Sleeping arrangements fall through the generation gap

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After taking a scientific survey — three friends at lunch and two women at the next table — I fear that the younger generation is heading off a cliff. I know that every group of grownups say that about the kids slip-sliding in their footsteps, but our parents were wrong about us, and we’re right about our children.

Really, do I have to defend us boomers? We brought the world the Beatles and computers and the iPhone and Bob Dylan. We protested unjust wars; we cracked glass ceilings and knocked down racial barriers. We know who we are and what we did. Silicon Valley whippersnapper billionaires say they want to change the world, but I have news for them: We already did.

Steven Spielberg is one of us, and so was Steve Jobs. We pretty much killed Communism without blowing up the world. Many of us took the 25-year corporate gift watch, retired and went on to other careers. We gave the world the Internet and took away polio. Not a bad record.

We did all this while educating ourselves, raising families and setting down roots in the very places we grew up. Weren’t those rules etched somewhere in stone?

Apparently not. A different dynamic is playing out with the generation behind us and the young people behind them. In general, millennials are so locked into their many-splendored devices that meaningful communication is difficult. We have taught them that Galileo was wrong: The earth revolves not around the sun, but around them. Exercise has replaced religion; yoga pants are de rigueur. Work is meh, but video games, selfies and texting are essential daily activities.

Yes, these are broad and possibly unfair observations, since the kids are still young, and they may yet evolve, even save the world for their children and grandchildren.

Rather than deal in generalizations, let me offer one specific example of modern culture that speaks to the widening chasm between generations. Few people born before 1990 can possibly comprehend a service like Airbnb. The discussion between a 20-something and a 60-something about Airbnb is a nonstarter.

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