Differences in Opinions, Attitudes and Perspectives of Generation X and Z:

I as a part of generation Z often find it challenging to gain approval and understanding from the generation X as well as baby boomers around me. The generation gap between these often led to clashes in values, attitudes, and perspectives. Especially when it comes to sharing my opinions with my parent, who are part of generation X, our opinions clash a lot.

If I can think of a main reason for this clash, it might be the contrast in the way both of our generations perceive and utilize technology. We grew up in an era of technology where we get to know about something new each and every day, but if I talk about my parents they are still sticking to the myths passed down to them from their parents. Our opinions clashes a lot when we discuss the difference between their myths and our facts.

We are living in an era of social acceptance and diversity, where we fight for gender equality, for inclusivity, and to raise our voice for change. Meanwhile, our parents grew up in conservative environments where their basic opinion never mattered. Their opinion on matters like gender equality, mental health and experimenting with modern technology does not align with our values.

My grandparents had a lot of stories to tell us when we were kids, we grew up listening to those stories making up our own scenarios. But the thing that made us different from our parents generation was just few questions of How? and Why? I think it was strange for them to hear someone ask them these questions, I think our parents never asked them anyways. Seems like they were more of feeling MBTI than us who are thinking ones.

Our parents grew up in different economic situations where there were limited opportunities, conservative environment and job insecurity. Because of that they value continuous stability over experimenting for something new.

Being from South Asia, we have a lot of traditions coming down on us from our ancestors. Some of them we don’t agree with, since they are literally burdening on others. And our parents agree on them but won’t reject them, because it’s like letting go of those traditions. They are indeed the last and only bridge between our traditions and us. After them, looks like we will be holding on to facts more than myths unlike generation X.

Our parents are not wrong, they say what they were told. But their stubbornness about their wrong opinions makes a lot of clashes between us. When we say their opinion is wrong they get angry at us, maybe because they were not allowed to submit their pinions in front of their parents and they are still sticking to their to those old teachings. We siblings have a lot of conversation with our mother, she agrees to some of our opinions, but sometimes she just rejects our opinion and when we come up strong on her she emotionally threatens us by saying that we are ignoring what was brought down on them by their ancestors and disrespecting them. When only thing we are doing is just defending our opinions against those false ones.

Being from South Asia, it might be possible that generations from different parts of the world behaves differently, but in this region we are still struggling to get our point to our parents’ generation. In this region, the more you stick to your old traditions, the more approval you will get from the society. And the societies approval matters more than your child’s opinion here. Being from South Asia makes it extra difficult for us to reach our parents with our new opinions and views.

Some might agree with me, some might not, but the world we are witnessing is far more interconnected and globalized with new personal fulfillments. Our aspirations for non-traditional careers, entrepreneurship, and work-life balance seems totally unconventional to our parents and grandparents. The difference in our way of communication also seems totally disapproving to them, they prefer face-to-face in this period of texting and social media messaging.

Despite all these differences in opinions, values, attitudes and perspectives, I still believe that the only thing that can act as a bridge between these two generations is empathy from both sides. These differences are not insurmountable barriers and by understanding the unique perspectives and experiences each generation brings to the table this gap can be bridged. Respect for others opinions and open dialogue is the way that can foster the approval and understanding from both generations.