The world and the circumstances people face are always changing, and with that, the people are changing. Therefore, it’s no real surprise the newer generations can’t do some of the same things older generations can do. However, I named this article “5 Surprising Things today’s youth can’t do” because many of the things listed would come across as shocking to older generations, as they would’ve been considered basic and essential skills in their life.
Millennials and Generation Z live in quite a different world environment as youth than did Generation X, who lived in quite a different environment than the baby boomers in their youth. Such differences in environment required and encouraged different sets of skills for each group. The advancement of technology has also impacted such skills because as technology has advanced, people have not been required to learn certain skills. For instance, the invention of the calculator no longer makes it essential for people to learn and remember long division. Let’s take a look at the world environment each generation grew up in and how such environment has shaped each generation’s characteristics and skill set.
The boomers were born between 1946 and 1964 and had experienced a great amount of prosperity, but also went through the Vietnam War drafts, the Cold War, and the erection of the Berlin War. Through such experiences the Boomers realized a need for social change and advocacy, and witnessed and fought for Civil Rights. Financially, Boomers prefer going in a branch to make transactions, but do not reject digital or mobile banking methods.
Generation X, born between 1965 – 1979, included the first children exposed to television, and as youth were mostly left to fend for themselves while both parents were at work. As youth, generation X witnessed the hard work, layoffs, and lack of happiness their parents went through. Such experiences led many in this generation to focus on family and free time more than a career. Professional dress was also less important to this generation because they had different priorities in career than did the Boomers. Financially, this generation prefers to make transactions in person, but is digitally savvy and will do some research and financial management online.
Millennials, born between 1980 and 1994, grew up surrounded with computers, social media, and other technological advancements their parents had not seen as youth. Such technological advancements granted more awareness to this generation by bringing worldwide events into consciousness and allowing quicker access to information via the internet. This greater awareness combined with the witnessing of school shootings and terrorism, and many millennials coming from divorced families contributes to the levels of fear and anxiety present in millennials. Such fear and sensitivity have led millennials to be extremely accepting of those different from the norm. Financially, millennials are accustomed to a digital world and seek digital tools to manage their debt. Millennials also view their banks as strictly transactional, unlike past generations who view their banks relationally.
Generation Z, born between 1995 and 2015, is of course the most technologically immersed generation. Individuals from this generation are able to easily use technology to find information, and their technological skills are further encouraged and developed through support of the school system. Along with being technologically savvy, generation Z also easily multitasks, gathers information quickly, and likes to learn through experience. In terms of finance, after watching the millennials struggle generation Z has adopted a fiscally conservative approach to avoid debt Generation Z has also taken to completing all or most of their banking needs mobile or online in some way. However, while generation Z possesses such valuable skills and adopts some positive financial ideologies, the generation is also greatly desensitized to violence through witnessing or hearing about accounts of violence almost daily.
As one can tell, each generation grew up in different environments with different challenges that shaped each generations characteristics and skill set. Each generation has such differing experiences and ideologies that define them, that it’s actually not at all surprising that newer generations lack skills generations of the past have. What seems essential for one generation is in reality no longer essential for newer generations, and therefore, newer generations lack some skills the older generations possess. It works the same the other way around too, what seems essential to new generations is deemed unnecessary by older generations because older generations are accustomed to the way they’ve been living and aren’t pursuing the same things newer generations are. While both of these things are interesting to consider, this article is only going to cover the skills newer generations lack and why.
Talking on the Phone
As the world becomes more and more digitalized and new communication technologies are released, newer generations are drawn to these newer, quicker, and often times more efficient forms of communication. Whereas, older generations remain accustomed to communicating in the same ways they would when they were younger. This causes frustration when older generations try communicating with younger generations by talking on the phone.
There are a number of reasons why younger generations don’t like communicating by phone, but one of the biggest reasons is because of how time-consuming phone calls. Instead of spending a bunch of time going through the niceties of verbal conversation with all the greetings and small talk, younger generations prefer to send a text to get information directly. Another reason younger generations favor texting and other forms of communication over calling is consideration of one’s time. If someone calls, the receiver is expected to answer according to the caller’s availability, not according to when is best for them. Even voicemail’s are a hassle because of calling back.
Due to the younger generations lack of preference for calling, they are not skilled at talking on the phone, and often avoid answering completely, giving millennials the nickname generation mute. This causes frustration for older generations who primarily communicate by calling. Even if the younger generation does take a phone call, it’ll likely be awkward, as the individual is not accustomed to such communication and doesn’t have as much time to think about things before they say them.
Meek, A. (2018, December 9). A bunch of millennials explained in a survey why they despise phone calls. Retrieved from https://bgr.com/2018/12/09/millennials-phone-calls-survey/
Reading Analog Clocks
Being an individual from a younger generation myself, I have witnessed many others in my generation asking the time because they can’t read an analog clock. It seems the old skill of reading analog clocks has become unnecessary to younger generations because clocks are becoming digitalized. Younger generations would much rather pull out their phones to read the digital time than spend time deciphering an analog clock.
The results from a Jimmy Kimmel live! video demonstrate the youths lack of ability to read an analog clock in the modern day. Several of the young people interviewed in the show attempted to read the clock but got the time wrong, either by confusing the hands or not understanding the roman numerals. Such results show that with the advancement of technology, young generations are no longer needing to learn the same basic skills older generations were required to know.
Nelson, D. (2019, May 29). Kimmel Asked ‘Young People’ to Read a Clock & It Was Not Impressive. Retrieved from https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/jimmy-kimmel-millennial-read-clocks
Jimmy Kimmel Live. (2019, May 29). Can Young People Read a Clock? Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=53&v=ZvLKbhXqEKw
Maintaining Their Own Vehicles
In the past, maintaining and taking care of one’s car on their own was something to be proud of, but it seems such has changed as younger generations care less to know how vehicles work than to use them. Younger generations are so used sophisticated technology, they’re accustomed to expecting stuff to work rather than to know how something works. Therefore, the youth have no desire to study the inner workings of vehicles so they can fix them, especially when they can just take their cars to a shop.
Another factor that contributes to the youth’s lack of knowledge and care to maintain their own vehicles is technological advancement in vehicles. More and more mechanical parts in vehicles are being enhanced with more complex electrical components. This makes taking care of a vehicle far more difficult than it was in the days of the older generation’s youth, where one didn’t need a professional degree to rebuild parts of a vehicle. However, many individuals from today’s youth are so negligent they can’t even do simple tasks like popping the hood.
Faw, L. (2012, November 20). Does It Matter If Millennials Don’t Know How Cars Work? Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/larissafaw/2012/11/20/does-it-matter-if-millennials-dont-know-how-cars-work/#4b3f08e14d58
Writing in Cursive
In today’s world cursive is only really necessary for signatures and schools have even discontinued teaching cursive because it has no necessary application anywhere else. On top of that, children struggle to learn and read cursive, and most forget all the cursive they were taught when they were younger because they don’t need to use it. Some could claim not learning cursive in school is a problem because of signatures, but all you’ve got to do in this day and age is look up the cursive alphabet and spell out your name with it. Therefore, it’s not like the youth are doomed because they can’t write in cursive fluently.
Daugherty, A. (2018, May 11). Cursive is dying, kids can’t sign their own names ? and that’s a huge problem. Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/cursive-is-dying-kids-cant-sign-their-own-names-and-thats-a-huge-problem/article12811846/
Burning CD’s
Technology used to store information is constantly evolving. First we had floppy disks, the VCR’s, then CD’s, and now we have flash drives, online storage and downloads. With all these innovations in storage, learning to use older technology isn’t necessary. Therefore, younger generations no longer have the need to know how to burn CD’s. This comes as a shock to older generations for some reason.
Older generations look back on their young days of music with lots of nostalgia, and for many, those days included burning songs onto CD’s and playing music through CD players. So to these older generations, the idea of not being able to burn a CD is upsetting because it highlights the days of their youth. A seventeen-year-old girl had posted on twitter asking how to burn a CD and many individuals from older generations had responded in disgust and shock because of how much the CD had defined their youth. But the simple reality is that technology is evolving, making older technology like CD’s outdated in today’s world.
Snapes, L. (2018, October 24). The CD-R is dead ? and Generation Z are lucky to have avoided it. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/oct/24/cd-r-generation-z