A New Generation

According to those who study social trends, it appears that the new generation is much less attached to things than we were. In the ‘old days’ kids had to have a license to drive as soon as they turned sixteen. Today’s coming-of-age generation seems to be a lot less interested in having a car or even driving. Many of those who live in cities ride a bike instead of a car. And many of the twenty-something are not even interested in learning to drive. Those who do have a license forego owing a car preferring the share-a-car idea now popping up everywhere. If the trend continues, it’s only a matter of time before huge cars will be relegated to the dinosaur pile.

Recently I have been charged with emptying a relative’s home as she has moved into a care facility. She has exquisite things that I know for a fact she spent a small fortune to acquire, but I can’t seem to be able to get anyone interested. For example, she has a set of superb gold-trimmed china which antique dealers say nobody wants these days. And I hear the same type of remarks from boomers who have decided to downsize. They can’t sell many of the lovely things that brightened their lives for decades. The new generation prefers simpler things. Accumulating stuff is not their thing.

Some experts believe this is the result of all the forever-speeding-ahead technological advances. Kids today don’t own the things we had to have. We bought CDs and DVDs to enjoy in our home, and today find ourselves with piles and piles of them. By contrast, the new generation downloads the music they want to hear so there are no actual physical CDs to deal with. The same for movies and videos. Today, young people simply choose the movie they want to see from the choices offered through television. Long gone are the days when you had to go to the video store to rent a movie.

And with advances in photography, physical photos are becoming a thing of the past. Photos are available for viewing on laptops, tablets or other devices, not in photo albums like we used to keep them. There are some advantages to having photos stored electronically. They don’t fade or yellow like our photos tended to do over the years. So will our kids appreciate getting all our old photo albums? Probably not. To circumvent the problem, two years ago I had all my all photos and slides (remember those?) transferred unto CDs and gave one to each of my children for Christmas. They really appreciated the gesture, and it is something they can pass on to their own children later on. Although, that might be a problem. I am told that CDs are becoming a thing of the past as many new computers don’t even have ports for them. Today it’s flash drives.

So what will happen to the CDs of photos I gave my children if their children can’t view them? I don’t worry about it; I’m sure someday they will be able to transfer them into some form of cyber storage. However, I do worry about getting rid of my relative’s things today as well as my own in due course when I downsize. If I have a yard sale, the new generation will certainly not show up. Young people are quite satisfied to travel light.