Oversimplified assumptions have always produced unescapable stereotypes of every generation that will linger even as you age. The world looks different when you see it from within your generational bubble, but should you ever find your way out, you’ll be met with clarity. If you’re really open minded, you’ll find optimism too.
To generalise an entire generation under a set of stereotypes is a tale as old as time. Passing judgement, often otherwise known as just being rude, is easily done. It’s no challenge to do when the world lacks hope but 9 times out of 10 it’ll be hypocritical. That’s not to say you can’t have a opinion, but I doubt that everyone that age associates themselves with whatever weird behaviour it is you witnessed once.
Described as chaotic but skilled and innovative but finicky, lets take Gen Z as an example. It’s not hard to find an article that describes us as “unemployable”, when in fact I think what they mean to say is just that we’re “slightly different” to them. It should be simple to understand how a rise of digitalisation, a pandemic, the lingering burden of an obscene amount of student debt and a cost of living crisis might have influenced our perspectives.
Yet difficulties and obstacles aren’t unique to any generation. Millennials suffered through the introduction of austerity politics and financial crises. Gen X faced economic shifts and the end of the cold war. Baby Boomers has a changing society post- World War II with civil rights movements. Then we also can’t forget the Silent Generation who grew up during the Great Depression and World War II.
Not every difficulty is comparable to another because they’re all on different scales but this is also not a definitive list. Any final summary is subjective. To make a competition out of who suffered the most is reductionist and invalidating as we’ll never actually understand what another has experienced (That is unless someone makes a time machine next). Presumptions about the experience of others enables a feeling of division, and too often, an unfounded sense of superiority.
Nostalgia’s a complex feeling that glorifies the good old days in a way that usually disregards the hardships that inevitably occurred at that time. The world is always changing and if we don’t too then we become trapped in the past and impose stereotypes on others in a rejection of the change occurring. It doesn’t have to be a quick adjustment just a willingness to try to prove the importance of an open mind.
It’s much easier to focus on the negatives rather than the positives but who doesn’t love a challenge? It’s not too late to open our minds and consider the positives associated with each other so that we might begin to understand the benefits of collaboration. The Silent Generation are resilient, Baby Boomers advocated for social causes, Gen X have a strong work ethic, Millennials bring a work-life balance and Gen Z are tech savvy.
Perms, blow outs and heatless curls all represent the same cross-generational love for a fashion trend that no social media addict can deny they love to try. Fangirling and fighting for concert tickets is an experience unique to none of us. We’ve all lived the same ideas, just in a different way. Each generation has done something that would be considered as woke, it’s just that the word wasn’t being used.
Some people say life gets easier as you get older and some say it gets harder. Consensus on which is true seems impossible to achieve but perhaps we can see how we might just be making it harder for each other by having a pessimistic outlook. Complaining about change, when each of us have brought it about, creates a loop of generational hypocrisy. I only hope that one day someone will resolve this.
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