We are Generation-Y: the generation of the elite. Generally speaking, as times evolve, so does technology and culture along with it. They call this "evolution." The funny thing about evolution is that it isn’t a linear, forward moving progression.
Evolution is an anomaly, a deviation from the regular, standard formula. Evolution is an accident — a mistake. This is how the world evolved into the magnificent entity that it is today. All the flora and fauna of planet earth started out as something entirely different. These living things would reproduce and fight each other over their own survival.
Reproduction, or the copying of DNA into a new organism, was rather exact — however, not flawless. Mistakes in the copy and paste process sporadically occurred and the result was a mutation. If the mutation gave the species an advantage over the rest of its kind and gave it a leg-up on survival, then the mutation outlived its previous form. This is evolution.
However, there are many times that evolution, or accidents and trends, do not work towards the benefit of the species. Those mutations that weaken the species, that leave the species worse off -- die off. This, however, takes time.
Just as in biology, our culture also mutates and follows different trends. While our culture has progressed in many ways, some of these new trends I believe to be for the worse. These mutations I hope will one day die off and fade into our distant memory, reverting back to the olden days. Here are the top 5 things the older generations did better than our Elite Generation-Y.
1. They Used To Eat Better
Eating was once considered a special time. A time to take a break from your day, sit down and focus on nothing more than chewing. It tended to be a family affair, when everyone would get together at the table for supper — remember supper?
I don’t; it was gone long before I was growing up. Even if you didn’t have time to get everyone together at the dinner table, you would at least take a break from your daily regimen in order to have lunch. Nowadays most people prefer to multitask — they eat lunch while working and while texting, tweeting and updating their Facebook status.
Not to mention, what we ate was a whole lot better before also. All this “Organic” and “All Natural” food has been around forever; they used to call it “food.” Now everything is so processed in order to deliver at a minimal price to the consumer that coming across well-produced food is both difficult and expensive.
2. They Used To Dress Better
Vintage stores are trendy, but won’t be around forever. In order to have vintage stores, you need to have vintage clothing — old clothing in good condition. The problem today is that the new clothing being produced usually doesn’t make it past the first few months. Your clothing will never be vintage because it won’t make it to 20 years down the line.
“Handmade” was not always seen as being reserved for luxury items; handmade used to be the only way things were made. Personally, the heels of my shoes tend to only last about 1 to 2 months. T-shirts may make it to 1 or 2 years, as long as you don’t mind fading.
Jeans last maybe a year and everything else probably won’t make it past six months. Of course, not everything is mass-produced in some child-labor farm in China or India. Some clothing is still made the old-fashioned way and made to last, but such clothing comes with a hefty price tag.
3. They Used To Drive Better
How is it that we can send a man to the moon, send a rover to mars and a spacecraft into the outer limits of our solar system, yet are unable to build a car that lasts?
You cannot tell me that designing a car that won’t fall apart in 10 years with regular maintenance is more difficult than the science that went into building Voyager 1 — which has not received maintenance in decades and is still managing to safely navigate its way through space. Cars used to be built to last; now they are built to last a decade — and that’s with good, regular maintenance.
Now companies are more worried about making cars that will only last you long enough for you to save up for your next new car. If you don’t take care of your new car now, it will find it’s way to the scrapyard in 5 years. And don’t even get me started on how more pimpin’ rides back in the 40s and 50s were compared to those of today.
4. They Used To Love Better
Chivalry is dead — but that means that it was once alive. Dating used to actually be a thing. People liked to get to know each other before they became intimate; now we become intimate and then, if the sex is good enough, we may decide to try to get to know each other — maybe.
We weren’t always looking to use the other person purely for our sexual pleasure — or a least we wouldn’t be going into the world each and everyday simply looking for a new fuck-buddy. The relationship between a man and a woman used to be sacred. The days of getting to know someone at a slow pace, allowing for a magical, meaningful relationship to seed, are long-gone.
We used to love more purely. We were more devoted to the other person. Nowadays, most of us are too egotistical to put our focus on anyone other than our own selves. I believe the process of falling in love will always remain the same, so chances are that love will justly elude more and more people.
5. They Used To Live Better
Yes, we do more these days — but at the same time we also do much less. We have more activities and divide our focus across a greater expanse. We are developing parts of our brains that we were unable to develop before — but nevertheless, we spend less time doing quality activities. We spend less and less time enjoying our time with our family, friends and nature.
We may fill our day with tweets and errands, but we spend less time developing our characters, less time learning to master a skillset and less time getting in touch with the world around us; we spend less time focused on the present happenings of our non-virtual reality.
People used to be entertained with taking walks through the woods. Now we aren’t entertained unless we spend hours glued to our TVs, either living through the lives of fictional characters, that ironically live for adventure, or playing action-packed videogames. People used to take pride in the work they did.
People used to treat each other with respect. Many argue that the world is now better off because we are slowly doing away with hatred and racism. I find that although racism may be becoming a thing of the past, the hatred has simply dispersed evenly throughout the population, people finding reasons to hate each other for the silliest of reasons.
The only thing I can take refuge in is the thought that these weakening-mutations will one day become extinct and those that follow such a train of thought along with it.
Paul Hudson | Elite.
For more from Paul, follow him Twitter @MrPaulHudson
