Generational Collapse and The Destruction of Life Stages
A post of mine went viral recently, unexpectedly. I didn’t expect it to resonate with so many people but it’s now at 1M views and counting.
If something happens, you and everyone else know about it. An 80 year old and a 13 year old are consuming the same things as you. The woman who was filmed having a meltdown in public? They know about it too. They’ve seen the same takes as you. Maybe they comment, maybe they don’t. Then they go back to stare at their phone and absorb themselves in their chosen social media world, whether it’s X, TikTok, or Facebook. This phenomenon has no historical precedent, and it’s very strange.
When an 80 year old, 13 year old, and 22 year old are all thinking about the same things, they’re essentially the same person. To assume one is more mature than the other implies they’re on the expected cultural life stage that most people were on before the internet. Those days are far behind us.
Pre-internet, there were distinct life stages. There were paths carved out for people to go down that shaped who they are over time, and with that came expectations of maturity. The elementary school, high school, college, job, marriage, children, retirement life track isn’t for everyone, and it isn’t perfect, but it kept everyone on the same course. Now, that path is falling apart. College isn’t a guaranteed path to a job. Marriage feels abstract to a generation who barely goes on dates. Toss the internet in their pockets and you throw everyone off course yet, strangely, on the same page.
You expected a 13 year old to be rowdy and rebellious. Now they’re more likely to be anxious and exhausted from doom scrolling. You expected a 22 year old to be drinking with their friends and starting their career. Now they’re more likely to be unemployed and having trouble dating. You expected an 80 year old to be a wise elder who’s eager to spoil their grandchildren. Now they’re more likely going to war with total strangers in Facebook comments.
If the only thing that distinguishes you from someone else are the apps they use, then you should assume nothing about them. Most people have been sucked into a meme vortex that turns them into memes themselves. Which meme they become isn’t relevant to their age at all. You’ll be hard-pressed to encounter someone who can walk into this vortex and step out and still retain their ability to think outside of memes and sense of self.
When everyone is plugged into the same discourse, on the same timeline, exposed to the same opinions — everyone is, at the minimum, having the same experience. Whether or not the person having that experience is the same as anyone else, or the most interesting person you’ve ever met in your life, can only be known by getting to know them.
Fierce asf chile