Worrying about teenagers and the younger generation is not new. Back in 1935, american magazines were talking about how young people are rotting! Back then, apathy and disenchantment were taking bold as well as criminality. Even high school students were packing guns. That time the writers blamed high unemployment and use of Marijuana as the roots of the problem. However, fifty years later the same generation saved the world from fascism.Then it was started to complain about the new generation. The biggest problem with the young generation in the 1970s and 1980s was their involvement in adult practices. Psychologists and writers complained about teenagers and how they drink too much, smoke a lot and get pregnant too soon. Back then, the main culprit was Television.
By the same yardsticks, the current growing generation is angelic. That is because all the forms of bad behavior as cited by older generations are less prevalent among teenagers. Juvenile crimes, drug use and teenage pregnancy are all retreating.
However, young generations are blamed for being depressed, emotionally sick. Different villains have been introduced for this recent problem. But the number one culprit are Social media and Smartphones. Instead of small stable real world communication circles, teenagers join virtual ones, where they experience a daily tornado of misinformation, memes, fads and super micro dramas. Parent’s behavior is also cited as the root of the problem. Their desires to be loved by the children, inclined them to take the comfort of the kids in all aspects. They raise the children with no rules and guidelines. This has turned them into self-involved, undisciplined and unlikeable children. Some writers point to “bad therapy” as yet another problem not the cure.
Yet, we should not forget that the current tongue generation just recently suffered from a world-scale trauma of Coronavirus. During Covid lockdowns, teenagers submitted to extraordinary painful restraints to help curb the virus. This generation would grow and would have their own children, and start to complain about a newer generation which has not been born yet.
Source: Economist
