‘We live in a decaying age. Young people no longer respect their parents. They are rude and impatient. They frequently inhabit taverns and have no self-control.’
Does this sound familiar? Those who think it does may be surprised to find out that this comment is actually an inscription from an Ancient Egyptian tomb. However, replace the word ‘taverns’ with ‘bars’ and it may begin to sound all too familiar to today’s youth.
It seems that people manage to find a way to complain about the youth today from every possible angle. Whether in newspapers, television shows, or even general chit-chat – young people seem to be everyone’s favourite scapegoats. People may claim that young people are getting rowdier, or have become ruder than the ‘good old days’, when they showed respect to their elders. The ‘good old days’ refer to people’s nostalgic memories of the past.
However, have there ever been any ‘good old days’ when it comes to young people? Could there be any truth to the claims that today’s young generation is the worst ever? Or are these complaints something which every young generation has had to simply deal with since Ancient Egypt?
I believe that there is probably some truth to the idea that young people are more impatient than they once were. Isn’t this obvious, though? We live in an extremely connected world with huge amounts of information right at our fingertips. Technology has enabled us to do things more quickly, so naturally, we expect things to be done more quickly. This doesn’t just apply to young people though, this applies to us all!
Nevertheless, people may still argue that young people are more arrogant and reckless than they once were. Whether this is because young people are unfairly portrayed in the media, or because they actually are getting worse, is up for discussion.
