NationStates Jolt Archive

of teens/young kids/yound adults. What do you think of them? Some claim that this generation is the "best" ever. I personally disagree very strongly. I am a member of this "new" generation and have had a first hand look at what this generation is like, especially when not being supervised. Compared to experiences i've had with those of other generations and stories I've heard, I can deduce that this generation is one of the rudest, cruelest, most disobedient (especially with regard to parental authority), and contain much immaturity, inferiority complexes, and personality disorders which lead to the torment of peers. Many also claim this is one of the "smartest" generations. When looking at academic competitiveness, Its easy to see this generation has many brilliant members, but even more morons. The rise in intelligence in these few brilliant minds of this generation stem from computers and the greater ability to search information. I've made my case: you debate it now. Poll upcoming.

of teens/young kids/yound adults. What do you think of them? Some claim that this generation is the "best" ever. I personally disagree very strongly. I am a member of this "new" generation and have had a first hand look at what this generation is like, especially when not being supervised. Compared to experiences i've had with those of other generations and stories I've heard, I can deduce that this generation is one of the rudest, cruelest, most disobedient (especially with regard to parental authority), and contain much immaturity, inferiority complexes, and personality disorders which lead to the torment of peers. Many also claim this is one of the "smartest" generations. When looking at academic competitiveness, Its easy to see this generation has many brilliant members, but even more morons. The rise in intelligence in these few brilliant minds of this generation stem from computers and the greater ability to search information. I've made my case: you debate it now. Poll upcoming.
They were raised by the frakkin' Baby Boomers! WTF do you expect! Heh!

However, the professionalism and dedication of the members of this new generation who have elected to become members of the armed forces is both gratifying and enlightening. There's hope yet! :D

Yah, we suck balls.

Yah, we suck balls.
Wow! With a recommendation like that, I can't figure out whether I wanna live ... or die! [ kills self ]

morality is basically nonexistant with my generation. at least if you're in high school in southern california.

Heh, we aren't the best yet neither the worst. We could do with much improvement.

How do you judge best? Politest? Smartest? Sexiest? Healthiest?

I'll give this an overwhelming "I don't care"

Kids these days, with their crazy rap music... *shakes stick and mutters incoherently*

Rating generations in my opinion is a moot point, as there will always be some sort of age bias.

I'm not even so sure what age bracket is being discussed...

"teens/young kids/yound adults".....lets just say to satisfy all of you...8-25

of teens/young kids/yound adults. What do you think of them? Some claim that this generation is the "best" ever. I personally disagree very strongly. I am a member of this "new" generation and have had a first hand look at what this generation is like, especially when not being supervised. Compared to experiences i've had with those of other generations and stories I've heard, I can deduce that this generation is one of the rudest, cruelest, most disobedient (especially with regard to parental authority), and contain much immaturity, inferiority complexes, and personality disorders which lead to the torment of peers. Many also claim this is one of the "smartest" generations. When looking at academic competitiveness, Its easy to see this generation has many brilliant members, but even more morons. The rise in intelligence in these few brilliant minds of this generation stem from computers and the greater ability to search information. I've made my case: you debate it now. Poll upcoming.

I agree that our generation is not the best generation ever, but for different reasons.

First I would like to say that you must remember that people tend to romanticize the past. in the 50's, there was crime, there was subversion, there was personlity disorder, there was disobedience, there was teen pregnancy, there was homosexuality, there was a myriad of social problems similar to modern ones. the difference is that we talk about ours, and don't force our minority groups to the fringes of society. In that instance, I think our generation has a leg up on the older ones; we are generally more accepting and tolerant than our parents and grandparents. also, it is a common complaint among youth activists that the only things that make media attention are when young people misbehave, or do something wrong. we must remember that we are raising our kids in the society that our parents built. an 8 year old kid who watched violent programming and becomes violent (i dont mean to start a debate over whether programming has an influence or not), is watching the product of their parent's society.

older generations will always look down on younger ones, because they do things different and think different.

the reason i dont think that our generation is the greatest is because we are too young still to know. time hasnt given us the prespective to look back at our struggles, our problems, our achievements with a clear view (if we will ever achieve that).

Heh, we aren't the best yet neither the worst. We could do with much improvement.
Oh. Well I can't say that about my own generation. We have always been sooo frakkin' perfect! :rolleyes:

To be perfectly honest, this is an awfully subjective matter, and could be argued on either side and on any number of points. To say any generation is the best (or, equally, the worst) is rather difficult, as it is an absolute affirmation. At best, we can trace improvements, yet again, this is subjective. In my opinion, we need improvement, and perhaps to become less apathetic to the world surrounding us. That said, the individual circumstances of each successive society also come into play, for instance its morals, viewpoints and so on. Thus, it may be a somewhat futile attempt.

"teens/young kids/yound adults".....lets just say to satisfy all of you...8-25
Hmmm. A "generation" is usually held to be all people within a 22-year span, or, stated another way, a new generation comes along every 22 years.

Hmmm. A "generation" is usually held to be all people within a 22-year span, or, stated another way, a new generation comes along every 22 years.

8-30 then :headbang:

To be perfectly honest, this is an awfully subjective matter, and could be argued on either side and on any number of points. To say any generation is the best (or, equally, the worst) is rather difficult, as it is an absolute affirmation. At best, we can trace improvements, yet again, this is subjective. In my opinion, we need improvement, and perhaps to become less apathetic to the world surrounding us. That said, the individual circumstances of each successive society also come into play, for instance its morals, viewpoints and so on. Thus, it may be a somewhat futile attempt.
My personal choices are:

Prize for best generation: The ones who lived through the Great Depression and fought two World Wars.

Prize for worst generation: Baby Boomers, without doubt. They rebelled without justification, then became corporate boosters, and almost ruined their own children to the point where some of them think of themselves as the worst generation.

Yup, our generation sucks.

I have little knowledge of the exact surrounding socioeconomic conditions of each generation you mentioned, so obviously any assertion I make will be mere supposition. I can only say what I think of our generation.

I called this a long time ago: the Boomers would find some way to hire their kids while still leaving skilled people in their thirties out in the cold. And from I've seen firsthand of these beneficiaries of Yuppy nepotism, we're all the poorer for it.

I have little knowledge of the exact surrounding socioeconomic conditions of each generation you mentioned, so obviously any assertion I make will be mere supposition. I can only say what I think of our generation.
Well, at the very least, surely you can agree that any generation which pulled itself up by the bootstraps out of a depression like the Great Depression, and then went on to fight the most massive conflict of all time is a pretty kewl group of people, yes? :)

I called this a long time ago: the Boomers would find some way to hire their kids while still leaving skilled people in their thirties out in the cold. And from I've seen firsthand of these beneficiaries of Yuppy nepotism, we're all the poorer for it.
You and I agree on something! Yayyy! [ high-fives Dobbsworld! ] :D

A very hardy and tenacious bunch of people indeed. They do have my admiration, on both sides of the battlefield.

A very hardy and tenacious bunch of people indeed. They do have my admiration, on both sides of the battlefield.
Kewl. Icanlivewiththat! :D

You and I agree on something! Yayyy! [ high-fives Dobbsworld! ] :D
*blinks*

Yayyy!

[high-fives back]

of teens/young kids/yound adults. What do you think of them? Some claim that this generation is the "best" ever. I personally disagree very strongly. I am a member of this "new" generation and have had a first hand look at what this generation is like, especially when not being supervised. Compared to experiences i've had with those of other generations and stories I've heard, I can deduce that this generation is one of the rudest, cruelest, most disobedient (especially with regard to parental authority), and contain much immaturity, inferiority complexes, and personality disorders which lead to the torment of peers. Many also claim this is one of the "smartest" generations. When looking at academic competitiveness, Its easy to see this generation has many brilliant members, but even more morons. The rise in intelligence in these few brilliant minds of this generation stem from computers and the greater ability to search information. I've made my case: you debate it now. Poll upcoming.

Well, I'm a member of this generation, and I mostly loathe it. I do notice that most people I meet these days in school are rude, crude, cruel, and quite anti-intellectual. Of course, there are always exceptions, but the afore-mentioned people are always the loudest and most noticable, and so it seems from a casual observation that they are most prevalent.

I think there are a lot of smart kids in our generation. Unfortunately, the media influences these smart kids to do stupid things, and TV characters make us think its ok to mouth off our parents. Were other generations any better? Probably by not much. But then again, I know a lot of kids in our generation ARE good, and there are less morons then they seem. But are we the "best" generation? Good god, no.

Well, I'm a member of this generation, and I mostly loathe it. I do notice that most people I meet these days in school are rude, crude, cruel, and quite anti-intellectual. Of course, there are always exceptions, but the afore-mentioned people are always the loudest and most noticable, and so it seems from a casual observation that they are most prevalent.

Are you still in high school? If not, wait until college. It gets much better.

Having a ten (11 this month) year old son, my observation has been this. He is very bright, more so in the mathematical department than in the grammar, and I am hoping he will follow in my uncle's footsteps, who works for a subdivision of NASA. He is also very loving, honest and sensitive. I can, however, point to a few mistakes that I made in raising him thus far.

First, let me say video games are the best baby-sitter ever, for convenience purposes only. Whenever I needed to get something done without his interference, it was the easiest thing to put him on a video game. He was preoccupied for hours and I could complete my work without interruption. Now my son is a video game addict. My fault. I rarely sensor what he watches regarding telvision and movies, unless a program has extreme sexually explicit scenes. My theory was this: why shelter him and hide him from the world.

People say hindsight has 20/20 vision (or something to that effect). Observing my son's enjoyment of violent games, as well as his desire to constantly play video games instead of venturing outside -the alternative being that he whines constantly about how bored he is- I wish I had thrown away every video game system that came into this house. Also noticing his propensity towards assinine cartoons that are obsessed with boogers, farts and otherwise idiotic, disgusting themes, I wish I had steered him more towards morbid Disney cartoons where at least the parent of the main character inevitably dies and that's the extent of the violence.

I am by no means the perfect parent and I still have some time left to steer him in the "right" direction. He is at least open with me and willing to discuss things most children would never trust sharing with their parents. I can also say that he is generally far more polite and caring of other's feelings than most of his friends. He has actually lost "friends" by sticking up for the odd-kid-out. I think that this generation is surrounded by more brainwashing entertainment than I can recall any other generation experiencing and, more often than not, parents who are overworked and too tired to do anything other than let their children play those damned video games.

Now that I have rambled on, I wish this generation the best of luck and I hope that video game programmers make lots of money. :(

I am in university, and I can verify this, it does get better. Yet there are still people who leave you wondering. :rolleyes:

I am a part of this generation, and I must say it's pretty damn stupid.

A. What you said about intelligence? I go to one of the top ranked schools in the country, so people would say we are smart. I for one know that is terriblly wrong. The kids can gather information, and get excellent grades. However, they CANNOT actually understand what they have learned. They can get 1 and 1, but they can't put it together to make 2. For example, I live in Texas so the WHOLE school wants to get into UT. From what I can gather, the ONLY way to get into UT is to be in the top 10% of your class... In order to do this, you need to have a 120 average which means you have to take ALL advanced courses. Therefore, everyone who claims they are "smart" takes all advanced courses and I have chewed out quite a few kids telling them that the only college that cares that badly about class rank is UT. Sucks for them.

B. It's almost as if today's youth REQUIRES to listen to music 24/7. Seriously, whenever someone gets the chance, they pull out their stupid little ipods even if it's only for two minutes. I often see two people talking while one has an earbud in his/her ear as he/she talks to his/her friend. It's retarted.

C. Ever heard of the power hour? It's where you drink 21 shots of hard liquor on your 21st birthday. THAT'S JUST F***ING RETARTED!!! Gee, why don't we play Russian roulette with a fully loaded semi-auto handgun while we're at it, what do you say!?!?

D. There's other stuff too but I need to study for a Latin quiz.

So there you have it, those are a few examples of why I think our generation is flawed.

C. Ever heard of the power hour? It's where you drink 21 shots of hard liquor on your 21st birthday. THAT'S JUST F***ING RETARTED!!! Gee, why don't we play Russian roulette with a fully loaded semi-auto handgun while we're at it, what do you say!?!?


Power Hour, as I know it, is when you take a shot of beer every minute for an hour. So you end up taking 60 shots of beer, which adds up after a while, especially considering the short about of time taken to drink. But I really don't think that alcohol and drug consumption is a problem of our generation only. Hell, my parents used to drop acid on a regular basis when they were teenagers.

Best? ...Eh...
Worst? ...Eh...

I don't think any generation can actually be said to be good or bad. They ALL have had shining moments, and really bad ones.

Even the so called 'Greatest generation' will have to live with the specture of Jim Crow, segregation and lynchings.

The Boombers, for their troubles, were also the vanguard of the Civil Rights movement.

Gen X is finally stepping into power and we'll see what they come up with.

As for the Next Generation... let's see what the future holds.

of teens/young kids/yound adults. What do you think of them? Some claim that this generation is the "best" ever. I personally disagree very strongly. I am a member of this "new" generation and have had a first hand look at what this generation is like, especially when not being supervised. Compared to experiences i've had with those of other generations and stories I've heard, I can deduce that this generation is one of the rudest, cruelest, most disobedient (especially with regard to parental authority), and contain much immaturity, inferiority complexes, and personality disorders which lead to the torment of peers. Many also claim this is one of the "smartest" generations. When looking at academic competitiveness, Its easy to see this generation has many brilliant members, but even more morons. The rise in intelligence in these few brilliant minds of this generation stem from computers and the greater ability to search information. I've made my case: you debate it now. Poll upcoming.

From the perspective of the "inside" of the generation, looking at as broadly as is possible without the "perfect" 20/20 of hindsight, I assure you that it falls among "average" generations.

Pro's and Con's (those unique to "this" generation. There are others that have colored all the people of this era, which I didn't include):

- Pro(beleive it or not these were the hard part to find): Those who truly are "intelectuals" have been able to gain information much more quickly. This has created a generation-wide awareness of the world.

- Con: The internet has also allowed gross missunderstandings of the world, politics, self, and others to flourish broadly.

- Pro: Because of the broad availability of informaiton, this generation has a strong sense of outrage at the ways it is exploited (hence the strong resentment of recruiters inside our schools).

- Con: The broad availability of information about the horors of the world has desensitised this generation to those same horors.

- Pro: Recording artists are able to record more and more inexpensively, which (alongside illegal downloading, available information, and a drop in the price of goods made overseas) has made music much more available to your average "Next Generation"-er.

- Con: Rap. Need I say more?

Just a quick list. There's lots more. Basically, you should keep in mind that there is no "greatest" generation, because that's not the nature of human kind. Each generation does things well. Just remember that in one century, all of us will be blocked into one macrogeneration historically, and in a milenia we will just be part of a century + long statistic.

- Con: Rap. Need I say more?


You're trife, man. Rap is pretty awesome. I plan to have Common's babies, just to show my level of fandom.

I think it's impossible to say one generation is/was the greatest. Who judges it? What is their bias? The world is a very different place to what it was even 20 years ago, let alone 50 or 100. I don't think there's even really much point trying establish a "best" generation.

morality is basically nonexistant with my generation. at least if you're in high school in southern california.
Yeah I know. I love it here.

Are you still in high school? If not, wait until college. It gets much better.

I was hoping so. Most of the negative stereotypes should drop out by then.

Damn... for a moment, before scrolling down, I thought I might be in the young adult category (at 26), but alas, it was said 25 was the upper limit.
At any rate... I expect society to implode within my lifetime.
I cannot imagine the spoiled, pampered, protected, self-centered youth of today ever being in charge of anything. You can hardly even get them to WORK, nevermind be in charge! God, I hate the young kids (16-17) that come to work in the store I work in. They don't DO anything! They think they can just show up, do whatever they want, and get paid! Needless to say, they get fired. Useless imbiciles.
I can't wait to finish my MSc and PhD and work with people who have some sort of drive to succeed, rather than these worthless kids who can't be bothered to put any effort into living a good life.
That's not to say they're ALL like that... just an awfully high percentage of the ones I've seen come through.

I was hoping so. Most of the negative stereotypes should drop out by then.

Yeah, because beer swilling, loud and obnoxious older kids are much more acceptable than similar younger ones...
SOME of the deadbeats are gone, but alas there's still quite a few who cling to the school system, too inept to get a real job, and too dumb to get a degree (but their parents pay for it anyway).

of teens/young kids/yound adults. What do you think of them? Some claim that this generation is the "best" ever. I personally disagree very strongly. I am a member of this "new" generation and have had a first hand look at what this generation is like, especially when not being supervised. Compared to experiences i've had with those of other generations and stories I've heard, I can deduce that this generation is one of the rudest, cruelest, most disobedient (especially with regard to parental authority), and contain much immaturity, inferiority complexes, and personality disorders which lead to the torment of peers. Many also claim this is one of the "smartest" generations. When looking at academic competitiveness, Its easy to see this generation has many brilliant members, but even more morons. The rise in intelligence in these few brilliant minds of this generation stem from computers and the greater ability to search information. I've made my case: you debate it now. Poll upcoming.

I do not believe any one generation to be "better" than another. Each generation has it's strengths and weaknesses.

you cant really judge this generation, we havent really had the opertunity to prove ourselves. And let's face it there were a lot of things that happened in the generational gap. For instance A REAL WAR, GOOD MUSIC OTHER THAN METAL OR INDUSTRIAL, AND IDEALS. see where i am going with this?