Is there less of a culture gap between teens & parents these days?

[Echobelly]

Was thinking about this as I read a really interesting series of articles about how youth culture has changed in recent years. Some of the commentators in it were saying that to some extent there is less of a need to have totally different interests to your parents and this was sort of weakening the appeal of 'rebellion' and also closing the gap a bit between teens and parents.

It's interesting that my nephew, for example, having got into 60s and 70s music from his mates, which his dad is also into, is now also really getting into his dad's 90s indie stuff.

You'd have thought it some way that things would have diverged more with social media and teens being able to be in on this world that is totally separate from their parents, but I do also think there is a bit less 'cringe' in potentially sharing interests with your parents. So do others think maybe teens are breaking away less from everything their parents' generation was into?

Have you noticed how the movie stars from 10-20 years ago are still dominant and not been replaced by younger stars? J Lo still the go-to person for rom coms. Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman still the lead in shoes. Of the younger crop, the only one that springs to mind is Emma Stone.

*shows

I'm in my 60s. There was a huge gap between me and my parents, less between me and my daughter and much less between her and her teenagers.

Hadn't noticed this thread had been picked up by anyone until now!

I think generation gaps are closing up - maybe a long period (which now looks to be coming to an end) of peace and relative economic boom and stability has helped bring generations' experiences closer together, but maybe they are diverging again.

I can see why there was a huge gap between my parents' generation (born in 50s) and their parents who'd been through WWII as young adults. It's funny to think how the concept of the 'teenager' evolved post war as teens took up jobs and earned their own money, and thus developed their own style - initially even a different style tie from your dad and ever-so-slightly longer hair was considered shocking!

Maybe teens now have run out of ways to shock with clothes and music too? Plus parents will often have been out drinking, drugging and partying for quite a lot of their lives before settling down, maybe they're even still doing it occasionally after they have kids. There's less call on people to become 'sensible' past a certain age because it's not 'sow your wild oats as a teen, settle in your 20s, be sensible in your 30s and middle aged and totally "safe" and dull in your 40s'