“Hey, You Kids, Get Off My Lawn”
Every generation that has ever existed on the planet, it appears, has complained about its younger generations . In the 4 th century B.C.E., to cite one example, Aristotle wrote: “[Young people] are high-minded because they have not yet been humbled by life, nor have they experienced the force of circumstances.…They think they know everything, and are always quite sure about it.” Psychologists have studied the why behind it. And at the heart of the phenomenon, they seem to agree , is flawed memory of what younger generations were like in the past, especially one’s own. As poet Adrienne Rich, put it: “Nostalgia is only amnesia turned around.” This creates divisive and unhelpful generational feuds. So, as one writer confidently predicts : “Today’s ‘OK boomer’ Gen Z will complain about the youth one day.” “It’s safe to assume this is an immortal aspect of human society: Young people always exist, and older people will always complain about them. Young people, in turn, always say, ‘Ugh, o