Why should I be patient?

I had an argument with my mom on the weekend. My parents have recently stepped up the technology ladder by purchasing a digital camera (yes, I know what you’re thinking … “late uptake”). Anyway, my mom expressed disgust at how much the camera cost, and shared how she believes film is a better option. As the debate raged on, we entered into the realm of general technological advancement in recent years and the impact the advancement has had on kids.

My mom has a belief that the kids of today are impatient, lazy, intolerant and too heavily entrenched in a culture of instant gratification. This is not a unique belief, many Boomers would chorus in agreement. As an Xer (who she was aprtly referring to!) I shot back defesnively “But we’re not to blame, it was your generation who created the world we grew up in. Why should we be patient when we have never needed to be patient?” I rattled off examples such as fast food, email, cell phones and PC games that supported my argument.

As I engage more with generational theory, I begin to wonder who is responsible for “bridging the gap”? When we as the forerunners of a generational movement steam ahead in creating the world we want to live in, do we give much thought to the tpye of world we’ll be creating for our kids. Will we be aforded the privilege of writing off the values our kids adopt, when it is our actions now that will indrectly create the environment for the development of those values.

Any thoughts you’d like to add (especially from the parents amongst us)?

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