what's with kids these days?

They have their Xbox 360's, they have their internets, they have their DVD players, they have their digital cable, they have Ipods. Back when I was a kid we had the SNES, I only had cable, when I listened to music I had to either use a cassette player or a CD player, and, I had no internet. I didn't use instant messaging when I was a kid. I didn't have a cell-phone when I was a kid. They don't know how lucky they are.

[edit on 29-6-2008 by Frankidealist35]

reply to post by Frankidealist35


Back when I was a kid, we had board games. We wrote letters, and we had five network t.v. channels because there was no cable. When I listened to music, I played vinyl 45's or 33's on a turntable. We had 1 house phone, and foot races between the 4 kids at our house to be the first one to the phone to answer it when it rang.

I consider myself pretty lucky. It's almost sad things can't be as uncomplicated as they were in those days!

Originally posted by Enthralled Fan
reply to post by Frankidealist35

 

Back when I was a kid, we had board games. We wrote letters, and we had five network t.v. channels because there was no cable. When I listened to music, I played vinyl 45's or 33's on a turntable. We had 1 house phone, and foot races between the 4 kids at our house to be the first one to the phone to answer it when it rang.

I consider myself pretty lucky. It's almost sad things can't be as uncomplicated as they were in those days!

Pretty much the same here, no internet, cable came along when I became a teen, had an Atari, but spend most of my days reading or playing outside. I still have stamped letters from that time.

Hey Remember PONG INTELLIVISION
and monopoly Hungry Hungry Hippos
Oh god I'm so old

I would say that the biggest problem with kids today is they are raised on games and TV, and lack real family structure, parents are spending all their time working ( for the kids) but miss out on raising them. Dashing in and out the door never sitting down for meals together, life is in a tailspin when you live like that, and the kids pay for it.

Well, after trying to reply to this, numerous time, and deleting each and every entry that I typed... I think I am finally ready to proceed.

As much as I hate to be complicit to the crime of age, I do agree with several of the other posters. I, too, grew up in a world with just a handful of television channels. There were no VCRs or DVDs to entertain us. No video game systems. I, too, owned an early version of pong and played the darned thing for hours and hours, thinking it was the greatest creation in the universe. I can recall having envy of a cousin whose parents purchased an Atari 2600. In fact, I once traded a fortunes worth of baseball cards just for the chance to watch the film "Star Wars" on a friends home VCR,

At forty-one years of age, I suddenly feel archaic and ancient!

But, to address the topic of this post... I think what is wrong with kids today is the amount of information that they have access to. Being a huge advocate of freedom of speech, this is a difficult thing for me to admit, but it is true.. Kids simply receive too much of an education too quickly.

An example. Until recently I had no idea what the comedy joke reference of "Dirty Sanchez" actually meant. I, as an adult, could assume a few things but I was never positive of the reference. Until my TWELVE year old nephew cleared things up for me. I have not lived a sheltered life, in any way, shape, or form. But a child of twelve was aware of terminology that I was not. And that is frightening.

The reality is that my generation grew up watching shows like "The Brady Bunch", "Gilligans Island", "The Bionic Man", "Chips", and "The Dukes of Hazzard". Sure, there were tons of things hidden within those shows that an adult might catch onto. But nothing too blantat. I knew, even as a child, that the Professor was probably the happiest man on Gilligans Island, but it was a very vague and instinctive realization. There were no specifics to it.

Todays television is totally different. Even so called "prime time". And bear in mind that I am not some bible thumping crusader. I don't think of flesh as a sin at all. But the amount of adult content that children are exposed to is staggering. Sex, drugs, violence... All staples. This has to effect the kids somehow. It is forcing them to face adult situations much earlier than previous generations did.

Now I am going to get caught between the hippies and the conservatives for what I have said. I would like to state, for the record, that I am neither. I have strong beliefs towaqrds liberty but also in responsibility. And keeping children safe from the world is a responsibility. Do we need to make them have a "Disney-esque" view of the world?

No.

But do we need to inform them about the Dirty Sanches before they reach puberty? I say "No" to that as well.

That's just my late night thoughts.

Originally posted by Frankidealist35
They have their Xbox 360's, they have their internets, they have their DVD players, they have their digital cable, they have Ipods. Back when I was a kid we had the SNES, I only had cable, when I listened to music I had to either use a cassette player or a CD player, and, I had no internet. I didn't use instant messaging when I was a kid. I didn't have a cell-phone when I was a kid. They don't know how lucky they are.

[edit on 29-6-2008 by Frankidealist35]

How do you know how lucky they are?? Have you been in their shoes? lol. Think about that.

I was born in 1988 do I fall under being a kid for you??

reply to post by Seaman_Richie

Are you wearing an Ipod right now
Do you have a game on pause right now ?
Are you text messaging between posts ?

Originally posted by The Utopian Penguin
reply to post by Seaman_Richie

 

Are you wearing an Ipod right now
Do you have a game on pause right now ?
Are you text messaging between posts ?

Believe it or not....my answer to all your questions would be no.... lol

I did just get back from a nice brisk ride on my ride though : )

Born in 1988, 20 years of age..
First off, I too was raised in the NES days, and the cheesy board games were all far to familiar.. We had the big black satelite dish that had crappy reception, probably as well as you ol' chums.. But, I was also raised in with technology, and digital cable..
I'm a youngling compared to you previous posters, but that's okay..
All i'm saying is, i've had a taste of both worlds, the old one and the new one.
So the question remains, what's wrong with kids these days?!
Well, the question itself is a bit odd, due to the simple fact that Frank didn't really give a solid reason why the question stands in the first place! But, i'm assuming it's something on the line, that we're spoiled little brats, and couldn't live in the old way?
Pfft... Wouldn't matter to me, because as I noted earlier, I lived the old way.. And on a reservation nonetheless, which is like a billion years behind.

Originally posted by MadSeason313
Born in 1988, 20 years of age..
First off, I too was raised in the NES days, and the cheesy board games were all far to familiar.. We had the big black satelite dish that had crappy reception, probably as well as you ol' chums.. But, I was also raised in with technology, and digital cable..
I'm a youngling compared to you previous posters, but that's okay..
All i'm saying is, i've had a taste of both worlds, the old one and the new one.
So the question remains, what's wrong with kids these days?!
Well, the question itself is a bit odd, due to the simple fact that Frank didn't really give a solid reason why the question stands in the first place! But, i'm assuming it's something on the line, that we're spoiled little brats, and couldn't live in the old way?
Pfft... Wouldn't matter to me, because as I noted earlier, I lived the old way.. And on a reservation nonetheless, which is like a billion years behind.

Same here I see what you mean, 1986 here, I've lived both sides of this, the time of no computers and mobile phones and the time where computers in every home and mobiles everywhere.

I wonder if any of you had to go through all that tamagochi, WWF wrestling madness and pokemon lol. It sure made a huge impact in my school around the same time as mobile phones and computers, it was like a sudden change.

By the way I had a atari computer then a sega master system as my first consoles, alex the kid and sonic, classic days.

[edit on 30-6-2008 by _Phoenix_]

You want to hear something Ironic about all the technology that kids have access to today?

I have 2 kids ages 7 and 8 and despite all the junk they have, they are constantly complaining that they are bored!

About turning the world disney-esq...have you watched the disney channel lately? That and Nickelodeon, it's all kids acting like they are adults with little to no real adult supervision.

My kids will not be allowed to have a cell phone until they are old enough to pay for it themselves.

I'm 16. I still read, write, go for walks and all that stuff. Sure we live in a different culture, but that's how things go. You lived in a totally different culture from your parents. Things change, and there's no way you can stop it.

reply to post by Frankidealist35

some of us do i taake alot of offfense when you say all kids dont know how lucky they are or all kids are rebellious these days i am very aware of how lucky i am and i also know alot more then most adults on many subjects if you dont believe me try me

I was born in 1988 too. When I grew up, we didn't have much especially when it came to technology. Most of what my sister and I had, were just Barbies (lol), board games and our imagination. We did have t.v though (but I think that was only 4 or 5 stations) and a Hi-Fi which we mostly just listened to the radio and played tapes on.

But when I started going to school, that was when I first actually got to use a computer to play games on. It was pretty cool, but most of my time I spent reading and playing with my friends. Oddly enough, my favourite non-fiction subjects to read about were dinosaurs, astronomy, aliens and UFOs...

_Phoenix_, we had the tamagochi and pokemon craze at our school too lol. I remember in Primary school (I think around year 3 or 4) it seemed like everyone had tamagochis, I couldn't get one though because they cost too much . And I think it was around year 4 or 5 that the Pokemon craze swept through our school and everyone had at least a few cards (most had quite a few) and were trading them like crazy. I managed to get my hands on a few and still have them lol
There was also another craze around years 5-7 about these disc things you could get in chip packets like Doritos, Thins and others. On the discs they had Dragon Ball Z characters with their different power levels and stuff. There were also gold ones of certain characters that you could get too, they were kind of rare, but I got a few those and still have them too

Anyway, most of the kids I knew, weren't that worried about technological things that much, cos they were more into sports (the boys) or talking about make-up, boys and watching the boys play sports at recess or lunch (the girls).

These days I have my own laptop, the internet, mp3 player and mobile phone but I still enjoy things like reading, making art, going for drives and playing sport. I guess I kind of agree with jesus_freak, not all kids are ignorant to how lucky they are. I know that I'm lucky to have what I have

And like PeaceUk mentioned, things change. There are things to appreciate in each era, but none are perfect.

Edit to add: Although I do agree that there are a lot of young people who don't realise how lucky they are. It's sad and it does seem unfair a lot of the time. But I still believe there's hope

[edit on 1/7/2008 by Sparkly_Eyed777]

[edit on 2/7/2008 by Sparkly_Eyed777]

when i was a kid i had a nintendo, snes and playstation lots of cds and heavy metal t shirts.

i had mp3s when i was 17. (1999)

i think it is all these brown people that are ruining everything, and the fact coorporate america has been replaced with islamo facism

Originally posted by Maybach Hanson
i think it is all these brown people that are ruining everything, and the fact coorporate america has been replaced with islamo facism

When they say "what's worng with kids today?" I think it's you they are refering to.

or you are just being cheeky, then if that's the case

Originally posted by Frankidealist35
They have their Xbox 360's, they have their internets, they have their DVD players, they have their digital cable, they have Ipods. Back when I was a kid we had the SNES, I only had cable, when I listened to music I had to either use a cassette player or a CD player, and, I had no internet. I didn't use instant messaging when I was a kid. I didn't have a cell-phone when I was a kid. They don't know how lucky they are.

[edit on 29-6-2008 by Frankidealist35]

You know I bet that the generation before you used to say the same thing about those damn kids and there SNES, Cable television and cassette and CD players, that you speak so highly of.

I'm 16, and I'd bet you I read more than you do.
I enjoy playing games and such, but I know much older people that do also.

Instead of complaining about technology and whatnot, how about complaining that kids never seem to care about what's going on in the world? I get so frustrated trying to talk to my friends about world events when they have no idea who or what I'm talking about.

And to Space Cadet, I was raised on Nintendo and Genesis practically, but I usually played it with one of my parents. *Recalls my dad beating me at Mortal Kombat*

-Will