I think each generation might just be victims of whatever the power structure deems modern at that time. That's not to say that each generation is blameless for the circumstances going on.

Think about it though, society is always pushed through a bottleneck. They've been guided by food manufacturers, the tech businesses, and an economy where the wealth gap has been the biggest it's been in the history of the world. We're bombarded with images on being outside yet still being on our computers and phones and iPads. Look at the Apple commercial with the girl on her iPad outside. It annoys me to no end. You're OUTSIDE!!! BE OUTSIDE!!! You can look at a screen and sit down when you're INSIDE at home! These advertisements people see 24/7 matter. People get conditioned. Food manufacturers, in order to mass produce and accrue more profit, have manufactured poison disguised as food. 90% of the food on the shelves have sugar or additives or other ingredients that make us fat or diseased and unhealthy. It makes us sicker and fatter and also makes the health insurance companies richer with inflated costs of health care. Then we have the wealth gap which makes it harder for families to buy healthier food, which costs more than the crap. So families have to be economical and the crap food is economical.

Everything is tied together. It's a constant fight to push back against whatever it is that is doing the pushing. Even the people who know what's going on don't have the political or financial power to always push back either.

Well, man... is like, evolution man, the way was planned to be man, within 200 years mankind will be like a roly poly man.

Thanks for explaining all that... now I know what others have been talking about. Can the baby boomers be all the above?... I can see myself as so...

The world at there fingertips yet there is no common sense and no one gives a shit really. forever lost in a virtual world having loads of friends but knowing none of them and it will only get worse.I think tech gives them such a big safety net they use it instead of there brains.

Ragging on prior generations is a time honored tradition. As is cynicism.

Try to judge people as individuals and judge them based on merits instead of when they were born.

IMHO this entire post beautifully illustrates the dangers and silliness of generalizations...for one thing, does any invention just come from one age group?

@SamKerry explained this much better than I could have... Don't forget, your observational and critical thinking skills get better as you age. The veil gets lifted...

Empower yourself. Anything else is whining. Get out of the perverbial diapers. Do. Something.

I believe that the “powers that be” want it this way. With AI on the horizon, the population will become the worker ants in the dystopian future. Look who we voted in as President.

The big guys want insipid people....and they do everything possible to achieve such goal. Is not " that" difficult. Mess up one or two generations (drugs / bad nutrition / horrid schooling...) and the next ones will follow. One could say "it becomes genetic".

Also remember most of your sight upon them is media. And the average idiot. Most of them have a grasp on technology that’s even beyond us millennial. You and most look at them as lazy. Self righteous aholes. And there’s definitely been a lapse of teaching these kids basic life skills. But they are the most accepting. And no matter what maturity comes in time. I have hope for them. They are a brighter future. They don’t take shit. They are not gonna allow the Bullshit of the big corporations that we all did. It started with the millennial. I believe our kids are truly going to change things as the older generation in charge retires.

They're the product of their environment. We have made them entitled, every generation wants to improve the next generation's life. Our lives have never been better. We are richer, healthier, live longer and are more secure than in any time in human history. But we don't seem to appreciate that. But we still find things to complain about.

I’ve had the privilege and honor to work within schools, most time spent in middle schools, with those students now nearing HS graduation… I’d been involved with my daughters’ educations, so familiar with youth, but seemed to have developed a personal crusade describing to ‘aging boomers’ or anyone making disparaging comments about ‘today's kids,’ just how impressive they are. Far more accepting and inclusive, less judgemental, and less religious.. They’ve been taught not to bully, are heading toward gender equality faster than ever, and having worked within special education … their protective and nurturing nature toward those less capable is beyond commendable..

Problems… Naturally, they reflect the condition of our society, the stress of their parents, increasing academic demands and world-wide competition. Yes, they battle fat, but it’s ‘our fault’ for allowing corporate advertising to displace public service announcements - and carbonated sugarwater & junk food machines on campus to augment school funding.. Lots of time on their devices, but linking with like-minded (as we do here) appears the bulk of it.

The shift from brain-breaking ‘american football’ to soccer is positive, as is their lack of commercial fashion, acknowledgement of downsizing, level of academic achievement, environmental awareness, lack of competitiveness, personal creativeness… To me, far more positives than negatives. And again, the negatives are our fault - not theirs ~

This is a well known human sentiment. It is called "Juvenoia". And every generation goes through this. Our generation (apply when you enter my the age group I'm in now) is not special.

Aristotle: "Youths' mistakes are due to excess and vehemence, they think they know everything."
Socrates: "The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise."
The Bible: "Honour your father and your mother."
1900's Romain Rolland: "[people of the younger generation are] passionately in love with pleasure and violent games, easily duped."
In 1871, the Sunday Magazine published a line that may as well have been written today about texting. "Now we fire off a multitude of rapid and short notes, instead of sitting down to have a good talk over a real sheet of paper."

(EDIT: Added more examples above.)

VSauce produced a video essay on this several years ago:

Hi ErichZannIII I see your point about the current generation being what appears to be socially disconnected, spending a lot of time on phones texting. It seems some of the finer social graces may be at risk due to lack of common interpersonal interaction. I have come to recognize however that change is inevitable, as we grow older things seem strange that are the norm for the current generation. I don't see them dumber, just the oppositie in fact, most teenagers I meet are much better informed and better adapted to the tech revolution that is exploding around us now.

Because the elder generation wants to be superior, hence the elders never take actual action to ensure the younger generations are given the best education and inspiration. All the elders want is to be revered by the younger people, and when the young grow old, the process repeats. This creates a pyramid scheme where the only people allowed to be right are dead and gone. We are doomed

As in most observations, distance lends enchantment. Early boomers over here achieved very little, for us they may as well be two generations. Early ones so boring, right wing, no imagination. Later ones, hmm a bit better, computers, internet, environmental awareness which put them at odds with the early boomers. I think the Builders did well, but that may have been the period in our country where lots was achieved. I think society is in a mess, so I blame the ones who got us here, self included and feel sorry for the younger ones. We may have stolen a lot of opportunities from them.