Only 50 Years, 1400 Years Ago

[SoRoUsH]

سلام

Just a quick thought.

As we get older, we always seem to complain about the younger generations. We also seem to assume that the world is rapidly degenerating into a dystopia of some sort. This isn't new. The same complaints can be seen in Plato's writings, too, for example. Much of all the crying and panicking about the youth is usually just old Conservatives, lacking imagination and fearing the future unknowns. 

It's important to note that it only took approximately 50 years from Prophet Muhammad ((صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)) bringing Islam to "Muslims" murdering Imam Hussain (عليه السلام), the Prophet's grandson. And this was approximately 1400 years ago. It only took 50 years to go from the best of times to the worst of times, 1400 years ago.

This notion that the past was always better is a myth. The time it took to go from Muhammad ((صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم)) to Hussain (عليه السلام) is one clear evidence for it. Just read what Hussain (عليه السلام) had to remind his opponents about. 

I think we need to realize that each era has its own specific challenges, and we need to rid ourselves of this mythical magical past that we refer to whenever we want to express our outrage about the youth today. 

Our youth are doing great! They're challenging the status quo loudly and explicitly. They're seeking and fighting for equality and diversity and equity. And most importantly, like us old people, they're learning as they're moving forward, as they're going through experiences day after day. 

We have Hussain (عليه السلام) as our greatest example of someone who stood against the status quo and challenged people's comfortable conformity. 

Challenging the status quo should always be our top priority, regardless of where/when we are, until Mahdi (عليه السلام) takes over and governs by the will of Allah. 

 

Edited August 8, 2022 by SoRoUsH

[Guest Marwa]

Great post. I agree our generation has new challenges like porn breaking families apart, diseases of the soul that leads to family conflict and isolation, materialism whereby people forget the poor and spend on useless things, peer pressure to take hijab off and assimilate…. list doesn’t end. 

[Abu_Zahra]

The problem with the narrow mindset that seeks reform exclusively among the youth, often by criticizing and marginalizing them, is that for true progress you need everyone to work together (young and old, wealthy and poor, etc) 

It is important to address youth issues but also important for the parents of the youth to correct themselves and remove self imposed barriers. 

[SoRoUsH]

2 hours ago, Guest Marwa said:

Great post. I agree our generation has new challenges like porn breaking families apart, diseases of the soul that leads to family conflict and isolation, materialism whereby people forget the poor and spend on useless things, peer pressure to take hijab off and assimilate…. list doesn’t end. 

To be honest, I'm not sure which one of items in this list is new or specific to the young generation. 

I'm not young anymore, and I can remember porn was easily accessible to my father's generation, even in a muslim-majority society. People who wanted to watch could easily access it. The only difference between now and then is that back then people were a bit more hush hush about it, whereas now, because of the internet, porn and other time-wasting material are more proliferated and people openly talk and/or boast about it. 

The point is, you may think many of the challenges our youths are facing is new to them, but it's not. Our parents faced them too; but through a different medium, such as VHS and Cable TV versus internet. 

1 hour ago, Mahdavist said:

... for true progress you need everyone to work together (young and old, wealthy and poor, etc) 

It is important to address youth issues but also important for the parents of the youth to correct themselves and remove self imposed barriers. 

This is a good and important point. 

I think most parents and older people think that just because they're older they must know better, which is definitely not the case. Combine this false sense of confidence with pride (to admit ignorance), and you get a generational divide. 

 

Edited August 9, 2022 by SoRoUsH

[Aloysius Pendergast]

29 minutes ago, SoRoUsH said:

To be honest, I'm not sure which one of items in this list is new or specific to the young generation. 

I'm not young anymore, and I can remember porn was easily accessible to my father's generation, even in a muslim-majority society. People who wanted to watch could easily access it. The only difference between now and then is that back then people were a bit more hush hush about it, whereas now, because of the internet, porn and other time-wasting material are more proliferated and people openly talk and/or boast about it. 

The point is, you may think many of the challenges our youths are facing is new to them, but it's not. Our parents faced them too; but through a different medium, such as VHS and Cable TV versus internet. 

Salaam, I appreciate the original post. It's very thoughtful, and clearly it's from someone that's spend a lot of time in self-reflection about this topic.

However, i do disagree with this part of your argument.

Yes, our parents and us always had technology around(I'm 37 now). However, those of us that categorize as millennials(and earlier generations) were lucky enough to live in and grow up in a world without cell phones, ubiquitous access to the internet, countless social media platforms which are programmed to be addictive. These challenges were not around in the 90's or even the 2000's in many ways.

The technocracy we live in today, many ways circa 2012 is vastly different than the world before it. Facebook, Instagram, snapchat and now Tiktok have absolutely changed the landscape of how young people engage and live their lives. Tech addiction and social media addiction is a huge challenge, and anxiety and depression that comes about use of these platforms is evident. There are young men & women absolutely suffering silently in addiction to these platforms.

Things like porn have been around for decades, but it is never been easier and more accessible than today. There are children as young as 8 having full access to these things. I'm blessed to have been shielded from these things in my youth.

My point is that these are absolute huge challenges that Gen Z faces, and equating access to tech vs in the 90's or 2000's is simply not an even comparison.

As a community that sees Allah as it's first principle, we've been slow in our response to the rapid pace with how the technological landscape changes, and effects us all.