GENERATION GAP

The phrase generation gap is used to describe the differences in actions, beliefs, and tastes exhibited by members of younger generations, versus older ones. These differences may include areas like politics, values, and pop culture. Although generation gap has been around throughout all periods of history, the depth of it has never been as vast as in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Many people attribute this widening gap to the advances in technology that changes the society and its lifestyle. In the 1800s, developments in society were slow. As a result, two or three generations lived lifestyles that were very similar to, if not the same as, each other. There weren't many differences across generations. However, technological and social advances in the 20th and 21st centuries, the lifestyles of even a parent and a child (who are only one generation apart from each other) are very different.

Another reason why the generation gap is so strong in the 20th and the 21st centuries is that we can travel faster and more easily today. In earlier generations, society was not mobile, and most people stayed in the same area or country all their lives. With the increasing mobility thanks to airplanes, speed trains and such, people of younger generations gained a multicultural perspective. They learned about other cultures and countries and this took them one more step ahead of the earlier generations.