Maybe Gen-Z Hasn’t Lost The Plot
Capitalism did us dirty and we’re frightened to admit it.
The other day I watched a video of a recent college graduate who filmed her getting fired and taking her managers to task for treating employees as disposable cogs. And while I agreed with her sentiment, the delivery made me cringe. The filming. The vernacular. The dramatics.
Years ago, a friend, much younger than me, asked me a question that set my heart on pause. I was in Spain snapping photos of me in Pamplona and Seville and she wondered why I had to document everything. Why did I have to live my life through a camera lens? Did I really feel what it was like to be in the place I’d read about so many years ago as a teenager in Long Island thumbing through a copy of The Sun Also Rises? Or did I live to perform for others? Had life lost its flavor if we didn’t share it with strangers online and feel the sheen of their admiration without realizing the cold air of cruelty is delivered swiftly and in equal favor?
It’s strange how I spent so much of my adult life online and now I recoil from it. Now, I’ve become that infuriating woman who wonders why the kids have to put it all out there for viewing.
Trust me, the irony is not lost on me. Next, I’ll be waving my cane around wondering why these whipper-snappers are…
