“What do other generations think of you?” To begin getting an answer to this question, you have to understand what generations are. A generation is a range of people who are living at the same time; there are multiple generations living at once, however. The way they’re being separated is by the events going on at their time, the experiences they share, and the technology they have; all of these are factors that make up different generations.

The wide consensus of the year ranges of the recent generations are the following: Generation Beta (2025-X,) Generation Alpha (2010-2014,) Generation Z (1997-2010,) Generation Y (1981-1996,) Generation X (1965-1980,) Baby  Boom Generation (1946-1964,) and the Silent Generation (1928-1945.)

Osbourn High School has only just recently started receiving students from Generation Alpha; a majority of the students at the time of this article are Generation Z.

With the rapid growth of technology and social media it causes a lot of small cultures to be developed, a large majority of them only having one generation as their main audience. This causes a distinct difference in how each generation develops, even the smallest mannerisms guided by these small internet cultures. Whether it be the phrases they reference, their slight difference in lifestyles,

Within recent generations, there seems to have been a bigger distance that has grown between each one for various reasons, whether it be the different levels of technology creating a knowledge gap from different levels of affinity, social media making different generations cultivate their own culture, or just age.

People in the newer generations believe in the idea that the older generations pick on them, or have doubts that they’ll be able to live up to their predecessors “I think older generations view us as immature for our age, I think they believe we’re not as hardworking as they were. We are hard workers when the conditions are right, which should be all the time,” said sophomore Luis Almazan (Gen Z).

Another sophomore who believes this agenda is Roberto Cansino Mendez (Gen Z), who said, “They (referring to older generations) think of us as dumber and take us less seriously, I don’t know why. They think they’re smarter than us and more mature, obviously, I don’t mean everyone older, but still a majority.”

Despite this common stigma, Ms. Browning (Gen X), Dean of Students (11th-12th grade students), doesn’t exactly think of younger generations in the way they think people of her generation would “I think they’re not really different from when I was a kid; we all go through the same stages. They have video games, I had video games. I think everyone just wants to be loved and appreciated. I think they have the same amount of potential as when I was a kid.”

When she was asked about the difference between generations, Ms. Browning added on, saying, “I think every generation of parents works really hard to make sure their kids don’t have to work as hard. I never had to work that hard. Reason being is my mother, she went through a really tough time as she was poor and had to work as much as she could. I think newer generations might not work as hard because they wouldn’t have had the chance to struggle with what their parents did, not because of laziness or anything. They might not have to work younger like I did to get their toys or rewards. Though I share the belief that we have to make sure our kids value working hard or being resilient. Some kids might give up cause something is hard. But I didn’t give up because I knew how hard I had to work for my future. I don’t want them to give up, I want them to succeed more than anything else.”

Relating to not taking younger generations as seriously, Ms. Browning responded with “I do think between generations, old generations forgot what it means to be young. I think if there is a really young kid, and a really old person. The older person might think the young kid doesn’t take things as seriously. I see young people who, when they grow up think the same thing. They still get really good work done, just not in the same period. The younger generations might not have the same number of work hours because they have stuff to look forward to. I think young people are honestly just smarter than us and get things done quicker, leading them to work fewer hours. But they end up giving the same amount of contribution.”

It seems as though people in the generations before you don’t think anything truly negative about you just because of how old you are. Rather they just want you to do better than they did. The reason this misconception might exist is that the younger generations don’t realize the roughness is out of love rather than disrespect.

What did you think of the generations younger than you or the generations before you? Did this article change what you might think? Tell us in the comments!