Do You Feel Old, CNN Article

[Derek WC]

Nostalgia, by definition, is an idealized view of the past and pretending that all things don't have warts isn't bad in and of itself, unless you decide to accept your vision of the wart-less past as complete and utter truth. Even in the 1950's America, there was the Cold War and the constant threat of a communist nuclear burnout takeover.

I've always believed nostalgia to be an aching/longing for the past, and better times. They may have not been much better, but they were better than it is now I can assure you.

 

[vintage68]

I don't feel old, I just feel like I was born a century too late.

 

[Undertow]

After rereading the article, I'm not sure there is anything "inaccurate" or "sensational", so much as there is a little conjecture slipped in.

For instance, I don't think Nirvana is considered Classic Rock to anyone, anywhere. It hasn't even been 20 years since the band disolved. However, for someone that was 27 when Cobain commited suicide, there will be a far different perspective than a child born in '95, a year after the dust settled.

Same goes for the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain; it's one thing to explain it to a youngster, but to have lived it is quite different. In fact, how in the world could someone explain a movie like Red Dawn EVER?! lol

And email being slow versus texting; probably not the reason kids text message one another. Or Beethoven being a dog vs. composer; that is sensationalism.

Believe me, I certainly understand your feeling that the article is akin to an old man waving a cane in your face saying, "In my day, we walked up hill four miles both ways in waist deep snow while I carried my little brother and my carpentery tools - because us kids had jobs when we were 8, not like you lazy bums!" However, this article doesn't appear to single out youth for derision, so much as remind the "elderly" how much different the youth of today's society are in relation to 30 years ago.

 

[Beaubeau]

I've always believed nostalgia to be an aching/longing for the past, and better times. They may have not been much better, but they were better than it is now I can assure you.

What I'm saying is your "better times" wasn't any better than right now. They were exactly the same sort of existence that goes on right now, only with different pictures and different issues and different players.

As for whether or not the article is being derisive, it is. It's implying that the older generation is all one way and the new generation is all the other. It is not a reminder that times have changed for everybody (Old people use the internet too!), it is to directly call up to the older generation is to channel the sort of response that spurned the creation of this thread, which is "We're old and the new generation doesn't all do things the same way we did, so they're dumb and stupid and narcissist".

The fact that in the title they imply that all college freshmen act a certain way is yellow journalism. It might be harmless yellow journalism, but it's still yellow journalism.

 

[Chasseur]

It has been my experience that every generation gets an article that completely overblows the differences between the generations, and pretends that there is never any room for improvement in anything anywhere. People, as a group, don't do everything like a complete Luddite OR technofab spaceman from outer space. They pick and choose how they will do things with technology in ways that will suit them as a person and their needs. It's never either-or.

Beaubeau excellent post! :eusa_clap

I teach at a univeristy and every year we get an article like this that is full of blanket statements about "the next generation" and how technology has "changed" them. This is then used to justify administrative actions like moving to a paperless policy ("they can just download the syllabus to their I-phones" or "why would you need to make a photocopy?") or not buying new books for the library, or maybe elminating those pesky dinosaur books since library space is expensive ("Its all online now!").

Then I get the barrage of questions from these "tech savy" youngsters about how to access the syllabus from online and how does the library's database work...[huh]

 

[Undertow]

What I'm saying is ...

It is not a reminder that times have changed for everybody (Old people use the internet too!), it is to directly call up to the older generation is to channel the sort of response that spurned the creation of this thread, which is "We're old and the new generation doesn't all do things the same way we did, so they're dumb and stupid and narcissist" ...

As articulate as you may like to play, please don't sully your response with the same conjecture you accuse CNN of using.

In an age that has literally introduced science fiction into fact, an age of real global community, and age of instant information, humankind has yet to attain the ability to fully read another's thoughts.

Your assumption was incorrect. You stand politely corrected.

 

[Undertow]

And in case any of you others would like an additional thread much in line with the topic of the CNN article, direct your attention to
I Remember When...