The gap between different generations is not merely a fictional illustration of different age groups. The generation struggle is a reality that describes the different ways people from different generations think and address matters in our world. That is, people from different generations have different approaches and perceptions about life. It is a rather interesting comparison between the older generations and the newer ones. New generations seem to be more oriented toward a fast-paced lifestyle and new technologies have a vital role in their life. Moreover, the new generations seem to value personal space and strictly differentiate between the personal and the public by drawing a hard line between those two spheres. Being a member of the newer generations gives me insights into how we act in different contexts. We are effective people who value time and speed. Yet, we are a considerate generation that takes into account global matters and addresses them to achieve justice on our planet such as poverty, climate change, and injustice in the world. However, the most interesting thing about our generation is that we embrace technologies as we witness one of the biggest transformations and shifts in the world to the digital world. This facilitated life for many people around the world and enhanced democracy more or less in the whole world. We are independent people who are expected to leave home when we are 18 and find our path in life beyond our parents’ control and expectations as Ellen Key illustrates in her Speech to the Youth of Sweden.
“Our youth are becoming freer from the pressure, parents have formerly practiced on young people’s faith, work choices, and love.”
Not only in modern times but even Socrates referred to the newer generations already 400 B.C. Socrates drew an image of the newer generation that is surprisingly applicable to our time.
The older generations are as interesting as ours but in one way or another, they are held responsible for many negative events that happened in the world and to the world. It is not a question about who is responsible but rather issues that happened during their time and we still suffer from them today. They, the older generation, are wise people and thinkers who value thinking before the material world. They value the idea and not the product. However, their lifestyle is slow-paced and not a lot happened during their time other than destruction and catastrophes. Older generations could put the ground from the industrial revolution that changed the world later but also is responsible for its consequences through irrational use of our planet’s resources. They did not address the same matters with a global dimension that we today care about. We have to not forget one vital fact about the older generations is that they are our ancestors and our beloved ones who we remember emotionally and value the most even if they did not care about poverty in the world or addressed climate change or even if they oppressed women in their social structures.
Therefore, comparing the older generation to the new one is to an extent unfair and gives a biased image of who they are and who the newer generations are. They still are our ancestors who had different circumstances to think about different issues and address them. The younger generations have always had more possibilities than the older ones and adapted to new circumstances fairly faster. Yet, one critical aspect of the comparison is about the information that we have today and the access to the same information that the older generations lacked in the past which resulted in different views on the world. Nowadays, youth people embrace a more fast-paced lifestyle as the development in the world allows such a fast-paced lifestyle while the older generations are not as enabled as the newer ones which result in a slower lifestyle. Furthermore, older generations are held responsible for many negative aspects that happened to our world while we, the newer generations address matters and take into consideration issues that were never raised by the old ones. Yet, we have to remember that young people nowadays recreate the old reality of older generations in such a nostalgic way to remember their ancestors. That is to say, new generations love the reality that older generations once created despite the facilities in our life and the fact that we are enabled people with enormous possibilities.