New Flash: Generation X Doesn't Trust Mass Media.

[morrigirl]

Apparently, the original episodes of Sesame Street are not appropriate for today's pre-schoolers.

This article rammed home a very disappointing reality for me: that the ridiculously over-protective parents whose stupidity I so often marvel at are fellow members of Generation X.

While it shames me to call such idiots my peers, their behavior isn't all that surprising if you've read any sociological studies on Gen Xers. Back in the early to mid ninties when the Boomers first began railing about what apathetic losers we were and how scared they were of seeing us inherit the country, surveys and studies showed that, as a whole, Gen Xers were more conservative and more family oriented then their parents. Researchers theorized that was because ours was the first generation to come of age during a time when divorce was socially acceptable, both (middle-class) parents were required to work outside of the home, and hands-off parenting was favored. As a result, the latchkey kids of Gen X grew up feeling lonely, abandoned, unloved, and unprotected. They turned into adults determined to see that their children never felt the same way.

It makes perfect sense, but it continues to boggle my mind. I can't see the natural progression of the flannel and Converse wearing, Nirvana-listening, stringy-haired slacker into the over-protective mother who won't tell her kids not to talk to strangers for fear of scaring them, and then sues MySpace when her kid gets molested by a man she met off the site. I can't beleive it is my peers who have come to the completely incorrect conclusion that the best way to care for a child is to shelter them from everything. The generation that embraced grunge music because it expressed the angst ridden reality of being young in a way that the glossy hair metal of the 80's did not, have now chosen to reject reality all together, convinced that even the slightest ounce will poison their children and destroy their youth.

I grew up in the nineties, I know it sucked. Coming from a broken home and having parents more concerned with their own comfort then that of their children sucked. Being picked on at school sucked. Falling into depression sucked. But, simple knowledge of these things isn't what made growing up suck. It was living with them that did. Gen X parents don't seem to make that distinction. They consider knowledge and exposure to be the same thing. They think hearing the word "bitch" has the same effect on a child as directly calling her one. They think sending a child out to play in the dirt is equivilent to smothering him in a smallpox blanket. They fear the worst in every situation. Add to that the fact that parents now have to work longer hours in order to make ends meet financially and you've got a generation of uptight parents who have neither the time or inclination to actually parent. They don't even really know how to "actually" parent since, growing up, they didn't have any good examples on which to model their behavior. They think simply spending time with and protection their children is the extent of parenting, and go to lengths to make sure mass media, local and federal government keep their kids safe because they don't always have the time to.

Bravo Gen X, Bravo. But just you wait, those kids of yours are going to grow up and rebel against your parenting style, oh yes they will. Thanks to your severely distorted hands-on approach, your kids will favor the hands-off approach, mark my words. It's a vicious cycle and you're just a cog in the wheel.

Keep on rolling, Generation X.

Comments

[gender-euphoric.livejournal.com]

According to Parente, “That modeled the wrong behavior” — smoking, eating pipes — at least that story was funny.

do you really consider yourself an Xer? I feel very cuspy, though I do fondly remember that day in 6th grade when I bought the nirvana/nevermind cassette. on the whole, though i think i'm more a Y/Millennial. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millenial_generation

[morrigirl.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of opinions as to what timeframe constitutes inclusion into the Gen X fold. The time frame that I am most comfortable with, and that is the most widely accepted as far as I know, is everyone born between 1961 and 1980. This rings true for me because A) my brother and I grew up with the same pop culture references despite being born 8 years apart, and B) I've noticed that people born in 1981 or after do not possess the same pop culture references as us. Their memory doesn't kick in until 1986 or 1987, so there's a whole lot they missed.

So, in short, yes I consider myself to be on the tail end of Generation X.

[gender-euphoric.livejournal.com]

have you watched the myspace thing they mention at the end of this article?
i think i may well be a man without a generation.

[kdc4evr.livejournal.com]

i'm with you, I don't consider myself an Xer either. All the workplace studies I read at work instead of working, I always feel more in line with Y/Millennial - like how a good work/life balance is more important than money and other such absurd things :)
Given, aren't we both October babies from 1980?

[lightandwinged.livejournal.com]

I facepalm'd so many times during that article, but mostly because TPTB releasing the Sesame Street stuff are claiming to know better what's good and bad for people's children than the parents themselves. Frankly, I don't think it would hurt a lot of these kids to see Oscar the Grouch or Cookie Monster, and if the kids get all of their ideas on how to behave based on how television characters act, that's something wrong with the parents, not the television show. And, I mean, the whole thing with Monsterpiece Theatre? HE EATS THE PIPE. I highly doubt kids are going to start smoking pipes because of Cookie Monster, though they may learn what a parody is.

Sesame Street taught me to read, to count, to speak in Spanish, and the idea that the things about it that were instrumental in me learning to read, count and speak in Spanish are being called "bad" for kids nowadays is just mind-boggling. That goes beyond sheltering and into the realm of cloistering.

[morrigirl.livejournal.com]

Frankly, I don't think it would hurt a lot of these kids to see Oscar the Grouch or Cookie Monster, and if the kids get all of their ideas on how to behave based on how television characters act, that's something wrong with the parents, not the television show.

Exactly. Even though I can't imagine any child watching Cookie Monster wave a pipe around thiking that means it's okay to smoke, it's up to parents to make sure their children don't take their television viewing habits too far.

And I feel the same way. Sesame Street taught me nothing but good, wonderful, and useful things. If there were something wrong with the original programs then, by uptaight parent thinking, we'd all be screwed up people. But we're not. Set and match.

[dpsycho.livejournal.com]

I grew up with the understanding that pipes were a fashion statement for people who don't actually smoke but want to look intimidating, much like having generic tattoos or wearing a serviceman's uniform everywhere you go. You know, like Popeye.