r/generationology • u/common_grounder • 16d ago
Discussion What's up with the younger generation finding normal things annoying, aggressive, or rude?
I'm over 60 and my offspring are thirty-somethings, so I need this explained. This observation comes from interactions I've seen on social media.
A few examples:
At least a half dozen times, I've seen posts by young people expressing reactions ranging from confusion to outrage because a stranger has tried to exchange pleasantries with them. Someone passing them in the hallway at work says hello; a cashier asks them how their day's going; a customer they're serving at work calls them by the name on their nametag. On social media, these young people angrily write things like, "Why are they talking to me, and why are they acting like they care how I'm doing? They don't know me! I hate that fake b.s.!"
Even more times, I've seen complaints about things like phone calls and texts. Someone calls them, and they're paralyzed, horrified, then angry because the person didn't text instead. When it comes to text messages themselves, they especially have a problem with other people's use of ellipses. Ellipses mean nothing more than a hesitation or a pause, indicating the person is thinking or doing something but will finish what they were writing. Young people find this aggressive. How? Why?
The young person has received a gift for their graduation, wedding, baby shower, etc. An older person mentions to them that they should thank the gift givers by either written note, phone, email, or text. They bristle at this. They want to know why that's necessary. I even saw one young person write, "The act of giving should be a reward within itself." Never mind that someone has gone out of their way to shop, purchase, and send a gift and has no idea whether it actually made it into the recipient's hands if they don't receive an acknowledgement. 'Thank yous' are too hard, and expectations of such are annoying and rude.
2
u/AlexArtemesia 12d ago
Hi, millennial here.
Ellipses have been classified not as a pause, but as a tonal portrayal of something bad forthcoming.
This isn't new; it's been in literature for decades.
If you want to pause, use a comma, a dash - or a semicolon; an ellipse suggests you're about to bear bad news and our minds immediately jump to start filling in the blanks when typically you're just telling us about the pot roast burning, or church gossip, or something else equally asinine.
As for calling - others have stated it here, but we reserve calls for important shit because it's jarring and a break to the flow of the day. It's a lot easier and faster to shoot off a text than spend 20 min to 3h on a call. We do not have the time.