I think a lot of the grumpy old man thing has to do with the difference in what our parents passed on to us. Ours are the last generation where basic mechanical and daily skills were passed on from parent to child; simple things like being able to swing a hammer, use a handsaw, or swing an axe without hurting yourself, or even how to trim your fingernails or sharpen a pencil with a pen-knife.
Mine was the last generation where they still taught Auto Mechanics, Wood Shop and Metal/Machine Shop in High School. And mine was the last generation where we didn't consider it normal to be bludgeoned with advertising every third minute of every day from TV, Radio, Signage and even the machines we used for our work.
This generation, and the one before it, were essentially raised by television; not out of neglect, but because our generation got the short end of deregulation and union-busting. Where it was once considered normal for an average working man's full-time income to pay for a modest home (that he owned, not rented) food for the family and a car to get to work, now it takes two "professional" incomes to provide that. Great, we somehow manage, but who's raising the kids? TV of course; at least for a few hours a day to cook a meal, get the dishes done and pay the bills the only choice for most of us is to let them glue their eyeballs to the tube.
And this current generation is growing up thinking it's perfectly normal to carry a TV around in your pocket that actually watches you and calls its maker with details of your whereabouts, what you watch on its screen and custom-tailors advertising to that history; they even vibrate and ring to "Alert" you of that advertising! And they actually treat it as if it were important!
Is it any wonder most of them are essentially useless? Unable to change a light bulb on their car, fix a door hinge or even check their own gawddamn oil. But it's not like they don't have plenty to worry about; if they want to have a chance at a decent life, they START by staring down $30-50K in debt at the age of 17 JUST to get the education WE TOOK FOR GRANTED IN HIGH SCHOOL.
So yeah; I'm a grumpy young fart. I'll be a grumpy old fart soon enough, unless I am successful in getting my family away from the crazy that's closing in on us.
But in the meantime, I'm raising the most beautiful kids in the world; I just hope I don't let them down.
Cheers,
mnem
Wherever you go... there you are.