Every generation thinks that their generation is the best. The thing is, they're all probably right because each generation builds off of the previous one so every generation has their shining moment of greatness. We'll give Gen Alpha time to develop a little more before trying to pick out their accomplishments. Surely they have more to offer than declaring the entire state of Ohio as an insult so powerful that they can no longer say it in schools, though, that's pretty impressive.One thing about different generations and the inevitable generational bickering about which age group is superior is that nostalgia paints nearly everything rosy. It doesn't matter if you are 25 or 65, harkening back to your tween and teen years will have people believing their good times were the best there was to offer. But were they?Of course there were times that were good or even exceptional for each generation as a whole. The invention of the television, the moon landing, home computers, and smart phones to name a few. But those are big moments, what about the day to day and will younger generations miss out on these experiences? One Gen Xer decided to ask the question to find out what exactly younger people will miss out on that were distinctly pre-digital age. kid holding camera Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash The nostalgia was thick enough to need an air filter but even with the heavy dose of endorphins generated by sharing memories, analog days still had it's drawbacks. Those drawbacks don't stop people from sharing missed experiences while also admitting that it makes them feel a bit old. Hold on to your invisible hat because here comes an influx of "back in my day" nostalgic experiences that younger people will never have the pleasure...or displeasure of experiencing.Television was an experience"I know being able to watch whatever you want, whenever you want, on streaming services is amazing but I feel like old style linear television had value because you couldn’t do that. When i was a kid TV only had 3/4 channels and children’s TV only ran for a couple of hours before the six o’clock news. But the next day at school everyone was talking about the same thing. I feel like the internet has destroyed part of our shared culture, kids barely watch normal TV now, what are going to be the shared nostalgic touch-points they talk about in 30 years," someone shares. a television with a picture of a man on it Photo by Miguel Alcântara on Unsplash Another person chimes in with, "I (F31) was watching Gilmore Girls on Netflix with my younger sister (F14). She asked me how many times I had seen it because I was quoting so much of it. I told her I wasn’t really sure because I used to watch the reruns every day on ABC family. She looked confused and asked me what a rerun was."Someone reminds people about life between commercial breaks, "The dreaded yell of ‘the adverts are ending!!!’ that would send you charging back from the kitchen/bathroom like your life depended on it!" its always sunny in philadelphia bar GIF Giphy There was no such thing as 'chronically online'"Not being in constant contact. Just playing outside or hanging out with friends and only calling your parents on a dial up phone if it was an absolute emergency," one person reminisces. Someone remembers socializing pre-cellphones, "Having to remember everyone's phone numbers and knocking on doors to ask if people want to play.""How about making plans to meet up at a bar and then just showing up. No cell phones to change plans on the fly," another person shares. Journee De La Femme Reaction GIF by US National Archives Giphy Google did not existThere was a time when we didn't know things and this person shares the reminder, "Not knowing stuff, like any conversation you have today can be googled in seconds.""Thought of this today. I remember it was normal to ask someone you know something random and now people rudely say google exists lol," another commenter chimes in.Did Lt. Dan really have legs? Well, we just had to wait for the directors cut, "When the movie Forest Gump came out, the special effects (especially in regard to Lt Dan) were so new and convincing that my coworkers argued for months about whether Gary Sinise had legs."There are many more experiences that can be added to the long list of things younger generations will never experience like having two different phone companies for local and long distance calling as someone pointed out. It's almost unimaginable that there's an entire generation of people who have never had to learn how to use a card catalog just to muddle through it for 15 min before spending another 15 wandering the library only to find out the book was checked out. Those were the days...the days when a Gen Xer or elder millennial would've hurdled their grandmother to have access to something like Google.

You can see a resurgence of maximalism everywhere. From "dopamine decor” to “more is more” fashion, it’s clear that by and large, attitudes are shifting away from restrained elegance and towards more colorful, perfectly imperfect, and most important, fun aesthetics. That goes for Christmas too. Matching ornaments in varying shades of “sad beige” have been on their way out for a minute now, but this year, people (many nostalgia driven millennials) are enthusiastically rallying behind the concept now formally known on TikTok as “tacky” Christmas. If you grew up in the 90s, you already know what a “tacky” Christmas looks like. A kaleidoscope of blinking lights, kitschy ornaments that follow zero theme but have some kind of special meaning, and tinsel. Tons and tons of tinsel. Is it over-the-top? Yes. Gaudy? Perhaps. But that’s the point. As TikTokker @athomewithsyro put it, “Christmas trees are not supposed to be sleek and classy and minimalist: it’s supposed to look like JOY has thrown up in your house.” @athomewithsyro GIVE ME ALL THE JOYFUL CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS! I have been collecting @christopherradkoco ornaments for over 30 years, and honestly, I will never get over how beautiful they are. While I admire soft Christmas decor, it may surprise you to find out nas that I subscribe to a "more is more" esthetic when it comes to Christmas; it's not about matching my decor. For me, it's about the joy of the season, and nothing says that quite like tons of color, especially Christmas red. #nostalgicchristmas #classicchristmas #christmastree #christmasdecor ♬ original sound - athomewithsyro Others were inclined to agree. “If it doesn’t border on tacky, you’re not doing it right,” one person wrote in the comments. And to prove this point, people are posting videos of their own “tacky” Christmas decor, showing that there’s nothing tacky about it at all, but rather festive and childlike. You know…just like Christmas is supposed to feel, one might argue. @enchantednails_byebony childhood "tacky" christmas complete!? #christmas #tackychristmas #90schristmas #christmasdecorations #traditonalchristmas ♬ Christmas - neozilla @haywardlegends Kids these days will never understand the feeling we had when we walked in after school to a room full of tinsel & streamers #haywardlegends #1990s #nostalgia #90snostalgia #nostalic #christmas #1990sthrowback #1990snostalgia ♬ The Polar Express - Main Theme by Alan Silvestri - Dominik Hauser @esally5 My Husband wanted a Christmas tree that reminded him of his childhood. So I decorated our tree with a 90s theme. Had to add our ornament from Alaska?? #christmastree #tree #christmasdecor #Christmas #christmaslights #northpole #santashouse #alaska #ornaments #90s #nostalgia #nostalgic #multicoloredlights #tinsel ♬ original sound - Erica Sally "It's not tacky at all, it's exactly how Christmas should be," one person declared. "This is how it should be." While another person commented "It just looks so much happier and joyful though. I much prefer a tacky, colorful tree.” Another echoed, “Feel like being 6 years old again and sneaking in to watch the Christmas tree after everyone had gone to bed.” “You cannot look at that and be sad,” said a woman named Maisie Isabella as she showed off her own “colorful, ‘90s, tacky, sexy,” Christmas tree.It seems even the White House is in full support of this vibrant, whimsical trend for it’s Christmas look this year. See on Instagram And since the word “tacky” is what folks really took umbrage with, some other less offensive alternatives were thrown into the mix, such as “90s’ Christmas,” "Nostalgic Christmas,' and "Traditional Christmas." Because for many, these titles better capture the sorts of positive feelings that colorful, not so coordinated Christmas decor can evoke. Everyone who celebrates Christmas can probably agree that it’s a time of year for doing what sparks real joy. Maybe for some that does mean neutral and understated, and that’s fine. For others, it means a cornucopia of color and passed down handmade ornaments. Also fine. But please, for the love, let us choose whatever aesthetic that does light us up in one way or another, and not because we’re trying to fit in with a trend. We have 364 other days of the year to worry about that.

The Bee Gees were one of the most popular pop groups in the world from the late ‘60s to the late ‘70s. In the early years, they had big hits such as "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart," "I Started a Joke," and “To Love Somebody.” In the late ‘70s, they found a new sound, disco music and made massive hits for the dance floor, including “Staying Alive” and “More Than a Woman."However, between those booming Bee Gee eras, their career seemed to be on the way down. By 1973, their most recent album, “Life in a Tine Can,” and single, “Saw a New Morning,” had flopped, and they began to play smaller clubs. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t win people over with their incredible harmonies. Case in point was their March 23, 1973 performance on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.”Carson introduced the band by touting its history as songwriters. “My next guests have had quite a career. Their compositions have been recorded by people like Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Mandy Williams, Glen Campbell, Tom Jones and hundreds of others,” Carson said.The band opened their set on stage performing “Wouldn't I Be Someone” and “Saw A New Morning” and then sat down for a chat with Carson, discussing why they don't like playing large arenas and how they got started performing together as children. After the break, they returned with an acoustic guitar and performed their first number 1 hit, "Massachusetts," from 1967, with Robin Gibb on lead with his brothers Barry and Maurice chiming in perfect harmony. If you look closely in the background, Maurice is having fun goofing off when he's not on vocal duties. At the end of the performance, Carson appears to be a bit choked up as he adjusts his tie. - YouTube www.youtube.com “Massachusetts” was written about the great migration of young people to San Franciso in 1967, as the hippie movement began to take off in the mid-to-late ‘60s. Interestingly, the Bee Gees had never been to the state. Tried to hitch a ride to San FranciscoGotta do the things I wanna doAnd the lights all went out in MassachusettsThey brought me back to see my way with you“There are two different memories, Robin remembers us doing it in a boat going around New York City. And I remember us checking in at the St. Regis with Robert, going to the suite, and while the bags were being brought in we were so high on being in New York, that's how 'Massachusetts' began,” Barry recalled the song’s creation in the “Horizontal” liner notes. “I think we were strumming basically the whole thing, and then I think we went on a boat round New York. I don't know if we finished it, but I think that's where the memories collide. Everybody wrote it. All three of us were there when the song was born.”The song was initially written by the band for The Seekers, but they were unsuccessful in getting it to the band, so they recorded it themselves. The Bee Gees would have a career turnaround in 1975 when they experimented with a new, more soulful sound with the song “Jive Talkin.” This became a big hit and propelled them into the world of disco, where they would become one of the era's most popular acts.The Bee Gees' historic career ended when Maurice passed away in 2003 at age 53. Robin followed in 2009 at age 62. Barry, 78, is the final surviving member of the band.

Have you ever thought about what threshold of income or net worth would make you feel successful financially? Not merely getting by or making ends meet, but like you've achieved a level of wealth that feels comfortable and secure? That number depends on a lot of factors, of course, depending on whether you have a family, the cost of living in your area and more. But as a survey of over 2,200 American adults shows, it also depends on your generation. Averaging the numbers overall, Americans said a salary of $270,214 a year and a net worth north of $5.36 million would spell financial success for them, according to research from Empower. But those numbers are greatly skewed by the lofty ambitions of Gen Z, who say they'd need a whopping $587,797 a year salary to feel successful. Compared to Boomers with $99,874, Gen X with $212,321 and Millennials with $180,865, Gen Z's "financially successful" salary (as well as their response of $9.47 million for net worth) seems extraordinarily out of touch. media.giphy.com Keep in mind, these numbers come from Gen Zers who are 18 years and older, so it's not like it's skewed by a bunch of 13-year-olds who have zero concept of money management. But how did young adults end up having such high expectations of what financial success means? Here are a few possibilities: Gen Z has been bombarded with aspirational content their whole livesInstagram, TikTok, YouTube—these social media platforms include countless accounts designed to make us drool over aesthetics. Luxury travel. Beautiful homes. Fashionistas flashing name brand everything. The kind of content that used to be confined to "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" (yes, I'm dating myself) has moved into the mainstream and is now portrayed as a normalized ideal. For older generations, "financially successful" generally meant being able to afford a nice house in a nice neighborhood, two new cars, a vacation every year and a solid retirement plan. It meant being able to send your kids to college and pay for a beautiful wedding without going into debt. It meant not worrying about money, but it didn't mean being able to afford all manner of luxury. Perhaps Gen Z sees success differently due to what they've seen on social media—and due to being the most marketed to generation in the least traditional ways.via GIPHYGen Z is influenced by influencers who've gotten rich young In past generations, wealth came with age and experience. Sure, there have always been people born into generational wealth, but if we were talking $600,000 a year salaries, we'd be talking CEOs and hedge fund managers and heart surgeons other careers that take some time to build. But Gen Zers see YouTube creators and Twitch streamers their own age making millions doing things they believe they can do themselves. That's got to skew your perception of what's possible and what's a reasonable amount of money you can expect to make. It's entirely possible that a lot of these young adults simply don't realize what a normal salary is. Considering the fact that their "financially successful" amount is nine times the 2023 national average yearly wage, there does seem to be a disconnect between their perception and reality.Gen Z grew up hearing repeated messages of financial uncertaintyGen Zers are familiar with financial crises. They just started coming along when 9/11 happened, and they were still little when the housing market crashed. They've grown up hearing their parents talk about financial upheaval and hearing politicians use the economy as a weaponized talking point. The COVID-19 pandemic threw even more economic uncertainty on an already teetery foundation, right when a lot of Gen Zers were just starting to make their own money. Toss in the bonkers cost of college tuition, unaffordable housing and post-pandemic inflation and it's not hard to see why young adults just starting out might be under the impression that they need a megaton of money to feel financially secure. media.giphy.com Oddly enough, they're quite confident that they'll get thereOne might assume that these sky high Gen Z dreams of financial success would feel out of reach for these young folks, but according to Empower, 71% of Gen Z respondents said they expected to achieve financial success in their lifetimes—more than any other generation. Is that an admirable sense of optimism or the hubris of youth? Are they setting themselves up for success or disappointment with such expectations? Hard to say. We live in unprecedented and unpredictable times, so anything is possible. And if you're going to have high expectations, you might as well have the confidence to match them. We olders might roll our eyes at Gen Z's standard being so much higher than our own, but maybe they're onto something. (After all, a good chunk of them seem to be getting by without driver's licenses, so who knows what else they're capable of.) Dreaming big has its merits, so more power to you, Gen Z. Only time will tell if reality has other plans.

People have a tendency to look at the past through rose-colored glasses, focusing more on positive memories than negative ones (barring major traumas, which ). So when you ask a group of older people about what life was like in their younger years, you might get some less-than-accurate recollections. Nostalgia is a powerful filter, and time has a way of altering our perceptions of how things used to be. That being said, times do change and the world has seen some dramatic shifts in our elders' lifetimes. Young folks can only imagine what life was like before the internet and smartphones and map apps that tell us step-by-step exactly how to get where we're going, while older people can look back on personal memories from those "simpler" days. But was life really simpler then or is that just something people say out of a sense of nostalgia? A 28-year-old asked Gen Xers and Boomers that question, and ironically, the answer is a bit complicated. In some ways, of course, life was simpler…or at least slowerThe pace of everything seems to have accelerated and we find ourselves bombarded with so much stuff coming at us so fast, it's overwhelming. We're in a constant state of overstimulation, without the quiet down time we used to have built into the rhythm of daily life. media.giphy.com "Life was slower, which gave you time to deal with life, making it simpler."""It was quieter. A bit slower. Less overstimulating.""For every aspect of life made easier and sped up by technology, we're expected to do more to use the time that's been freed up. Doing boring tasks like hand laundry and washing dishes was a real chore, but it offered time to think and slow down mentally. I think this is something many of us lack at this point. Moreover, these days people would probably be watching a video on their phone or listening to a podcast while doing these tasks - that's fine, but it doesn't provide the mental down-time that was built into life much more back in the day. I think that being bored sometimes is probably good for our mental health.""The speed of our ability to process and act is definitely out of balance with the speed of information.""Tech evolved faster than our brains. A lot of people are suffering."Having too many choices has made things feel more complicatedThe irony of the modern age is that we have so much easy access to so many things, and those practically limitless choices are a burden on our psyches. The small stresses of so many small decisions add up mentally, making the world feel more complicated. "Of course it was simpler. The more choices you have in any category (food, music, dating, finance), the more exponentially complicated it becomes. Millions of songs to choose from? 300 TV channels plus streaming services? Apps on my "smartphone" letting me see every available woman in a hundred mile radius? There are so many choices it's hard to make one." media.giphy.com "This is a great point. I clearly remember a co-worker in the early 1990s expressing frustration in going to Home Depot to buy black spray paint. He complained about too many choices and longed for the old days when life was simpler. This post made me curious, so I did a quick search, and it seems Home Depot currently offers 19 types of black spray paint.""This is such a good point. Having only 3 cable channels (4 when fox came along!) made it so much easier to decide what to watch on tv. Now we have thousands of options. I actually get stressed when I’m choosing a new show to stream lol.""It was simpler because we had fewer options to choose from. Did I need a new pair of steel-toe work boots? Only one store in town sold them. They carried two brands. But only one brand had my size in stock. So I "chose" the only pair available. Simple.Nowadays, with the internet, I'm supposed to choose from 100 possibilities, do the research, read the reviews. On the one hand, it's a hassle. On the other, I'm more likely to end up with boots that better meet my priorities."On the other hand, many things are far simpler (or easier) than they used to beThere's no denying that technology has simplified a lot of tasks that used to be much more cumbersome. Vacation planning? Submitting applications for jobs or college? Figuring out how to fix something or finding a random part for a broken item? Being able to listen to a specific song or watch a specific movie? All infinitely simpler today than in the past. "So many things are easier now. Banking for instance. Paying bills. Finding parts for your lawn mower or dishwasher. There is a YouTube video for any repair. Planning a trip. Almost everything is easier now than when I was a kid. Is it simpler then or now? Life is as simple as you make it. If you don't unnecessarily complicate your life, the ease of things today would make for the potential for a very simple life.""In some ways, it's WAY simpler now. I want to register for some college classes? No lineups in person, no phone registration...just a few clicks on my laptop and I'm in. I never, ever have to fight crowds to do Christmas shopping. I don't have to wait a week to watch the latest episode of Seinfeld (sub in any current TV show). I want my Costo groceries, but my car's in the shop? Boom--delivered. Oh wait, I can just grab an Evo on the street outside my apartment and drive there! I am remembering my favourite album from fifty years ago? Hey Google, play "Madman Across the Water"! I forgot to pay my Hydro bill! Open laptop...three minutes later: done! Car battery dies? Contact BCAA online, they book me a tech to replace it at my home, and send a link for a map showing the tech's progress to my home. I could go on and on because I think about this [stuff] every day and how much I love it!"via GIPHY"Say you wanted to go on vacation. You had to write for information on specific places. You’d then write a hotel for reservations. You could call if they had a 800 number. You get all your reservations, and a map. You get travelers checks and cash from the bank— better get there before 5:00.You’re on your way. Shit, you got a flat, or your car overheated. You need to walk, hitchhike, or knock on a random door for help. Too bad it’s the weekend. You’ll get a new tire on Monday.Your destination is beautiful. You have three rolls of film— 36 photos. You pay $20 to get them developed and maybe 8 are decent. That thing you really wanted to see, oof, closed for restoration. Wish you knew.Nothing is that complicated now. I have the knowledge of the world in my hand. I can drive 8 hours at 80mph and my car is fine, and has AC. I can check my bank account and pay bills 24/7. I know where my kids are all the time and can text them to come help."As some people pointed out, life was simpler but it was also harder. Is that better? Depends on who you ask. A lot of what makes life feel complicated today are the choices we make about how we use technology, but we also rely on technology so figuring out how to simplify that part of our lives now feels…well…complicated. There's no putting the genie back in the bottle at this point, but forcing ourselves to slow down, unplug and limit our own choices can help us bring back at least a little bit of the simplicity of the past.

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