Over the weekend, a Facebook post about how to take “proper” vacation photos trended and received varying reactions from netizens.
While those part of the “younger generation” as OP claims in his comments, might have shared his post and don’t want to stop taking selfies, hence feeling attacked by his unprovoked post, 90% of those of certain age, who he said his post was truly for, agree.
Is this discourse really a generation thing?
Just a month ago, another post targeting a certain generation was made as well. This time, about emails. In a tweet, OP shared her sentiments about how members of Gen Z do not know how to send emails properly. Claiming that they lack courtesy and respect. That of course, is true. Sending emails without greetings and context for the attached files is really an improper practice and displays disrespect. It’s really not that hard to type a few sentences at least. Proper email etiquette is important and should definitely be followed.
However, there were quote tweets that shared their claims that sometimes, higher-ups don’t practice proper email etiquette more and this misbehavior isn’t exclusive to only one generation. As the famous saying goes, “Respect begets respect.” Seniority doesn’t always equate to having a free pass to end your emails with “sent from my iPhone.”
So should we really display hostility toward those younger than us, rather than fostering an environment where they can feel they can come to us for advice and more so, listen to them?
Lack of etiquette isn't exclusive to 1 generation. I work in a field filled with boomers and most of them do not even know how to properly communicate via email despite using them longer than I have.
Anyway, can we, millennials, stop being boomers https://t.co/ZaJx06QY58
— • URBN • komyuter • pumapadyak • (@chin_lowinbjorn) March 18, 2023
Shifting the blame on the youth for everything that is going wrong like the statement “kaka-TikTok mo yan” feeds an unhealthy stereotype and also contributes to an even larger gap between generations. We were all young once, and we are all headed in the same direction of growing up and older. Sitting on high horses doesn’t make things better.
In fact, if we can break the tradition, which in an article by Joe Gillard in History Hustle states that this has been going on for about 2,500 years, of adults blaming the younger generation, we might start having better inter-generation relationships.
Let people enjoy things.
One of the reasons why the Internet disagreed with the point made by OP on Facebook was, to let people enjoy things. It’s not that hard to skip a post if you don’t like the content of it or to mute, unfollow, or even unfriend someone for your own piece of mind.
It took so much more energy to construct a post written with so much irony, pre-conceived judgment, and prejudice than to simply have just ignored a post you didn’t like.
If that’s what you want to post, then do that. But don’t judge or much less hinder anybody else that wants to post content unlike yours. There is no one way to go about social media, but the most important thing is to not use it as a negative tool such as to cyberbully or spread fake news.
Letting people go about their business, doesn’t take away from you. Besides, as long as they’re not harming or disrespecting other people with their selfies during vacation, they probably don’t need your opinion on the matter especially since they used their own money or resources to get to the location anyway.
banner: (L) Wilfredo Garrido/Facebook, (R) CV Malaya/Twitter
