{"id":1999725,"date":"2023-08-14T04:13:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-14T08:13:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/generational-divides-show-the-dangers-of-discarding-what-makes-us-great\/"},"modified":"2023-08-14T04:20:24","modified_gmt":"2023-08-14T08:20:24","slug":"generational-divides-show-the-dangers-of-discarding-what-makes-us-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/generational-divides-show-the-dangers-of-discarding-what-makes-us-great\/","title":{"rendered":"Generational gaps highlight the risks of disregarding our strengths."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fgenerational-divides-show-the-dangers-of-discarding-what-makes-us-great%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1999725&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"article-content\">\n<h2>Generational Warfare: Breaking Down \u2062the Stereotypes<\/h2>\n<p>Generational warfare\u2064 is\u200d fierce. Millennials accuse Boomers of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/outlook\/dear-baby-boomers-its-all-your-fault\/2020\/08\/13\/6c03ad06-cde6-11ea-b0e3-d55bda07d66a_story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ruining everything<\/a>, and Boomers call the younger generations a bunch of entitled, lazy, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/corner\/the-dumbest-generation-grows-up-is-one-smart-book\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stupid<\/a> kids. Dr. Jean Twenge\u2019s new \u200dbook <em>Generations<\/em> offers a different approach, attempting\u200c to describe each generation\u2064 on its own terms, rather than writing another generational polemic. Although she\u2019s evenhanded to a fault, the\u200b result is a fascinating, often surprising, book fit for intergenerational consumption and discussion.<\/p>\n<p>Our impressions of generations can be heavily shaped by photos from Woodstock or our \u2063TikTok-addict nephew, but by analyzing survey data on more than\u200b 39 million people, Twenge (pronounced \u201ctwang-ee\u201d) helps clarify and contradict our vague, anecdotal impressions. She contends that technological advance is\u200d the prime factor in generational differences, creating greater \u2062individualism and slower maturation, with major events like Vietnam or \u20649\/11 putting the \u200bfinishing touches on a generation\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Data\u2064 on Generational Reputations<\/h3>\n<p>Parts of Twenge\u2019s book crystallize and validate generational reputations. Boomers did indeed revolt against their parents\u2019 \u2064norms. In a 1969 Gallup poll, only 1 out of 25 American adults said they \u2062had ever tried \u200dmarijuana. As Boomers entered adulthood, \u200dusage\u200c shot up. By 1977, that\u200c number was \u20631 out of 4.<\/p>\n<p>For the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/chicago-teachers-union-approves-tentative-deal-students-to-return-to-classrooms\/\" title=\"Chicago Teachers Union Approves Tentative Deal, Students To Return To Classrooms\">high school class<\/a> of 1979, \u200d94 percent had tried alcohol and 42 percent of those \u200bbinge drank, 75 percent had smoked cigarettes, and 62 percent had tried marijuana. Twenty-five percent had \u200dused amphetamines, 17 percent tranquilizers, 12 percent barbiturates, and 16 percent had used cocaine. These remain \u200crecord highs. Similarly, in 1967, 85 percent of all U.S. adults said that premarital \u2063sex\u2064 was wrong, but by 1979, that number was down to 37\u200b percent. In the \u200bbattle over sexual mores, the Boomers won.<\/p>\n<p>The\u200d individualism, high self-esteem, and irreligious attitudes that Boomers are credited for truly came to fruition in the following generations, who slowly abandoned the idealism of their forebears. In \u2062the early 1950s, only 12 percent of teens agreed\u200c with the statement \u201cI am an important person.\u201d By the late 1980s, 80 percent of teens claimed they were important.<\/p>\n<p>When Boomers were entering college in the mid-\u201960s, about \u200d85 percent \u200cbelieved \u201cdeveloping\u200b a meaningful philosophy of life\u201d was important, while about 40 percent believed \u2062\u201cbecoming\u200d very well-off financially\u201d was important. By the time \u2062Gen X kids were wrapping up college, that\u200c had reversed, with nearly 75 percent valuing financial success compared to 45 percent a meaningful philosophy.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In 1970, nearly 8 in 10 men in their\u200b late twenties were married. When millennial\u200d men reached their late twenties, the statistic flipped: More than 7 in 10 men had never married. More than four times more millennial women, 1\u2062 in 4, had never been married by their late thirties compared\u2063 to Boomers at the same \u2064age. For millennial men, almost \u200ctwice as \u2064many in\u2063 their late thirties have never been married compared\u2063 to Boomers.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, women\u2063 are having\u2064 fewer children\u200d later in life: For the\u2062 first time in American history, women \u2063in their early thirties have a higher birth rate than women in their late twenties. While you might think this \u2064is due\u200d to fears of climate change or\u2062 that millennials are broke, that is not what these would-be parents self-report. Instead, most mention individual concerns: desire for more\u200c leisure, more independence, or simply \u201cI just don\u2019t want them.\u201d With that individualism\u200c comes less organized religion: Nearly\u200d as many millennials now identify as religiously unaffiliated as Christian, while nearly three times more Boomers are \u200cChristian than unaffiliated.<\/p>\n<p>Gen Z is in many ways the sum \u2063of its \u200dpredecessors: the\u200b cynicism of Gen \u2062X, the \u2064materialism of millennials, and the individualism that started with Boomers. They\u200b are a\u2063 pessimistic, \u201cgender-fluid,\u201d and secular lot indeed. Their\u2062 prominent members are\u2064 often notably vapid \u2014 the Jenners, Jaden Smith, Lil Nas X \u2014 or famous more for their traumas than their accomplishments: Naomi Osaka, Simone Biles, David Hogg. This is the sad consequence of an extremely online generation, raised with minimal moral formation by institutions, \u2062whose identities elevate victimhood.<\/p>\n<p>Gen Z is often confusing to older generations. Their \u201cspeech is violence\u201d stance baffles more thick-skinned Gen X\u2019ers, who saw wide-ranging viewpoints as a feature, not defect, of college life. \u2064Their terms \u2064around sex and sexuality \u2014 pan, AFAB, enby, demiboy \u2014\u200c are often incomprehensible to anyone over 30. And the voluntary segregation \u2014\u2063 in housing and graduation ceremonies \u2014 that they increasingly demand strikes\u2064 Boomers as retrograde, the exact opposite of what equality\u200b means. Yet Zoomers bull forward with a Boomer-like self-assurance and disregard for the old \u2063way.<\/p>\n<p>They don\u2019t think much of America. In a 2020 survey, 4 out of 10 Gen\u2062 Z\u2019ers believed that the founders of the United States are \u201cbetter described as villains\u201d than \u201cas heroes.\u201d In a July 2021 poll, only 36\u2064 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds said they were \u201cvery\u201d or \u201cextremely\u201d proud \u2063to be an American. In contrast, 86 percent of\u2062 those 65 and older (Boomers \u200dand Silents) said they were\u2063 proud to be American. When asked \u2064to describe America, millennials used \u200cwords \u200clike, \u201cdiverse,\u201d \u201cfree,\u201d and \u201cland of abundance.\u201d Gen Z said\u200d \u201cdystopic,\u201d \u201cbroken,\u201d and \u201ca \u2062bloody mess.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gen Z is negative, depressed, and\u2064 politically polarized,\u200b and Twenge has an explanation that the data keeps \u200csupporting: Digital media has ruined this generation. Teen depression and digital\u2062 media use increased in lockstep following 2012. This same\u2063 pattern of digital adoption and \u2064depression repeated among teens around \u2063the \u2064world. That rise tracked with smartphone use and\u2063 internet time but not\u200c with unemployment, income inequality, gross national product, or family size. Teens today \u2064spend less time together, go out with\u2063 friends less, and sleep less.\u200c A majority of high schoolers now sleep less than seven hours most \u2064nights.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>OK, Boomer<\/h3>\n<p>There\u2019s a prevalent\u200d view among young adults that Boomers\u200c climbed the ladder\u2063 and pulled\u2064 it up after them. Twenge is emphatic that this is untrue on both sides:\u2063 Boomers \u2062did\u2062 not have it so easy, and millennials don\u2019t have it so\u200c bad.<\/p>\n<p>Compared to their Silent Generation parents,\u2064 Boomers \u201chave been less happy, have had more days of poor mental health, were more likely\u200b to suffer from mental distress, and were more likely to be depressed than\u2064 Silents at the same ages.\u201d The \u201cdeaths of \u200ddespair\u201d in the news are a Boomer, specifically white Boomer, phenomenon. From\u2062 2000, when Silents were the entirety of 55- to 64-year-olds, to 2019, when the group was all\u2064 Boomers, fatal drug overdoses increased by a factor \u200cof 10, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/coffee-good-for-diabetes-and-its-common-complications-current-studies\/\" title=\"Coffee Good for Diabetes and Its Common Complications: Current Studies\">fatal liver disease<\/a> by 42 percent, and \u200csuicide by 60 percent.<\/p>\n<p>Twenge argues\u2064 Boomers were actually the first casualties of \u200dincome inequality. As manufacturing jobs \u200bwere disappearing due to off-shoring and automation in the \u201980s and \u201990s, it was Boomers who were suddenly adrift as young adults. By 2001, college graduates earned\u200b twice as much \u200cas non-college graduates, and this gap in income corresponded with a gap in happiness and mental health. Inequality was a problem Boomers inherited, not one they created, and \u2062while \u200csome\u200b made out like bandits,\u2064 many were left \u2062behind \u200cand embittered.<\/p>\n<p>As for broke millennials, adjusted for inflation, median household income for 25- to 34-year-olds is higher \u200dfor millennials than the three prior generations.\u2062 Additionally, median individual\u200d incomes rose rapidly from 2015-2020, reaching all-time highs for young adults as millennials\u200b entered their twenties and\u2063 thirties. Comparing 25- to 39-year-olds \u200bwho owned a home by generation,\u200d about \u206450 percent of Boomers and Gen Xers did while 48 percent of millennials did.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, millennials still <em>feel <\/em>poor. Twenge\u200c attributes this to unrealistic expectations. Millennials received a steady diet of Kardashians\u2062 and \u201cyou can do anything\u201d encouragement growing up, and when they did not end up becoming glamorous influencers, clickbait articles were quick to offload blame on Boomers\u2062 and capitalism \u2014 thus, \u201cOK, Boomer,\u201d AOC, and a 2018 Gallup poll finding that 51 percent of 18-\u2063 to 29-year-olds have a positive view of\u200b socialism while only 45 percent have a positive view of capitalism.<\/p>\n<p>In millennials\u2019 defense, \u200bcost of living, especially in certain areas, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thepublicdiscourse.com\/2023\/07\/89799\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">has skyrocketed<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/whoopi-declares-2024-gop-hopeful-wannabe-dictator-this-time-its-not-trump-2\/\" title=\"Whoopi labels 2024 GOP aspirant 'dictator' - Not Trump again.\">student loan \u2064debt<\/a>, \u200cadjusted for inflation, has doubled since 1990. And although Twenge acknowledges it, it\u2019s worth emphasizing that the rise\u200d in income is due to women\u2019s increasing pay rather\u200d than an overall \u2062increase in \u2064wages. Men\u2019s incomes have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/2018\/09\/14\/not-doing-better-than-their-fathers-mens-earnings-have-fallen-since-s-census-says\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fallen slightly<\/a> since 1970.<\/p>\n<p>In 2021, millennial\u200b women ages 35 to 44 made three times more\u200b than 25- to 34-year-old Greatest Generation women \u2064in 1950. Women 25 to 34 in 2021 made 69\u200c percent more than\u2063 Boomer \u2062women had in 1980. So, the\u2062 median income and household incomes are up, but supporting a \u200dfamily on one income or\u2062 without a (pricey) college degree has not gotten any easier.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2>An Unlikely Conservative Message<\/h2>\n<p>Twenge seeks to \u2062be descriptive and impartial, but parts of her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/generational-divides-show-the-dangers-of-discarding-what-makes-us-great\/\" title=\"Generational gaps highlight the risks of disregarding our strengths.\">book unintentionally make conservative points<\/a>. Her attempt to describe\u200c Gen Z\u2019s burgeoning LGBT population makes\u2064 it sound less\u200c like mature self-realization and more like immature attention-seeking. Here\u2019s one 13-year-old girl: \u201cWhen I came \u2062out to my best friend, I wanted to make sure my parents couldn\u2019t see, so I sent her a letter through [an online game]. She later texted me saying, \u2018Aw, I\u2019m so happy for you! I completely support you.\u2019 This was two days ago, and I\u2019ve never felt\u200c better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On the\u200b theory that the \u200bfemale-to-male trans explosion is a social contagion mediated by TikTok et \u200dal., Twenge is conspicuously silent. She discredits theories that it is a blue-state phenomenon (it is equally prevalent across the country) or a\u2064 product of greater acceptance\u200c (it is an increase specifically occurring among \u200dGen Z), and then \u2064concludes that \u201cthere\u2019s\u2064 no\u200b easy or verifiable answer.\u201d Her choice to dodge rather than engage with the \u201csocial\u200c contagion\u201d theory implies that the \u2063view could \u2064not be easily dismissed, but to seriously consider it is too great a professional risk.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, conservatives decrying our headlong rush toward \u200dindividualism, secularism, and \u201ctrusting your feelings\u201d will find \u2064plenty of validation \u2064in\u2064 Twenge\u2019s\u2062 research. The living \u200cgeneration with the best mental health across \u200ctime is the Silent Generation \u2014 or the most communal,\u2063 religious, family-oriented, and \u200dpatriotic generation. Even during the pandemic, when they were\u200b at highest risk, they were\u200c less \u2064anxious and depressed than all younger generations.<\/p>\n<p>Silents grew up before television (and the resulting \u2064rise in \u200bexpectations) was common. They had both the all-time low for age of first-time brides \u2014 20.1 in 1956 \u2014\u2064 and the all-time high for birth rate: \u200d3.8 children\u200d per \u200bwoman in 1957. They lived through\u2062 the Great Depression and \u200cWorld War II. Hardly the modern\u200c recipe for happiness.<\/p>\n<p>Yet it is Gen Z, living in unprecedented safety, prosperity, \u2063and leisure\u2062 that claims \u201cthings are worse than ever.\u201d Seventy years \u200bof \u200ddiscarding the tradition and\u200d trust once common among Silents has left Gen Z depressed, anxious, and hopeless. Perhaps looking back with a little humility \u2062rather than\u2064 smugness might\u2062 help Gen Z and its successors move forward.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Generational conflict rages on. Millennials blame Boomers for ruining everything, while Boomers label younger generations as entitled, lazy, and foolish. Dr. Jean Twenge&#8217;s book, Generations, takes a unique approach by describing each generation independently, avoiding the usual generational arguments. She strives for impartiality, sometimes to an extreme extent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1418,"featured_media":1999726,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1999725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1999725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1999725\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1999726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1999725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1999725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1999725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}