I don’t believe I was born in the wrong generation, however, I do believe as a millennial I have a strong urge to explore what could have been. I believe as humans raised in the generation where technology seems to have taken over human interaction and blinded the true beauty of everything around us, we have this sense of wanting to know what it was like to live in a different generation. This does not necessarily mean we were born in the wrong generation, it simply means we have this curiosity of what it would have been like to not have technology be the center of our being. How do you know you were born in the wrong generation if you've never experienced another generation first hand. You are simply curious.
We may possess some attributes that could lead us to believe that we do not belong in this era, for example, I own technology but I am by no means tech savvy. I know the basics like sending a text, making a call, sending an email, posting on social media but ask me to do anything in depth and you’d be asking the wrong person. But just because I do not fully engage myself in certain 21st-century innovations does not mean I do not belong to this generation. Just because “snap chat streaks” exist, does not mean you have to have them. There are ways around not conforming to social norms, and not conforming to social norms is ok. It makes you unique, not born in the wrong generation.
Listening to old music does not mean you were born in the wrong generation, it just means you enjoy old music. No one lets me DJ in the car or at parties. I can jam out with my grandparents any day to “Sherry” by the Jersey Boys (I may be slightly biased towards the Jersey Boys since I am a Jersey Girl). Rick Springfield, Billy Joel, and Dexys Midnight Runners know what’s up. I like old music, and some music of today, but I belong to this generation.
A way that may lead us to believe that we belong in a different generation are era-themed parties. 20’s themed parties have us ladies dressed in flapper girl attire leaving a sense of nostalgia and elegance that the 20’s portray. 50’s themed parties where we dress like a waitress at a diner with a pink poodle skirt and roller blades makes me wonder what simpler times were like when the hangout spot was the diner on the corner that served the best milkshakes (so I have heard from my grandparents). 80’s themed parties where technology still wasn’t huge and capable of destroying relationships and the era when most of our parents were our age and refer back to when they say things like, “You know, back in my day….” We are exposed to the social norms of eras before ours and it makes us obsessed with the thought of what it would be like to live in those generations which leads us to believe that we do not belong in the generation we live in. Different ways of life have the power to spark curiosity because as humans we are evolutionarily adapted to learning and being curious.
