Are my gen X peers the influencers the world has been waiting for? | Emma Beddington

Their careers are peaking, they’re rich in money and time – and young people think they’re cool. But maybe it’s not as simple as that ‘Stop sleeping on gen X. ” I heard this on TikTok recently. I misinterpreted it, with a guilty start, as: “Stop sleeping, gen X,” because I am 51 (peak X), so always tired; while not sleeping at the time, I may have been resting my eyes.

In fact, Joel Marlinarson, a marketing guru , was suggesting my generation have become a powerful, if underrated, force online. Aged between 46 and 61, gen Xers with proper jobs are peaking, career-wise (although it’s a different story for those out of work, as a report last month on the struggles of over-50s jobseekers made plain). We’re more likely to own homes than the following generations ;…