We live in a time in which there is a lot of change going on in all aspects of our life, from family dynamics to technological advances. This of course results in conflicts between generations, as some age groups were born into major changes or after them, and others were born early enough to be able to experience the before and after and develop a preference for either one. Most parents are part of either the Baby Boomer generation (born between 1946 and 1964), or the Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980), while most university students are part of the Millennium generation (born between 1981 and 2000). So here are the most important points of contrast between these generations:

Work

The Baby Boomer generation was the first generation to have women begin to work outside the home, and thus their children were the first to be raised in two-income households. This causes this generation to be very work-driven, a characteristic that was passed on to the Generation X but not so much so to the Millenniums, who weren’t born with the live-to-work mentality. This results in a lot of academic pressure being put on Millenniums, and consequently conflict and stress because of it.

Technology And The Internet

Millenniums are used to getting most of their information and socialisation from the Internet, while the Baby Boomers lived in a time in which there weren’t computers and thus are used to more personal socialisation methods, and even to a lesser degree with the Generation X, who although saw the development of technology throughout their lives, they weren’t born into a world where everything is rooted to the Internet like it has increasingly been the case in recent years. Small differences such as how Millenniums generally prefer texting while the Baby Boomers and Generation X prefer talking on the phone, and how Millenniums are more used to online shopping compared to the two previous generations.

Changes within the family unit

While the Baby Boomer generation believed that children were to be seen and not heard and often employed physical discipline to teach their children to respect authority figures, parents of the Generation X increasingly raised their children to view themselves as equal to their parents, an example of this being their participation in family meetings to discuss important matters, something that most Baby Boomer parents would never dream of doing. Children in the Millennium generation are encouraged to demonstrate and share their opinions even with authority figures, and this can lead to conflict between them and their Baby Boomer grandparents.