6.03 // The Xennial’s hybrid...

Ever felt too analogue for millennials and too online for Gen X? That strange middle ground has a name—Xennial—and we dig into what it actually feels like to grow up swapping cassettes, then end up editing videos on a phone. We open with some light studio chatter—hats, Lego lights, dual-phone camera angles—then slide into a deeper story about how economics, timing and technology shaped a micro-generation that learned to translate both worlds.

We talk through the big pivot points: buying first homes right as markets swung, navigating wage stagnation and the cost of living, and finding stability in careers while the ground moved. It’s not doom and gloom; it’s the pragmatic mindset that formed when streams replaced discs and certainty went out the window. Expect a tour of format wars—VHS versus Betamax, HD DVD versus Blu-ray—the myths around why formats “win,” and how that churn trained us to migrate libraries, back up files and accept that no standard is permanent.

From early IT classes that taught how to turn on a computer to today’s frictionless creator tools, the contrast is stark. We share how easy it is to make a podcast with a smartphone, why “good enough” editing beats perfectionism, and how being fluent in both analogue and digital makes us handy translators for parents and younger peers. There’s nostalgia for pre-YouTube internet—Flash animations, browser games—and a candid look at how attention shifted once the feed never ends.

If you’ve ever wondered where you fit—Gen X, millennial, Gen Z—or if the Xennial label finally clicks, this is your lane. Press play, compare notes on your defining tech moment, and tell us your era: cassette, CD or cloud. Subscribe, leave a review, and share this with a friend who remembers dial-up but lives on Wi‑Fi.

Chapters

• 0:43 Quick Hello And Housekeeping
• 1:44 Hats, Lego Lights And Video Setup
• 2:44 Defining Xennials And Generations
• 5:12 Economy, Housing And Millennial Headwinds
• 9:01 Analog To Digital: Formats And Folklore
• 11:25 Living The Tech Shift: CDs To iPhones
• 14:32 Skills, Software And Growing Selective
• 17:12 Early IT Lessons And Home Computers
• 20:30 Accessibility Of Creating Content Today

Transcript

Stephen: 0:43

Hi, welcome back to episode three. Thanks for tuning in. Remember to follow us on socials at InfinitePrattle. And you can watch this if you're listening on a podcast audio only subscription service. Remember you can listen and watch on YouTube. So you can see my face now. God help you. You might have noticed I've been wearing different hats every episode as well. So I hope you like them. Let me know in the comments if you uh like my hat apparel. Um bit of a collector of hats. Um there'll be a lot of American uh football ones to go through from the Philadelphia Eagles, go birds. Um and also, I forgot last time, in the very first episode, I remembered in the second episode to turn all my lights on because my Lego figures in the background of the video podcast weren't turned on, so they have been turned on in the last couple of episodes. So um if you can see them and you can zoom in, let me know which minifigure you like. Just engage with me. So uh Xennials uh is a thing, apparently. And I've seen pictures on on social media and videos on pictures, moving pictures, which are called videos, I've seen them on social media um describing Xennials, um, and apparently I say I am one, and we are a mixture of Gen X and millennials. Um I never knew I was a millennial, actually. I th I I didn't think I was Gen X, but I didn't realise I thought there was another one in between. Apparently, now there is. Um and I was kind of disappointed when I found out I was a millennial. Because I think millennials were almost painted as the the no-doll generation, um, you know, the the the can-do, the the the highly educated. Whereas Gen X were kind of like, you know, um the boomers, I think they were called, weren't they? The boomers uh, you know, had a good economy after the war and stuff like that. So like post-war, 60s, 70s, like you know, but they they were the boomer generation. Um is that is are the boomers separate? Actually, are they separate? Is Gen X the one that's followed the boomers? I can't remember. Anyway, um Gen X are considered kind of wealthy because of how they when they bought houses and stuff, the markets were low, but they had money because the economy was rising. Uh millennials are kind of like in between, I I would say, in the sense that the economy dipped a little bit, so they kind of had like a good childhood, and as they were getting into adulthood, their dreams were dashed and taken away from them. That's how I would kind of look at it, and it sounds really, really uh kind of a downbeat way to look at it, but I I I think that that's kind of sort of like in the old in the other in the other episode about like, you know, the cost of living, etc. And I feel that like whereas probably like Gen X had their kind of booming kind of period where you know they get a job and their their probably cost of living was quite low and they had they could get well-paid jobs because wages went up, etc. For a time there was probably a misbalance in the fact that they could probably get on the property market, had a little bit more money, a bit more disposable income before that caught up a little bit. Whereas I think my generation we probably got a bit more of a a lift up from our parents, who may have been in a better situation from their upbringing, but then that caught sort of caused us to stall in our adulthood because of the way things were brought in, uh, and the way the the stock market went, etc. And the big the big uh financial crashes, let's say. Well, let's not say that's what it was. So I just think that it's um it's a weird concept, but I kind of agree with it. Xianials I think I I think I I um would be proud enough to call myself a Xiano that word. Um in the sense that it probably does describe my generation quite well. So we're kind of the ones that bridge the gap between Gen X and is it Gen Z? Are they the next ones? Or are they the current ones? It would be Gen Z, wouldn't it? Um yeah, and I think that it does make sense because Gen X were like analog days, you know, LPs, VCRs, Betamax, if you remember Betamax. Um I don't really remember Betamax if I'm honest with you. It was kind of like the Blu-ray, for anyone that doesn't know, it's bla kind of like the Blu-ray HD D HD movies. HD D? No, HD movies. Uh so Betamax lost to VCR basically, lost, lost to video cassette tapes, uh, and HD DVDs lost to Blu-rays. And um I think the first Xbox had the HD drive in, whereas the PlayStation had a Blu-ray drive. And kind of goes from there, really. Uh I believe the reason that Blu-rays won though, this might be one of them things that is one of them um non-facts where it's not actually correct. But I believe that Blu-ray is run because that's the one that pornography chose. Now I I don't know if that's true or not, uh, but apparently that was the format that pornography chose, and because they produce so many films, it boosted their kind of you know um profile, and that's what people started choosing. I suppose only if you're into pornography on Blu-ray, I suppose. Um yeah, I don't know if that's true. I feel I feel like it could be true, but it probably isn't. It's probably them uh, you know, um um kind of cultural things that get stuck in people's brains, but it's like really not really not true at all. Um I can't think of the word. What's the word for it? When when like a folk tale kind of thing, but anyway. Um so yeah, so we kind of bridged the gap between like you know, millennials uh f from Gen Z and and and uh from from Gen X and millennials, true, true millennials. And and I think that's so true because like obviously they were analog, we were analog in our early days, then CDs were coming out, you know, technology was moving so quickly, the micro, you know, proper microchip age started to arise, computers, home computers, um and then going into like proper digital formats like um MP3, you know, Apple and and the iPod and and iPhone and and and true smartphones. Um I mean when I was a kid, like watching Star Trek Next Generation, the late 80s, early 90s, and and looking at them with their pads and their tablets, and they were going, I was thinking, oh my god, it'd be so cool, so cool if you could have like this tablet computer, like how cool would that be? And I have one, I have one now, like it it blows my mind. But yeah, I th I think that me as a millennial or zenil as they as they are is is a true thing, and I think that the the the status of of millennials apparently were downtrodden, especially Xenules, we're down with a downtrodden generation, and um I can see that, I can see that like from from from how I was brought up, um being an adult became harder, you know. The crash in the market, I say I've been quite lucky, I said in previous episode I'm quite lucky with my career. I've worked hard for my job and my career on the railway. Um, but I I'm reasonably well paid, and and it's it's well, touch wood as MDF does it count. Um it's it's a it's a secure job, really. Um But there was that massive stock market crash, and I I'd already bought a house luckily, but that that changed a lot of things in many ways in the early 2000s um of how millennials can get on in life. We we were at that point in our lives where we were probably looking to like settle down, you know, move out of our houses, mum and dad's houses, like parents' guardians' houses, and and really move on. And that that for some people I think I did it just at the right time, just at the right time where you know I'd I'd bought a house in the downturn and I actually made a bit of money on my house, and then it lost money again because of another downturn. But then eventually when I did come to sell it, a decade later it I actually did make money on it. Uh mainly because I'd paid a shitload of money towards the house, so obviously you you gain equity when you're paying a mortgage off. Um but yeah the whole transition from from Gen X to millennial is is is is me, is me and in my generation. Uh God, I remember the we're with a with a generation that remember analog and digital, and there's there's probably a span of like five, six, seven, or eight years maybe that that escalated quickly. Um of of of probably this generation where we kind of remember that transition, and then another generation beyond us, like the late millennials and getting into is it whatever the next one is, Gen Z, I think it is. Um all they've known is digital technology, they've never known having a physical um device, a physical uh media, like putting a cassette into a cassette tape or putting a CD into a CD drive. I mean people don't really even put DVDs or Blu-rays into drivers anymore, um, because everyone's got streaming services. Um and it kind of makes you think that we are we are we are a rare breed. And I kinda like that. I kind of like that my generation has seen both and are kind of competent in both as well, so we could educate the younger generation on the old school stuff and hopefully keep up with the new school stuff. Uh I try and keep my hand in with technology, I try and I try and um you know um learn about the new stuff coming out, but I I do feel that the older I get then it is waning a little bit. I and I think that uh I I feel that like when my mum and dad when I when I was trying to tell mum and dad about things and technology and they were like, yeah, whatever. Um I do feel that's in me a bit now. Um I like to kind of know what I know to do in things, like if if I've worked something out, then brilliant. If if it's out the area of my interest, I don't bother. Or if it's out the area of something I need to achieve, I don't bother looking into it. Uh whereas probably years ago I would have still probably still tried to um had a go and learn it. Um so for example I've got programmes on my computer for editing these videos, and I know I have to do the basic stuff, and it it does so much stuff. I've got Final Cut Pro, so if anyone knows what that is, it's quite a professional uh software tool. And yeah, I I I do feel that um I'm not using probably 95% of what's in there. I throw the videos in there, jiggle it around, put a title, some transitions, bang, go out. Let's let's do it. Um but I can do it. Whereas my dad wouldn't even be interested whatsoever, he wouldn't really know how to do that. Um we were the first generation to actually probably have IT lessons, uh, and it was basic IT. Like I I remember the I remember the IT lessons I used to get in school, and it was literally like how to turn on a computer, like how to turn off the computer, how to write a basic letter, how to input stuff into Excel, how to do stuff like that. Really, really, really basic stuff that you know you think to yourself, like looking back, you think, God, that was that's quite uh quite basic. But it was all new to us. It was all new, like home computers weren't a thing. Like the ho the gaming consoles we had at the time were like well when I was growing up, it was the master system, the the the Nintendo Entertainment Sure um things like Ataris and stuff like that. So when when you think about um when you think about that, and then you suddenly have a computer in your life that can do all these other things, um, it's a massive game changer, especially for my parents, and like when you're young you can adapt to stuff really, really quickly. And I think f that digital age for me probably happened in my early teens. My brother's a bit older than me, so he was a little bit older when when this kicked off. But I I remember my dad getting the first CD player and looking at these CDs and and being amazed, like you know, gen genuinely going like this weird little disc contains more music than this cassette tape, and it sounds like I don't know, like a hundred times better than making that up, I don't know, actual figures, but it's like crystal clear sound, and yeah, it was it was crazy like that these CDs existed. Um I've seen laser discs. We had a laser discs player at school where the the discs were like I think there's something like 10 inches, 10 inches across or 12 inches across. Um and my teacher was saying, oh you can get films on these. I was like, what? And I'd never heard of laser discs discs, it was I'd never heard of laser discs neither. Uh never heard of laser discs, and it was I don't know how popular it was in the UK to be honest. I think it was something that um it was quite expensive technology. Uh people like CDs were when they first came out. Um But this this this technology wasn't accessible to to every person like it is today. I mean like say I'm do I'm doing this podcast now, I mean you could you could set up a podcast now. Um I'm gonna do a little vlog about it, I think, as well, the equipment I've got. But you could set up a podcast now, a basic podcast with a basic smartphone, and that's it really. That's that actually I was gonna list some more stuff, but literally you can get a basic smartphone and you can record audio into it, and you could upload that audio into a into a into a podcast and host and put it onto the internet, or put it onto YouTube. You could video yourself on your phone, pretty much what I'm doing now. That's all I'm doing now. I have a phone set up in front of me, and I have a phone, another phone, my old phone, set to the side of me, so I've got two angles, and that's all I'm doing. It's it's two cameras that are in phones. Um and that technology is so easily accessible now that um we kind of take it for granted. Uh whereas even probably 15 years ago, if you'd have wanted to set up like a video uh video system and recording system and to upload it and stuff, you'd have needed at least a computer and probably a microphone. You probably wouldn't have been able to do it through your phone at the time. You might have been able to record the audio, but you'd have had to transfer it through, and yeah, it it would it would have been a bit of more of a process. And this professional equipment and and general technology and like T Mail, I was mentioning T-mail on the previous podcast, like the things you can get through these these sites now are is so cheap. Um you could probably set a whole studio up for less than a thousand pounds, like genuinely. Um I mean I've I was looking at some cameras and stuff myself, like and the camera that I would like, a couple of cameras I would like that that are like a thousand pounds each. Uh and that's not that's not feasible. That's not feasible. Unless someone's willing to donate something to me. Um I I'm open I'm open to donations, I'm not proud. Um but yeah, the the the whole the whole technology um advancements that I've seen since since coming I've I've come from analog, like from from being a child, all the way through to where we are now. And I think when I look back it it it is quite incredible. Um but yeah it's it's it's there, isn't it? It's there. And I think that the advantage wonders where I do actually wonder where we're gonna be in another 30 years. Everyone's gonna be a zombie on their phones or just have them implanted into their faces. Uh which some people I think kind of would enjoy. Um yeah, it's it's it's a scary thing, and I think that um I think that Xennials are probably the last generation that will kind of understand um how the world worked previous to to analogue. And in 20 years' time when our parents have have probably passed away, um we will be telling these stories of pre-digital days. And that's that's weird to me. I might tell people at work now, like 'cause I I was talking to someone about college actually. I was telling them about college and that YouTube didn't exist when I was at college. So I used to go on a site um called oh god, what was it called now? I used to go on freearcade.com, which I think is actually still there, and I used to go on a site that had like it had like old flash animations on like Weeble and Bob and Salad Fingers and and uh I used to go on Foamy the Squirrel, which again still exists, uh Google that, Foamy's hilarious. Uh don't if you're offended easily. You'd listen to me, so you probably know. Um but yeah, and when I told him that like during my during my downtime, uh I used to play games and stuff, and he was like, Oh, did you not like scroll on your phone? Scroll on your phone and watch YouTube. I was like, no, I was in I was at college in the year 2000, and he was like, Yeah. And I was like, smartphones weren't invented in until like a few years later, and that the iPhone didn't come out until 2007, was it? And he was blown away, he was like, So what did you do to watch videos online? I was like, you just didn't really. There wasn't really that wasn't really a thing. Like there was a couple of like online platforms, but there wasn't it wasn't really a thing that he did. Um and he he was a bit like kind of like what? And I think he was he was also looking at me as if say, how how old are you? Um which was which was pleasant, which was pleasant. But yeah, uh I think we're gonna leave it there. Um I've rambled a little bit about being a z a a Xennial. Um let me know what you think. Which which which kind of camp do you fall into? Are you are you Gen X, are you Gen Z? Are you a millennial? Do you think you're a Zenial? Do you agree with that term? Um and yeah, let me know your thoughts down in the comments. It's really interesting because I think that term, um, because as I say, when I was first kind of like branded, let's say, as a as a millennial, I was kind of a little bit offended. As I like the the kind of like viewpoint that people have of millennials is like, ooh, millennials ooh. Uh is is the is a to quote them. Uh um so when this Xen Xennial thing came out, I was thinking, no, that is that's that for me is more an accurate statement on what I am in relation to generational changes. Uh so yeah, I'm more at ease with that. Um anyway, I'm gonna shut up. Um I hope you enjoyed the podcast today. Again, a little bit more rambly than than usual, not a lot of structure. Let me know if you like this format. I've kind of like carried on from a previous previous episode, or let me know if you want me to speak about something in particular. Let me know if you've got a subject in mind. And I I I will prattle about anything, uh, believe me. I don't like to be too political, but I don't I I might venture into that, you know. It's it might be interesting. I'm not very I'm not very savvy when it comes to that, that's why I don't really want to talk about it. Politics doesn't really interest me a great deal. But anyway, um thank you for listening, thank you for tuning in, thank you for watching. If you have been watching, if you can hit that like button, that would be amazing. Um if you'd like to subscribe, then please do. And uh just remember look after yourselves, and uh, I will speak to you on the next episode. And remember, keep prattling.

SPEAKER_01: 20:36

Thanks for listening to Infinite Prattle with your host Steven. Follow me on social networks at Infinite Prattle and don't forget to subscribe. Thanks very much.