We have all seen it, right? The look on a millennial’s face when he or she discovers THE answer on their phone.
They are surrounded by individuals who experience the same thing, and these moments of bliss are captured and disseminated through social media channels at nearly warp speed.
Isn’t it natural, though, for all younger people to feel as if they have the answers? The difference now is that younger generations are able to capture these moments with technology and promote them. Might Baby Boomers have experienced such things, too?
What will happen when today’s younger generations grow older and time seems less infinite? There is something deeply disturbing about the march of time. It goes on without us, and that reality is obvious the older we get and the more we see change, yet stay the same.
Do millennials have the answers to life’s mysteries? Media coverage seems to suggest they know something profound. However, might it be that millennials know technology better than older generations? They know how to use technology, but that knowledge seems to bleed into the arena of life itself, which is profoundly problematic.
Some answers are known by each generation, but the question becomes what kind of answers are they? Can a 29 year old advise a 60 year old on the complexities and nuances of life? Maybe. Do millennials fundamentally understand aspects of life? No way. Technology, however, provides photos and videos of them in that sort of nirvana that only exists for younger folks.
As we age, the excitement of what we think we know is tempered by the experiences that make up entire decades of what we do not know. What would it look like on social media to see pictures of 85 year olds staring at each other in rapture and clicking buttons? We would surmise they have dementia? After all, what can older folks know, right?
What those who are older know, however, cannot be measured by Google analytics or captured in an online review of a local vegetarian bistro. Rather, it is the actual content of a life that has been lived and all the detours and nuances that result from the pain, loss, tragedy and triumph of existence.
Do millennials have the answers? Sure, they are exuberant and bring fresh perspectives to age-old human foibles. Have they experienced decades worth of life and loss? No, they have not.
Ask a 25 year old what is life, and he or she will look toward the future. Ask a 50 year old the same question, and he or she will turn around and look back…