Generation worse than nothingness

[El Diablo Blanco]

I was at a nice restaurant having dinner last night and I see this family come in.  Typical white family, with a boy and a girl both probably 8-10 years old.  Each kid is slowing walking behind their parents with their IPads held up about 6 inches in front of their faces never looking up or around as they walked to the table.  The entire dinner the kids just ate and played on their IPads with the parents not giving them 1 second of attention.  This just made me sad for these kids.  They are already on the path to nothingness.  They will be empty shits that get their life knowledge surfing facebook wondering why their parents never loved them.

What ever happened to family values?  Talking to each other at dinner?   The future seems bleak.  There is a shift happening where these well to do white kids spend 99% of their time surfing the web on their ipads while the poor ethnic kids are working their asses off trying to do something with their lives.  In about 20 more years the white people flipping burgers reporting to Juan Martinez will wonder what the fuck happened.

[FitnessFrenzy]

when I have kids I will never accept this. I don't care what their friends do. This is not acceptable behavior.

[Twaddle]

I witnessed the exact same thing about a month ago.  Sitting on the deck of a nice restaraunt having lunch.  I look at the table next to us, and the parents are eating their food not saying a word.  They have 2 girls, about 10 and 13 years old.  Both of the girls are on their smart phones feverishly typing away.  Throughout their meal, the 2 girls never said a word, much less touched their plates.  

When the bill was paid and they left, both girls were walking with their phones 12 inches from their noses.  All I could do was shake my head.  Our society is quickly going down the shitter.  We're about to reach the climax, and then it will be a quick "crash and burn".  

[bradistani]

'grrrr.. kids of today !'

[MisterMagoo]

you think kids of today are shit, when you were a kid adults thought your generation was shit, when they were kids adults thought theirs was shit, and on and on into the infinite horizon.

adults always think the new generation is awful for one reason or another and the world will fall into the toilet when they're adults. then the next thing you know that generation grows up, has politicians just as awful as always, but then someone comes up with a way to revive a man who's been dead for an hour (like in australia) or they're starting to colonize mars.

take heart, kids are ALWAYS stupid little fuckups. the ones with dumbass parents were turn into losers just like the losers you knew when you were younger, meanwhile scads of them will help make the world a better place. when we're old and our bodies are falling apart, it's gonna be the ones from "generation worse than nothingness" who save our lives.

[Twaddle]

you think kids of today are shit, when you were a kid adults thought your generation was shit, when they were kids adults thought theirs was shit, and on and on into the infinite horizon.

adults always think the new generation is awful for one reason or another and the world will fall into the toilet when they're adults. then the next thing you know that generation grows up, has politicians just as awful as always, but then someone comes up with a way to revive a man who's been dead for an hour (like in australia) or they're starting to colonize mars.

take heart, kids are ALWAYS stupid little fuckups. the ones with dumbass parents were turn into losers just like the losers you knew when you were younger, meanwhile scads of them will help make the world a better place. when we're old and our bodies are falling apart, it's gonna be the ones from "generation worse than nothingness" who save our lives.

I agree and disagree.  Each generation will think the new generation sucks more.  However, todays generation is different from 30 years ago.  When I was a kid, you did what you were told, or you got bitch slapped.  In school, if you acted up, you went to the principles office, where he proceded to beat the pants off of you with a paddle.  That shit just doesn't happen anymore.  Kids today have no fucking manners (especially towards adults).   

[MisterMagoo]

I agree and disagree.  Each generation will think the new generation sucks more.  However, todays generation is different from 30 years ago.  When I was a kid, you did what you were told, or you got bitch slapped.  In school, if you acted up, you went to the principles office, where he proceded to beat the pants off of you with a paddle.  That shit just doesn't happen anymore.  Kids today have no fucking manners (especially towards adults).   

every generation of kids has its own ways of being assholes. those halcyon days you're referring to were also when kids would get bitch slapped and then use that anger to beat the shit out of weaker kids at school, leading to a generation of over-testosteroned assholes incapable of simple human empathy. oddly enough, that's VERY similar to the kids today who've grown up on the internet where you can be as big of a virtual bully as you want consequence-free.

as for waxing nostalgic about child abuse, i take the louis CK approach: if the only way you can get a lesson across to your kid is by hitting them, you are a shitty goddamn parent.

[Twaddle]

every generation of kids has its own ways of being assholes. those halcyon days you're referring to were also when kids would get bitch slapped and then use that anger to beat the shit out of weaker kids at school, leading to a generation of over-testosteroned assholes incapable of simple human empathy. oddly enough, that's VERY similar to the kids today who've grown up on the internet where you can be as big of a virtual bully as you want consequence-free.

as for waxing nostalgic about child abuse, i take the louis CK approach: if the only way you can get a lesson across to your kid is by hitting them, you are a shitty goddamn parent.

Sometimes the hand speaks louder than words.   

[Tedim]

every generation of kids has its own ways of being assholes. those halcyon days you're referring to were also when kids would get bitch slapped and then use that anger to beat the shit out of weaker kids at school, leading to a generation of over-testosteroned assholes incapable of simple human empathy. oddly enough, that's VERY similar to the kids today who've grown up on the internet where you can be as big of a virtual bully as you want consequence-free.

as for waxing nostalgic about child abuse, i take the louis CK approach: if the only way you can get a lesson across to your kid is by hitting them, you are a shitty goddamn parent.

Obviously you don't have kids....

[Twaddle]

Obviously you don't have kids....

 

[DroppingPlates]

Most people are too busy with themselves to be good parents, but they lack this self knowledge or simply don't care. They simply want them to fill their empty souls 

[#1 Klaus fan]

Kids are weaker so let's hit them yay. I hope all the abused children return the favor when mama and papa are frail.

[Henda]

Most of the time its lazy parents who are happy to let their kids spend hours with their faces buried in whatever shitty gadget is all the rage currently just so god forbid they dont have to do anything with their kids.
It would be so much easier to let my son play xbox every waking hour while i lie flat on the cooch but i much prefer taking the kids out and doing something. Beach, park, soft play or whatever.

[Ronnie Rep]

Most people are too busy with themselves to be good parents, but they lack this self knowledge or simply don't care. They simply want them to fill their empty souls 

True! Parenting is a job, there is no instruction manual! Hopefully you learned something from your parents, if they were good parents! If they were bad you learned from their mistakes!  

[galain]

[url]/url]

Does this ring any bells? It's not just the kids who are 'different' these days - a lot of parents are fucked up too.

I took my godson to a theme park last year, and more kids than not were engrossed in smartphones, nintendo's. Sad to think a theme park full of roller coasters and waterslides wasn't stimulating enough for them.

And people wonder why we have a society full of ADD cases....

[DroppingPlates]

[url]/url]

Does this ring any bells? It's not just the kids who are 'different' these days - a lot of parents are fucked up too.

I took my godson to a theme park last year, and more kids than not were engrossed in smartphones, nintendo's. Sad to think a theme park full of roller coasters and waterslides wasn't stimulating enough for them.

And people wonder why we have a society full of ADD cases....

Bingo, in many cases you can blame it on the parents. How can a young child learn something when his parents aren't stable and/or have selfish values?

[PJim]

[url]/url]

Does this ring any bells? It's not just the kids who are 'different' these days - a lot of parents are fucked up too.

I took my godson to a theme park last year, and more kids than not were engrossed in smartphones, nintendo's. Sad to think a theme park full of roller coasters and waterslides wasn't stimulating enough for them.

And people wonder why we have a society full of ADD cases....

That picture is fucking spot on

[MisterMagoo]

Does this ring any bells? It's not just the kids who are 'different' these days - a lot of parents are fucked up too.

I took my godson to a theme park last year, and more kids than not were engrossed in smartphones, nintendo's. Sad to think a theme park full of roller coasters and waterslides wasn't stimulating enough for them.

And people wonder why we have a society full of ADD cases....

the picture is NOT spot on. the only way you could possibly believe that would be if you get all your information about the educational system from other people who are making assumptions based on what they THINK is the case.

you want to talk education? i've seen what the problem is first hand when i worked at a group home and we had kids in a charter school. they're afraid to fail kids because failing grades means less federal funding thanks to education budgets getting slashed, so they pass kids who don't deserve it simply to avoid falling in the ranks and losing money for the school to help out the ones that will use it. the parents don't get mad at teachers for bad grades. i know several teachers, and that doesn't happen. it might in isolated, strange cases, but it's like that bullshit about "lipstick parties" that cropped up ten years ago: it's nonsense and clouds the issue.

i honestly think older people just WANT to believe that kids today suck. like you all aren't happy unless you can feel superior to the younger generation. guess what? when we all get old we're going to be obsolete, the world is going to be a science fiction wonderland compared to when we were younger, and it's all going to be because these kids turned out to be far brighter and motivated that you were willing to realize.

[MisterMagoo]

Most people are too busy with themselves to be good parents, but they lack this self knowledge or simply don't care. They simply want them to fill their empty souls 

THIS is a bigger problem than anything. negligence is the issue, not that they don't hit their kids or that they yell at teachers for bad grades. a lot of parents are expecting someone else to do their parenting for them. elementary schools are expected to be day care centers, they plunk their kids in front of TVs and game systems rather than just interacting with them. THAT's where the problems stem from.

[_bruce_]

Picture is spot on.
If you give a kid bad marks you have to be well prepared to battle with the parents who think you're personally responsible for all of their dipshits problems.

[deadpan]

so what are they supposed to do, run around pushing a hoop with a stick or whatever you guys did in your youth? times change.

my parents were from the "sheltering authoritarian 'family values'" school of thought too and i fucking hated talking at the dinner table. i hated praying to some non-existent god every time i wanted sustenance and answering rapid-fire prying personal questions about my life. most of the time i just wanted to escape and play some duke nukem. yeah there were good times too, but suffice it to say i definitely learned a lot about what NOT to do as a parent. and i learned a lot more about the "real world" through the internet than through my parents OR the school system, for that matter.

it's not a parent's job to brainwash the kids with their perception of "family values". it's their job to give them the tools to go out in the real world, absorb information and make informed decisions for themselves.

i would give anything to have today's kids' "terrible" childhoods. technology is an amazing thing. i say expose them real world as early as possible. these kids are already starting to grow up and they're coding java with one hand while rendering wreck it ralph with the other and still having time to tweet about it, while you old duffers are sitting around still trying to wrap your minds around email.

besides, each generation has its downsides. remember barbiturates? hippies?

[deadpan]

[url]/url]

Does this ring any bells? It's not just the kids who are 'different' these days - a lot of parents are fucked up too.

I took my godson to a theme park last year, and more kids than not were engrossed in smartphones, nintendo's. Sad to think a theme park full of roller coasters and waterslides wasn't stimulating enough for them.

And people wonder why we have a society full of ADD cases....

oh yeah? what about this?

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/va-high-school-teacher-accused-sexting-17-year-old-student-article-1.1329555

looks like MAYBE sometimes it's not the kid's fault?

oh and ADD didn't exist as a diagnosable condition until fairly recently, so OF COURSE there's going to be more cases now than when they just put the kid in the "slow class". stupid example.

[El Diablo Blanco]

so what are they supposed to do, run around pushing a hoop with a stick or whatever you guys did in your youth? times change.

my parents were from the "sheltering authoritarian 'family values'" school of thought too and i fucking hated talking at the dinner table. i hated praying to some non-existent god every time i wanted sustenance and answering rapid-fire prying personal questions about my life. most of the time i just wanted to escape and play some duke nukem. yeah there were good times too, but suffice it to say i definitely learned a lot about what NOT to do as a parent. and i learned a lot more about the "real world" through the internet than through my parents OR the school system, for that matter.

it's not a parent's job to brainwash the kids with their perception of "family values". it's their job to give them the tools to go out in the real world, absorb information and make informed decisions for themselves.

i would give anything to have today's kids' "terrible" childhoods. technology is an amazing thing. i say expose them real world as early as possible. these kids are already starting to grow up and they're coding java with one hand while rendering wreck it ralph with the other and still having time to tweet about it, while you old duffers are sitting around still trying to wrap your minds around email.

besides, each generation has its downsides. remember barbiturates? hippies?

I can't remember much about barbiturates 

[galain]

Mr Magoo & Deadpan

I'm a high school teacher. Granted, I'm only 5 years in. Before that, I was a psychologist and naturopath whose speciality was learning and behavioural disorders in children.

I have never taught in the US so I have no idea. I have taught in Oz and in Germany where I now live. This picture is representative of both places. Many (not all) parents feel less accountable for their children now than I remember my parents being, or the parents of my friends were. A colleague of mine - PE teacher - had a parent demand an apology, because their fat overfed overindulged no boundaries having child failed the athletics component of his course.

He couldn't run.

This isn't an isolated example. There are many many parents out there who believe teachers are responsible for the things that should ideally be taught and learnt in the family home.

One thing I can almost guarantee you will hear from pretty much any teacher is this. If you look at the way a parent interacts with their child in kindergarten, you'll be able to tell the kids who will graduate high school with good grades and social development.

[The_Punisher]

oh yeah? what about this?

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/va-high-school-teacher-accused-sexting-17-year-old-student-article-1.1329555

looks like MAYBE sometimes it's not the kid's fault?

oh and ADD didn't exist as a diagnosable condition until fairly recently, so OF COURSE there's going to be more cases now than when they just put the kid in the "slow class". stupid example.

what piss me off the most is where were these Hot teachers when I was a 9th Grader?.....fuck.....