Comparing Generations: A Look at My Generation and My Parents'

This essay, submitted by a student, provides a comparative analysis of the author's generation (20-30 years old) and their parents' generation (40-50 years old). It examines key differences across several aspects of life, including information access (internet vs. books), education (enrollment rates and values), female workforce participation, marriage patterns, and residential preferences (urban vs. rural). The essay highlights how the current generation relies heavily on social networks and the internet for information, values education highly, sees increased female participation in the workforce, delays or avoids marriage, and tends to reside in metropolitan areas. In contrast, the older generation relied on books for information, faced limited educational opportunities, saw fewer women in the workforce, experienced earlier marriages, and often resided in rural areas. The author concludes by expressing a preference for the lifestyle of their own generation, citing its ease of adaptation.

Running head: GENERATION COMPARISON 1
Comparison between My Generation and That of My Parents
Student’s Name
University

GENERATION COMPARISON 2
Introduction.
There is no gap between a generation and another since generations are
continuous. What matters is age between a particular group of people, who tent to
live in the same period and experienced some social, physical occurrences in the
society. A new generation is believed to start after twenty years. This paper
illustrates the differences between my generation which lies in the age bracket of
twenty to thirty years and that of our parents which lies at the brackets of forty years
to fifty.
Information access.
The current generation tends to acquire more of its information on social
networks and the internet. Due to this, most of them will end up spending much time
on computers and phones. Most of them will prefer spending more time at places
where they can access Wi-Fi or network services.
On the other hand, the older generation of my parents preferred acquiring
information from books. For instance, my parents have piles of books at home which
they used before. Reading books was their culture.
Education.
According to Stephen & Hamedan (2014), today's generation is made of a
high population of educated people compared to that of our parents. Today’s
generation value education. The high rates of school enrolment evidence this.
On the other hand, our parents were lesser encouraged to enroll in schools.
Only the privileged and those whose parents understood the importance of
education joined schools.

GENERATION COMPARISON 3
Female Working population
In my generation, young women are seen working and participating in
economic development. This has been brought about by the education which they
acquire and the emphasis on the equality factor (Rubin & Babbie, 2016).
During my parents’ time, only a few women joined the labor force. Most of
them stayed home and served as housewives.
Marriage
In my generation, it is evident that most people remain single in their lifetime
while several marry at a late age (Hagestad, 2018). The tendency to live an
independent life, extended years of schooling and financial constraints are among
the factors which contribute to delay in marriage or not marrying at all.
On the other hand, during the tenure of our parents, society did not care much
about education especially for the females, and hence a girl child destiny was
focused on marriage. Marriages earned families' wealth in the form of dowry, and
therefore many family heads encouraged early marriages.
Residence.
A high number of people in my generation mostly prefer living in metropolitan
areas. In my country, approximately two-thirds of my age mates live in urban areas
leaving only one-third who live in non-metropolitan areas (Valdés, 2017).
For the generation of my parents, metro areas were only for those working,
and they did not live with their families. Their families remained at the rural homes.

GENERATION COMPARISON 4
Conclusion.
From the above discussion, it is evident that different generations differ in
different ways. Both generations have different ideas about the stated factors and
live according to what feels comfortable for them. In this case, I would prefer the kind
of life of my generation. It is easier to cope up with compared to the older
generations.

GENERATION COMPARISON 5
References.
Hagestad, G. O. (2018). Interdependent lives and relationships in changing times: A
life-course view of families and aging. In Lives in Time and Place and
Invitation to the Life Course (pp. 135-159). Routledge.
Rubin, A., & Babbie, E. R. (2016). Empowerment Series: Research methods for
social work. Cengage Learning.
Stephens, N. M., Hamedani, M. G., & Destin, M. (2014). Closing the social-class
achievement gap: A difference-education intervention improves first-
generation students’ academic performance and all students’ college
transition. Psychological science, 25(4), 943-953.
Valdés, G. (2017). Con respeto: Bridging the distances between culturally diverse
families and schools: An ethnographic portrait. Teachers College Press.