I’ve been hearing the generation debate since I was born. Am I a millennial? I grew up at the start of the new millennium, but that’s also when I was born. Do I, someone who was born after the Y2K problem was solved, someone who was alive for 9/11 but wasn’t old enough to remember it, count with the late 20- to 30-year-olds that make up the rest of the millennial generation?

Others put me in that vague and unimaginatively named group of Generation Z – or whatever they’re calling them now – kids. I was raised in this new age of technology that characterizes the newest generation, but nobody seems to be able to agree on what exactly is the line between young millennials and older Gen Z.

When I was a little kid, there wasn’t the culture of everyone having a supercomputer smartphone with them at all times. I still remember when the iPad was first released. Does that make me a separate generation from current eight-year-olds?

Well, in my opinion, it sure doesn’t make me the same generation.

Let’s face it: generations are absolute nonsense. The time we’re alive and the environment we live in has much more of an impact than the year in which we’re born. I have more in common with some forty-five year olds from Bethesda than I do with some people who were born in the same year as me but live drastically different lives.

People who were born in the same year aren’t more likely to have common upbringings. “Generation” is basically as reliable an indicator of personality as astrological sign, and yet we still treat the former like it’s solid fact.

Stop arguing whether we all count as millennials or not. Don’t debate on what the best name for the generation after millennials should be called; forget about Gen Z versus post-millennials versus iGeneration. If you have to divide the population into easy-to-advertise-to groups, do it based on personality or background, not on our birthdays. It’s time to grow up and leave the concept of generations behind once and for all.