It’s a tale as old as time – the older generation complaining about the younger generation. From Gen Z’s social media obsession to Millennials’ entitlement to Baby Boomers’ free-love culture, every generation seems to believe the one below has lost their way. But why do we seem so predisposed to critiquing the generations that come after us?
The Evolution of Generational Labels
First, it helps to understand where our generational labels come from. Historians typically define a generation as a group of people born in the same general timespan who experienced key historical or cultural events together.
Major demographic groups like the Baby Boomers or Gen X were originally identified and named by academics and researchers. But once these generational labels enter the mainstream, they can take on a life of their own. They become loaded with sometimes unfair stereotypes and sweeping generalizations.
For instance, Baby Boomers may get cast as privileged free-love hippies, while Millennials become seen as entitled and lazy. Gen Z gets dubbed social media-addicted phone zombies. Of course, most individuals are far more complex than these simplistic stereotypes suggest.
Our Brains Like Categories
Psychologists suggest our brains have a natural tendency to categorize information into groups. Generational labels represent handy mental shortcuts when making quick judgments about large diverse groups of younger people.
Categorizing individuals into generations allows us to neatly package a set of assumptions about their habits, motivations and worldviews. We reflexively attribute perceived generational patterns to innate traits rather than societal context.
For example, many wrongly assume Millennials’ digital savvy comes from growing up innately attached to phones. In reality, Millennials came of age during the rapid proliferation of the internet and adoption of smartphones. The technological realities of their youth shaped their behaviors.
These types of useful cognitive shortcuts helped early humans quickly size up potential allies or threats. But when applied reflexively, they can warp our understanding of individuals who don’t conform to the stereotypical generational mold.
The Appeal of the Good Old Days
Nostalgia also fuels older generations’ conviction that the next is fundamentally less virtuous. Golden age thinking idealizes the culture of one’s youth, portraying the past as a simpler, better time.
Through the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia, societal problems and hardships fade into the background or get edited out completely. The present never measures up to the fantasy of this perfected past.
You see this tendency when Boomers sentimentalize the rebellious 60s counterculture while chiding Millennials’ social justice activism as disruptive or unreasonable. To nostalgic Boomers, their youth revolution felt “pure” compared to what they dismiss as the excess of today’s “woke” politics.
Of course, the 60s had its own set of complex dynamics and divisions rather than the unified front Boomer nostalgia portrays. But golden age thinking airbrushes past complexities, forever deeming the present inferior.
The Kids Morph Into Their Parents
Finally, as idealistic young rebels transition into established older generations, their values and worldviews inevitably transform. You embody the counterculture until slowly, you represent the status quo.
The Boomers who rejected rigid 1950s social conventions as youths eventually found themselves sounding much like their own disapproving parents, lamenting the decline of values and work ethic in the next generation.
Life stages also shape perspectives. The carefree, rebellious youths who felt stifled by the Establishment develop more conservative outlooks as they take on adult responsibilities of raising families and building careers. They mistake their own changing views for generational decline rather than age.
Recognizing Our Own Biases
This isn’t to say major generational differences don’t exist. Significant technological and social changes shape the formative experiences between generations. Millennials and Gen Z do retain different expectations and habits from preceding generations.
But we need perspective when perceiving the next generation’s flaws or deficiencies. Our instinct to definitively deem our own generation as superior is likely marred by bias. The violent upheavals of the 60s bred anxieties just as the uncertainties of today give rise to modern angst.
While we can reflect on concerning generational trends, we must also question our reflexive dismissal of the next generation. Progress depends on empathizing across generational divides rather than just condemnation. Each generation inevitably critiques the next. But self-awareness of our inherent biases may help break this timeless cycle.
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