Flight the Goat

Reasons why 1995 borns are definitely Millennials

Life stages (these are not objective life stages but just what's going to be used for this analysis):
0-4 = Unconscious child
4-10 = Conscious child
10-18 = Adolescent (child by legality)
18-34 = Young adult
34-50 = Average adult (not needed since this cohort will not reach that stage until 2029)
Life Stage #1: Unconscious child = c. 1995-1999
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They were born during a drop in birthrate compared to the early 90s. They were also born in the midst of the Clinton admnistration, along with the OJ Simpson trials, OKC bombings, as the country was improving financially, as well as with safety thanks to the decrease in the crime rate. They didn't become conscious until President Clinton got impeached.
Their unconscious childhood years took place in the mid-late 1990's, during the peak of the post-Cold War "End of History" prosperous atmosphere in the United States, along with the internet boom with the DotCom bubble, as Windows 95 came out the year this cohort was born. The 5th generation of gaming was taking over the 4th generation of gaming as the Sega Saturn & PS1 came out the year they were born (1995), followed by the Nintendo 64 (1996), and the Gameboy Color (1998). Michael Jackson released his last album of the 20th century HIStory the year they were born. X-Files and Friends were the most popular shows during this timespan, right after Seinfeld and the Simpsons. In the scale of current events, their unconscious childhood took place during the Telecommunications Act of 1996, deaths of 2Pac (1996), Notorious BIG, & Princess Diana (1997), optimism/hype for the new millennium, Monica Lewinsky scandal (1998), Clinton impeachment (1999), and the Columbine shootings (1999). This is a very Millennial time to be born, no question about that.
Age 0 - 1995/1996
Age 1 - 1996/1997
Age 2 - 1997/1998
Age 3 - 1998/1999
Age 4 - 1999
Life stage #2: Conscious child = c. 1999-2005
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They were a conscious child at the turn of the millennium, in the late 90s and early-mid 2000s. They became conscious during the height of the Y2K hysteria and overall excitement for the new millennium. Their first vivid memory probably was of Columbine, the New Millennium celebrations (1999-2000), or probably watching either Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network or some kids-related program, whether it was Rugrats, Pokemon, Barney, Arthur, Powerpuff Girls, etc.
They were children during a very tumultuous time in America, let alone the whole world. The first major school shooting (Columbine) which drastically changed the mindset and perception of school safety, a new millennium began (technically in 2001, but 2000 is when most people recognized it), a controversial election in 2000, with a new president (assumed to be Gore but instead became Bush), the dawning of a new era with the September 11th attacks and the War on Terror in which many of this cohort may remember (which turned our nation upside down and killed the vast majority of optimism and positive expectations that people had for the new millennium), Antrax scare, No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Patriot Act, establishments of the TSA and DHS, DC Sniper attacks, Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, DVD overtaking VHS, the birth of social media with MySpace and Facebook (and arguably Friendster), 2004 election, Web 1.0 becoming Web 2.0, and Hurricane Katrina.
They were also children during the Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom eras, as well as the Silver age of Nickelodeon, the golden age of Cartoon Network (Powerhouse era), and the rise of Disney Channel (golden age of DCOMs, post-Renaissance era for Disney animation plus the rise of Pixar). They probably could've went with their parents to see movies like The Matrix trilogy, Dr. Dolittle 2, Spider-Man 1 & 2, Daddy Day Care, The Cat in the Hat, Austin Powers, Are We There Yet?. etc. They were probably busy on their N64 playing Paper Mario, XBOX playing Halo, GameCube playing Super Smash Bros. Melee, or their PS2 playing GTA III. Speaking of video games, the 6th generation of video game consoles released during their childhood with the Dreamcast (1999), PlayStation 2 (2000), XBOX, Gameboy, & GameCube (2001), which was a huge change in gaming history.
Their childhood would be dominated by the rise of reality TV, thanks to shows like Survivor, The Osbournes, The Simple Life, etc. On a side note, in terms of kid shows, they would've been old enough to catch The Amanda Show, Kenan & Kel, and reruns of All That, but young enough for Drake & Josh and Zoey 101. If they were watching the NBA, they would've caught MJ just as he was about retire for good but see the entire evolution of Lebron James, as well as the prime of Allen Iverson and Shaq & Kobe. If they were watching pro-wrestling, would've caught the last of the Monday Night Wars with WWF & WCW, plus ECW still being around, and saw the Attitude era in its prime, even though they probably grew up more with the Ruthless Aggression era. They would've been some of the last to remember Michael Jackson performing and making new songs. This childhood experience screams Millennial, but specifically second-wave Millennial, a.k.a. "Echo Buster" or "Zillennial".
Age 4 - 1999/2000
Age 5 - 2000/2001
Age 6 - 2001/2002
Age 7 - 2002/2003
Age 8 - 2003/2004
Age 9 - 2004/2005
Age 10 - 2005
Life stage #3: Adolescent = c. 2005-2013
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Their adolescence began during the dominance of emo, thanks to My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, and Green Day, as well as other genres, like post-post grunge with Nickelback, gangsta rap with 50 Cent, crunk, and the typical pop, R&B, and alt-rock. Later on in their adolescence, other musical genres like snap, R&B going electronic, electropop, goth emo turning into scene emo, dubstep, EDM, indie pop, trap, etc. would dominate. The internet was the norm at this point, but technology was also at a spike during this time. Dial-up internet became fully replaced by broadband, fast-speed internet. Web 2.0 became the norm, social media was on the rise with MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and later on Instagram and Snapchat (hell, even Tumblr and Vine), CRTs were replaced by flat screeen HDTVs, digital tech would fully replace analog tech, VHS would completely die, DVD and Blu-ray peaked during this time. Blockbuster would go out of business thanks to the popularity of Netflix, with began the streaming era eventually.
On the current event scale, their adolescence began with Hurricane Katrina, and later on, the Housing bubble crisis (2007ish), Pluto no longer being a planet (2006), the 2008 financial collapse (killing off the era of ultra-consumerism and McMansions), a black president taking office, 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike, H1N1 crisis, death of Michael Jackson (2009), Affordable Care Act (2010), death of Osama Bin Laden, Occupy Wall Street, and end of Iraq War (2011), death of fellow 1995 cohort Trayvon Martin (2012) which launched the BLM movement (2013), KONY 2012, Aurora shootings, Hurricane Sandy, and the Sandy Hook shootings (2012), and Mayan predictions of the 2012 apocalypse.
They grew up during the era of John Cena, Kanye West, Rihanna, Drake, Justin Bieber, Soulja Boy, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Jonas Brothers, 50 Cent, Randy Orton, Batista, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, etc. Their "coming of age" films probably would've been Superbad, Juno, Twilight (if they were into that), 17 Again, Easy A, Prom, 21 & 22 Jump Street, and especially Boyhood as the best representation of the entire formative experience of a mid 90s baby, as well as the "coming of age" shows like Degrassi, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Glee, 16 & Pregnant, Shameless, Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, Friday Night Lights, iCarly, Victorious, etc.
They were probably the prime age for COD during its peak from 2009-2013, being the main demographic in those Modern Warfare 2 lobbies on Xbox 360 being some of the edgiest kids saying the craziest things in game chat you would ever hear. Speaking of gaming, they would've been the peak adolescents during the 7th generation of gaming, as it started at the beginning of their adolescence with the DS (2004), PSP & Xbox 360 (2005), as well as the PS3 and Wii (2006), and stayed relevant throughout their entire adolescence, up until the 8th generation consoles like the Wii U (2012), PS4 & Xbox One (2013) came out, but even then, it stayed relevant for a little longer. This adolescent experience is extremely Millennial, no question about it.
Age 10 - 2005/2006
Age 11 - 2006/2007
Age 12 - 2007/2008
Age 13 - 2008/2009
Age 14 - 2009/2010
Age 15 - 2010/2011
Age 16 - 2011/2012
Age 17 - 2012/2013
Age 18 - 2013
Life stage #4: Young adulthood = c. 2013-present
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Their young adulthood was really radical, socially speaking. Their young adulthood would witness many social movements like Black Lives Matter, a huge uptick in third wave feminism and women right's movements, #MeToo, as well as acceptance in the LBGTQ+ movement, which led to Pride Month and then president Barack Obama allowing same-sex marriage to be allowed in all 50 states (2015), and many more. This would also be when the polarization started to come in and everyday people became more divided then ever. The dividing line happened with the 2016 presidential election. The Trump administration in itself was very interesting to witness as a young adult. Mass shootings increased with Isla Vista, Orlando nightclub, Las Vegas, and Parkland to name a few. Climate change started to become talked about as a problem or major issue by many political figures and talking heads. Trump would become impeached twice, which was never seen before in a presidency. Their young adulthoods would get even crazier as the Covid pandemic came about, with the threat of WW3, Kobe Bryant dying, BLM at its peak with the death of George Floyd, the infamous 2020 election, vaccine rollout, polarization increasing, Russia-Ukraine wars, death of Queen Elizabeth and coronation of King Charles, rise of AI with the launch of ChatGPT, popularity of NFTs and the rise of the "Metaverse", an incoming recession thanks to the Silicon Valley Bank going bankrupt and the rise of Central Bank Digital Currency with the FedNow releasing in July 2023, etc. And their young adulthood is still ongoing, being that they are currently 27-28 years old.
Since they are still young adults, they are in their "core prominence" and their main influence/impact in the realm of pop culture. Many musical genres like indie pop, hipster, tropical house, EDM, trap, mumble rap, Soundcloud rap, emo rap, melodic rap, drill, bedroom pop, retro pop, and many more, emerged during this time period. Shows like The Middle, Modern Family, The Goldbergs, Empire, Power, Better Call Saul, Game of Thrones, etc., were/are pretty popular shows and/or cultural powerhouses of entertainment, followed by the MCU. Most of this cohort are still prolonging to have kids but more of them are starting to get married and have kids, so eventually there will be an uptick of them raising families, however, not anytime soon.
Age 18 - 2013/2014
Age 19 - 2014/2015
Age 20 - 2015/2016
Age 21 - 2016/2017
Age 22 - 2017/2018
Age 23 - 2018/2019
Age 24 - 2019/2020
Age 25 - 2020/2021
Age 26 - 2021/2022
Age 27 - 2022/2023 (currently)
Age 28 - 2023 (currently)
Good representations of the 1995 cohort:
Timothée Chalamet
Kendall Jenner
Logan Paul
Gigi Hadid
Kim Taehyung
Jimin
Katherine McNamara
Melanie Martinez
Lil Uzi Vert
Doja Cat
Dua Lipa
Megan Thee Stallion
Post Malone
Queen Naija
The DeMartino Twins (Niki & Gabi)
Rachel Levin
Luke Benward
A Boogie wit da Hoodie
Laura Marano
Ross Lynch
Troye Sivan
Natalia Dyer
Patrick Mahomes II
Kehlani
The Dobre Twins
FlightReacts
Corinna Kopf
Brawadis
Yung Filly
Sharky
Vikram Barn
Nick Crompton
Chief Keef
LeafyIsHere