Generation gap?

A stock photo that kinda sums it up

Increasingly I find there is a distance between the younger generation and the likes of myself. I don't have any problem seeing them as fellow citizens, even down to Jacob's age (18 months) but it seems that they see me as old and fuddy-duddy.

And it seems like there is a different value system now-a-days to what I was used to growing up.

As a general rule it seems to me right to eat all that's on your plate, bones excepted. And the menu was conservative when I was a boy. It was, after all, not long after war rationing and food was not taken for granted. Now-a-days it seems like folk habitually leave stuff on their plate.

I have always regarded a decent film, play or concert to be sacrosanct. How can They eat popcorn or pick sweets out of a crunchy plastic bag? How can They check their cell-phones in the row in front of me, bright light in my eyes, or talk to their neighbours? To me this is utterly unforgivable, and yet the practice is common now-a-days. It is almost as if the cinema is the place you go to eat popcorn and slurp Coke never mind the film in the background. Whereas I want the very best audio and visual experience, I want to immerse myself to the full. The same with a good book, or listening to recorded music. Which is why I generally do not listen to music - the conditions here are seldom favourable.

When I was young it was commonplace to have the national anthem at the end of a performance. Imagine that happening now! Not that I am wanting that back, it was always a little awkward not knowing whether to stand or stay seated.

Or in a church meeting. Our meetings are typically an hour and a half, shorter than the average movie. Of course there will be exceptions but is it really necessary for youngsters (I do not mean parents with young children) to go out of the meeting for a reasonably long time I suppose to go to the loo, or make themselves coffee (they sometimes return coffee in hand)? My bladder is not so strong now-a-days and yet I can usually make it through without recourse. Isn't a Christian meeting kind of sacrosanct? How can They follow what the preacher is saying if they are absent for 5 or 10 minutes?  I find it hard enough whilst listening all the time.

And screen time. Of course when I was young there were no iPads and the like, but there was TV and there was the cinema. But in my family these were strictly rationed. No TV at all until I was in my teens, and then just a few TV shows a week. Maybe a couple of trips to the cinema a year. But now-a-days the kids are watching movies or playing computer games every day.

Maybe this generation gap I detest is on my side as well as their's, after all.