I'm not sure about the new silent generation (I hadn't heard of that one!) - but I think the reason they name generations is because people born in the same general time-span are usually influenced by the same events growing up, and tend to share some similarities (in values, outlook, actions) that they don't necessarily share with other generations.

I recently had to do some google-research on Millennials for work... and found that, for example, where older generations really saw "owning things" (houses, cars) as marks of success, a lot of people from the Millennial generation don't seem to think that way, or value those things. Probably because of things like ride-sharing, which wasn't a thing when I grew up (Gen X, mid-40s!). I don't have detailed research, sadly, b/c again it was just googling to see what I could find - but it's really interesting to look at how the time frame when you grew up affects your values and who you are!

This ends up being important if you're in marketing, because if you keep trying to market to a younger generation using the same messages that you did for an older one, you will fail - your message won't resonate!

In other crazy stuff, I'm in my mid-40s too, and feel sooo old, now that I'm old enough to look back and say, "wow, this thing that is so incredibly common now - like cell phones - didn't even exist when I was growing up!" Soooo old feeling. I don't think cordless phones were even a thing at that point - I remember having to grab the phone off the wall in the kitchen, and walk around the corner, pulling the cord as far as it could go, to get some privacy