What is wrong with the youth of today?

[Orpheum]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 2:28pm

How did today's younger generations get to be so superficial?

When did they stop caring about important issues?

Why did they develop such an entitlement complex?

When did clothes become more important than human suffering?

How did they get to be so self-absorbed?


-----

I'm aware I'm making a perhaps unfair sweeping generalization.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 2:36pm

They were trained by the older generations.

[xxnewgirlxx]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 2:40pm

Kids! What's the matter with kids today?

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 2:42pm

wow - you just asked the questions that have been on my mind quite a lot lately. One reason may be bad parenting.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 2:42pm

It is a sweeping statement, but I have sometimes wondered the same thing myself. Generation Y is a pack of spoiled babies with no taste.....blame the parents and their constantly-coddling-the-child-at-all-times parenting techniques that started in the eighties and only got worse from there.

[Orpheum]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 2:42pm

Forgive me - after a particularly unpleasant encounter, I was lost in the heat of the moment. I've calmed down now.

Damn kids.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 2:43pm

"One reason may be bad parenting."

Or none at all.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 2:47pm

I think it's the bad influence of Stephen Sondheim!

Devil Music, I call it!

[Carl Magnum]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 2:48pm

I'm glad I can grasp on to the last vestage of being a gen-x'r.

I blame it on the parents I saw when I was growing up, the young 30 something yuppies who worked for giant companys (Kodak, Xerox) who were far too busy for children and so appeased them with Nintendo's and Clothing and toys and such to make up for the constant day care and babysitters.

[zepka102]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 2:48pm

i still have faith in many

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 2:53pm

Well, there's no one thing but I think the breakdown of the family unit plays a part. Divorce is a recent trend in this country, and many people believe there is correlation between the rise in divorce and the rise in depression and prozac users. Also children raised by parents who were never married in the first place, etc. I feel very fortunate, not only was I raised by a close intermediate family but I'm extremely close to my extended family as well, which gave me a great support system throughout life. The breakdown in family causes a distortion of values, more depression, and a need to escape in material objects. I don't know how big a part this plays, but I think it definitely is a factor in shaping up our youth today.

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 2:53pm

double post

Updated On: 9/12/05 at 02:53 PM

[Mamie]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 2:56pm

That may be closer to it!

I recently shocked my nieces and nephews by relating my past encounters with the police. This came about when I was waxing poetic over the general shortcomings of EVERYONE in this administration. One commented "Well, I didn't vote for them. Or anyone else for that matter." This prompted the others to laugh in agreement. I asked them why they thought that was so funny and he said "because there's nothing we can do about it anyway".

That prompted me to explain (for the 50th time) that they were really the ONLY people who could do something about it. They have strength - both in the their youth and in their numbers. They are the ones who will be most affected by the crimes of this administration. WHY in the name of God, weren't they out on the street, protesting to one and all, sitting down as a group and stopping the day-to-day running of the status quo until that status quo HAD to stop and listen to them?

Nobody gives a rat's-rear-end what I think or what I say now. But they cared when I was that age. They had to listen when we marched on Washington and protested - over and over again - until that war was stopped. Twice I was hauled off by the police (but never arrested, thank you) and I still went back and did it again.

They have to care about their future. Why in the world don't they?

[Plum]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 2:56pm

Genetics or upbringing? Or maybe the adult-run media and government? Maybe the more appropriate question is what's wrong with the damn adults today.

Or maybe, just as you suspected, you're not so much leaping as rocketing to conclusions.
Updated On: 9/12/05 at 02:56 PM

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 2:56pm

I had the pleasure of spending the weekend with two of my dearest friends who have a two-year-old child and I have to tell you, these two are doing a tremendous job with their daughter. They do not spoil her at all - and have made a committment to raising her to be concientious and polite. She always says "please" and "thank you", does not hit or scream, and is incredibly sweet. Oh sure, she gets tired and cranky sometimes - heck - we all do - but this kid is not gonna grow up to have daddy wrapped around her little finger and get whatever she wants. She is going to respect herself and her parents and the people around her - it's already very evident, even at the age of two (she is very smart and speaks in complete sentences). I guess I just want my friends to know that I am very proud of them, because today's youth tend to be so greedy and self-centered, and I think it's a damned shame.
I had to work for everything I got when I was being raised, and I also was spanked if/when I was bad - and I think it is appalling that people are not allowed to give their child a swat on the butt nowadays without it being called child abuse. There's a huge difference in being swatted on the bottom for acting out, and being hurt deliberately because the parent can't handle his/her own frustrations.

[callingAAhome]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 2:58pm

nothing that wasn't wrong with the generations of youth before them

[zepka102]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 3:00pm

how they are brought up plays a large part. i saw it in all of my kids last year. you could pick out the students who were in households with one parent and those who were in two parent households. that doesn't give them excuse to misbehave or perform worse though. if they have the determination, then they will succeed. and that doesn't only apply to school work, but how they act in public. kids care more than it appears... they just don't have the proper support to know if what they are doing is right or wrong... probably until it is too late.

Updated On: 9/12/05 at 03:00 PM

[CostumeMistress]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 3:00pm

"How did today's younger generations get to be so superficial?"

When they were sent the message from birth from Mommy and Daddy: "The world revolved around YOU!" It starts when babies are picked up and cooed and cuddled every single time they cry, as soon as they start crying; and continues on through childhood and young adulthood.

"When did they stop caring about important issues?"

Perhaps when they realized that no one in an authority cared about what they thought or had to say? I'm constantly fighting being very detached from politics, and why shouldn't I be? Education is the most important and relevant "major issue" for young people, especially higher education - how much was that talked about in the past election? Once you're taught that your issues don't matter, it's harder to care about any issues at all.

"Why did they develop such an entitlement complex?"

I don't know, who's telling them that they "deserve" this or that? It's called marketing, and young minds buy into it; especially when no one is pointing out what bullsh!t it is. You DESERVE to look fabulous, so $90 pairs of jeans are a necessity. You DESERVE to turn heads, so buy that designer cologne at the age of 14. You DESERVE the very best, hence the new car (do you think that teenagers buy those themselves???)

"When did clothes become more important than human suffering?"

Can't help you on that one, I have clothes in my closet from my sophomore year in high school, and I'm a junior in college. Are you referring to something specific?

"How did they get to be so self-absorbed?"

Possibly when "they," insecure young minds with a lack of proper mentoring, realized that image is EVERYTHING in an EXTREMEMLY judgemental society. Plus, society is so isolated. Everyone walks around with their cell phone in their hand or their iPods in their ears - striking up a conversation with a random stranger is quite a task.

My generation is also quite aware that older generations don't like us and think we're all self-absorbed... and we tend to live up to the expectation.

[smartpenguin78]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 3:03pm

These same questions have been asked by every older group of the "modern era."
Things are not new, things are not getting worse, they are as they are (except we now have the ability to aniliate the world)

The vast majority of the people in the culture are not interested in the suffering and abuse levied on others, it is not limited to any particular generation and never will be. The younger generation acts like their parents, spend some time rebeling, then revert. It is up to those who think and act to try to help those of every age see the suffering in the world is helped (abliet never stopped) when we care enough to do something about it.

There are many people today who are in their teens and twenties who are as involved and active as any person has ever been, just as the majority of those 30 and above are as callous, self-absorbed and frivilous as any teenybopper nightmare.

[Orpheum]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 3:04pm

Plum and Smartpenguin- I daresay you are two of the young people who I am NOT referring to - please don't take any offense. We can only judge from our own experience. I imagine (again perhaps a generalization) that is is HARDER for young people to be outspoken and to actually give a crap than it was in my day. So I applaud the people who do.

"My day". God, I'm old. (But still young!) (And beautiful!) (With nice clothes!)
Updated On: 9/12/05 at 03:04 PM

[grizzabella]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 3:05pm

There are some wonderful kids out there, and there are, as Orpheum states, some spoiled, obnoxious, disrepectful, superficial brats with an over-developed sense of entitlement. I also blame absent or preoccupied parents, many of whom have no clear sense of their own values or of what's important. And for that, it's MY generation which is at fault. As a whole, we didn't do such a great job as parents.
However, I also blame sit-coms in which kids were portrayed (especially in the '80s and '90s), for the sake of a laugh, as snide, mouthy brats constantly firing one-liners at adults, who were portrayed as either inept and well-meaning, or stupid. It gave a false and negative image of how families should be.

[Plum]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 3:05pm

CostumeMistress, why are you giving even a moment's thought to these questions? It's a waste of time, even by message board standards. Quite frankly, between reading an article in a major newpaper about how girls just don't get technology and reading that inane post, I've had it up to here with insulting generalities today.
Updated On: 9/12/05 at 03:05 PM

[Orpheum]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 3:08pm

Plum - I don't believe it to be a waste of time at all! Please don't be blinded by your own offense at my initial post.

Generalizations don't grow from nothing.

[Plum]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 3:10pm

They're still false, and you've pretty much admitted that. Try looking at it from a Generation Yer's point of view. You try your best to be at least a decent human being, and then smack- you're labelled as a lazy, entitled, spoiled little brat based on the year in which you were born. How the heck is that any more valid than grouping people by the color of their skin or who they choose to love?

[CostumeMistress]

Posted: 9/12/05 at 3:11pm

I guess I'm just used to people assuming I'm self-absorbed. And since I don't walk around with a sign on my head that says "I pay my own tuition, wear discount clothes and buy off-brand peanut butter; I go to church, give to charity and play with children," I simply have gotten used to it. You want to assume I'm self-absorbed? Fine. Go ahead. It's your loss.