Has there ever been a more annoying generation?

[Moon108]

I’m ashamed to live in these times today. I feel slightly jealous about those in the generation before.

I’m talking about people constantly putting labels on themselves. We can’t mention gender now. All this “they/them”. I’m confused. They all seem confused and there are so many types of people now!

I’m talking about the tonnes of very middle class people I know that are very vocal about environmental issues and climate change whilst they are self confessed petrol heads or own two cars or think that buying packaged sandwiches from Waitrose is good for the world as they “use less packaging” and buy tonnes of new clothes shipped in from China and simply must go on two holidays a year.

I’m talking about this generation that are seemingly “triggered” by every single sensitive topic on the internet.

I just am failing to see much good.

I did other generations feel like this?

And yes the pronoun thing bothers me a lot. I think things are headed in the wrong direction. I don’t want to change my ways and language or add this topic to children’s learning in schools to please a very very small minority.

I do think the internet and social media has a lot to answer for.

I don’t want to change my ways and language

Do you not think previous generations felt this way when told they couldn't say the N word any more or that calling a gay man a 'poof' or a 'fag' is wrong?

or add this topic to children’s learning in schools to please a very very small minority.

Were you for or against Section 28 being repealed because this sounds the same argument?

Maybe generation was the wrong word. Maybe it’s just a lot of people today. Never mind age.

We are all ultra sensitive and its crazy! People getting offended for other groups of people because it’s the done thing on Twitter.

Honestly not that long ago, people were much more private and much less self obsessed than they are now. I guess that’s the general thing I hate. I hate that people feel the need to tell me every detail. I hate the self absorbed over sharing!

Re the environmental thing. It seems to be a bandwagon that lots of middle class people are on at the moment. Whilst I agree with the “every little helps” approach. I will not be pulled up when I suggested buying something new (not recycled) by someone that drives a Range Rover and takes 2 foreign holidays a year.

Re the trigger thing... I’m not triggered at all. God I hate that word! I’m talking about the people that are on mumsnet but insist “a trigger warning” be put on a thread! GET OF THE INTERNET! if you are so easily upset by something on a public forum!

Can I suggest you don’t get a job in a university, OP? You wouldn’t like it all all!

Do you not think previous generations felt this way when told they couldn't say the N word any more or that calling a gay man a 'poof' or a 'fag' is wrong?

Not the same thing. Now we are expected to mangle grammar or use words to denote the opposite of their original meaning. That is quite different from being asked not to use terms of abuse.

Were you for or against Section 28 being repealed because this sounds the same argument?

There are many people who objected to Section 28 who (unsurprisingly) also have problems with the rigid gender stereotyping that gender ideology hinges upon, and the fact that it conflicts with rights to single-sex spaces. That is because we are against both regressive laws and regressive ideologies. Again, not the same thing.

I find the news treating people as if they are stupid annoying.

Checking a bus timetable online recently- there is a whole section on 'How to catch a bus" When it is sunny there are news headlines about "How to cope".

At what point have we got to the stage we need to be informed about this stuff.

I’m talking about the people that are on mumsnet but insist “a trigger warning” be put on a thread! GET OF THE INTERNET! if you are so easily upset by something on a public forum!

Yeah! How dare a rape victim be upset about reading about a rape! How dare someone who has just suffered a miscarriage be upset about reading about a miscarriage! How dare someone who has suffered domestic abuse be upset about reading about domestic abuse!

Older generations have slagged off younger ones for centuries. It’s nothing new.

OP - you are getting very old. HTH.

Trigger warnings were invented for people with PTSD or struggling with trauma. So if for example if you have been sexually assaulted and start reading a post where someone graphically describes their own sexual assault, that might ‘trigger’ memories in the familiar details which causes the reader to relive their assault and cause extreme distress. So by adding a trigger warning to the thread those people can avoid reading it.

Maybe trigger warnings have been taken too far in some areas, but in the big scheme of stuff it’s a small thing, and if it helps people I can’t really get het up about it.

Only in the UK is the climate crisis made into a class issue.🙄😂

The rest of the world must view the UK as the gift that keeps on giving as regards amusement at the moment.

Yabu, if anything, we have regressed back to public shaming, monitoring and controlling each other's (and our own) language for punishment, frivolously using natural resources and not to even mention the ever present inequality, xenophobia etc. Humans never change!

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room.

Socrates.

Frankly I find older generations wrecking the planet and destroying the chances of youth because they want to return to the 50s a tad more annoying.

OP you're so sensitive about it you've started a thread, ranting, unlike everyone else who's just getting on with it.

Hypocrite.

I hate that people feel the need to tell me every detail.

How else will you know where they buy their sandwiches? You're clearly interested enough to post about it.

Be honest, have you had a couple of conversations with annoying people where you didn't like what they said and now think everyone who was born within a certain timeframe is like that? Because... That's quite self-absorbed and irrational, isn't it?

Personally I find the affluent end of the 60/70 something boomers generation, who were so right on as teenagers and now spout DM politics pretty bloody annoying.

Well Moon... apparently there has been a big rise in teenage suicides since the 1950s. A similar rise was seen in the age of the romantics. Turns out navel gazing and obsessing over emotions (pretending you can change sex, or somehow opt out of being one sex or the other being a classic example) isn’t good for your mental health.

It’ll turn round again, and self-restraint will be seen as more appropriate again. Can’t come too soon for me.

Trying to distill your posts, it looks like your main concerns are:
Some people are hypocritical. (Agreed, twas ever thus)
Some people think helping the environment is good even though not everything those people do is contributing to saving the planet. (Yes, obviously, this applies to everyone)

There is a culture of offence that is confusing. (Agreed, this is a complex, subjective and interesting issue and is currently the subject of a fair bit if writing and culture)

Almost certainly older generations felt like this.

I help to run my local church youth group and think young people are fab. Yes, all the they/them non-binary stuff doesn't make sense to me. But the next generation do care about the planet and are more aware than we ever were (i'm now in my 50s).

Look at Greta Thunberg, what an amazing young woman.

I see much to hope for and plenty of merit in younger people today. Yes, there is a lot of damage being done in the desperation to be/appear "woke", but the fact that the intention seems mostly pure means that there is hope for change or at least moderation.

I don't believe that all of the (social) damage is caused by the basically good being misled, but where there is an urge to do good, there is hope.

Climate change is a separate issue and I'm very glad that younger people are campaigning and making a fuss about it. This is a genuine emergency and they are doing what we oldies should have done years ago. Good on then.

I agree to an extent, but what annoys me more is when people say "Oh you don't care because you went on a PLANE", or "How can you campaign for the environment when I saw you drinking out of a plastic water bottle last week?"

Nobody is perfect, but what our world needs are people who are willing to try and make a difference. That doesn't mean that every single thing in their lives is perfect, but they have made small changes to take them in the right direction.

Like, most households recycle now. Hardly any plastic bags are used. I only use my car when necessary (though admittedly that's more to do with saving money on fuel for me). I eat very little meat, and only do so when DH or DSS cook using it. But, sometimes, when I'm out of the house without a drink, yes I will buy a bottle of water. Does that make my other efforts useless?

My cousin (early 20s) makes me laugh. Her Instagram feed is a wonderful mixture of memes about saving the planet, pictures of her metal straws and bamboo cups, inter dispersed with photos of her many, many long haul holidays.
She a vegan (this fact is repeated numerous times), but lives almost exclusively on deliveries and ready meals encased in tonnes of plastic.

The generation thing puzzled me

I admit the climate demos annoy me - Londoner, so get disrupted by everyone’s everything everyday - but the people I saw yesterday were across all age groups.

We’re all going to find some people annoying. I don’t find it age related.