Taking Off Our Nostalgia Glasses

It was about a month ago, when I was having a nice afternoon nap after a tiring morning at school. The tranquil, humming silence gently lulled me into sleep, my mind freed of all the worries and stresses of student life. That moment of bliss was unfortunately broken by the rabid screams of my prepubescent neighbours.

Now, I’m not one to confront people. In fact, I’m terrified of it. But no one gets in the way of my beauty sleep, especially if they’re defenceless primary school children. I walked towards their apartment, thinking of what to say to make these people afraid of me, then I saw through their open window, on their 30-inch plasma tv screen, a Logan Paul music video, and a bunch of children rapping horribly along.

I sighed, and proceeded to complain to my mother.

“You know you were just as annoying as them when you were young, right?”

Suddenly, visions of 5 to 13 year-old Terences came flooding in. I remembered how I used to ‘let it rip’ as I terrorized the neighbourhood with my Beyblades. How I dominated the gambling world with country erasers. How I, roleplaying as the Pokémon Infernape, screamed ‘FIRE PUNCH’ as I unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks onto my cousin’s vulnerable arm, face, and groin.

Amongst the sheer amount of cringe and regret, I realized that I wasn’t so different.

I’ve noticed that my peers and I always seem to compare or criticize whatever youth fad that comes about. What’s the point of fidget spinners? Why are minions everywhere? I’m not sure what’s the deal with KIDZ BOP, but back in my day we had good music like Fallout Boy and Michael Jackson.

You’re probably cringing for two reasons. One, you’re one of those ‘fellow kids’, and I obviously have no idea what I’m talking about. Two, you’re about the same age as me, and I obviously don’t know how people talk, but that only reinforces my point later on.

“Why are teenagers always using their phones? Back in my day, we played outside like normal people.”

We’re starting to sound like our parents.

In hindsight, things like fidget spinners are just as silly as Beyblades, and Beyblades are basically glorified spinning tops. Pikachu and Doraemon were our minions back in the day. There really isn’t much of a difference, yet many fail to see the connection. Weren’t we always so frustrated when our parents just call every Pokémon in existence a Pikachu? When they don’t understand that you can’t pause an online game? When they just don’t get it?

Unconsciously, we’ve become the baby boomers of our generation. The funny thing is that we’re both part of Generation Z.

An article published by the British Council attributes the growing impatience of youths today with the hastened pace of life that came with the advent of technology. When the world is so widely connected, trends and fads can become viral in minutes, with millions of people waiting to jump on the bandwagon. According to a Pew Survey conducted during 2014 and 2015, 94% of teens who go online using mobile phones do so daily, so it’s easy to tell which demographic is impacted the most.

On the other hand, a 2009 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concludes that the time taken for a trend to become popular is directly linked to how long it would remain in popularity. In order words, the longer something takes to become popular, the longer it stays in popularity.

So what does this mean? What’s trendy with youths today change very quickly. Compared to an age when technology wasn’t as prominent, it’s becoming harder and harder to keep track and understand what’s in with the kids now. What we loved as kids would quickly become ancient to the kids today.

Within a generation grows a generation gap, which would only grow bigger if we scorn what the kids love, what we don’t understand.

Perhaps if we put down our nostalgia glasses, and stopped comparing what they have, to what we had, we would see things in a different light.

Sure, whatever Paul brother fiasco or prank video might be stupid, but when I remember Smosh videos like TELEPORTING FAT GUY being the pinnacle of my childhood, I realize how stupid something is doesn’t necessarily detract from how fun it can be.

Some also argue that what kids love today can be detrimental to their physical and mental well-being. A fair point, considering how they were eating detergent pods a few months ago, but kids do stupid things all the time, like jumping off tall heights imitating hardcore parkour. Adult supervision and common sense are things we all need as a child, then and now.

Nothing good will come from shunning kids today. We don’t have to understand what they love, but we have to realize that they’re just a bunch of kids having fun. And that’s the beauty of childhood. Perhaps then, a generation gap wouldn’t mean much.