I Woke Up On The Wrong Side Of The Bed
Task 5, January 31 to February 6
I’m a boomer. Proud to say it. Mighty proud. I am part of the greatest generation that ever strode, crawled or sashayed on this planet. We fought in Vietnam and we protested Vietnam; we are feminists, we are activists, entrepreneurs non-pareil; we are hard-working, creative and problem solving; we are the most gifted athletes, the best parents and, by the way, the best looking generation. We gave the world Steven Spielberg, Bill Gates, Michael Jackson, Barack Obama AND Donald Trump; Michael Jordan, Whitney Houston, Tom Hanks, Homer Simpson, Prince, Garth Brooks and hell yes–Howard Stern.
And that’s just a tiny, tiny list. Since then, it’s been crickets, personality-wise. And what we bestowed to the rest of the world! Baby boomers pioneered the expansion of radio, television, mobile phones, personal computers, and the internet. We invented the scanning tunneling microscope, DNA fingerprinting, and Swiffers! In short, if you look around yourself right now, everything you wear, touch, use was influenced by boomers.
And what did the following generations do with all the wonderful things we gave them? Ruined them. The internet in particular. They’ve turned it into a muddy playground that’s surrounded by pedophiles and conspiracy theorists and TikTok-ers.
And AI! It’s another generous, thoughtful gift we created only to let the succeeding generations decide to use it as a giant cheat sheet. Check out this quote from a worried person who works for an education company:
“Our company wants to create AI tutors and I keep asking people how does this help our students to think critically? The internet and its rise to becoming a necessity was already causing issues in the classroom because a portion of the students would essentially ask the internet for answers or they would form opinions based on the most popular opinion on the internet. Not their own. I experienced seeing students even form their own opinion and back petal because the internet said otherwise.”
And what did we get in return? Whining. Complaining. Grousing, not to mention children living in our basements, baristas with attitude and yes, I’ll mention it again: TikTok-ers.
TASK:
Fight back. If you see an article that goofs on boomers, write a comment like: enjoy Redditt, idiot. Or: yes, that’s a seat-warmer! Or: Enjoy your kale–you’re welcome.
Or say something smarter, but say something.
Meanwhile, I’m going back to bed.