A fork of Rural Dictionary
A microgeneration consisting of persons born 3 years before the end of Millennials and/or 3 years after the start of Generation Z (1992 - 1998). Similar to Xennials (also known as the Oregon Trail Generation), born 3 years before the end of Generation X and/or 3 years after the start of Millennials (1977 - 1983).
You might be a zillennial if you can remember having VHS tapes as a child. You might be a zillennial if you came of age (graduated from high school) in the 2010s.
Any individual born between 1995-2000. Nobody knows whether they’re a millennial or gen Z so we settled on the next best thing.
“I’m in the middle of an existential crisis. I can’t tell which generation I’m apart of... so I made up my own — Zillennial.”
Zillennial is a generation that people were born in between 1993-2003. If you’re an early Gen Z that can relate to both Gen Z and Millennial, you’re Zillennial. If you’re a late Millennial that can relate to both, you’re Zillennial. Most people say the Millennial years are between 1981-96, but others say 1982-2000 because the 21st century and 3rd millennium started in 2001, and people that were born BEFORE 2001 was around during the first year of y2k and before 9/11.
Friend: What Generation Am I? Me: What Year Were You Born? Friend: 2000 Me: Technically Gen Z AND Millennial, because some say Millennial ended in 2000, and others say it’s 3 years after the start of Gen Z. If you can relate to both millennials and Gen Z, then you’re a Zillennial.
A microgeneration of people (1996-2001) who were born near the cutoff between Millennials and Gen Z and feel too young and too old for both generations. They reached adulthood and graduated high school in the 2010s and spent their childhoods in the 2000s during the transition from analog to digital technology. They were the core audiences of Vine, Tumblr, and YikYak. Zillennials are generally viewed as those who were born before 9/11, but have little to no memory of it. They were too young to be in school during 9/11 but too old to be in school during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Millennial: I miss the good ‘ol days when the Internet didn’t even exist. Zillennials: Sorry, can’t relate! I’m a Zillennial. Zoomer (Gen Z): Hey let’s do the Renegade dance on TikTok! Zillennial: Sorry, I don’t use TikTok. I’m a Zillennial.
Zillennials (sometimes called Zennials) are the micro-generation of individuals born on the cusp of the Millennial and Generation Z demographic cohorts. Researchers and popular media cite birth years for this micro-generation from the late 1980s to the late 1990s. The majority of this cohort graduated high school in the late 2000s, reaching adulthood at some point in the 2010s. They are often the children of members of Generation Jones (younger Baby Boomers) and Generation X. Zillennials are described as being kids and toddlers at the time of the September 11th terrorist attacks, making them the first cohort to experience adolescence in a “post-9/11” world. Their outlook on life was further shaped by later crises such as the Great Recession of 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, this cohort witnessed the digital transition of the 2000s and 2010s throughout their childhood and youth: from dial-up Internet to high-speed mobile LTE Internet, from corded home phones to cell phones, from home computers to mobile devices with the capability to connect to the Internet, and from cellular flip phones to smartphones.
Zillennials played a big role in the 2020 election cycle.
A group of people who are neither completely millennials nor zoomers. They were born at the time where one generation ends and another begins (i.e. 1994 to 1999), and/or their upbringing is partly millennial-like and partly zoomer-like. They can't completely identify as being part of a single generation and feel somewhat lost.
- Man, I'm still not sure if I'm a millennial or a zoomer... - When were you born? - 1996 - Hmm, I guess then you're a zillennial
A person whose upbringing and life experiences are like that of a Millennial (1981-1996) and Gen Z (1997-2012), but whom doesn't properly fit into either generation. Zillennials are too young to be proper millennials, but too old to be Gen Z. Zillennials are can be considered the union of the last few years of Millennials and the first few years of Gen Z (such as 1995-1998), or considered a distinct micro-generation on its own. Some Zillennials can be pulled towards Millennials or Gen Z based on when their parents and siblings were born. (Ex: A 1996 baby is the youngest child with older siblings born in the early 90s leans more millennial. A 1998 baby whom is the oldest child with younger siblings born in the 2000s is much more Gen Z). Zillennials are defined by: Graduating after the Great Recession, and after the reelection of Obama in 2012, but never being in high school when Trump was in office Being in high school before more than 50% of high school students owned a smartphone in 2013 Never being able to vote in typical millennial youth elections like in 2008 and 2012, but was able to vote in a presidential election for the first time in 2016 Being out of high school when the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting happened and the March For Our Lives protests (which solidified Gen Z's unique identity in the mainstream) Never being affected by the raise of the age to buy tobacco products to age 21 in the US because they were at least 21
John: Hey, what generation are you? Michael: Pew Research Center says that since I was born 1997 that I'm part of Gen Z, but I feel too old to be Gen Z. John: Do you remember 9/11? Michael: Actually, yes. I was in preschool at the time. Also, my first presidential election was in 2016. John: You must be a zillennial then!