If you find yourself frowning upon something someone younger is doing, that most likely means one of two things: you’re eithertoo old to understandwhat the current youth is up to—as most of us probably are—or you’re simply a grumpy person in general, which is an entirely different matter.
If you scroll down, you will also findBored Panda’sinterview with Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center of Innovation in Social Science,Dr. Deborah Carr, who was kind enough to answer a few of our questions regarding generational differences.
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Just fully watching videos in public with no headphones. Where are your headphones? I don’t want to hear your TikTok clips.
Gen X here. I don’t understand the eyelash thing where they’re so long and fluffy that you look like Snuffleupagus. I also don’t understand the nails that are so long you can’t function. Like, how do you wipe?
Not knowing how to use punctuation. The lack of punctuation drives me nuts. I shouldn’t have to read something 50 times because you don’t know how to place a period or a comma when needed.
Discussing the topic of generational differences, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center of Innovation in Social Science Dr. Deborah Carr toldBored Pandathat every generation tends to critique “the youth of today”, implying that the way they did things as young people is superior to what young people are doing nowadays.“During periods of very rapid change, those generational gaps are the largest,” she noted. “If two generations were raised in very different social or economic consequences, the attitudinal gaps will be the largest.“For instance, we have witnessed tremendous advances in recent years with respects to the rights and visibility of LGBTQIA persons – younger people are thus much more accepting than past generations. It’s important to recognize that generations can educate one another and help to expand each other’s horizons, and that education can go up and down the generational ladder.”
Discussing the topic of generational differences, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center of Innovation in Social Science Dr. Deborah Carr toldBored Pandathat every generation tends to critique “the youth of today”, implying that the way they did things as young people is superior to what young people are doing nowadays.
“During periods of very rapid change, those generational gaps are the largest,” she noted. “If two generations were raised in very different social or economic consequences, the attitudinal gaps will be the largest.
“For instance, we have witnessed tremendous advances in recent years with respects to the rights and visibility of LGBTQIA persons – younger people are thus much more accepting than past generations. It’s important to recognize that generations can educate one another and help to expand each other’s horizons, and that education can go up and down the generational ladder.”
Assaulting people as a prank.
Grammar. I’m not even talking about missing commas and s**t I just want them to know the difference between “you’re” and “your”
According to Prof. Carr, some of the reasons why older people find certain youngster trends or habits difficult to understand are based on the fact that said people are unfamiliar with them, the trends conflict with their personal values, or they don’t see any value in them.“For instance, older people may judge younger people for spending money on expensive coffees, clothing, or computer gadgets because they view it as wasteful. However, it’s important to remember that young people today often are strapped with educational debt, health care bills and other factors that areeroding their savings. The occasional luxury purchase can be a short-term way to exert autonomy and personal choice.”
According to Prof. Carr, some of the reasons why older people find certain youngster trends or habits difficult to understand are based on the fact that said people are unfamiliar with them, the trends conflict with their personal values, or they don’t see any value in them.
“For instance, older people may judge younger people for spending money on expensive coffees, clothing, or computer gadgets because they view it as wasteful. However, it’s important to remember that young people today often are strapped with educational debt, health care bills and other factors that areeroding their savings. The occasional luxury purchase can be a short-term way to exert autonomy and personal choice.”
Making every single phone call via speakerphone, especially when holding the phone directly next to the side of their head because they can’t hear.
Literally commiting crimes as part of social media trends. Especially the “licking ice cream at the store and putting it back” challenge, that’s a straight up health code violation.
“Older adults also may havedifficulty understandingactions or behaviors that were less common when they were young,” Dr. Carr added. “For instance, very casual dress, large tattoos and multiple piercings are more common and socially accepted today, yet it could be a difficult pill to swallow for older adults who were raised to present themselves more formally – especially at work.”
Creating GoFundMe pages for cosmetic surgery and/or procedures.
According to the expert, the thing that has influenced or shaped current youth the most is undoubtedlysocial media. “Young people today craft identities and tell narratives about their lives—whether fact, fiction, or somewhere in between—online. More importantly, they often derive their self-worth from others’ responses to the images they put out there. The number of likes, views, or followers they receive, the praise—or insults—they receive online, and other indicators of their online presentations are critically important to their self-views.“In past generations, we certainly cared about what our classmates and peers thought about us, but we had less data and it was less pervasive and in-your-face. So, we probably felt better about ourselves,” she added.
According to the expert, the thing that has influenced or shaped current youth the most is undoubtedlysocial media. “Young people today craft identities and tell narratives about their lives—whether fact, fiction, or somewhere in between—online. More importantly, they often derive their self-worth from others’ responses to the images they put out there. The number of likes, views, or followers they receive, the praise—or insults—they receive online, and other indicators of their online presentations are critically important to their self-views.
“In past generations, we certainly cared about what our classmates and peers thought about us, but we had less data and it was less pervasive and in-your-face. So, we probably felt better about ourselves,” she added.
Doing incredibly embarrassing things for social media attention.
Face tattoos. I don’t really have a problem with tattoos generally, but come on man, it’s your face.
“The only way we can bridge generational rifts—or rifts more generally—is to get to know one another as individuals, rather than relying on false stereotypes.”
Broccoli haircuts.
That literacy rates are plummeting. This one is so confusing! How can you be the chronically online generation unable to read?
“Younger people today have faced highly distressing events throughout their lives – from rampant school shootings to vast political divisiveness to isolation during COVID. If we see younger people feeling anxious, distressed, or fearful of their future, we should understand where they’re coming from, rather than judging them or holding them against a standard that’s unrealistic.”
Becoming addicted to nicotine. I thought younglings would be a little less stupid than us.
I guess there’s like elementary schoolers with a skincare routine now?? That’s nuts….Electric-Sheepskin:I saw some people in the skincare addiction sub today recommending that a 17-year-old get Botox and retinol for the lines on their forehead. Insanity.
Anything Andrew Tate.
I’ve trained 3 early 20s co-workers now that don’t use the Shift key to capitalize letters. They hit caps lock, type the letter to be capitalized, then hit caps lock again.I can’t wrap my head around it.
I run a restaurant, and employ a bunch of young people. EVERY dude under 25 has bangs, some significantly longer than the rest of their hair. I call them Flock of Seagulls. They don’t get the reference.
Binge watching short videos compiled so you never watch anything with a plot or storyline. Just tons of 10-60 sec videos and most of them suck.
There was a group of teenagers in the parking lot talking about scientology, and they were thinking it was a neat religion, like a bunch of them were genuinely interested.I’ve never hit a child before…but holy hell their brains needed to be reset.
I’m not really too baffled, I just see a lot of worrying trends.The main thing that concerns me is the steep decline in mental health among young people since smartphones went mainstream and we got the internet in our pockets. I’m not shocked at all to see it but it is very bad.
The popularity of “nuisance streamers” with younger folks. I don’t find being a public nuisance even a little bit entertaining or funny, especially when its being filmed.Also just in general the trend of filming, photographing and trying to make “content” out of their entire life in some vain hope of becoming internet famous. I don’t get it. Last thing i’d ever want to do is have my entire life posted on the internet.
Allowing every one of their friends on Snapchat to know their location at all times. Like seriously. My 23 year old coworker and her friends are constantly revoking and then reinstating their visible location depending on if they’re happy or mad with each other. If someone notices that they can’t see where another person is, they’ll actually bring it up, wondering what they did to upset them. Her best friend will ask her friend to check her boyfriends location, and whichever friend he told her he’d be with, to make sure they match. I told my coworker that it’s weird for everyone you know to know where you are.At least I can kinda understand family members knowing, but even then, my siblings don’t need to know where I am at all times, and my parents should maybe stop constantly checking once I hit 18? 21 surely. Lol. Her sister will text her asking why she went certain places because she constantly checks location on her. They have an app on their phones specifically so they can always see where family members are. Her dad texted her once she got home and didn’t come inside after 5 minutes. He knew she just drove up. She was simply typing out a reply a text to a friend before getting out of her car. Again…she’s 23.Idk, I guess if you grow up with it, you don’t think it’s weird. I’m 43, I certainly didn’t grow up with people having the ability to know where I am at all times unless I told them or called them.
Not using condoms. My generation was raised hearing about Ryan White and seeing Very Special Episodes about why we didn’t want AIDS and everything else. Apparently some younger people aren’t worried about it anymore.
Making fun of another kid because they don’t have a specific water tumbler. It sounds like somebody is trying to parody “making fun of other kids for having the ‘wrong’ brand of clothes or phone”.
All the self labeling. When I was young, we avoided labels at all costs!
Calling anyone with a different opinion a troll. I see it over and over and over. I do not understand and I can only feel pity.
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I use my phone a fair bit, but it’s really hard to imagine it being my only computer. I need at least 20 inches of screen, a trackball and a keyboard with physical buttons just to think properly. I don’t want to budget my battery to last all day in case an important text comes through. I want my internet signals sent over a hard wire. When my computer stops working, I want to open it up and swap the broken part with a better one.But if my web analytics are at all a representation, more than half of everyone is only looking at the internet through their phones.
I listened to a 23-year-old (more than a decade younger than me) say she wanted to start ‘preventative Botox.’ Girl…
Mullets, will we never learn?
The rising support and voting for extreme right parties/pundits among young people in the West. The people leading these parties will ruin everything resembling a future that you might have. These are awful times to become an adult in, but they do NOT care about you or your plight as a younger generation.
Today on reddit one told me they refuse to show up to an initial job interview that is in person. They demand the employer use zoom to interview them. It was baffling.
One thing that baffles me is how much time and energy the younger generation spends on social media. It’s amazing to see how much they are constantly on their phones, checking notifications, posting updates, and scrolling through endless feeds. I can’t imagine being so connected to technology all the time and not taking breaks to be present in the moment. It’s a completely different way of living that I struggle to understand.
Not dating someone bc of the phone they have….
Wearing earbuds at work during a shift on an active, collaborative team. (I think earbuds aren’t a problem at all for quiet, focused work, or work where there’s not much need to speak with others at a moment’s notice.)I understand that many of them can easily hear things, but in my brain, earbuds carry a strong “do not talk to me” message that makes it hard not to see them as inappropriate at work unless someone is hunkering down for a longer, quieter solo task.At worst , I see them being a hazard in certain workplaces (my own workplace for example, a metal fabrication lab, a lack of full attention could lead to nasty consequences), and at best, I think they send a less than respectful message to coworkers.I suppose that people have no obligation to treat their coworkers with more than the minimum of respect and courtesy, but I figure that having some friendly connections at work could make each shift more enjoyable for everyone.
Gen Z and their constant self-diagnosing.
I can’t understand why today’s kids want to watch YouTube videos of kids or adults opening up new toys and playing with them! Why would any kid want to watch someone else play with toys instead of their own?
Children as young as 12 drinking coffee before school. Wearing fake nails and fake eyelashes.
Refusing to learn to drive. I absolutely understand not wanting to, preferring to live places where you don’t have to because of good walkability/transit/bikability, etc. But just being unwilling to learn at all? It’s an important life skill and there might be an emergency where you have to!
Not knowing how to use a computer.
Bringing back those thin 90s brows again… its a lesson we all must learn the hard way, it seems.
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Making fun of kids for “no show” or “ankle” socks. WTF is that about?
Millennial here.They take our style, some of which is from our cringiest years, and some of which is from our parents during those years, tweaked it just slightly, and now look at us and tell us that we need to dress like them otherwise we look like millennials.First of all, we invented all that st. 2nd of all we don’t think it looks good anymore. Third of all why would a millennial want to look like somebody 10-20 years younger than them? Also why do they think we want to impress them? I don’t go to toddlers for romance advice, I’m sure a st not going to whatever generation is behind me for fashion advice when they look like some of my worst photos from my most awkward years.I’m incredibly glad that they have found their sense of style and enjoy what they’re wearing. I don’t give a st if they were a toilet seat around their neck. But I do give a st that they try to make me feel like the crazy person for not wanting to do that… I look my age because I am that age.And for millennials trying to look like 25 year olds, I don’t give a s**t. Don’t tell me I look out dated. I look exactly how I’m supposed to look.Also I find people who are obsessed with keeping up with trends are just cogs in the machine of consumerism, advertising, and mass consumption while the planet is burning down around us. Not exactly the kind of people I look to for advice or anything really.
Obsession over the infamous, stanley cup.
Cheating on homework. I get it, I got it, you caught me red handed because it’s something I did at some point and I think everyone does. But it’s way more rampant and way worse these days to the point that you start to get concerned. I was also reading books like crazy as a teen? Scrolling on your phone has become so normalized, I don’t see books in public anymore.
Generation alpha. How come there are young girls wearing adult clothes at such a young age? I’m a gen z I was wearing clothes from justice lol😭😭.
I find many younger people to be very fearful. Hyper fixating on the worst possible outcomes even though the actual chance is so low its not worth worrying aboutThose people are gonna get older and be hit with many regrets.
I see that the youth contingent of mega churches is growing.
Something that puzzles me about the younger generation is their dating and relationship habits. They tend to use apps and online platforms, relying on swipes and algorithms to meet people. It’s a big shift from the traditional way of meeting through friends or at social gatherings, and it seems like it makes it harder to build deep, meaningful connections.
They don’t use ctrl+v ctrl+p.
I’m almost 28, and an 18-year-old I work with mentioned how guys ask for her Snap. I guess the days of asking for phone numbers are completely gone. I’m not too surprised because I prefer Facebook Messenger over the texting app, but it’s still so weird that we don’t get phone numbers anymore, apparently.
The hyper reaction crowd. They focus on a single sentence or concept and jump to virtue signaling on issues that are either none of their business, or they’re unqualified to speak about it.This loud minority is so confidently incorrect that they’re basically boomers at this point.
I don’t understand any of their slang. What the hell is a fanum tax?
The kids don’t know what the jazz is all about.
Sweatshirts in the summer.
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