Younger Gen Xers<\/a> also grew up when parents were more permissive, allowing them to stay out all day on their bikes<\/a>. They only knew it was time to come home when the street lights came on. They also grew up in the last analog era without cellphones<\/a>, and parents had to call around various houses to find out where their kids were. Sure, being a kid in those days was a little risky, but it also fostered a fantastic sense of independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This experience isn\u2019t completely limited to Gen Xers; some older millennials also experienced this type of freedom. Because kids born between 1970 and 1985 had a very specific experience, some born in this era have taken to calling themselves Generation Goonie, after the 1985 film, \u201cThe Goonies\u201d <\/a>starring Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Key Huy Quan, and Corey Feldman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Goonies\u201d was a children\u2019s movie based on a story by Steven Spielberg, with a screenplay by Chris Columbus (who would go on to direct \u201cHome Alone\u201d), that was directed by Richard Donner (\u201cSuperman: The Movie,\u201d \u201cLethal Weapon,\u201d \u201cScrooged\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHaving been fortunate enough to speak to a lot of audiences, I have found that younger generations consider Gen X lucky to have grown up without social media and cellphones,\u201d Chris Clews, a keynote speaker and author of \u2018The Ultimate Essential Work & Life Lessons from \u201980s Pop Culture,\u2019 told Newsweek.<\/a> \u201cThey often come up to me and express a desire to have grown up in an era where we knew where everyone was based on the bikes in a front yard, rather than location sharing on Snapchat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Goonies\u201d is a great example of the kids from this era because they lived a feral existence, traveling long distances on their bikes, had a thirst for adventure, a crude sense of humor, and an independent spirit that meant \u201cnever say die.\u201d When their parents were on the verge of losing their houses, they didn\u2019t wait for them to do something; they went on a dangerous mission to find pirates\u2019 treasure to prevent them from being destroyed by evil developers. The Goonies\u2019 antics serve as a sharp contrast with today\u2019s kids, who seem to be wrapped in bubble wrap and closely monitored by their parents. It also shows the fun that kids can have when they spend their time outdoors, instead of on screens.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Generation Goonie trend is taking off on TikTok, where many younger Gen Xers and older millennials proudly embrace the title.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c1981, we had the best childhood out of any generation ever,\u201d Bugface wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow this is something I\u2019m proud to be a part of!!!!!\u201d Rob wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHey you guys..\u201d 77 genx here, Yorkshire, England. We definitely are the only generation of true play outside, tree climbing, bike riding, respectful, no mobile phone, VHS watching kids,\u201d 2Dogs wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s nothing wrong with people who want to embrace the term Gen X. But, 40 years after \u201cThe Goonies\u201d came out in theaters, the attitudes and the independence of the kids in the movie\u2014once <\/a>deemed annoying<\/a> by many\u2014can be seen as a great example of a time that, sadly, we can never go back to. Humanity has crossed the digital divide and taken some of the adventure out of childhood. \u201cThe Goonies\u201d is an excellent example of what we\u2019ve lost, and those who understand the spirit of that era should be proud to embrace the title of \u201cGoonie.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201c1981, we had the best childhood out of any generation ever.\u201d Gen X (born 1965 to 1980) is often referred to as the \u201cforgotten generation\u201d because it<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/654814293_1409308024563518_7988874892412335881_n.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6804"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6806,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6804\/revisions\/6806"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humorsidehub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i.giphy.com\/9dlKFxYR00zDy.gif\")
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