comment: >
  
  At some point, and I think it was within Gen X, not Boomers, the educational philosophy switched from competence to equity (under the guise of self-esteem), and that why everyone had to get their trophy.  
  Across the next decade, we will see the war on competence continue to unfold.
context: This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.
  Remember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not "thoughts had in the shower!"
  (For an explanation of what a "showerthought" is, please read this page.)
  Rule-breaking posts may result in bans. >
  
  My favorite is the participation trophy criticism. As if kids wanted the crappie trophies not parent’s demand their kid get one. >
  
  I had a discussion with a client one day. He was complaining that "these millennials, they all want cake for birthday, so now we have a cake every month." There isn't a goddamned millennial in the world who went into a job interview saying, "I'm not taking this job unless there's cake." They want fair wages, and to be able to afford a house, the cake is appeasement. >
  
  Nobody was looking forward to “unlimited overtime tonight since we had the office party earlier, remember to be a team player” I didn’t ask for the cake and I have meat thawing in the sink at home so I’m gone. I wanted my girlfriend to get me a cake, most normal people don’t care if the entire office acknowledges their birthday. We got the boss a cupcake once to suck up attempting to save our three person department, that’s it. >
  
  I do not like cake.  It's way too sweet for me.  Every goddamn time "You better get some cake before its gone!  Do you want me to get you a piece?" No thanks, I don't really like cake.  "YOU DONT LIKE CAAAAAKE!????". 
  Holy fuck Linda, they sell it at the store across the street.  You earn like 4 cakes an hour in wages.  Why are you acting like there is a wagyu stake and lobster buffet in the break room? >
  
  I’ve never encountered people baffled over someone not liking cake but I’ll take your word for it. This isn’t an extreme reaction cause I couldn’t care less but you do have to admit most people like cake, not many people outright don’t like cake, and people are going to be caught off guard with someone not liking cake in general. It’s not them thinking cake is the best thing in the world and completely confused someone wouldn’t like it as much as wondering why. 
  Again I’m not going “YOU DONT LIKE CAKE?!?!?” But I do think most people are going “oh, you don’t like cake?” it’s okay to be out of the ordinary but you gotta own that you’re out of the ordinary.
  I don’t like frosting on any kind of cake like products. I just eat naked cake and I eat pancakes without syrup. It’s weird and I own it. What desserts do you like my guy? Let’s start a new society outside of work where better foods are served. By which I mean separately but we talk about better or unique birthday desserts. >
  
  Yea I really wouldn't mind if it was just a casual, "oh you don't? Wow okay". It usually ends up being a whole thing. "How can you not like cake!?  Hey Steve! sl0play says he doesn't like cake!".
  Anyway, it's not the end of the world it's just the fact it's become so predictable.
  If I have a desert after dinner it's usually in the form of a nice port wine or scotch.  If I just want a treat at home I'm pretty fond of sorbet, or fruit covered in Tajin.
  I feel you on the pancakes as well.  When I had a toddler I used to eat frozen waffles without the syrup.  I don't even really like waffles but when you're standing in the kitchen, bleary eyed  after 3 hours of sleep, you really have no standards lol. >
  
  4 am toaster waffle fresh out of the freezer is the best >
  
  Do you mean how most people of that generation treated their children like they were going to get hurt by everything and now they're bitching about millennials being almost psychotically overly protective of themselves? >
  
  Boomers invented smartphones, also
  Boomers, ugh todays youth is always on their phone >
  
  Generations before me created indoor plumbing but it doesn’t mean I sit on the toilet all day. When it’s necessary, I use it. >
  
  It’s funny, this is the same analogy I use when older people say “we didn’t need xyz in my day!” I say, “once upon a time people didn’t have indoor plumbing but you’re not offering to go without that are you?” >
  
  I yearn to defecate among the trees. >
  
  I mean...no one is really stopping you. Be nice and bury it, I guess. >
  
  Video Games were made by the Silent Generation, not Boomers, Boomers ran with it, sure, but if you say “created” that honor goes to Silent. >
  
  I find it so cool that video games, WIFI, internet were made by the silent generation. >
  
  “I never got a participation trophy” yeah buddy you were too busy inventing them >
  
  Or only slightly better, raising the generation that would go on to be responsible for making up participation trophies. >
  
  And the things they take credit for were done by their parents. >
  
  I'm from  northwest Europe.
  Our boomers "we rebuilt the country after the war"
  No you silly, your parents did. You were in diapers when your parents rebuilt the country, then when you were 18 you went to university that was entirely free thanks to your parents, then after graduation you took a sabbatical to tour Europe in your hippy van, then landed one of the many jobs with a good salary that was available because your parents succeeded in rebuilding the country.
  Then you retired as early as 55, because there are many of you, even though everyone knew there was no way the next generation which was much smaller wouldn't be able to support your pensions or even the cost of an ageing population, but there were many of you so your vote counted. 
  And when you had it all, and the next generation was getting to the retirement age, you increased the pension age. And that still wasn't enough, so the younger generation had to bankroll their own pension instead of the next generation as with the boomers.
  And now they're dying off. But don't expect an inheritance, because they're making sure it's all spent. >
  
  Silent Generation gets no fucking credit. Babies in the Depression, kids in WW2, drafted in Korea, were actually the ones to start the Vietnam protests when the oldest Boomers were still in high school. Led second-wave feminism. Collectively the best musicians of the 20th century. And they got named for being told to STFU. >
  
  The oldest boomers were 20 when Vietnam started... >
  
  And they were teenagers when the Vietnam PROTESTS started >
  
  The Vietnam protests started before the American Involvement? >
  
  Protest dates are always subjective (was it one person holding a sign? a major riot?) but they generally do post-date action. If you wanted to most generously credit Baby Boomers for having some adults involved in the earliest Vietnam protests, sticking to the original definition of Baby Boomers and being the babies of the returned GIs, yes there would have been a sliver of the absolute oldest Baby Boomers but they were born around 1946 and the first protests happened around 1963 and at that time they were considered teenagers and not adults. They couldn't vote. Could they march? Sure, and some of them did. But still you are talking about the margins. The majority of protestors against Vietnam in the 1960s were Silent Generation because most Boomers were high school students. >
  
  It's a stupid take because :
  
  
  high school students are known to partake in protests.
  
  
  the main antiwar movement was in the late 60s after the Tet Offensive, when first boomers were in their 20s. >
  
  A stuped take if you’re trying to define a generation on the margin of a few years yes. Oh hi, a fraction of college freshman, you are now responsible for marching the children into the streets! That’s not how generational protests work. >
  
  Even if the silent generation participated in anti war movement, so did the boomers, the anti war and anti draft started in colleges, when boomers were students in them. >
  
  I like it when boomers talk about other generations being entitled. >
  
  A perfect opportunity to tell this joke!
  “Those holes in your jeans, did you make those yourself?”
  “Those holes in the ozone, you make those yourself?” >
  
  I actually did make my holes in my jeans. From crawling under desks and carrying printers. I never knew IT would destroy pants like this. I treat them super nice too. 
  But you know boomer companies made them weaker, so they kinda made the holes in my jeans too. Jeans from even 15 years ago could take a literal beating. >
  
  These jeans do still exist! They are just not made by any popular companies these days. >
  
  It sucks. I used to buy Wrangler jeans and could work all day in them without issue. Shoveling mud, swinging a pick or cutting tree branches, no problem. Now I can't walk out my front door without getting a tear in them. >
  
  Check out some brands like Sugarcane, Bravestar, or TCB. They are a good bit more, but made crazy well compared to modern Levi's or Wrangler. >
  
  I mean technically boomers created the the generation so yea. >
  
  Every generation is the product of previous generations after all. If they don't like how we turned out they should blame their upbringing. >
  
  The fact that the economy is rigged against us so instead of buying houses we have to live with our boomer parents >
  
  in the spirit of rigged economy, I recently learned what eminent domain is. Never heard of a more parasitic way of making money. >
  
  There's always civil forfeiture.   That's pretty parasitic, too. Thers a small sliver of circumstances where I don't personally have a problem with it, but the remaining high percentage of incidents is problematic at best. >
  
  I understand the idea, but it has been totally abused. Originally for the prohibition to be able to confiscate barrels of booze when the bootlegger had fled. Sure, crime was committed and can't actually charge property with a crime. But just carrying cash qualifies as something for civil asset forfeiture, give me a break. Poor vet in Nevada had his life savings confiscated. Just disgusting. >
  
  Boomers didn't create entitlement, but they damn sure perfected it. >
  
  The majority of things people dislike about other people are often projection. >
  
  Plastic.  
  The number of old fucks you hear saying “I remember when milk was in glass bottles and chairs were made of wood”.
  Yeah….then you stopped all that and now the fish are come pre-packaged right from the sea. >
  
  Well the boomers created the younger generations technically so I guess you’re right >
  
  They always complain about the younger generation having it easier...in some cases they're right but that's the fucking point. Now we're seeing some negative issues and they refuse to take ownership. At least as far as I've witnessed on SM. >
  
  They bitch about Gen Xers but never think about who raised Gen X. >
  
  As someone born right on the dividing line between two of these “generations,” from parents who were also born on one of the other dividing lines, I’ve never understood the urge to pretend they explain the key differences between people. 
  Seems to me, urban vs. rural, liberal vs. conservative, region of the country, religious vs. non-religious, educated vs. uneducated — these are all far more valid ways to generalize human behavior. >
  
  I was a ride or die for my divorced boomer parents. They hated each other and inverted parenting was the rule. I saw them drink and smoke their salaries away, and my sibs and I were in second hand clothing and totally on our own. We weren't allowed to have our own identities and we weren't allowed to ever be angry about it. Self esteem, what's that, again? Yet, boomers studying Jung, et al, felt they were reinventing the parent wheel (in their heads). (You got organic baby food, so fuck you!) They obviously didn't even want children; they felt obligated, some leftover '50s shit. And in exchange we were supposed to be support staff to their 'forever young' greatness. And we were shit out of luck for having to teach our feral selves EVERYTHING to participate in advanced stage capitalism. Think we were ready for that? >
  
  That's the more eloquent version of:
  "Today's generation don't know how to fix things themselves!"
  "Who the fuck do you think was supposed to teach us?" >
  
  Clearly we are supposed to teach ourselves, after all we have the internet, duhh. /S
  On another note my dad who was raised in communism kept banishing me to the computer/internet anytime I had a question as a child because he was too busy watching tv, my mom didn't try to get me involved in household stuff, helped me with homework and cleaned the whole house by herself while working as much as my dad. All he did was work, come home and watch tv, go fishing and rarely do stuff around the house that my mom didn't know how or wasn't strong enough for (like construction related things, furniture, electrical etc.) And even then my mom usually helped out.
  Now my dad is constantly complaining I spend time at the computer (while he still watches tv or tick tok/plays candy crush almost all his free time) while he taught me to do that, complains I do not help my mom as much as he'd like around the house because I should do that as a girl, complains I do not know how to cook, sew, work with wood etc because I wasn't taught and he thinks school should've taught me all that (he was taught various life skill at school during communism), basically just another proof for me of how uninvolved and unaware he was of how school was going.
   Oh and he also complains that I don't drive, I explained to him that I'm scared of starting his old car (which drives worse than the driving school car i learned on) on our hilly street because if I don't react in time when the engine stops I could damage the cars behind, he went twice I think with me to drive his car and decided that was enough and it was better I go alone from then on. I didn't drive since then because I'm scare if driving this car and have no other. Meanwhile my boyfriend's mom's boyfriend (no really stepfather as they are not married) literally spent a few nights/evenings (less traffic) teaching him to drive his older bad car. 
  The month I went horseback riding as a teenager my dad drived me there once or twice, saw how long it took and considered it was boring to be there and I had to find a public transport method which involved 2 hours one way of waiting around for busses/trams in the summer sun (no shade) instead of 20-30 minutes of driving. Meanwhile now every time he is available he drives my way lazier and entitled sister around, picks her up and when he isn't my mom sends a bolt for her 
  And after all of this he still thinks he is such a great person that has done so much for us but doesn't understand that occasional (sometimes necessary, such as phones after the old one stopped working) expensive gifts don't make up for time not spent with us. >
  
  Boomers don't want to "be square", but no one talks like that anymore not even Boomers >
  
  ……I do. Wait….am I the square? >
  
  Worse, you're a boomer >
  
  I am?!?! I thought I just adopted hep lingo. Really lean into that Ginsburg vibe, dig me? >
  
  I’m pretty sure the guy who invented the cel phone was a boomer >
  
  It's also the same thing their parents' generation criticized about them. 
  And each younger generation grows up and says the same thing about the generations after them. >
  
  I'm pretty sure most sane people don't talk about each other that way at all. >
  
  Boomers to Millennial's: "You're also lazy, entitled, drug addicts."
  Millennial's to Zommers: "Hell yeah! Quit that low paying shit job! You're killing it out there buddy! 👏" >
  
  If you want to believe in something, you might have chosen something that made more sense. If you were born in the 1950s, would you have been an asshole? >
  
  The specifics don't matter. There are writings from ancient Greek philosophers complaining about kids in those days. The only constant is people from older generations complaining about kids in their day. >
  
  The majority of things that I dislike about younger adult generations are not things, but behavior, for which every adult is responsible notwithstanding how difficult life/childhood that person had. And I don't even qualify as a boomer, cause I'm younger. >
  
  But ultimately, where did they learn that behavior?? Their parents aka boomers lolz
  Edited: for tone cuz it could have come off as an aggressive comment but I just wanted to chime in : ) >
  
  It's weird to blame boomers when the majority of young adults today are offsprings of gen x and millennials. >
  
  Its not weird since boomers put all the systems in place that are fucking over gen x and millienials >
  
  The Reagan and Nixon administrations were filled with boomers ? >
  
  The only reason I stay on reddit is because one day I hope to see the next stupid generational stereotype displace this one. >
  
  And they'll know everything and everything will be someone else (olders) fault and they'll be all caring and sharing and inclusive.........until....
  They get a good job, start a family of their own, get a nice, comfortable life, then it's everyone for themselves. We're all selfish, greedy humans after all.
  It'll be interesting to see the fallout ........pass the popcorn >
  
  Except we’ll never be able to get a “good” job that will allow us to afford a family and a nice, comfortable life because the economy is so incredibly screwed up and we decided to not be jerks to one another anyway >
  
  Funniest answer ever. We'll done.
  Maybe an attitude adjustment?
  Everything is not someone else's fault, you know. >
  
  One thing that boomer professors of mine didn't like was how terrible at basic statistics and critical thinking the average person is. For instance, I saw this reddit post where everyone was piling onto a massive demographic for seemingly hypocritical behavior, not recognizing that such a large demographic is actually comprised in part by two entirely separate demographics that individually exhibit the behaviors they claimed were at odds with each other. They would've hated it. Stupid boomers. >
  
  I see what you did there. >
  
  It's worse than all that. It's all stuff that's actually true of Boomers and not the Younger Gens.
  
  
  They Have too much access to changing tech and don't know how to handle it. Nope, that's Boomers, who lived through the invention of the transistor and the internet during their lives and don't know how to deal. Younger people were born into it and it's normal for them
  
  
  They spend too much time on screens. Again this is a boomer problem. Young people use their devices faster and are much more adept at benefiting from technology hands-free, eyes-free, voice control, etc. Young people can have a device in their pocket enhance a conversation with a real person. Boomers will fully focus on the device.
  
  
  They have no patience and can't delay gratification. No, that's the boomers
  
  
  Society and Media has made them violent, and they think about violence all the time. Boomers
  
  
  They are obsessed with Facebook and Social Media. Boomers
  
  
  They were taught they were all special unique flowers and were rewarded even for failure Not the kids in the 90s, just the Hippie boomers who bought the houses in the 90s and lived through unprecedented prosperity
  
  
  They are offended by everything and try to control how people talk Literally what the boomers are doing by saying that.
  
  
  and so on, and so on >
  
  Its SO much worse to have been born into using tech, thinking of interfacing with the internet as as natural as eating and shitting, thinking of it as an extension of oneself, and using it while doing other things, thus fully paying attention to eitber or anything, than focusing on the computer when youre on the computer and focusing on a real fucking conversation when your having a real fucking conversation. We just shouldnt habe our phones in use as much as we do. I keep mine off at gatherings with friends and family.
  You didnt even provide an explanation for this one. Its fair to say boomers created the things that have damaged our attention span and lack of self control- Phones, video games, the internet, fast food, normalized drug use… but you cant blame all boomers like thag any more than you can blame all American citizens of any age for the problems our country had in the 60s.  And at least older generations realized you have to work for things that gratify you. Their parents didnt give them what they wanted when they asked for it. Some boomer parents did do thag with their kids. All gen X parents did that with their kids. 
  Again, older oeople may use the internet but its not integratedninto their minds the way it is with our generation. My dad doesnt see something beautiful and immedeately think of taking a picture and postinng it so other people can think hes cool. My mom doesnt text other people while Im talking to her, and if I do that while talking to her, she gives me mad shit for it and and I deserve it. I give people my age shit for it when they do it to me.
  Yeah well boomers may get offended by our sensibilities in a similar way most of us are offended by their sensibilities, but at least boomers were funny- No ones making jokes like Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Eddy Mirphy, or Norm MacDonald, which paved the way for Adam Sandler, Jerry Seinfeld, Will Ferrel, Tracy Morgan, Chris Rock, and showsm like South Park, The Simpsons, Always Sunny, CHAPPELLE and other people who said shit that you wouldnt be abke to get away with nowadays.
  We dont get to act like were better than them ti we can take care of ourselves, get through a day without drugs or therapy, and not get upset when people say something mean. >
  
  Well you are obviously a brick wall but I am going to reply to you anyway point by point because I think it will help me clarify my own thinking.
  
  Its SO much worse to have been born into using tech, thinking of interfacing with the internet as as natural as eating and shitting,
  
  Why?
  Why would that possibly be worse?
  And even if you COULD present an argument for why it would be worse to have adapted to the world as it is, rather than to have a clean slate and be adapted to come idealized hypothetical world without technology, there would still be no way to argue that being well-adapted to the internet is inferior to what the boomers have.
  The Boomers are adapted to the transistor, adapted to the microprocessor, adapted to the widespread use of plastics, adapted to TV and Radio and Telephones and pocket-sized electronics and microwave ovens and all of the modern conveniences that the transistor brought us. But NOT adapted to, and somehow still suspicious and antagonistic towards the latest and most powerful use of all those technologies for communication and collaboration. But also, statistically, they use it just as much as the rest of us, they just feel bitter about it.
  Maybe Tarzan is better off, but the Boomers sure as hell are not
  
  thinking of it as an extension of oneself, and using it while doing other things,
  
  The content we produce IS an extension of ourselves, in much the same way a playwright's works or a composor's symphonies are. And those things DO continue, all the time, just like radio and TV signals do. Not being home at 6 means missing Howdy Doody or whoever.
  When a boomer says that they "Spoke to Frank (...) on the phone" they speak rightly. They did speak to (an extension of) Frank via the telephone" and when an Alpha says they "Talked to Phranc (...) on the internet", they also speak rightly.
  
  thus fully paying attention to eitber or anything, than focusing on the computer when youre on the computer and focusing on a real fucking conversation when your having a real fucking conversation.
  
  I'm not a stickler for grammar, but I don't even know what you were trying to say with that first clause.
  But you are wrong to differentiate a "real" conversation from one that benefits from things invented since boomers turned 30. In the same way Boomers can watch a game together on TV or in person, and benefit from the existence of microphones and speakers and amplification, Millennials and Zers can talk about an artist they enjoy and use their phone to actually bring up images of particular works of that artist to share with the person they are talking to. Both of those things are "real" and it is only irrational prejusdice that tells you otherwise
  
  We just shouldnt habe our phones in use as much as we do. I keep mine off at gatherings with friends and family.
  
  YOU probably should not have your phone on as much as you do. You obviously have a difficulty focusing on your friends and family when you have a phone around. Most younger people are very used to having a phone that is always on, and are able to make the decisions they actually intend to make about when to use it.
  When Boomers were growing up, if the phone rang, you always picked it up immediately, because there was a real person on the other end, and you needed to speak to them about something important, otherwise they would not have called. That makes boomers feel a lot of pressure about phones going off in young people's pockets. But they are projecting.
  Younger people were raised in a world with answering machines, and acclimated to a world in which people could be called back or texted back or emailed or liked and subscribed to and connected with later. They don't have the same Pavlovian response to it that boomers do. Virtually all of them leave their phones on silent literally all the time.
  Now of course Boomers will loudly complain about the young cousin they saw who was ruined by technology, evidenced by the fact that they "couldn't get off their phone" at a family gathering. But that young person was making a choice. They had the option to engage in a place where they were being diminished and thought of as someone who was broken because of their age, or to engage in another more beneficial community, and they chose the one they preferred. They knew they were being rude. They chose to be rude because YOU were also being rude, by not including them as full participants whose wants and needs and values were considered, in the gathering.
  
  You didnt even provide an explanation for this one. Its fair to say boomers created the things that have damaged our attention span and lack of self control- Phones, video games, the internet, fast food, normalized drug use… 
  
  That's actually not fair. All of those things (except the internet) were developed by Boomers parents and shaped the world in which Boomers were raised.
  That's my point. These things emerged in the late 40s early 50s and were huge changes in society that damaged the Boomers who were children and weren't ready for them. By the 80s and 90s when the Xers and Millennials came of age, change had actually leveled off dramatically. But Boomers are still reeling, to the point that they have come to believe that these new fangled things are actually messing up their kids, instead of looking inward.
  The internet was a dramatic change, and it presents the most visible difference between the Xers and the Milenials and the Millennials and the Zers. But it also affected the Boomers who were also alive when it emerged, just as much. AND it grew out of the aforementioned transistor which was a much much much much huger change.
  
  but you cant blame all boomers like thag any more than you can blame all American citizens of any age for the problems our country had in the 60s. And at least older generations realized you have to work for things that gratify you. Their parents didnt give them what they wanted when they asked for it. Some boomer parents did do thag with their kids. All gen X parents did that with their kids.
  
  What?
  Sorry as much as I can understand that's just not a thing. It's not a pattern in any appreciable or measurable way.
  Some parents, from time immemorial, have taught their children hard work and responsibility, and some parents have taught bitterness and irresponsibility. It's not a generational thing.
  One thing that IS a generational thing is the largest youth counterculture movement in history where an enormous number of babies were born after WWII and they came of age at around the same time and outnumbered their parents significantly which lead to them questioning and often rejecting a lot of what the Greatest Generation lived and died for.
  And that was the Boomers. The Boomers were the generation affected by that.
  
  Again, older oeople may use the internet but its not integratedninto their minds the way it is with our generation. My dad doesnt see something beautiful and immedeately think of taking a picture and postinng it so other people can think hes cool
  
  Integration and normalization are good things. It's the right thing to do for things that have become normal.
  Your Dad DOES hear about a place he would like to visit far away and immediately think of driving there. He doesn't think of riding a horse. This is a good thing. Your dad has lived his life in a world where automotive technology was normal.
  I don't take a lot of pictures either. But I'll bet when your Dad does choose to take a picture, he puts it in a photo album, or even a slide show, so that when people he cares about come over he can show it to them. Pictures are meant to be shared, they always have been. If you or your Dad got used to the fact that he can now take a picture any time he wants, for free, and that he would not run out of film or have to get it developed, and that he has better ways to share it, that would make his life better and not worse. 
  And it wouldn't stop him from enjoying a beautiful sunset. I saw a beautiful sunset with my daughter tonight. I don't have a picture to show you, neither of us took one.
  CONTINUED IN PART TWO >
  
  Its worse because it teaches kids to dissociate from the real world on a regular basis. Yes, modern technology as a whole has CLEARLY been a net negative on society. Lower attention spans. Ability to pay attention tk one thing at a time (WHICH IS INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT TO FUNCTIONING AS AN ADULT. Athleticism and gneral physical health. Creating a magnet for all humanity’s worst impulses- Flaunting your looks, bragging about achievments, being jealous of others, lying, senseless arguments (This is a bery well mannered debate by internet standards). And just not being able to interact with people in person effectively. Texting isnt a substitue for speaking to a person in person and looking into their eyes. Porn is not a substitute for sex. The veiw from the top of a mountain doesnt feel the same from looking at a pictjre of it on your phone vs having climbed the moutaim yourself and looking out at natures majesty.
  The world as it is is worse than our paren were our age, but frankly Im not a big fan of TV, plastics, or microwaves either. Change =\= progress. Were physically sick, mentally weak, and morally devoid, and yeah, the progression of technology is… more to blame than anything else at least.
  I’ll agree again that watching TV was a big thing for the baby boomer generation too. But once again, I think thats bad. The disturbing fantaicism for sporta teams started with boomers. 
  Your saying the “content we produce is an extention of ourselves” admittedly gave me pause for a second- Yeah, media isnt inherently evil, but come on- The quality of the content athat intetnet use is conducive to is sickeningly shallow and mind dulling. Ten second damce videos? Convoluted fan theories? Canon debates? Senseless political argument where people just parrot what they heard somewhere else? The internet isnt comparable to a symphony- Its the South Park citizens yelling “RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE” 
  One thing you are totally wrong about is your personal jabs at me- I’ll always care more about a baskeball game Im playing in the park than even the Celtics playing in the championship. As I said in my previous post I turn in phone off when Im out with friends and family. I dont even use it when Im on break at work. Bad debate tactic by the way. 
  Yes, boomers used technology. And in my opinion lot of that was even a societal step down from where we were in the 1800s. Yeah cars are fun but people used to walk (Or I
  Guess ride horses if they had the money) to where they wanted to go and didnt fucking complain. Probably why they were able to work 12 house a day on the farmthey ran themselves and not complain.  But theres a scale of bullshit and we slid down the shit slide. And  the manner in which we use technology is important too. Society isnt better than it was 60 years ago. And afain, that doesnt mean every piece of technology is inherently evil, and it doesnt mean every indidvidual misuses it, which alludes to my point that you couldnt seem to understand for some reason-Not all hoomers are responsible for creating the technology that fucked up their
  children, nor is it all gen z and millenial individuals fault for the bullshit of the modern era. 
  But whatever the reason, we’re a weaker willed, weaker physically, more overly sensitive, more emotionally unstable, and FAR more superficial society, represented well by social media than any other genertion in human history. And just because thats normal doesnt mean we should integrate into it. And you juust fucking cant discount the internet as a factor. But frankly when we as individuals dont habe any right to use the past or greater society as an excuse not to strengthen our wills, get in shape, toughen our sensibilities, control our emotions,  minstillmdicipline within ourselves, as individuals not as a society, and doing so unencombered by self pity, guilt, or general weakness. >
  
  Okay, so you are advocating for a different position now than you were before.
  My claim was that the criticisms directed by boomers at the younger generations are actually projections that apply more to the boomers themselves.
  Initially you seemed to be trying to disagree with that but now you are saying that all of those things are bad. (Of course they are. they are criticisms) and that "the world was better 60 years ago"
  I assume that you, like a lot of people are imagining the late 40s when you say "60 years ago" instead of 1962. And you said some things (like walking or riding horses instead of driving) that make me think you are probably imagining earlier. But regardless you are talking about a time before boomers were influenced by all these negative things that they think diminish "kids these days" so I think we have come to a strange sort of agreement.
  Now. I don't agree that the world was better in the 50s (let's split the difference) than it is today. I don't think anyone would argue that it was better for black people, or gay people, or people with polio, or people outside the US, or old people. I think it was a lot worse for woman, though you will probably disagree. It was also a lot worse for poor people, and ironically, for rich people, as we had a very very high marginal tax rate. And even for the few the proud the young straight white able-bodied men, I don't really think things were better. But maybe for you they would have been.
  I don't agree, but I don't care to rhetorically disagree either, the way I did with the thing we were previously talking about. I don't want to try to prove you wrong.
  If modern tech is hurting you and making your life feel worse, then please, by all means, go live differently. Get off reddit. Go build a house off the grid in Alaska. Get rid of your car. Stop using plastic. A really think all of these things are interesting and admirable choices.
  Ironically, if I were going to do all of those things, I would lean on modern technology to make it possible. I would quit my job and work remotely, I would learn how to homestead from homesteading YouTube channels. I would probably go try to get connected with Rob Greenfield and work with some of the people he has worked with and use the web to help me do that. I'd maybe even make content and share it about my alternative lifestyle.
  But you don't have to. Just go outside and touch grass bro.
  ...but don't TELL me you believe all those things and then just keep on living in a way that you know shows that you don't. >
  
  Initially you seemed to be trying to disagree with that but now you are saying that all of those things are bad. (Of course they are. they are criticisms) and that "the world was better 60 years ago"
  I agree with you those things are bad. I dont think they apply to older powple as much as you do or as much as younger. 
  
  I assume that you, like a lot of people are imagining the late 40s when you say "60 years ago" instead of 1962. And you said some things (like walking or riding horses instead of driving) that make me think you are probably imagining earlier. But regardless you are talking about a time before boomers were influenced by all these negative things that they think diminish "kids these days" so I think we have come to a strange sort of agreement.
  
  My point I guess is that every generation since the world war 2 generations gotten a little worse 
  Now. I don't agree that the world was better in the 50s (let's split the difference) than it is today. I don't think anyone would argue that it was better for black people, or gay people, or people with polio, or people outside the US, or old people. I think it was a lot worse for woman, though you will probably disagree. It was also a lot worse for poor people, and ironically, for rich people, as we had a very very high marginal tax rate. And even for the few the proud the young straight white able-bodied men, I don't really think things were better. But maybe for you they would have been.
  Well maybe if you choose to view society solely in from the veiw of sociocultural groups like race and gender or economic class instead of looking at how all of humanity deals with the experiences all humans have… but if your looking at how children are raised, how econkmically, emotionally stable, and strong of will people of all walks of life were in general compared to now, the 50s look pretty good to me. 
  
  If modern tech is hurting you and making your life feel worse, then please, by all means, go live differently. Get off reddit. Go build a house off the grid in Alaska. Get rid of your car. Stop using plastic. A really think all of these things are interesting and admirable choices. 
  
  Well thats the long term plan. Thats not achievable overnight, but I cut off 90% of processed foods, shopping both on online and wal mart type retail, and learning carpentry. I do something for exercize or some other method of putting myself in physical duress every day. Little bits are bette than nothing.
  Why am I still on the internet? Well we all have our guilty pleasures I guess. >
  
  Boomer here --I don't dislike younger generations.  I grew up poor,  inherited nothing, and have never, ever voted for policies designed to keep wealth and power in the hands of older, whiter people.   
  There is a limited number of generalizations you can make about 76 million people. >
  
  I don't think comments like this are to say that Boomers are all conservatives; in my opinion, it's more that as a generation that was able to climb a career ladder that barely even required a high school diploma, then turning around and raising tuition at colleges to astronomical levels to pad their pockets and then requiring bachelor's degrees for entry level jobs and advanced degrees for even the prospect of making enough money to be independent (no roommates/not living with parents/not forced to get married so you can afford life but then, oops, end up with an accidental kid or two and now the Boomers have reversed Roe v. Wade and you can't get an abortion even if you wanted to...)
  Basically, even if Boomers may have grown up poor and were given nothing, by being part of the generation that destroyed the societal advances that enabled them to not REMAIN in poverty, they will go down in history as one of the worst blights on human existence. >
  
  It sounds like you believe everything that's wrong in life is caused by people who were born between 1946 and 1964.   Gross oversimplification isn't helping.   What forces in our society support rollbacks of human and civil rights and the degradation of democracy?   Who wants to keep the poor in their place?   Who is creating culture wars to distract people so they don't notice they're being fucked over?   Who wanted to kill broad access to health insurance?  Who is passing laws that favor the rich?   
  Tucker Carlson isn't a baby boomer, nor is Ron DeSantis. Just blaming people of a certain age group gives a pass to those of all ages who are actively trying to funnel power and wealth to a top few while screwing the poor, the middle class, and the young. >
  
  Lol yeah, there's definitely some manipulation going on here. Older people and younger people don't need to be at odds with each other. "Generationalism" is pretty useless. >
  
  I am a boomer. The only thing I don’t like about the younger generation is thier music >
  
  There has always been shitty music. There is still good music and shitty music, just like there always was. I mean, some of the pop music in the 70's was so bad it should be illegal to play it, and all recordings should be destroyed to save humanity. You can't be too careful. >
  
  Or if not created by they were the cause only the trouble that lead to it like environmentalism >
  
  Maybe most boomers don’t dislike those things at all. Most of the comments I see are from non-boomers claiming that boomers dislike something, not from boomers themselves.
  Exhibit 1. : OP’s comment. >
  
  40 years later and I’ve thrown all of mine away. No therapy needed. >
  
  Cake for me, is a MOOD thing.  B4 the first bite is even taken THIS is the thought process:
  I know it’s going to go to my waist and I’m not going to work it off.
  If it’s not so frikkin amazing it’s not worth the calories.
  Cake if store bought us NEVER really THAT amazing.
  Fuck it…give me a piece….a small one. Oh it’s not chocolate!?!?! Then I’ll pass! >
  
  Boomers: makes something to make the future generation lives easier and better.
  Also boomers: you spend too much time using these technology things. Back in my day we didnt have any of that. >
  
  Everyone dies, and some get old first. I’m sure the millennials will be so tolerant and objective towards the younger generations. They’ve done everything else right. >
  
  I don’t understand “kids these days” and I’m not that old. I don’t think? 
  I constantly remind myself there’s nothing wrong with doing things different. Yeah I don’t understand Zoomer humor or what they do exactly but ya know, nobody “understood” us when we were growing up. I made a stark departure from how I grew up - rocking the boat is normal. Who wants to be like their parents? 
  Not to mention. “Old” people are boring as hell. It’d be more weird if Zoomers just repeated Millennials. They’re young. Full of hopes and dreams. More energy than I’ll ever have again in my life. They’re having fun and hurting nobody. If they wanna eat hot chip and lie that’s fine with me. Fuck it. >
  
  I try to be the same, but I worry that the rest of us may not be so tolerant. It's all very well for a few to break the mould but so long as the majority - or even a more vocal minority - starts looking down and shitting on zoomers, that's all they'll think of us as. >
  
  I cringed at my own generation as a kid, so nothing's changed. It doesn't mean I care, if you're not hurting anyone do literally whatever the fuck you want! I just want the same. Leave each other alone unless you're hurting someone. It's that easy. 
  The weirdest thing to me is live streaming video games. I cannot fathom how it's so big. I only ever wanted to play, maybe look up tips once you could do that. But now people war h streamers like a four hour movie and I just don't get it. I'm only turning 30 and I'm already confused lol. 
  But hey, they aren't hurting anyone. Some influencers (like Mr Beast iirc) even do really good stuff. So why all the bitching? >
  
  27-year-old here, so not much further behind you in age.
  The appeal to watching streamers boils down to how entertaining that particular is, some folks just have a really engaging personality that can keep you engaged for an hour or two. While I don't do it often I definitely get a kick out of seeing supercuts on YouTube (don't have the free time to watch live on twitch) of Streamers that i like. >
  
  boomers are just the selfish generation. they lived it up all their lives, had it super easy, and now can't stand that they're dying, and resent their children for their youth. 
  they're so childish and resentful that they're going to take out the next generation and possibly most of humanity. >
  
  We can go one step further: the younger generations were created by boomers