Every generation seems convinced that the next one is weaker. Less resilient. Less committed. Less capable.
And every generation is wrong.
Every generation calls the following one the weak generation.
If you look back honestly, you’ll see the pattern repeating itself again and again. Parents complained about their children. Teachers complained about their students. Elders complained about “kids these days.” Not because the next generation was failing or truly a weak generation — but because the world had changed, and the old tools no longer fit the new reality.
Plato complained that young people had bad manners and no respect for authority. Socrates worried that writing would weaken memory. Parents once feared novels, then radio, then television, then video games, and now screens.
The fear is always the same: “They have it too easy. They won’t cope. They are weaker than we were. They are a weak generation.”
I remember my dad saying it about my generation. Every generation says that because things were simpler in their generation and they believe the younger generation are slack, spoiled, and living an easy life.
Real Generational Complaints in Action
When I was a teenager, we had a very good friend in high school and every time we visited his house, his dad would start the spiel of how hard his life was and how spoiled brats we were.
How he had to walk to school in the snow…
We heard it so many times we rolled our eyes and ignored him as an old fart.
He lectured us that we had everything handed to us on a silver plate and had no right to complain or express any discomfort.
And at the same time — he was complaining.
Double standard. I hate it.
If there is one thing I can tell parents in my parenting workshops, it is this:
Don’t be a hypocrite. Kids have sensors. When they smell hypocrisy, you lose the respect you worked so hard to earn.
Ronit Baras
Our friend’s dad kept calling us the weak generation.
If you want respect, don’t tell your kids they are weak. Not them, not their friends, and not their generation.
Every Generation Complains
I was introduced to complaining about the new young generation as a weak generation throughout my life.
I heard my parents complaining.
I heard parents complaining about kids 15 years younger than me.
Then I heard it from my own generation when they became parents.
And now I hear my kids’ generation talking about the following generation.
“This weak generation.”
“Kids these days.”
“They get everything they want, and it makes them weak.”
If you take this perception from one generation to the next, the direct conclusion is that our species gets weaker and weaker.
How much weaker can we get?
Survival of the Fittest
A friend of mine once talked to me about health, food, and lifespan and asked:
“Don’t you think we get weaker and weaker every generation?”
Back then I said, “I’m not sure. We sure live longer.”
If the length of life is the indication of strength, then no — we are actually stronger.
As a life coach working with parents, I have heard this statement for years. People say it to give themselves some credit for their hard work, but it lacks understanding of one important thing:
The definition of strength is fluid.
What was hard back then is different from what is hard today.
And in every generation, something is hard.
The Weak and Strong Paradox
There is a famous quote that summarizes this paradox beautifully:
Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And weak men create hard times.
This idea suggests a cycle.
But reality is more complex.
We don’t actually have a weak generation. Strength and weakness intertwine across generations.
What made one generation strong can create new struggles for the next.
Ronit Baras
Let me show you what I mean.
The Paradox of Too Few vs Too Many Options
Jenny was a mum who told me that when she finished high school, life was tough. She wanted to study something in sport because she was very athletic.
But in her generation she couldn’t afford such a profession, so she chose IT instead. It gave her comfort and money and allowed her to support her family successfully.
But she never felt fulfilled.
Tough times made her a strong woman — but also a frustrated and unfulfilled one.
Later, when we talked about generations, she complained about her daughter.
Her daughter had all the options in the world: travel, study anything, take a gap year.
And yet she was confused and miserable.
From Jenny’s point of view, her daughter had an easy life and therefore belonged to a weak generation.
But look carefully.
Jenny suffered from too few options.
Her daughter suffered from too many options.
Different struggles.
Not weakness.
The new challenges don’t make us weak; they make us stronger. Much like lifting more and more weights, making our muscles stronger, our generational challenges don’t make us weak, they make us stronger.
This is how evolution works, every “weak” generation has different challenges, and they are focusing on addressing those challenges. Each generation has some aspects that are easy (and don’t require effort) and others that are hard (require effort) which makes them stronger.
While Jenny had it tough in choosing a profession to support her family without the joy of doing something she loved, her daughter, having it easy on that aspect (not having to fight for money as much – By the way, Thanks mum for working hard to allow me that choice!) She could choose to do something she absolutely loves in creative industries, which meant she was going to have it very tough financially.
You win some, you lose some.
Do you see?
Not weak, just tackling another toughness.
The Cycle That Never Ends
If we follow the logic of calling every younger group a weak generation, we should see a clear cycle:
One generation strong.
One generation weak.
But that’s not what we see.
Instead, every generation calls the next one weak.
Which tells us something important.
The problem is not the generation.
The problem is perception.
The Next Generation Might Actually Be Stronger
When psychologists and sociologists actually measure abilities — cognitive flexibility, problem solving, learning speed, and creativity — they often find improvement.
Younger generations adapt faster to complexity.
They process information more quickly.
They navigate ambiguity better.
The human brain hasn’t become weaker. It has simply adapted to a different environment.
What often gets confused with weakness is a mismatch of skills.
The older generation trained for endurance and repetition.
The new generation trains for speed, choice, and constant change.
When we judge them by our standards instead of their context, we mistake difference for deficiency. We call them the weak generation instead of the stronger one.
The Psychology Behind the Weak Generation Myth
There is also something deeply psychological at play. As we age, uncertainty feels more threatening. Change feels faster. The world no longer bends to our habits. Calling the next generation a weak generation becomes a way to soothe our own discomfort. It allows us to believe that we were stronger, instead of acknowledging that the rules of the game have changed.
Every generation raises the next with the best tools it has — and then criticizes them for using those tools well.
Ronit Baras
Children today are not weaker. They face different pressures. Different stressors. Different forms of resilience.
Emotional sensitivity is not weakness. Needing meaning is not fragility.
Questioning authority is often the beginning of wisdom.
Employed or Self-Employed?
The paradox appears in everyday choices too.
Simon grew up with a self-employed father. His dad worked around the clock, was rarely home, and sometimes risked the family’s financial stability. Simon decided he wanted stability.So, he worked for someone else.
He had dinner with the kids. He slept better at night. There was no risk of losing the house.
Easy, right?
Not exactly.
He had limited income, little flexibility, and frustration with his boss. He knew he could earn three times as much working for himself. But he lacked the courage.
His son Ruben grew up watching that frustration. So, Ruben swore he would work for himself. Ruben had his own business. He worked around the clock, he didn’t have dinners with his wife and daughters, they could never take holiday and when they did, he was on his computer most of the time…
Different generation.
Different struggle.
Different kind of tough.
Every choice solves one problem and creates another.
Ronit Baras
The Cyclical Rest
I prefer to think of generational change not as decline but as movement forward.
The periods that look “easy” are simply resting points before the next challenge.
That’s evolution.
A 5-year-old child today has access to more information than a university student had 50 years ago.
But that creates a new difficulty.
Information overload. Instead of searching for information, the challenge now is learning how to filter it.
Again — not weakness.
Just a new type of strength.
Technology and the Weak Generation Narrative
In past generations it was so hard to meet people that were not in our physical proximity. If you had family overseas, it was a big challenge to see them.
Before phones, you had to write letters by hand and when phone was available, it was expensive.
If children went traveling the world, parents maybe talked to them once a year.
People didn’t see their families for years.
When we wanted to learn something, we went to the library and read books we could borrow for three weeks…. It was tough!
Today, kids can connect and communicate with anyone they want, even those they don’t know, with a click of a button.
I’m still excited to talk to my family on the other side of the world and see them moving. (And I remember the long letters, sending photos and the expensive phone calls). When we want to learn something, with a click of a button we can learn almost everything through a video. easy right?
Well, no!
The ease of clicking the button means we lose a whole new world of stimulation. We spend more time indoors, lacking sun and fresh air, we have less touch and meaningful conversation when all our senses engage in reading social cues and body language.
When we need information, in a click of a button, we find so many contradicting information that we can’t trust that it is true.
Our confidence in the world around us deteriorates.
While we seek information, we are bombarded with advertisement that tells us that we are inadequate, deformed, sick, not good enough, ugly, poor, fat… and that is tough, OMG, it is tough in so many levels.
So, no!
The new generation is not a weak generation; it just deals with a different challenge.
No one is weak. There is no weak generation.
No one is strong. There is no strong generation.
Modern struggles are invisible to older generations because they didn’t grow up with them.
Ronit Baras
Frequently Asked Questions About the Weak Generation
Why does every generation think the next one is a weak generation?
People judge younger generations using the standards they grew up with. When the world changes, the skills needed to succeed change too. What looks like weakness is often simply a different kind of strength shaped by new challenges.
Is the younger generation really less resilient?
Research suggests the opposite. Younger generations often show stronger adaptability, faster learning, and greater cognitive flexibility because they grow up in a more complex environment.
Why do older generations criticize the weak generation?
Psychologists believe it is partly emotional. As people age, fast change can feel uncomfortable. Calling the next group a weak generation can be a way to make sense of a world that no longer works the same way.
What challenges make today’s generation strong?
Modern generations deal with information overload, constant comparison on social media, and rapid technological change. Navigating these pressures requires new forms of resilience and adaptability.
The Hard Truth About the Weak Generation myth
Here is the uncomfortable truth.
If the next generation looks different, it’s because the world is different.
And if they struggle, it may not be because they are a weak generation. It may be because we are teaching them how to survive a world that no longer exists.
Every generation believes it survived something harder.
Every generation forgets the support it once had.
And every generation underestimates the quiet strength of the one that comes next.
Maybe the real work is not judging the next generation.
Maybe the real work is listening.
Listening to what kind of strength this new world requires.
Every difficulty we conquer creates ease for the system — so the next challenge can be faced.
There is no weak generation.
Only evolving ones.
I live in Australia and in every gathering they “show respect to ancestors past, present and emerging” I think this is what is the real story behind it.
If you are struggling with the next generation you can check our website and our parenting program
Wishing you respect for the generations before and after you.
Hugs,
Ronit
