30 Older People Share Why They Don’t Understand The Younger Generation

Personally, we feel like there will always be friction between members of different generations because their values and environments differ. Probably the most obvious case we see these days is between Baby Boomers and, well, pretty much everyone else. Boomers tend to think that kids these days don’t work hard enough and should learn to save instead of eating avocado toast and buying lattes at Starbucks.

Meanwhile, Millennials and Zoomers believe that Boomers had it very easy when it came to buying up cheap property and finding well-paying jobs that were enough to take care of the entire family and provide a high quality of life. However, some of the things that unite different generations include the love of nostalgia (albeit for very different things) and the increasing awareness of how important it is to take care of our bodies as we age.

According to redditor u/VisibleConfusion12, they personally find TikTok, the video-sharing platform, to be one of the oddest things that the younger generations enjoy.

"I would have to say TikTok as a whole," they told Bored Panda what they find strange. "There is a TON of stuff that is considered bad," they said, referring to videos full of hate speech, as well as dangerous trends and challenges that nobody should do.

"I would also add newer fashion which is pretty strange. But compared to older fashion, it might beat it by a mile," they said. Though the OP admits that both "older fashion and newer fashion" confuse them either way. 

We were interested to find out what inspired redditor u/VisibleConfusion12 to ask such an interesting question in the first place. They were happy to tell us all about it.

"I came up with the idea with the help of my nephew! He was scrolling TikTok and came across a 'cringey' video," the OP told Bored Panda that their 14-year-old nephew then showed them the video clip which got them thinking about the (sometimes vast) differences between generations.

"The video in question was a girl complaining, saying she will be upset if you misgender her. My nephew then told me that his generation was probably the most questionable, which gave me the idea which I later posted later on Reddit," they shared what led them to spark the discussion on r/AskReddit.

In the OP's view, it's difficult to find a definitive answer as to why each generation criticizes those that come after it. In their opinion, it all comes down to what the members of each new generation do and how this clashes with what older generations enjoy. 

To put it simply, people tend to feel nostalgic for those times in our lives when they were happiest and most carefree. We might associate that period of time with certain activities, people, shows, or even products and we come back to them when we’re feeling down and need a boost. That’s why you might have a sudden urge to plug in an old console or find a very old movie to watch when you’re blue.

And though nostalgia can help us power through tough times in our lives, it has some destructive potential as well. For example, if we constantly daydream about how things used to be (and how awful everything is now), we might miss genuinely good opportunities in the present. It’s fine to reminisce about the past, so long as your present and future don’t suffer for it.

Yes, the entertainment industry may have had far better standards back when you were a young adult! But it doesn’t mean that absolutely every film, song, and game that’s crafted these days is an abomination. As in every area of life, there will be a minority of truly high-quality products, surrounded by a vast majority of junk. It’s a widespread phenomenon known as Sturgeon’s law.

The simple fact of the matter is that everyone is getting older. And no matter how awesome your metabolism is right now, you’ve got to sit down and think about the future. Consider what habits you need to start developing right now so that you age with dignity and can maintain a high standard of living.

Some of the best things that you can do to maintain your physical and mental health as you get older include getting plenty of exercise, eating well (avoid processed food, added sugar, and saturated fats as much as you can), having an active social life, and doing activities that bring you joy, whether that’s meditating, hiking in your local woodlands, painting, or collecting vinyl from the good old days—when music used to sound better!