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30 Older People Share Why They Don’t Understand The Younger Generation
Social IssuesJUN 7, 2023

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

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It’s a fact of life just like the sun rises in the East and sets in the West: older people will always find something to criticize about the younger generations. The former grumble, the latter roll their eyes, but soon enough, those youngsters are looking at each new generation and wondering what the everlovin’ frick is going on, why they’re behaving so oddly, and why their music sounds like pure noise.
A thread created by u/VisibleConfusion12 went viral on r/AskReddit after it sparked a very interesting discussion in the online community. The OP wanted to know what things young people love that older internet users plain don’t understand, and we’ve collected some of the most interesting insights to share with you. Scroll down to read what they had to say and upvote the posts you agree with.
We got in touch with the author of the thread, redditor u/VisibleConfusion12, who was kind enough to share their thoughts on the topic. Read on for Bored Panda's interview with them.

#1

30 Older People Share Why They Don’t Understand The Younger Generation
Declaring everything is a result of a mental illness. Sometimes people are just a******s.
312points

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.

#2

30 Older People Share Why They Don’t Understand The Younger Generation
The unending need to share everything on social media including their meals, their children, their partners everything.
283points

#3

30 Older People Share Why They Don’t Understand The Younger Generation
Talking loudly with your phone on speaker while in public. Older people do it, too.
WTF is *that* all about?
281points

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. 

#4

30 Older People Share Why They Don’t Understand The Younger Generation
Social media celebrities.
272points

#5

30 Older People Share Why They Don’t Understand The Younger Generation
Long a*s fake nails. How do you even go to the bathroom with those things without hurting yourself? They’re not even attractive. I don’t get it.
Edit: To be clear, I’m talking LONG here, like inches long. I have longish natural nails and I love getting them done, but I’ve seen people with nails that are over 2 inches long and I don’t understand how you can be productive with nails like that. I’m not mad about it, I just honestly don’t get the hype.
270points

#6

30 Older People Share Why They Don’t Understand The Younger Generation
The videos where they say it's a "life hack" when it's just common sense.
Aka "try out this crazy life hack for perfectly cut bagles, EVERYTIME!"
Proceeds to use a bagel cutter.
Like, seriously??? You need someone to tell you that?
Report
258points

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. 

#7

30 Older People Share Why They Don’t Understand The Younger Generation
Film random strangers without consent to make fun of them online all for internet 'clout'.
256points

#8

Those large, spider-looking, over-the-top fake eyelashes.
250points

#9

30 Older People Share Why They Don’t Understand The Younger Generation
Facetiming people instead of calling them. Unless you have to show me something, I prefer not to show my face on screen
235points

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.

#10

30 Older People Share Why They Don’t Understand The Younger Generation
All these s****y prank videos on people in public.
The public tik tok dancing.
I can't handle the second hand embarrassment when someone is dancing in aisle 5.
230points

#11

30 Older People Share Why They Don’t Understand The Younger Generation
Extravagant proms and baby showers.
209points

#12

30 Older People Share Why They Don’t Understand The Younger Generation
Filming themselves crying.
186points

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!

#13

30 Older People Share Why They Don’t Understand The Younger Generation
The Andrew Tate style of misogynistic alpha male b******t that so many young men seem to buy into. I guess I kind of get how they're susceptible to that sort of stuff, but the ideology doesn't really make much sense.
I think most of the rest of the stuff like tik tok, hairstyles, and clothing is just a "kids these days" kind of thing where people aren't open minded enough to realize the stuff they were into as kids was seem as being just as stupid by the older generation. Because really, it boils down to it just being different and new.
183points

#14

30 Older People Share Why They Don’t Understand The Younger Generation
Im still young, but Mukbang videos. I like cooking shows, but watching someone pig out on camera is just gross.
182points

#15

30 Older People Share Why They Don’t Understand The Younger Generation
Filming every little thing. Like why are they filming them doing basic stuff like grocery shopping?
179points

#16

30 Older People Share Why They Don’t Understand The Younger Generation
Referring to anybody people don't like as narcissistic. Every form of lying or even just disagreement is gaslighting.
178points

#17

30 Older People Share Why They Don’t Understand The Younger Generation
The new Disney remakes.
172points

#18

30 Older People Share Why They Don’t Understand The Younger Generation
Listening to the music on mobile speaker while walking around the street or travelling via public transportation
Report
165points

#19

Self diagnosing their mental illnesses.
161points

#20

30 Older People Share Why They Don’t Understand The Younger Generation
As a teacher, I get enormously annoyed by the idea that it seems cool to be stupid for a significant amount of teens. Like being actually proud of lacking or pretending to lack basic knowledge or primary skills. Over the last 2 weeks I had a 14 y old pretending not to know who the figure of Christ was, a kid claiming not to know how to use a ruler and one who claimed to never have used scissors…
Update: 5 min ago a 14y old asked me wether pigs have ears…
159points
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