Listen, I get it. It’s become a common joke for Boomers and some early Gen Xers to tease young people for their lack of knowledge on outdated technology, like rotary phones, typewriters or card catalogs. But it’s not really fair, is it? I mean, it’s like expecting them to know how to churn butter or build a wagon from scratch – without consulting Google.

Sure, Gen Z might rock the trends Gen X started – fashion, music, and slang (now “retro,” thanks for making me feel old), even if they do sometimes forget they borrowed those trends. But they like to trash talk the older generations too. And sometimes, they get Gen X mixed up with Boomers. And while I take great offense at this malignment of our collective character, I can see where the confusion comes in. To a young person, anyone over 30 is just vaguely viewed as an “old person.” I remember what it was like. It’s a tale as old as time. We’ve all been there.

I can see why they might find our experiences so amusing and perhaps unbelievable. Born in the era of groundbreaking tech, the idea of a low-tech life is mind-boggling to them. I often reminisce about my childhood and laugh at the craziness of it all – three TV channels signing off with the national anthem, radio stations playing only bluegrass hymnals on Sundays and unapologetically calling it a night at midnight. Don’t even get me started on the advent of cable. I remember when HBO launched. Showtime came a couple of years later and to get a leg up on the competition, they aired “adult” content… right there on tv, for everyone to see. Their risqué late-night shows were the talk of the town.

To Gen Z and even those tech-savvy Millennials, three TV channels, stores being closed tight every Sunday, and kids drinking from the hose might sound like myths. But hey, they didn’t live it, and that’s perfectly okay. We Gen Xers are the bridge between the low-tech and high-tech eras because, having straddled both timelines, we’ve seen it all.

Now don’t get me wrong, I laugh – and I laugh hard – at TikTok videos featuring Gen X parents introducing their kids to the mystical rotary phone, watching the confusion grow on their faces as they try to make a simple call. But let’s not cross the line into serious discussions about the supposed weaknesses or lack of intelligence in our young people just because they can’t navigate “our” world. I mean, how are they supposed to know how to do something if they didn’t live it and weren’t taught it? Through osmosis?

So, next time you catch yourself thinking, “Kids these days don’t know anything,” remember, it’s all about perspective. After all, we Gen Xers are kinda clueless in their world of hashtags and virtual reality. Thank God for the Urban Dictionary is all I have to say. It’s a brave new world, and we’re all just trying to keep up.