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Why Millennials Are WAY Too Judgmental of Younger Gamers

Why Millennials Are WAY Too Judgmental of Younger Gamers

I’m not sure how it happened. Perhaps nostalgia is to blame. Nostalgia is certainly a big thing this generation as re-releases, remakes, and reboots keep pouring into the hands of consumers. Maybe there’s a bit of jealousy. Maybe it’s just misguided appraisals of today’s youth. All I know for sure is that there seems to be an uprising of something I call the twentysomething curmudgeon – and they are already extremely judgmental of today’s youth.

Evidence is everywhere. News feeds on social media platforms are inundated with memes that sing something to the tune of “share or like if things were better when you were a kid” or “this is the problem with kids today.” The image depicted might show kids sledding contrasted to kids playing around on their phone. First off, your childhood probably wasn’t much better. It was just your childhood, so you associate a carefree state to it, for the most part. Secondly, you may be proud of what you’ve become and attribute your childhood hobbies to it. Thirdly, adults use phones all the time. In fact, these memes are probably largely shared from phones. And lastly, excuse me, but when did competence and interest in technology become a bad thing?

The cliche says that the children are our future. Technology, as it constantly evolves, is also our future. It’s also been our past for all of recorded human history. The idea of what technology looks like changes, but it is always fundamentally the same. And what allows technology to evolve so rapidly is a familiarity with it and an ability to determine what is lacking. How can it improve? Kids today will figure these things out. They will spend decades on the cutting edge of technology and that interest may translate into something useful.

Some might say that kids are only playing games on their phones. Or texting. Now, once again, I must ask what is wrong with that? The communication may not be what is deemed conventional, but it’s accessible. Kids can talk to one another with ease. They don’t need to be dropped off to play with their friends. They can jump right into a game of Minecraft after a quick group message – and this is true of both genders. And as for games, well, those are proven to have a wealth of benefits ranging from problem solving skills to reflexes to treating anxiety. We play games, what’s wrong with people in middle school and younger gaming on their phone? The fact that it’s not sledding?

Why Millennials Are WAY Too Judgmental of Younger Gamers

Here’s the thing: We don’t get to decide what other people should find fun. If a kid is enjoying the use of a phone, then there is a good chance they are choosing to do so over other options. Sledding or playing pretend or baseball or what have you are all things that still exist today. Kids can do them. We can do them as adults, too. More often than not, we don’t. We use our phones, play games, go to movies, and consume media. If anything, kids today have a better childhood on average if we’re looking at things like entertainment options. Not only can they do all the things we did, including watch the same shows and music, but they also have newer things available to them. The information and media available to humans is constantly growing.

I watched the other day as my 7-year-old cousin played around on an iPhone. She brought up pictures, used the camera, played some games, and did a Google search with ease. She also sent a text to my Grandma. My Grandma, on the other hand, needed to be taught to use her phone. She’s a smart women, but she didn’t grow up with this technology and let herself fall behind. She lost interest in most of it. An interest in technology is a good thing, and that’s part of what games provide. Understanding the device that you use to play games comes naturally with time. Who knows what these interests in technology will yield for these kids but, growing up, I imagine they will see software and hardware as an important part of their future and may consider careers in those industries. Or marketing through social media. Or whatever. The point is, who are we to judge what innocuous things people younger than us enjoy? Not so many years ago, twenty-somethings had to defend their use of Myspace to people much older than us. How did we become such cynical hypocrites so quickly?

Oh, and before I forget: the original Pokemon games were NOT better.

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