Recently, I stumbled upon pictures of Singapore in the 60s on the internet and I was amazed by the progress Singapore has made thus far. 45 years, that was how long it took for Singapore to turn into a city it is today. As compared to before, Singapore is now a cosmopolitan and a bustling developed city. It also took Singapore 45 years to gradually go through a changing face in the society.

The change in society is probably due to the change in generations from the era of independence until today. The most commonly used terms for these generations are Gen X and Gen Y. People who were born between 1960s and late 1970s fall under the Generation X group while people born between mid 1980s and early 1995 are deemed to be Generation Y, which are people in the current society. These changes include the difference on the way each generations think, how each generations react to things and their perceptions.

People in today’s society are more attention-craving as compared to the previous ones. They crave for attention from their mentors for feedbacks and guidance as they appreciate being kept in the loop and seek frequent praises and reassurances. On the other hand, the society of Generation X is more individualistic. They are independent, resourceful and self sufficient. On top of that, they value freedom and responsibilities.

In addition to that, they are more work-oriented and they work to live rather than live to work. That explains why they appreciate the fun they have in their workplace, even though it wasn't that entertaining, and espouses a work hard-play hard mentality. In contrast to that, the society today is more family centric. They have different vision of workplace expectations as they prioritise family over work. Therefore, they are willing to trade high pay for the sake of spending quality time with their family members. However, this attitude is viewed as narcissistic or lacking of commitment and discipline by the Generation X. 

Although the society today and yesterday think differently, it is impossible for Singapore not to go through such changes. Sometimes, these changes are the ones that would lead to the development of the country. With the existence of Generation X and Generation Y, the introduction of Generation Z will soon to follow up. We have seen the differences between these two societies, but what can we expect from generation Z? Well, that is something we will all have to ponder on.