A rant for all the 50 year olds

Easton Bennett
Aug 23, 2017 · 4 min read

First and foremost, I apologize if I offend anyone for what I’m about to say. Because what I’m about to say is true, and whoever is reading this, whether it be Grandma Susie or Uncle Jim, hasn’t yet accepted that the next generation won’t be able to live the same way that they once did 20, 30, 40 years ago, and it saddens me.

Now, you might not know where I’m going with this but let me explain. I’m sure you’ve all heard from “the market” or parents or the elders complain, saying things such as “these teenagers” or “these kids” or “they’re always on their phone” or “they don’t work hard enough.” I just don’t understand the large underestimation of the upcoming generation and how they live their lives. What world do you think these kids that are 10–19 or 20–25 are going to be living in in the next decade?

Let’s just say it’s a common theme among the older crowd to judge what kids are doing nowadays and how they are spending their time. I don’t think most parents or grandparents realize the amount of opportunities associated with the mobile device and what can really come out of it when put to good use.

Here’s an example. Let’s say a kid really enjoys trying on suits. From the perspective of a more traditional person, (yeah that’s you Grandma Susie) this might seem to be a hobby and nothing more. What you guys don’t understand is that if Jimmy loves to try on suits and he decided he wanted to make a video series on YouTube called Silly Suits while describing the suits he tries on in funny ways and ends up gaining an audience of 600,000 people, then boom. Jimmy makes 2 videos a week, from his phone, sells pre-roll ads before his video plays, gets money from the executives paying for the ads and Jimmy, who you thought was a lame kid that got D’s and F’s in school because he didn’t like to read out of a textbook, is making more money trying on suits than the average person could ever imagine. Jimmy is driving a nice car and living in a nice house and Jimmy is only 22 years old.

Now I’m not saying this strategy works for everyone. But, it does happen! Kids these days are making tons of money using just their phones to entertain, inform, and help people all through a couple clicks on their phone. Think about that for a minute.

Let’s put an end to laying down a narrative for the younger generation to follow in order to succeed. Give kids a chance to choose what they want to do, and not have to worry about what mom thinks or how dad thinks they should do it.

And for you 17 year olds going to college to be doctor because that’s what you think mommy and daddy want, you should seriously think about sitting down and having the conversation that most people are too afraid to have. It’s better to have your mother mad at you for 18 months because you didn’t do what she wanted, than being mad at yourself for the next 60 years because you didn’t do what you wanted.

So, with that being said. Please take a minute to think before you criticize or judge the next generation. With new platforms and ideas popping up every day no one knows how the world will be in 6 months from now and adapting to the way the market moves is something everyone should do. Traditional ways of thinking and time utilization aren’t the same as they used to be. Find something better to do, maybe download YouTube and start your own vlog or series. There’s my two cents on so called “millennials” and how elders should think about us, as well as how you young guns should think about yourselves.


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    Easton Bennett

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