Are the teens of today better or worse than the teens of 20, 40, 60 years ago? Is our future with them at the helm dim or bright?

The youth today seem particularly conformist. Such a large number wear strange fashions, for example, and seem completely oblivious as to how ridiculous they look. This is reinforced by MTV, but parents should not permit them to submit to the peer pressure and the advertising pressures.

The youth today seem particularly conformist. Such a large number wear strange fashions, for example, and seem completely oblivious as to how ridiculous they look. This is reinforced by MTV, but parents should not permit them to submit to the peer pressure and the advertising pressures.

wow .
I actually might agree with Snouter on this one .
Shocking ! :eek3:
Or course, I don't know the american youth firsthand , though I suspect they aren't that removed from european youths ...
Quicksilver Materialism is rather destructive, methinks .

What age range are we using as the basis for the "youth" here?

teens.

Interesting Snouter that you feel they are overly conformist. I encounter such a wide array of people between my school, work, and living in the city, I feel they are pretty non conformist now a days.

Of course there are 'styles and looks' that peolpe 'conform' to like emo, punk, normal, or whatever.

But how is that any different than everyone trying to be like James Dean?

Much worse. In just about every way.

Much better. Kids today are much more open-minded. The human experience is cumulative throughout generations, so they are smarter and more worldly.

Kids today are more tolerant of other cultures but other than that, they are much worse than previous generations of teenagers.

Their behavior is worse, respect for their elders is pretty much non-existant, they are spoiled, lazy...

I think that if you look back 30 to 40 years, things got worse in a number of ways, but then when the effects were noticed of the whole 60's counter-culture/anything goes era, the pendulum started swinging back in the other direction, and the good news is, some teens (though not all) are doing much better now than they were 10, 20, 30 years ago.

(whew, that was a run-on sentence, sorry)

What I mean is, statistics are showing that more teenagers are pro-life now, the rate of teens waiting to have sex has gone up in recent times, and there are other stats that are kinda encouraging about teens. :) Also I think that since a lot of kids have parents who are ex-hippies, or total liberals, the only way to rebel is to go the other way, so I think there are more teens now who have views that are more conservative than their left leaning parents. And that's a good thing, if you ask me. ;)

Umm i guess ebing part of the "youth of America" i dont really get to put an opinion in here huh? :|

Much better. Kids today are much more open-minded. The human experience is cumulative throughout generations, so they are smarter and more worldly.

Open-mindedness is not a positive trait. That is exactly what is wrong with kids. They accept everything, question nothing. Open and closed mindedness are two extremes. What you want to shoot for is to be active minded.

Open-mindedness is not a positive trait. That is exactly what is wrong with kids. They accept everything, question nothing. Open and closed mindedness are two extremes. What you want to shoot for is to be active minded.
VERY true! :nice:

What I mean is, statistics are showing that more teenagers are pro-life now, the rate of teens waiting to have sex has gone up in recent times, and there are other stats that are kinda encouraging about teens. :) Also I think that since a lot of kids have parents who are ex-hippies, or total liberals, the only way to rebel is to go the other way, so I think there are more teens now who have views that are more conservative than their left leaning parents. And that's a good thing, if you ask me. ;)


:nice: Then there is hope. :)

Indeed :)

Kids today do seem to be slowly adopting tried and true conservative values. It's hard to ignore just how destructive the counter culture movement of the Sixties has been. Sanity seems to be reasserting itself, thankfully. Hopefully, as the hippy generation ages and dies off, the newer generations can reclaim the country and return it to the traditional values that made it the greatest and most powerful nation on earth.

Open-mindedness is not a positive trait. That is exactly what is wrong with kids. They accept everything, question nothing. Open and closed mindedness are two extremes. What you want to shoot for is to be active minded.

No offense contra, but I don't find your mind to be too particularly active so I'm just gonna stick with my original statement.

Open-mindedness is good. It is impossible to "accept everything" since people receive conflicting messages constantly, so what you're saying is nonsense. "Open-minded" and "close-minded" are old figures of speech with obvious meanings. "Active-minded" is presumably some neo-con buzzword that's supposed to re-program common sense through newspeak, like homicide bomber. Any mind that is conscious is active in some way, "open-minded" refers to one's willingness to consider new ideas and question what one is told.

Edit: I think it's pathetic that some people are trying to measure whether kids are "better" or "worse" today by how willing they are to embrace your own political leanings. "Active -minded" indeed, I can see why the very phrase "open-minded' is offensive to some on here.

Von Apfelstrudel, you are coming around my friend. Join the Snouter Revolution.

Manu, the rap generation is still around to a large extent. From a macro perpsective we see the power of the monopolized, confromist thinking process of the youngers in that they contribute to the creation of celebrities that have no redeeming value.

Open-mindedness is not a positive trait. That is exactly what is wrong with kids. They accept everything, question nothing. Open and closed mindedness are two extremes. What you want to shoot for is to be active minded.

i think it's good to open minded at first and then learn and grow into being active minded. Open minded can also be a SEEKING mind, and that is not a bad thing.

the rate of teens waiting to have sex has gone up in recent times,

speaking of that, the more open minded Europe beats us with that stat. In France, Germany and Holland, (i just learned this in health class today) the age teens are waiting to have sex is 18, while in 1999 when this stat is from, the U.S. average age was 17.

i feel rather old, because i cant say if teens are better or worse off, i mean there are less big highschool violence tragedies than from when I was a teen. (plus) But when I hear about middle schoolers getting caught for oral sex in school or something, I freak out. My brother is 18, and i wouldnt be surprised if he said that teens were worse off now than before. He's kinda cynical. Then again, his valedictorian or salutatorian was drunk at prom and didnt get suspended and banned from graduation like all the other kids who were at the prom drinking.
(When i was a teen we had some more freedoms, like all ages ska shows, those dont exist now. . .)

Manu, the rap generation is still around to a large extent. From a macro perpsective we see the power of the monopolized, confromist thinking process of the youngers in that they contribute to the creation of celebrities that have no redeeming value.
right as usual. :nice:


(no pun intended :p)

Manu, the rap generation is still around to a large extent. From a macro perpsective we see the power of the monopolized, confromist thinking process of the youngers in that they contribute to the creation of celebrities that have no redeeming value.

"The youth is worse today because they listen to [depending on what decade your time machine has dropped you, please insert the phrase Jazz, Rock 'n Roll or Rap here]"

Gee, that's pretty original and unexpected coming from you snout. Thanks for not burdening us with a bunch of "thought" and "rationale", that was mighty thoughtful of you (no pun intended).

No offense contra, but I don't find your mind to be too particularly active so I'm just gonna stick with my original statement.

Open-mindedness is good. It is impossible to "accept everything" since people receive conflicting messages constantly, so what you're saying is nonsense. "Open-minded" and "close-minded" are old figures of speech with obvious meanings. "Active-minded" is presumably some neo-con buzzword that's supposed to re-program common sense through newspeak, like homicide bomber. Any mind that is conscious is active in some way, "open-minded" refers to one's willingness to consider new ideas and question what one is told.

Edit: I think it's pathetic that some people are trying to measure whether kids are "better" or "worse" today by how willing they are to embrace your own political leanings. "Active -minded" indeed, I can see why the very phrase "open-minded' is offensive to some on here.
"The youth is worse today because they listen to [depending on what decade your time machine has dropped you, please insert the phrase Jazz, Rock 'n Roll or Rap here]"

Gee, that's pretty original and unexpected coming from you snout. Thanks for not burdening us with a bunch of "thought" and "rationale", that was mighty thoughtful of you (no pun intended).
I think i like this guy :D

I think that the youth of today... me :D are more adaptable and open to a much more diverse and quickly changing world. It think that there are issues with morality and the idolizing of "celebrities that have no redeeming value". Quite honestly there is a huge range in "the youth of today". There are the type of people which i like to think i am one of who are very open minded and dont particularly idolize any specific figure for all things, there are of course going to be people who wish they could play like jimi Hendrix or some such but i honestly dont think we look to these people for how to behave. There are well "the rap generation" whom i think give youths today a bad image because of their closed minded ignorance and blind following of no-talent "pimp mastas". All in all i dont think its kind of a dumb thing to ask weather the youth of today is better or worse than the youth of yesterday... we are in two totally different worlds.

I think there is much anger and rebellion in todays youth but they dont have a focus for it. I was talking to a person a few days back about the contrasts between the Woodstock of 1969 which was all about rebellion yes but also about love, peace and making a positive change in the world, in contrast while woodstock 1999 was about rebellion it ended in riots. Were is the spirit of the 60's? has it been corrupted into love of chaos for the sake of it? I am much too young to have been at the original Woodstock but I wish I was, they seemed to have shared much of my ideals back then. Even back in the early 90's there was grunge and there was anger in that but it seemed to be anger with direction.

Are the teens of today better or worse than the teens of 20, 40, 60 years ago? Is our future with them at the helm dim or bright?

I think they are different in some ways, but also have a lot in common with other generations. The question as to their future being dim or bright is a good one. Not knowing what the future brings, I will choose bright.

My own offspring will be teens in the near future. I see them going through some of the same things I did when young. I reject the notion that things are better or worse than when I was a boy.

Oooh, conservatives complaining about the kids. That's never happened before, has it? :|

Todays youth are no different than youth of any era.

Its common for old folk to say, "kids these days..." but its only because they forgot how rotten they were.

I think the world is a lot sadder for young people today and they are having to face real world problems way earlier than they should.

Sux.

So we keep talking about the kid as if they raise themselves. They are just reacting to what is being given to them. I think that the state of our kids today is really more of a reflection of what is wrong with the grown ups of today. [i guess it's the unique position of not being a kid, and not being a grown up that lets me say something like that.]

I keep watching Dr. Phil and all these parents are asking for help with their kids... MY GOD!! these parents are SO messed up. Then they wonder why their kids are so mal-adjusted. I also babysit, and I've been getting tougher with the kids, and even these "well adjusted/well behaved" kids arent learning the right sorts of things. --or maybe i just babysit for a bunch of brats.

and Spab, my boyfriend always had to deal with problems at a too young age, and i've seen how it's messed him up. His parents used to tell him about financial problems when he was like 13, and at that age he couldnt do anything more about than just worry. I feel that it has lead him to feel that problems are always out of his hands,and unsolvable. It also taught him that when he has problems he has to keep it quiet. (b/c the person listening always has something 'worse' on their minds) I agree that making kids worry about things too early will mess them up.

I think Contra and Snouter covered it pretty well.:nice:

Today's kids are much fatter than previous generations.

Respect ,self-respect and principles never go out of style ,without chaos.

I think the kids today need loving dissapline and LOTS more attention . Also I thinkthe problem is with the parents, not the kids .

Anybody who thinks the 60s was about love, peae and equality, was'nt over 21 then . They were about selfishness, immorality and doing thier own thing no matter who it hurt . Most were anti-American and athiest . They started the sexual revolution that started the sexual transmitted desease epidemics ,teen suicides ,divorce and family destrution .

When I was young woman were treated with respect, if the acted respectful. Boys would open your doors for you, tip their hats to ladies and never cuss in front of woman or kids,unless the woman cussed first, then they were still un-comfortable doing so. Woman would stay home with kids, at least till they were in school. Most woman had their mind on ways to please family ,not themselves .

I knew alot of woman who had fair marriages . I knew some who had bad ones , but the worse was better in comparrison to what we have now,almost .

I am so happy to hear that kids are beginning to reaize the tragidy of the 'if it feels good do it '.

I would fear just as much if kids today considered "If it feels good, don't do it" as their montra.

I think the main differance between kids of yesterday and today is the mindset. I see a more selfish, bratty generation. The peace/love movement, pshycology, TV and media have taken away the values of yesterday. Virtue is almost non-existant. Anything that a person uses energy on must come with some reward. Me me me.

I think the main differance between kids of yesterday and today is the mindset. I see a more selfish, bratty generation. The peace/love movement, pshycology, TV and media have taken away the values of yesterday. Virtue is almost non-existant. Anything that a person uses energy on must come with some reward. Me me me.

You are 21 years old. You were born three years into Ronald Reagan's first term as President. What the hell are you talking about?

You are 21 years old. You were born three years into Ronald Reagan's first term as President. What the hell are you talking about?

Your five years older than I am. Not 15 or 20, five.

Your five years older than I am. Not 15 or 20, five.

Right, yes. That's why I wouldn't make such a silly statement as "I think the main differance between kids of yesterday and today is the mindset. I see a more selfish, bratty generation. The peace/love movement, pshycology, TV and media have taken away the values of yesterday."

I really pitty kids today. Honestly. They have less freedom than kids of any generation. Sure they have more junk like Play Station and DVDs and 24 hour cable TV but so what? When I was a kid I walked to school, hung out with kids and stuff. Today if a group of kids gather in one space the cops are called. Today kids are more likely to come from broken homes. I had a dad who wasn't afraid of slapping me upside the head if I got out of line. But today less kids have fathers. I didn't get to have as much fun as other kids. But I was raised "right". Of course I still turned out messed up but thats beside the point. Kids live in a more violent world these days. They have to worry about drugs, gangs, teen pregnancies.

Its not easy for kids at all these days.