What's The Matter With Kids Today?

Comic Book Readers, by Ruth Orkin, New York City c.1947

“Generation Y stands at the forefront of the next chapter 

in mankind’s evolution: experiencing everything while going nowhere” 

- Bob Lutz

"What's wrong with the young people today? Always staring at their iphones..."

So goes the chatter most days no matter where we are. 

Those kids are just -

Too much something

Not enough something

Too often or 

Not often enough.

"If only they could be like us."

It seems we have short memories of what it was like to be of 'the younger generation'.  It turns out that just like sex, we didn't invent problems between young people and the older generations. That Generation Gap is much older than the 1970s.

And yet I've seen it stated that this is the first time we have had four generations conceivably in the same workforce.  Perhaps things are not so dire as we like to think. 

In this article in The Economist we get some insight into how these generations are perceived in the workplace. 

"One reason for optimism is that some of the things that supposedly make Generation Y different have been exaggerated, says Rich Floersch, head of HR at McDonald’s. In fact, they are “irked by the myths of having a sense of entitlement, having poor communication skills and being job-hoppers.” If they find a company that offers challenging work, a sense of purpose and development they will stay, he adds."

That's good news. 

"Google is often portrayed as the embodiment of millennial-friendly work practices. But Laszlo Bock, a human-resources chief at the internet firm, points out that it has workers as old as 83. And he argues that the only thing different about Generation Y is that it is actually asking for the things that everybody else wants."

Maybe we are not so different after all. 

Older days...

"The world is passing through troublous times. The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress."

~ Allegedly, by Peter the Hermit in A.D. 1274


"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on
the frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless
beyond words. When I was a boy, we were taught to be discrete and
respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise and
impatient of restraint."

~ Hesiod, Eighth Century B.C

And this... also in dispute as to origin...

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for
authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place
of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their
households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They
contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties
at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers."

~ Attributed to SOCRATES by Plato, according to William L.
Patty and Louise S. Johnson, Personality and Adjustment, p. 277
(1953)."

"I believe what really happens in history is this: the old man is
always wrong; and the young people are always wrong about what is
wrong with him. The practical form it takes is this: that, while the
old man may stand by some stupid custom, the young man always attacks
it with some theory that turns out to be equally stupid."

~ G. K. Chesterton

Then those rebels in the 1950s