The Year I Was Born Feels Like a Memory Box...GenZ Who Grew Up With Champak

This morning, a random thought hit me as I prepped captions for a Gen Z brand launch—Am I really Gen Z?

HAHA its Figure it out.

I was born in 1997. According to most sources, that makes me a Gen Z. But the world I grew up in felt so different from today’s trending culture. I wasn’t watching viral reels or talking in aesthetic tones. I was watching Makdee on a DVD, flipping through Champak while my elder sister read Tinkle, and spending evenings glued to Shaktimaan, Ssshhh... Koi Hai, or Shaka Laka Boom Boom.

There were no Instagram aesthetics, just Orkut scraps, scrapbooks and “Who viewed my profile” plugins. My version of binge-watching was waiting for that 4 PM slot on TV or sneaking into internet cafés to rewatch my favorite shows.

Even in today’s world of influencer marketing, trending sounds, and fast-paced content, my soul craves slower, sweeter moments from that old world. I often feel like a millennial stuck in Gen Z's body—struggling to relate to trends I’m supposed to sell, while quietly longing for simpler digital times.

It’s a strange in-between. Too young for floppy disks, too old for BeReal. Too old for rizz, too young for boomer. A mix of old-school curiosity and new-age pressure.

And I know I’m not alone. If you're a fellow ’97 kid—or even somewhere close—you might feel this too.

So, let’s open up the floor.

Do you relate? Do you feel more Millennial or Gen Z?

Share your thoughts—maybe together, we’ll find a name for this beautiful middle-ground generation.