Rafał Nowicki

Generation gap – a real problem or just a human figment?

 The beginning of the summertime I spent on the meeting of the participants  of Grundtvig project “Young and adults for a better life”  in  Cyprus. It was the third  mobility within the project and the first one I attended. Before this meeting I’d had some view  on the problem of generation gap but thanks to discussions I took part and presentation I was able to watch in Cyprus ,  I learned a lot and had the chance to  understand my colleague’s opinion.

Most people think that generation gap manifests itself through differences in mentality, outlook and the perception of self. I strongly believe that generation gap is nothing more than unnecessarily invented term of differences in personality. I agree with the statement by by Richard C. Adelman “The generation gap is an immensely misleading term. It implies that people from different generations are inherently different whereas people within a generation are inherently similar.” This quote is from the book Aging Awakenings: Assisted Living Residents Teach University Students to Overcome Ageism.

It is indisputable that young and adults sometimes have  different point of view. Having own opinion and disagreeing with the others is a vital feature of personality  of  human beings and it is not connected with the age and so called generation gap. There are  a lot of conflicts among  people of  the same age group, for instance conflicts among  children at  school, workers and politicians. . Generation gap is basically created by the people themselves. They don't talk to their children and share their own points of views with the children.

The point is that the parents are just so busy with their work and jobs that they don't have time for their family and their children. And they realize it when there has a huge distance between the kids and the parents. The point is if parents give their children some time from their busy schedule then there would be no such a problem.

Many people state that there is  parents – children conflict  because the childhood of parents was completely different than their children. Partly it is true,  technology has changed our lives. Today, we take the Internet and the ability to communicate instantly with anyone, anywhere for granted. It is the norm for us. For our parents and our grandparents, this was not the case. While today's youth have grown up surrounded by computers, their parents did not. As a result, the young generation is more comfortable with technology because it has grown along with them. They don’t have  to learn anything new. From the end of the XX Century technology is developing as fast as ever. Unfortunately, a lot of middle-aged or elderly people think that they are too old to learn new technology what is nonsense. It seems to me that a lot of people don’t believe in their abilities. It  is not connected with the age but rather with their personality. I know a lot of people of my age with very low self-esteem, they are afraid of defeat. I strongly believe that life experience, not only childhood builds personality.

Looking for conflicts is a part of  human nature and it had ever been. Quarrels and conflicts caused by  different views have always existed but as I mentioned before it concerns people from all age groups without exceptions.

Ability to listen to others, being open-minded , patient  and tolerant  are  important to cooperate with the others  without conflicts. I had never problems with anyone caused by so called “generation gap”. There are four important conditions that I  mentioned above to carry on a cultural conversation. What is more, as everyone knows , children are  like                    ” a clear piece of paper” and a lot of their behaviour are  inherited from their  parents. Contrary to most people believe, I think that conflicts in human society depend on personality and the baggage of experience, rather than generation gap. If everyone gets involved to improve his  social skills and believes in  himself, there will be no conflicts.

Filip Habram

"The young generation feels that a better world is coming with them.
Old Guard feels the better world is leaving with them."(Charles Dickens)

Many of you have surely wondered why I have chosen this quote in the beginning. The answer is quite simple.  It's because my expectations that for the first view it is truly serious problem but for the second view I think everyone of us remind itself in one of the group mentioned above. Yes, this quote is pretty close to the reality.

Although this idea was said by Mr. Dickens before more than half a century, it is still current. What's more, it was current hundreds years before too. Generational issues have always been, still are and always will be. The question is, why the young and the old squabble for many millennia.

Remember your youth when you could hear from your parents and grandparents phrases like "When I was young we have done differently." Or "Everything used to be better." Old generations are simply too conservative and unwilling, or perhaps unable to accept new trends. To deal with the new things is the privilege for the youth. Whether we like it or not, for a young man it is much easier to follow the time changes.

In contrast, the young contradict by the words "Today is everything different, you cannot understand." And reject the views and experiences of older generations as something that may have been true once upon a time, but in today's "other times“definitely not. Isn´t there a right for the elderly people to feel left out? In my opinion the problem is in the experience. Old people are simply too experienced so they can not take life easily as the young. On the other hand the young are less experienced to take life seriously. Many young people live only day by day and not bother too much.  

The most alarming finding is the fact that differences between generations will be more and more widespread, which is clearly due to the fast development. Let's look at the curve of the human civilization, we can find rises it more steeply because of the most discoveries has been made ​​in the last few centuries. Therefore the elderly has no chance to keep pace with their children. We can ask ourselves if we will be enough smart to understand the life of our children within few decades.

We asked a few questions to local people in Verona and Cyprus , which we thought could be suitable for our research for the future of the project, see below just 5 answers, which are very interesting:

QUESTION:

"The reason of the generation gap". Is it caused by young or old generation? Give 3 reasons why you see it is caused by the old or young people. – 5 answers were pretty interesting, see below

ANSWERS:

1. It is more a reflection of the way that society changes. Opinions change - for instance the growing acceptance of diversity in response to a rapidly globalizing society has caused us to look at different belief systems with more of an open mind those past generations. Look at the transition from slavery to equality. People believed that slavery and discrimination were okay because they were socialized to believe that. It was the norm. As the norm changed, attitudes changed as well. Similarly, technology has changed. Today, we take the Internet and the ability to communicate instantly with anyone, anywhere for granted. It is the norm for us. For our parents and our grandparents, this was not the case. While today's youth have grown up surrounded by computers, their parents did not. As a result, the younger generation is more comfortable with technology because it has grown along with them. They do not have to learn something new. Therefore, I would argue that it is overall changes in society, from technology to government structure, religion, and belief systems or norms that causes the "gap" to exist, not individuals themselves young or old.

2. Generation gap refers to the differences in ways of thinking and behaving that exists between older people, considered to be from the earlier generation, and the younger people, considered to be from later generations. This often leads to lack of communication and understanding between people of different generations.

These different thinking of the people are shaped by the environment they face and the experiences that they go through. Particularly the impressions formed in the earlier years of the life are more enduring than the ones formed later in life. Thus the impressions and feelings developed by older generation do not change that easily with changing times. At the same time the younger generations that have never been exposed to the environment of faced by the earlier generation are no able to appreciate the impact of such environment. For example, people who lived through the depression learnt to put great importance on material possessions and financial security. Most people who grew up in later periods had no idea of what it is like to have to struggle for money and job. They felt baffled by the great importance put by their parents on material possession and financial security. This resulted in kind of generation gap that developed during 1960's.

From the above discussion it is clear that neither young nor old generation could be held responsible for the generation. It is the changing environment, faced by different generation that causes generation gap. If at all we have to hold one of the two generation responsible, I would choose the older generation, as they have greater power to shape the thinking of their children. The elders could also take special care to educate younger generation on their past and its effect on their thinking.

3. I don't see the generation gap as being necessarily caused by one side or the other. Rather, I think it's a result of how one group perceives reality or consciousness over another. It has to do with a culture that is defined by age and the values that such an age based culture share. The perceptions and understandings that each culture have are not something that automatically makes one to blame over another, but rather is a statement of reality that has to be understood and accepted as part of the condition of being within a multigenerational and heterogeneous setting.

4. I'd argue that the generation gap is caused by both the old and the young. It really is about communication. There is essentially too much miscommunication between the two groups because their culture and experiences are too different for them to understand each other.

5. I would suggest that older people have learned that maintaining a connection between generations is extremely difficult and they have a (wise) tendency to give up on trying to stay connected to the culture of teenagers when they are well past their own teenaged years.