Not often sharing David Brooks, but this was an interesting read, especially the idea that Gen Z is the "safest" generation in terms of general physical safety-wise (half the emergency room visits of prior generations) and the idea that experience-wise 18-year-old Gen Z's are comparable to 14-year-old Gen Xers.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/04/opinion/gen-z-adulthood.html

This kind of rang true to me because my 19-year-old college niece seems way sooo young me and seems much more like my 12 year olds then compared to what I was getting into as college freshman. She could be fooling us all but for a girl who loves sharing every detail of her life boys and alcohol are not a big part of it.


Then there is this whole thing about how sad and depressed these kids are. Nothing has impacted more about my strategy for raising my kids lately then reading this:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/23/health/mental-health-crisis-teens.html

And just a couple of days ago I read this story about this trend called School Refusal where kids just refuse to go to school:

https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/health/2023/05/15/school-avoidance-becomes-crisis-after-covid/11127563002/


I have a co-worker who I am always talking about strategies for getting kids into college and I told him recently my number #1 strategy is to raise happy healthy kids and the rest will fall into place.

Anyway, I've been making a whats up with the kids post as I watch my kids growing up and watching these national trends.

What are you seeing?


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

less opportunity for broken limbs or all the outdoor things that could lead to hospitals.

couple that with being indoors more and the isolation that goes along with that, I can see why there's seems to be more sadness.

with that said, tools have gotten better at measuring the temperature of people and there's more focus on mental health than previous generations. so it may be harder to really tell if the youngins are sadder or if we just have more data than previous generations.

we try to keep our kids in something active like track, swimming, basketball, etc. the hope is it'll get them more comfortable around people while building other skills. it's worked well for my daughter. not as much for my son. he's a more shy and timid. gotta keep working on his confidence.

and VERY unsure of themselves.

and i dont mean any of that in an insulting way i feel really bad for them.

they already grew up largely indoors instead of roaming the streets having fun
playing video games online instead of in person w/ their friends
then you had COVID nuke the meat of their HS/social growth years

by and large i dont think they are ready for the world AT ALL. college/young adulthood is going to do a number on them.
there is a value in being able to make mistakes, scrapes, bumps and bruises, bouncebacks at 12-18 vs 18-20

and my generation..

older generations always brag about how they did so much more because of less tech than the generations after them.

I think these kids now have legitimately gotten a raw ass deal of a childhood experience in a very different way than my or your generations.

I'm not saying there isn't meat to some of these arguments, especially Brooklyn...'s


but they'll be ok, just like we were ok, just like our parents are ok.

people always dog out the next generation.

they will be fine..

or should I say a little less fucked up as the last generation.

Agree that the next generation gets dogged out, but when you look at the statistics for declining friendship, time spent with community in general, increase in loneliness, etc ... there's something to what Brooklyn was saying

I really do hope I'm wrong and that they're fine, if some of my younger cousins are any indication then, man ...

I am pretty sure the kids are going to be alright, because I doubt they will lead to the extinction of humanity and they will get through it.

But they have a totally different set of challenges and strengths then we do.

It's shaping up that this generation's challenge is really basic as being happy and not lonely.




>Agree that the next generation gets dogged out, but when you
>look at the statistics for declining friendship, time spent
>with community in general, increase in loneliness, etc ...
>there's something to what Brooklyn was saying
>
>I really do hope I'm wrong and that they're fine, if some of
>my younger cousins are any indication then, man ...


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

they are kids, they don’t have it all figured out. We were young and dumb too I guess but it still sounds harsh even though he said it wasn’t an insult.

These kids lack community but part of that is due to the parents. We move to new hoods and don’t join the community.

I went home recently and the kids in my town are still on bikes, out in groups of 5 and 10 being normal ass kids.

The teens don’t need to meet up as much because they can facetime. Its some George Jetson shit these days.

I think they will be fine they just live in a world we never thought would happen.

I find that the folks most cynical and doomsday about the future are the ones who don't have children.

I think they don't get to see the cooler aspects of these younger generations.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

think about it..on demand movies, on demand porn, on demand video games, social media?

we used to sit under a shade tree or chillin on the green box, we actually had to pedal the bicycle...they have an electric skateboard.

I don't blame these kids for being "soft" they don't even have to go to the library anymore.

fresh outta college (so early 20s)
she's mexican but kinda acts white

bro, this chick put in the group work chat how her landlord don't wanna change her lightbulbs for her

been waiting for days in the dark for him to come by and change them

he was like.... take one of the dead ones out and take your dumb ass to the store and buy a new one

she was like how do I do it when I can't reach them

my wife was like uuhhhh, you don't have a stepstool or small ladder in the apt?

her and the other young chick "OMGZ WAT WHO HAS A LADDER IN THEIR APT LOL"

These the same chicks that had some feedback that they thought my wife is always mad cause she ends her IMs with a period. "OMGZ I THOUGHT YOU WERE MAD CAUSE YOU PUT A PERIOD AT THE END OF THE MESSAGE"

Anyway this coworker went to home depot and was totally overwhelmed, so now she's waiting for her Mexican ass dad to change the light bulb when he comes in from outta town

LMAO

Didn't think it was a real thing.

I generally think these kids aren't ready for the world in real ways. The disconnect is that at the same time, these kids know so much, probably the smartest generation ever, from an academic perspective.

They got youtube videos that explain everything, but can't change light bulbs. SMH. I just wonder how that plays out long term.

It's like the intern who was bad mouthing return to work to the CEO and couldn't read the room that it wasn't a good idea.



**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

to put it plainly, they don't know what they don't know, and they are too delicate to deal with those with more experience telling them

straight up

ive realized throwing in a couple of the yellow emoji faces with a request will get them to respond favorably/they wont take it so much as me "attacking them"/i wont get some slight attitude ("but why are you making me do this now?") in response..it's wild

…

prolly grew up with working class parents that made them the upwardly mobile golden child and primed them to be honors students, but with no life skills

sad to see.

she’s just lazy and entitled

And you don't need the paywall to see it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/29/crosswords/texting-punctuation-period.html


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

even with the explanation, it still feels like kids looking for some shit to get offended by

but i'm old, so

language is a living thing that changes with the times. it's beautiful when it fits your style but terrible when your style is no longer in fashion.

She also caught some feedback for using an upside down smiley face

She thought it meant 'feeling silly'

Apparently that emoji means the darkest of emotional ill will for really young people

turns out the fist emoji was a pound and not a punch (this was a while ago).


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

never knew about the period thing.

That is wild

but I also think screaming PERIODT is the dumbest shit ever.. lol.

ive asked several elders in their 60s and 70s about this younger generation, and they all say the same thing…

yes, we say that about every generation, but THIS generation is different.
its something missing in their thought process, their actions, etc.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

you're right

and for you, logically that tracks

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

I'm so glad I didn't have to guide them down that logical hula hoop.

>ive asked several elders in their 60s and 70s about this
>younger generation, and they all say the same thing…
>
>yes, we say that about every generation, but THIS generation
>is different.

every generation says that about the next generation.. lol.

>its something missing in their thought process, their actions,
>etc.

they said this too about the last generation.. lol

humans. the difference is the environments. not the people. if we were their age, we'd behave the same way.

it would feel weird if it were the other way around.

gen z does feel uniquely coddled and ill equipped, and it doesn't seem as simple as 'every generation...", but it could also just be that and they'll be fine.

i wonder how this breaks down among gen z-ers who didn't go to college.

have kids, or any of that American dream stuff the Baby Boomers enjoyed, with their good public education and respectable paychecks, but maybe they'll live longer

influencer jobs gotta be better for life expectancy than working in a factory, i'm just sayin lol

To be honest I really do think boomers (from non-marginalized groups) are the real most spoiled generation, if you look at how they benefited from the economic conditions of the time

I think working class whites are being set back just a little while marginalized groups are being given a fair shake, and that is what got us here politically

my mom grew up in a largely middle class nuclear family household, and never did nearly as well as my grandparents who weren't born in the US, kinda due to the people she hung out with/married. my friends all came from working class households, nearly all their dads were vietnam vets, and it pretty much went across racial lines. I get what you're saying, but i think my view of boomers is skewed, because as a gen X latch-key kid i felt soft as fuck in comparison. we worried about things like getting evicted, or getting jumped for walking down the wrong street, but i wasn't worried about getting drafted and going off to war lol

i'm tripping, wasn't even thinking about that huge part of the boomer generation

I was thinking more my mother being able to leave home cause she disagreed with my grandfather about the Vietnam War (who himself was raised in a immigrant household in the depression seeing all kinds of fucked up shit) and her still being able to get a very cheap public higher education and make her own way.

as well as a heroin addiction. he's gone now but even hanging out my friend's fam at get togethers and talking to his dad and uncles who were all there... and even now i feel like a boy among men. part of that dynamic is that i've known them since i was a kid, but it's def more than that.

but life before internet meant at least you had to go outside and get into shit / explore your surroundings

it was a edgier and more complicated world than the one most people's parents left for war, but it had more possibility as far as who you could be as an individual

that continues with gen z, where they feel their personal potential is limitless but they have very limited real life trial by error (pandemic didn't help)

maybe that's what it is, without a war or nation-building project, there is no need to live outside your bubble. hence the 'snowflake'tag they get hit with

we were super cautious with our kids, which lead to over protection of Millenials & Gen Z, which is making them unprepared for the world.

It's kind of a cycle of adaptation to the environment and the resulting unintended consequences.

I imagine the next generation of kids will be super outgoing and outdoorsy to make up for their parents generation and they will have their own quirks.




**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

strong men create good times,
good times create weak men,
and weak men create hard times."

-G. Michael Hopf

Wash, rinse, repeat.

didn’t have cell phones, we knew everyone’s number by heart,
we knew how to call collect.

Plus we had what I call family six degrees of separation, where no matter where you
went you were always 6-7 houses away from a relatives house.

I once encountered a girl -while heading to my car- who had just lost her phone. She was completely freaking out because she didn’t know anyone’s number, not any of her friends numbers or family members. I ordered her an Uber so that she could get home, but she
just kept saying “I don’t know anyone’s number”.

I think every generation misses out on fundamentals from the previous era of existing, but
gain fundamentals for the current time. Example: back in the 80s and 90s, my
elders used to clown us for not knowing how to drive a stick shift even though we knew
how to drive an automatic. …”All you kids just know how to do is automatic stuff.”
“ I was driving stick shifts at the age of 13.”

Now you got young adults that don’t even know how to drive.

no real need to keep certain standards. no real need to remember numbers. we did that because there was no other option.

my great aunt had encyclopdias at her place in the 80s. it would really weird to see that today in a young adult's home. or like us having type writers instead of computers. it just doesn't make sense.

we just went to the hot spots and told people we were looking for a certain person

and if we didn’t find them we just linked up with other people and fell into whatever was happening.

sometimes we found each other, sometimes we didn’t

its how I made new friends at college

That's a good question and really jogged my memory of how it use to go down.

I think the answer is that there would be just certain spots you would go to kick it. Either the student center at a certain time or someone's dorm room. You'd bring people along who weren't normally there. People would fall in and out. If it was warm all spot everyone would know to go that certain spot outdoors.

I guess I also remember no time was ever that exact. You'd show up when you showed up.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

it was mainly for working adults. there were a few common areas, but depending on your class times, there may or may not be folks in those spots.

so if you didn't have class with somebody, you literally might never see them again. I saw a beautiful woman and wanted to holla, but didn't. thought she was gone forever. happened to see her again a few weeks later in a completely different,, random spot.

she ran out of her car to go into the building. I took a risk and left my number on her windshield. surprisingly, she called.

we hung out a time or two. she was dope, but nothing came of it. no chemistry. also found out her dad was my teacher for accounting. I hated his class lol

We would just set a time and link up.

I’m be up at the quad around 4..aight, peace.

We didn’t need to keep texting each other…and college campuses
had phones.

And every culture had a certain social hub that they hung out
at, we would hook up there. Plus you mainly connected with people
in your dormitory.

It was very simple and easy.

of course we had the phones and set up times to meet.

we would walk the campus and tell/ask people we knee if they seen said person and if not, let them know we were looking for them and would be at a spot.

most times it worked but sometimes it was like a scavenger hunt. You might just miss them at a spot and never catch up to them but usually you found something to get into that made for a good/wild night

pluggers!

the only few I do know are 20+ years old

"By 2021, only 15 percent of the Gen Z ninth graders had."

I'd say that's good progress lol.
But is that a true stat? 9th grade is like 14 years old. Gen X kids were getting down like that?

We had a lot of unsupervised time.

lots of outside time meant freedom.

what does sex mean in this context though? if it doesn't say intercourse, it could include everything that leads up to it.

I watch my niece and nephews and they are staring at a screem almost more than half they're waking hours. My kids look at screens a lot but not that much. How will these kids turn out in 25 years?


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"