By Artti • 5 Comments
It’s crazy to think that in such a short time there are so many things our generation is going through that our parent’s generation didn’t. To think that our parents, who are only 20-30 (on average) years older than us lived almost completely different lives to us is insane. If you’ve never realized before how differently we live in comparison to our parents, here’s a few things our generation is going through that our parent’s generation didn’t.
Using social media is definitely one of the things our generation is going through that our parent’s generation didn’t. From what I can personally remember, the boom of social media started in 2003 with the introduction of MySpace and hasn’t stopped growing since. Now an integral part of our society, social media is a young concept that has swept through almost every nation in the world. Weirdly enough, 15 years ago social media didn't even exist. but now it’s a key way we communicate, connect and approach each other.
The growth spurt of social media is due to the technological boom of the last 25 years. Technology was not a new concept when the boom began, but the last 25 years of technology was the most important because technology finally became easily accessible by consumers and families. Before the boom, handheld devices, cellular phones and desktops were rare in households. Today, many households have more than one desktop/laptop and cell phone.
Generations before us all over the globe have been fascinated with celebrities such as actors, performers, politicians and royalty, however, in recent years the fascination has turned in to an obsession. Today there are magazines, websites and TV shows dedicated to the mysterious lives of celebrities. In addition, social media has opened a new world for us by letting us see glimpses of our favourite celebrities’ lives, thus feeding our obsession.
In fact, a lot of the generation before us blame themselves for global warming. They feel that they used and consumed wastefully and therefore the current generation now suffers with climate change, extinction of species and melting polar ice caps. Although not everyone believes in global warming it is definitely a hot topic that was given a lot of attention to in 2006 by the documentary An Inconvenient Truth.
Does anyone else remember how the world was supposed to end of December 21, 2012? Even though most of us didn’t believe the world was coming to an end it was a major phenomenon that was spoken about regularly for a couple years leading up to the doomsday date. In fact, several documentaries and Hollywood movies were made about the subject. There were even conspiracies that governments around the world built underground shelters for the day the world would end. .
Remember when reality TV used to be the news or documentaries? Today reality TV are shows that follow the “real” lives of celebrities, bachelors, teen moms or people with “unusual” lifestyles. Not much can be learned from reality TV but it’s still popular nonetheless. In fact, almost all major networks have a minimum of one reality TV show airing.
Almost as addicting as drugs, selfies have swept today’s generation like a storm. Selfies are mostly popular because you can show your friends what you’re doing, who you’re doing it with and where you’re doing it at. Plus, where regular photos are taken in the moment, selfies can be taken and retaken until you find the best version of yourself in this picture. I think selfies are exceedingly popular because it’s a way to show the world only what we want it to see.
Although only 20-30 years, on average, separate us from our parents it’s strange to see how differently we live compared to them. Our world is becoming increasingly unrecognizable from what the generation previous to us knew. What are other things that we are going through that our parents or the generation before us didn’t necessarily go through?