5 Ways Today’s Youth Are Enraging Boomers

There’s no getting around the fact that there has long since been a seemingly inevitable, albeit unfortunate, dynamic in play between the world’s older and younger generations as time passes. These concerns can be completely trivial or seem to be a commentary on how a particular generation is engaging with the world at large. This piece takes a closer look at various problems that older generations can’t seem to shake when it comes to how they feel about today’s youth.

1. Not following through.

There are a fair number of boomers out there that will be quick to tell you that they simply can’t understand things like an employee taking a “Mental Health Day”, and instead view someone electing to take such a day as trying to use an excuse for not showing up to work. You can imagine what kind of tension could arise between said person who was emotionally exhausted and whoever it was that could’ve felt emboldened to call them out. Definitely a grim situation.

2. Everyone is the main character.

The whole situation of everyone being the main character isn’t anything new. Egotism and narcissism have long since been darker parts of the human psyche, but the difference nowadays is that we have plenty of people who are chomping at the bit to film everything, and also might even try to make careers out of said filming attempts.

3. Misusing words.

Ouch. Maybe this is the result of a gradual, though ramping up, widespread shift being exhibited by many younger folks where they can’t be pressed to sit down and read a book. The Attention Economy is a hyper-competitive space, and when you try to sell someone on what they might get out of a long-term time investment book vs. a quick, endorphin rush via a 30-second video of someone eating a waffle or something, you surprisingly will have your work cut out for you.

4. Lack of accountability.

Oh boy, this one is sure to stir the pot. There are tons of folks that are a part of the boomer generation that will gladly step in the argument ring to go toe-to-toe over what they see as the younger generation’s stubborn, completely infuriating inability to take responsibility for their own series of messes. The irony of course here being that the youth of today would quickly clap back that boomers are pulling the same inexcusable stunt.

5. Phone addiction.

You honestly might even see this making its way across the older generations too. No one is safe from the pull of the infinite number of apps and distractions that can be readily delivered to you on your phone. An unfortunate implication of being so heavily reliant on your phone is it can become increasingly difficult just to make small talk, or your sleep schedule can be turned upside down due to sweet blue light overstimulation.