The Generation Gap

87. Do you believe there's a generation gap? Describe the differences between your generation and others. (Denison University)

Today’s generation gap is the one thing that is making children move away from their parents. Children do not like to be ordered about what to do, or be interrogated about their personal life. The society in our parent’s time was much slower than the one today, and this has caused us to adapt to the fast growing society. Before, things which were considered luxuries are today considered necessities like iPods, phones and laptops. We, the newer generation, do not take much time to take decisions as our parents took things slower. The respect factor between most children and their parents has gone, as children want things and parents try to show that they care about their child through buying them the latest things with guilt. This has caused a huge gap between children and their parents and this is what the parents and kids refer to as “generation gap.” Due to this generation gap, we feel that our parents do not understand us. Our parents have had to come up through the ranks while everything is served out to us on a platter. We do not find reason to work as hard as our parents as we are used to them giving everything to us. This is the reason that we are perceived as the spoilt ones, and the ones who do not know what life is all about. The generation gap has become so big that teenager’s think that they can do better off than their parents if they put half the amount of hard work as their parents did when they were kids. Parents today are forced to trust their kids since their kids can do what they want and the parent does not have much control over them. This causes kids to whatever they want, like drink alcohol or smoke. Many families stop having dinners on the table together and either let the kids have it in their room or go outside with friends. These all reasons cause problems in families when the parents do not have control over their kids. Both of them start fighting and the situation becomes worse.

My parents have always told me that my jeans look better if I wear them higher, or if I comb my hair. I tend to disagree with them when it comes to such things. They don’t like to believe that technology is a good thing, but that it is only a distraction. I believe that the cause for this is the age difference or the generation gap. Today, teenagers keep up with the latest trends and technological devices, while older people think that technology is spoiling us, and that we are getting too distracted with all the gadgets we have. My dad used to tell me about the times when he was younger, and there were no gadgets which a kid could have, and how it has changed today, as kids have everything they want; from laptops to phones from a very early age. This clearly is a big difference compared to when my dad and mom were kids. Parents hate to believe that things have gotten much more expensive compared to the past and argue with their children saying that it should be much cheaper. They hate to believe that a T-Shirt could cost Rs.1200 and then they tell us that in their times it only cost Rs.20. What they tend to not realize is that we are not in their time anymore but our time. Things have changed so much that it is unfathomable. Who would think that there would be so much change like iPods and the capacity to put songs, movies and pictures? We don’t mind watching movies on that small screen but out parents think it is stupid and that they would rather watch on a much larger screen. They are not willing to realize that, things have changed a lot and that people have changed a lot too.

                Due to the change in trends which is taking place constantly, it is difficult to keep up with what is the “latest” thing. Parents think that it’s dumber while we think it is cooler. Our parents did not have cell phones at the age of 12, but now many young children have phones. They text each other and keep in touch with friends who only live a block away from them. Parents think that it’s stupid to be texting all the time, while the kids think that it’s good to keep in touch with friends. Kids always want something or the other because there is always a change. We want the latest iPhone, the latest computer and the latest iPod even if we already have an iPhone. Many kids today have both iPods and iPhones which is ridiculous because the phone has everything the iPod does, but I too sadly am a culprit of this. We have the feeling that we need it for some unknown reason. It’s like we want our satisfaction for these products to increase, but the thing that we, teens, do not seem to realize is that our marginal benefit of each extra product we buy, is going down.  We do not want to believe this but it is the case. By doing this we have caused a gap between our thinking and our parents thinking which helps form what is known as a generation gap. We have made too big a gap and it will not be easy to close it since people have become very independent when it comes to what we want in our lives. When it comes to making a decision, we turn to our friends rather than to our parents while our parents would do the opposite. That respect which was there is gone, and it has helped us create a big ego when it comes to taking a stand. Our arrogance has changed families which were happy, into families which are trying to survive.


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