Why the old rich men are jealous of Gen Z 

Old rich men are jealous of Gen Z. They watch with horror as young people use their smartphones to chat, to do video calls, listen to music, watch movies, watch porn, order food, clothes, cosmetics from online stores, paid digitally and delivered at home, plan holidays, watch lectures online, use AI to do homework, find dates and hookups by swiping left and right.

It was so different 50 years ago. Boys could not talk to girls, they focussed on getting marks, and fought hard to get admissions to colleges, face fierce competition and formidable obstacles as they worked their way up the fortune ladder. Their children seem to have it all easy-born into fortune. The old men worked to create the digital paradise. The grandkids enjoy it with a sense of entitlement, not gratitude. So, the grandfather is very angry.

So these men talk in the media about children having to work harder, be more productive and stop having fun for the good of the nation. A new trend is telling children not to have live-in relationships and focus on marriage and commitment. Gays and lesbians are allowed to have live-in as as they are not allowed to marry. But straight children must marry and girls must be baby-making machines, who take care of the next generation and family values, rather than wasting time on expanding their social media reach.

These old men are the modern Yayatis. Yayati is a character from the Mahabharata who wanted to stay young and so begged his sons to give him their youth. The son who refused to do so was stripped of inheritance. The son who gave away his youth was allowed to ascend the throne, by the time he was too old to enjoy the pleasures of life. The ancient epic draws attention of the jealousy of the older generation that feeds on the younger generation. They feel Gen Z is not grateful for everything they have got so easily.

Across office platforms, one can see the resentment against a generation that demands work-life balance, that refuses to be exploited, that seems to have shallow understanding of deep political issues, that cannot handle pressure, that has never learnt to share, as most of them were single children of double income parents, who were busy with their own career rather than upbringing of children. Old men are blaming their old wives for rejecting their traditional roles and choosing instead to compete with the men in the workplace.

Children of old rich parents are being forced to marry and perform traditional lives and have children early. If they do not comply, they will not get the inheritance. These rich kids resent the freedom of their middle-class friends who jump from club to club with different partners each weekend. Rich kid weddings are like school assignments where parents are competing with each other. The happiness of the child does not matter; the glamour of the wedding to show the parent’s success is far more important. Old parents and parents-in-law are being photographed more than brides and grooms, their faces botoxed and images photoshopped, complete with a publicity agency ensuring they are liked by millions of bots.

Many young kids do not want to take up jobs their father did. They are happy with lesser paying jobs that give them more time. They want to do creative things. They are willing to take more risk. They are more fragile as they have lived in protected ecosystems by their parents who did not let them travel alone to school or be bored or wander alone in nature. They seek more out of life and expect their parents to provide for them. The parents have to provide the paradise that the children want to enjoy. The parents are resentful of the reverse burden. Rich old men came from a generation when parents had expectations of kids. Now kids have expectations of their parents to be cool and submit to their whims.

Those who worked hard never enjoyed what they created. They want their children to work as hard and also not enjoy what has been created. But the children, used to getting the best in the world, are now realising they really can spend their lives spending their father’s hard-earned money, like aristocrats of yore. Why is that a bad thing?

The Yayati of the Mahabharata exploited his children. He wanted to enjoy their youth. The modern Yayati cannot get their children’s youth so they want to impose old age upon them quickly. So sanskari lives, not live-in relationships. No weekend of Netflix and chill. Only 90 hours of work, even on Sunday, to make rich old men richer. We speak of Yugas changing but these old men are stuck in time.

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