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Every generation thinks they have it worse than their parents.

In one important sense, they are right. There is always some new permutation of socioeconomic realities being challenged and the resulting “ways in which the old rules do not apply.” Kids grow up and realize that the way their parents taught them to expect to live was not the way they were actually going to live. You graduate into a recession. Or the “greed is good” era and the Cold War. Or mid 20th-century feminism and Vietnam. Or the Red Menace and the civil rights movement. Or the draft and Rosie the Riveter. Or the Great Depression.

But in the most important sense, they are wrong precisely because they are right. There has never been stability. And frankly, the generation that grew up with the Internet, possibly the greatest disruptor since Gutenberg said “hey, what if I made all the letters into separate pieces I could move around?” should find that invigorating and inspiring, not terrifying.  

One of the primary and most endearing characteristics of American culture is our steadfast optimism that things can be made better and challenges can be met and I’m not sure where that’s gone lately.