The Symbiosis of Generations

Kateřina Williams 

The older and the younger generations are somewhat different, that is the usual reason they are being separated from each other. One has more experience, while the other is savvier with invented objects and technologies they grew up with. Would it be wise to create a larger community with these two subcommunities combined?

The reason why these generations are usually separated is the fact that they judge each other and automatically assign generational stereotypes to people on sight. However, this is nothing unusual and, in my opinion, nothing to be particularly frowned upon. It is logical to assume certain people have certain knowledge and certain experiences. For example: a younger person may not know a lot about banking, but an elderly person would usually have trouble trying to do changes in their bank account from their smartphone. Sometimes judging the other generation means automatically assuming somebody isn't able to do something or other, or, in the worse case scenario, that they are doing things wrong.

It is true that different generations have different opinions on how to do certain things and overall, how things work. That is because we each grew up in different times when things worked divergently. Dance styles were different, health regulations and safety standards were as well, and even if we would more than gladly claim otherwise, today's etiquette for example is a completely different chapter from the one the older generation was taught when they were school children.

Combining these two groups of people would be difficult. We live in a society where people live together, that is true, still we somehow divide ourselves from each other. We group ourselves with people we want to talk to and people we want to be with usually. Combining the two generations would mean joining groups against their will. But doing so would maybe over time benefit the society.

It is also worth mentioning, that it depends on where we live. Japan, for example, has always treated their elderly with high respect and would dignify the presence of an elderly person. That has been the traditional way and this is how I learned the way Japanese live. Maybe times have changed, but from what I have heard, the older generation is treated way better than the generation in the Czech Republic, for example. We, on the other hand, divide ourselves completely into the age groups, from my point of view. So, in a way, there are places in the world where the combination of the generations has already happened. But are they happier than the generations here?

In conclusion, the world is a very diverse place. With the old and the young living together in some countries and separate in other. Given the cultural aspects, they are happy as is, if it is one, or the other, even if sometimes generations are being judged. Overall, the age groups live in a passive harmony.