+61 No, young people aren't "doomed," and they never have been, amirite?

by Main_Cattle 2 days ago

No, it is different now. I agree that people always say "this generation is worse" or whatever, but for example statistically, the current youth is the worst performing on standardized tests, for school attendance, and literacy. By educational performance metrics, there is something starkly different going on.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

As an educator, I agree. Things have changed. These next generation of children are so far behind.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

If that were the sole problem I'd agree

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Making them one of the key target for anything addictive, from energy drinks and collectibles to apps and devices, is also orchestrated by adults that profit from youth like never before in history...

by IllConnection5451 2 days ago

I don't disagree.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

The younger end of Gen Z and whatever we're calling the current grade school generation (Gen alpha?) are the generations where screens and internet have been in front of them damn near since day 1. I suspect screens from the time they were in diapers combined with the impact of Covid are the two largest explanatory factors in why they are behind compared to older gen z, millennials, and gen x. I reserve the right to be wrong and change my mind if the evidence points to a different conclusion though.

by Milton15 2 days ago

Zero educational gap planning after covid. The education system failed them.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Parents failed them. Make that clear, the parents. No education system can make children do something, especially remotely, that requires accountability from the parents and students.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Maybe there was some kind of massive global event that disrupted their educational and social development for over a year.

by Emergency_Fee 2 days ago

Maybe I'm missing something but I personally think COVID didn't happen long enough to warrant such permanent behavior

by External_Basket 2 days ago

Social media and entertainment are also way better than when older gen z was in school. Distilled brain rot optimized to be as addictive as possible. It's probably a part of the equation.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

MySpace existed when I was in high school. The difference is people had flip phones.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

I don't think it's the phones. MySpace doesn't have the same numbing effect as TikTok or YouTube. They definitely got some addicting sauce going as much as we don't want to admit it.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

No algorithms. No influencers. Just vibes. We used to be a proper society.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

That makes more sense to me than solely blaming Covid

by External_Basket 1 day ago

When it happens during your formative years, it definitely is long enough. The real test will be the generations who grew up after covid: if they will continue to underperform, or turn out better.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

That may be the cause, but the impact is still the same in the end. Now I don't think it's so extreme that anyone is "doomed" but it definitely is a backslide

by Stokesbettye 1 day ago

I'm going to guess that Covid was a huge contributing factor of this. My daughter didn't learn anything during the year they learned from home.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

If anyone here was being honest it's because they lowered the standards so much that school basically doesn't matter anymore. No kid left behind, changing grading standards, etc are what messed these kids up. Not covid

by Anonymous 1 day ago

The studies I saw said "Worst in 20 years". Thats bad, but not uniquely so. If you compare current gen Z test scores to Millienial ones 20 years ago it's not that far off.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Hahahaha show numbers

by Beautiful-Net 1 day ago

but for example statistically, the current youth is the worst performing on standardized tests, for school attendance, and literacy. The current youth have worse literacy than the youth in the time of Socrates?

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I imagine the lack of resources being put into education, local governments trying to give money to private institutions over paying their public teachers a living wage, and active hostility to giving students the freedom to learn whatever they want to control them, is effecting things right now.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

While purely anecdotal, just listening to younger people just magnifies this. The correlation between the ease of access of virtually any bit of information and the lack of interest in seeking it out over the last ~15 years has been insane to watch unfold.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Or maybe it's the lack of Education funding and the inability for families to afford a comfortable life which creates instability in children's upbringing.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

The us spends more per student than any other country so you're just wrong there

by Anonymous 1 day ago

The fact that there is money given to the schooling system for each student does NOT equal that those funds are actually spent for the student's benefit.

by IllConnection5451 1 day ago

Most kids will keep sucking no matter how much funding you give them. Education funding has been rising and how much has it helped? 2nd part, yup. It's household issues.

by mohamedhudson 1 day ago

Most kids will keep sucking no matter how much funding you give them. That's not true if you are able to provide the attention they need. Most kids just need guidance.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Statistics can be shaped to give you whatever answer you want

by Suspicious-Sweet 1 day ago

No, they can't. That's the entire point of statistics. This is one of the stupidest "common sense" tropes that I hear. They cannot. This is just a standard comparison of scores from one year to another.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

How much have you actually studied statistics?

by emmanuel55 1 day ago

Then those things are all visible in the data. When presented with something like that, take that into account. Anyone can lie for any reason. Statistics at least require people to make claims that are traceable.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I'm not sure how you think this reporting works, or that there are people sitting around combing through data. Student data is protected. You're going to see the summaries, and therefore whatever they want you to see.

by Which-Dog-1199 1 day ago

Are you claiming that the average standardized testing scores for major standardized tests are not reliable? That for some reason, someone lied about the more recent years, but not prior years? I want you to be clear and put that down in writing so you can see how it sounds.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Ok - I'm not a math guy but I worked in data collection. It's bias af .

by Suspicious-Sweet 1 day ago

"It's bias af"? What, specifically, are you talking about? All "statistics" are "bias af"? What a moronic statement.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

You're getting defensive. I must have made my point and you got nothing else to say but personal attacks

by Suspicious-Sweet 1 day ago

This - you can make data say whatever you want

by Anonymous 1 day ago

just comparing the end result, test scores, is objectively stupid and statistically irrelevant

by lindsey67 1 day ago

I deal with statistical analysis every day, looking at an end point result and then comparing it time Period to time period, Is the worst kind of statistical analysis Hey, did you know that people on average have more money in their checking account now than they did in 1970? Everybody must be more well off today, right?

by lindsey67 1 day ago

They'll adapt. None of us were born knowing how to read or use computers or cook or whatever. We adapted.

by Main_Cattle 1 day ago

They'll adapt. None of us were born knowing how to read or use computers or cook or whatever. We adapted. What you're not listening too is they're not learning, they're not learning because they don't care.

by Slow-Scheme 1 day ago

They can't read. And the system + parents aren't holding them until they learn

by Hosea28 1 day ago

It's a known cycle. This is a weak generation. They have been "spoiled" by an easy path. So for those who don't grow up, life will be difficult. But the next generation will be strong because they have to be.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

They have the cushiest lives in human history.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Lmao. The previous generations had it easy, not us. Life is like exponentially harder for a gen Z than it was for a boomer.

by HumbleOrganization 1 day ago

Boomers graduated high school and went to Vietnam

by Hosea28 1 day ago

You talk only to each other and convince yourselves of this. There is no real evidence to support your victim status. Most of you will still grow up eventually.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I talk to plenty of older people who agree on this. Plus you can go by pretty objective standarts. Buying a house was easy af for boomers and you could do it with any job. It is virtually impossible now.

by HumbleOrganization 1 day ago

You have the audacity to think you know things while being unteachable. Shame on us for spoiling you. Getting a house was a multigenerational goal in the past. The family home stayed in the family for multiple generations. People live longer so the inventory is stagnated but the trials of the past were no less daunting. 1970's mortgage rates were 18%.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Well you're half right

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I agree that with the fact that we aren't really doomed but the idea that something is wrong because every generation says so is a really stupid concept.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

But it makes it impossible to be able to tell if it's true this time. Hindsight is 20/20

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Well, no. Humanity is literally doomed.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Sure buddy

by PublicAd5820 1 day ago

Yeah but because or climate and stuff, not because of skibidi or phones.

by Main_Cattle 1 day ago

You don't think phones are causing mass addiction and attention disorders in the youth?

by Leilani17 1 day ago

Why

by Boylecoty 1 day ago

Google it.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Always has been, just that people worked 12+ hours a day and didn't have time to think about abstract stuff

by Anonymous 1 day ago

It's not happening anytime within your lifetime, living that way is a sad poor way to live your life

by Secret_Pea 1 day ago

Humanity may "adapt", but in the meantime, governments and states that exist to make our lives better will collapse. There will be chaos and massive amounts of death. This, to me, spells "doom".

by No_Demand4146 1 day ago

Not if it changes faster than we can adapt.

by carissa26 1 day ago

The literal nature of the universe and the human species. We won't last forever. You can only adapt so much before it completely kills you.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Yes and one day the sun will explode. Doesn't mean the current generation is doomed

by Anonymous 1 day ago

You're failing to realise you are going to witness everyone you know dying because of climate change. It's closer than you think

by Overall-Smile-1897 1 day ago

You really believe that?

by PublicAd5820 1 day ago

The climate is changing, that's for sure. Can't get on board with the conclusions you've drawn from that fact though. Always something to doom about I guess

by PublicAd5820 1 day ago

All evidence points to yes.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Literally it is. Also, no. The sun will not explode. It isn't massive enough to do that.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Yeah but "the sun will gradually expand until the earth is unable to sustain life" doesn't have the same ring to it

by Anonymous 1 day ago

That's not an explosion. The sun won't come anywhere close to anything resembling an explosion.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Not if we keep on keeping on like we do now.

by GlassBulky 1 day ago

But it is in this case. If the consensus is that it's okay, it becomes the norm. That's how a society changes over time.

by RoughJumpy 1 day ago

old ppl being old. Why would they even care? if your Kids are not stupid, it's all good

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I don't think young people are doomed because they use dumb slang and don't make eye contact. They're doomed because my generation helicopter parented them and never taught them independence.

by MechanicStriking4705 1 day ago

Technology is the greatest difference. Constantly being "connected" through devices is the huge difference.

by No-Camp-3336 1 day ago

It's not that young people are "doomed" due to their own traits, personalities, and being. It's that society "doomed" them. There is no foundation. It's "fake" family, no community, less opportunities for social interaction, and their entire being has been surrounded and dominated by technology

by Significant_Two 1 day ago

Economically, yes, but it's not because of roblox or minecraft or whatever, it's because of billionaires.

by Main_Cattle 1 day ago

We are doomed but for none of the reasons you listed

by Anonymous 1 day ago

What reasons then?

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Huh? I'm legit asking for clarification. How do you know she doesn't have good reasons?

by Anonymous 1 day ago

How do I know she has good reasons? She has offered nothing of value except an anonymous person's unsourced opinion

by Anonymous 1 day ago

The cost of housing increasing far faster than salaries, the rapidly falling global birth rates (we're either approaching or already at replacement level), worsening climate conditions leading to droughts, flooding, storms and famine. Also, the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation is at risk of collapsing which would cause much of northern Europe to basically freeze( unless overall global warming is severe enough to counteract, it in which case we have even bigger problems), as well as making the North Atlantic much less hospitable to marine life. Things like that, most of these things could be addressed and mitigated and I really hope they will be but globally that doesn't seem to be happening.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

We are doomed, the economic way.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

And the ecological way

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Gen Z is different. They don't know life without the internet and smart phones, which is unique to them. It's worth studying in order to be able to begin mitigating the negative effects those things have on young people.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Yes, yes, good. Do not question your masters. Continue to pretend everything is fine.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

It's America thats doomed. The kids will be alright, eventually

by Anonymous 1 day ago

This is a popular opinion for those who are not habitually online.

by Competitive-Pitch582 1 day ago

it sure feels like we're doomed. but i will agree, older generations being so pessimistic really doesn't help

by OptionLazy 1 day ago

I think the opposite. The kids I know In high school are already playing house with boyfriends, know what they want to do in college/career, and are eating healthy. They make fun of adults for drinking too much. There are a lot of things wrong, but also a lot of things good

by Ornery-Recording-360 1 day ago

I agree. There's so much information about health now. The old days of ambiguity regarding something like cigarette smoking are long gone. You have to be wilfully unhealthy nowadays. You can't "accidentally" eat unhealthy.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Yea it's almost to an extreme. I went away with a bunch of my nieces and nephews to the beach and they all went to the gym every morning and only Allowed themselves dessert once. The girls all brought bfs at like 15, 16, 17 and loved making breakfast for their bfs every morning after the gym lol

by Ornery-Recording-360 1 day ago

Yeah thats problem #1. The internet has completely destroyed young minds in regards to whats healthy and how people should look. Its all an obsession and/or a disorder at this point. The amount of misinformation out there regarding diet and exercise is endless. And I guess all those "alpha male" influencers are getting their trad wife point across. All the girls made breakfast for their bfs. Jesus the brainwashing is unreal. You can be perfectly healthy without going to the gym and counting macros at any age. ESPECIALLY as a teenager.

by powlowskitito 1 day ago

None of the previous generations had the internet. The effect that is going to have on youth is unprecedented.

by Livid_Slide1465 1 day ago

Hell I saw an article online from the 1800s saying that pencils were going to ruin kids. Pencils!

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I agree it'll be different, but it's very bold to assume it'll be worse. I'm sure they said the same thing about TV.

by Main_Cattle 1 day ago

Well it is, but not the kids fault its the failure of Emulation, so schloss and no internet Supervison. Bad combination.

by GlassBulky 1 day ago

Explain why tests scores and literacy have gone down since we were kids?

by Anonymous 1 day ago

Young people have been doomed since the dawn of time… According to anyone older

by Fair-Examination-521 1 day ago

Ya the issues aren't eye contact and slang it's the fact for the first time in American history the boomer generation is handing down a worse society by just about every metric.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I don't have kids so idgaf about the future.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

While yes, people say this all the time, the world has changed. I argued with a person on here about how they shouldn't just believe ChatGPT and everything it says. He said he just didn't care and it was easier than searching things up. The world is changing rapidly, kids WILL be affected by this.

by Due_Region9051 1 day ago

Internet and smart phones are nowhere near the same as the printing press, the radio or even television. It's a constant now. It is life. It's not just "part" of life. It's all day, everyday. It's not good. We will survive, but things will certainly be very different in the next 30 years. Local community is dead. TikTok is community now. I'm just word vomiting now. Bye ✌️

by Anonymous 1 day ago

I will say, Covid hit some of them at the worst time for their social development.

by Leilani17 1 day ago

They've said the same things over the past 15 years, and when I asked my siblings who are older, my parents, other parents, They've been saying this for 50 years. Why did tests suck? Goes the government makes it over complicated and/or vague with its laws, then the states do many different test styles on state wide scales, then sensationalist third party media eat it up and say they find an average (typically a few hundred to a few thousand people sporadically picked from very different area, they also pick people of similar personality and only look surface level, because looking at day to day lives would be intrusive and against your freedoms....because to do so effectively means a police state, so you either pick efficiency or choice.) Then several people speak out about how bad everything is, learn from people in the media, neighbours, general assuming language that is "Well if I had to guess its because things are like this because-" hence its all in the mind. Then there is the overplaying the innocence of the youth, just as in the 1970s you had some areas of people marrying young, dropping out young, getting a job, it was legal/lax in some places and in other places it was illegal and not lax. I've noted all sides who publicly speak with any mainstream opinion all have swarm intelligence around very similar articles and focal points for their similar local area/local status quo, and use states/countries with vaguely similar cultures as justification that "THIS TIME IT TRULY IS DIFFERENT." Then in a few days, weeks, etc the opposite shows up in the media/mainstream speak/mainstream media and rinse and repeat, then the debates and political arguments form.

by Top-Anteater3115 1 day ago

Half of my incoming college freshman are reading at the fourth grade level or bellow and expecting to learn anatomy. We have big big big problems.

by Adorable-Midnight744 1 day ago

Things changing over time as has always been the case does not necessarily indicate doom in the coming years.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

This is not an unpopular opinion. Most people are aware of this. It's only a few people dissatisfied with their own lot that like to try and perpetuate some imaginary generational war.

by Fbotsford 1 day ago

They aren't doomed because of their behavior your absolute dodo, they are doomed because they are being left a world and society that is a hollow husk about to collapse. No offense.

by Murray54 1 day ago

American young people are about to whole-heartedly embrace facism.

by Anonymous 1 day ago

try spending a few hours with a ipad zombie kid and then tell me nothing has changed.

by Anonymous 23 hours ago

Well… in a philosophical sense we are all doomed.

by Anonymous 23 hours ago

Agreed. Now apply this to literally everything.

by UnfairFun 23 hours ago

They are doomed because corporations have altered the culture specifically to doom people.

by Anonymous 23 hours ago

Please take your own advice lmao.

by Anonymous 22 hours ago

The kids are doomed not because of what they like or how they act but because of us and all those who came before us. Climate change, civil unrest, a collapsing economy and the loss of social safety nets. Plus the world is a powder keg right now and as soon as the US gets heavily involved in war ww3 will be kicked off.

by Anonymous 22 hours ago

Doomed is a little dramatic. They are definitely worse off. Yes, we are the most privileged generation and our kids will have luxuries that most generations could never even dream of, but mentally, emotionally, educationally, physically, they are way worse off. This is an objective fact.

by emerald26 22 hours ago

Elder generations cried wolf for thousands of years now the young generation is in denial when it's actually true this time

by Anonymous 21 hours ago

We judge the current situation on what we remember of the past, not whether they can fit into that rememberd time. It was easier in the past, and not just because of looking through rose coloured glasses. It honestly was. Socially and financially anyway in western countries at least. Young people now aren't doomed, but they definitely have a harder time of it. I'd say there is less resilience now as well, but that's a different story. Oh, 45M, I'm assuming you're in your 30s, probably ND.

by Bartonpercy 21 hours ago

38, what's ND?

by Main_Cattle 21 hours ago

Do you seriously believe that 50% of Gen Z have their parents talk to their managers lmaoooo.

by Technical-Bit 20 hours ago

They don't make eye contact because they're looking at their phone. They don't talk to people because they're texting. They don't interact with real humans because they prefer AI. They don't get to hook up for sex because they don't go outside to meet anyone. They're doomed

by Anonymous 20 hours ago

Kinda just sounds like you don't interact with young people irl in the slightest

by Anonymous 20 hours ago

It sorta sounds like you want children to have sex with hookers

by Anonymous 20 hours ago

That's weird, how did you come up with that conclusion

by Anonymous 19 hours ago

"They don't go out to hook up for sex" sort of implies it, I think

by Anonymous 19 hours ago

Let me clear that up for you then. No, not pay for sex. Just meeting humans in person which starts the process of actual relationship.

by Anonymous 19 hours ago

Oh, my bad

by Anonymous 19 hours ago

Okay but that's going to be normal from here on out so it won't be a hindrance. That's my point.

by Main_Cattle 19 hours ago

No they're saying that it's seen as doom to those who refuse to adapt to social norm changes. It's not doom to us when it's literally normal

by augusta68 18 hours ago

So you're saying they're doomed.

by Anonymous 18 hours ago

Uh, what? Brother and sister, look around.

by Anonymous 18 hours ago

The world is changing and you're going to be left behind. Just like every past generation living in denial

by augusta68 17 hours ago

They're doomed for other more tangible reasons.

by Anonymous 17 hours ago