Being young is very important these days. Our whole culture is youth dominated. If you ever hear young people mocking older people for any reason you will probably notice that they use old and/or fat in their string of insults whenever possible. Being old is virtually a crime.
Modern culture worships youth. Worships it blindly. Any characteristic that is more typical of the young than of the old is held up as worthy of emulation. Being stupid, taking unnecessary risks, loutish behaviour, playing music that you don't really like very loud so you can be noticed listening to it; all these behaviours are new virtues. Why?
I am middle-aged and in debt. I have very little spare spending money. I cannot afford to upgrade my computer, I cannot even afford to run a car. When I was 18 to 25 I had much more disposable money. I ran a car and I bought high-tech toys. Most younger people have a large amount of money left over beyond basic necessities. They are the perfect target audience for advertisers. Advertisers woo them by fawning to them. This generates a kind of self fulfilling prophesy. Advertisers try to use the language and the idioms of the young, the young then copy these from the advertisers. Clichés are generated; young people want everything loud, bright, vibrant, fast-cut editing, zoom-in-and-out, crazy camera angles and meaningless catchphrases. Music should be loud, have lots of bass and a high bpm (that's beats per minute, how old are you, man?)
Chat with our AI personalities