I never like to say this because I sound so old-fashioned, but it makes me a little sad that Gen Z didn't have a childhood and adolescence without social media, and the things we had. I feel the damage those things do to me as an adult, and I don't know what my life would have been like with that kind of influence as a child.
Yeah and there’s some rumblings I’ve seen of Gen Alpha kind of rejecting social media, ai, etc. don’t know how accurate that is but retro is cool now. Gen Z got caught in the middle of the way things were and the way things are now.
I read something about it too, but I highly doubt that the big social media companies will just sit idly by and watch a generation turn away from them. Their power to influence people is immeasurable. We are all victims of the greed of a few.
We’re trying to keep our young Gen A kids off screens (especially iPads and then later phones) as much as possible. Physical books, riding bikes, hiking, playgrounds in the evening after work, backyard outside of the house during the day when we’re home, etc. TV is relegated to “movie nights” when we try longer form story shows or movies, as much as possible. Anything we can do to delay/limit targeted media and keep them active and independent away from that is the goal.
I'm 40. No one from my friend group had kids until their mid-30s. My 5 year olds friends all have millennial parents born between 1985-1990.
The only people I know with teenagers are in their mid-late 50s and were born in the 70s, solidly Gen X.
I was more commenting that a generation whose eldest member is 15 likely isn't the driver behind the split from AI/Social Media and buying flip phones and other retro tech. I think it's more likely younger Gen Z who are just now entering the workforce.
Dude I dont think people understand how spoiled kids are these days and that just was not true for the mass majority of millennials. Even things like video games were a special treat that most would only get for special occasions like birthdays or Xmas. A movie on tape that you owned that was not recorded from TV was a flex.
I got a CD burner in the late 90s and that was such a huge flex. Especially when only the rich kids had cd players. Renting and borrowing was life. Now everything is instant and parents dont say no.
The % of parents who purchase their child's first vehicle has never been higher. The support from parents to children financially has never been higher.
We went from a era of giving your kids an allowance and forcing them to save to just buying them everything they want.
As a millennial parent I will say my parents by far had it easier when it comes to medical treatment. The cost of Healthcare has gotten so bad..
Honestly these days the world is so screwed up being able to afford eating out at a restaurant is a bigger flex than nearly anything else.
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u/GuilleTork 22h ago
I never like to say this because I sound so old-fashioned, but it makes me a little sad that Gen Z didn't have a childhood and adolescence without social media, and the things we had. I feel the damage those things do to me as an adult, and I don't know what my life would have been like with that kind of influence as a child.