The Generation Gap : Why Parents Today Don’t Understand their Teens Today

I grew up hearing this term, generation gap a lot, but never did I understand what it really was about. And nobody explained so I read about it on my own and came to understand that it was exactly I felt like. There was generation gap: the adults just had different images in their heads and they won’t put in the effort to understand what our opinions were and how we looked at the world. But the interesting thing about this generation gap is that it is expanding. And in this age of the Internet where we all have an easy access to information, we still lack an understanding about the younger generation.

Generation Gap –  Explained

Generation gap is nothing but a psychological gap between parents and adults and the younger generation. There always has remained a rift between any two generation regarding the ideas of love, life, success, etc. And technology has virtually flared it all up. To put it in simpler terms, generation gap can be explained by a single sentence, “You won’t understand this”. This single sentence has been spoken by the new generation to the previous. We said that to our parents and they said that to their parents.

Generation Gap Today

There is a lot parents don’t understand about their teens today. Be it the teen slang terms, fashion, music even technology! Here are some interesting and funny examples:

Teens would rather blog than talk about it!

It’s about your pants

Spending and saving have changed, too

The slang keep changing

Things from the past

#GrandmaDontGetIt

‘When I was your age…’

Why Parents don’t Understand Youth Today

The pressure is overwhelming. Teens today face more challenges than the youth in history. There is just too much of it – the pressure to fit in, being accepted, sexual orientation, online activities and most importantly the pressure to succeed. There is so much competition now that teens are mores stressed than ever. Between maintaining a lively, party-animal image and a continuous effort to fit in, the youth are at the ever-rising risk of depression, anxiety and confusion. But what has so drastically changed over the generations? Why do parents today are more distant from their teens?

The busy lives of parents

Back in my day, all my parents would be concerned about was my studies, what college would I get into and what profession should I choose. This later changed into finding me a decent husband but their center of the universe was me alone. Nowadays, I find parents have a far busier schedule. They have the never-ending office, then they have a crazy-big social circle and not to mention they seem to be as obsessed with the smartphones and Internet as the teens. There is little to no family time at all and that’s why children feel distant from their parents.

Teens are equally busy

Children feel stressed and anxiety because they have a lot to do and excel at. Their calendar is so full they hardly find anytime to contemplate what is going on. They come home from school and have to go to a variety of planned activities. They seem to be enriching their personalities and might be a way of a creative expression but what parents don’t understand is that too many planned activities cause a strain on their minds as they have to perform well at all levels and the pressure keeps piling up.

Technology widen the gap

Let’s face it, our smartphones, tablets, Internet, emails and all the social media apps have distanced us further apart. We live in our digital lives rather than the physical ones and sharing stuff on the social media is more important than sharing with our family. Instead of making meal times fun, we keep busy with our phones, checking out on latest from our friends and replying to chats and emails.

Get close to your teens; listen to what they want to say

If you wish the generation gap shrinks, you need to open up to your teens. They won’t share stuff with you unless you take the first step and win their trust. Try to get closer to your teens. Know what they do online and take interest when they have something g to tell you. Only then can you really know what bothers you and only then can you help them out from depression and anxiety.