Generation Clash

So, a hashtag is trending currently called #Howtoconfuseamillennial. It has things like pictures of rotary phones, claims about not writing with pen and paper and so on.  But the one that really cracked me up was this one:

Yes folks.  Audrey Hepburn never used Snapchat to advance her career.  Lauren Bacall never used Twitter.  And Marilyn Monroe?  She never had an Instagram account.  You know why?

Because none of those existed when they were around.  This is not rocket science.  The only reason celebrities did not use social media is because it (and the internet) did not exist when they were alive.  This is not proof that they would not have.  Hepburn was tied with style.  You really think it is out of the realm of likelihood that Audrey would not have an Instagram account?  I bet the Duke would have a Twitter account…he was not afraid to speak his mind.

To be honest, I tire of every generation’s desire to put down the one that came before.  It is utterly petty and childish.  It also is just not true.  Every generation has it’s idiots and fools.  Millennials do not have a premium on this.  My generation has plenty.  The generation before mine had plenty.  Even the “Greatest Generation” had plenty.  The Greatest Generation was totally cool with rounding up Americans and putting them into internment camps.  War is not an excuse for stupidity.

Previous generations happily owned slaves.  Previous generations worked to commit genocide against Native Americans.  In today’s culture, in spite of claims that being called a racist is terrible, a lot of people are comfortably racist, and their family members act like it is just a personality quirk.  Every generation has it’s problems.  Every generation also has it’s positives.  If you can only see the negatives of the generations that came after you?  You need an attitude adjustment.

And frankly?  If you take more issue with someone never having used a rotary phone than someone being a racist?  You are an idiot.