Younger Generations

Surtur said:
Kids dont goto arcades these days.
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Case in point: the only arcade in town (TILT in Springfield, OR at Gateway Mall) is struggling, as is the whole mall (I have heard that TILT was huge and the mall was the shit in the 90s), but the console gaming lounge a few doors down does brisk business.
 
The youth of today are crap and need to GET THE FUCK OFF MY DAMN LAWN !!!
 
So, yeah, I had started typing this as a new topic, but then I thought that I should probably search for it just in case. Lo and behold, it was already discussed, so *BUMP!*

Let me just preface this by stating that I do not have any kids of my own. I've had a hand in helping raise some friends' children (who lovingly refer to me as Auntie "Vodka") and now am looking forward to being there helping with raising my newborn nephew. My people tend to roll with the whole "It takes a village" thing.

Anyway, I look back to how I was raised and nothing was sugarcoated. If something didn't go my way, that's how life is kiddo. If I didn't achieve something that I was aiming for, try harder next time. In retrospect, small town life did have it's ups because it instilled in me the drive to give my absolute all to get what I wanted. I don't see that being done to this younger crop of kids. Instead I see parents eliminating and all proverbial bumps in the road in an effort to make little Jimmy or Becky feel absolutely great about themselves, forgoing the instances that should make the child reflect on what they did and how they can improve on it. Without this, kids are lead to believe that the world is nothing but sunshine and unicorns. I'm not saying that all parents are raising their offspring in this matter, but an alarming number are.

I don't see merry-go-rounds in parks anymore. Everything's made out of soft, molded plastic in case they hit their little heads. And no one would dream of putting 8 foot high monkey bars on concrete like was the norm in playgrounds when I was growing up. I'm all for making sure that wee ones don't get hurt, but FFS, at least let them have a few battle scars to let them know that they are alive. I see childhood being completely sanitized from failure and bruises, pilfering identity, perseverance, and any sense of true success. We learn through experiences - good and bad. The ability to cope comes from failures. The youth today are coddled more than previous generations and aren't really chastised for wrongdoings. And if they do, expect that visit from the po-po and CYFD (or whatever it's called in your area), as happened to Tommy Jordan - the father who shot up his daughter's laptop because she was being totally disrespectful. I, for one, applaud him for doing some goddamn parenting.

If "I want my kid to have a better life than I had" is your credo, I've got your back. However, don't compromise the values that you were given in an effort to make your kid feel better about his or herself.

Sorry about the rant, but saw something today that really set me off.
 
I think I've said this before, but I'll say it again.

“Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.”
_________________________________________
George Orwell
 
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I remember reading a quote from a man from ancient Greece (or Rome, can't remember which) who complained about how the younger generation of children lived back then.

So, this kind of attitude has been prevalent for god knows how long.

Really, what intrigues me is when I look at a bunch of little kids now, I think:

"Man, all of these kids weren't even conceived yet during my life time. Hell, their parents practically kids themselves when I was little."

I know that's kinda obvious, but I never really put much thought into it until recently. It really puts things into perspective.
 
Aron Ra mentioned his father believed back in the 1960's that everything had been invented already, and that nothing else was going to be invented.

He also had to coax out of his grandmother her beliefs related toward how she thought the world was at the center of the solar system and the sun rotated around it, and that stars were low wattage things that served basically no purpose.

I call bullshit on the idea that this or the previous generation was better in some way. The generation that grew up during the Great Depression and fought in WW2 is referred to historically as the "Greatest Generation".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ge ... enerations
 
Showing what a Potterhead I am with this quote...

Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young...
- Albus Dumbledore

I think it will always be the same; the older generation will think that the generations below them are getting steadily worse and worse. My grandfather firmly believed that most of my generation were brain-dead and moronic, and was constantly telling myself and my cousins that we would be part of the 'lost generation', where politeness and courtesy would mean nothing. Now my parents think that about the generation below mine.
 
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It wouldn't surprise me if the ancient egyptians were already writting stuff about how the younger generations are going to bring the Pharaos empire down with their disregard for Rah, their oversimplification of hieroglyphics (These kids and their LOLs made out of two cranes and an eye) and their overall attitude of how they know the known world.

I guess this is something that's just natural to human beings, it's the process of getting old and watching the younger generations emerge.
 
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I was born in 1983 so I was a kid in the 1990's. I really loved the 90's and all but at the same time I don't feel that the kids today should have bow down and suck the mighty dick of the 90's either.

Like seriously, kids today can't help when they were born.

"OMG some 14 year old in 2014 doesn't know what 'Pinky and the Brain' is?! :twisted: :twisted: BAWWWW"

Seriously, go fuck yourself.

and to be honest, I never cared for "Pinky and the Brain" that much 8-)
 
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The problem is not the generation, but the previous generation that raised the current generation.
 
I think of myself as a "Generational Historian" so if I wanted to, I could describe in great deal how society was in the 60s, 70s, 80s, etc. but rather than doing so, I'm just gonna say this:

I think its frightening how little kids own and use mobile devices like they do, these guys are so gonna be the ones microchipping themselves...
 
hal9000 said:
It wouldn't surprise me if the ancient egyptians were already writting stuff about how the younger generations are going to bring the Pharaos empire down with their disregard for Rah, their oversimplification of hieroglyphics (These kids and their LOLs made out of two cranes and an eye) and their overall attitude of how they know the known world.

I guess this is something that's just natural to human beings, it's the process of getting old and watching the younger generations emerge.
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Basically. It's been found that as one gets older, they tend to become more firmly entrenched in their beliefs instead of being as malleable as they were in their youth. Eventually the people get old and have already figured that they've got everything figured out, and all the youths who are still forming their ideas are a bunch of idiots for not thinking like them. It's also very easy for adults to forget the learning they needed to do for things that they think are "common sense", and get angry when their kids can't immediately fall in step with them.
 
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The big difference I see in todays younger generation is exposure to information (good and bad) due to the prevalence of digital media. You have the obvious stuff like how kids now can have instant access to anything from news to porn anywhere thanks to phones and whatnot but also things like how much they'll know about their parents compared to previous generations.

For example I was born in 1980 and the things I know about my parents when they were younger is all from old photographs and what they have told me. Kids today will know a ton more because of all the digital video and photos their parents and friends took of themselves. Again, it can be good or bad.
 
Zim said:
The big difference I see in todays younger generation is exposure to information (good and bad) due to the prevalence of digital media. You have the obvious stuff like how kids now can have instant access to anything from news to porn anywhere thanks to phones and whatnot but also things like how much they'll know about their parents compared to previous generations.

For example I was born in 1980 and the things I know about my parents when they were younger is all from old photographs and what they have told me. Kids today will know a ton more because of all the digital video and photos their parents and friends took of themselves. Again, it can be good or bad.
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Also, things like Wikipedia. It used to be that research, even for fun, required taking time out of your day to go to a library and search through shelves upon shelves of books, hoping that the subject you need is there, up to date, and properly written. Wikipedia gets a lot of crap for being open source, but it's so strictly moderated now that you're no more likely to find incorrect information than if you looked at physical, authored books. Access to such a resource, as well as Google, means that you can near-instantly look up virtually anything you need.

Even now, I learn for fun. I read Wikipedia voraciously, gathering knowledge on almost every subject I can think of. I basically have the world's biggest encyclopedia constantly at my fingertips, and I can access information on any subject in seconds no matter where I am with my iPhone. The new information age is killing off urban legends and bar arguments rapidly: anyone can jump on Snopes or Google something to see if it's true, and any debate about whether or not a celebrity is dead or a particular fact is true can be ended before you finish your drink by pulling out your phone.

And while social media gets crapped on as well, it plays a vital part in documenting our lives. With everyone having an excellent camera sitting in their pocket or by their side 24/7, anything and everything that happens can be recorded and instantly uploaded for worldwide viewing. Crimes can be recorded, and police can be placed under more scrutiny by the hordes of pedestrians (and sometimes victims) who pull out their phones and begin recording everything sketchy or vaguely interesting. You can (and probably do) record every party and interesting time you have, and maybe upload it right to Facebook just after it happens. We're interconnected in ways never thought possible.

Frankly, I love technology. I don't think it's making us dumber or killing society or anything like that. There used to be a time that such things as Wikipedia and smartphones were futuristic pipe dreams that everyone wanted.
 
I am the younger generation. You all are merely relics of the past.
 
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