In this article we are going to interpret the different transitions that have happened in India, post-liberalisation through the prism of so-called 90's kids, specifically the middle band of the '90s (1994 to 1997) with background about their predecessors.
People born in '40s,'50s :
First, we will try to understand the lifestyle of people born in the '40s, '50s of the 20th century in India. Those days the houses weren't electrified except a few, and the mobility between places was not much. The means of communication was typically through in-person meetings (or) through messengers. Gradually they moved onto postcards (or) inland letters after middle age (late 20's). There was no television but only transistors that too shared ones in a street, Most of them from were an agricultural background for occupation. They lived in a slow and steady lifestyle, typically in the countryside with a lot of sharing practices amongst them.
People born in '60s,'70s :
Next, we will try to understand the people born in the '60s, '70s, fundamentally the parents of '90s kids. Their transition was gradual like from shared transistors to individual transistors to shared televisions. Electrification was gradually expanding. Commutation improved gradually like from walk to bicycles and availability of public transport. Their occupation was a blend of agriculture and office occupancy but slowly moved towards urban occupancy. Their lifestyle was a semi-rural style predominantly communication was through postcards, letters, inland letters, but availability was more with occasional telephones after their middle age (late 50's).
People born in the '80s :
We will try to understand briefly about '80s kids, who grew up in a bit more sophisticated environment than the previous segment. Here, almost more than 3/4th of the population lived in electrified spaces. Their black & white TV's with single-channel and communication through shared telephones to individual telephones in their early middle age. And their occupancy was mostly a 9 to 5 style to an evolving space now during their later (or) later middle part of their careers. Their lifestyle was predominantly semi-urban to urban now. Their transition was also gradual.
People born in the '90s:
Now comes the epicentre of the article, the '90s kids specifically the middle band. These are the people who overlap with the GEN Y (or) GEN Z of the western world. But in India is more interesting as liberalisation was born with them, followed by rapid urbanisation. They typically had a bit of all from the previous 2 segments, as they started with transistors available, black & white TV's initially single channel, the postcards (or) inland letters for celebrations. These are some of the things they inherited from the past. And then this expanded to colour TV's with different channels specifically cartoons through satellite, FM radios individual telephones, variety of food items available during their early childhood. Later this expands to the usage of modern computers, refrigerators and washing machines in their houses. Their childhood was dominated by a blend of some older generations and the usage of some modern products. In the later childhood, typically their teenage, slowly the internet era begun in India with accessibility to PCs and the advent of basic mobile phones. Slowly when they moved to college, the mobile phone expanded to android phones and the mobile network from GPRS to 2G and then to 3G, 4G now. Not to forget their advent to find cricket scores through SMS in their middle childhood. And with the advent of android mobiles and predominantly 2G/3G, their communication was in SMS and then to online messaging tools like WhatsApp in the later part of their college education.
Also in their workplaces, the digital space was overwhelming, their predecessors wouldn't have had such IM's and connectivity, till they reached the middle part of their career, but when the 90's kids communication around the globe immediately wasn't a big deal. There was a transition from PCs to laptops & with greater network speed through WiFis. Their occupation was urban and with digital interactions cum flexible hours. But their childhood has memories of the past with a slow & steady lifestyle.
People born in 2K's :
We will try to end this article with 2K kids, these people were already into colour TV's, multiple satellite channels, basic mobile phones and a rapid onslaught in their middle childhood which would mean that they didn't inherit something from an era which was paper filled with a slow & steady lifestyle. They are typically the digital kids.
Please Note :
This article can largely be generic and not be specific to certain personas. Also, it could have an anchoring bias of the writer's own experiences. Thank You.
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