I don't these "Back In My Day" speeches work in most cases. When young people hear from older people how much harder things were decades ago, they often think: "Nothing I do will ever be as good as what he/she/they did. What's the point in trying?" And that only widens the gap between generations.
I think every generation tries to find some way to differentiate themselves from prior generations. For kids in the 1950s, it was rock music. For kids in the 1980s and 1990s, it was video game consoles. For today's kids, it's social media. This serves several purposes.
1. It gives the current generation something unique. Most people value things that they created or sought out for themselves more than things that were handed down to them.
2. It's a way for the current generation to tell older generations "We're not your little finger puppets anymore!"
3. It serves as a unifying activity for the current generation to rally around.
