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[Nobody_Important]

I think there are a variety of reasons why the current youth are mentally down, but they expand much farther beyond the "covid" and "social media" things I have seen. Do not get me wrong. I 100% think that the Covid era has had ramifications of its own and I obviously can see how social media has affected the world. There are other economic, social, and legislative issues that have caused their own fair share of extensive damage on the mental health of the youth of America though. I know because I experienced the beginning of it as I was on my way out of highschool and saw it in college. I will just leave it at that though. I don't want to get into politics.


I will say though that I believe the glorification of "celebrities" and the Tik Tok/Twitch/Youtube culture has done the most damage. People don't want to work hard and become something of themselves. They want the easy ride and the pushed belief that the path of celebrity is open to everyone is misleading and damaging in its own way. Guys want to stream video games or make YouTube/Twitch channels. Girls want to do the same or become "influencers" on social media.


None of them realize that the idiots they idolize are one in a million. They are the exceptions. So you have droves of young people wasting time and money on "trying to make it big" only to fail and find themselves left behind socially, educationally, and financially.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

The article in the OP is a companion piece to this, which explains more about how social media has poisoned Western society down to the roots.

Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid

It’s not just a phase.

www.theatlantic.com

The culture of this nation is diseased and must be pulled out. The first thing to do is shut down Facebook and Twitter and Instgram and TikTok. Zuckerberg should be prosecuted as a criminal to make an example of people who would destroy an entire society for their personal profit. That's just the beginning. Senator Armstrong was right.

 

[TonyK]

Social media, as it's designed, to trigger addiction, is cancer.

 

[ForAcademicPurposes]

Love life and appreciate the little things like this kid.

 

[Dream-Knife]

Culture is stagnating or in decline.

Everything changed in 2012.

 

[rofif]

I think it's just the internet. It was good in the 90s and early 2000s.
Now?
-Social Media
-Constant comparison to others
-Everyone on social media starts video with "you are doing x wrong your whole life"
-Tik tok ruins attention spam
-raise of LGBT awareness but not really acceptance. I suspect some people are "not really" lgbt but find acceptance with that social group.
-Overblowing issues like blm on twitter

Of course it can also be different food, less testosterone and so on.

edit: I see the effects of internet on myself. I get angry and annoyed on forums like here very quickly. Trolls really do work on me.
And I am watching twitch and yt way more than playing myself. It's the Happy Hob. Love his stupid stuff

 

[rofif]

All I will say is that a disproportionate amount of people have replaced social life's with social media.

The kicker is, even when out and about you see people still on social media despite being around other people.

People don't know what it is to be present enjoy the moment anymore. How can you actually enjoy anything if all you're doing is worrying about content/footage for social media?

That's why I just don't take my phone with me when we go out somewhere small

 

[Rudius]

These are First World's problems: when there is too much wealth, mind creates other problems.
It's something I've read somewhere: there are less cases of mental health during or after a war than in a rich society.

In fact, and I have some experience on this sadly, minds have to cope with problems everytime, our mind is meant to be trained to face problems, not avoid them.
But in a modern society, we constantly avoid problems since we can. Avoid problems is not good for your health.
That's the reason why on Retardera or other places you read the infamous "I don't feel safe" or "I'm literally shaking", these seem a joke, but they are actually a serious issues and people that were affected can recognize these symptoms as caused by avoid problems and situations.

Very true. A little suffering is necessary for human development and health. A life of pure comfort and safety is like being in zero gravity for too long: your muscles will atrophy and your bones will become weak.

Also, the general lack of real face to face social interaction is bad for anyone. I'm an antissocial myself, but even I can't ignore the millions of years during which our ancestors lived in closely related groups. We are adapted to that, as well as to work and difficulty.

 

[SF Kosmo]

I think it should be said that maybe the internet just isn’t good for kids. It’s very often not good for adults either.

This is true, but often for very different reasons. Kids who are very online don't develop in-person social skills needed to maintain a happy amount of friends and personal relationships.

But older people who did not grow up online, they never developed the skepticism and critical thinking abilities needed to process information online. It's why boomers believe every goddamn thing they read, and even younger people fall into these self selected consensus groups of people and manage to convince themselves the earth is flat or whatever. Younger people are much more savvy to that sort of thing, because they grew up with it.

 

[rofif]

I would contend the main reason is because we have lost our purpose and belief as a society. We have denigrated our high minded goals. People of the past where oriented towards things like exploration and expansion or overcoming nature. Others devoted themselves to glorifying their Gods or improving the life of their families.

Our society has denigrated all those things. Exploration and expansion are colonialist. Religion is false and bigoted. Even having a family is seen as selfish or pointless or wrong somehow.

Now all of these things, it can be argued, are unnecessary. Maybe the arguments against them are correct, on some level. But if you removed all of the higher goals while replacing them with nothing, you end up left with nihilism. That is where we are right now. We are society that provides children with zero direction.

Worse, we undermine fundamental parts of their identity to the point where they don’t even know who they are. It used to be you could define yourself pretty easily. You could be a Jewish boy from New York. That’s a decent foundation. It says what you are, what you believe, and where you’re from. Then a person could build off that and become more.

Our society has made people feel no pride in where they are from. Now you’re a product of privilege and oppression or a victim of it. Your religion is basically just a bunch of oppressive lies meant to keep people down and keep you from enjoying yourself. Even your gender isn’t a product of anything “real” like biology. It’s just a societal construct that is really about, again, oppressively categorizing people.

We have stripped down all the things that allow a kid to form an identity and replaced it with vapid, “self love” bullshit. I think kids are so uncertain about who they are that they spend all their time looking inward to the point they drive themselves insane. Our society does a terrible job of providing kids with any direction, to the point where some parents are unwilling to even reinforce that their sons and daughters are in fact boys and girls. Kids need direction. People need direction. We have become lost and aimless.

First part of your post is connected to general lack of pride in work.
I am an engineer in a huge corporation. Our task is to make machine and production operators "NOT USE THEIR BRAINS".
If anyone has to make any choice, it is already a lost game. They will 100% click the wrong button.
We treat people like idiots because that's what they honestly look like... but that's because the work is just not interesting. Even though it's all high tech, pretty cool stuff. There is no way it wins with tiktiok haha.

And 2nd part of your sentence. Of course nobody feels pride of their country because other countries look better on instagram. globalisation

 

[Sidney Prescott]

I'm a lot happier since I dropped all social media entirely. Internet forums are about the only thing I do anymore. I keep Facebook for close family contact as the messenger is free, but I never read anything on there otherwise.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

As some of you bring up, probably the biggest issue from social media leading to depression is comparisons. People care too much about what other people have. This can go for adults too. I forget which post it was long time ago, but I remember someone saying when you live in a poorer country people arent as likely to give a shit because everyone is in the same boat. But when youre in richer countries with a big divide in money and jobs, people are more likely to get pissed and depressed as other people blow by you in life. Makes sense. Thats why some Indian farmer with a few goats or cows living in a village may be happy with his fam and life. He doesn't give a shit about copying an urban person who drives a new Camry. The farmer guy just lives and knows what he is exposed to.

I said it many times, don't worry what dudebro down the street does for a living or what wacky person is doing on FB. A lot of those people have skeletons in the closet. If I went strictly by FB feeds of friends, this is what I'd know about them:

1. Anyone want to buy a house? Here's my latest listing. Call me.

2. PETA supporter

3. I'm surrounded by tons of friends at bars and patios, so it looks like I'm a party animal every day

4. Wholesome family pics on vacation. Every pic is ear to ear smiles

Wow, I never knew every person I know is living it up in utopia.

In reality, a shit load of them are separated or divorced, child custody battles, ex-wife got a lot of cash as they had to sell the house so now he has to buy/rent a small condo like he's 27 again, one dude was so depressed he crashed at a buddy's house for like a month as he lived nearby, one dude is a drunk who got fired at my work etc.....

Amazingly, I don't think social media companies meant it to this way. When you here some ex-workers saying their intent wasnt millions of users getting depressed at each other's pics, bullying, politics etc... I actually believe them. I bet at the beginning they thought it would be a cool idea to just have an open platform to chat and post pics instead of people being isolated in dedicated website forums. I dont think Mark Zuckerberg in 2005 before FB launch was sitting there thinking he'd try to rake in the bucks off depressed people on social media. He probably thought he'd rake in the bucks from a fun website of happy people keeping in touch with each other.

 

[InfiniteCombo]

As some of you bring up, probably the biggest issue from social media leading to depression is comparisons. People care too much about what other people have. This can go for adults too. I forget which post it was long time ago, but I remember someone saying when you live in a poorer country people arent as likely to give a shit because everyone is in the same boat. But when youre in richer countries with a big divide in money and jobs, people are more likely to get pissed and depressed as other people blow by you in life. Makes sense. Thats why some Indian farmer with a few goats or cows living in a village may be happy with his fam and life. He doesn't give a shit about copying an urban person who drives a new Camry. The farmer guy just lives and knows what he is exposed to.

I said it many times, don't worry what dudebro down the street does for a living or what wacky person is doing on FB. A lot of those people have skeletons in the closet. If I went strictly by FB feeds of friends, this is what I'd know about them:

1. Anyone want to buy a house? Here's my latest listing. Call me.

2. PETA supporter

3. I'm surrounded by tons of friends at bars and patios, so it looks like I'm a party animal every day

4. Wholesome family pics on vacation. Every pic is ear to ear smiles

Wow, I never knew every person I know is living it up in utopia.

In reality, a shit load of them are separated or divorced, child custody battles, ex-wife got a lot of cash as they had to sell the house so now he has to buy/rent a small condo like he's 27 again, one dude was so depressed he crashed at a buddy's house for like a month as he lived nearby, one dude is a drunk who got fired at my work etc.....

Amazingly, I don't think social media companies meant it to this way. When you here some ex-workers saying their intent wasnt millions of users getting depressed at each other's pics, bullying, politics etc... I actually believe them. I bet at the beginning they thought it would be a cool idea to just have an open platform to chat and post pics instead of people being isolated in dedicated website forums. I dont think Mark Zuckerberg in 2005 before FB launch was sitting there thinking he'd try to rake in the bucks off depressed people on social media. He probably thought he'd rake in the bucks from a fun website of happy people keeping in touch with each other.

100% correct on all fronts, especially that last paragraph.

During the 90s and early 2000s, things like AOL and Yahoo chat rooms, MySpace, and Facebook were complementary to, and not a complete replacement of, in-person (what is now known as "IRL") hangouts.

 

[DeepBreath87]

100% correct on all fronts, especially that last paragraph.

During the 90s and early 2000s, things like AOL and Yahoo chat rooms, MySpace, and Facebook were complementary to, and not a complete replacement of, in-person (what is now known as "IRL") hangouts.

That’s true. I remember getting home from school and hoping on AIM to talk about where me and my friends were going to meet up. Then a few years later it was replaced SMS, but still just to coordinate with friends.

 

[rofif]

Back in the day people would get married and start having kids and create a family that gave them purpose.

Nowadays , girls are being taught to value career and money over starting a family and boys are told that they hold no value unless they can become famous and rich like the people they see on social media.

The constant pursuit of money and fame creates emptiness, jealously and isolation. Especially for teens that are too young to even be constantly thinking about making money.

Than you factor in the declining number of good paying jobs, increasing prices of rent/housing and crippling student loan debt that is probably causing stress and mental illness for the teens parents and family members. Its no wonder they feel hopeless and constantly sad.

Me and wife don't have any kids and don't really want to.
Maybe if she pushed I would agree but we just don't feel it.
I am not sure if raising kids is the only purpose in life. I know biologically of course it is but we are happy and just have a good time.
Maybe the life can be just about living it fun and how you like it?
And I know it's selfish af but kids sound like a lot of work. My nephews are so much work for me sometimes they almost feel like my own kids

 

[poodaddy]

As a father of a ten year old girl, this news worries me. I hope I can do something to keep those feelings from happening, but as I was a depressed kid, I sometimes wonder if anything can really be done.

 

[Aesius]

As a father of a ten year old girl, this news worries me. I hope I can do something to keep those feelings from happening, but as I was a depressed kid, I sometimes wonder if anything can really be done.

My son is 18 months old. At this point I have no idea what his adolescence and young adulthood will be like. Maybe we will collectively come together and realize the harm social media has on EVERYONE and either ban it or people will voluntarily stop using it, kinda the way cigarette smoking has dramatically declined. Or maybe it will be even more pervasive and life will be a hellscape of even more censorship, wokeness, and comparison with others, especially for young people.

 

[Blade2.0]

Our system as it is just isn't sustainable, but no one wants to reign anyone in. Billionaires will just keep gobbling the pie up and once well paying jobs will continue to be pushed as low as possible for sake of profits. on top of climate change and life expectancy literally continuing to decrease in this country, they should be depressed. this shit ain't right.

EDIT: And we have more than enough for everyone on earth, if we didn't let 10% of the population control 90% of it.

 

[synchronicity]

People are often a reflection of their environment, the world they live in. The predominant culture, the "mainstream" is a hollow, consumerist, soulless husk of a world. It doesn't have to be *your* world, but teens are more easily influenced by the dominant waves around them.

 

[DeaDPo0L84]

Social media, tearing down the traditional family structure, politicizing absolutely everything as well as nationalizing everything, turning away from church/God and I'm not even religious anymore.

 

[Pegasus Actual]

I blame the commies.

 

[MatrixReloaded101]

Me and wife don't have any kids and don't really want to.
Maybe if she pushed I would agree but we just don't feel it.
I am not sure if raising kids is the only purpose in life. I know biologically of course it is but we are happy and just have a good time.
Maybe the life can be just about living it fun and how you like it?
And I know it's selfish af but kids sound like a lot of work. My nephews are so much work for me sometimes they almost feel like my own kids

I don't know how old you are but that feeling will change with time.

Also I wasn't talking about just having kids but mainly building something with another person and you are doing that with your wife.

My main point is this new generation is being taught to not see the value building with other people. They are taught to approach life as a solo mercenary and that I think is what is creating a lot of the depression and chaos right now with the teens.

 

[rofif]

I don't know how old you are but that feeling will change with time.

Also I wasn't talking about just having kids but mainly building something with another person and you are doing that with your wife.

My main point is this new generation is being taught to not see the value building with other people. They are taught to approach life as a solo mercenary and that I think is what is creating a lot of the depression and chaos right now with the teens.

I am 33 and my wife is little over 30.
We have our own place and we are doing good.
but 30 is late for kids and we don't feel like it now... so I expect us to regret this later on but seeing everyone around us with kids being so miserable is not reinforcing the need for children.
Anyway. I am leaving the decision for her. She has a bit bigger role in that decision

About the topic - I see that at my work. A lot of people in their 20s... just working there on production shopfloor. No special hobbies, no discovered talent and worse - hopeless feeling that they will stay there forever but not actually doing anything to change that.
I am not some ambitious guy but all it took to get some better work was to actually just want it... if I can get a good job, then wtf. I am the laziest, most boring person I know

 

[mitch1971]

Bring back the good old sundays where everything shut down and world took a break once a week.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

I am 33 and my wife is little over 30.
We have our own place and we are doing good.
but 30 is late for kids and we don't feel like it now... so I expect us to regret this later on but seeing everyone around us with kids being so miserable is not reinforcing the need for children.
Anyway. I am leaving the decision for her. She has a bit bigger role in that decision

About the topic - I see that at my work. A lot of people in their 20s... just working there on production shopfloor. No special hobbies, no discovered talent and worse - hopeless feeling that they will stay there forever but not actually doing anything to change that.
I am not some ambitious guy but all it took to get some better work was to actually just want it... if I can get a good job, then wtf. I am the laziest, most boring person I know

30 might have been late for kids 50 years ago but I think it's fine now. I was 30 when my daughter was born. I feel this gave me a leg up because I was more mature mentally and had something of a career. I wouldn't wait too much longer though lol.

 

[poodaddy]

My son is 18 months old. At this point I have no idea what his adolescence and young adulthood will be like. Maybe we will collectively come together and realize the harm social media has on EVERYONE and either ban it or people will voluntarily stop using it, kinda the way cigarette smoking has dramatically declined. Or maybe it will be even more pervasive and life will be a hellscape of even more censorship, wokeness, and comparison with others, especially for young people.

I'm very fortunate in that my daughter thinks social media is boring and doesn't get it, so thankfully she's not dipping her toes into that cesspool, or at least she hasn't yet. I worry though about other stuff. I already dealt with some ridiculous drama between her and her friends that happened last year over some Xbox live stuff, and it was very much along the lines of social media nonsense, he said she said bull shit. Only time will tell, but all I can do is try to make sure she's got a good home life, a healthy amount of activity, a good diet, and that we spend lots of time with her and never make her feel like she's "going it alone" like I always did growing up.

 

[Aesius]

I'm very fortunate in that my daughter thinks social media is boring and doesn't get it, so thankfully she's not dipping her toes into that cesspool, or at least she hasn't yet. I worry though about other stuff. I already dealt with some ridiculous drama between her and her friends that happened last year over some Xbox live stuff, and it was very much along the lines of social media nonsense, he said she said bull shit. Only time will tell, but all I can do is try to make sure she's got a good home life, a healthy amount of activity, a good diet, and that we spend lots of time with her and never make her feel like she's "going it alone" like I always did growing up.

Man, same. My parents were good and did their best, but they had the typical small-town boomer upbringings in the 60s and 70s and couldn't relate to what I was going through AT ALL.

The idea of teenage angst or struggle was foreign to them and they preferred to just change the subject or even get angry when I opened up to them. It was like they couldn't accept that their son was having a tough time when they apparently lived the most wonderful care-free teenage existences.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I am 33 and my wife is little over 30.
We have our own place and we are doing good.
but 30 is late for kids and we don't feel like it now... so I expect us to regret this later on but seeing everyone around us with kids being so miserable is not reinforcing the need for children.
Anyway. I am leaving the decision for her. She has a bit bigger role in that decision

About the topic - I see that at my work. A lot of people in their 20s... just working there on production shopfloor. No special hobbies, no discovered talent and worse - hopeless feeling that they will stay there forever but not actually doing anything to change that.
I am not some ambitious guy but all it took to get some better work was to actually just want it... if I can get a good job, then wtf. I am the laziest, most boring person I know

My bros and sis in laws had kids when they were about 40.

Its actually pretty good from what I see because the kids grow up in an established environment where its your typical cozy suburban home, both parents got decent jobs and money. Although I totally get the situation. By the time the kids are in college parents are already closing in on 60!

I know someone who had twin daughters at age like 44.

 

[poodaddy]

Man, same. My parents were good and did their best, but they had the typical small-town boomer upbringings in the 60s and 70s and couldn't relate to what I was going through AT ALL.

The idea of teenage angst or struggle was foreign to them and they preferred to just change the subject or even get angry when I opened up to them. It was like they couldn't accept that their son was having a tough time when they apparently lived the most wonderful care-free teenage existences.

Sounds like we had similar upbringings man. Something about the 90's and 2000's, our generation was just filled to the brim with angst, turmoil, agitation, trepidation, and envy; maybe it has something to do with myspace and Facebook, internet in general, really kicking off at that time, don't know. But I do know that the parents before us we're not equipped to deal with us or aid in a meaningful manner, we are, which hopefully should mean we'll do alright with connecting to our kids and keeping that connection strong.

 

[Aesius]

Sounds like we had similar upbringings man. Something about the 90's and 2000's, our generation was just filled to the brim with angst, turmoil, agitation, trepidation, and envy; maybe it has something to do with myspace and Facebook, internet in general, really kicking off at that time, don't know. But I do know that the parents before us we're not equipped to deal with us or aid in a meaningful manner, we are, which hopefully should mean we'll do alright with connecting to our kids and keeping that connection strong.

Absolutely. I've thought about that a lot. If my struggles as a teen end up being beneficial for my son in that he'll have an empathetic and understanding dad, then it will all have been worth it. I think that will be true for a lot of millennials and their kids, honestly. I'm normally anti-wokeness but if there's anything good that has come from that movement, it's that being open about struggles in life is more acceptable than ever before from both parents and kids.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Sounds like we had similar upbringings man. Something about the 90's and 2000's, our generation was just filled to the brim with angst, turmoil, agitation, trepidation, and envy; maybe it has something to do with myspace and Facebook, internet in general, really kicking off at that time, don't know. But I do know that the parents before us we're not equipped to deal with us or aid in a meaningful manner, we are, which hopefully should mean we'll do alright with connecting to our kids and keeping that connection strong.

I grew up in the 80s and 90s, so it'll be different. And with immigrant parents it's even more strict.

Basically, it was a one-sided argument of their way or get yelled at the dinner table every day. Go to school, dont do dumb shit etc.... If my siblings and I ever were gay or lesbian my parents would freak out like it's doomsday.

So probably one reason why my sibs and I lead straight as an arrow lives is because we followed their mantra.

I didnt start using the net until some basic shitty service during university, and my parents didnt learn to use a computer until like 2000 when they were about 60. Even now, they have no clue about the net except basic stuff like emails, checking stock portfolio and occasional news articles. My dad can barely even use the printer after 20 years as every once in a while if it blinks or not working as normal he calls one us all hyper like it's going to blow up and next time we go go fam dinner we got to help with a printer setting gone awry or the ink cartridge is messed up.

To them social media doesn't exist. Even when the nephews and nieces are busy, they think they are watching videos or playing cellphone games when in reality they are texting friends.

 

[Danteyke223]

Half way there to being honorary Eastern Europeans then.

 

[InfiniteCombo]

I grew up in the 80s and 90s, so it'll be different. And with immigrant parents it's even more strict.

Basically, it was a one-sided argument of their way or get yelled at the dinner table every day. Go to school, dont do dumb shit etc....

PREACH.

One thing I've noticed with acquaintances and their kids, compared to the way I grew up, is that sometimes it's very different in two major ways:

(1) they often try to be "buddies" with their kids, in a way that blurs the boundaries of respect. My dad would always joke, "I'm not your goddamn friend, that's what you have your high school buddies for. I'm your dad. The chief tyrant in this house." My siblings and I... We knew the relationship with our parents, and we have never disrespected them, ever. I've seen so many kids disrespect their parents these days, because the parents constantly try to be at the peer level of the kids.

(2) there's often a "negotiation" that happens during disputes, which is baffling to me. My parents would just say, "... because we said so. End of story." There was no negotiating. No back and forth. If they said to do the dishes at that moment in time, I had to do the dishes at that moment in time. Clean my room. Do my homework. Etc. It wasn't me trying out-smart them and negotiating to "do things later."

 

[StreetsofBeige]

PREACH.

One thing I've noticed with acquaintances and their kids, compared to the way I grew up, is that sometimes it's very different in two major ways:

(1) they often try to be "buddies" with their kids, in a way that blurs the boundaries of respect. My dad would always joke, "I'm not your goddamn friend, that's what you have your high school buddies for. I'm your dad. The chief tyrant in this house." My siblings and I... We knew the relationship with our parents, and we have never disrespected them, ever. I've seen so many kids disrespect their parents these days, because the parents constantly try to be at the peer level of the kids.

(2) there's often a "negotiation" that happens during disputes, which is baffling to me. My parents would just say, "... because we said so. End of story." There was no negotiating. No back and forth. If they said to do the dishes at that moment in time, I had to do the dishes at that moment in time. Clean my room. Do my homework. Etc. It wasn't me trying out-smart them and negotiating to "do things later."

LOL. So true.

My parents were the cheapest and most boring parents you'd ever meet. Coupon clipping city, and after dinner they wanted nothing to do with us. They watched TV in their room and we played games and watched TV in the basement.

I swear, if my sibs and I ever did drugs and my dad found out (my mom would yell too but we knew mom wouldn't do anything as she was always a nice lady), he was different. He'd literally turn beet red and kick you in the ass as hard as he could. No joke. And then he'd try to get some info out of you like how you got it and who gave it to you and to stop hanging out with those people.

We got our share of whacks. They would never aim for the face or anything, but my dad had no problem going hard at our legs or ass with kicks or belt whack.

It worked for us. We all turned out great with good upbringings, jobs, homes etc.... They are still old boring people, but looking back it's better than any of us being crack addicts. They knew what was needed to succeed in life. Do well in school, get a job, pay your bills, dont be a drunk or druggie. Sounds reasonable to me.

The negotiation I see it with my brothers. When they do dumb shit I even laugh right there with them, and tell my bro just tell them to stop or yank the tablet away from them when it's family dinner. But they kind of do, kind of dont. Its literally random when they'd be stern or let their kid play Fortnite on the couch when everyone is eating. Weird shit. I guess they feel dad was too stern with us, so they want to be more of the gentle cool parents. It can work. The kids are good kids.

 

[rofif]

InfiniteCombo StreetsofBeige
I am sorry to say but your parents just sound like ass haha
I understand the idea of not going too soft on the kid because it will grow up to be an asshole... but it does not correlate.
Me, my wife and some people I know were raised in relaxed households. I think the more important part is that the household is not pathologic but.. you know normal.

But also - I am not so sure parenting plays a big role in this topic. I still think it's more on the internet, constant negativity and probably then parents being too good and buying everything for their kids.
I see this with my nephews. I am spoiling them myself because how the hell am I suppose to say no? The internet and twitch has such a big impact on them.. they see what other kids have.
I buy him a game and then I realize he already saw the whole game on twitch. I got them ps3, ps4, notebook and plenty of games
I know it's bad but I ask my sister and she allows it.
Everyone wants to see a kid happy. If they were little begging assholes, they would get shit from me

 

[InfiniteCombo]

InfiniteCombo StreetsofBeige
I am sorry to say but your parents just sound like ass haha
I understand the idea of not going too soft on the kid because it will grow up to be an asshole... but it does not correlate.
Me, my wife and some people I know were raised in relaxed households. I think the more important part is that the household is not pathologic but.. you know normal.

But also - I am not so sure parenting plays a big role in this topic. I still think it's more on the internet, constant negativity and probably then parents being too good and buying everything for their kids.
I see this with my nephews. I am spoiling them myself because how the hell am I suppose to say no? The internet and twitch has such a big impact on them.. they see what other kids have.
I buy him a game and then I realize he already saw the whole game on twitch. I got them ps3, ps4, notebook and plenty of games
I know it's bad but I ask my sister and she allows it.
Everyone wants to see a kid happy. If they were little begging assholes, they would get shit from me

I love and respect my parents to this very day, and think they are nowhere even remotely close to being "an ass." Both of my parents are awesome and I thank them often for raising productive members of society that didn't turn into deadbeats/junkies/whiners/losers/etc.

You say "parents don't play a big role" and then in the rest of your post... Go on to describe how parents play a role.

Bruh

 

[rofif]

I love and respect my parents to this very day, and think they are nowhere even remotely close to being "an ass." Both of my parents are awesome and I thank them often for raising productive members of society that didn't turn into deadbeats/junkies/whiners/losers/etc.

You say "parents don't play a big role" and then in the rest of your post... Go on to describe how parents play a role.

Bruh

Not as big of a role as internet ad stuff
edit: oh and no offense to your parents ! I just think it's a duty of someone who decided to have children to take care of them well. Nothing that child should be thankful for. It was not it's decision but parents OBLIGATION

 

[InfiniteCombo]

Not as big of a role as internet ad stuff

How do kids get on the Internet in the first place?

By getting devices bought to them by their.... parents. Who out of guilt or some other messed up reason shower their kids with gifts, instead of giving their kids the most important gift: quality time and a sound moral code.

 

[rofif]

How do kids get on the Internet in the first place?

By getting devices bought to them by their.... parents. Who out of guilt or some other messed up reason shower their kids with gifts, instead of giving their kids the most important gift: quality time and a sound moral code.

I don't even see a possibility to not buy your kid a smartphone or a computer of some kind. It's 2022 and there is no possible way to keep it way from the internet.
Internet exists and IT IS THE WORLD of today. We don't like it but there is no coming back unfortunately.
So there must be a better way to do this

 

[Deleted member 1159]

Love life and appreciate the little things like this kid.

well shit, maybe the future isn't so bad.

 

[Grildon Tundy]

Didn't read the article, but teen angst is normal.

That's the thing--the angst has intensified. This ain't your grandpappy's angst. Literally.

 

[nush]

Bring back the good old sundays where everything shut down and world took a break once a week.

No, that was awful.

 

[Grildon Tundy]

Not just teens, unfortunately. I've never seen a state as long as I've been alive with such rampant mental illness not only left unchecked, but enabled.

In some instances, reality in itself has been completely pushed aside in favor of fantasies just to not hurt the feelings of some who can't handle living in the real world and accepting truth.

And unfortunately, there's something currently going on that I'm not going to talk about here that ties into teens mental health, that is being exploited and taken advantage of that I find sick and repulsive.

None of this is going to end well.

I am very curious what you're referring to here.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

InfiniteCombo StreetsofBeige
I am sorry to say but your parents just sound like ass haha
I understand the idea of not going too soft on the kid because it will grow up to be an asshole... but it does not correlate.
Me, my wife and some people I know were raised in relaxed households. I think the more important part is that the household is not pathologic but.. you know normal.

But also - I am not so sure parenting plays a big role in this topic. I still think it's more on the internet, constant negativity and probably then parents being too good and buying everything for their kids.
I see this with my nephews. I am spoiling them myself because how the hell am I suppose to say no? The internet and twitch has such a big impact on them.. they see what other kids have.
I buy him a game and then I realize he already saw the whole game on twitch. I got them ps3, ps4, notebook and plenty of games
I know it's bad but I ask my sister and she allows it.
Everyone wants to see a kid happy. If they were little begging assholes, they would get shit from me

You might call old school parents asses, but at least they kept their kids in line and arent on an inclining roller coaster ride of depression.

If parents werent so easy peasy letting their kids run wild you wouldnt have so many kids feeling like shit. As a first step, all you got to do is limit their time in front of a PC and cell phone. That will probably solve a lot of the anxiety already.

It takes a lot of work to keep a family in line. And it's a lot tougher back in the day when a lot of immigrant parents came from dirt poor countries where half the family was blown up in wars. And zero English too.

If they can make it, any person in modern day can make it. Just got to man up and be responsible. And includes being responsible for kids.

 

[SuperBabyMethod]

I see it front and center as a teacher. It almost seems like the kids don’t believe in anything at all. While there are certainly issues regarding public schooling and how education is taught to children, it just seems like the kids, at least the ones I currently have, really don’t see the value in a formal education. COVID most definitely had an effect, and many of my students have been upfront about how much they hated online learning, both as a teaching method and the social isolation it brought with it.

Cell phone use is rampant and one things I’ve observed is that the kids (I teach 8th grade) seem to have outgrown what it means to “be a kid”; meaning that they are already heavily and easily exposed to a lot of shit on social media: porn, violence, “influencers” who don’t contribute nothing to society, music that’s lyrically violent and sexual; it just feels like they’ve outgrown a lot of the shit they would be typically taught at their age level and it’s extremely disturbing to watch unfold in the classroom. There’s a lot of negativity behind all the bravado, laughter, disrespect, and general craziness. Oftentimes when I see or talk with them 1 in 1, they are friendly and more open about themselves and they all seem to have a lot of mental health issues.

 

[DragoonKain]

I am very curious what you're referring to here.

You can DM me if you want me to share. I don't want to derail this thread, because I know where threads go when this topic is brought up.

 

[dem]

One thing I've noticed is kids have basically stopped riding bikes. And when they do they just ride around their small neighborhood.

The bike rack at my school used to be so full you might not even get a spot. Now the same racks at school aren't even half full.


When I was my kids age we used to ride around town like kings. I didn't want my parents driving me anywhere. I didn't want to see my parents unless they were forkin over 75cents to buy a bag of chips (with a sweet tattoo in the bag).

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I see it front and center as a teacher. It almost seems like the kids don’t believe in anything at all. While there are certainly issues regarding public schooling and how education is taught to children, it just seems like the kids, at least the ones I currently have, really don’t see the value in a formal education. COVID most definitely had an effect, and many of my students have been upfront about how much they hated online learning, both as a teaching method and the social isolation it brought with it.

Cell phone use is rampant and one things I’ve observed is that the kids (I teach 8th grade) seem to have outgrown what it means to “be a kid”; meaning that they are already heavily and easily exposed to a lot of shit on social media: porn, violence, “influencers” who don’t contribute nothing to society, music that’s lyrically violent and sexual; it just feels like they’ve outgrown a lot of the shit they would be typically taught at their age level and it’s extremely disturbing to watch unfold in the classroom. There’s a lot of negativity behind all the bravado, laughter, disrespect, and general craziness. Oftentimes when I see or talk with them 1 in 1, they are friendly and more open about themselves and they all seem to have a lot of mental health issues.

I have many teacher friends too and woo-boy the stories you hear. I'm surprised teachers can last doing this job for 30 years till retirement. At least back when I did grade school in the 80s, students seemed more keener and proper. Everyone did what they were told and if you did something stupid you got sent to the principals office or stood in a corner for an hour. There's always some clowns who didnt really care about grades in high school, but most kids tried to do their best and listened from kindergarten to high school graduation. I went to schools which were normal public schools. No ivy league shit or mansions nearby.

Now, they tell me kids talk back, cell phones, I'm gonna tell my parents on you hoping they get grilled or fired by the board.

And this comes from friends who are teaching in the same districts we grew up in! So it's not like they are teachers in a ghetto while growing up in quiet suburbia.

 

[teezzy]

Idk why this made me laugh

 

[Ryohazuki282]

This is absolutely ine of the main reasons why we HAVE to defeat the LGBT mafia that's running this country now. People are giving up on traditional gender roles, etc, that had evolved for a REASON because they make people, and society, happier and more fulfilled.

Now if you want to feel special, it's as simple as deciding to identity as LGBT and you've suddenly jumped to the top of the victimhood totem pole, nevermind the many valid reasons why this is a bad idea for so many young children.