Generations

[jasminewaterss7]

This is a concept I have spent a lot of time thinking about. Technically a generation (for example millennial or baby boomer) is a label for a group of people who were born around the same time. 

But do you really believe one generation is smarter or lazier than another?Or have humans had the same desires and motivations since the dawn of man?

They say age is just a number...

[airamericavet65]

Age is simply a number but does have different effects on each individual. Some good some bad hopefully each generation does learn from the mistakes of the past and progresses both in knowledge and understandings of life. What I would hope for is that each generation progresses in the desire to treat all with dignity and respect and acceptance of every individual as an important part of life

[daaacz]

It seems every generation thinks the new group is not as good as they were. I was called lazy and entitled. Millennials are called lazy and entitled. So will the next bunch. I remember watching the show All in the Family in which Archie Bunker complained about the new generation on nearly every episode. It's a trend that seems destined to continue forever. Sometimes I catch myself having similar thoughts because, darnit, Gen X rocks! Then I remember I raised a few millennials and their generation is filled with some of the kindest and most thoughtful people I've ever met.

[Happymon]

The most widely known lament about the next generation is from Socrates (470-399BC).   If more Sumerian (2800 BC) tablets had survived, I suspect Gilgamesh would have had something to say about it too. Lots of people think it's speech, nakedness, clothing, posture etc that make us uniquely human.  Personally, I think its that every 15 years we are invaded by alien beings who take over every 20 years.  

[daaacz]

On 8/31/2018 at 10:05 AM, Happymon said:

The most widely known lament about the next generation is from Socrates (470-399BC). 

I had to Google it, so here it is for those of you who don't want to take that step. It's really amazing that we have the same complaints they had 2500 years ago.

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

[TheFinerThings]

On 8/30/2018 at 0:57 PM, jasminewaterss7 said:

This is a concept I have spent a lot of time thinking about. Technically a generation (for example millennial or baby boomer) is a label for a group of people who were born around the same time. 

But do you really believe one generation is smarter or lazier than another? Or have humans had the same desires and motivations since the dawn of man?

They say age is just a number...

I think every generation from the dawn of time until now has had it's thinkers and enterprising leaders, along with it's lazy bottom feeders. 

As far as "smarter", only if you consider "acquired knowledge".  We know far more than our cavemen (and women) ancestors, but it was one pretty smart neanderthal who came up with the idea of making a round wheel for his sled instead of dragging his kill back to the cave. 

1 hour ago, daaacz said:

I had to Google it, so here it is for those of you who don't want to take that step. It's really amazing that we have the same complaints they had 2500 years ago.

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

But the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Edited September 4, 2018 by TheFinerThings

[jasminewaterss7]

Wow! You brought a unique perspective and new info I never thought about. Bravo sir !

[TheFinerThings]

33 minutes ago, jasminewaterss7 said:

Wow! You brought a unique perspective and new info I never thought about. Bravo sir !

Glad I could add to your "acquired knowledge", Miss Waters.

[Turtle138]

And we continue to make a better mouse trap.

Look at the technology that has went into the design and manufacturing of your basic tire. Cars started running on steam and now we are talking about hydrogen powered? Umm.

[seneca12]

Dividing things into "generations" has always been problematic for me. It used to be they were divided up by which economic downturn they experienced and which war they fought, but now it seems to track with which technological innovations were prevalent when they were raised. One hard line might be pre-internet, post-internet, but one can make the argument for television being the factor that binds together the baby boomers, the VCR being the technology that bound Generation X, the early internet being the technology that bound together older millenials and social media and smart phones the technology that binds the next generation.

I don't think one generation is better than the next. The Greatest Generation didn't just punch Nazis, they fucking shot them. However, the Greatest Generation are also way more likely to be casually racist, homophobic, and I doubt they will ever get their head around the trans-thing. Millenials are much less racist and homophobic. The most die hard Trump supporting Millenial is positively woke compared to a leftist Democrat of the Greatest Generation era.

On the other hand, Millenials are also the generation that decided to call up those old girlfriends of Fascism and Communism, have taken them out to dinner and fingerbanged them on their secondhand couch after the rest of us vowed to never drunk-dial those bitches again because we know it never ends well. Gen X started as smug nihilists and turned into either smug libertarians or try to amp up their "wokeness" so that Millenials will think your cool and keep inviting you to their parties. The Baby Boomers...well, if you're one of those that protested Vietnam but thought that the Iraq War was a good idea, then stayed glued to your couches watching Fox News, and voting for Trump because, fuck it, it's not my Medicare or social security they will be taking away, then these middle fingers are for you.

Every generation has its advantages and its problems. Every generation has its heroes and its scumbags. It's complicated, but the world will churn on.

[lintlizard]

I'm old enough to remember when there was no internet and I had to slink into the corner store to get a skin mag to fuel my hetero lust.  Today, it's an entirely different game - I can have it all right here in front of me on my monitor by typing my kink into a search engine, or even using voice recognition commands....

I think the digital age has fundamentally changed humanity, and any person born since the rise of the internet in the mid 1990's will have an entirely different outlook on life and living than those of us who had to use a road atlas to find our way....

[valconxen]

On 8/30/2018 at 1:15 PM, mountainrider33 said:

There are differences, based upon the social atmosphere of the country, definitely differences in parenting styles, and technology, at least in regards to this generation.  I used to work in schools and the kids now are definitely different than when I grew up.  Even corporations have had to change their hiring practices and how they interact with the younger generation.  The military had to significantly change, in order to get enough recruits.   

On intelligence, there are many studies that have looked at the IQ level over decades and IQ has dropped.  Here's one such article, https://www.techtimes.com/articles/230241/20180614/iq-scores-dropping-since-the-1970s-are-people-getting-dumber.htm

I'm not saying one generation is better than another one, maybe smarter, but environmental changes have made each generation different than the previous ones.

 

There are several problems with the question about IQ.  You point to article that says IQ has fallen but I found several that contradicts that.  Like this one that says that are rising http://www.apa.org/monitor/2013/03/smarter.aspx .  There is also problem whether IQ measures intelligence.  Here is a link to a youtube video about this topic made by Adam Conover.  

 

[Jez UaBriain]

We are products of our environment. And our intellect is based on that environment. While I may have sucked at chemistry and algebra, ask me about training horses, or raising cattle.    I also have higher education in my back ground. But I totally suck in those other two prior mentioned subjects.  I hold title to being in the last class of the baby boomer era.  The cold war was part of my upbringing. Do I think my generation is smarter then Gen X? No , I don't. But I do believe I put more thought into some parts of our political landscape.that other generations don't.  Intelligence is mainly  about how well we understand, and utilize what we learn. You can be well educated, but socially inept. And with that my friends, it doesn't matter what generation we hail from.🍀

Edited September 10, 2018 by Jez UaBriain

[madapples]

I've read studies on this in the past on this and it stated that three primary generations exist in the world: baby boomers, generation X, and generation Y (known as millennials). Each possesses unique characteristics that affect work ethic and relationships, how change is managed, and perception of organizational hierarchy: defining events in each generation's life all occurred between the ages of 5 to 18, the developmental years. The different backgrounds and life experiences result in five areas of potential strife surrounding their differing expectations, distinct ethics, deep‐seated attitudes, opposing perspectives and diverse motivators.and the results were not supportive of the generational stereotypes that have been pervasive in current literature and the media. Specifically, few meaningful differences were found between the three generations, even when differences have been observed, these have related more to age than generation. 

 

Edited September 10, 2018 by madapples

[JRWolfe]

On 8/30/2018 at 0:57 PM, jasminewaterss7 said:

This is a concept I have spent a lot of time thinking about. Technically a generation (for example millennial or baby boomer) is a label for a group of people who were born around the same time. 

But do you really believe one generation is smarter or lazier than another?Or have humans had the same desires and motivations since the dawn of man?

They say age is just a number...

   The urge to get laid has lasted for many generations and will continue for many more yet to cum.

[Don John]

Great discussion! Really dug the Socrates quote which shows that if one thing is constant, other than change, it's that the older generation finds the young one wanting. What's most important is to take each person as an individual. First. Not by race, gender, class, nationality, religion and certainly not by generation.

As a person born at the tail end of the baby boom, I hate being lumped in with a group of people who's experiences I didn't share, or shared only as a toddler. It's equally silly to look at a millennial and judge that person based on, oh, whatever cliche is being hung on that generation that particular week.

To JR's point, certain constants will always motivate us or screw us up, boomer, Xer, millennial, older or even now, younger.

BUT. There are real differences, too.

-Smartphones are really fucking us all up, and probably younger people more than older ones who've learned how to deal with people and boredom without an iPhone. (Get off my lawn!)

- Porn. I belong to probably the last generation of people who experienced sex first, then saw it in porno. (VHS porn was just coming into wide circulation after the time I lost my cherry.) I feel lucky for being able to have an unmediated experience, as clumsy and awkward as it was in the beginning. Also for girlfriends who didn't learn how to moan by listening to Jenna Jameson or whoever.

- Younger guys have about half the testosterone and half the sperm as their grandfathers  ( https://www.gq.com/story/sperm-count-zero )

- We're all stupider, and have been getting stupider since the World War II generation (https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-06-iq-scores-1970s.html

So to end on a cheerier note, let's talk face-to-face more, read more and have real sex more. Even with millennials.

 

[Don John]

Okay, I take back the part about getting less intelligent, although I sorta proved it myself inadvertently by not reading the previous posts very carefully. The points made by MountainRider are persuasive.

D'oh. But, there's this:

[Guest]

Is one generation lazier that another? I think not. Isn't the perception of laziness just a reflection of one's own sense of work ethic? If I've worked hard to achieve what I have, a younger, or older person who has achieved more with less effort can be considered lazy if you're not thoughtful.