VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 02:06:49 06/25/25 Wed
Author: Mike
Subject: When I was growing up...
In reply to: JeffsFort 's message, "IMAGINE Magazine Question for 7/15" on 16:51:00 06/23/25 Mon

When I was growing up "the millennials" were being blamed for everything. This was at a time when the internet and social media was just about coming into existence. In particular, British trashy tabloids in print and then, later online, were blaming my generation for the most trivial things. "The millennials have turned against the royal family." "The millennials are turning against alcohol/marriage/religion/having kids"

But you also discover, over time that every generation, at least in modern history gets the same treatment. Elvis and Sinatra were attacked for "making black music". the Beatles too. The fans of those artists were complaining about rock and metal, video games, etc, when I was growing up.

The "old guard" can't understand the kids, and instead of trying to learn, or at least leaving them to do their own thing, they belittle them, mock their interests, and even accuse them of damaging society, etc. It's sad but predictable.

I even get the feeling myself, sometimes. I don't relate to Gen Z. They're 20 years younger than me. I've seen a few clips of what they're into on tiktok,the trends, the slang and the cringe dance routines, and I don't relate to it. We live in different worlds.

It also reminds me that I'm getting old. On the other hand, they're young, and they don't realize that in the blink of an eye, they'll be in my position, trying to make sense of what those 20 years younger than them, are all about.

Though this can be said for me, towards my own generation, in many ways. I don't care for sports. I am not a gamer. I didn't even care for the music that was trendy when I was a kid. So I might not even be able to connect with another person my own age.

Am I proud of my generation? I think all of them have some unique insights into interesting moments in our history. Those born during and after the last world war. Those who grew up during the sexual and civil revolution. Those who grew up during the turn of the millennium, as we transitioned to a digital world. Then, the age of social media. This generation will be the first to grow up in a world with systems that are more intelligent, can express emotions, and generate images, videos and music in moments. There's no telling what having a constant AI companion that knows everything you do, what you're interested in, etc, from early childhood onwards, something that can recall any moment of your life, even moments you forgot about, would do to the human psyche.

Those of us who grew up without it wouldn't tolerate it invading our privacy so much, but that's because we grew up to value privacy, the next gen may not, at least with an AI. Look at what they're already putting on social media.

Ask a person 30 years ago what a world would look like that had instant, almost free communication around the world in the backs of our pockets, where people share the most trivial information and photos of themselves, and they probably wouldn't be able to fully understand it, nor the knock-on affects that it generates, such as the echo chambers, conspiracies, and political polarization they've brought about, or at least exacerbated.

To finish off on a lighter note, cause that got just a little depressing. I remember, in the year 2000, thinking how cool it was that I was around to see the turn of a millennium. The vast majority of humans never have. They're lucky to see in a new century. So I guess in that sense, those of us over 25 are all "millennials". Even those born today, are being born very early on in the new millennia.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[ Login ] Create Account Not required to post.
Post a public reply to this message | Go post a new public message
 Note: This forum is moderated -- new posts are not visible until approved.
* HTML allowed in marked fields.
* Message subject (required):

Name (required):

  Expression (Optional mood/title along with your name) Examples: (happy, sad, The Joyful, etc.) help)

  E-mail address (optional):

* Type your message here:


Note: This forum is moderated -- new posts are not visible until approved.

Notice: Copies of your message may remain on this and other systems on internet. Please be respectful.

Forum timezone: GMT-5
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.