The new whinier generation

[CaptainRaiden]

What do you guys think about the teenagers these days? Is it just me or does anybody else observe that this new generation of teens has become a whiny bunch. I can only speak for my home country and some European countries where I've been and noticed this, don't know about the rest of the world.

It seems the youth today feel sorry for themselves for some strange inane reason. I've come across at least, I would say, more than a 100 whiny teenagers in the last year itself, who will complain and complain till kingdom come. I mean I've seen kids spend 10+ hours gaming on the PCs and consoles, eat and drink some of the best stuff, go to parties, come home drunk and then cry about their life and how unfortunate they are. And these are the ones living the most luxurious lives possible. Am I missing something??

Then there is the mainstream music these days, where again whiney, spoiled kids, who can't even grow a moustache, are singing about love and being betrayed, and how tough their life is, and how depressed they are, and how they inject stuff into themselves to calm the "pain" down. :rolleyes:

Also, there is a trend of youth not wanting to work during their education years, and not only the rich kids. It seems the poorer kids look up to the rich kids, and then behave like them. I've seen adult youth in their 20s going through college demanding money from their poor parents instead of actually growing a pair and getting a job to pay for their own stuff. And on top of that, they have a monster ego!

It seems the people who go through real painful lives, who go through real hunger and poverty and problems me and you can't even imagine, the ones who've actually swam through crap and come out clean, are the ones with more humility, and these are the ones whom I've seen never whining. They just go about their business in a calm manner.

Okay, I'm done with my whine about the whiny youth of today. Phew! :D

P.S. - What's with European white kids dressing up like American rappers, listening to rap music, their favorite musicians being all the mainstream rappers, and these are the same ones calling America and Americans stupid. :confused:

[BDunnell]

I refuse ever to indulge in the dismissal through generalisation of an entire generation.

[Tazio]

I'll be brief here X. What it really comes down to is the same thing that it always has. Parenting is a full time job. The ones you are referring to are usually the way they are because they can push their parent’s buttons. I have a sister that was the Valedictorian and ASB president of her High School. Played on the Tennis team and got a partial ride at Loyola Marymount. If you’re not familiar with it, it is a Jesuit College, in L.A. with very high scholastic requirements. She graduated with honors, got a journalism job and after a couple years she got married. She made a conscious decision to be a full time mother (she is not a saint) She has one son going to Fordham on a Tennis scholarship and another that is a sophomore in High school. They are both exemplary young men that show the utmost respect, and are already the kind of people that get things done. I occasionally comment on how together her boys are and she is quite pleased that she and her husband had the means to live very well on his income while raising them. She is in the process of adopting a Chinese orphan which is a lot harder than it should be. I asked her why she wants to do it all over again and she simply says. “I enjoy being a parent I and I'm very good at it.
In an ever increasingly fast paced society, most parents can't afford the time or have the disposition to do the job right and do things like fall into the trap of having perceived disorders handled with meds.
Just one example, there are other factors, I just thought I would put in my two cents :)

[Drew]

I refuse ever to indulge in the dismissal through generalisation of an entire generation.

I agree 100%.

In fact I think teenagers have a tougher time of life than the rest of us. I'm sure alot of people will agree with you and say that teenagers nowadays are worse than when they were teenagers. But I'm also sure that most of these people will also admit to drinking in parks, causing trouble and whatnot when they were teenagers too. Of course there are teenagers that cause trouble but just as much as there are adults that cause trouble and unlike adults all teenagers seem to get tarnised with the same brush.

[CaptainRaiden]

I'll be brief here X. What it really comes down to is the same thing that it always has. Parenting is a full time job. The ones you are referring to are usually the way they are because they can push their parent’s buttons.

I think that may very well be the case. This trend that I see, it's mostly in kids that I would call "spoiled", hopefully I don't offend someone.


I have a sister that was the Valedictorian and ASB president of her High School. Played on the Tennis team and got a partial ride at Loyola Marymount. If you’re not familiar with it, it is a Jesuit College, in L.A. with very high scholastic requirements. She graduated with honors, got a journalism job and after a couple years she got married. She made a conscious decision to be a full time mother (she is not a saint) She has one son going to Fordham on a Tennis scholarship and another that is a sophomore in High school. They are both exemplary young men that show the utmost respect, and are already the kind of people that get things done. I occasionally comment on how together her boys are and she is quite pleased that she and her husband had the means to live very well on his income while raising them. She is in the process of adopting a Chinese orphan which is a lot harder than it should be. I asked her why she wants to do it all over again and she simply says. “I enjoy being a parent I and I'm very good at it.
In an ever increasingly fast paced society, most parents can't afford the time or have the disposition to do the job right and do things like fall into the trap of having perceived disorders handled with meds.
Just one example, there are other factors, I just thought I would put in my two cents :)

Great post Taz. :up:

[Brown, Jon Brow]

When you start whining about whining teenagers it means that you are 'past it'. :p

[CaptainRaiden]

I refuse ever to indulge in the dismissal through generalisation of an entire generation.


I agree 100%.

In fact I think teenagers have a tougher time of life than the rest of us. I'm sure alot of people will agree with you and say that teenagers nowadays are worse than when they were teenagers. But I'm also sure that most of these people will also admit to drinking in parks, causing trouble and whatnot when they were teenagers too. Of course there are teenagers that cause trouble but just as much as there are adults that cause trouble and unlike adults all teenagers seem to get tarnised with the same brush.

No doubt that teenage life is one of the hardest periods in life, but probably my point was misunderstood. I may have generalized a bit too much in my first post, and so it's probably my mistake.

I'm not generalizing towards a whole generation, just the ones who have everything and yet complain to no end. I have nothing but full admiration for youth from this same generation who are much more level headed, humble and hard working, the kind that Taz talked about in his post.

But the truth is, whether you like it or not, a lot of them are spoiled to an extent where even they themselves don't realize it, and this egotistical/feeling-sorry-for-oneself demeanor would be detrimental for their life ahead, and probably them or their parents don't realize this yet.

I've witnessed perfectly healthy, intelligent, wealthy youth (some of whom I knew personally) go down the dark road of depression and stress because of this very attitude, because they chose to be stubborn and chose to believe that life and everybody else around them is unfair to them, when I've seen much less fortunate people, of the same age, in other parts of the world, go through much, MUCH worse, but yet are humble and soldier on.

Maybe it's because of different mindsets, maybe the latter types are just extremely tenacious and unwilling to yield and give up, and the ones I'm talking about are more emotionally vulnerable. Again, to reiterate, I'm not talking about the whole generation here, just the ones who lead a life that kids from poor countries can only dream of, and yet they find reasons to whine.

Probably it's always been this way, not just with this generation. I don't know if I made myself clearer or not, but it's late and I'm sleepy. :D

[CaptainRaiden]

When you start whining about whining teenagers it means that you are 'past it'. :p

Oh no! :(

[Drew]

No doubt that teenage life is one of the hardest periods in life, but probably my point was misunderstood. I may have generalized a bit too much in my first post, and so it's probably my mistake.

I'm not generalizing towards a whole generation, just the ones who have everything and yet complain to no end. I have nothing but full admiration for youth from this same generation who are much more level headed, humble and hard working, the kind that Taz talked about in his post.

But the truth is, whether you like it or not, a lot of them are spoiled to an extent where even they themselves don't realize it, and this egotistical/feeling-sorry-for-oneself demeanor would be detrimental for their life ahead, and probably them or their parents don't realize this yet.

I've witnessed perfectly healthy, intelligent, wealthy youth (some of whom I knew personally) go down the dark road of depression and stress because of this very attitude, because they chose to be stubborn and chose to believe that life and everybody else around them is unfair to them, when I've seen much less fortunate people, of the same age, in other parts of the world, go through much, MUCH worse, but yet are humble and soldier on.

Maybe it's because of different mindsets, maybe the latter types are just extremely tenacious and unwilling to yield and give up, and the ones I'm talking about are more emotionally vulnerable. Again, to reiterate, I'm not talking about the whole generation here, just the ones who lead a life that kids from poor countries can only dream of, and yet they find reasons to whine.

Probably it's always been this way, not just with this generation. I don't know if I made myself clearer or not, but it's late and I'm sleepy. :D

I understand what you're saying, but what I have a problem with is the total generalisation and especially implying that teenagers are worse now than they were before.

I can't really speak for Indian teenagers but in the UK all the poverty, starvation and so on seems so far away. Homeless people here are seen as bums and are seen to have brought it on theirselves. So of course teenagers compare themselves to people better off, to people who have "perfect lives" and seemingly have no problems but most importantly to people in the media. It's all relative!

And about spoiled teenagers, you've contradicted yourself. It's not teenagers' fault that they are spoiled it's the parents'. Can you really blame the teenagers in this case? ;)

[Bob Riebe]

No doubt that teenage life is one of the hardest periods in life, but probably my point was misunderstood. I may have generalized a bit too much in my first post, and so it's probably my mistake.

I'm not generalizing towards a whole generation, just the ones who have everything and yet complain to no end. I have nothing but full admiration for youth from this same generation who are much more level headed, humble and hard working, the kind that Taz talked about in his post.

But the truth is, whether you like it or not, a lot of them are spoiled to an extent where even they themselves don't realize it, and this egotistical/feeling-sorry-for-oneself demeanor would be detrimental for their life ahead, and probably them or their parents don't realize this yet.

I've witnessed perfectly healthy, intelligent, wealthy youth (some of whom I knew personally) go down the dark road of depression and stress because of this very attitude, because they chose to be stubborn and chose to believe that life and everybody else around them is unfair to them, when I've seen much less fortunate people, of the same age, in other parts of the world, go through much, MUCH worse, but yet are humble and soldier on.

Maybe it's because of different mindsets, maybe the latter types are just extremely tenacious and unwilling to yield and give up, and the ones I'm talking about are more emotionally vulnerable. Again, to reiterate, I'm not talking about the whole generation here, just the ones who lead a life that kids from poor countries can only dream of, and yet they find reasons to whine.

Probably it's always been this way, not just with this generation. I don't know if I made myself clearer or not, but it's late and I'm sleepy. :D
In this part of the US, and probably most, speak to employers that have hired teenage summer work for decades, and they will say with rare exceptions they are lazy, spoiled and yes whine.

I thought it was over-blown, but now without exception, people I have worked for or know well, all say the same thing that they are self-centered lazy spoiled brats.
Now that is not all but when all employers say it is extremely hard to fine young workers will simply work without problems, the facts speak for themselves.al
Bob
PS- As an aside, just last weak I was landscaping in miserable weather (95 F, seventy percent humidity) in an area that is not low income, and the owner of the land had his sons out there digging a ditch in rocky soil which saved us at least three days work.
At the same time my boss could not find workers, so a member of his church sent his sons age sixteen and seventeen there to help me, including carrying old wet five by six by ten foot timbers up a very steep hill, so they would get experience to see what it is like to have to do hard labor.
SO-- there are some parents who do not coddle there children.

[gadjo_dilo]

I look around and I can't see any whining teenager. Just a large bunch of cynical, overconfident, unshameful, disrespectful boys and girls listerning and dancing to the disgusting rythms of "manele" (X-ecutioner will know what I mean ), threatening with their imminent leaving of the country ( what a loss.....), with an insane system of values and etc., etc.

And before the entire forum will jump at my neck for generalisation of an entire generation I say that the things above apply to about 90% of them. The rest are really extraordinary people but not so many to change the things.

[CaptainRaiden]

I look around and I can't see any whining teenager. Just a large bunch of cynical, overconfident, unshameful, disrespectful boys and girls listerning and dancing to the disgusting rythms of "manele" (X-ecutioner will know what I mean )

Oh yeah. I've been here for over an year, and I still can't fathom how that music (if we can call it that) became this famous, and what kind of satisfaction do they draw from that. I was unfortunate enough to travel in someone's car for 4 hours with that music blasting through the speakers, I've never had a bigger headache in my life! :hmph:

Well, on that note, I don't understand the appeal of house/techno/trance music either, but it seems that's the biggest thing in Europe. I guess they are entitled to enjoy the music they like. I'm just sad about the fact that rock music is dying. :(

[Mark]

Hasn't it always been the case? It's just that you only notice how annoying it is once you get older!

[gadjo_dilo]

and I still can't fathom how that music (if we can call it that) became this famous, and what kind of satisfaction do they draw from that.


It's easy: it's music for the belly. :laugh:

[Mark]

Oh yeah. I've been here for over an year, and I still can't fathom how that music (if we can call it that) became this famous, and what kind of satisfaction do they draw from that. I was unfortunate enough to travel in someone's car for 4 hours with that music blasting through the speakers, I've never had a bigger headache in my life! :hmph:

Well, on that note, I don't understand the appeal of house/techno/trance music either, but it seems that's the biggest thing in Europe. I guess they are entitled to enjoy the music they like. I'm just sad about the fact that rock music is dying. :(

Every generation thinks their music was the best and the music enjoyed by the teenagers of the time is terrible! It's just another fact of life :p

[Tazio]

Hasn't it always been the case? It's just that you only notice how annoying it is once you get older!As I stated in an earlier post I think the reasons are the same now as they were when I was a teenager in the 60's. And what you say is not untrue. But I don't think it is exactly the same. In the U.S. (at least in my neck of the woods), parents are more prone to throw money at their offspring problems, rather than being vigilant and proactive about their (offspring’s) behavior and development.

[MrMetro]

well I turned 18 in april so that makes me an adult. As a teen I was always considered a boring person, at school all the chavs hated me because I didn't go out smoking and drinking and being a tw*t. In fact I never gave a monkeys about anything like that. I like watching my motorsports and playing my games and staying out of the limelight.

[CaptainRaiden]

Hasn't it always been the case? It's just that you only notice how annoying it is once you get older!

I think I am getting older then. :D

Although, I have to say that probably teens or more specifically youth from about 15 or 20 years ago, before the whole internet thingy caught on, gave more value to hard work, and didn't find reasons NOT to get a job. Maybe those numbers have decreased today? Or maybe not, and I'm just being a grumpy old man (even though I am 27 :p ).

[Garry Walker]

In fact I think teenagers have a tougher time of life than the rest of us.
Do elaborate on that statement.

Whilst my teenage years are quite a while behind, I can easily remember them being easy and enjoyable years. All the problems that I faced then were nothing compared to problems I had to deal with once I became an adult. So I wouldnt say they were tough years at all.

[Mark]

I think when you are a teenager you do lack some perspective on life. When you grow older you realise that the problems you had when you were younger weren't really problems at all, in fact in the scheme of things they are completely irrelevant!

In many ways, school etc is a closed ecosystem, so small things take on an importance way beyond what they should.

Like many I viewed leaving school with trepidation, but I thought 6th form college was much better, I was able to do well at my studies and not made to feel like I'd done something wrong!

[ShiftingGears]

kids these days etc etc