This past weekend, I had the lovely experience of going to a family wedding, one in which people from their teens to twilight years danced and sang together without much thought to the differences between them. There was enough common ground to sustain an evening of fun.
This got me thinking about the generation gap not between us and our parents generation, but us and our younger cousins, children, etc. I’ve heard far more complaining about them than even of parents in this regard.
To be blunt, culture, specifically pop culture, is moving faster than any of us could have ever imagined, seemingly making nostalgia easier and more plentiful to come by. For example, in the past, one might hear a song on an oldies station, dig out an album and put it on. Now, if someone mentions something from the 90s you can bet someone in the area will whip out a smartphone and Google it so everyone around can take part in a group nostalgia trip. Do you know how hard it is to continue writing this and not YouTube the old Skip-It commercial? Yes, because you’re trying just as hard to continue reading without saying “and the very best thing of all, is there’s a counter on this ball.”
This has lead to a number of us college kids saying, “Man, cartoons suck now; they used to be so awesome!” or “pop music is terrible; remember back when we were younger and it was great.”
Folks, we’re in our late teens and early 20s, when people talk about the “good old days” they’re talking about where we are right now. Yet, typing this I feel sort of hypocritical. Do I really think any kid’s show on Nickelodeon is better than “Angry Beavers,” “Rocko’s Modern Life” or “CatDog”? No, I don’t. But why?
Technology has something to do with it. As I mentioned earlier, the immediate access makes it easier to reminisce about one’s childhood. Perhaps it’s something on a deeper, psychological level, that makes us yearn for those halcyon days of Fruit Roll-Ups, 13-inch CRT TVs and dial-up.
We’re kinda growing up.
We’re not old yet, but we’re older, more aware of what’s going on around us, and all the baggage that life carries along with it. Are we simply a little jealous that a younger cousin can be more invested in fun media than carrying college debt and wondering what they’re going to be doing in a couple of years to sustain themselves? Maybe we just want to cling onto that warm and fuzzy feeling a little longer, and watch an episode of “Doug” between papers because we go back to that part of our childhood where we sat in front of a TV and ignored the world before bed. Plus, Quailman fo’evah.
Whatever the case, I think we should cool it a little bit. “Get off my lawn!” sounds a little more than ridiculous coming from people who don’t have one.
