Would you like being a youngster today?

[Roses]

I think I would be ok being a young person in today's environment. I remember feeling lonely and unsure of myself as a teenager as my peers seemed to spend most of their time talking about or obsessing over boys - those they knew or admired from afar, in real life, as well as celebrities - and talking about make-up and parties. I also remember feeling really scared that I wouldn't know how to do my job once I became an adult and had to financially support myself - I felt like I would be completely out of my depth. It didn't help that I didn't know what I wanted to do as a career. Today there are so many more choices career-wise. It's great. And so many more opportunities to try new activities.

Being lonely and unsure of yourself wasn't that bad a feeling and compared to when I was a teenager, today there are so many resources on the internet to answer any questions you might have to help analyse your feelings. Today we talk about stuff like that a lot more - so I think I would have a much better/ healthier/ cheaper coping mechanism today than the coping mechanism I used as a teenager - alcohol.

Easy access to the internet is brilliant for finding out facts and opinions on so many different issues and topics, so that's an improvement from when I was a teenager.

A major downside I can think of for young people today is that everyone is a lot more risk averse, which I think has caused the increase in anxiety that young people seem to experience today, as I think being prevented from risking your life and limbs crushes your spirit.

That would be great if that was all the kids were using it for, but I suspect using it for that purpose is way down their list of priorities.

[The Accountant, OBE, KC]

I should damn well think so too. Seriously - there's a lot to be said for putting a brave face on things; it does actually help you cope. People who go into too-much-information mode and blub embarrassingly all over the shop get into a tail-spin of depression. Obviously, you can take the stiff-upper-lip too far, but that's true of almost anything that's good in proportion. There's not much danger of it these days, with the fashionable but harmful "don't bottle up your emotions" crap all around us. I'm a firm believer in bottling up the emotions. Emotions are like tomato ketchup: best kept in a bottle and let out in carefully controlled amounts. If you let it all out at once, you just make a godawful mess that's no use to anybody. Emotional diarrhoea is folk-psychology, not real psychology. I think real psychologists recommend a degree of emotional restraint.

I agree with some parts of what you said and disagree with others depending on the actual circumstances of the individual situation. I don't think generalsiing, as you have done, is helpful. Some people cope much better by bottling up their emotions and others don't. If a person's goal is to get the job  done quickly it may be useful to put your emotions on hold but some people think it is as important, or even more important, to enjoy the process of living rather than just be a useful resource to someone by getting the job done quickly.

Some people are a joy to others precisely because they express themselves as this opens up new, previously unknown perspectives and insights for the person listening.

[The Accountant, OBE, KC]

That would be great if that was all the kids were using it for, but I suspect using it for that purpose is way down their list of priorities.

I can't speak for how other young people use the internet. If I was young today I doubt I would be that interested in social media once the novelty wore off. I curbed my children's addiction to social media by regularly confiscating their phones on the basis it will lead to addiction.

My eldest daughter has been without a smart phone since mid-October 2018. She was careless and it broke so she had to buy herself a £20 Alcatel while at university. She has a laptop and probably spends more time than she should on the internet watching Netflix rather than studying.

[Roses]

I can't speak for how other young people use the internet. If I was young today I doubt I would be that interested in social media once the novelty wore off. I curbed my children's addiction to social media by regularly confiscating their phones on the basis it will lead to addiction.

My eldest daughter has been without a smart phone since mid-October 2018. She was careless and it broke so she had to buy herself a £20 Alcatel while at university. She has a laptop and probably spends more time than she should on the internet watching Netflix rather than studying.

I would do the same if my children were young today, which would no doubt make me very popular, NOT!

[The Accountant, OBE, KC]

I would do the same if my children were young today, which would no doubt make me very popular, NOT!

Popular no, but mine aren't stupid - they might lose their tempers sometimes but concede that addiction to anything is not enjoyable and it's been helpful when I've taken the decision out of their hands.

I regularly hear the woes of operating without a smart phone at university from my elder daughter. I agree it must be frustrating but it's an expensive piece of kit so i don't see the point of replacing it as soon as it gets broken. It's problematic partly because her school friends and her friends/ neighbours in Halls at university seem to get their phones replaced as soon as they break them, so she sometimes loses her mind for a while and equates that with love and care.

I think the Twitter storms on the internet are a problem today for young people - it can be hard work and confusing trying to pick through the spin and half-truths and separate fact from fiction. It could leave you unsure what to think or what principles to prioritise and it makes society seem so fractured and divided.     

[Udayana]

Popular no, but mine aren't stupid - they might lose their tempers sometimes but concede that addiction to anything is not enjoyable and it's been helpful when I've taken the decision out of their hands.

I regularly hear the woes of operating without a smart phone at university from my elder daughter. I agree it must be frustrating but it's an expensive piece of kit so i don't see the point of replacing it as soon as it gets broken. ...

Sounds OK, as I think the biggest problem is internet addiction. My two took charge of buying their own phones whilst still at school and their lives are dominated by the internet. Nearly everything apart from eating and keeping fit is online.

[The Accountant, OBE, KC]

Sounds OK, as I think the biggest problem is internet addiction. My two took charge of buying their own phones whilst still at school and their lives are dominated by the internet. Nearly everything apart from eating and keeping fit is online.

Mine don't seem to want to get a job to have the cash to buy their own smart phones - they've just made do with second-hand iPhones when someone got a new phone, which in my case was 2016. They don't seem to mind being forced to take a break from the internet - it's a relief I think - and they end up reading books or socialising, which is what I used to do at their age. Though I didn't really connect with the whole make-up and boy-crazy thing a lot of my friends were going through, which is how both of mine seem to feel now as well.

I like that you can read almost anything on the internet these days and look things up in relation to what you are reading (history, politics, science) while you are reading it. I finally got around to reading War and Peace about 10 years ago - on my PC. I think I would enjoy being young now - there are so many opportunities to expand your horizons and less requirement to conform to any particular culture or lifestyle.

[Sriram]

Here s a link relevant to this thread....

Lot of nonsense of course, but shows how some youngsters are thinking.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47154287

***********

A 27-year-old Indian man plans to sue his parents for giving birth to him without his consent.

Mumbai businessman Raphael Samuel told the BBC that it's wrong to bring children into the world because they then have to put up with lifelong suffering.

"There's no point to humanity. So many people are suffering. If humanity is extinct, Earth and animals would be happier. They'll certainly be better off. Also no human will then suffer. Human existence is totally pointless."

***********

Something Keith might sympathize with, I guess....

[Roses]

Here s a link relevant to this thread....

Lot of nonsense of course, but shows how some youngsters are thinking.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-47154287

***********

A 27-year-old Indian man plans to sue his parents for giving birth to him without his consent.

Mumbai businessman Raphael Samuel told the BBC that it's wrong to bring children into the world because they then have to put up with lifelong suffering.

"There's no point to humanity. So many people are suffering. If humanity is extinct, Earth and animals would be happier. They'll certainly be better off. Also no human will then suffer. Human existence is totally pointless."

***********

Something Keith might sympathize with, I guess....

YE GODS!

[Robbie]

It is a bit Keith-y tho' I don't think Keith would go so far as to blame and sue his parents.

I wonder if the guy concerned has had a miserable life so far or an ongoing illness but that wouldn't be his parents' fault & the article doesn't say anything like that. How must they feel. I read what they, and he, said but that doesn't show the depth of feeling.

Depression is a horrible thing. He's only 27, his whole life ahead of him. I wouldn't say that to him of course, I'd be inviting more of the same but what I mean is, in a couple of years he could feel much better, accept life has ups and downs & like most people, make the most of the ups.

Poor soul.

[Nearly Sane]

It is a bit Keith-y tho' I don't think Keith would go so far as to blame and sue his parents.

I wonder if the guy concerned has had a miserable life so far or an ongoing illness but that wouldn't be his parents' fault & the article doesn't say anything like that. How must they feel. I read what they, and he, said but that doesn't show the depth of feeling.

Depression is a horrible thing. He's only 27, his whole life ahead of him. I wouldn't say that to him of course, I'd be inviting more of the same but what I mean is, in a couple of years he could feel much better, accept life has ups and downs & like most people, make the most of the ups.

Poor soul.

I don't think we can say he has depression.

[Udayana]

I don't think we can say he has depression.

Indeed. he could be perfectly happy but want to establish a point of principle.

It would be useful to know how much happiness is enough to make life worth the effort.

[jeremyp]

I can't speak for how other young people use the internet. If I was young today I doubt I would be that interested in social media once the novelty wore off.

Ha ha. You might as well say you would not be that interested in using the telephone once the novelty wore off.

I curbed my children's addiction to social media by regularly confiscating their phones on the basis it will lead to addiction.

Good one. Have you heard of the concept of forbidden fruit? 

My eldest daughter has been without a smart phone since mid-October 2018. She was careless and it broke so she had to buy herself a £20 Alcatel while at university. She has a laptop and probably spends more time than she should on the internet watching Netflix rather than studying.

And when I was at University I spent more time than I should in the bar rather than studying. I think watching Netflix is more healthy.

[Sriram]

In this context here is an experiment conducted through the 1950's and 60's by John Calhuon. This has been mentioned earlier by ekim.

The youtube video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z760XNy4VM

Some articles on the same thing...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/06/19/the-researcher-who-loved-rats-and-fueled-our-doomsday-fears/?utm_term=.2c441a079b92

http://www.returnofkings.com/36915/what-humans-can-learn-from-the-mice-utopia-experiment