#Generational Gap

[furiousgoldfish]

I'm noticing that adults are often very offended when they see a child who has something they themselves didn't have in their childhood. I've had someone randomly start ranting about how their own grandchildren have 'too much toys', and how they don't appreciate any of it. They went on to explain how they, as a child, only had one toy, and they had to play with that one alone. They're also upset that children can now use phones, which also wasn't an option in their own childhood.

This is concerning to me, because while busy noticing all the things that children have, which are toys and phones, people don't tend to notice the things we had that are no longer available to the new generations. Planet free of pollution, free of climate change, adults got to experience that. Economy that isn't in this bad of a state, availability of jobs, education being worth something, financial safety, probability of owning a home. All of this has critically declined and turned into unstable, unreliable and difficult to manage situation for children, to the point where there's no clear path to a safe future anymore, for anyone. Current children have to invent jobs and find a way to produce a safe future without relying on an existing path, something that was available for most of the population in the past.

And the availability of phones and toys is not necessarily a luxury; back then nobody had a phone, or a mountain of toys, so it would be unusual and privileged for just one child to have it. But when everyone has that, it would be unusual and almost humiliating not to have it. The prices of these had reduced, they're more available and easy to get. The phones connected to the internet will ensure that the child will be exposed to a lot of information every day, and they'll have to find a way to deal with all that, it can become overwhelming and damage their attention span and emotional stability, if they're constantly exposed to distressing or disturbing information, which often finds its way to kids.

What will it mean for their life, if they had toys and phones as kids, but later on, they don't have a safe job? They can't hope to have a home of their own? They are not at freedom to financially plan their futures, their families, they have to depend on their own parents or relatives to get by? What will it feel like when they can't count on the climate and safe and reliable food sources? What when they're suffocated by the financial demands of just staying alive and fed? What if they don't have anyone to help financially? What if they're rendered mentally ill by the stress and perils happening in the world, all of it so close to them via constant overload of pain and suffering?

Having toys and phones is nothing compared to having an experience of a safe, stable, predictable life, on a planet with a normal, stable climate. We failed to secure this to our children. We have no business being jealous that they now have a phone.

[safije]

Tumblr demographics

Users over 45: 100% chance it's a porn blog, can sometimes be seen giving their unwanted right wing political opinions in the notes.

Users 25 - 30+: Made an account in their teens, never left. Most likely either a fandom blog that constantly posts TV/Movie gifs or another type of special interest blog.

Users in their teens: A lot of coquette girlbloggers romanticizing eating disorders and mental illness -pretty much like Millenials and older Gen Z when we were teens.

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

I’m about 2/3rd of the way into “Ghost of Tsushima”. One, I did not expect that this game would be about the origins of the ninja. Two, in a weird way, this game is secretly a coming-of-age/generational gap story.

Our main hero is Jin, who represents the current generation. He was raised to follow the ways of his elders, namely his father and uncle. However, the old ways are limited since the Mongolian invaders don’t respect them. That’s when Jin meets Yuna, who is the “rebellious” youth who shows Jin a different way of handling the Mongols. Yuna’s way clashes with the elders’ ways, but she’s getting results. This ends up creating a moral panic in Jin since he’s torn between respecting his elders and doing whatever it takes to stop the Mongols.

It’s straight up a generational gap storyline. If you take away the samurai/ninja stuff:

1) Jin is the young man who grew up in a sheltered, conservative home but grows disillusioned with his elders due to the state of the world he’s in.

2) Yuna is the rebellious young woman who wants to save the world (let’s just say, her brother is her world) and has no respect in the older generation since she feels they are responsible for the troubles of the world, such as Yarikawa’s resistance to assisting Lord Shimura.

3) Lord Shimura represents the older generation that is set in their ways and is, albeit reluctantly, willing to punish the younger generation if they stray from tradition. He also represents how older generations have created problems that the younger generations are forced to deal with, such as Jin and Yuna needing to mend the strained relationship between Clan Yarikawa and Clan Shimura.

4) The Mongols in general represent the troubles of the world that both the older and younger generations have to deal with. However, both generations clash over how to deal with their mutual problems.

[daniel-oneiroi]

The above has the name and face blanked out, but it's a version of the SAME despair I've seen over and over again since January. Especially from disabled and chronically ill people in groups on Facebook. - They'll never retire (they had an expectation of being ABLE to retire.) - They'll never buy a home/pay off their mortgage (they had an expectation of home ownership AND that it would be eventually paid off.) - They'll never go on fabulous holidays (they had an expectation of being able to go to France or Ireland or travel the Grand Canyons for a week or whatever.) I immediately have a Lot of Feelings about this. I thought about it and didn't feel like taking it out on her directly. I don't think it will help. (yes, I'm angry, but what will I GET from this? what will I achieve?) Some of it is a sheer generational divide. Most of the people who I see post some variation of these things are obviously 50+ years old, by looking at their profiles. Meanwhile, most of the people under 30 who I've been surrounded by never had the idea of retiring at all. Some of us 30-40 who come from very low-income backgrounds also never, ever even dreamed in some serious way of, idk, going to Australia for a week to see the beach. But this is what I WANTED to write in response to that specific post: --------- Most people just Do Not Get It. On some level, I think lower-income people are the most vitriolic about Disability benefits *because* they need to believe that if things get worse, there's a light at the end. They need to believe we get free phones and discounts and all sorts of things, the same way they need to believe all the hardship they have on earth will ensure Heaven for them when they die.

I'd rather be back waitressing and meeting new people, being able to at least go out for coffee once a week or something without the mental checklist of "are there stairs? does this place have a broken, flashing fluorescent light? can I easily get transportation? is there a bathroom I can actually USE? do the doors work properly? Maybe part of the minimizing of our issues is that a lot of the things listed are... somewhat "normal" now.

No retirement? No vacations? This is routine for people experience if they aren't solid middle class. If you're under 35, most of these things never existed and the expectation was never different. If you didn't have parents that had all these things, in an environment where this is typical, chances are you have never been on a vacation. Ever. You might get a week off school and stay home. If you're lucky, you might get to go to a library daytime "camp" like art classes or something, glorified daycare for older kids. That's what vacations look like. Or there's this not-uncommon experience, apparently, if you weren't a City Kid in the 90s and early 2000s.

I went on a summer vacation for a month, once. To a fundie Baptist camp. Where it was cheap for my low-income parents and it looked great to them... We drank sulfur water, which I'm quite allergic to, and spent hours being indoctrinated into Evangelical beliefs like "women go to hell automatically because a talking snake convinced the first woman to eat fruit," and "brown people are bad because your sin makes you dirty, and they are permanently covered in brown like mud." Hours of confession or turning in other campers who are scared because what if they did something evil and against god and they aren't getting into Heaven anymore? Pastor interspersed nightly sermons with illustrations of people burning alive to remind us that any secret will also send us to Hell. We are our brother's keeper. Mind you, most of us were 5-10 years old. Apparently, this is also common in parts of the US. Low income people are preyed upon. The Church offers free or low-cost care to get people in to wholesome, Christian programs like these.

So even though people in their 30s and younger are now becoming *very* disabled from things like lack of safety on the job, poor regulations or ignored regulations, and long-term COVID disorders, they really just fundamentally don't understand that it's going to be ALL of this but somehow even harder.

"Saving for retirement" is something I used to hear about a lot, and it was so wild to find out that it was most people's expectation. I don't know any relatives, save ONE, who was ever able to retire. Most work until they die. And the one that retired I'm pretty sure was partially funded by 'survivor's benefits'. People... retire? It always sounded like something on television, like a script way to edit out a character. I have ONE friend who's father retired. Because he literally broke his spine, has Lou Gherig's, and severe schizophrenia- and the schizophrenia was never enough for any kind of benefits or help at all. He "retired" in his late 60s from a labour job. I have a lot of neighbours and acquaintances through local groups who are in labour jobs in their 60s. There is no retirement option. Never was. So this distressing idea of not saving for retirement, specifically because of a serious incurable illness? That's reserved for people who ever thought they would HAVE a retirement plan. Younger people can't see the alarms inherent to the situation because we never had that idea to begin with.

I've never known anyone who was able to pay off their house. Even friends' parents in their 50s and 60s don't own their homes. It was just easier to get the home loans 30 years ago, so they didn't NEED perfect credit. They weren't trapped in the "rent cycle" that everyone my age is. My mom's mortgage + insurance on a larger place is half of my rent in an apartment I can never renovate to do things like... use a rollator indoors. I can't afford to put down a huge cash payment on a house to at least live in a place where I can use a rolling chair in the kitchen to help me wash dishes, or have a bathroom where I can use a shower chair to keep from fainting. I can't rip up the carpets to use an office chair instead of a wheelchair. I can't affix a wall-mounted basket shelf thingy by the bed so I can keep my phone, charger, and some other small things in reach, and the room is too small to have a rolling cart on the floor. Not when that room is also the work-from-home office and is shared with my partner. And our ESAs are getting older, so they have mobility-related stuff too, like solid wood stairs to get up onto the bed. It's really nice to have a giant purring Maine Coon when I feel awful and can't get up. Even if I weren't on disability, this is the same trap I see all my former coworkers and their friends in. Mobility problems just make it THAT much harder. As an aside, my friend was homeless in her early 20s when her mom suddenly died. The house was never paid off and she couldn't assume the payments and taxes. You don't get benefits just for autism, especially not as an adult. And they definitely didn't pay a minimum of $3k/mo. Younger people are distressed about housing, but NOT specifically seeing how hard a disabling condition makes it to ever have stable housing... because no one has fucking stable housing. No one. You don't have adequate housing because you have hEDS? welcome to the fucking club. The next guy works 3 jobs and has part of the ceiling in his apartment falling in (a thing a guy I knew actually went through for two years. NO the county doesn't give a fuck. And no, he couldn't afford to "just move." That can cost ~$4-5k here.) Another works 50 hours a week and rents a room. A single room. Rent is SO out of control here, a mediocre ROOM with some weird people can be $600/mo easily. I had a coworker who was doing this. Another roomie *BOILED FABULOSO FLOOR CLEANER* to "make the place smell better." I FUCKING KID YOU NOT. But they were UTD on rent, so the landlord did not fucking care. Oh, you don't have a safe place to live because of ME? No one does, sweetie. It isn't just you.

It's a dark joke that isn't a joke that a "Florida vacation" to us means getting fired or reduced to 0 hours, but technically not fired, and not getting another job fast enough. Hired for 0 hours is a tax loophole in FL, so I was once on the roster at a company for over a year with maybe two shifts. They get tax breaks for hiring employees *but not necessarily* actually having them WORK. Thus, the "Florida vacation." Holidays? That means "day off work." Holidays = Christian holidays. Otherwise we have to use sick days. Lets hope you have a job that allows sick days. I have quit jobs because sure, I got the job after a month of applying for dozens of low-wage jobs. But it ended up costing so many hours by bus, every single day, to get there that it was cheaper and energy-saving to quit. BUT things like food stamps hinge on working a minimum hours per week. So.

That's probably why the autoimmune stuff got worse, actually: working two jobs, walking up to 10 miles a day BEFORE clocking in, and still not being able to afford rent on a studio in a bad part of town. I barely ate. At least I still had the car to technically live in, but that walking thing was because the motor had a problem and the transmission was bad. But because I didn't have an address, I couldn't qualify for food stamps! And I couldn't prove I lived in the county for most food banks, even if we'd HAD them in this part of town. It could literally take 6 hours round-trip on the bus to reach one. I think I was 50lbs underweight when I met the guy who became my partner. Spent the next decade working mostly for food. Basic bills were always juggled. Apartment had mold so bad I ended up in the hospital, after months of breathing problems. County ignored dozens of calls about the property. Couldn't afford to move.

Turns out, this isn't that abnormal in Tampa. It was in 2010, except for the lower end of economics. It isn't now. Not at ALL. Don't even look up how many people *were* just edging by before Milton + Helene. How many are now homeless or nearly so, even if they DID live in an actual house. All these things that are VERY distressing to older people in these support forums? They're almost comical to younger people, and they do not understand why they're often laughed at or reacted to with vitriol. They really do not understand and they think it's malice. Meanwhile, younger healthy (but lower income) people are almost hateful towards disabled people. I don't think it's just the new generation of fox news andrew tate "conservatives," and it's intellectually lazy to blame strangers on TV, as if everything else isn't a 'real' formative experience.

I think some people just REFUSE to acknowledge that things can get so much worse for us, at ANY time, unprovoked, "even though" we did nothing wrong (fair world beliefs). People can't imagine it getting much worse. They would just break. They would die. Really, really realizing that this is a real possibility despite doing "everything right," there's nothing left to look forward to. They HAVE to believe that there's some kind of safety net if The Worst happens. They HAVE to believe we have all kinds of benefits and free rent and shit. It's like a hideous coping mechanism- one that damns us because people who COULD help us make themselves believe that we really don't need any help. Until, of course, they experience the shock and anger of this happening to THEM. And then THEY didn't get what they believed they were "promised." uughhhuughhhhh. And of course, nowwwww they're outraged.

clearly I understand the process somewhat. but I'm still angry af because wow, this shit didn't matter until it happened to YOU. two things can be true at the same time.

[howifeltabouthim]

'Whatever made Cambridge go wrong for Peter? . . . ' 'I don't think is was anything specific. Just a quite different view of the world which you and I can scarcely begin to imagine.' 'I just don't understand the modern young. I can't see any conceivable merit in this dropping out, can you?' 'They've got a sharper eye than we have for what's rotten in this society.'

Iris Murdoch, from A Fairly Honourable Defeat

[katesattic]

So at what age does a person decide they no longer want to make life better for future generations and would rather they suffer "as I did"?

Because, I've noticed, this is not specific to one generation but an issue overall as people age. Like when does a person go "I'd love it if my kids/grandkids didn't have to worry about XYZ in the fututre" to "well, I had to do it at your age so you have to too"? Because I'm frankly sick of it.

Just because I had to go into debt to go to uni doesn't mean I think my kids should. When did you become so callous to the youth?

(Do not make this a Boomers vs whoever thing in the tags. This is a cyclical issue that happens every generation.)

[some-minor-inconvenience]

I was born in the wrong generation

I am not made for working a 9-5 or modern dating

I am made for sleep 18 hours, collect berries, hit rock with other rock, lovingly yell at moon

[nando161mando]

How Capitalism cause generational gap

[biologicalalchemist]

Something I noticed about the older generation is that their reaction to warm weather. A lot of 40-60 year olds are always happy to have the sun out and have it be 25 degrees (C).

Meanwhile my reaction as a 27 year old is concern because the climate in our counhry should rarely allow for 25 degrees. When I express happiness about it getting colder again I always get weird looks, BUT IT'S OCTOBER. We should be transitioning into winter with cloudy days that are 10-15 degrees, not be sitting here sweating in a t-shirt at 25.

We used to have a national event where we skated on natural ice, but it hasn't been held for my entire lifetime. One of our traditions has become impossible due to climate change and the previous generation is happy about it.

Terrifying

[geurace]

I pondered upon why my parents always taught me that love in the concept of marriage isn't just about feelings.

"Dili raman na feelings inig minyo." It's not just about feelings in marriage.

The concept of working together, being parents, providing for your future children, and all these other practical responsibilities are what is being put into the spotlight. And as a child, or a teenager, growing up, it was like blowing off a candle. Marriage is not all about feelings or emotions. It's not about being in love with your partner.

"Kung gutmon mo, makaon diay na ninyo inyong gugma?" If you starve, are you able to eat with just love?

My parents are from a different generation, with different experiences, and different beliefs on how the world works. I may be young and may be naive, but they need to learn to acknowledge that destroying a pretty image made up by a child's outlook is not the right way to protect them. Projection from a parent to a daughter or a son is a dangerous thing that not a lot (in my case and my setting) speak about. I, for one, am a victim of it.

I understand it. We cannot trust our future into something so fleeting such as an emotion. They would always say it is about work: working in harmony so you live a life you both want. Isn't, or better yet, shouldn't love be the precursor for this effort of understanding each other's needs and growing together as a team?

If you would ask me the question, "what is love, then?" I, in all honesty, would not be able to define it so easily, but I know that I would absolutely not dare limit, box, or confine it as just an emotion or a feeling.

[markwateneymemorialcrater]

I’ve had a bit of a realization about who so many young adults or even older adults feel so unsatisfied with their careers. The boomers were the last generation that was really invested in. Like paid apprenticeships and internships were a common if not the primary career path for people. And people were paid enough to incentivize them staying because companies saw labour as an investment, not a reluctant cost to be cut at first convenience.

As someone in their late twenties now feeling like I’m in a dead end job that doesn’t interest me and doesn’t seem to have much possibilities for promotion or career upgrading, it feels miserable. And I’m realizing that all my life I’ve never had anyone invest in me. The closest is we may get financial help to go to school but that is becoming an increasingly pathetic gesture when post secondary education gets you massive debt and the ability to get marginally over minimum wage. Employers more or less expect you to show up trained and then learn everything else on your own on the job with minimal shadowing or official training.

How many jobs have you all started where you are several weeks in and still have no idea what your doing and can’t seem to get anyone to actually show you?

And granted. This is painting with a broad brush and certainly reeks of “back in the good old days” sentiment. But I do feel that there is likely some truth to it.

[bigbroadvice]

I've submitted this to a couple blogs, but it is a genuine question I have and so I'd like to get as widespread of an answer as I can get.

So I know what we talk about making found families as queer people, a lot of the time that ends up looking like a group of our peers, or a significant other, or a combination of the two.

But the way I've always looked at families is that they're not just made up of people your age. They're made up of so many different ages, they're made up of the grandmothers, the aunts, the uncles, the cousins, the mothers, the fathers, and I think that's something that I find harder to replicate in a found family then finding people my age I can make connections with.

So my question is, how do you go about creating and joining the larger communities/found family of queer people. Where do you find the older queers who can take on the roles of grandparents, and, uncles, cousins, surrogate parents, how do you go about connecting with younger queer people who you can take under your wing as surrogate brothers, sisters, and siblings.

Because I think it's entirely possible, or it should be entirely possible. I just don't know how you actually go about making those connections and finding those communities rather than just connecting to people your age and within your sphere.

And this could go for online communities, this could go for in real life communities. Honestly knowing how to find connections and make connections in both of those spheres would be helpful. But yeah I was hoping that even if you yourself don't actually necessarily have an answer to this, that by sharing it maybe someone else will have more of an answer.

This is an excellent question!

The cultural norm now-a-days seems to be for people to only really interact with people their own age and our communities, both large and small scale, are suffering for it. The only way to overcome this barrier is to be intentionally counter cultural.

Keep an eye out for queer people older and younger than you and be intentional about talking to and forming connections with them. Go talk to that queer teacher or coworker or neighbor when you’ve got something going on and could use some advice instead of just googling it. Look out for the queer kids, invite them into your friend group, and offer a hand when it looks like they’re having a hard time.

Hang out in places with people of different ages, both in person and online. Find a community program where you can get to know people. It might feel kind of awekward at first because we’re all used to staying in our own self contained little age group bubbles, but most of us really do want to talk to eachother. You’ve just gotta reach out and keep leaning into those connections.

That’s the whole point of what I’m trying to do with this blog.

[dk-wren]

Clubhouse vs. Funhouse

Hello, and welcome back to my delirious late night thoughts!

Tonight I bring you the weird realization I had today. While waiting for Bluey episodes to resume on Disney Junior, I left the tv on which began to play Mickey Mouse Funhouse episodes. After watching/listening to several episodes, I had this realization that in the future (if not already), there is probably going to be a generational gap? divide? as to who instantly recognizes Toodles and "Hot Dog" (from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) and Funny and "Stretch Break"/"Wiggle Giggle Wiggle" (from Mickey Mouse Funhouse).

Like, I grew up with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I fangirled when I saw the replica Mousekedoer in the queue at Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway at Disneyland (let's not look too deep into that). It's been years since I've seen the dance, but I have a pretty good memory of each member's move for "Hot Dog."

But today, children are likely to recognize Funny, Windy, and Teddy (who I have so many questions about) instantaneously, rather than Toodles. They are also likely to know the dance for "Stretch Break" and "Wiggle Giggle Wiggle" instead. And, can I point out that Funhouse now has a dedicated time within the show (between the two 10ish minute episodes) to get up and exercise? That for sure is a new convention since I don't remember watching any shows that included this while growing up. Perhaps in between different shows/episodes, but not integrated within.

I don't know what the point of this post was other than to share my ramblings. I think this stems from recently volunteering to work with middle-school aged students and hearing what they watched when they were little (like Kindergarten/early Elementary), as well as seeing what they did not recognize compared to what the other volunteers instantly recognized.

Anyways, I will be deep in thought about this for the rest of the night. Have a good one!

-Dakota Wren

[itwouldbenicetohaveaname]

My mom just shared that at 22, her partner, had told her he couldn't touch doorknobs, "I didn't listen at all to those stories. I was only 22, I had no idea about OCD"

I knew what OCD was by 7. I learned more accurately about this disorder (and manifold more) through social media and Google years later (I know those sources are not equivalent to professional ones don't need to tell me)

What I'm saying is, gen-z has made leaps of progress happen for mental health education. We are way more educated about mental health than our parents.

It is bittersweet cause it creates a gap between generations. How are you supposed to talk about self-harm when your parents think it is only a thing suicidal people do? Educating about such topics is particularly exhausting cause they don't really believe you. Anyway.

Congrats gen-z

[hellyeahheroes]

Young Generations are Now Poorer Than Their Parents and It’s Changing Our Economy by Economics Explained

[samskaterguy]

Why is it teenagers can just never win with older people? Like recently at my school our older teachers were complaining the students dressed “too casual

This is a public school literally who cares if they wear sweatpants and hoodies every day??? It is not harming anyone AT ALL and I can say for sure if a student instead wore a crop top and some shorts ever so slightly above their fingertips that student would be sent to the office for being “too revealing” 

WHAT DO YOU WANT US TO DO? Wear suits, ties, and dresses to school to watch the 8:25 AM fight and see Sally stick a heel in Savannah’s eye because she talked to Kegan one time during lunch and dared to offer him her shitty carrots?