I'm on the fence re the instant gratification argument.
By that I mean I sometimes wonder the reason those younger than ourselves hold the above in high regard is because in many ways modern technology has made that possible for them and we would have done the same if possible.
Take the hoary old chestnut of sex.
We met,courted,wined/dined the target of our affection with the modest hope that something carnal would happen along the way and usually it took marriage after a long time together in many cases for that to happen.
Now thanks to the internet one can pleasure ones self 5 ways to Tuesday INSTANTLY!
Are we saying we wouldn't grab that kind of opportunity back then given the chance, not bother donning the old fashioned garb of some of moral superiority and doing away with,as it were,the whole courtship dance?
Regardless of my base example I think the same could be applied in other ways.
Why should a millennial break his or her head in study when all that is required to live a reasonable existence is there at the touch of a modem and any real knowledge is seen by them merely as bragging rights by those old enough to remember a different way.
Relationships forged by our ilk could be argued by the younger as being only made out of a sense of mutual dependence to get on in the world whereas now that is no longer the watchword, single mindedness is the way forward.
I have heard it opined that if Mozart had magically been given a synthesiser he sure as hell would use it and not insist on clattering away on his harpsichord in some stoic longing for a previous time.
I have no more desire to swap my nice warm car for a steam powered Edwardian jalopy than a GenX type would swap his Prius for a Ford Cortina.
So what would the Edwardian think of me?
The tools/morals/societal norms are now here so we/they use them regardless of what we might think of them.
I would also say that the reason we learned how to repair, make things etc was not so much out a sense of accomplishment or pride but rather that was the only bloody way to do it and if everyday items back then possessed the disposable nature of items today would we not have welcomed it?
In conclusion I would say we are all products of a given era hence the twain shall never meet.
They have never known our life's experience and we having something to compare to disdain theirs.
Is our way really superior or have we lived so long as to feel like strangers in our own house due to the way society now shapes itself in a manner that is discordant to ourselves?
For myself I cling to the old and feel comfortable doing so and as for the pushy self satisfied me me me millennial types and subsequent attachments?
I just make sure they/it never enter my orbit and stick with the familiar ways and things I was brought up with as far as modernity allows and accept that things were ever thus re the generations.
I even still use CASH!!! (laughs)
( REMOVES THE ACCOUTREMENTS OF MR D.ADVOCATE AND SIPS HIS WARM BEER, RAISES A TOAST STATE SIDE WHILST WATCHING THE SUN GO DOWN ON ANOTHER DAY. )
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