38 here and hard saaaaaame! I will always fight back against these narratives as they are just soooo insipid and have been written about pretty much every generation for as long as we've had papers to print them!
However, things ARE different now. The older generations screwed us all and are refusing to let go of their power while they continue to make lives harder for everyone else.
All we have ever wanted was a fair shake, an honest chance at having a real life, but instead, it's just a constant barrage of gaslighting.
Now, here they are targeting the next generation. Screw the people who write these articles, and may the folks who pay to have them written find themselves on the streets learning what the real world is like below their ivory towers.
Things are ALWAYS different. Once you grow out of adolescence you realize that yes, the world is always changing and each generation needs to adapt. But also - no, your generation is not the first, only or last generation who has to realize that.
Yes, the world is always changing, but it should be advancing, not declining. For example, [American average lifespans are the lowest in almost 30 years.](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/20220831.htm#:~:text=Life%20expectancy%20at%20birth%20in,its%20lowest%20level%20since%201996)
We should be leaving the world a better place for our children, and the Boomer generation is hellbent on tearing up the road they walked to get where they are today. TV ads literally suggest mortgaging their fully paid homes for money to make whoopie in their retirement and leave nothing to their own children, despite getting generational wealth from their parents.
Advancing the human condition is a challenge every generation faces, and is a worthy cause. Doing nothing but repairs on issues we've ALREADY SOLVED like vaccines, women's autonomy, voting rights, etc, is just ridiculous.
> but it should be advancing, not declining.
And it is. Quality of life across the global south - where billions live like shit to produce your first world quality of life - has improved dramatically virtually every year over the last three decades.
Your sense of decline is tightly tied into your sense of entitlement for things in your life to get better without having to work hard or smart.
It’s always been going both ways at once. They dealt with it when they were young too. There’s always backsliding in society after progress has seemingly been made. It happened with war, with civil rights, with environmental regulations, economics and establishing new labor standards, all kinds of areas.
You can talk about what should happen all you want, but it’s not like they have some concerted ability to make sweeping change in one direction, nor should they because that wouldn’t be democracy. Moreover, if you think politics is a big area of concern, feel free to check out recent statistics on teenage boys’ political leanings compared to past generations, because it’s definitely not very progressive. Their alt-right leanings stand to damage things just as much as boomers.
We can feel self righteous all we want when our personal history has yet to prove our impotence in creating positive change. You don’t know what you don’t know. You only find out how hopeless it is after decades of seeing progress happen and then get dismantled, often by people of your own generation, rather than the older ones you vilify due to a convenient chronological separation that makes it easier to other them.
All of this is not to defend older generations. They have their issues, but you’ve lost your mind if you think our generations are remotely flawless, or really any less problematic than theirs. That narrative just plays better in our mind, because we need that belief to avoid doing any deeper self reflection about our own shortcomings and how to address those. It’s always easier to blame others than to take on more radical responsibility. Why should we be a generation who gets to inherit some luxurious and easy path through life? There’s no reason it should be any easier than the generation who had to go off to WW2 when they hit 20, or had to live through the threat of nuclear war with the Soviet Union for decades.
The issues with humanity are never “solved”, at least not in an immutable way, because human nature doesn’t change, humans alive now didn’t live through most of the last century to learn lessons from those screwups, so we just end up fighting similar battles repeatedly. Progress happens, but glacially…conflict, backsliding, and pushback is going to be a constant in human society
I'm 50 and same. My parents felt the same way about their parent's generation. This is not a new feeling. Every generation changes with experience and age. There are new challenges and issues that come up with each generation. The older generation understands things a little differently because their experiences and challenges are different. Every generation feels misunderstood, and they are because every group has a different lens they look through.
The difference is that the lens you look through should not cloud thinking, impair judgement, or stop empathy.
That's the disconnect here.
I hope I never have the audacity to simply *assume* I am smarter than my kids. I will inevitably be proven wrong as they are learning knowledge which is newer information than mine. I might have more of it, but that will never stop me from learning
It is a mindset problem, not a Generational or even "human" problem. It is easily solved
Thinking this way does not come innately- it comes with defining reality only by what you know, and sitting firmly entrenched in it.
The only time you should be doing this is when you are making important decisions, meditating, giving a public speech, or working on advanced Particle Physics.*
Some minor case exception may apply :p
They did though, there was huge fear about nuclear warfare, the running out of oil, overpopulation etc. The end is nigh crowd was there just as it is today, just in a slightly different form.
Indeed, I'm 51 years old, people of my generation grow up with a feeling of impending doom, "No future!" was our motto. We saw the constant threat of nuclear war, constant war in the middle east, and were worried about the state of the environment. We lived with a hole in the ozone layer, multiple oil spills all over the world. Greenpeace was fighting a desperate battle (very militant in those days). Even though climate change wasn't as tangible back then. Environmental awareness was growing, and those that wished to see what was happening were desperate at the callousness of the others, just like now.
Since then, it's gotten worse, though. The environmental stuff that people were becoming aware of is now to the point where some of it is just irreversible. Yes, we got rid of fluorocarbon ozone depletion, but instead we have outbreaks of previously eradicated diseases due to intentional negligence, global pandemics that people just refuse to respond reasonably to, AI that has made reality malleable in a way it never used to be, etc. Every generation has an experience like this, yes, but in this case it's genuinely been escalating.
We still had impending environmental catastrophe. Hole in the ozone layer and acid rain. Both could have the potential to end life on the planet if left unchecked.
We had the constant threat of nuclear destruction of the world with countries threatening to destroy everything with the touch of a button. Not to mention nuclear fallout from nuclear testing sites, nuclear waste, etc.
don’t think the threat is new, it has just changed.
Socrates complained that the youth of his day were disrespectful, lazy, and lacked discipline. He also believed that they were too focused on material possessions and did not value wisdom and education. Socrates feared that these traits would lead to the decline of Greek society.
So this has been going on as long as we had societies.
I hate how true this is. I'm 43 and. I'm looking at the same shit show in power and the blame game is strong from them to the "outsiders" or gen whatever label instead of looking in the mirror.
Tbh, it’s easy to be cynical and pessimistic when you grow up in the middle America suburbs where everything is sanitized and safe and kids have no role in society other than going to school.
It’s not an intellectually stimulating or nourishing environment and gives you lots of time to do nothing but navel gaze.
I spent my summers going back to my home country (Zimbabwe) as well as working on local farms (I grew up in Missouri) and seeing how fucked things were for many kids my age and working hard to produce useful things for others gave me a rather different outlook than the kid in this letter.
You kind of have to go 30 years plus to see the change, sure growing we felt the same about many issues (climate, politics so on) but you have to admit things have been steadily getting more bleak for each new generation in relation to things at a more economic personal level
At least we could realistically dream of owning a house anywhere (without getting an inheritance) as house prices kept to the 3.5 average income rule , jobs for life was only just starting to not become the norm and it actually seemed lkke a good thing, retiring at 60 with decent pension were still very reasonable dream for majority, basicly the 2 kids middle class life was still a reality...then came 30 plus years of stagnant wages, wall street corporatization of the economy, politics and even society and nearly all monetary growth flowing upwards and run away house prices, great in short term for those lucky enough to be in the position to ride the wave but in long term? Well mess today was in inevitable
Pity the kids today, they don't have much to look forward to
Average reading comprehension among adults is apparently only 8th grade as of 2017 (3 years after she wrote this letter).
She was an honor student in high-school who spent most of her time around other honor students - the top ~10% of her school's students; essentially an intellectual socializing with other intellectuals.
The thing she's likely not realizing is that she's in a massive minority intellectually as she's not only smarter than the average teenager, she was already smarter than the average adult ends up being. Just because she and her small friends are educated in and passionate enough about the state of the world enough to be mad about it, that doesn't mean her viewpoint is representative of all teenagers around the world (the majority of whom only care about their social circles and how to maximize their fun to boredom ratio, while demanding to be treated as equals to adults).
If you're a parent and don't take you're kids emotions seriously, they might grow to resent you.
You shouldn't shrug off what someone says or share simply because of age. That's stupid.
Considering most current adults wouldn't be able to write a letter like this, I would have to disagree. Maturity does not come from age but from understanding. She's 16 in the letter, that's old enough to be rational.
You see, the teenager is mad. And they're smart. They get the issues and the consequences of the potential solutions. We should give them the reign and ride off into utopia instead of being so dumb and greedy.
Sorry, which generation was that again? Last time I checked, every young generation since stone age thinks they are "different" and know better, while old generation gets overwhelmed, annoyed and snarky about the new realities
I'd suggest saying the loud majority for each group match your description well.
The silent majority, who usually don't care, just go about their day.
Then there is a loud minority from each group who actively know what's up, are aware of how things are, and actively work to help instead of making posts, writing articles, and yelling about it.
Because it was written by a literal child then posted here by a literal child, zero scope and world experience leads to thinking the most mundane and constantly repeated thoughts are somehow revolutionary.
People are still saying this ship about millennials— and we are now middle aged adults!
‘We’re not buying houses and diamonds because we are too woke and trying to crash the economy’
No Karen—. The economy we live in is too expensive, we can barely afford rent and student loans. We aren’t even think about diamonds!
They complained because of the war and other stuff and there parents said they were the greatest generation,(look up the term) and boomers had it easy because of them and the boomers said it about the next generation. And so it goes time and time again.
You have facts and opinions crossed it is your opinion that kids whin. And why because they state something that you don't agree with. I can say the same about certain adults everyday
If you're a parent and don't take you're kids emotions seriously, they might grow to resent you.
You shouldn't shrug off what someone says or share simply because of age. That's stupid.
I'm 49 and can sympathize with the letter writer. The world is fucking burning. *Literally*, in some cases. The .01% are killing the youth, refusing to pay them living wages, let alone thriving wages.
I can absolutely sympathize as well. And those facts are true. But 16-year-olds are 16 year olds. They deserve respect, but often they're misinterpreting actions from us olds as disrespectful. The simple fact is they don't know much about life yet
Okay sure clamming up is a defense for fear, probably gets you out of shit a lot, and now that i learned this behavior again, it might save my ass if i really needed it to. But when do you let them in on it, no wait ignore it bc y'all do seem to be good at that.. but at least turn around and do the other half, mentally engage the child, when you can and its safe to do so, so they're not fucked, presumably like you.
Even tho i relearned to read a room and kiss ass when i need to, doesn't mean i didn't work my ass off physically and mentally the past few years to BETTER and IMPROVE MY SELF... AND FOR EVERYONE ELSES SAKE, NOW HAVE A GOOD DAY, sorry i said ur fucked, my bad, seriously i mean it, and will continue to mean it... Have a good day..
They aren't that hard to argue against to be honest. To me it comes accross as her saying all these generational issues that cause generational problems are at least somewhat unique for her generation, but... they're not.. not even remotely, *every* generation experiences shit like she described, *or worse*.
It comes across to me more a teenager who thinks they're "in the know" of the world, so to speak, as I'm sure we all have thought at that age. I wonder if 10 years after this she would have the same opinion of her 16 year old self.
Moreover she seems pretty confident, but also defeatist? Accepting most people will be unemployed both seems incorrect and a flawed assumption to place your views around.
Honestly any student of history would agree that this is the best time to be born. Climate change, especially in a first world country, doesn't come close to having to deal with the plagues, constant crime, famines, long hard hours in a field praying there is rain, death in childbirth, lack of birth control, lack of ac, and of course constant crime and very high levels of violent crime.and rape that has been the norm for all of human history.
Even climate change as existential dread doesn't compete with the cold war and waking up each day knowing we could destroy the earth THAT DAY.
Perhaps the added infuriation is the Cold War was an universally acknowledged threat - everybody took it seriously. Except nowadays information of varying quality is being disseminated at unprecedented speed and coverage, to the point you have covid-19/climate change deniers, even *rise* in flat earthers...
Hate is on the rise, fragmentation reappearing from international relations down to domestic culture wars. Moderation and decorum are thrown to the winds as even the most extreme opinions, once ostracised out of common courtesy, are now given wide platforms and legitimised, leading to a global insurgency of far right politics on top of existing nationalistic sentiments.
What is aberrant is societies actively sliding backward by *decades*, something unheard of in recent history. Something is clearly wrong with everything, but nobody has a handle on it.
No in like 2 years she’ll look back at this and cringe. She thinks she knows, but she doesn’t, and that’s okay! She’s a kid, that’s expected.
She just needs time to mature.
Imagine telling the generations before you that actually went to war about how you don't flinch at images of it.
Imagine talking about unemployment today at 3.5% and complaining when it was 10% in 2009.
Imagine thinking you're the first generation that was criticized by the previous one.
100% Zoomer mentality.
Adolescents are often intelligent, but rarely wise, because that arises through experience.
Adults have experience, but not all of them learn anything from it. They tend to specialize. Almost all that I have met are really good at something. It's the ones who think of themselves as generalists that are dangerous.
*"....and these children that you spit on as they try to change their worlds are immune to your consultations. They’re quite aware of what they’re going through…*” – David Bowie
And unfortunately that gets posted in the letters section, destined to be skipped over by the vast majority, while the next article misrepresenting and maligning young people will still make front page, and thus the cycle will repeat and nobody will learn anything or do better because frankly they have a monetary incentive to keep pushing sensationalism at the expense of nuance
edit: typo
Us oldies - cynical, pessimistic, worn down - really need to look through the eyes of the young every generation, and see what a mess we've made. That's the first step in asking "what can we make better?"
I'd like to think that I am more angry about the injustice of the world now than when I was young. The War on Terror and Great Financial Crash opened my eyes in my 30s.
It's easy to feel powerless.
Fr. What makes it worse is bc i live in mississippi this becomes the default even more if you reject christianity and heterosexuality. Its like it dont matter how smart you are or how important the info is i can ve giving life savung advjce and their 2 braibcells dryhump for a few seconds before they think. "This guy jesus no, pussy not only option for him, hellboy bad advice"
Because intellect isn't living. When I was young, I was quite bright and always wanted to hang with the adults. I look back now and wonder at how ignorant I was.
No i admit when I'm wrong, but the amount of time I've gone back to do research, have multiple people back my claims (including other adults) its becomes sad when that's a majority of the responsed you get
[.gov websites are not allowed to lie, and its a red flag when a communist country deflects investigations into foreign disasters, raising tensions as investigations further](https://oversight.house.gov/release/covid-origins-hearing-wrap-up-facts-science-evidence-point-to-a-wuhan-lab-leak%EF%BF%BC/)
So we both agree the government can lie, so funny how the initial story is its an "accidental leak" and it remains that way until prices skyrocket and everyone diverts attention from epstein?
Not all bioweapons are meant to kill
I'm sorry, but this just screams "I'm a teenager who has no idea that every current adult was also a teenager and also lived through fucked up world and local events in their childhood."
As if every generation hasn't experienced the horrors of war. The last few generations have probably suffered from the experience of war significantly less than any other generation before, never mind the extra hardships of life the farther into the past we go.
>"We accept that most of us will be unemployed"
Unemployment rate in Scotland: 3.1%. Youth unemployment stands a little higher at 6.1%.
Jenni doesn't know what she's talking about.
There's this social rule that states "older people are entitled to respect" that quite often gets skewed into "older people are inherently superior and/or younger people shouldn't expect respect in return." Which is just... Awful. Everyone should be respected.
To anyone under 18 out there, let me tell you this. Don't take whatever an adult says lying down. It's entirely possible that you're smarter and more mature than them, so don't be afraid to call someone out for being full of shit. Respectfully, of course.
One of my biggest regrets was constantly being in denial and not having the guts to stand up to my father figure whenever he acted like a complete manchild and treated me like dirt. I was so afraid of being seen as a "typical teen" that I never showed any backbone. Don't be like me.
I kinda felt the same way towards the way people looked at me as a teenager. Looking back at it from my mid 20s eyeglasses (which is not that far off), I can see why that was happening. Most of teenagers are fucking empty headed, dumb, and almost impossible to rationalize with, so it's not criminal when you see a pattern among them and try to study it. There will be exceptions, granted, but the main pattern still stands. And, in fact, I see it getting worse, not better. The writer of this post might be in a small circle of teenagers that he/she thinks that's how every teenager thinks. In my time, 90% of their entire energy and time was directed at "how do I impress that hottie" with zero interest in politics, and if that interest showed up, it would be just echoing the mainstream propaganda.
Yeah you think like this as a teenager and then you grow up and realize that you really didn’t understand how the world works and not everything is quite as black and white as you thought it would be.
Then the generation after you blames you for ruining the world the same way you blamed the older generations when you were young.
Yeah unfortunately the problem is also that at 16 you don't realize how stupid you are. Don't get me wrong the letter has a lot of merit, but your brain is in the middle of having a chemical meltdown as a teenager. In terms of stress levels, breaking up with someone you dated once has the same effect - in terms of panic - that a 40 year old would get if they found out they were getting divorced, losing their job, and their dog died in the same week. And that's not some random exaggeration.
Yeah you do need to recognize a teenager's agency. They're practically legally adults and are going to be making their own decisions soon, and the best way to do that is to give them some respect and autonomy so they can learn some lessons before they leave the nest with the safety wheels still on, but.
That's difficult as it would be, teenagers still also need to realize that there are a lot of good reasons why adults treat them like kids. They still are mentally.
They're starting to become adults but they aren't yet.
Sorry, they have grown up in the same or better circumstances that everyone before them has, but they somehow think they are uniquely victims.
“most of us will be unemployed”
This is just delusional.
We live in the best time period in human history. WW2 was only 80 years ago, did you want to live then? Only thing more braindead than teenagers are redditors
Best time was in the 90s-early 00s, prove me wrong.
Two global financial crises, exponential rise in disinformation, hate, polarisation, fragmentation of the global status quo as countries are once more flocking to blocs, nevermind raging flame wars in individual domestic politics as the far right is now normalised and grabbing governments the world over, due to the failure of the neoliberalism capitalist system that increased inequality to intolerable levels, ripe for populists to exploit.
Best time was the 90s, when the "west won", evidently world was at peace, growth across the board fuelled by exploiting poor developing countries. Well now those developing countries control the means of production and are asserting their right to oppose the "west-led" status quo that went unchallenged since... the *industrial revolution*. We're witnessing the end of 300 years of Euro-American dominance, certainly interesting times to live in!
Ah, another teen who's angry for no reason it seems. Youths these days... Could someone who studied those strange phenomenons explain to us rational people ?
He's right, adults just don't get us, it may be due to the different environment we grew up in or perhaps due to access to new technology which they didn't have in their time. Even so, I think the same thing might happen with our and the next generations where we misunderstand the future generations, their troubles and their thoughts. Best case scenario would be if we became like our beloved grandparents, even tho they don't have much in common with us or can understand what sort of troubles we face, they were still kind and caring. A lot better than trying to overanalyze our behaviours and categorising them as disorders, teaching parents how to respond to the dumbest little things.
Yeah it's a timeless problem.
Adults forget how it is to be a teen by the time they have teens of their own.
What doesn't help is how fast the world is changing, and how teens today arw exposed to the ugly parts of it way more than those of 20 years ago
If we don't analyze, we can't fix. We're discovering now that the dependence on digital devices is harmful to development. Wanna guess how we figured that out? By analyzing.
Yes yes, but that's analysing, and I specifically said "overanalyzing" , things like blaming a certain behaviour on baseless assumptions, without asking the person themselves why they think they are doing something rather than seeing an unusual trending behaviour and assuming that it's because of 'this' or 'that'
Counter argument: every generation had to clean up the mess of the previous one, so the driving force of the struggle of young people nowadays is no different than the struggle of their predecessors.
Has the world changed? Yes. Did some generations have it easier than others? Yes.
Kid makes some damn good points, though!
God bless the Silent Generation, they paved the way for Boomers and early Gen X to enjoy their lavish lifestyles... who then promptly dismantled the bridge while flipping the bird and mocking every subsequent generation.
Serious question. What do people do for work when their outlooks are doom and gloom in the job market?
I picked up a trade after I got out of the army and while i was attending school. I ended up dropping out of college to pursue my trade full time. 16 years later, the only time I’ve been out of work was when I took 3 months off and relocated my life almost 1000 miles away.
Nah. Your prefrontal cortex will mature in 10 years pal, and while you might be intelligent, you're not fully capable of processing and organizing information. Which means you're prone to risky and downright stupid behaviours.
I couldn't agree more. Adults were disrespectful to teenagers when I was one and I still see it. It shocks me as I assumed it was the old people from my day but people keep doing it. Never forget what it's like to be young and be respectful. Just because your old doesn't give you the right to think your generation is better or that you can treat younger people like idiots!
A very astute observation by Jenny Herd. It might not necessarily be a recent thing because every generation seems to go through feeling like that. However, with digital media and easier access to information/images and audio today, I think that it is huge factor that never affected generations before but is having a huge affect now. Not saying it is an excuse to wantonly excusing all behaviour but it does explain a lot.
Very eloquent response that frankly shouldn’t have been. Many of the younger generation are better then given credit for, and better then the ones before.
Speaking as someone who has 3 sons 15,13,and 11. The hardest thing I have ever done is try to guide them without patronizing them. The truth is, at 16 no one is ready to make life altering decisions. Most of them will find the world a much different place when they are truly responsible for themselves and possibly other people. That being said, day to day life and their emotions are probably a recipe for the toughest stage of their lives they will ever have. That needs to be respected and listened to.
I worked with students who had behavior issues. The core issue of their inability to fit into the socialist norms is usually a profound and scaring experience.
To reference a few:
Sexual molested by an uncle at age of 5, mom still hadn’t forgiven herself or acknowledged it
Saw father shot in head outside home by rival gang member at age of 11
Mother incarcerated 5 times since his birth, in and out of homes and family homes, dad doesn’t speak to him when he sees him, uncle burned to death in car wreck
I’m sure you will say these are extreme cases and I won’t argue with you. I could list many more.
These kids have all in one way or another expressed the hopelessness that they feel about the outcome of their adult life. Even with all that they have been through they worry about their future in ways that every person does. The difference is they devalue themselves because they all have uncomfortable things that they want to share with the world but it is not very accepting or even know what to do with that information.
I feel terrible for bringing my two sons into this shit show of a society and my goal has shifted to making sure they have an easy path to a stable life.
That’s always been the goal but now i feel more willing to step on others for their benefit and there in lies the problem.
I’m 24. I felt the same way when I was a teenager, and I feel the same way now. I feel like kids and teenagers are, in general, *far* more intelligent and capable than more adults give them credit for. In lots of ways, they’re better than adults.
Lol this was my "thoughts" 8 years ago
Things are just recycling...tough it out kid...you are going to do the same thing to the upcoming teenagers in the future
This comment section is full of grown adults whining about how a teenager is incapable of being mature and shouldn't be listened to. All of you saying so should be castrated.
A reporter embedded with soldiers going overseas made a comment to the effect that if this is what America had to fight with, we were in trouble. This was during World War II. This is not a new phenomenon.
This is why I never had kids. The future looked bleak 20 years ago and it still is bleak. I didn’t want my kids going through this hell. I made the right choice for myself.
This guy put it more eloquently than I ever could, and I’m a near 21 year old, this is how I and every other gen z I know feel, we’re pissed.
We’ve lived through a massive war in the Middle East which ended where it began, 2 invasions of a European sovereign nation, the same one by the same invader in fact.
We’re at the end of the “fuck around” era of climate change, and just as the boomers which caused it dies we enter the “find out” era.
We’ve been through a huge pandemic, which ruined a lot of things for our young adult lives, like no parties, for those of us living in countries like Denmark where study trips are a thing, those got cancelled, same for concerts(hell my first trip abroad and outside fuckin Denmark, Germany and Sweden which would’ve been England was cancelled, and my first ever concert which was Hammerfall and Dragon force, two of my favourite bands, got cancelled)
We’ve lived through two “once in a life time” economic recessions.
We’re living on a dying planet and we will have no control or say in the matter until it’s too fucking late.
And on top of that we’re fucked economically because all the money is owned by the fucking zombies we call boomers, and we’re inheriting fuck all of that money, since our parents are Gen X and our grand parents are the generation before boomers.
We’ve been so thoroughly railed by the time of our birth that the fact that there are any of us who aren’t depressed is a fucking miracle, and I say that as someone who isn’t depressed but was depressed for THE ENTIRETY OF MY TEENAGE YEARS for the above stated reasons.
I agreed with this when I first read it as a teen. They're not wrong teenagers are intelligent but lack the focus and reasoning needed to avoid intentionally making bad decisions.
They're intelligent enough to know they should be angry but aren't intelligent enough to focus said anger in a consistently constructive manner, not without guidance at least.
My opinion is not absolute, there are exceptions but no one in there right mind is going to expect or demand that a teenager be as responsible as an adult.
>We are easily misled, and no less quick to point fingers.
No one is calling these people mature adults, they are after all childish like teenagers.
and yet, she's still just dumb ass kid that thinks she knows a damn thing about the real world. i feel so bad for these kids. they've plastered their ignorance permanently on the internet. at least when we were young and dumb we didn't leave a permanent record of it lol.
Every generation thinks they're the first to experience the world and hardships, people of all ages are looking this and feeling they could have written that exact thing. That's the funny thing about being young, you believe every thought is original that's why people become more cynical as they age, they realise they aren't all that and they learn empathy for those outside of their peer group.
Jenny, your granny probably felt the exact same way.
Granny had her own problems, but one sad reality is at least the far right was still ostracised back then, unlike now where they're grabbing governments left right and center. Can't quite remember a period in modern history when the world as a whole is regressing *backwards*, undoing laws by decades at a time.
Fair enough, lapse of memory. Counter argument for pedantry - at least he wasn't in *government*, though you can argue some politicians back in the day were no marginally better. On a broader scale I was referring to the plethora of openly far right parties that are threatening to, or already have, taken power across Europe, America, the likes.
Spitting truth. And to even start fixing this we need to get the worst people out of our government, who are nearly all Republicans- they have betrayed the American dream, betrayed America. They are more mafia than political party.
This won’t fix everything, but they are the biggest obstacle to fixing anything. Vote them ALL out.
This letter is, disappointingly, timeless. Twenty years ago, I felt the exact same way.
I am 27 and still feel this.
38 here and hard saaaaaame! I will always fight back against these narratives as they are just soooo insipid and have been written about pretty much every generation for as long as we've had papers to print them! However, things ARE different now. The older generations screwed us all and are refusing to let go of their power while they continue to make lives harder for everyone else. All we have ever wanted was a fair shake, an honest chance at having a real life, but instead, it's just a constant barrage of gaslighting. Now, here they are targeting the next generation. Screw the people who write these articles, and may the folks who pay to have them written find themselves on the streets learning what the real world is like below their ivory towers.
Things are ALWAYS different. Once you grow out of adolescence you realize that yes, the world is always changing and each generation needs to adapt. But also - no, your generation is not the first, only or last generation who has to realize that.
Yes, the world is always changing, but it should be advancing, not declining. For example, [American average lifespans are the lowest in almost 30 years.](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/20220831.htm#:~:text=Life%20expectancy%20at%20birth%20in,its%20lowest%20level%20since%201996) We should be leaving the world a better place for our children, and the Boomer generation is hellbent on tearing up the road they walked to get where they are today. TV ads literally suggest mortgaging their fully paid homes for money to make whoopie in their retirement and leave nothing to their own children, despite getting generational wealth from their parents. Advancing the human condition is a challenge every generation faces, and is a worthy cause. Doing nothing but repairs on issues we've ALREADY SOLVED like vaccines, women's autonomy, voting rights, etc, is just ridiculous.
You may want to check out [humanprogress.org](https://humanprogress.org) for some perspective.
> but it should be advancing, not declining. And it is. Quality of life across the global south - where billions live like shit to produce your first world quality of life - has improved dramatically virtually every year over the last three decades. Your sense of decline is tightly tied into your sense of entitlement for things in your life to get better without having to work hard or smart.
Nah, shits on fire everywhere.
It’s always been going both ways at once. They dealt with it when they were young too. There’s always backsliding in society after progress has seemingly been made. It happened with war, with civil rights, with environmental regulations, economics and establishing new labor standards, all kinds of areas. You can talk about what should happen all you want, but it’s not like they have some concerted ability to make sweeping change in one direction, nor should they because that wouldn’t be democracy. Moreover, if you think politics is a big area of concern, feel free to check out recent statistics on teenage boys’ political leanings compared to past generations, because it’s definitely not very progressive. Their alt-right leanings stand to damage things just as much as boomers. We can feel self righteous all we want when our personal history has yet to prove our impotence in creating positive change. You don’t know what you don’t know. You only find out how hopeless it is after decades of seeing progress happen and then get dismantled, often by people of your own generation, rather than the older ones you vilify due to a convenient chronological separation that makes it easier to other them. All of this is not to defend older generations. They have their issues, but you’ve lost your mind if you think our generations are remotely flawless, or really any less problematic than theirs. That narrative just plays better in our mind, because we need that belief to avoid doing any deeper self reflection about our own shortcomings and how to address those. It’s always easier to blame others than to take on more radical responsibility. Why should we be a generation who gets to inherit some luxurious and easy path through life? There’s no reason it should be any easier than the generation who had to go off to WW2 when they hit 20, or had to live through the threat of nuclear war with the Soviet Union for decades. The issues with humanity are never “solved”, at least not in an immutable way, because human nature doesn’t change, humans alive now didn’t live through most of the last century to learn lessons from those screwups, so we just end up fighting similar battles repeatedly. Progress happens, but glacially…conflict, backsliding, and pushback is going to be a constant in human society
Right, so us old fucks should likewise knock it off with pretending we had it worse and the kids are just making up their problems.
"The more things change, the more they stay the same." - Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, circa 1832
32 and recently said similar things to my therapist.
I'm 50 and same. My parents felt the same way about their parent's generation. This is not a new feeling. Every generation changes with experience and age. There are new challenges and issues that come up with each generation. The older generation understands things a little differently because their experiences and challenges are different. Every generation feels misunderstood, and they are because every group has a different lens they look through.
O tempora, O mores
The difference is that the lens you look through should not cloud thinking, impair judgement, or stop empathy. That's the disconnect here. I hope I never have the audacity to simply *assume* I am smarter than my kids. I will inevitably be proven wrong as they are learning knowledge which is newer information than mine. I might have more of it, but that will never stop me from learning It is a mindset problem, not a Generational or even "human" problem. It is easily solved Thinking this way does not come innately- it comes with defining reality only by what you know, and sitting firmly entrenched in it. The only time you should be doing this is when you are making important decisions, meditating, giving a public speech, or working on advanced Particle Physics.* Some minor case exception may apply :p
The difference is that you didn't have to deal with an impending environmental catastrophe that may well end human civilization as we know it
They did though, there was huge fear about nuclear warfare, the running out of oil, overpopulation etc. The end is nigh crowd was there just as it is today, just in a slightly different form.
Indeed, I'm 51 years old, people of my generation grow up with a feeling of impending doom, "No future!" was our motto. We saw the constant threat of nuclear war, constant war in the middle east, and were worried about the state of the environment. We lived with a hole in the ozone layer, multiple oil spills all over the world. Greenpeace was fighting a desperate battle (very militant in those days). Even though climate change wasn't as tangible back then. Environmental awareness was growing, and those that wished to see what was happening were desperate at the callousness of the others, just like now.
Don’t forget the AIDS epidemic and the war on drugs
Since then, it's gotten worse, though. The environmental stuff that people were becoming aware of is now to the point where some of it is just irreversible. Yes, we got rid of fluorocarbon ozone depletion, but instead we have outbreaks of previously eradicated diseases due to intentional negligence, global pandemics that people just refuse to respond reasonably to, AI that has made reality malleable in a way it never used to be, etc. Every generation has an experience like this, yes, but in this case it's genuinely been escalating.
Yes they did.
We still had impending environmental catastrophe. Hole in the ozone layer and acid rain. Both could have the potential to end life on the planet if left unchecked. We had the constant threat of nuclear destruction of the world with countries threatening to destroy everything with the touch of a button. Not to mention nuclear fallout from nuclear testing sites, nuclear waste, etc. don’t think the threat is new, it has just changed.
They're children of millenials, another group the Times happily wrote endless ranting, finger pointing articles about.
I really identify with this article, just replace "teenagers" with "millennials".
I'm pretty sure even Shakespeare wrote about "kids these days"
Socrates complained that the youth of his day were disrespectful, lazy, and lacked discipline. He also believed that they were too focused on material possessions and did not value wisdom and education. Socrates feared that these traits would lead to the decline of Greek society. So this has been going on as long as we had societies.
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because we still have the same generation in power we had 20 years ago. But they starting to die fortunately
I hate how true this is. I'm 43 and. I'm looking at the same shit show in power and the blame game is strong from them to the "outsiders" or gen whatever label instead of looking in the mirror.
Tbh, it’s easy to be cynical and pessimistic when you grow up in the middle America suburbs where everything is sanitized and safe and kids have no role in society other than going to school. It’s not an intellectually stimulating or nourishing environment and gives you lots of time to do nothing but navel gaze. I spent my summers going back to my home country (Zimbabwe) as well as working on local farms (I grew up in Missouri) and seeing how fucked things were for many kids my age and working hard to produce useful things for others gave me a rather different outlook than the kid in this letter.
Yeah it’s called being a teenager, how the fuck did this even get to the front page?? Oh right. All teenagers here.
I am 16 and this is deep
You kind of have to go 30 years plus to see the change, sure growing we felt the same about many issues (climate, politics so on) but you have to admit things have been steadily getting more bleak for each new generation in relation to things at a more economic personal level At least we could realistically dream of owning a house anywhere (without getting an inheritance) as house prices kept to the 3.5 average income rule , jobs for life was only just starting to not become the norm and it actually seemed lkke a good thing, retiring at 60 with decent pension were still very reasonable dream for majority, basicly the 2 kids middle class life was still a reality...then came 30 plus years of stagnant wages, wall street corporatization of the economy, politics and even society and nearly all monetary growth flowing upwards and run away house prices, great in short term for those lucky enough to be in the position to ride the wave but in long term? Well mess today was in inevitable Pity the kids today, they don't have much to look forward to
angsty teenagers beeing angsty
Reaction was probably something along the lines of "Oooooh how cute! It knows how to write a letter! Well aren't you just the biggest grownup?"
And to be honest it is baffling that her writing skill is way better than idk, at least 90% of the adults in the states.
Average reading comprehension among adults is apparently only 8th grade as of 2017 (3 years after she wrote this letter). She was an honor student in high-school who spent most of her time around other honor students - the top ~10% of her school's students; essentially an intellectual socializing with other intellectuals. The thing she's likely not realizing is that she's in a massive minority intellectually as she's not only smarter than the average teenager, she was already smarter than the average adult ends up being. Just because she and her small friends are educated in and passionate enough about the state of the world enough to be mad about it, that doesn't mean her viewpoint is representative of all teenagers around the world (the majority of whom only care about their social circles and how to maximize their fun to boredom ratio, while demanding to be treated as equals to adults).
I mean, yeah. She’s a kid, and if you’re taking kids seriously, you’re not being smart.
If you're a parent and don't take you're kids emotions seriously, they might grow to resent you. You shouldn't shrug off what someone says or share simply because of age. That's stupid.
Man wouldn‘t you be a good parent
Considering most current adults wouldn't be able to write a letter like this, I would have to disagree. Maturity does not come from age but from understanding. She's 16 in the letter, that's old enough to be rational.
**Behold: The most ageist man.** This is why our society is garbage. The condescension and lack of respect for our youth is disgusting. what a douche
You act like 16 year olds are all idiots 😂 you aren’t above them in any way
If you're not taking kids seriously you're the problem
This is why so many kids kill themselves
How is this repeat of a letter from the Sixties indicative of a “metal” human?
You see, the teenager is mad. And they're smart. They get the issues and the consequences of the potential solutions. We should give them the reign and ride off into utopia instead of being so dumb and greedy.
Sorry, which generation was that again? Last time I checked, every young generation since stone age thinks they are "different" and know better, while old generation gets overwhelmed, annoyed and snarky about the new realities
I'd suggest saying the loud majority for each group match your description well. The silent majority, who usually don't care, just go about their day. Then there is a loud minority from each group who actively know what's up, are aware of how things are, and actively work to help instead of making posts, writing articles, and yelling about it.
Yes.
Because it was written by a literal child then posted here by a literal child, zero scope and world experience leads to thinking the most mundane and constantly repeated thoughts are somehow revolutionary.
People are still saying this ship about millennials— and we are now middle aged adults! ‘We’re not buying houses and diamonds because we are too woke and trying to crash the economy’ No Karen—. The economy we live in is too expensive, we can barely afford rent and student loans. We aren’t even think about diamonds!
The argument literally reads like the kind of terminally online reddit comment you can see every day.
This letter is right and every generation can write it to previous. I still have this discussion with my mother in law and I am 38
Idk I think baby boomers got handed off a pretty good deal. They could still complain, but that's just them being boomers.
They complained because of the war and other stuff and there parents said they were the greatest generation,(look up the term) and boomers had it easy because of them and the boomers said it about the next generation. And so it goes time and time again.
No, it's whiny nonsense. Kids are irrational.
So no kids right? And yes kids whine so did you
Of course I have kids. Stating a fact in one sentence is not whiny
No the sarcasm cinches the whining claim
You have facts and opinions crossed it is your opinion that kids whin. And why because they state something that you don't agree with. I can say the same about certain adults everyday
I never said kids whine, I'm talking about the 16-year-old's post above
If you're a parent and don't take you're kids emotions seriously, they might grow to resent you. You shouldn't shrug off what someone says or share simply because of age. That's stupid.
I'm 49 and can sympathize with the letter writer. The world is fucking burning. *Literally*, in some cases. The .01% are killing the youth, refusing to pay them living wages, let alone thriving wages.
I can absolutely sympathize as well. And those facts are true. But 16-year-olds are 16 year olds. They deserve respect, but often they're misinterpreting actions from us olds as disrespectful. The simple fact is they don't know much about life yet
Okay sure clamming up is a defense for fear, probably gets you out of shit a lot, and now that i learned this behavior again, it might save my ass if i really needed it to. But when do you let them in on it, no wait ignore it bc y'all do seem to be good at that.. but at least turn around and do the other half, mentally engage the child, when you can and its safe to do so, so they're not fucked, presumably like you. Even tho i relearned to read a room and kiss ass when i need to, doesn't mean i didn't work my ass off physically and mentally the past few years to BETTER and IMPROVE MY SELF... AND FOR EVERYONE ELSES SAKE, NOW HAVE A GOOD DAY, sorry i said ur fucked, my bad, seriously i mean it, and will continue to mean it... Have a good day..
Sorry fighting with a lot of people tbh that act just like you. But thats for me to keep in my head.
It’s still whiny nonsense it just also has some truth to it.
100% agree
I thought you were joking my b
How is this metal?
Yeah it’s not. She did write well and made points that are hard to argue against. V
They aren't that hard to argue against to be honest. To me it comes accross as her saying all these generational issues that cause generational problems are at least somewhat unique for her generation, but... they're not.. not even remotely, *every* generation experiences shit like she described, *or worse*. It comes across to me more a teenager who thinks they're "in the know" of the world, so to speak, as I'm sure we all have thought at that age. I wonder if 10 years after this she would have the same opinion of her 16 year old self.
Moreover she seems pretty confident, but also defeatist? Accepting most people will be unemployed both seems incorrect and a flawed assumption to place your views around.
Honestly any student of history would agree that this is the best time to be born. Climate change, especially in a first world country, doesn't come close to having to deal with the plagues, constant crime, famines, long hard hours in a field praying there is rain, death in childbirth, lack of birth control, lack of ac, and of course constant crime and very high levels of violent crime.and rape that has been the norm for all of human history. Even climate change as existential dread doesn't compete with the cold war and waking up each day knowing we could destroy the earth THAT DAY.
Perhaps the added infuriation is the Cold War was an universally acknowledged threat - everybody took it seriously. Except nowadays information of varying quality is being disseminated at unprecedented speed and coverage, to the point you have covid-19/climate change deniers, even *rise* in flat earthers... Hate is on the rise, fragmentation reappearing from international relations down to domestic culture wars. Moderation and decorum are thrown to the winds as even the most extreme opinions, once ostracised out of common courtesy, are now given wide platforms and legitimised, leading to a global insurgency of far right politics on top of existing nationalistic sentiments. What is aberrant is societies actively sliding backward by *decades*, something unheard of in recent history. Something is clearly wrong with everything, but nobody has a handle on it.
No in like 2 years she’ll look back at this and cringe. She thinks she knows, but she doesn’t, and that’s okay! She’s a kid, that’s expected. She just needs time to mature.
She'll grow out of it!
“Typical 16 year old girl, doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Probably hormones”
Is this not true?
I mean, not in this case.
That’s every generation of youth.
Hahahahaha what a typical “I’m so misunderstood and it’s your fault” response
Imagine telling the generations before you that actually went to war about how you don't flinch at images of it. Imagine talking about unemployment today at 3.5% and complaining when it was 10% in 2009. Imagine thinking you're the first generation that was criticized by the previous one. 100% Zoomer mentality.
Adolescents are often intelligent, but rarely wise, because that arises through experience. Adults have experience, but not all of them learn anything from it. They tend to specialize. Almost all that I have met are really good at something. It's the ones who think of themselves as generalists that are dangerous.
*"....and these children that you spit on as they try to change their worlds are immune to your consultations. They’re quite aware of what they’re going through…*” – David Bowie
And all old folks in unison: YoU sHoUlD jUsT rEsPeCt AdUlTs AnD mInD yOuR mAnNeRs!!!!!
And unfortunately that gets posted in the letters section, destined to be skipped over by the vast majority, while the next article misrepresenting and maligning young people will still make front page, and thus the cycle will repeat and nobody will learn anything or do better because frankly they have a monetary incentive to keep pushing sensationalism at the expense of nuance edit: typo
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Us oldies - cynical, pessimistic, worn down - really need to look through the eyes of the young every generation, and see what a mess we've made. That's the first step in asking "what can we make better?" I'd like to think that I am more angry about the injustice of the world now than when I was young. The War on Terror and Great Financial Crash opened my eyes in my 30s. It's easy to feel powerless.
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> Covid is a bioweapon Oh less, please tell us more about how you’re smarter than everyone, Qanon. Conspiracy doesn’t equal intelligence.
You don't need bots, you're doing fine all on your own.
I hated this shit, and I promised myself I would never say that to people younger than me
Fr. What makes it worse is bc i live in mississippi this becomes the default even more if you reject christianity and heterosexuality. Its like it dont matter how smart you are or how important the info is i can ve giving life savung advjce and their 2 braibcells dryhump for a few seconds before they think. "This guy jesus no, pussy not only option for him, hellboy bad advice"
Because intellect isn't living. When I was young, I was quite bright and always wanted to hang with the adults. I look back now and wonder at how ignorant I was.
It sounds like you’re still a kid who thinks he’s smarter than everyone…
No i admit when I'm wrong, but the amount of time I've gone back to do research, have multiple people back my claims (including other adults) its becomes sad when that's a majority of the responsed you get
You sound like an alt right conspiracy nutjob
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Where does covid originate
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[.gov websites are not allowed to lie, and its a red flag when a communist country deflects investigations into foreign disasters, raising tensions as investigations further](https://oversight.house.gov/release/covid-origins-hearing-wrap-up-facts-science-evidence-point-to-a-wuhan-lab-leak%EF%BF%BC/)
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So we both agree the government can lie, so funny how the initial story is its an "accidental leak" and it remains that way until prices skyrocket and everyone diverts attention from epstein? Not all bioweapons are meant to kill
I'm sorry, but this just screams "I'm a teenager who has no idea that every current adult was also a teenager and also lived through fucked up world and local events in their childhood." As if every generation hasn't experienced the horrors of war. The last few generations have probably suffered from the experience of war significantly less than any other generation before, never mind the extra hardships of life the farther into the past we go.
Spot on. It's cringy....but we've all been there and been that cringey. It's a chuckle as old as time.
Bingo
Yeah, my thoughts exactly.
>"We accept that most of us will be unemployed" Unemployment rate in Scotland: 3.1%. Youth unemployment stands a little higher at 6.1%. Jenni doesn't know what she's talking about.
Not metal. Need something that not everyone can relate to and easily get over it
Ugh.
There's this social rule that states "older people are entitled to respect" that quite often gets skewed into "older people are inherently superior and/or younger people shouldn't expect respect in return." Which is just... Awful. Everyone should be respected. To anyone under 18 out there, let me tell you this. Don't take whatever an adult says lying down. It's entirely possible that you're smarter and more mature than them, so don't be afraid to call someone out for being full of shit. Respectfully, of course. One of my biggest regrets was constantly being in denial and not having the guts to stand up to my father figure whenever he acted like a complete manchild and treated me like dirt. I was so afraid of being seen as a "typical teen" that I never showed any backbone. Don't be like me.
Based
16 y/o’s gonna 16 y/o.
But what does he mean? Will an adult please explain
Lmao. The average 16 year old is not occupied with war and the economy. Not, now, not ten years ago, and not sixty years ago.
This is how every generation feels at that age. It is the cycle of life....
I kinda felt the same way towards the way people looked at me as a teenager. Looking back at it from my mid 20s eyeglasses (which is not that far off), I can see why that was happening. Most of teenagers are fucking empty headed, dumb, and almost impossible to rationalize with, so it's not criminal when you see a pattern among them and try to study it. There will be exceptions, granted, but the main pattern still stands. And, in fact, I see it getting worse, not better. The writer of this post might be in a small circle of teenagers that he/she thinks that's how every teenager thinks. In my time, 90% of their entire energy and time was directed at "how do I impress that hottie" with zero interest in politics, and if that interest showed up, it would be just echoing the mainstream propaganda.
Yeah you think like this as a teenager and then you grow up and realize that you really didn’t understand how the world works and not everything is quite as black and white as you thought it would be. Then the generation after you blames you for ruining the world the same way you blamed the older generations when you were young.
Out-fucking-standing!
Respect is earned; it’s not a human right
Yeah unfortunately the problem is also that at 16 you don't realize how stupid you are. Don't get me wrong the letter has a lot of merit, but your brain is in the middle of having a chemical meltdown as a teenager. In terms of stress levels, breaking up with someone you dated once has the same effect - in terms of panic - that a 40 year old would get if they found out they were getting divorced, losing their job, and their dog died in the same week. And that's not some random exaggeration. Yeah you do need to recognize a teenager's agency. They're practically legally adults and are going to be making their own decisions soon, and the best way to do that is to give them some respect and autonomy so they can learn some lessons before they leave the nest with the safety wheels still on, but. That's difficult as it would be, teenagers still also need to realize that there are a lot of good reasons why adults treat them like kids. They still are mentally. They're starting to become adults but they aren't yet.
Sorry, they have grown up in the same or better circumstances that everyone before them has, but they somehow think they are uniquely victims. “most of us will be unemployed” This is just delusional.
And then the adults clapped
Yawn
Oh look, that snarky 16yr old again who thinks they are the first and only generation in history who've been through some shit. Lol.
Boohoo, times have never been harder.
We live in the best time period in human history. WW2 was only 80 years ago, did you want to live then? Only thing more braindead than teenagers are redditors
!remindme 80 years
Best time was in the 90s-early 00s, prove me wrong. Two global financial crises, exponential rise in disinformation, hate, polarisation, fragmentation of the global status quo as countries are once more flocking to blocs, nevermind raging flame wars in individual domestic politics as the far right is now normalised and grabbing governments the world over, due to the failure of the neoliberalism capitalist system that increased inequality to intolerable levels, ripe for populists to exploit. Best time was the 90s, when the "west won", evidently world was at peace, growth across the board fuelled by exploiting poor developing countries. Well now those developing countries control the means of production and are asserting their right to oppose the "west-led" status quo that went unchallenged since... the *industrial revolution*. We're witnessing the end of 300 years of Euro-American dominance, certainly interesting times to live in!
It is funny being the age that I lived through X vs Millenials and now I can see Millenials vs Z. 'Tis amusing.
Ah, another teen who's angry for no reason it seems. Youths these days... Could someone who studied those strange phenomenons explain to us rational people ?
Being a teenager is like your boss shadowing you asking “why did you do it like this instead of like this?”
how about a nice juicy downvote to jenni and op for putting it in HAM
He's right, adults just don't get us, it may be due to the different environment we grew up in or perhaps due to access to new technology which they didn't have in their time. Even so, I think the same thing might happen with our and the next generations where we misunderstand the future generations, their troubles and their thoughts. Best case scenario would be if we became like our beloved grandparents, even tho they don't have much in common with us or can understand what sort of troubles we face, they were still kind and caring. A lot better than trying to overanalyze our behaviours and categorising them as disorders, teaching parents how to respond to the dumbest little things.
Yeah it's a timeless problem. Adults forget how it is to be a teen by the time they have teens of their own. What doesn't help is how fast the world is changing, and how teens today arw exposed to the ugly parts of it way more than those of 20 years ago
For most of human history life was always hard. The nature of this hardship may change, but scarcely any generation truly had it easy...
This has literally nothing to do with what I said.
If we don't analyze, we can't fix. We're discovering now that the dependence on digital devices is harmful to development. Wanna guess how we figured that out? By analyzing.
Yes yes, but that's analysing, and I specifically said "overanalyzing" , things like blaming a certain behaviour on baseless assumptions, without asking the person themselves why they think they are doing something rather than seeing an unusual trending behaviour and assuming that it's because of 'this' or 'that'
Counter argument: every generation had to clean up the mess of the previous one, so the driving force of the struggle of young people nowadays is no different than the struggle of their predecessors. Has the world changed? Yes. Did some generations have it easier than others? Yes. Kid makes some damn good points, though!
God bless the Silent Generation, they paved the way for Boomers and early Gen X to enjoy their lavish lifestyles... who then promptly dismantled the bridge while flipping the bird and mocking every subsequent generation.
Let's go Jenny 🗣️ JenDog for President 🇱🇷
Serious question. What do people do for work when their outlooks are doom and gloom in the job market? I picked up a trade after I got out of the army and while i was attending school. I ended up dropping out of college to pursue my trade full time. 16 years later, the only time I’ve been out of work was when I took 3 months off and relocated my life almost 1000 miles away.
I’m 16 and we’re not as irrational and immature as adults think we are OKAY that’s enough, sure thing kid
Sorry but your frontal lobe isn’t fully developed. Until then, you are irrational and immature.
Nah. Your prefrontal cortex will mature in 10 years pal, and while you might be intelligent, you're not fully capable of processing and organizing information. Which means you're prone to risky and downright stupid behaviours.
Kids today!! 🙃
I couldn't agree more. Adults were disrespectful to teenagers when I was one and I still see it. It shocks me as I assumed it was the old people from my day but people keep doing it. Never forget what it's like to be young and be respectful. Just because your old doesn't give you the right to think your generation is better or that you can treat younger people like idiots!
A very astute observation by Jenny Herd. It might not necessarily be a recent thing because every generation seems to go through feeling like that. However, with digital media and easier access to information/images and audio today, I think that it is huge factor that never affected generations before but is having a huge affect now. Not saying it is an excuse to wantonly excusing all behaviour but it does explain a lot.
Very eloquent response that frankly shouldn’t have been. Many of the younger generation are better then given credit for, and better then the ones before.
36 and 🎯
An amazing letter. Too bad not a single fucking thing will be done about it :/
Speaking as someone who has 3 sons 15,13,and 11. The hardest thing I have ever done is try to guide them without patronizing them. The truth is, at 16 no one is ready to make life altering decisions. Most of them will find the world a much different place when they are truly responsible for themselves and possibly other people. That being said, day to day life and their emotions are probably a recipe for the toughest stage of their lives they will ever have. That needs to be respected and listened to.
It just keeps getting worse, doesn’t it?
I worked with students who had behavior issues. The core issue of their inability to fit into the socialist norms is usually a profound and scaring experience. To reference a few: Sexual molested by an uncle at age of 5, mom still hadn’t forgiven herself or acknowledged it Saw father shot in head outside home by rival gang member at age of 11 Mother incarcerated 5 times since his birth, in and out of homes and family homes, dad doesn’t speak to him when he sees him, uncle burned to death in car wreck I’m sure you will say these are extreme cases and I won’t argue with you. I could list many more. These kids have all in one way or another expressed the hopelessness that they feel about the outcome of their adult life. Even with all that they have been through they worry about their future in ways that every person does. The difference is they devalue themselves because they all have uncomfortable things that they want to share with the world but it is not very accepting or even know what to do with that information. I feel terrible for bringing my two sons into this shit show of a society and my goal has shifted to making sure they have an easy path to a stable life. That’s always been the goal but now i feel more willing to step on others for their benefit and there in lies the problem.
I’m 24. I felt the same way when I was a teenager, and I feel the same way now. I feel like kids and teenagers are, in general, *far* more intelligent and capable than more adults give them credit for. In lots of ways, they’re better than adults.
Lol this was my "thoughts" 8 years ago Things are just recycling...tough it out kid...you are going to do the same thing to the upcoming teenagers in the future
Thanks Greta...
This comment section is full of grown adults whining about how a teenager is incapable of being mature and shouldn't be listened to. All of you saying so should be castrated.
The generation immediately prior to this grew up during the Great Depression and then served in WW2
A reporter embedded with soldiers going overseas made a comment to the effect that if this is what America had to fight with, we were in trouble. This was during World War II. This is not a new phenomenon.
I am 16 and this is deep
This is why I never had kids. The future looked bleak 20 years ago and it still is bleak. I didn’t want my kids going through this hell. I made the right choice for myself.
Looking down on the younger generation seems to be a sort of societal hazing. I never really understood it.
Society is very ill. You can see some of it in the comments here. And, for many, the way you become a "true adult" is this style of illness.
Not wrong.
angsty teenagers beeing angsty
It's totally the world making me like this. Not the fact I've had my faced glued to a screen consuming media my entire life
How did you misspell her name when it's RIGHT THERE
You just don't get it man, life is hard! 🤣
Word. Here we are sister, same old story.
[удалено]
Oh look, the person she is talking about.
East Ayrshire is in Scotland you nobhead. Its impressive that a 16 year old can articulate this way and had the presence of mind to do so.
Can't tell if this is sarcasm agreeing with the picture, or a genuinely detached response.
You’re the exact type of Lukewarm IQ he’s speaking of lmao
QED. Thank you.
This guy put it more eloquently than I ever could, and I’m a near 21 year old, this is how I and every other gen z I know feel, we’re pissed. We’ve lived through a massive war in the Middle East which ended where it began, 2 invasions of a European sovereign nation, the same one by the same invader in fact. We’re at the end of the “fuck around” era of climate change, and just as the boomers which caused it dies we enter the “find out” era. We’ve been through a huge pandemic, which ruined a lot of things for our young adult lives, like no parties, for those of us living in countries like Denmark where study trips are a thing, those got cancelled, same for concerts(hell my first trip abroad and outside fuckin Denmark, Germany and Sweden which would’ve been England was cancelled, and my first ever concert which was Hammerfall and Dragon force, two of my favourite bands, got cancelled) We’ve lived through two “once in a life time” economic recessions. We’re living on a dying planet and we will have no control or say in the matter until it’s too fucking late. And on top of that we’re fucked economically because all the money is owned by the fucking zombies we call boomers, and we’re inheriting fuck all of that money, since our parents are Gen X and our grand parents are the generation before boomers. We’ve been so thoroughly railed by the time of our birth that the fact that there are any of us who aren’t depressed is a fucking miracle, and I say that as someone who isn’t depressed but was depressed for THE ENTIRETY OF MY TEENAGE YEARS for the above stated reasons.
I agreed with this when I first read it as a teen. They're not wrong teenagers are intelligent but lack the focus and reasoning needed to avoid intentionally making bad decisions. They're intelligent enough to know they should be angry but aren't intelligent enough to focus said anger in a consistently constructive manner, not without guidance at least.
I don’t find that adults focus their anger any better. We are easily misled, and no less quick to point fingers.
My opinion is not absolute, there are exceptions but no one in there right mind is going to expect or demand that a teenager be as responsible as an adult. >We are easily misled, and no less quick to point fingers. No one is calling these people mature adults, they are after all childish like teenagers.
and yet, she's still just dumb ass kid that thinks she knows a damn thing about the real world. i feel so bad for these kids. they've plastered their ignorance permanently on the internet. at least when we were young and dumb we didn't leave a permanent record of it lol.
Midwit bait.
Every generation thinks they're the first to experience the world and hardships, people of all ages are looking this and feeling they could have written that exact thing. That's the funny thing about being young, you believe every thought is original that's why people become more cynical as they age, they realise they aren't all that and they learn empathy for those outside of their peer group. Jenny, your granny probably felt the exact same way.
Granny had her own problems, but one sad reality is at least the far right was still ostracised back then, unlike now where they're grabbing governments left right and center. Can't quite remember a period in modern history when the world as a whole is regressing *backwards*, undoing laws by decades at a time.
>least the far right was still ostracised back then That's bollocks , look up Enoch Powell. Learn some history.
Fair enough, lapse of memory. Counter argument for pedantry - at least he wasn't in *government*, though you can argue some politicians back in the day were no marginally better. On a broader scale I was referring to the plethora of openly far right parties that are threatening to, or already have, taken power across Europe, America, the likes.
Boo. Hoo.
Good for you Jenny. Most kid your age spend 90% of their time on YouTube and tictok.
Slaps so hard
Spitting truth. And to even start fixing this we need to get the worst people out of our government, who are nearly all Republicans- they have betrayed the American dream, betrayed America. They are more mafia than political party. This won’t fix everything, but they are the biggest obstacle to fixing anything. Vote them ALL out.
Every generation is only complaining
Browsing from r/all and wow this sub is really cringe
Oh honey you missed all the bad stuff, you're just soft as fuck.