This generation being ‘weak’ is the best-case scenario
“Ang mga bata po ngayon… sad to say, but you are weak. Hindi kayo tulad sa panahon namin na ‘di kami iyakin.”
Robin Padilla’s statement about this generation being weak during a Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media bred a lot of discourse, bringing into the fold topics like social media, mental illness, and the differing views from one generation to the next.
Unfortunately, it is a tale as old as time. This is hardly the first instance in which similar sentiments have been shared in conversations about mental health in the Philippines. In fact, in 2017, Joey de Leon apologized for similar comments made about depression during a segment in Eat Bulaga: “‘Yang depression, gawa-gawa lang ng mga tao ‘yan. Gawa nila sa sarili nila.”
The conversation grows even more complicated when we ask why it must always be framed as “us vs. them.” Padilla compares his generation “not knowing what depression is” to a child now able to say something like, “Ma, depressed ako” without as much conscious regard. While statements like his don’t necessarily come from malice, some people weaponize their own experiences to invalidate and discredit the plights of the current generation.
The generation gap caused by rapid shifts in industry, technology, and economy has always existed. Of course, it’s even worse now with the technological advances of recent years, from smartphones to social media. It always places significant weight on intergenerational relationships, the most prominent being between a child and a parent. In the 2022 film Everything Everywhere All at Once, for instance, generational differences can be seen when the mother scolds her daughter: “You are getting fat. You never call me even though we have a family plan, and it’s free. You only visit when you need something. And you got a tattoo, and I don’t care if it’s supposed to represent our family. You know I hate tattoos.” It illustrates differing thoughts not only on family and tattoos, but also on filial piety, duty, and even physical appearances.
I recall a conversation I had with a friend about how this tendency is prevalent not only in households but also in the workplace. “While everyone is speaking the same language, you guys have very different lived experiences,” my friend said. For example, the older generation’s “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” and Gen Z’s “for the plot” offer insight not just into the different generations’ slang, but also their economies and work ethic.
While other generations no doubt had to sit through the same speeches from their parents—my father jokes that this generation at least has “I went through a global pandemic” under our belts for our own speeches—the added element of social media has driven the gulf wider.
Communication breakdowns between generations have also become more common as trends, slang, and other similar cultural phenomena are now being accessed through different mediums. This continues to divide not only beliefs and values, but also drives the lack of understanding—and sometimes even lack of compassion—that’s become more prevalent from one generation to the next.
While I agree that this practice is cyclical, the disdain for the current generation being “soft” remains a mystery to me. Every generation is shaped by its circumstances, but it’s almost always a case of who suffered more. There are plenty of reasons why the current generation must look like they’re “better off” or “more sensitive” than the previous ones; I do agree that there are opportunities given to us now that must have been unimaginable to our parents.
Maybe it is true that we have it better in some regard, but why begrudge the younger generation for the improvements that have been made to ensure they have a soft place to land in the first place? Even as early as 1780, the second US president, John Adams, said in a letter to wife Abigail Adams: “I must study politics and war that my sons may have the liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.”
If the idea is—and has always been—to give your children a brighter future, one that you could not experience yourself, why is it a problem for them to be “weak” when it’s the reason the generations before us have toiled so hard in the first place?
In this case, this generation being soft is the best-case scenario. It just means that the generations before us have succeeded.
