When we were younger, some of us scoffed at the previous generation's ways of doing things or brushed off the unsolicited knowledge they've imparted in an effort to enlighten us.
Little did we know then there was still lots to learn, not through textbooks, but through a person's lived experiences and wisdom.
But there are some things the older generation who choose to live in the past could stand to learn from the younger generation.
Curious to hear from different perspectives, Redditor 5h0gKur4C4ndl asked:
"Adults of Reddit, what is something about the newer generations that you can't seem to understand?"
There are certain behaviors older generations just don't get.
Crying For An Audience
"Recording yourself crying."
– BlueberryNo5363
"There is a instagram guy I enjoy who does cute videos with his puppies. Sadly one of his dogs passed away and he did a video coming out saying how he had to say goodbye."
"He started out strong and started crying in the middle of it. It felt real and emotional."
"However, he had another video setup where he walked into a room, fell against the door and just started crying. And like, I believe the dude is truly upset because losing a pet is hard, but you had to make the conscious decision to set the camera up, make sure the lighting and what not is good, press record, leave the room, then come in and have your break down, and then EDIT out the part where you setup the shot."
"It's just so weird to me."
– BallClamps
It's A Routine
"In the same vein, recording yourself doing normal things, or even feeling the need to share so much of your life on the internet. I’m 29, but I have one social media account apart from Reddit and I have zero posts up. I don’t want people to know anything about me unless they call me up."
– Horseshoesandsneaks
Socially Awkward
"37 year old attending college for the first time here. They have negative confidence. They barely speak above a mumble, especially when answering a question from the teacher."
"Most of them would rather die than talk to someone they're interested in. It's like 90% of them are cripplingly introverted."
– Intelligent-Mud1437
Did smarphones and tablets kill basic computer, writing and comprehension skills?
Bad Correspondence
"The emails I get from my students aged 18-25 are such a mess of incoherent garbage, I can't tell if they are lazy or if it's an actual literacy issue. And I'm barely older than they are so if this is a generational gap, it happened quickly!"
– NefariousSalamander
"My daughter was just telling me yesterday how many of her peers can't read. I think it's an actual literacy issue."
– AstroTravellin
"I'm Gen Z and the child of two teachers. My parents were always super adamant about proper email etiquette, pretty much starting when I was in middle school."
"They both cannot stand receiving crazy emails from students. It used to be kind of annoying to me, but as an adult, seeing the garbled-up emails I receive daily, I am so grateful."
– Classic_Aide1434
Concerning Results
"I have new college grads asking me to proofread their emails. These are fact based, simple emails that require patient information and what information is missing. I can type one up in 2 minutes."
"These kids take a minimum of 15 and makes zero sense. The main point is missing, tenses are alllll over the place and there is no logic to the format."
– bottomlace
Does Not Compute
"Apparently, despite growing up with technology around them, they don't know how to use computers properly because they focus mostly on smartphones and tablets."
– NoobDinosaur
"Teaching every new hire how folder trees work is so weird. 'Don't save to desktop. follow naming conventions so we don't have to fix things server side.' and so on."
"When I was 12 someone told me that the newer generations will be better at understanding computers than I will ever be, it really put a damper on me because I loved computers. I always imagines I will just be lost while the new kids told me how to fix problems, this is not how it turned out."
"Edit: This kind of blew up and not in the way I expected, and some of you had some cool perspectives I can keep in mind when teaching newer hires. And to all the millennials (like me), you brought back so many memories from the old world of computers."
– mochi_chan
"My last job we had laptops that docked into workstations so you could have multiple monitors, keyboard, mouse etc and then you could pull the laptop off and take it home with you."
"I always thought it was funny that the younger people (college age) pushed everything to the side of their desk and just did everything on the laptop."
– OxtailPhoenix
Going Out Of Their Way
"I teach at the college level, and I have it set up so that at the beginning of class students can scan a QR code, which directs them to a Google drive folder with my lecture slides for that day."
"They're fine with scanning part, but I've noticed that instead of the saving the slides to their devices, or at least bookmarking the pages, they just take a picture of the QR code and then laboriously search through their camera rolls to find previous weeks' slides."
– liebkartoffel
"I'm 40 and in my office I have to help people that is 24-25 years old with windows or hardware issues that were ridicolous for anyone of my age when we were sixteen."
– michibru
A Teacher's Frustration
"I'm a middle school teacher."
"My kids will routinely claim they can't do anything and then shut down and do nothing. And then... It's easy and they do it."
"It goes like this: 'Everybody, here's the assignment. Follow all the steps.'"
"I go around the room and one kid forgot their Chromebook, ir a pencil. One kid needs a charger. One kid doesn't understand 'any of the steps.'"
"So basically it's the degree of learned helplessness. They know to ask when I go over, but if there are twenty kids and I get to them last, they will do nothing (no phones, nothing!) for twenty minutes and act surprised I'm irritated they didn't grab a damn pencil from the freeeee pencils on my desk. And then act surprised they're behind on the assignment!"
"Or I'll ask 'okay, which of the 5 steps is tough for you?' 'All of them.' 'K, read step 1.' 'Oh. That's easy.'"
"Rinse and repeat."
– scarletuba
Sometimes, we just have to let things be.
The Ultimate Hypothetical
"We were saying what we would do if we won the big lottery jackpot. The new 22 yr old hire said he’d become an influencer. Can you imagine winning a billion at 22 and that’s what you would do. Not start a business, travel the world, charity, sports, property… Learn something… but become an influencer… with a billion dollars."
"I mean like he’s gonna hire a marketing company to fabricate interest in his social media? He’s gonna spend money on stupid things to make people cringe or rage comment? With a billion dollars."
"Just thought that was a weird and low bar and was hard to understand."
– CoverCall
New Kind Of Fame
"I think influencers are the modern day movie stars/celebrities. While my generation (or my moms) might say 'I'd want to be an actor!' or 'I want to be a singer' there's just not really the same level of starstruck for movies and live music these days I think."
"I can't remember the last time I even went to a movie theater, although music is still something I go see live, I can see how it would be less popular with younger generations where literally everything is online."
"They have a favorite youtuber while to me youtube is kind of a music/podcast service. Tiktok (which I don't have) is the new 'movie star' and thus influencers have replaced actors and the like as celebrities. Video killed the radio star, and streaming killed the video star."
– Azrai113
Need For Cateogrization
"Everything seems to have to have a label. Not just people and groups, but every concept or just generic thing that is popular has to be given a label or a hashtag."
"I find it so weird, especially when it's something that people have been doing forever, but now Gen Z have discovered it, it's got some brand new buzzy hashtag label as though it's just been invented."
– DistractibleYou
Live Entertainment
"Why do you want to watch 100% of a concert that you paid good money for through your phone lens?"
– LeluWater
Rather than putting down each other down, one generation can learn from the other.
Wisdom is acquired through time and experience, but it's also gained through specific instances previous generations are clueless of.
All it takes is to put down our guards and be open to discussions if there is to be a harmonious coexistence.
