| I assume that I would be included in your mass generalization since I fall within the age bracket of the "Nintendo Generation." Usually, I don't mind being characterized by an individual, or a group of individuals, but this is only when these people have done a significant amount of work on the subject upon which they are hypothosizing. When I see a less than 50 word dictation devoted to a large percentage of the populace, however, I tend to become a little annoyed with the lack of research and perception of the writer. In fact, I become a little annoyed whenever I see yet another report on a certain generation and their attitudes. Why? Because they are all the same. Let me expound upon this--
People, as a whole, will always respond to the situations around them in basically the same ways. Individuals might behave differently, but the majority will always revert to their instincts. Of course generations are going to be different--they had different situations facing them. I'm not asserting that we are simply products of our time, I'm just making the point that there is not such a striking difference in the personalities of the people of separate generations as there is in the atmosphere surrounding them.
Apparantly, from the media's point of view, only one factor contributes to the development of a generation. The Lost Generation had World War I, the Baby Boom Generation had the Vietnam War, and the so-called Nintendo Generation has the internet. This is completely erroneous. Every incident that occurs within a generation's lifespan helps to define that generation and every generation before them helps to create those occurrences. There are simply too many intricacies involved in the behavior of people to label one thing as their reason for being, and there are too many factions within each sampling of people, no matter how small, to allow for mass characterizations.
I suppose I could make a write-up that explains how I perceive my own generation. I could tell you about what we have faced, how we survived, and the future we could create. But I won't. That doesn't belong in a node about a generation--that belongs in a node about a specific person. I'm sorry, but I won't allow my generation to define me and I won't define my generation through myself.
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