Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong? It’s likely to say that we’ve all had that feeling. But, what if you think you don’t fit in with your generation? It’s different than not connecting to a particular group. If you don’t fit in a group, you can leave. You don’t have to take it. If you feel out of place with your generation, it’s a whole other ride — one a bit harder to adjust to.
This is how it is. I don’t feel like I belong in my generation. So many things conflict with one another. I like some old music, but I can’t understand the band’s triumph in the music industry since it was long before my birth. I like some new music, but not all of it. I only like certain songs from certain genres — not just a whole genre itself (except for alternative rock, but that’s another story for another day). When people say, “What kind of music do you listen to?” I just say I listen to a little bit of everything with rock being my favorite. I like old stories and plays like "Jane Eyre" and "Hamlet," but I could fully appreciate the history of time in which they take place. I like the contemporary works like "The Perks of Being A Wallflower" and "All The Bright Places." This is true in a sense, but it feels out of place.
I’m old enough to know the struggle of having a phone where there are three letters to a button (makes texting a challenge and an accomplishment if you send it within five minutes), but I’m also experiencing the iPhone era. I personally have an android styled phone. I’m not a big fan of apple products, despite having a iPod touch-fourth generation. With this, I can accurately tell my kids or grandchildren that I knew the struggle of early 2000's phones all while living in a society where many people are sporting the iPhone. Once again, out of place. To go along with the idea of technology, I grow up in the technology era (see my android vs. iPhone connection from before), but I can’t actually use most of it. For example, I know what a mac computer is. I even used one a sample of times during my high school years (know I feel really old), but I can only do the most basic functions. I think the most well-known example of my demise would have to be the fact that I jumped on the social media bandwagon late. Before entering college, I had a Tumblr account and had multiple YouTube accounts. I just got a Facebook and Twitter in January of this year. I got basic functions down, but ask me how to do anything else, and I won’t have an answer. I grew up with this technology like the “younger generation," but I have no fixation or real care to use if I don’t absolutely have to like the “older generation.”
It makes me feel young and old when I know what something is and have seen it regularly but have no idea how to use it. Other people of my generation can though. It’s all so frustrating. I constantly feel connections pulling me from one generation in one direction and a generation in the other. I guess this is what it’s like when you’re 20-years-old. You still feel really young and start having more connections to people older than you (like having responsibility, independence, etc.), but you feel so old compared to those who are not much younger than you. What can I do? I can somewhat “in touch” with the trends even though in the end it’s somewhat pointless. I could learn to accept both aspects, the new and old, are good things and will make my overall experience in life more insightful with having knowledge on both sides. Who knows? It may come to my benefit.
