I came across an article about a kid who watches television at 1.5x speed so he can cram as much viewing in as he can. This meant he’d sacrifice the entertainment value of the show just to get to the end. This was unacceptable in the 90s
As member of Generation X (those born between 1965 and 1979), I remembered a time when nobody bragged about the amount of TV they watched. In fact, few bragged about not owning a TV. “I don't watch TV,” They would say “It only exists to sell you stuff.” This complete reversal on the social acceptance of gluttonous TV viewing made me wonder what happened to the values we were raised on as Gen Xers? We were taught that sincerity was for simpletons, everything corporate is evil, old school is always better than the latest and greatest, authenticity is king, conformity is death and there is nothing worse than being a sell-out or a poser (read as influencer these days).
But a lot of values we were raised then can help sort social issues created these days. Especially our generation saw the changes brought in by the last quarter of the last century. Ours is the generation which saw lot of changes in every aspect of India Life. Much celebrated deprivation turned in consumption during these years. ‘Healthy’ Poverty glorified by films, was nonexistent in opulent lifestyles of protagonists of cinema. Our economy turned from the much maligned and maliciously named as the ‘Hindu’ rate of growth to being the only bright spot in the world economies thanks to liberalization and prudent policies. Ours is the generation which mastered mainframes, rode on Y2k, built a dotcom economy, web2.0, cloud, mobility, edge, quantum and now AI. We rode recessions and booms. Our markets got linked to the Global economy. Our Banks were transformed, a digital economy was created. But the transformation was not easy. The base of that started with the last quarter of last century. Politics started with Emergency, a doomed Janata Government experiment, return of Indira Gandhi, Mid 80s boom with Rajiv Gandhi at help especially in communication and urban housing, chaotic and push back years of VP Singh and Chandrashekhar, and then came in the liberalization under PV Narshimharao. Narasimharao years were followed by chaos till A B Vajpayee took over with his push on Infrastructure. There was no other option then to open the economy. We saw downside of Punjab and Kashmir separatism thanks to wrong political equations. We suffered polarization and domestic terrorism. We saw proxy wars between India and Pakistan through terrorism but in 99 there was an actual was in Kargil region. Chinese threat grew with their might rising across the Himalayas economically in the world. We had scams like Bofors, Stock exchange during this period which now looks as miniscule compared to the volume of scams in 2G, CWG, Kingfisher etc. Of course with growth in the scales of economy and inflation that’s obvious. Socially we also changed a lot. Till 92, eating out, spending in malls, celebration of events had some limits set due to mindset created by deprivation of few centuries barring exception of elite ruling classes and industrialists Entertainment changed from Radio till introduction of local TV then the National Network called DD. Then we were exposed to the world entertainment through the cable television. Then there was advent of Mobile phones which revolutionized everything in the next century. From whole residential unit sharing a single phone to calling near ones in local STD booth till everyone on street having a cell phone, we saw change in paradigm. Our Generation also made impact worldwide taking leadership position at global organizations. We saw brain drain as well as return of global Indian. We travelled all over the world. We upgraded to better housing. Our Tier2 and 3 cities as well as villages were connected through better infrastructure. The last quarter of last century really saw the transformation.
Now let’s lighten up things a bit. The Gen Xers who saw these changes were raised with certain values. These values can help correct few things socially. Gen X cared less about fashion. These days, we live in a world where fast fashion is killing the environment. By embracing the Gen X value of old-school cool, we can help the planet while looking much more fashionable in the process. This generation is skeptic of Corporates. In the early 2000s, people fell head-over-heels in love with smartphone technology and social media so quickly that nobody cared. Now, we have a world where kids are depressed, the culture has become divided and nobody talks to each other in public anymore, they just stare at their phones. The generation that embraced the notion that TV rotted your brain needs to remind everyone to go outside and play in the sunshine or read a book.
One of the most popular Gen X phrases was “whatever”. This may seem to be vague responses but they are the correct way to deal with other people’s nonsense and in 2022, we have to deal with a constant barrage of it especially on mainstream and social media.
Good taste used to matter. In the 2000s, Millennials decided that people have the right to like what they like and that it’s worse to judge someone’s personal taste than to have bad taste. Gen X-ers based their entire personalities on taste and demanded integrity from artists and were rewarded by living in a time of superior films and music. To extrapolate from films and music, every aspect of life had standards for quality and substance to differentiate the good and from the average. Now a day everything is hyped and driven by public acceptability. Everyone is a self-proclaimed ‘something’ rather than actual something
Last quarter of last century helped define a generation that witnessed a great transition in our lives. It makes sense to use wisdom from that era to blend with positive advancements and improvements today.
