Millennials and Boomers
The term ‘Millennials’ refers to children born between the years 1980 and 2004. Baby Boomers are people born between the years 1946 and 1964. In other words, most of our parents are on the tail end of the Baby Boomer generation. With this in mind, our generation and our parent’s generation are experiencing one of the widest generation gaps seen throughout all of human history. This is not because of the sheer number of years that separates us but rather the culture in which the two generations are immersed in as well as the rising of the technological age. With new cultural shifts, especially one as drastic as the commercial use of technology, comes a large quantity of negative backlash.
On one side, the Baby Boomers seem to see that today’s youth is constantly ‘on’, whether that be gaming, networking, socializing, or surfing the net. They tend to see that if we are constantly ‘plugged in’, then we won’t be able to experience life as it is. But in fact, in almost all cases, it’s the exact opposite.
When a teen goes on their phone, they text their friend asking when they should meet so they can go to a movie. They Facebook message their relatives from halfway across the country, they socialize with people that they would never be able to meet if it weren’t for technology. Teens also look up who that actor was in that one movie, they look up facts and information. All of this would not be made possible if it weren’t for technology. Children are more informed now than they ever have been with the use of technology. Our generation is smarter in terms of sex education, politics, religious differences, racial inequalities. We are smarter because we have access to a plethora of information that keeps us well informed as well as allowing us to formulate our own opinions.
As Douglas Adams said, “I’ve come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies: 1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. 2. Anything that’s invented when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. 3. Anything invented after you’re thirty-five is against the natural order of things.”
So, while I understand where adults are coming from, and the tension between the two generations could just be the nature of adults growing old and refusing to accept change, as with the Baby Boomers’ parents being unable to accept rock and roll as a valid art form. But, no matter what the reason is for this negative backlash against teens and their technology, I think it’s about time everyone steps back, and give us teens some room to breathe and grow as people.
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