In today’s world, elderly people are not given enough respect in society. The significant cause for this change might be poor family connections, changing family structures as well as social indications.
It can be seen that many households are changing their extended family structure to nuclear, thus becoming fewer in number. This naturally leads to the distance between the generations in the family, disrupting the bonds due to limited interactions. Meeting the grandparents once in a while tends to have an impact and doubt regarding the importance of elders in the household, which might also make the elderly feel neglected and insignificant from their loved ones. Additionally, technological advancements have led youngsters to believe that the methods implemented by elderly people are outdated. As a result, the younger person may begin to underestimate the elder’s contributions, resulting in a gradual decrease in respect for their experience and knowledge.
The lack of respect for elders in society might give rise to a range of serious challenges and inevitably affect society. Nuclear families with no elderly people to guide them might lose their stability. Elderly people usually are seen helping the young generation with important pieces of knowledge from their experience. The cultural traditions and knowledge are passed on to the younger generations by the elders. If the youngsters fail to understand or learn from their elders it will be a backlash on society causing degradation in the traditional values and cultures. Furthermore, the young generation might face difficulty in understanding the cultural roots.
Regardless of the reasons behind the lack of respect toward the elders, this can cause serious problems in society. Addressing these issues will require a collective effort from all generations to avoid causing issues such as loss of love, knowledge, and cultural traditions.