If you spend time on a social media platform, you've no doubt seen a comment like this: "This is the worst timeline." or "Things are terrible and only going to get worse." There's usually a really cool meme or gif to go along with it.Is the world a more terrible place today than ever before? Is the world in 2022 a worse place than the world in 1939? In 1918? Or 1914? Imagine yourself a Mayan during the time of the conquistadors. Or maybe a resident of Madrid in 1936. Now ask yourself the same question.Maybe it's a curse of the aging process that we feel the need to announce, rather loudly, unfortunately, that we think the world gets progressively terrible as we get older. That when we were younger, the world was a better place. I’m continually amused by the battles on Twitter over which generation is the worst: The Boomers, or Gen X or Millennials. I think the arguments are stupid but I do feel sympathy for the younger Gen Z kids who are just now feeling the lash of hemorroidic rage from aging Millennials.I hate to say it Gen Z, but there’s nothing really new or creative about what they’re saying about you. To them your manners are terrible, your streets are unsafe, your music is the worst, your movies, books and TV shows are awful.When they start shouting that nonsense at you, just remind them that they're your parents. They brought you into the world. So maybe they also share responsibility for the terribleness of it all.Why is that, I wonder? Why do we see our aging and the passage of time, the changing of the world in such a negative light?Well there is a certain grimness at the moment. We are either exiting a terrible pandemic or about to come to terms with living permanently with a pandemic. And then there’s this thing about several horrendous wars happening on a few different continents.This week’s news fits the mood I’ve found myself in as we navigate early Spring and the related holidays of Passover and Easter and Ramadan. There’s some hopeful stuff in there. And there’s sadness too. Is the merger of the NMA and the MPA a positive thing? Or the death rattle of two aged and outmoded institutions? If the ten news orgs ID’d by Editor and Publisher can get things right, why can’t some of our bigger legacy publishers do the same? And what do we do about those news deserts? And the awfulness of social media?Things to ruminate on. Maybe, if we spend enough time with our thoughts, we’ll come up with some solutions.Well...let’s dive in and see what happens.
Share this post
It's Tuesday: 5 Things About the World of…
Share this post
If you spend time on a social media platform, you've no doubt seen a comment like this: "This is the worst timeline." or "Things are terrible and only going to get worse." There's usually a really cool meme or gif to go along with it.Is the world a more terrible place today than ever before? Is the world in 2022 a worse place than the world in 1939? In 1918? Or 1914? Imagine yourself a Mayan during the time of the conquistadors. Or maybe a resident of Madrid in 1936. Now ask yourself the same question.Maybe it's a curse of the aging process that we feel the need to announce, rather loudly, unfortunately, that we think the world gets progressively terrible as we get older. That when we were younger, the world was a better place. I’m continually amused by the battles on Twitter over which generation is the worst: The Boomers, or Gen X or Millennials. I think the arguments are stupid but I do feel sympathy for the younger Gen Z kids who are just now feeling the lash of hemorroidic rage from aging Millennials.I hate to say it Gen Z, but there’s nothing really new or creative about what they’re saying about you. To them your manners are terrible, your streets are unsafe, your music is the worst, your movies, books and TV shows are awful.When they start shouting that nonsense at you, just remind them that they're your parents. They brought you into the world. So maybe they also share responsibility for the terribleness of it all.Why is that, I wonder? Why do we see our aging and the passage of time, the changing of the world in such a negative light?Well there is a certain grimness at the moment. We are either exiting a terrible pandemic or about to come to terms with living permanently with a pandemic. And then there’s this thing about several horrendous wars happening on a few different continents.This week’s news fits the mood I’ve found myself in as we navigate early Spring and the related holidays of Passover and Easter and Ramadan. There’s some hopeful stuff in there. And there’s sadness too. Is the merger of the NMA and the MPA a positive thing? Or the death rattle of two aged and outmoded institutions? If the ten news orgs ID’d by Editor and Publisher can get things right, why can’t some of our bigger legacy publishers do the same? And what do we do about those news deserts? And the awfulness of social media?Things to ruminate on. Maybe, if we spend enough time with our thoughts, we’ll come up with some solutions.Well...let’s dive in and see what happens.