If you’ve been on social media lately, you may have noticed that a new hashtag has emerged: #TodaysKidsWillNeverKnow. It is being used to post about things and concepts that today’s children will never know about because they aren’t experiencing them. The hashtag is often paired with pictures ranging from older classroom technology…

…to life before DVDs..

…to handmade paper games.

Feeling a touch nostalgic right now? I sure am. The majority of these posts focus on things from the ‘80s and ‘90s that would have been featured in the childhoods of today’s adult population. They show what it was like to grow up before the advent of smartphones and tablets and social media. And while they give us some good laughs, they also reflect a new generation gap.

What exactly is a generation gap? It is technically defined as “the differences in outlook or opinion between generations.” It’s also the phrase thrown out to explain why your sweet nana thinks the rap music you listen to is trash and why you might think your dad’s haircut from the ‘80s was a total disaster. It describes all kinds of differences between generations, be they cultural, political, or otherwise.

“#TodaysKidsWillNeverKnow” illustrates the gap between Generation Y and Generation Z. Members of Generation Y are loosely defined as being those born in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, while Generation Z includes all those born in the later ‘90s and early to mid 2000s. The adults of Gen. Y grew up at the advent of internet and during its subsequent explosion in popularity, but did not grow up with any kind of “smart” technology (no touch screens, no iPhones, etc.). They also are likely to have memories of significant events of the early 2000s (e.g., the events of 9/11) and were born into a relatively more stable economy. By contrast, members of Gen. Z have grown up in the rapidly advancing world of smartphones and iPads, have little to no recollection of the beginning of the millennium, and grew up during the most recent recession and the war on terror.

These are the more strictly defined differences between the two generations. #TodaysKidsWillNeverKnow certainly picks up on them, but also picks up on a more nuanced difference. The adults who fondly remember the pictures associated with the hashtag are members of the last generation who were raised primarily on outdoor play, used books for research, and grew up without social media. The children who will never know anything about those pictures are the beginning of a generation who know how to press buttons on a smartphone before they know how to walk, who have a knack for understanding the ins and outs of technology, and have Snapchat and Instagram before they even enter adolescence.

That isn’t to say that technological advancement is a problem. Since the dawn of time, humanity has been progressing and moving forward. The problem is that we haven’t had enough time to figure out what kind of adults these differences in upbringing will produce. The oldest members of Gen. Z are barely adults, so we do not yet know how their technological skills and broader understanding of the world will contribute to ongoing progress. We don’t know what kinds of advantages and disadvantages they gained from living a childhood almost entirely submerged in technology. This uncertainty has led to a lot of fear, with everyone from Baby Boomers to Gen. Y fretting that members of Gen. Z lack social skills, empathy, and basic human compassion. Members of Gen. Z defend themselves by saying that their access to the whole world has given them a perspective and a global sensitivity entirely distincts from that of any other generation.

The hashtag “#TodaysKidsWillNeverKnow” encompasses this struggle, this difference between generations. It captures the last echoes of a world that wasn’t almost entirely dependent on technology and harkens back to an era that some would say was less complicated.

But the very existence of the hashtag is also a beacon of hope. This is not the first generation gap, nor will it be the last. It is one in a long line of divides between people born in different periods, albeit the first to be publicly displayed via social media. It is also a tool of comfort, being used to document technology and culture of decades past with the knowledge that they can never be forgotten. In short, this hashtag is both documenting our past and reflecting the direction of our future. So, with all that said, don’t be afraid. Gen. Z will make valuable contributions to the world, as everyone before them has, and leave their own indelible mark on humanity.