Are we a special kind of generation (people)?

We had real gangsters back in the 1930s
We had hippies in the 1970s
We had greasers back in the 1980s
We had punk rock kids and degenerates back in around the 1990s

Now we have like hipsters I guess? Which are basically people who mimic attitudes and designs of our past. I have nothing against celebrating our past, but I mean are we going to be remembered in the future like the hippies, greasers, etc? I'm not talking about hipsters in general, I'm talking about our current teens (around 13-30). Not really sure if this makes sense to you guys, but is our generation influential and important? I feel like we are filled with ungrateful free loaders, unartistic copycats, and people who are uninvolved with their world not out of spite but instead laziness. What do you guys think of our generation of teens right now?

P.S: If this isn't a good topic or doesn't make sense, feel free to take it down mods

 

No we're not. We're entitled, lazy, and feeble. Most of us haven't had to struggle nearly as much as past generations. Think about what the WW2 generation lived through. Poland had their country invaded and lost 16% of their population. There were many people like Roza Shanina who lost family in the war and refused to be taken out of the frontlines to protect her country. When I read about the things people did and had to go through it astonished me. The things they went though are foreign to me and I find no parallel in modern society.

Other than war imagine getting a root canal/large cavities drilled without novocaine. I can't, but a lot of older people do. A lot of children from past generations had to work to support their immediate family, like by working on farms.

Of coarse, I'm generalizing. There's many people in our generation who struggle and have good character. But there was a lot more special people in previous generations then there are today.

 

Technological advances are overwhelming our youth. Kids are no longer fixated with toys or games specifically made for their age group. They're more focused on late adolescent to adult content. This has both negative and positive outcomes. Kids lose their innocence faster as they're influenced with behavior that is not meant to be recreated. On the other hand, it raises their expected intelligence level which can benefit us going forward. I'd say it's special in an interesting point of view.

 

If you are using war as an example, many kids back in the 1970s were reluctant to go to vietnam, and the reluctance and anti-war movement supporters (youth) became "hippies"

 

Yeah, I agree technology is special, but it seems that adults use them more efficiently than we do. Does that mean that they were raised to not be dependent on these type of things? Our generation, especially the younger ones, seem almost completely dependent on technology, mainly video games from computers, apps, etc. Is this harmful or helpful?

 

We're a privileged generation.

 

No, nothing special about any of us.

 

What do you mean more efficiently? Given that the products are made for that specific age group, it's only reasonable that they would have better use for it than those who are much younger. That just means the target audience/demographic is appropriate for that particular item. When you have technology that's extremely versatile, it would make sense that you would use it for general things, thus becoming more dependent on it's capability. It's both helpful and harmful.

 

I wouldn't argue that the 70s generation was better than the 40s.

Vietnam and WW2 were completely different types of wars. Vietnam was fought mostly because of political reasons, and America and the French where the aggressor fighting on foreign land. In WW2 the allies fought against a heartless evil that threatened the fate of the world. 54% of the casualties of WW2 where allied civilians, and the axis invaded or attacked other countries (pearl harbor). I don't blame anyone for not fighting the vietnamese. We weren't defending our country. It was a pointless war we lost.

This is pretty off topic, but if you can factor overcoming hardships into the character of a generation, this might be some perspective.

 

We still have all of those.



How do you expect to know how we'll be remembered in the future - we aren't there yet.



Sythe posted an insightful quotation in one of the stickies:

Nietzsche had a similar concern

Very little (apart from material advance) distinguishes us (21st century people) from people living during the 19th century. That time and identity are talked about incessantly, and considering how forgetful we are, it will probably be a while before there comes a generation with a unified identity, if ever.
Of course, the problem isn't purely discursive - the things we talk about don't emerge from nothing. National identity is imaginary - it exists because it's talked about, and it's talked about because it exists.
It's difficult to identify with a culture that changes constantly ( hence, the appeal of past fashions). And think about the interaction that occurs between people all around the world (via the internet, for instance). Wouldn't it be better to reconsider what it means to have an 'identity'?

 

What you just said.. it exactly how I feel.

My parents didn't have to technology that we have today and I have the luxury to sit at one during my free time... They didn't meet life long friends that live across the world by just going to a computer either!

 

Generalizing the age range of 13-30 doesn't work. While "Millienials" are technically 1981-1999, it's bullshit; furthermore, someone that is 13 (2001-2002) can hardly even be compared to the 90's. Why? Technology.

Technology has progressed at an extradorniary rate. People that grew up in the 1980's had a rather simplistic childhood (from a technological standpoint.) When cell-phones, every-day laptops, etc. started coming mainstream they were in their 20's.

90's kids grew up without being completely encompassed in technology. iPhones were not an everyday thing for me. Hell, when I was in middle school, the Razr and other flipphones were the thing to have. I (and people in the early-mid 90's) grew up with technology. It wasn't always there, but there were computer labs with floppy disks and so forth.

People born in the 2000's are nothing like this. Smartphones, tablets, laptops, advanced technology, it has all always been there.

I'm just saying, from an age standpoint it's so hard to lump in all of these different people who experienced vastly different things (not even getting into 9/11 or other "events" that can mark a generation.)

Now for your questions, you cannot say what our generation will be in the future in the present. Hell, I'm still in college, I haven't exactly had my chance to completely fuck up the economy and start some wars.

This "ungrateful freeloader" mentality that seems to exist is not yet due. Not counting, our generation (I do not like how I'm lumping the 80's-2000, but that's how it's currently defined) has faced incredibly high unemployment, a recession for the older individuals, and problems other generations never had to face.

College is no longer this optional thing. If you were born in the 70's/earlier, you didn't necessarily need college. Now, if you don't go to college, goodluck getting a job. Older people have experience to help land a job, we do not. Elaborating on this, college (in the U.S.) is not some cheap thing. I will be paying $13k a year in tuition and probably about $10k in living experiences (rent and utilities) for 2016. This hardly compares to college for previous generations. You could literally work a part time job during the summer and pay for school without a problem, that is no longer the case.

Unartistic? Music genres are continually being redefined. Blink 182 practically created Pop Punk. Linkin Park combined rap and rock. There are plenty of other music references you could make (even people like TSwizzle or Skrillex.) Hell, electronic music/dubstep/etc. didn't exist. Art and everything it encompassed (literal art, music, video game design, interior decorating, and everything else) has and will continue.

Are you projecting your own experiences, or regurgitating information you've heard from older generations? We are out there. Look at as recently as the protests that took place all over the U.S. due to police brutality/militarization of the police. Look at groups such as Anonymous who are majorly comprised of people that would be considered a millennial. Look at the changes that are continuing to take place (ex: gay marriage.)

This (as every other generation before it) faces problems that previous generaiton did not. Some problems caused by the previous generation, some not. It's harsh to criticize a generation of what it's doing if you're not going to look at what put them there. The incredibly high amount of adults (thinking after college age, 22-25) now living with their parents again is due to the horrible job market and the student debt that older generations have never had to face. It's no longer you walk into a store and go "Hey, I'm a hard worker, can I have a job?" and you get it.

tl;dr every generation is special, each one has negatives/positives and is faced with different challenges.

 

Real gangsters still exist, same with hippies i don't get where you going with this most of our generation evolved and it's gonna continue to evolve that's just how we all are.

 

Every generation might have their differences, but its generally the same when you look at it.

 

The mentality of all people across time and different ages will remain constant, just in different environments due to the changing social landscape

 

Probably the reform generation, here we're cutting back to save our environment.

 

I can't see our generation as being reformed, simply due to the fact that the environment buzz is just washing over...and it's not even working. All generations probably had something about them that they feel was different. I stand by what I said before with all generations being the same, but just in different environments

 

We still have alot of stuff like that from the old days, we as human beings are just evolving.

 

"Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers."
- Probably Socrates

Every generation thinks that there's something special about their generation, that they're somehow different, that things will somehow never be the same. Yet somehow, life continues on.

 

I really don't like this thread because you're completely generalizing. There are so many different types of people in the world that the only thing you can really say is stuff like "There is a lot of stupid people". I guarantee a modern day gangster organization like the Yakuza or whatever the Japanese crime organization outclass the best gangster organization from the 1930's (which is an impossible comparison) but you get my point. To say the 1970's are all hippies is completely generalizing. In 50 years I guarantee you we will look like dumbasses to them, if the world still exists.

Anyway, sorry if that sounds negative. I think this thread was more of a rant for you but I think you are confusing stupid people with _InsertYourGeneralizationHere_. There are soooooo many stupid people in the world and the older you get you realize how stupid more and more people are who you used to think were smart. I agree though, the Instagram and Vine shit type of lifestyle and spending 10 hours each day texting people is starting to get on my nerves. It feels like they aren't even real people LOL.