Every generation has their own ideology about the world. And when it comes to Millennials versus Baby boomers, it’s the opposite ends of the spectrum.
My mother is visiting, and she is considering moving across the country to live near me. We went out looking for housing options. I am about ready to pull my ever-loving hair out. On the other side, I have a Millennial son living in the cottage of my house. It is like dealing with two different species, the Millennials versus Baby boomers, where do I start?
Being smack dab in the middle of the two, a Gen X’er, what I realize is that we are all a product of parenting, community, media, and other outside forces. That is why each generation has such a different ideology and outlook than the previous one. As a parent, I know it is your job to undo all those things that you didn’t like about the way that you were parented, and it separates the generations.
The baby boomers lived in tough times. Their parents survived World War II, the roaring fifties, and the tumultuous sixties. Bra burning liberals, pot smoking, and flower children when coming of age, they also remember a time when they didn’t have much on the dinner table, they were having “duck and hide” drills for the atom bomb at school, and they had the notion that you simply didn’t waste ANYTHING pounded into their skulls. [Read: 10 self-reflective questions to help stay true to yourself]
The major differences of Millennials versus Baby boomers
The Millennials were a backlash from what the Xer’s hated about our upbringing. Most of us felt like we were born into the world to clean, do yard work, and be ignored. So, the minute we had our own children, we doted over them, told them how awesome they were, and never made them lift a finger. Our bad.
Privacy concerns or lack thereof
#1 Baby boomers are very suspicious. The Baby boomer generation thinks that everyone is out to get them, their money… their everything. They guard their social security number like it is an extension of themselves. Someone always tries to cheat them, lie to them, or sway them without their knowledge.
Perhaps after decades of politicians, they learned to distrust what they heard. Their biggest hang-up is privacy. Their “privacy” is about the most important thing they value. [Read: Baby boomers vs. us and relationships]
#2 Millennials don’t have a single care about privacy. No problem posting every aspect of their lives, whereabouts, or their everything online, the Millennial generation would give just about anyone who asked personal information about themselves.
They think privacy is overrated and take a Laissez Faire attitude toward everything. Almost as if you can’t hold back a tide, they don’t think privacy is an ideal and would gladly give it up if it benefited them in some way. [Read: The 13 ways you can detox to wean yourself off social media]
A penny saved is not a penny earned for both
#3 Baby boomers believe in saving to the point of living poor. All about what you have accumulated and what is in the bank, they check their investments, freak out at the slightest loss, and contributed half of their earnings to their 401k. Most of them retired with enough in the bank to make it to a ripe old age because they were penny-wise and frugal *another word for cheap*.
#4 Millennials believe in a little something called YOLO. Never dealing with cash, they think money is disposable and should be spent as soon as it is earned. Since they have very few aspirations to “make it someday,” they aren’t all about brand names and wealth.
They are about having fun, f*cking off, and making it paycheck to paycheck. No dreams of a white picket fence, money in the bank, and retirement. They just want to watch their Instagram page and post to social media 24/7. It isn’t their problem if they don’t have money when they retire, someone else will pick up their tab. Much like they view everything else, it isn’t their concern if it doesn’t bother them. [Read: 15 ways to live life to the fullest]
Cultural opposites
#5 Baby boomers believe in conservative values. All these images floating around the internet, social media, and no morality, is the bane of their existence. They are more concerned about proper English and think that the future generation is succumbing to idiocy and will no longer be able to communicate because they shorten words like “you” to “u.”
They get hung up on following rules and procedures and don’t see the big picture, just the small things around them that need to be tended to.
#6 Millennials have an attitude that everyone is equal. Things like gender, race, creed, and money are all confines they believe are perpetrated to keep people down. They don’t believe in rules and think that laws are just there to create a divide and unfairly to keep those most impoverished down.
There is no such thing as being too promiscuous, putting yourself too out there, or modesty. Never having any boundaries growing up, they would like to keep it that way in their adult lives. [Read: Why Millennials are choosing puppies over babies]
Their perspective on responsibility for our nation
#7 Baby boomers see a problem they get busy fixing it. They were the first generation to rebel against what they thought was injustice like women’s inequality and racial inequities. They not only have causes they fight for, they actually fight hard for them.
They were the true last generation to put their lives on the line to fight for things like freedom and justice. They went to war, served their country proudly, and put in what it took to make America great.
#8 Millennials have all sorts of “causes.” But they will be damned if they do much more than either tweet about them or follow them. If it involves anything past a like or “sharing” on social media, it isn’t worth the effort. They think that the military is nothing more than a being bunch of bullies invading foreign lands and have the ideology that everything can be solved with just a little talk and sensitivity.
They aren’t going to be the ones putting their lives on any line for anything. That would require some real commitment and responsibility for the future. Those are two things that are counterintuitive to their generation. [Read: Weird trends millenials have to explain to their kids]
Their attitudes about the “American dream”
#9 Baby boomers were comprised of millions of immigrants who came to America and jumped through hoops to do it. Once granted legal entry, they worked very hard to get somewhere in life. They rolled up their sleeves, became a part of the community, and took any job they could get to build a life for themselves and their families. They are the backbone of why America is such a rich nation.
Never taking for granted the blessings they were given when they were welcomed in by the Statue of Liberty itself, they scraped, scrimped, and earned their place in society, their first house, and are proud to call themselves Americans. [Read: Why is everyone so easily offended nowadays?]
#10 Millennials don’t have the same fondness for America. Most Millennials take a dollar if you give them a penny, know how to work either their parents or the government system, and believe in make it rich schemes. Who wants to spend all that time working for what they have? What a waste when it is free.
Each generation knocks the one before. It is just a pecking order. The good news is that each also brings in the new to shake up the system and challenge what people “know” to be true. The Baby boomers were brought up during hard times and learned that if they didn’t do things, they didn’t get done. The Millennials grew up learning that if they didn’t do things, someone else would do them.
[Read: Millennials: The give it to me now generation]
No generation is perfect, we need to stop comparing Millennials versus the Baby boomers. Hell, I belong to the one that was never going to amount to anything. But, I have lots of successful cohorts. I have faith with enough time, the Millennials will do the same.