Generation Why?
The dull label game
If you look anywhere now - books, TV, online, you’ll see labels. Generational labels, age labels, neurodivergent labels - sigh - it seems like everyone wants an identifier to hang their personality on.
Somehow, we’ve turned being human into a sorting system. Everyone gets a label, a stereotype, and a personality package assigned like a character in a video game. You’re supposed to ‘fit’ somewhere - and if you don’t, people try to shove you into the closest box anyway.
Normal human quirks become bigger issues and need to be diagnosed or identified as ‘something’
What we are ignoring is that people are different, and that’s ok!
Humans have always been weird, complex, contradictory, creative, annoying, brilliant, and confusing - all at the same time. That’s not a ‘Gen Z trait.’ That’s a human trait.
Labels feel like understanding - but they aren’t
Labels feel organised I suppose. They feel like we’re making sense of the world, and you have an informed idea about ‘you’. Most of the time, they are just lazy shortcuts.
Calling someone ‘a typical Gen Z kid’ doesn’t explain them. Or ‘a boomer’, or ‘a homeschooler,’ ‘a gamer,’ ‘a quiet kid,’ ‘a gifted child,’ or even ‘a creative kid’ doesn’t explain them either. It just makes it easier not to actually listen.
The constant ‘us vs them’ is very dull. Every generation thinks the next one is broken. Every generation thinks the previous one messed everything up. Every group thinks their label explains everything.
It’s created a divisive toolkit. No longer do we say ‘I disagree with you.’
We say
‘You are like that because you’re a ___.’
Which shuts down thinking, it shuts down conversation, and replaces it with stereotypes and memes.
“Somehow, we’ve turned being human into a sorting system. Everyone gets a label, a stereotype, and a personality package assigned like a character in a video game. You’re supposed to ‘fit’ somewhere - and if you don’t, people try to shove you into the closest box anyway.“
Why does everyone want a label so badly? Well, labels feel safe, predictable and controllable.
Itt’s easier to sort people than understand them.
At a recent education meet-up one of the creatives there asked ‘where are all the weird creative kids now?’ - the ones who come up with great ideas and risk things?
Well, they are tied up in labels - and when that happens then it actually stops creativity - it stops big ideas and risk taking. People stay in their lanes - ‘oh I couldn’t do that as I am ___ .’
If there is a big plan being made by people in the shadows and that plan is to remove our individual ways of being - then this is a great start. Everyone labelled like a product.
I always used to say at work when they started talking about ‘types of learners’ that it’s like horoscopes for academics. Great for a quick summary - but it limits people.
Some days you might learn something by watching - other times by listening. Allow yourself to go with the flow, and see what works. Otherwise you are limiting yourself and / or your children. ‘He’s always been the quiet one, never causes any trouble’ - this becomes ingrained, and then that child never kicks up a fuss. ‘Granny doesn’t understand because she’s a boomer’. Or ‘She likes to speak her mind’ (I have a theory on this anyway - along with ‘I’m always late, sorry’ - but that’s for another time!) - you talk people in to their mindsets.
Labelling people can sometimes be a helpful, quick, shorthand in social settings - but we shouldn’t live by them or be defined by them. Identity is a process - it’s messy, interesting and forever changing. Way more interesting than a label.
For further reading on this - have a look at Benjamin Hardy’s book - helpful in building resilience and not being rigid in your own self appraisal.
Thanks for reading, I hope you’ve had a good week. The days are getting that tiny bit longer here at last - more time to get outdoors - if the weather was a little kinder! See you back here next week 😊
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