Structure

Last week, my brother Philip and I were discussing the challenges facing this generation as we transition towards an uncertain future. 

We asked ourselves what is the key concept towards understanding the differences between the challenges that we faced as baby boomers versus those faced by today’s youth?

It came down to one word – structure.

Our generation of baby boomers grew up in a more structured world.

Many of us could view no more than two or three television channels and we all watched the same programming at the same time. We depended on the same newscasts to shape our world vision. We enjoyed the same top-40 hits on radio stations, and we all came to school the next day having a more common set of shared experiences from TV to radio to music as our friends, parents, and teachers. 

In addition, many of us came from similar backgrounds and even when this was not the case, social interaction was more frequent as “at home” entertainment options were limited so we attended community events, be they religious or social, more frequently. We just interacted more frequently with others that shared common backgrounds, interests and life experiences.

There was predictability and structure to our lives, and this was illustrated by attitudes and behaviours such as voting and purchasing patterns.

There was a certain symmetry to our lives, and this symmetry made life predictable.

Certainly, there were challenges. The counterculture challenged the shibboleths of the day. The struggle between East and West dominated our lives, culminating with the Cuban missile crisis that almost brought the world to an end. The war in Vietnam was in full tilt, and 1968 brought the challenges of revolution, to our doorstep.

Most of all however, these shared experiences and symmetry gave life structure. We all aimed at getting a good steady job with a regular income and a pension at the end, owning our own home, and feeling that if we applied ourselves, we could enjoy a certain level of financial security throughout our lives. While this was the dream, it was one that many of us could transform into reality. And it was the real possibility to achieve this reality that kept us going.

Fast forward to today.

The world facing our youth is very different indeed.

Gone are easy to find, steady jobs with pensions plans, replaced in many cases by gig work with uncertain incomes and no stability. Gone is the certainty of a 9 to 5 office workday, replaced by contract work at home or at a variety of places. Gone is the world of few credible media outlets and here is the world with unlimited sources of news and views, many of them unreliable, containing outright misinformation and lies. 

Gone is the world in which we could have a certain amount of faith in our institutions and leaders and in which instead we question everything and everyone without regard for fact or truth. When we are willing to follow whatever charlatan is ready with a controversial quip and view. When we no longer trust ourselves or our institutions and instead seek a messiah to show the way. A world in which we have no guarantees and much less commonality.

Technology allows us to be universes unto ourselves and indulge in our own attention deficit disorder. Gone are the journalists who ask penetrating questions and teach rather than pontificate. Gone is in depth analysis, replaced by 20 second Tik Tok videos, 240-character tweets, and Facebook memes that shock rather than educate. 

These are the main sources of news for an entire generation.

People of all ages fall victim to overload showing little patience for proper research, preferring the sensationalistic slogans of populist politicians or the inanities of mass media stars like the Kardashians who promote a life void of real meaning and values.

As the old song goes, is that all there is?

I would reply, no.

My generation had the chance to dream of our future through the prism of community, 

Today’s youth isare highly individualistic, lacks the structures we knew and for many, the hope forcertainty of a more prosperous livesfe than thoseat of ourtheir parents.

We don’t really know how this will play out over time, but what we do know is that what many of my generation may see s as hopelessness is what this generation sees as reality, and this is the reality with which they must cope. 

Also, our youth will have to be more entrepreneurial, constantly seeking out new opportunities outside of traditional company structures. They may well have to adapt to a nomadic life and go where opportunity takes them while developing their own definitions and structures.

This implies that our leaders must develop new institutions, ideas, structures and visions to match this reality if they are to provide the governance that we need to move forward into this brave new world.

Edición: Laura Espejo