I feel that, for the most part, the angst most feel for millennials is warranted at face value. But we also have to remember that these kids didn’t just appear out of nowhere. So if “these darn kids” are so messed up, it’s really the generation that’s before them that messed up.
And if you go back in time, I would hazard to say there has never been a generation that didn’t bemoan the shortcomings of the next generation. Times change, experiences change, and the world is molded around the next generations based on these changes.
While it’s easy to look at the few and judge the whole, it is just as easy to look at the whole and judge the few.
I was reminded of the “times a changing” recently with all this “stay at home” stuff and my current work situation. I am home, with my computer, multiple screens, and a remote access. I can do everything here that I once had to do in the office. Heck, my cell phone has more computing power than the Apollo spacecraft. I recall my dad telling me how “business was done” when he was going through the ranks as a VP of sales for a number of national companies. What once would have taken him a team of 200 sales reps, merchandisers, and secretaries has now been automated. Shipping, logistics, support, and so forth has all been streamlined and companies continue to do so. Spread that “streamlining” across all sectors of business, and you have effectively made dinosaurs of the old ways.
So while we sit and judge a generation that “creates nothing and gets paid for it” we can look at them as failures, or as magicians. Just consider some “professional you tubers”. They found a niche, made a name for themselves, and are getting paid for it. My acceptance of the validity of their methods or product doesn’t negate their accomplishment.
Someone upstream mentioned how sensitive kids are these days. Who can blame them? Their lives are broadcast for the world to see. Every mistake they make in school is in danger of “going viral” for all to see. Every social interaction they have, every awkward moment while dating, every sports play they attempt is being filmed, documented, and scrutinized for maximum effect. Even if we forbid the use of “social media” for our own children, they are still impacted by it by proxy.
And these kids didn’t create this monster. The framework for it was set into place, and now they have to live with it.
As the maxim goes “a lie makes it around the world before the truth has put on his shoes” is more accurate today than ever with today’s “push of an icon” world. (Phones don’t really even have buttons anymore!”)
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