Old Generation Versus New Generation

By: Veronica Leighton

 

Very interesting read that I want to share with my readers re the old generation versus the new generation (grandparents versus grandchildren), centennials versus millennials. Many of us have heard from older people about how things were better “back in the day.” Grandparents are notorious for believing that younger generations listen to horrible music, are irresponsible, and are overly sexualized.

But, believe it or not, there are certain things your grandparents did or said that are absolutely not OK today. The ways in which people relate to one another and in how they go about their daily lives are often similar from generation to generation. However, there are certain things today’s grandparents were more likely to have said and done back in their day without a second thought that would be seen as violations of social standards today.

According to Business Insider, there are at least five of them…

(1) People from previous generations smoked more. In 1965, more than 40% of adult Americans smoked cigarettes. As of 2016, that number is significantly lower, with about 15% of adults in the United States using cigarettes, according to the CDC.

(2) Drunk driving may plague every generation until automated cars take over the roads, but it’s a statistically less significant problem today than it was a few decades back. According to an NIH study, alcohol played a role in more than 60% of traffic deaths in the 1970s, while as of 2014, booze is a factor in 31% of deadly traffic incidents.

(3) Use of more culturally insensitive language: When your grandparents were young, it was unremarkable to refer to people of color using inaccurate and offensive terms. Some older people still do today. The continued use of insensitive and outdated language is still an issue, but awareness of how offensive and inappropriate it is has spread throughout society.

(4) They weren’t as careful during sex: Statistically, grandparents probably had a lot more sex than you did during the teenage years, and they were probably less safe about it, too. Today’s teenagers are not only having less sex than teens of previous generations, but many are waiting longer to have sex, too. In 2017, US teen birth rates fell to a historic low, at just over just under 19 births per every 1,000 women between 15 and 19, Vox reported. In 1960, that number was almost 90 per 1,000.

(5) They bought homes on average incomes. At the current time, the median price of a home in the US is about $217,000. In 1940, you could buy a single-family residence for just under $3,000, which, when adjusted for inflation, is still less than $55,000 today. And CNBC reported that the “typical” homebuyer was 44 years old in 2016, while in 1981, it was usually people between the ages of 25 and 34 buying residences.