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[Loomy]

These old lazy fucks like to blame everything on Gen Z. People were calling us video game addicts in the 90s and early 2000s. Fifteen years from now, they're going to be saying the same thing about Gen Alpha.

Also

Since the WHO classified gaming addiction as a specific disorder in 2018 (distinct from technology addiction), the specialist National Centre for Gaming Disorders set up in the UK has treated just over 1,000 patients. Thankfully, the numbers suggest it is rare, affecting less than 1% of the 88% of teenagers who play games.

Wow...AA wishes they were dealing with these numbers

Im curious what the gaf parents are teaching their kids to play. Outside only? Free will? Guiding them?

My kid's almost 6. She's likes cycling, basketball practice once a week. That'll be replaced with swimming, dance, and skating as the season changes. She also loves Bugsnax and building stuff in our lego fortnite world.

 

[A.Romero]

The environment has changed, society has change, humanity has changed... Get over it.

That faux nostalgia for the old times really disgusts me.

Since forever there have been kids that have prefered to spend time inside with what is known as nerdy activities. Numbers have increased because games and social media algorithms have been designed to get them hooked. It used to require a special kind of personality to spend sitting 8 hours to beat fucking Battletoads but anyone can get hooked in modern loop.

On top of that, of course, streets are not as safe as before but to be honest, it's mainly about the quality of the indoor entertainment.

 

[Sojiro]

They were sucking on smartphones when they were teething. Designing addictive practices in social media and gaming is a science now. They never stood a chance.

I do think we have to consider social media when brining this conversation up, because that is something I (thankfully) never had to deal with growing up. I know a fuck ton of kids (and adults too honestly) that will turn their brain off, and just stare at an endless stream of 15 second videos for hours on end. I swear to God that shit conditions ADD.

 

[Clear]

To be honest it seems to me the best part of youth has been pathologized; Romance and sex.

Kids today must be so worried about being tarred and feathered for making any time of intimacy faux pas that it has to be massively inhibiting.

 

[MikeM]

Maybe my kids are the exception, but they are always outside (whether they like it or not) unless the weather doesn’t allow it. But, I also live somewhere that encourages being outside.

- House has a nice, large backyard.
- Street is quiet. Little to no traffic.
- Large trees and two parks within walking distance of five mins.
- Kids are active in sports 3 days/week.

I also am aware that I have the financial means to cover all this, which is something that is just not a reality for a lot of people.

Times aren’t fair right now. Not long ago, you could have a home, car etc all on one income. Now, two incomes barely do it for a lot of families.

 

[tmlDan]

this must be the onion, can't be for real lol

 

[I Love Rock 'n' Roll]

 

[Sentenza]

There's literally nothing about the last generations that makes them more oppressed than the ones that preceded them.
If anything, it's quite possibly the opposite.

Where they got the short end of the stick is rather how they've been educated into victimizing themselves constantly.
Growing for years hearing the that you are a guiltless (and hopeless) victim of modern society, that you have no responsibilities in your own failures, that every little anxiety you have makes you special and worthy of being coddled by the rest of the world is fucking up legions of young people.
This is the generation that loves to brag about social anxiety and not wanting to leave home or answer the phone, who proclaims loudly and proudly on tik tok that they will never "submit to the slavery of a 9-to-5 job", that doesn't even argue but assume as a matter of fact that older generations are ALL idiots and only they figured things out, etc.

Then of course they get immediately crushed as soon as they attempt to interact with the real world and then use the trauma of the experience as a justification to withdraw even more from society.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

There's literally nothing about the last generations that makes them more oppressed...

Social media + phones.

 

[IAmRei]

Oppressed by who? their parent? The one or two who gives them food, money, and protection?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

i dunno but when I was a kid I used to play soccer on the street, and shit like that all day long. nowadays I don't see kids playing outside.

Everyone played street hockey when I was growing up. Now I see none. All of us had games of some sort whether console or C64, as well a just chilling after school watching cartoons or older show when you get older.

If anyone tried coordinating after school or weekend hockey on someone's street or at school, that ALWAYS took priority over sitting home. Some guys would get their parents to drop them off if he lived too far away to bike over (one of the bus students). And if it was a weekend or summer, you'd keep playing after dinner until it finally got too dark.

Heck, get some guys and toss a football or baseball around in the park. It's not about playing a real game as youd never have enough players, but just chill with buddies, thro the ball around and talk sports and chicks. Grow up dudes and be a man.

Kids are lazy and anti social.

 

[Northeastmonk]

That article is stupid. It sounds like a parent making excuses for their lazy kid. Video games are fun, but get real. Kids aren’t entitled to a better life. They need to realize that. Instead we coddle them and make up a bunch of disorders because they want their child like , magical dreams to be true.

I feel like society is teaching them that being an internet celebrity means never having to have an honest job. They watch people with more wealth online, get mad because they aren’t living that kind of lifestyle, and then tell people they’re somehow better than the situation they’re in.

I just want my kids to have a good career and a retirement account. I think anyone else who isn’t working on their life is just b*tching about being lazy.

 

[SmokedMeat]

All of the kids I know that are involved with team sports, play outside, play videogames, and can converse with adults have parents that are involved in their lives.

Seems like the author is making weak excuses.

 

[genesisblock]

This article can can speak about the millennial generation and it would apply just as much and you can see it gradually declining to this point.

Funny thing is, video games "addiction" can be curbed if the world had better opportunities and when the economy is doing better. I discovered I haven't played games for nearly a year when jobs where fulfilling and every week was going out with friends. People generally enjoy going out if the world isn't so openly hostile to living "life". Now I find myself playing HD2 every night because I can't be bothers going for a drink with friends at the bars. It got too expensive, service has been declining, friends getting laid off jobs yada yada.

I do agree with the content of the article, but that sensationalist headline screams "video-games-are-of-satan" era.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Zoomers hardly play video games compared to previous generations so this is one stupid headline

 

[darrylgorn]

It's because online gaming is more convenient and socially acceptable.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

No, they are addicted because it gives a dopamine rush, just like anything else addictive.

Just go touch some fucking grass.

Fuck, The Guardian opinion pieces are utter rubbish.

Another thing to keep in mind, gaming forums are like nursery homes.

 

[Toons]

Source:


I guess we just ignore the obese, lazy bastards and the fact that so many online spaces are becoming over moderated/sanitised unless you share the common values. Hence the histrionics over twitter.

Your counter to the notion that young people stay inside and play video games because the outside world often attacks them.... is to attack young people for staying inside and playing video games.

*Facepalm*

I find the article sanctimonious but I also find it increasingly hard to blame young people for not going out as much. People are crazy out there and common decency is low. You are celebrated for beign an abject douchebag and humiliated for shoeing goodness. Tons of division and hate going around over stuff that shouldn't matter much as it does.

 

[Kumomeme]

OPPRESSED?

so what then? are murica gonna add 'gamers' into their list of DEI next?

cant wait to see someone label tiktokers as 'oppressed' later

 

[Reaseru]

My son plays soccer year round (school and club), gets some time at the green with his buddies playing golf, and gets his 20 hrs a week in Rust. I do think he might feel oppressed when I ask him do the dishes though.

Fucking Nazi.

 

[FewRope]

i dunno but when I was a kid I used to play soccer on the street, and shit like that all day long. nowadays I don't see kids playing outside.

Playing football after school every single day was the norm, now I just see drug addict looking teens in shady corners of my town lmao

 

[GymWolf]

A guardian article is the new forbes contributor.

 

[Toots]

While trying to explain everything through systemic oppression and not wanting to see any flaw in the supposed oppressed group is stupid, the article makes a few good points (although not that innovative) about the surveillance tools given to overprotective parents which will of course abuse them and their children. Also the privatization of public space by way of dumb fat security guards is quite alarming.

Anyway, since i don't want to get piled on by my fellow gaffers, gen-z kids are lazy unshaped asexual blobs who only deserve our contempt, and are fully responsible for the poor state of the world we live in, even though this world was shaped by baby boomers, in their image, and has been dominated by them for something like 50 years now.

 

[IDKFA]

Source: https://amp.theguardian.com/games/a...real-reason-teens-are-addicted-to-video-games

If we want to know why many teens choose of their own free will to spend 10 or 20 hours a week playing games, rather than pathologising them, we ought to look around us.

Gen Z are the most closely monitored generation ever to be born. We criticise children and teenagers for not going outside – but at the same time we’re curtailing their freedoms and closing their spaces. Parents will reminisce about how they spent whole days outside, cycling the neighbourhood, but at the same time they’re treating their children’s smartphones like tracking devices, demanding regular check-ins, infiltrating their social media feeds and databasing their activities and friend groups. The pandemic may have abated, but it wasn’t just lockdowns that were keeping kids indoors.

The nightclub industry is in freefall. Teenagers can’t hang around in parks without arousing the suspicion of overprotective adults who have decided these rare recreational spaces belong to their toddlers alone; city squares and skate parks and pedestrian zones that were once public are now being insidiously privatised, monitored via CCTV and policed by private security guards.

No wonder then, that teens withdraw to online video game worlds, the last spaces they have left that remain unmediated by their parents or other authority figures – the last places where they are mostly beyond the reach of adult control. You can spend all day with your friends in Red Dead Redemption or Minecraft or Fortnite doing whatever you like, without being moved on or complained about, or having to spend £5 on a latte every 30 minutes. If you can’t access therapy, at least you can relax with comforting games such as Stardew Valley, Unpacking or Coffee Talk, or chat things through with your friends in-game. You can travel freely, and for free, in Elden Ring or Legend of Zelda; no elderly relatives can suddenly vote to restrict your access to the continent in Euro Truck Simulator.

.....end article


I guess we just ignore the obese, lazy bastards and the fact that so many online spaces are becoming over moderated/sanitised unless you share the common values. Hence the histrionics over twitter.

This is a lot of bullshit.

My son is Gen Z. He's about to hit 17.

Recently he's put down the controller and started reading. Not just any books, but books that will help him improve (Atomic Habits, etc) and other nonfiction books to improve his knowledge.

He's also spending a lot of time at the gym and is getting tanked.

When I asked him a few weeks ago why he changed he turned around slowly, looked me dead in the eyes and said

"These books are bussin. No caps. It's all for improving my Skibidi Rizz to get the Puss Puss"

I had such a proud father moment.

 

[Onironauta]

.

 

[Onironauta]

.

 

[TrebleShot]

In the United States your food and medicine is pumped full of artificial crap and new chemicals we hadnt invented 10 or 20 years ago. You have also legalised weed and the majority of the nation has an apathetic view to society self improvement and finances.

The aspiration of most kids is to be a IRL streamer, which is based on outrageous actions and behaviour and discounts things like caring for your fellow human, when you have that combined with the medication and food standards in the world and the fact the states dictates the media and what is popular to the majority of the western world you get these chemically imbalanced anxious kids who's only dream is to get famous and rich doing nothing and not giving a shit who they step on to get it.

There is more balance in other countries, UK is its own issue and problem and has a lot of similar issues but medication and food is for the most part heavily regulated.

In the EU even more so and there is generally less tolerance for bullshit and BY that I mean internet focused mindshare worst offenders being Instagram fake models etc.

In short, every youth group has been "oppressed" but not really, they are too young to know what they want and are still discovering what real bullshit is, im 36 and still learning, but im amazed how much ive woken up to fake shit recently and how things are.

Kids aint oppressed they're just young.

 

[MikeM]

This is a lot of bullshit.

My son is Gen Z. He's about to hit 17.

Recently he's put down the controller and started reading. Not just any books, but books that will help him improve (Atomic Habits, etc) and other nonfiction books to improve his knowledge.

He's also spending a lot of time at the gym and is getting tanked.

When I asked him a few weeks ago why he changed he turned around slowly, looked me dead in the eyes and said

"These books are bussin. No caps. It's all for improving my Skibidi Rizz to get the Puss Puss"

I had such a proud father moment.

That boy is going places. Just remind him to chase the paper as the pussy comes with that shit (per 50 cent).

 

[IDKFA]

chase the paper as the pussy comes with that shit (per 50 cent).

Wiser words have not been spoken.

 

[Kiya's Guard]

And we the people from the 90s isolated in their mancaves playing only time sink games (mmos, rts, management, rpgs, etc)?

Most of the kids I see today are quite social, playing with their school friends on mobile on parks and such

 

[Tams]

Another thing to keep in mind, gaming forums are like nursery homes.

Think here's more like a nursing home.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

Kids today don't stand a chance at what was once "normal".

 

[DAHGAMING]

Just 10-20 hrs a week ? What a bunch of wastemen.

 

[Krathoon]

I remember that GEX mocked the player for 100% the game because it really was a stupid thing to do.

 

[Krathoon]

This is why Elden Ring kind of cracks me up because it demands that the player plays the game a lot.

You know. Some people have these things called lives.

 

[LRKD]

I think calling it 'oppressed' brings the wrong image to mind right away, with the state of every group running in the oppression Olympics, it's hard to sympathize with anyone claiming to be oppressed. But I agree with all the things they do say about it, yeah kids got nowhere to be, and nothing to do. Do anything outside and they risk some boomer or millennial coming over to harass them.

 

[majorgamer10]

If you think oppression is bad now, wait until 2050's technological singularity.

Vernor Vinge on the Singularity

This is child's play

 

[6502]

We reopened a free youth club in our renovated community centre and it is packed. Our summer play schemes in schools are fully booked.

Our local play parks have been renovated and they are always busy.

Soon our skatepark and basketball courts are getting replaced and I suspect we will see a similar story.

Last month we held our free community day and thousands attended as they do every year.

Kids / teens / families do go outside and use facilities if your community puts the stuff in place.

Instead of bemoaning kids / parents people should get involved in the very lowest rungs of local politics where this stuff is taken care of and make a difference... it cost our community literally a few quid a year extra per household to achieve this on our estate.

 

[poodaddy]

Sports get you all the dopamine you need and so much more. Video games end up being the best way to feel like shit, full of anxiety. There's nothing worse than being stand still for long period of time, looking at a screen.

Right on time, the self hating gamer bitching about games being bad for you while also choosing to be part of a hardcore gaming community.

I've been lifting weights for twenty years and I did my time in the Army, none of that would have ever happened without video games. Sports always made me feel like the odd one out as I wasn't athletic, always made me feel stupid or like I simply wasn't good enough. It was my love of comic books and fighting games that got me into weight lifting, and that completely turned my life around for the better. These days I try to help my daughter with her health and fitness, while also encouraging her gaming as much as possible; so long as she's fit and healthy, doing great in school, and doing great in band, I can't see how gaming could be a negative at all. It makes her happy, and she fuckin hates most sports outside of skating, which she loves lol.

If I never saw Guile flex his gigantic bicep after flash kicking Vega's jumpity bitch ass into oblivion, then I'd probably be a fat miserable prick today, watching sports and criticizing world class athletes while my waist grows like the horizon from all the dumbass idiot food that sports lovers shove down their gullet during games. Thank Christ for games getting me into self care and fitness.

 

[TGO]

Me realizing that when I was 20 all old people thought we were idiots and now that I'm old people I know zoomers are idiots

Nah, when we was younger we mocked the older generation for the way they dress and how gullible they was and the complete lack of knowledge in the arts of sarcasm and technology, they was offended by our views, music, films and jokes and anything we would say.
Now it's exactly the same except it's the new generation that's taken their spot
we mock them for the way they dress because they literally wearing the shit we mock the older generation for, they're gullible as fuck and sarcasm goes straight over their heads, and of course they're offended by our music and jokes, films, views and anything we say.
We stayed the same, we've just acquired a new victims.
Now some Gen Z are starting to realise we got it right and love everything from our era and even try to imitate.
But we are not something that can be duplicate.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

It's my generation. I sympathise with them. They're victims of cronyism and ineptitude from the UK government. I'll be surprised if some people I know will ever get out of the renting trap. Public services are fucked. They're being suffocated by mass immigration just to keep the pension pyramid scheme afloat.

 

[Krathoon]

Oh. I remember when Joe Rogan gave gaming up. He really got into Quake and stuff like that.

He realized it was a dead end. That is kind of the truth about all entertainment. It really does not get you anywhere. You got to live your life and get out there.

 

[Garnox]

This topic interests me.

As a parent of two young girls (6 and 3), a high school teacher, and beinf 37 years old, I like to understand the social trends that each previously mentioned trait brings with it.

As a older millennial, I grew up in a very small rural town. Pop. 800 at the time of graduation in 2005. I felt in the 90's we were allowed to venture out and not have to burdened with the worries of what lurks around the corner.

Do y'all think that degeneracy and more exposure due to the internet of child predators and more risky behaviors by teens and adults alike have increased since the days of my youth?

As a parent I just have this uneasiness when I'm out in a crowded public gatherings. Always vigilant because I don't want my girls getting kidnapped or harmed. Also the idea of them going to a friend's house to stay the night is difficult because last thing I want is there to be abuse or heaven forbid a Slender Man sacrifice situation. Again all things provoked by a more readily accessible source of information happening in our world today with the advent of social media.

The last thing is as a teacher, I get a ear on the ground with how teens behave. There still is a sense of rebellion and kids getting out and touching grass. However, I feel teens these days no longer engage in the "harmless" fun we had. They have to up the ante and do more reckless stuff, or so it seems. Mind you, I did some pretty stupid stuff, consumed so much alcohol when I was 16 I blacked out and threw up in my sleep. Possible asphyxiation on my vomit? Would've destroyed my parents world. No amount of protection by them Would've stopped that from happening.

So are we to just accept the world is in a worse spot than it was during our youth or is it as bad as it is perceived due to the increased amount of world exposure? Was it always this bad and we were able to live in our own microcosms without constant worry?

Sorry for the lengthy post. I normally don't post this much, but just a topic I find fascinating as I'm a invested with my career and as a father if others have similar feelings that are close to my age.

Fun talk y'all!

 

[Js562]

Everyone is raised differently and that's the problem. There to lenient and let young ones slide by with how much tech they get. Your in control of your own shit get your shit together even if your young. But at the same time even if you are watched constantly it doesn't stop you. When I was younger I drank and smoked all day even when they told me shit not to do.
Maybe the new gen just got it easy because they never got their ass whooped lol it'll probably get it through their heads

 

[Bert Big Balls]

This is absolute bollocks. Kids don't give a shit about any of the stuff listed. They go out of their way to break the rules. Oh yeah, kids aren't allowed in the park... That'll definitely stop them going in the park. The fuck even is this shit?

 

[Ceadeus]

Right on time, the self hating gamer bitching about games being bad for you while also choosing to be part of a hardcore gaming community.

I've been lifting weights for twenty years and I did my time in the Army, none of that would have ever happened without video games. Sports always made me feel like the odd one out as I wasn't athletic, always made me feel stupid or like I simply wasn't good enough. It was my love of comic books and fighting games that got me into weight lifting, and that completely turned my life around for the better. These days I try to help my daughter with her health and fitness, while also encouraging her gaming as much as possible; so long as she's fit and healthy, doing great in school, and doing great in band, I can't see how gaming could be a negative at all. It makes her happy, and she fuckin hates most sports outside of skating, which she loves lol.

If I never saw Guile flex his gigantic bicep after flash kicking Vega's jumpity bitch ass into oblivion, then I'd probably be a fat miserable prick today, watching sports and criticizing world class athletes while my waist grows like the horizon from all the dumbass idiot food that sports lovers shove down their gullet during games. Thank Christ for games getting me into self care and fitness.

Self hating gamer bitching etc... yeah right.

Alright you owe it all to gaming.

Man you should be glad I've read all your shit because that was one stupid reading.

 

[poodaddy]

Self hating gamer bitching etc... yeah right.

Alright you owe it all to gaming.

Man you should be glad I've read all your shit because that was one stupid reading.

Ya know what, in retrospect, I completely understand your self loathing. Continue on the path my friend

 

[Griffon]

 

[Goalus]

Pronouns?

 

[Kings Field]

Man I wish I can take these pansies back to the gears of War and MW2 lobby days.