My generation isn't really that great

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The old days had some things rocks, caves, fire, but the world started with Windows 95, a CD burner, and dial up.

I was fifty when the world started, and everything that went before can just die.

Most of the current uses of the real world can also die, they are but fads.

The root of technology bypassing mobs of smelly hairless ground apes and connecting directly with what you are looking for will last.

The mental potential of the Internet exceeds all the things we had. I used to hunt knowledge in books, and the latest were several years behind. I took years to learn. Now, when I have a problem with a CG Program, a quick Goggle brings pages of others who had the same, and ways to solve it.

The problem is not with the era, the problem is a lack of goals.

You can learn, do, have anything you set your mind to. This poses the question in real terms.

Does your generation have any goals?

Youngster: "I can tell you about tangential vectors in brushless motors and route your IP packets by size and layer, and I can do that with all the efficacy of a legal wizard."

Old guy: "Oh my... You're a veritable encyclopedia of esoteric knowledge."

Youngster: "Encyclo-what??? Do you have to use big words?"

While I think its important people don't spend all their time sitting around on electronics, its bad for health in a number of ways. However not sure I get the concept of things in general being 'too easy' I mean I don't see why something should be hard just to be hard if there is an easier way...unless that easier way decreases effectiveness or causes an unhealthy amount of laziness of course. I personally am able to balance the time I spend playing games, watching movies or getting on the internet with being fairly active, I have no issues whatsoever with obesity and I eat as healthy as I can, I can't really even eat most fast food without spending more time than I'd like in the bathroom afterwords because of it making me feel sick.

I do not think new technology is evil, or anything but I think it is unhealthy to spend too much time staring at a screen or always being on the phone...I think it is however possible to find a reasonable balance.

Yes I mean just look at history WW1, WW2, crap loads of other wars, lots of violence and bloodshed ect....that stuff didn't just appear this generation people have been finding creative and new ways to kill each other for thousands of years. But if you only look at all the bad things that have gone on it will just drive anyone insane....so it makes sense when people look back they want to see the good even if there was plenty of bad with the good.

Go to college and get jobs or join the military was what was drilled into a lot of our heads since middle school, so a lot of people in this generation do one or a couple of those, or certificate programs or technical schools or Job Core, I think its called I know of a few people who have done that...and then realize the system is broken and continue doing what they can to make ends meet at least most people I talk to.

Now we have a generation of people who took on huge student loan debt and ended up at low wage jobs.

Another thing that can give a generation an identity they can be proud of, is music, I was fortunate enough to be the generation of the anti-war flower-power music of the late sixties, and also punk in the seventies.
Back then the people made their own music and the record companies put them onto records.
Nowadays the record companies make the music and tell you what you should listen too.
What musical genre is going on today that this generation will be proud of in the future and be able to say:- "That was us".

The "Greatest Generation" should not be mistaken for a literal description of the allies who fought in that war. The reason the label is popular in the MSM is because the concept of WW2 veteran carries certain associations which those who perpetuate the label want to promote. Namely, the willingness to fight in Wars, and perceive the enemy as akin to Nazis.

None of them, or all of them. Welcome to the long tail. But if I had to guess, I'd say country pop. Or rather, Taylor Swift.

You don't actually need a record company anymore to distribute music, though.

I understand your sentiment, even though the bold sentence is completely rubbish. The singles charts no longer reliably contain great music. However, the album charts...

Kendrick Lamar released a new album yesterday. It's fantastic and will probably define the year. We're also due albums from Kanye West, Chance The Rapper and the Social Experiment, and Run The Jewels. It's going to be a fantastic year for hip hop, which seems to be maturing like rock did in the late 60s and early 70s.

I'd also argue that we're currently in an extremely rich creative period for rock music. On one hand, there are a few fantastic mass market acts like Arctic Monkeys and Queens Of The Stone Age. On the other, these hugely creative artists like Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, and The National. Then there are a string of minor bands doing great things. It definitely compares favourably to... well, any period since 1975, despite being more eclectic and not having a single unified sound.

The older generation had a better economy, cheaper houses, cheaper education, more job opportunities.

You know what bothers me? It's not THIS generation, it's mine (Gen X) and the ones before mine suddenly being unable to live without technology that we didn't grow up with. My 60 year old stepmom tried to force me to use Facebook the other day, so they could "keep up with me." Why not CALL me?

I admit, I do it too. I text all the time, and obviously I'm part of an Internet community that I value very much. I do all of my graduate work online, even though I'm not an "online student." It's easy to get sucked in to the convenience.

I'm actually finding, at 35 (for some reason my counter shows 45 when I look at it), watching my generation in the professional environment I feel a lot better about them than I had in the past. To tell the truth I feel a lot better about them than any of the previous generations I had to deal with previously.

What I noticed is that people on that edge between gen X and gen Y, as professionals, seem way less bullheaded and stubborn. It's a bit like we're adaptable, trying to gin up as many win-win situations as we can, we actually believe in training new employees rather than throwing them under the bus for no good reason - to the expense of our companies - to see if they come up on the other side. We don't put fiefdoms above practical concerns like, oh... doing things well!

Just for that I feel like we make a lot more sense and have a much more grounded approach.

To OP - at 23 I used to feel the same way, and to tell the truth you'll find the highschool mentality last up through mid 20's, give it a couple decades and you may be surprised.

Historically the system has been broken since Sumarian and Egyptian times.

The next generation is always told, become a Scribe, get a CDL, chariot drivers license, join the army and learn to carry a spear.

Since writing was invented, it has been forgotten three times, in total, half of historic time has been a dark age.

Rome was the third attempt at city building. It sounds great, but it is a Ponzi, it takes new investors to continue, and not even conquest and slavery could keep up.

Even with free bread, open employment in the army, 90% of Rome was slaves, because it was the best deal they could find. Free bread does not put a roof over your head or clothes on your back. What employment there was was in high demand, even for slaves. Open and close front door. A lifetime of a place to sleep, clothes, food, operating a door.

The skilled were treated the same, babysitter, teacher, cook, farm worker. The value of their labor was not enough to feed cloth and shelter them. They could not survive without someone to support them all the time.

Then as now, the workforce was picked over. The best found places in the domestic economy, the worst were rounded up and provided entertainment in the arena.

We think we live in a lawless time, crime everywhere. In fact, murder, robbery, rape, cannibalism, theft, are at an all time low. We can thank a long history of those without local connections, or a visible means of support, being killed when found. If it lives under a bridge, it is a troll.

During the last dark age, there were those bound to the land, locals, and strangers were killed.

As the latest wave of cities got going, hangman became a full time job. England raised it to an industrial process. Gallows had ten nooses, it was a full time job.

The System has never worked. That is why all governments have fallen.

The problems are constant. There are more people than jobs, supporting government makes everyone poorer, and each generation produces people who prey on others.

...Which " generation " ?

What I see as worryingly too easy these days is how easy it is to accidentally give away personal information about yourself. And once you do it, you can never undo it.

This used to be very difficult. Now it is as easy as hitting "send" or "submit" and your information has gotten away from you and there is nothing you can do to prevent other people from seeing it.

With one keystroke you can accidentally give phishers access to your passwords and all your financial information.

With one keystroke you can accidentally tell stalkers or any other dangerous people where you live and when you will be in your house.

With one keystroke, the compromising photos somebody took of you at a party high, drunk or just doing something stupid can be around the world, or more likely can be seen by somebody who was about to hire you but now won't.

And so on. It has suddenly become much too easy for other people to know way more about your life (and/or finances) than it ever was before. And they can use that information to cyberbully or twitter hate campaign you. They can use it to steal from you or physically attack you because they now know your address and schedule. The possibilities are endless and terrifying.