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Changing priorities create a stressful divide among generations


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Imagine you have direct deposit and your paycheck is late hitting your bank account.

According to a new survey, millennials would be more upset with a slow WiFi signal and forgetting their social media passwords than not having timely access to their funds.

Each generation has been defined by its strengths and its weaknesses. History has proven that each generation usually has worked harder to be more prosperous than the generation it replaced.

Cell phones, digital technology and social media apparently have changed all that.

The GI Generation included people born before 1936 and grew up during the Great Depression. They were stressed over becoming homeowners, making sacrifices for the common good of their community and being dedicated to building America.

People from the Silent Generation were born between 1936 and 1945. Their biggest concerns were secure jobs and planning for their futures, many by the time they turned 20.

The GI Generation included people born before 1936 and grew up during the Great Depression. They were stressed over becoming homeowners, making sacrifices and rebuilding the country’s greatness.

Baby Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964. They tended to be more involved in rebuilding America’s outdated principles involving politics, civil rights, women’s rights and antiwar protests.

That led to Millennials, who were born between 1981 and 1996, who claim to have more stress than any generation before them.

Although none of them lived through World Wars, polio, the Depression, the AIDS epidemic or the Cold War, more than half of the 2,000 surveyed by OnePoll said they can’t deal with their stress in an effective manner. And nothing pushes them over the edge quicker than their cell phones.

The study concluded losing a wallet or credit card as the most-stressful thing facing a millennial. No. 2 is arguing with your partner, while commutes and traffic delays is third. All of those certainly are stressful.

But millennials also are quick to hit the panic button over issues like losing their phones, slow WiFi, phone battery dying, forgetting passwords and phone chargers.

Finding a job, being safe from crime, stable foreign policy, buying a house and educating, feeding and protecting your children didn’t make the Top 10.

For me, the most-stressing aspect of a cell phone are the clueless and careless dolts who send text messages while they’re driving. A hand-held device and a 3,000-pound moving missile is a combination that creates real stress, not a low battery light on your screen.

Oddly enough, the newest generation – Gen Z – are even more dependent on their devices than amassing the skills that will help them deal with the real world. It’s been reported that 92 percent of people born after 1995 have a digital footprint, and nearly half admit to being digital device addicts.

To be clear, the survey with millennials was funded by CBD oil company Encoda. That company’s primary products are hemp oils and capsules, which, as I’ve been told by other Baby Boomers, is supposed to relieve stress.