What views do you currently hold that will look outdated to your grandchildren?

[Patine]

I hold the view that paper books and physical, in-hand, currency still have great value, that labour law protections and rights advocacy being abandoned by the American left-wing movements in majority is a big mistake that billionaire plutocrats and soulless corporations are to going to exploit like vultures to everyone's (or, 95% or of everyone's) woe, the diminishment of personal critical thinking in favour of ideological, bloc solidarity, and that cell phones are destroying society on the personal level and gravely hurting youths' abilities to develop proper, in-person social skills. I'll be called a real crackpot, out-of-touch old man one day for those beliefs...

 

[Synobun]

cell phones are destroying society on the personal level and gravely hurting youths' abilities to develop proper, in-person social skills.

Can you back this up in any meaningful way that isn't simply old-man griping about the youths? In what way do you feel young people are lacking in socialization skills?

 

[Broken_Erika]

Can you back this up in any meaningful way that isn't simply old-man griping about the youths? In what way do you feel young people are lacking in socialization skills?

Have you ever seen a circle of teenagers texting eachother instead of talking?

 

[Patine]

Can you back this up in any meaningful way that isn't simply old-man griping about the youths? In what way do you feel young people are lacking in socialization skills?

How many teenagers do you even deal with personally, a lot, anymore. I recall you saying you're no more of a spring chicken than I am (paraphrasing, of course).

 

[Synobun]

Have you ever seen a circle of teenagers texting eachother instead of talking?

Sure. This is bad why? It's not like kids were getting up to higher* minded activities before the advent of mobile data.

*Well, I'm sure they were getting just as high as the kids do nowadays.

How many teenagers do you even deal with personally, a lot, anymore. I recall you saying you're no more of a spring chicken than I am (paraphrasing, of course).

Wat. I'm 26 and run writing groups/workshops for teenagers and college students.

 

[Patine]

Sure. This is bad why? It's not like kids were getting up to higher* minded activities before the advent of mobile data.

*Well, I'm sure they were getting just as high as the kids do nowadays.



Wat. I'm 26 and run writing groups/workshops for teenagers and college students.

My apologies. I mistook you for somebody else - though now I'm not even sure exactly whom... :S

 

[Ferocitus]

That Star Trek, Star Wars and Dr Who are examples of sci-fi cringe comedy.

 

[Patine]

That Star Trek, Star Wars and Dr Who are examples of sci-fi cringe comedy.

That's a matter of taste, not age...

 

[warpus]

Can you back this up in any meaningful way that isn't simply old-man griping about the youths? In what way do you feel young people are lacking in socialization skills?

There have been studies done that show that the sort of social media like facebook or IG is not very good for your mental health. Not sure about socialization skills, but it's definitely true that the kids these days don't know how to write or spell.

 

[Synobun]

There have been studies done that show that the sort of social media like facebook or IG is not very good for your mental health.

Uncontrolled use without education and self-restraint is bad for everyone's mental health.

Not sure about socialization skills, but it's definitely true that the kids these days don't know how to write or spell.

Literacy has never been better. People read more than they ever have, write more than they ever have, in human history. What a joke.

 

[warpus]

That's not really the problem with social media, though. It's bad for you in a similar way that heroin is bad for you. Controlled use might not be possible for most people

 

[Synobun]

That's not really the problem with social media, though. It's bad for you in a similar way that heroin is bad for you. Controlled use might not be possible for most people

What's the gateway drug to social media? I need to perfect the next reefer madness program.

 

[Traitorfish]

Not sure about socialization skills, but it's definitely true that the kids these days don't know how to write or spell.

Most people over the age of thirty don't know how to write or spell, it's not really a generational thing.

 

[emzie]

Have you ever seen a circle of teenagers texting eachother instead of talking?

In my experience, they're not texting each other. They call that vibing, and it's when you're hanging out with people you're comfortable with, all doing your own thing. If someone wants to share something with others, or the group, it's usually spoken.

How many teenagers do you even deal with personally, a lot, anymore. I recall you saying you're no more of a spring chicken than I am (paraphrasing, of course).

I've lived part time with my teenage nieces for the last year. Some of that time was pre-covid, and since, there have been a few small gatherings (2-3 friends) for things like birthdays.

 

[warpus]

Most people over the age of thirty don't know how to write or spell, it's not really a generational thing.

Cursive writing skills have definitely gone out the window. I don't think that typing is being taught in schools these days either. As a result less and less people can write OR type properly. Have these skills been replace with other skills kids are learning in schools that allow them to communicate? Not as far as I know.

This seems somewhat noticable to me. Ask a random high school English teacher how well the kids can write an essay. I am pretty sure it's a trend

And what do you mean when you say that most people over the age of 30 can't write or spell? What sort of degenerates over 30 do you tend to hang out with? I mean.. Most people I know over 30 can spell just fine. Often in multiple languages as well. It's all anecdotal of course, but almost anyone over 30 who went to school and wasn't a class clown knows how to spell properly.

 

[NovaKart]

I disagree with some of the predictions here. People are identifying more emphatically with their sexuality than they did in the past. A lot of this is probably down to the fact that people are able to come out in the open about their sexuality but the effect is still there, it doesn’t mean sexuality is becoming less relevant. There are people in long term opposite sex relationships who are publicly proclaiming their bisexuality in editorials and people identifying as pansexual. So while there’s more tolerance for gay people it doesn’t mean one’s sexuality is not seen as important anymore.

It’s the same with gender. While people have more freedom to identify as other genders it’s, if anything, becoming more important to people’s sense of identity.

It remains to be seen if people identifying as non binary, agender, etc. will continue or if that’s just a temporary result of concepts of gender changing at the moment.

I think it’s a little for people to be in polyamorous relationships and maybe that will be a difference between me and younger generations. I think in the 70s some people were saying it’s bourgeois to be monogamous but polyamory never really became mainstream after the 70s, so maybe it won’t become mainstream in the future or maybe that’s because people’s idea of it in the 70s was tied to their political beliefs.

Actually, I can understand a couple staying together out of inertia and quietly tolerating infidelity but it seems a bit weird to me to openly do it.

I don’t like tattoos or body piercings either, I’m pretty old fashioned that way, especially when someone is heavily tattooed or has a lot of piercings, I just think it looks bad but that’s pretty normal now.

I think people become too sensitive/PC and cancel culture is worse because of social media. It’s always existed, I read in an old article about in the 50s people getting outraged over musicians with communist associations being hired, performing at concerts. But these days it’s all too easy to police what people said years ago or take a joke the wrong way.

It’s sad to see the left now becoming so censorious when the left used to be the champions of free speech, and it’s often the left who are targeted as well, by other liberals.

 

[Samson]

*Well, I'm sure they were getting just as high as the kids do nowadays.

I thought the current generation of kids is less into drink and drugs than the preceding ones. <old man mode>Sure sign of societal collapse if you ask me </old man mode>

 

[Hygro]

I call many women girls in the contexts I call men guys. We'll see where that one ends up.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Most people over the age of thirty don't know how to write or spell, it's not really a generational thing.

Over thirty is an awful lot of people. My experience is that those under thirty are less adept are writing and spelling than those over thirty. I wonder where millennials fall? If I were to guess, I would say that those with fewer years of education write and spell worse than those with more regardless of age. In addition, i would add that those who actively use writing in their work will write and spell better than those who don't.

 

[Traitorfish]

Cursive writing skills have definitely gone out the window. I don't think that typing is being taught in schools these days either. As a result less and less people can write OR type properly. Have these skills been replace with other skills kids are learning in schools that allow them to communicate? Not as far as I know.

This seems somewhat noticable to me. Ask a random high school English teacher how well the kids can write an essay. I am pretty sure it's a trend

I didn't realise that when you said "writing", you meant the mechanical act of inscribing characters. Is that really something which children need to be taught? Is it something that presents them with obstacles in day-to-day life?

And what do you mean when you say that most people over the age of 30 can't write or spell? What sort of degenerates over 30 do you tend to hang out with? I mean.. Most people I know over 30 can spell just fine. Often in multiple languages as well. It's all anecdotal of course, but almost anyone over 30 who went to school and wasn't a class clown knows how to spell properly.

Part of my job involves responding to emails from the general public. A lot of these people can't spell even with a spellchecker; many of them struggle to construct a sentence more complicated than a declarative statement; most of them can't compose a coherent argument or narrative. Nothing in this experience leads me to the impression that there is a generational component to this.

This is probably skewed by the fact that a disproportionate number of the people I'm dealing with are cranks and weirdoes, but it still leaves me sceptical that the majority of the population has ever possessed advanced literacy skills. I think what has changed is that the strength of these skills as a signifier of class or status has declined, so that people are less interested in either exhibiting or faking mastery of these skills.

Edit: I don't have any sort of data to support this, but my hypothesis is that the majority of people still treat writing is a derivate of the spoken word. They write as if they were transcribing spoken language, and they are most comfortable reading texts which are written in the same way. Thinking about writing as a different way of communicating, as an alternative rather than as a supplement to speech, has always been a minority skill. If there is a generational aspect to this, it's that younger people are less familiar with formal speech, so their writing will carry less of the characteristics or conventions of formal speech. This might be conflated with a lower level of literacy, but I think this is superficial, and it doesn't describe how people actually interact with the written word.