Look: There’s no doubt the people who’ve punched in on their time cards more recently than we have are, in some ways, dumbed down and lacking in manners. And it’s correct to point to advances in technology as a cause. Don’t forget this is a trend that originated back in time when new technology was a sharper hunting stick and more than one color in a cave drawing. And if attitude and behavior changes have been occurring more rapidly in the generations since, it’s because they’re keeping pace with the accelerating rate in technological evolution. You pointed out a good example of this, drawing the ’cause and effect’ line from Publish software to the “good enough” ethic. (When we discovered we could go from concept to finished product more quickly, the new imperative became instant turnaround, with the result that speed now trumps quality.)

And yes, that same dynamic is the norm in all kinds of disciplines in 2011.

Whether or not we approve, we notice that people don’t work the way we did. Or communicate. Or set expectations. Or form self concepts…the list goes on. How could we NOT be different. Younger people don’t share our experience–probably have no knowledge–of the way things used to be. Meanwhile, you and I don’t share their experience of growing up in a digital environment, and many of us have simply refused, or haven’t extended the effort, to make the adaptations needed to function effectively in the new, connected, dumbed down, multi-media, celebrity-obsessed world in which we all live.

I’m not writing off our contemporaries as incompetent individuals, or suggesting we’re not vital, engaged and capable of making important contributions. Like you, I’ve yet to reach my peak. My point is that I’ve experienced an interesting phenomenon: new professionals with enthusiasm and readiness to grow and learn, whom I think are outperforming colleagues who have much more experience.

This is the age of entitlement and far too many people are seeing an ease of entry into almost any profession. Along with this mentality comes some sort of thought process that compares their income potetnail to a professional athlete or rap singer. Growing up, I had friends whose parents owned taverns and neighborhood restaurants. They had resonable expectations and were definitely middle class. Today, a small bar owner somehow thinks he should be earning enough to buy a second home in St. Tropez.

Living in the Bay area, we see this magnified to the power of 6.

I will agree with you about the seasoned professionals or experts. There is an expectation that one gets when they’ve mentored a few hundred people, served on non-profit boards and otherwise made an impact in thier field, that this expertise deserves a certain premium.

As we move more and more into a society where godd enough is good enough and the bar continues to belowered, the numbers of businesses or people willing pay that premium tends to become less and less.

I was seeing an old doctor, who was amazing. Many of my friends and aquaintances who were unable to find relief from the junior achiiever doctors they went to took my recommendations and came over to “the old farts side”. One is enjoying playing tennis at 74, after his 30 something year old doctor had him fitted for a wheel chair.

Wrking in the ad industry, I get to witness the complete waste of time and money and energy that comes from a bunch of kids who are constintently involved in a pissing contest. It’s too bad this industry hasn’t figured out yet that 3 X a 20 year old really doesn’t add up to more than 1 fifty year old.

Sorry if you’re resigned to sitting in your rocking chair on the porch, but count me out. I’ve not yet seen my peak.