Why Do Baby Boomers Complain When They Build Stuff
Due west east live in an era in which, for the most part, the generations exercise not mix frequently. Grandparents are visited occasionally; young people seek the freedom of independent living every bit early as possible. On social media, intergenerational warfare is commonplace, equally members of gen Z (those born between the mid-90s and the early 10s) criticise older people for hoarding wealth, while babe boomers bemoan the perceived sensitivity of the younger generation.
But what would happen if baby boomers gave the TikToking young adults of today an insight into their thinking – and threw some life advice into the bargain? To that terminate, we assembled a panel of baby boomers – Tayo Idowu, 64, a marketing director from London; Liz Richards, 68, a retired nurse from Derby; Paul Gibson, 63, an accountant from Arundel, Due west Sussex; and Maggie Tata, 65, a carer from London – to answer gen Z'south questions (fifty-fifty the tongue-in-cheek ones).
What do you admire in younger people today?
Caitlin, 22, Norwich
Idowu: I admire them for their tenacity.
Tata: And also for their adjustability. I don't know how they do it. They can suck everything in and yet manage to cope. And they're willing to have risks. Their courage is only amazing.
Gibson: I admire them for their confidence in IT. They're probably the showtime digital natives, aren't they? They've embraced all the possibilities of technology.
Richards: For me, information technology's how they've coped with the pandemic. I recall they've had the worst fourth dimension of any group, actually. Obviously, not from the sickness and expiry indicate of view, but the fact that when y'all're young your life is going out, meeting other people, doing all of that. They've had to do without a lot of it.
Do you think young people are overly sensitive and privileged?
JD, 21, due south Wales
Idowu: It depends how yous define sensitive or privileged. I know some young people and for them the thought of going out to work in the summertime vacation is like: perhaps after I've rested for a long time. In our day, the idea of getting a paper circular was the norm. So, definitely in terms of privilege, for some of them I can feel that.
Gibson: I think they're much more enlightened and accept a greater empathy and understanding of people's journeys. So I use words like sensitive in a positive way, not in a Piers Morgan snowflake fashion, because they're non snowflakes. They're resilient and adjustable and more aware of their world'due south issues.
Why exercise you hate selfies?
Bethany, 22, London
Richards: I don't hate selfies! I beloved them. Some of the best pictures I've got are selfies. But sometimes it's constant selfies – and so it gets a bit ho-hum.
Idowu: We don't detest selfies per se. It'southward the volume of them.
Would y'all have chosen to live your life differently if you were built-in in our generation?
Diana, 19, Aberdeen
Gibson: If I were starting over, I would take more risks. My early life was fairly risk-free. I wanted to go to Cambridge, which I did. My begetter was an accountant and it was expected that I would get an accountant, then I did. I would accept more risks with my life and with my career, seek out more diversity. I think I lacked that in the earlier years. And peradventure I wouldn't have one linear career, which is what I've done, but several different careers. Because inside I feel like a writer, but on the outside I look similar an accountant. If I were starting over, I'd give that author a little fleck more than space and that accountant a little less infinite. I retrieve I'd be a richer person for that.
What is your best advice for how to attain fiscal security?
Judith, 23, Barcelona
Tata: Oh God, that'due south a good one. Invest, invest, invest! Multiple streams of income. That's information technology. You lot can't only have a 9-to-5 job any more. Y'all take to do lots and lots of different things.
Idowu: Every bit early equally yous can, get a life insurance policy. Brand sure it'south a whole-life insurance policy, because that way, if something happens to you, you lot have something substantial to leave to your offspring. As well, look outside your main career for income. I think it's called a "side hustle" at present, right? I used to get to police auctions – this was way before eBay – and buy things, then advertise them in the classified ads. If you can, become on the holding ladder as before long equally possible.
Gibson: For me, saving has always been very important, but I went to university at a time when there was no student debt and housing was affordable. But – and information technology's a huge "but" – if you tin can, outset a pension early. It'south called compounding. If you start a pension at 21 and retire at 65, that pension has been going for 45 years, and a very small sum tin become a substantial sum. The state pension isn't enough to live on, sadly. Just I recognise how that advice is just non practical for so many people who are paying eye-watering amounts of rent.
Why do you lot always get to the aerodrome so early?
Jamie, 20, Southport
Idowu: Because the tyres might outburst. What I mean past that is that nosotros have to think alee and plan for possible eventualities. A lot of generation Z, they go out everything to literally the last minute and don't recall about the possibility of anything going wrong. But nosotros were brought up in a generation where things could go wrong. Technology wasn't reliable. Cars weren't as reliable. Electrical stuff wasn't reliable. Then we had to leave plenty of fourth dimension in case things didn't go right. That's carried over in our attitude.
How exercise yous fifty-fifty use a paper map?
Nic, 23, London
Tata: I don't even take a clue, because I just get on Google and type what I have to discover. That'south one advantage with technology for me, because I tin can't see properly anyway.
Idowu: Nosotros had A-Zs and they were very unproblematic. Say for instance y'all're going to Grange Route in Croydon, you would expect up Grange Road at the dorsum … [Idowu patiently explains how to use an A-Z.] It'southward not that hard.
What mistakes did your generation brand – and what tin can gen Z learn from them?
Hayley, 23, Northampton
Richards: When I was younger, the attitudes towards women who got pregnant out of marriage were atrocious. The globe sort of fell in on them. It was also hypocritical, considering there would often be illegitimate children in families, but everyone pretended that wasn't the instance. Another big mistake I lived through was how we treated gay people. People had to pretend and it caused such pain and distress.
Idowu: Another error we made was listening to everything our teachers and parents told u.s. and believing information technology. Because half the time they were maxim things knowing total well they weren't going to happen. I think today's children are a lot more challenging of what adults tell them, which is a good thing.
Tata: Yes. Nosotros didn't accept a choice, really. Simply they tin find data out for themselves. I'm grateful for their free spirit, considering we were simply told that nosotros had to practise as we were told.
Gibson: For me, it's our generation's failure to act on climate change. We know what nosotros need to exercise, merely nosotros lack the individual and political leadership to change the way we live and protect the environment. Our failure will exist felt for generations to come.
Why practice all boomers find windfarms so ugly?
Louis, 23, Glasgow
Idowu: Well, I wouldn't want to live adjacent to i, put it like that. I wouldn't say I find them ugly. I think I discover them intriguing. I actually adopt windfarms to solar panels. They await a bit more than elegant, if I may say. Having these massive solar panels looks strange in the beautiful countryside.
What is the departure between pennies, shillings and pounds?
Jonathan, 24, London
Gibson: I call up the question might exist getting at the fact nosotros hold on to old means of doing things. When I'm in the motorcar, I can't do litres of fuel per 100km, because I don't know what those numbers mean. I still apply miles per gallon.
Have you lot changed opinion politically since you were a young adult?
Atila, 17, London
Richards: I have definitely got more than conservative, with a modest C, as I've got older. [She laughs.] I had some fairly radical thoughts as a young person. You lot try non to, but y'all do harden your opinions on certain things – and sometimes that'south a skillful thing, because yous won't be swayed by other people. But some people think whatever they remember is absolutely right and they sort of keep on at you, until y'all agree with them.
Idowu: I've softened. I've gone from more of a Marxist-Leninist stance to a soft-left stance.
Gibson: I've not changed. I was a dandy supporter of Jeremy Corbyn and I call up I would have been as a immature person. Obviously, it didn't get well, merely a lot of the ideas he came up with were alee of their fourth dimension and, in the next 5 years, we might begin to follow them.
Practice you believe that gen Z aren't able to buy homes considering nosotros are lazy and don't work hard enough?
Rebecca, 21, Lincoln
Richards: Absolutely non! [She looks horrified.] My sons aren't gen Z, they're in their 30s, but they can't buy homes. House prices have been crazy over the past 20 years.
Idowu: I bought my showtime business firm for £23,000. Nowadays, that would probably exist £300,000 – and instead of finding a £3,000 deposit, y'all'd demand £30,000.
What is your generation'due south obsession with Facebook?
Hannah, 23, Cambridge
Tata: I am on Facebook, just I'grand not obsessed with information technology. I merely apply information technology to connect with my family unit and friends worldwide. I don't really go and mail service things in information technology, unless there's an occasion like a family unit wedding and some people couldn't come.
Much divides the states, but one trend unites our youth cultures: can we concord on platform shoes?
Caroline, 22, Washington DC
Idowu: I love my platform shoes. I had cute patent leather and suede ones that I bought from a shop chosen Ravel. I don't know where they are now, just platforms are definitely a big thumbs upwardly from me.
What is your view on TikTok?
Shriya, 24, India
Idowu: I think it'southward a massive and amazing tool for creativity, because you lot accept to encapsulate so much in such a curt infinite of time.
What do you think of the ascent awareness of mental health – and do you wish yous had the aforementioned awareness when you were younger?
Grace, 20, Exeter
Tata: Definitely! Definitely. It was taboo for us growing up. Nosotros couldn't fifty-fifty talk about mental health. People would be locked up in what we used to term "mental homes" and that was information technology. It's then good that mental health is beingness addressed now and it's not a taboo.
Do you still similar boiled sweets?
MJ, 23, London
Idowu: I'm still partial to cola cubes. In that location'due south a sweet shop in Greenwich that sells erstwhile-fashioned sweets. Whenever I pass it, I go in to purchase some cola cubes.
What is the one affair you wish you had known before y'all were 30?
Abbie, 22, Bristol
Idowu: If I'd known before xxx that as you get older you take less energy, I would have had my children much earlier. Considering what y'all don't want is when y'all take your son to school and people say: "Is that your granddad?"
Richards: Getting your foot on the property ladder if y'all possibly can is a skillful idea. Paying into a alimony. It'south awfully irksome and, of class, when you're at that historic period, y'all never think you lot will demand information technology, because you never think y'all volition be old, simply age does come. And travel. Meet new people, brainwash yourself about dissimilar cultures. That will set yous upwards for existence a decent, balanced person.
Gibson: I think I would say to an nether-30, or myself at that age, to be bold. When yous look back, failure isn't a terrible matter. It'due south actually quite oft a positive thing. You can learn from it, you can abound from it. When I was nether xxx, I was very anxious most failing and I recall I missed out on some of the things we've been talking about – travelling and meeting new people and getting new experiences. I wouldn't worry about failing. I would exist bold.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2021/aug/03/baby-boomers-answer-gen-z-biggest-questions
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