’t do what we were supposed to do, there were consequences.

On the other hand, we were creative in how we were able to get away with things. We didn’t have social media or the desire to document the stupid things we’d do. However, we went to great lengths to prevent our friends from facing the consequences of their behavior, particularly if we were involved.

This fostered an ability to solve problems. There’s nothing like having to figure out how to fix things that were accidentally broken and then come up with a reasonable cover story. That also served us well in the workplace, where we often were the ones figuring out how to unjam printers and deal with crises.

I recently read somewhere that Generation X is the “bridge generation.” We’re the generation that saw both the old technology of previous generations (landlines, phone booths, TVs without remotes, researching using actual books, etc.) and the new technology (computers, the internet, etc.).

We might not be the fastest to pick up on things, but we’ll get there. That’s one of Gen X’s superpowers. Our resilience, grit and determination are hardwired. They have to be.

Don’t be surprised if we smile at those who want to make remarks about our generation. We’ll tell you that we were young once, too.

Of course, don’t be surprised if we also hit you with a witty bit of sarcasm and a hard eyeroll. We’ve had decades to work on that.

• Joan Oliver is the former Northwest Herald assistant news editor. She has been associated with the Northwest Herald since 1990. She can be reached at jolivercolumn@gmail.com.