Comparison of the 1920s to Today

The youth of the 1920s were flamboyant with their own way of dressing, speaking and acting. If you look at the Jazz Age, you might say they were rebellious, materialistic and obviously disrespectful. Today’s youth may be described in the same manner or youth from any generation for that matter. The youth from the past and present tend to hold celebrities in high esteem. They watch the movies, play video games and want to imitate the hairstyles, make-up and dress of these characters they see portrayed. Anime is a big theme in today’s youth culture. Teens will dye their hair black, have bold make-up, dark clothes, black fingernails and look like the cartoon characters they are trying to mimic.

By the 1920s, there was evidence of an increased divorce rate. In today’s world, we have the highest divorce rate of all time, rising over 50%. According to surveys of the college students in the 1920s, the young believed that marriage should end in divorce if their marital relationship did not fulfill their expectations. Today’s society has a throw away marriage concept, with the majority of children being raised between two sets of parents or single parent households.

The 1920s American family was criticized by writers, who were eager to blame them for the downfall of the youth back then. Many older generations do the same thing today. They see the split families and blame the free lifestyle of the teens on the fact that they have no supervision while being bounced between dual households and situations where single parents are working leaving them home alone. The Literary Digest summarized a survey on the younger generation as in need of parental authority. That is also said of today’s youth. There is not an adult around that would disagree on this issue.

In the 1920s the youth had access to movies, newspapers and such, but in today’s society the media comes in many forms and the information and influences are much easier to find. With today’s