Life in Itself - Reflections on Generational Shifts and Mortality
The gods envy us. They envy us because we’re mortal, because any moment may be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.
- Homer, The Iliad
My mom would usually say that she’s ready to pass on to the afterlife anytime as she’s already too tired. I have been wondering why she thinks like that; why would anyone want their life to end when living is so much fun? I would even imagine having an immortal life, like in the movie The Age of Adaline where the titular character endured different lifetimes. I have soon come to realize that a never-ending life is not fun as soon as you see people you know pass away.
And so, while I stopped liking the idea of immortality, I still didn’t quite understand why someone would be “tired” of life.
Then I started seeing a post on social media introducing the “Gen Beta,” a new generation of kids born starting this year, 2025. They said these Gen Beta kids will no longer know life before Artificial Intelligence.
I belong to the generation of the Millennials, who, along with Boomers and Gen X, have seen life before the Internet became as mainstream as it is today. In the old days, as a kid, I never fully enjoyed Holy Week because TV broadcasting was suspended, and some networks only started broadcasting at 12 in the afternoon, especially from Maundy Thursday to Black Saturday. The shows would be different; you would not see your typical afternoon cartoon like Ceddie or Remi. We couldn’t play outside, be loud, or happy because my mom would say, “God is suffering; you should not have fun.” To endure Holy Week was a fast from joy. This is no longer the case these days. Streaming services don’t shut down during Holy Week, so the entertainment continues!
I also remember being a student before the Internet, iPhones, MacBooks, and productivity apps. Well, at least from my elementary days, school libraries still prevailed—but then again, I was just having fun without caring about homework and studying. I honestly never tried borrowing a book from our school library because we were forbidden to come in unless we had approval from our teacher. I don’t know about the others, but books from school libraries were like jewels in a museum. I had an early taste of the Internet and computers when I was in high school, which inspired me to take up an IT course in college. But even back then in college, only a few people walked around with laptops, and since our family couldn’t afford one, I was happy using the trusty notebook and pen to jot down notes from our classes. If you didn’t pay attention, you’d miss out and resort to copying notes from your classmates, assuming they took notes. This is no longer the case these days. One can record their professor teaching the class and still take down notes afterward.
I wonder if the Gen Betas of the world will one day say, “In the old days, life was like this…”
If I could be a kid again, I don’t know if I would want to be a kid back in my era or in this era.
Back in my era, the air was cleaner, but my world was smaller because there was no Grab.
In this era, yes, there’s Grab, and you can go anywhere, but smoke is almost everywhere, not healthy for an asthmatic like me.
Back in my era, there were no YouTube or Netflix, but I had friends to play and talk to.
In this era, Facebook and Instagram are here to connect with long-lost friends, but family members are mostly stuck on their phones, even when going out together.
I don’t know whether to live again as a kid in this era or back in my era. And so I feel like there’s no point or aspiration for me to be a kid again. I used to enjoy the holiday season because of the gifts and the joyful scent in the air with Christmas carols singing from house to house. Today some people don’t even bother to put up decorations and shun kids when they start singing on their doorstep (that includes me).
So now I am starting to accept my fate, that my body will eventually be frail, and that my life in this world will eventually be forgotten as people move on with their lives, going from one era to the next. Somehow, dying isn’t a terrible idea.
Is this how one feels when one no longer finds a purpose in their life? Like a life with no kids, perhaps? Should I even bring forth a kid in these troubling times? I couldn’t even choose if I liked being a kid in this era; what more for my own kid?
At this point, I don’t know what to say. I want to live my life to the fullest, but I don’t want to accept the fact that my life is already full, and there’s nothing else to do but die.