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When I was a teenager in the 1990s, there was definitely still a generational gap between teens and parents. I remember being about 14 and trying to get my mom into music like Offspring, Sublime, Everclear, and Tupac... and her just rolling her eyes and making some comment about how music has devolved since the days of Elvis and The Beatles.
The gap manifested in technology as well. My parents bought me a new PC with a "photo drive" (built-in scanner) for my birthday in the spring of 1997, but didn't even attempt to learn how to use it, despite me offering and explaining how cool it was. Same thing when I got a web cam a year later.
When I started meeting chicks off the Internet at age 16, my mom thought it was the equivalent of picking up hitchhikers on a dark highway. She didn't think I'd make it to my 18th birthday alive.
I could go on all day with examples like this. And my folks were more "with it" than most of the other parents I knew back then.
Nowadays, it seems like teens and parents are practically on the exact same page when it comes to pop culture, technology, etc. I know several people with teens, and they are culturally identical to their kids from their iPhone obsession, to the Rihanna and Lady Gaga in their mp3 collections, to their love for movies like The Hangover.
I'm just waiting for 40 year old men to start sporting Justin Bieber haircuts.
Whether it's Brett Favre sending weenie shots or 40-year-old CPAs throwing Nintendo Wii and Guitar Hero parties, what would have been teen fads a few decades ago are not just limited to teens now. There is no generational gap.
What does everyone think about this? Is it a good thing? Personally, I liked growing up with different cultural norms than my parents. It gave me a sense of self and let me know that I was becoming my own person with my own style and tastes. I remember my dad got into Pearl Jam for a little while and I just thought it was weird. Now kids and parents go see Rascal Flatts together and it is difficult to discern who is more infatuated.
Do you miss the generational gaps we used to have and do you think we will ever see them again?
I think its still there. Its more in personal values and things like lady gaga are mom bands. I think with technology its just another part of what that generation grew up with and still uses. Like older fathers and the TV. That was what was hot for them and stilll is at 75. For the 30-40 somethings they grew up on atari and super nintendo.
For example...you may hear a kid listening to this:
But not a mom on the general...unless she had a joy division thing from back in her salad days.
I think any closing gap can be good. More common ground = deeper bonds = more harmony.
I am increasingly seeing the blurring of lines between the generations and in some ways it is good, in other ways it isn't.
For example the cult of youth is fine when you're 18, but when you're 38 it looks pathetic. Youthfulness equates with beauty, energy....and immaturity, which is not attractive on a 40 year old.
I'm finding the older I get the more I actually want to be separate from young people. I don't want to dress like them and listen to their music, I want to be mature and have some sort of semblance of wisdom, not because I am old, but because I don't want a society where everyone has to look 25 and act 25.
It's difficult to explain and if you aren't in your 40s you may never really understand. It isn't until you see your looks fading and the recognise the stark truth that you have less time to fulfill your dreams, that you really realise you are not young anymore.
I guess I would prefer more balance. For example, when I was a kid in the 70's, a lot of 40+ year old men already looked and acted like Fred Mertz (from I Love Lucy), today, a lot of them are taking better care of themselves and looking younger. Women too are looking younger and dressing much better. Remember that show All in the Family? Edith Bunker (played by Jean Stapleton) was only in her late 40's, yet she looked like she was in her 60's with that old lady hairdo and drab house dress. I'm glad most women in their 40's don't look like that anymore.
Now, what I don't really care for are the 40+ year old men who are wearing Abercrombie t-shirts, wearing their caps backwards, and flopping around in cargo shorts and flip-flops everywhere they go. Or women in their 40's wearing pants with "Pink" or "Juicy" splashed across their asses and acting like 17year old cheerleaders.
If we could split the difference between those two extremes I think that's a step in the right direction.
There's still a generational gap. I may be able to beat my daughter at Dance Central but she calls Pink Floyd "old people music." She knows I think Taylor Lautner is a dweeb; her idea of a hot older man is Jake Gyllenhaal.
I guess I would prefer more balance. For example, when I was a kid in the 70's, a lot of 40+ year old men already looked and acted like Fred Mertz (from I Love Lucy), today, a lot of them are taking better care of themselves and looking younger. Women too are looking younger and dressing much better. Remember that show All in the Family? Edith Bunker (played by Jean Stapleton) was only in her late 40's, yet she looked like she was in her 60's with that old lady hairdo and drab house dress. I'm glad most women in their 40's don't look like that anymore.
Now, what I don't really care for are the 40+ year old men who are wearing Abercrombie t-shirts, wearing their caps backwards, and flopping around in cargo shorts and flip-flops everywhere they go. Or women in their 40's wearing pants with "Pink" or "Juicy" splashed across their asses and acting like 17year old cheerleaders.
If we could split the difference between those two extremes I think that's a step in the right direction.
I guess I would prefer more balance. For example, when I was a kid in the 70's, a lot of 40+ year old men already looked and acted like Fred Mertz (from I Love Lucy), today, a lot of them are taking better care of themselves and looking younger. Women too are looking younger and dressing much better. Remember that show All in the Family? Edith Bunker (played by Jean Stapleton) was only in her late 40's, yet she looked like she was in her 60's with that old lady hairdo and drab house dress. I'm glad most women in their 40's don't look like that anymore.
Now, what I don't really care for are the 40+ year old men who are wearing Abercrombie t-shirts, wearing their caps backwards, and flopping around in cargo shorts and flip-flops everywhere they go. Or women in their 40's wearing pants with "Pink" or "Juicy" splashed across their asses and acting like 17year old cheerleaders.
If we could split the difference between those two extremes I think that's a step in the right direction.
Good post, and I agree.
It to me is sorta embarrassing when you see some woman in her late 30's early 40's dressing as you describe, the the Juicy written across the butt. But heck, whatever floats your boat. Same with guys and ballcaps on backwards, George Carlin has a bit about that that pretty much covers the whole subject.
When it comes to music I can see some bleed over, as I can dig some old school Frank Sinatra, where as my dad isn't gonna be cranking the black album from Metallica. I sometimes think that younger people might be a little more flexible in their approach... IDK.
There are just some lines that this 40 something "old" dude isn't gonna cross.
Justin Bierber or Lady Gaga or who ever the latest corporate bred, over produced, non talent hacks that the record company jam down the consumers throats.... aka 12 to 15 yr old.
And, speaking of that, when did the younger demo become the target market audience??
It's the way people act that disturbs me. Mothers and Fathers who try to be their kids best friend instead of a parent. Adults acting like spoiled, indulged, privileged kids when they're at the hospital or in a public place, those kinds of things. Immaturity at 45 is not pretty. We have been fed the line "You never have to grow up" for years and years now.
And, speaking of that, when did the younger demo become the target market audience??
The target audience didn't get younger - you just got old.
I just remember a lot of affordable things I did growing up which are now so expensive you need a second mortgage just to go see a movie. We had roller skating and ice skating rinks, movies, later on there were concerts and tickets were only a coule bucks now they are in the 100s for one seat. I scratch my head wondering just what do kids do these days when everything is out of minimum wage price ranges --and I'm not that old. If I think going to the movies is expensive, it has to be astronomical for a teenager.
I think it depends on how much older the parents are from the kids. My parents are 35-50 years older than my brothers and I. On most things, we don't see eye to eye at all, on top of the fact that my parents didn't grow up in the U.S.A. so we have cultural gaps as well.
Other than that, I like a lot of my dad's music and movies as he likes Frank Sinatra, old country, and classic but great American movies. When I was younger, we were worlds away on pop culture interests, but now that I'm older, I appreciate a wider variety of entertainment. My mom, has very little interest in music, movies, t.v., but we love anything dance related and we both absolutely adore Justin Timberlake . I am glad that she doesn't dress the same way I do though, haha cause that would be weird, but we tend to have pretty similar taste in dresses and she asks for my fashion advice at times. She thinks any of my clothes that show a little leg, or a little skin is "slutty" and worries taht I'll "get raped". Its hilarious to me, but I kinda of like that the generational gap keeps things like that. I would be weird if she encouraged me to show more cleavage.
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. I am glad that she doesn't dress the same way I do though, haha cause that would be weird, but we tend to have pretty similar taste in dresses and she asks for my fashion advice at times. She thinks any of my clothes that show a little leg, or a little skin is "slutty" and worries taht I'll "get raped". Its hilarious to me, but I kinda of like that the generational gap keeps things like that. I would be weird if she encouraged me to show more cleavage.
