Editing Generation X (section)

==== Rise of the Internet and the dot-com bubble ====
By the mid-late 1990s, under [[Bill Clinton]]'s presidency, economic optimism had returned to the U.S.,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Weinstein|first=Deena|title=Rock'n America: A Social and Cultural History|publisher=University of Toronto Press|year=2015|isbn=978-1-4426-0018-8|pages=237}}</ref> with unemployment reduced from 7.5% in 1992 to 4% in 2000.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thebalance.com/president-bill-clinton-s-economic-policies-3305559|title=President Bill Clinton's Economic Policies|website=The Balance|access-date=3 February 2023|archive-date=24 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220524002921/https://www.thebalance.com/president-bill-clinton-s-economic-policies-3305559|url-status=live}}</ref> Younger members of Gen X, straddling across administrations, politically experienced a "liberal renewal". In 1997, ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine published an article titled "Generation X Reconsidered", which retracted the previously reported negative stereotypes and reported positive accomplishments. The article cited Gen Xers' tendency to found technology [[Startup company|startup companies]] and small businesses, as well as their ambition, which research showed was higher among Gen X young adults than older generations.<ref name="Time1"/> Yet, the slacker moniker stuck.<ref name="Jury Expert">{{cite news|last1=Keene|first1=Douglas|title=Generation X members are "active, balanced and happy". Seriously?|url=http://www.thejuryexpert.com/2011/11/gen-x-members-are-active-balanced-and-happy/|access-date=19 June 2016|publisher=The Jury Expert – The Art and Science of Litigation Advocacy|date=29 November 2011|archive-date=3 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160703145524/http://www.thejuryexpert.com/2011/11/gen-x-members-are-active-balanced-and-happy/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Time2">{{cite magazine|last1=Hornblower|first1=Margot|title=Generation X Reconsidered|url=https://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19970609,00.html|access-date=19 June 2016|magazine=Time|date=9 June 1997|archive-date=1 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701084116/http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19970609,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref> As the decade progressed, Gen X gained a reputation for [[entrepreneurship]]. In 1999, ''[[The New York Times]]'' dubbed them "Generation 1099", describing them as the "once pitied but now envied group of [[self-employed]] workers whose income is reported to the [[Internal Revenue Service]] not on a [[W-2 form]], but on [[Form 1099]]".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Ellin|first1=Abby|title=Preludes; A Generation of Freelancers|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/15/business/preludes-a-generation-of-freelancers.html|access-date=1 July 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|date=15 August 1999|archive-date=10 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610003411/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/15/business/preludes-a-generation-of-freelancers.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Nostalgia (7539894906).jpg|thumb|right|America Online (AOL) version 2.0 program disk for Microsoft Windows (1994), widely used by younger Gen Xers to access the Internet]]
Consumer access to the [[Internet]] and its commercial development throughout the 1990s witnessed a frenzy of IT initiatives. Newly created companies, launched on stock exchanges globally, were formed with dubitable revenue generation or cash flow.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.moneycrashers.com/dot-com-bubble-burst/|title=History of the Dot-Com Bubble Burst and How to Avoid Another|last=Smith|first=Kalen|website=Money Crashers|date=6 June 2022 |access-date=3 February 2023|archive-date=25 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925211920/https://www.moneycrashers.com/dot-com-bubble-burst/|url-status=live}}</ref> When the [[dot-com bubble]] eventually burst in 2000, early Gen Xers who had embarked as entrepreneurs in the IT industry while riding the Internet wave, as well as newly qualified programmers at the tail-end of the generation (who had grown up with [[AOL]] and the first [[web browser]]s), were both caught in the crash.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wang|first=Cynthia|title=100 Questions and Answers About Gen X Plus 100 Questions and Answers About Millennials|publisher=Front Edge Publishing|year=2019|isbn=978-1-64180-048-8}}</ref> This had major repercussions, with cross-generational consequences; five years after the bubble burst, new matriculation of IT Millennial undergraduates fell by 40% and by as much as 70% in some information systems programs.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Torres-Coronas|first=Teresa|title=Encyclopedia of Human Resources Information Systems: Challenges in e-HRM: Challenges in e-HRM|publisher=IGI Global|year=2008|isbn=978-1-59904-884-0|pages=230}}</ref>

However, following the crisis, sociologist [[Mike Males]] reported continued confidence and optimism among the cohort. He reported "surveys consistently find 80% to 90% of Gen Xers self-confident and optimistic".<ref name="Males">{{cite news|last1=Males|first1=Mike|title=The True 'Great Generation'|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-aug-26-op-38674-story.html|access-date=19 June 2016|newspaper=LA Times|date=26 August 2001|archive-date=4 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160704111116/http://articles.latimes.com/2001/aug/26/opinion/op-38674|url-status=live}}</ref> Males wrote "these young Americans should finally get the recognition they deserve", praising the cohort and stating that "the permissively raised, universally deplored Generation X is the true 'great generation', for it has braved a hostile social climate to reverse abysmal trends". He described them as the hardest-working group since the [[Greatest Generation|World War II generation]]. He reported Gen Xers' entrepreneurial tendencies helped create the high-tech industry that fueled the 1990s economic recovery.<ref name="Males" /><ref>{{cite news|last1=Reddy|first1=Patrick|title=Generation X Reconsidered; 'Slackers' No More. Today's Young Adults Have Fought Wars Fiercely, Reversed Unfortunate Social Trends and Are Proving Themselves to be Another 'Great Generation'|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-22449092.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160911121441/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-22449092.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=11 September 2016|access-date=19 June 2016|newspaper=The Buffalo News|date=10 February 2002}}</ref> In 2002, ''Time'' magazine published an article titled ''Gen Xers Aren't Slackers After All'', reporting that four out of five new businesses were the work of Gen Xers.<ref name="Retail"/><ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Chatzky|first1=Jean|date=31 March 2002|title=Gen Xers Aren't Slackers After All|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,221136,00.html|magazine=Time|access-date=19 June 2016|archive-date=1 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701074918/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,221136,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

=====Response to 9/11=====
In the U.S., Gen Xers were described as the major heroes of the [[September 11 terrorist attacks]] by author William Strauss. The firefighters and police responding to the attacks were predominantly from Generation X. Additionally, the leaders of the passenger revolt on [[United Airlines Flight 93]] were also, by majority, Gen Xers.<ref name="Jury Expert" /><ref>{{cite news|last1=Koidin|first1=Michelle|title=After September 11 Events Hand Generation X a 'Real Role to Play'|newspaper=[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]|date=11 October 2001}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Koidin|first1=Michelle|title=Events Hand Generation X A 'Real Role to Play'|url=http://www.lifecourse.com/media/articles/lib/2001/101101-saen.html|access-date=16 October 2016|publisher=LifeCourse Associates|date=11 October 2001|archive-date=19 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019061452/http://www.lifecourse.com/media/articles/lib/2001/101101-saen.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Author Neil Howe reported survey data which showed that Gen Xers were [[cohabitation|cohabiting]] and getting married in increasing numbers following the terrorist attacks. Gen X survey respondents reported that they no longer wanted to live alone.<ref>{{cite web|title=Neil Howe on Gen X and 9/11|date=2001|work=CNN|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur-b1FMUVo4 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190929141554/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur-b1FMUVo4&gl=US&hl=en| archive-date=29 September 2019|via=youtube.com}}</ref> 

In October 2001, the ''[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]'' wrote of Gen Xers: "Now they could be facing the most formative events of their lives and their generation."<ref>{{cite news|last1=Klondin|first1=Michelle|title=After September 11 Events Hand Generation X a 'Real Role to Play'|newspaper=[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]|date=11 October 2001}}</ref> The ''[[Greensboro News & Record]]'' reported members of the cohort "felt a surge of [[patriotism]] since terrorists struck" by giving blood, working for charities, donating to charities, and by joining the military to fight the [[War on Terror]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Johnson|first1=Maria|title=Greatness Alive in Generation X Young Americans Show Patriotism in the Wake of the Terrorist Attacks Sept. 11|publisher=[[Greensboro News & Record]]|date=20 September 2001}}</ref> ''The Jury Expert'', a publication of The American Society of Trial Consultants, reported: "Gen X members responded to the terrorist attacks with bursts of patriotism and national fervor that surprised even themselves."<ref name="Jury Expert"/>