When is the generation gap most apparent in modern society?

In our society, we have wide differences in culture, experiences, opinions, habits and behavior. Now I’d like to focus two remarkable behaviors. One is for young generation and the other is for the elderly.

First, mentally vulnerable young generation. Performance based system, so called merit system has been installed in our society for the last two decades. As a negative aspect of performance based system, it generated stressful working environment. Employees are driven by the pressure that they need to bear fruits. Some people lack their confidence and they evaluate themselves as looser when they can’t perform well. For example, one of my subordinates who left our office due to mental depression confessed me that he was overwhelmed by excellency of coworkers and he felt inferior. I don’t think he’s looser at all. But he was annoyed by huge gap between his perfect world and real situation. It’s no exaggeration that present-day young generation is mentally vulnerable.

Second, blunt manner of the elderly. A lot of people criticize young generation’s behavior and lament the lack of moral such as bullying at school, eating food on the train and they don’t giving the elderly their seats. However, it seems that the elderly attitude would be more impolite rather than young generation. For example, I’ve ever come across the scene that the elderly orders his dish bluntly. Give me this dish! Bring it as soon as possible. I’ve never seen young people ordering their dishes with such a blunt way. Young people ，they can use polite expression such as “Can I have this dish, please” type. I assume that there is strong correlation between elderly blunt attitude and their military background or right-wing education. They were educated in hierarchical relation. They still maintain its idea even in postwar era. They tend to consider waiter/waitress as their subordinates. This is the moment I feel the generation gap.

In conclusion, it’s not exaggeration to say that mentally vulnerable and rigid attitude is remarkable in our society.