We have all these names of people born at different times.
We make generalizations about every generation from their preferences, their work ethic, their morality, fashion, and more. Personally, I think every generation is exactly the same as the previous one. For definition sake here is a wikipedia chart.
Recently there was a study of music preferences with a wide range of ages. Here is a summary of the findings. Spoiler: We are loved music from our teenage years.
Complaining about kids is a time honored tradition too. How about some quotes:
“Kids these days are high-minded because they have not yet been humbled by life, nor have they experienced the force of circumstances.
They think they know everything, and are always quite sure about it.”
Aristotle, 384-322 BC
Kids these days are self-indulgent; they have bad manners, contempt for authority;
they show disrespect for elders and love gossip in stead of work.The kids these days are self absorbed, not members of their households.
They are rube to adults.
They contradict their parents and openly gossip before company,They eat like pigs at the table, slouch in their seats, and disobey their teachers.
Plato, 423 – 348 BC
“The beardless youth… does not foresee what is useful, squandering his money.”
“Our sires’ age was worse than our grandsires’. We, their sons, are more worthless than they; so in our turn we shall give the world a progeny yet more corrupt.”
Horace, 65-8 BC
“Youth were never more sawcie, yea never more savagely saucie . . . the ancient are scorned, the honourable are contemned, the magistrate is not dreaded.”
Thomas Barnes, 1624
“We defy anyone who goes about with his eyes open to deny that there is, as never before, an attitude on the part of young folk which is best described as grossly thoughtless, rude, and utterly selfish.”
The Conduct of Young People, Hull Daily Mail
1925
“Probably there is no period in history in which young people have given such emphatic utterance to a tendency to reject that which is old and to wish for that which is new.”
Young People Drinking More, Portsmouth Evening News 1936
“What really distinguishes this generation from those before it is that it’s the first generation in American history to live so well and complain so bitterly about it.”
The Boring Twenties, Washington Post 1993
“They have trouble making decisions. They would rather hike in the Himalayas than climb a corporate ladder. They have few heroes, no anthems, no style to call their own. They crave entertainment, but their attention span is as short as one zap of a TV dial.”
Proceeding with Caution, Time 2001
The list goes on and on. There are literally thousands of quotes from people over the millennia saying how terrible the latest generation is.
We are such self-centered assholes, we humans. We hold contempt everyone who isn’t in our in-group. We think our achievements higher and our problems more serious that any generation.
This is one of the reasons I like to stay current in pop culture and try new technologies. I am trying to avoid overgeneralization and stereotyping.
As girl on couch could have said, “I’m looking for a generation with empathy, open mind, 6’5″ blue eyes.”
This whole post can be repurposed to say how “native citizens” view immigrants. Or how one race sees another. We are all the same.
Whatya think?