The difference of two generations

How different was it for our older folks back then?

If you’ve ever given a phone to an elderly person, you’ve probably noticed that things don’t quite come as easily to them. They aren’t nearly as fluent as much younger folks, and struggle to navigate throughout the pages. Sometimes they may hear music and have someone check their air vent, only to find out that instead of the air vent, it was simply a game playing music on their iPhone or iPad. The technological literacy among older folks is far behind that of younger generations.

Meanwhile, ask a child to navigate the web and find an online resource and they can locate it in mere seconds. Technology is a way of life for younger generations, and they use it every hour of every day. They use it to get around from point A to point B, or even keep track of their workout routines. Or maybe they’ll use it to tune into their favorite music albums, or view videos from their favorite channels on YouTube.

Such a vast difference between the old and the young, and it all comes from their environment. We have a pretty good idea as to why younger generations are so fluent, but why are older folks so different from us?

It’s simply because they are fluent in their own respective category. They were raised far differently from the younger folks of today, and under more dire circumstances. For instance, they were still trying to figure out cures for diseases and illnesses that prevailed the 20th century. Many people still struggled with the flu and polio, which heavily afflicted the century. Then there were also other scares such as that of HIV and AIDS they dealt with.

And they were only just beginning to scratch the surface when it came to sicknesses. Many physicians and scientists worked long hours recording their studies with the hopes that they could derive a medical marvel. And it wasn’t the digital age either, instead of having the luxury of a computer, people would have to manually write down everything they could. With that being said, electronic files weren’t a thing yet either and so files had to be archived in an overwhelmingly large file cabinet. There were often times when a virus or bacteria that was recorded was lost due to the redundancy of recording everything on paper.

It was truly a difficult time in its own respect, and we should definitely be thankful of how easy technology has made things for us these days.

You know how else things were different for our older folks? Their traffic was far more dangerous. Sure, cars were a thing for them decades ago, but comparing them then to what we have now would be preposterous. Today we have cars with a built-in GPS, radio, seatbelts, airbags, and all different types of safety features. Now imagine going back in time sixty years from now when virtually all cars had none of those features.

Being in traffic was horrifying and striking another motorist more than guaranteed injury. More often people were ejected from their car meters across the street and in some cases fatalities would occur. And a car without airbags meant smashing one’s face straight into the steering wheel if ejection didn’t somehow occur. But looking at the dangers on the road is one thing but imagine the inconveniences as well.

Instead of a GPS, many motorists had to learn their roads from memory. Often times they used a map to find certain streets and locations within the city they resided in. This of course proved to be difficult when behind the wheel, and especially when someone was the sole person in a moving car. Thank goodness for us that we simply have to pull up maps on our phones and at most, glance at it when we are coming up to a turn.

I think the biggest difference that older folks had back then though, was that their world was so much more war-centered than ours. Back in the early to mid 1900s, all corners of the globe were affiliated with a war of some sort. The century saw millions of lives lost from both world wars and dreaded what could come next. As such, many people back then were on edge knowing that they too could be next in line to fight for their country.

It wasn’t as simple as we have it now, where we simply focus on going to school and pursuing the life that we desire. Back in those days, people never knew what could arise in their unpredictable lives. One minute they could be working, and the next minute they could be drafted for the military. Just in an instance, their lives could completely change, and they could go from stocking the grocery store in peace to fighting countless wars in misery.

Some of the most gruesome cases of aftermath showed up for our veterans who lived to tell the tales as well. Many of them came back home with trauma, PTSD, and severe depression from the grueling military tasks they were given. As if that wasn’t bad enough, some were even scorned after the Vietnam War, due to the major controversial cases that arose between civilians and soldiers.

You see, there are simply two very different perceptions of life between older and younger folks. Although we may have the upper hand on technological literacy, we had a bit of a handicap in comparison to them. While we get the opportunity to choose our lives and make independent decisions, they did not always have the same luxury, and could often be forced into circumstances against their desires.

They had to endure a much less safe environment as well, whether they were behind the wheel or simply going outside. Sicknesses and viruses plagued them far worse, and medicine now wasn’t as prevalent back then. Their world was so much more difficult for them and is the reason they often have a different perception than that of ours. It was vastly different back then in comparison to how it is now.