I teach tweens at a middle school, but don’t have children of my own. The school I work at is in a low-income area of a deeply red state in the US.
Here are some of my observations:
Many of these kids are legit addicted to their phones and short-form media. (But who isn’t in this day and age?)
I am concerned about the type of content boys are being fed. Lots to very young Andrew Tate fans and such. I overhear a lot of misogynistic or racist ideas being discussed very casually. Despite the outliers, I think many of my students are just baseline more understanding of other races, those that identify as LGBTQ+, and more aware of their emotions. Interracial relationships and friendships are common. Looking back, the 90s (when I grew up) was rife with casual racism and hate.
Some of the girls are shockingly vain. My school uses iPads and these kids will just stare at themselves in the camera non-stop. It’s kind of weird.
Social media definitely fuels a lot of dumb pranks and idiotic behavior around the school. (Again, this isn’t an issue specific to teens.)
The learning gap between the high achievers and low achievers is staggering. I have wonderfully bright students as well as students that are functionally illiterate at 12-13 years old. This is more a failure of an education system than a fault of the kids though.
These kids seem nihilistic/apathetic in a way I don’t remember me or my peers being at that age.
All-in-all, I’m remain cery hopeful of these kids, but their addiction to technology and the kind of content they get served by the algorithms is very concerning. I can’t imagine going through life without much of a formal education and building your entire worldview around social media.
Yes. Very much. Good examples are awful pranks, dangerous challenges, misinformation and drama. They are also extremely vulnerable for the current type of propaganda campaigns.
Yes. Teenagers’ behaviour has been changing for the worse since at least the time of the Sumerians.
If it is, it also changed ours. Let’s not hog all the cool shit we did on the internet as teenagers to ourselves and pull the ladder up behind us.
A while ago I decided that I wasn’t going to be the old guy that hates everything that happens after the 1900s, so I always try to give the “new” the benefit of doubt.
When my Dad was a teenager/ young adult (late 70s), he was rebuilding cars and hunting, and had on at least one occasion that I’ve heard of, driven drunk, (accidentally tore up the grass in a park, but never got busted) and he grew his own weed.
When I was a teenager/young adult, (late 90s) we were smoking and drinking, playing D&D and Goldeneye, and battling each other in the woods with sticks and bb guns (I still have a few bbs in my leg).
My kids play video games. My oldest daughter is high honors in college, has yet to touch any drugs or alcohol. Middle son is the most social of all of them, and has been busted by us with beer a few times, but he’s also bringing home straight As, and is thinking of going to college for math. Youngest daughter isn’t a teenager yet, so we’ll see what she turns into.
I’ve noticed a lot of teenagers are not learning to drive like previous generations did. It’s easier to get around, interact with friends and buy what you need without a car. (Less cars are good for the environment, not sure if there are other positives or negatives on this one, it’s mostly just a thing I’ve noticed.)
They are also MUCH more accepting of LGBTQ+ folks, and generally less racist than older people.
As far as new problems caused by the Internet: There is cyber bullying, but I know there have been bullies and violence since the dawn of civilization. They definitely don’t get as much outdoor time and exercise.
I don’t know. Better? Worse? Probably just different. Every modern generation’s youth lived in a time unlike anything we’d ever seen before, and every generation’s parents hated it.
The kids are going to be just fine. But forcing traditions and policies that were designed for days long passed, is only going to hold them back.
I think some of the behaviors you describe from your kids is not universally a positive. Not driving, not experimenting with weed, can be signs of a lack of social maturity. Teenagers are having sex for the first time at later and later ages, for example. Lots of studies have shown that teens are achieving life milestones at later ages than previous generations. While no parent wants their kid using drugs, being willing to try weed at a party with your friends is sort of a life milestone. But teenagers today aren’t having parties, aren’t experimenting, and aren’t really maturing fast enough
I’m not convinced. That sounds more like “I did it this way, so that must be right.”
If kids smoking weed later is a negative thing, then an 8 year old smoking weed would be a positive.
I don’t agree that doing drugs shows “social maturity” those are usually the times we think back on as “doing dumb shit”.
I didnt say that using drugs as young as possible is a sign of social maturity. I just believe than a willingness to try new things (such as weed, trying a beer, having sex, wanting to get a car to expand your possibilities) around the ages of 14-17 is a sign of maturity. These are the ages you’re supposed to be trying new things that are outside of your comfort zone. Instead, teenagers today are unwilling to go outside of their comfort zone and are perfectly happy asking their parents to do everything for them and drive them everywhere
I think there’s a difference between being an old grump and being concerned.
If kids spend time playing video games, great! Or if they like TikTok, that’s great too. They have their own humor and in jokes that I won’t get, and that is part of them being a kid and me becoming an old man.
But I am concerned at the same time. Kids are drinking less than ever - sure this is probably better for their health, but what is the cause? Kids are having less sex - I’m no fan of teen pregnancy… but why? My concern for kids is my concern for all people living in society these days - that the availability of cheap dopamine from electronics is making us more isolated, more anxious, and more depressed. And that the “good” behaviors we see in teens are really just a menifestation of these problems.
I feel like I take issue with the sentiment of “the kids will be okay” as a blanket statement because I was a kid, and I was not okay. I am still not okay, recovering from the tribulations of a childhood that is very much a precursor to the ones I hear about kids living today.
I was a kid, and I was not okay. I am still not okay,
That’s fair. I guess a more accurate assessment might be, “The will be as ok as they’ve ever been.”
There’s always some that do better than others, and there are a ton of variables beyond the existence of the Internet.
Aren’t bb’s lead? You might want to get them removed.
Copper, actually.
Doctor looked at them 25 years ago and said “If it’s not hurting anything, why bother taking them out?”
It’s changing everyone’s behavior for the worse
No one is fun anymore.
teenagers are “always getting worse”
its like a force of nature that every generation thinks the last one is worse then they were/are
no, I think teenagers are fine
the teenagers I know and deal with on a daily basis are just normal kids. I’d even go so far as to say that I don’t notice any issues with them at all. Maybe I give them the right respect and its given back to me
Counterpoint: what if every generation is right, and we’ve just been continuously getting worse for all of recorded history?
Yes, but also for the better in some cases. There are things about kids today that make me shake my head, and other things make me glad.
I think with good parenting and reasonable limits, the Internet can be good or at least neutral for kids. It’s bad for anyone to be always online, but within the parameters of our current society, it’s probably bad to never be online.
The problem, as it has always been, is that many parents either suck at parenting or are too busy to do a good job. If every parent was good, we wouldn’t need a minimum age for alcohol, for example. These restrictions are meant to prevent the worst harms in cases where the parents can’t or won’t do a good job.
nah, they’ll be fine.
like every single generation before, old people think young people got fucked up by a thing we didnt have as children.
…they’ll be fine.
I think the impact of the internet as it is today has a net negative impact on teenagers’ behavior. Specifically on mobile devices. Before, you could be silly and cringey without having to worry that someone was recording. Short-video formats and endless scrolling are detrimental to attention spans, and having a device that provides instant entertainment with little effort can be very distracting to those who never learned to be without it. Then there’s social media, which can cause insecurity in impressionable people who aren’t aware that what they see online is curated to show the best/worst side of things.
Certainly not as much as TV did.
What prompted you to ask this?
I don’t think they’re worse overall, but I do think they’re more visible when they’re being silly and thoughtless.
A teenager near me got convicted of burglary a few years back because he filmed himself doing it, to show his friends. A young 20-something had his license taken away because he filmed himself driving at 160 KPH.
Yes, and its not just teenagers.
When didn’t it?
