To think teen girls get "nana" old before their time?

[sadsac1]

I follow a few accounts on You Tube and Instagram- mainly for their foodie posts etc - but these girls are 18-21 mainly (the big bloggers) and act so differently to my and my friends at that age.

When I was that age, Saturday's were about shopping, maybe grabbing a McDonald's or something similarly unhealthy in town and most importantly getting dressed up and going out for a good dance and to be honest, drinks and snogging!

Most of these girls do video logs where their day is either the gym and then tea and cake followed by a night in watching a box set or reading with a green tea and some peanut butter before meditation before bed at ten.

Now before you flame me, I know this is healthier and great habits for later in life but I can't help but feel your young days are for letting your hair down a bit...but then I think social
Media is their social life so that's probably something to do with it...

The stylised pouting isn't just reserved for teens and early 20s. Loads of people do that and look really fake and a bit daft .

Not all teens do that kind of thing.

I fall into the narrow cross-over generation between generation X and Y. There are blurred photos of the wilder moments of my youth, and there was the internet, but it took a bit of an effort to scan them and load them to a geocities account

It's not that having a very clean lifestyle is such a bad thing in its own right, but it is a shame if life is being overly controlled out of social anxiety. For people turning adult around the late 90s/ millenium, university and your 20s were independent and carefree. Plenty of time for boxsets in your 30s when stuck in with children.

Maybe Generation Z will be happy that they never knew what they missed out on. Maybe they are victims of the wider financial and social situation since 2010.

There does seem to be a health drive but the results are good and we are all getting fatter.
Kids are competing in a global, not st a local level anymore. They need to do better otherwise someone else will be ahead of them in the queue.

Yuck. What a horrible way to think about life.
What about doing what you love ( the key factor for actually being happy). My parents are incredibly fit and active in everyday life, have hobbies that they excel at and are relatively poor. They don't moan or bitch and have been married for 50 years.
They partied like good uns in their teens and married with kids in their early 20's. But they've never let what other people think dictate their life.

All I can say is I HOPE and PRAY for my dds are one of those tea drinking, meditating teens/early adults that actually care for their bodies and enjoy themselves and have fun without getting hammered every weekend.

They will enjoy other things, travelling, culture, friendship and excitement without having to damage themselves. Maybe they have finally seen the light and realised getting shit faced is just embarrassing and not cool.

I am all for the new generation that have learnt from our tardy yucky nights out and thought no thanks, they have a life and a future that looks a great deal healthier and more balanced than ours.

Yeah it's not about drinking. At 17 when i was out all the time I couldn't afford more than one drink most of the time anyway. But I remember often meeting loads of new people (in person not as online followers) dancing all night and going for greasy fry ups at sunrise.
Many of the people i met in my late teens and early 20s are still friends.
I think it's fine for young people to be into excercise and knitting, and serious about their careers (I wish I had taken mine more seriously!), but like a pp said I hope they really not avoiding wild times out of fear.

And I agree Blue-What a way to think about life when you are 18, positioning yourself for the competitive global market..I mean probably smart, but jaysis!

Yeah, I spent those years in the gym...didn't drink much...didn't eat much...I was engaged/in long term relationship. I have two herniated discs, and an eating disorder to show for it. Oh, and the fiancee left me after uni (the day after I bought my wedding dress).

Wish I'd spent my time on booze, sex and pizza.

My daughter is almost 19, she rarely drinks, has no interest in doing any drugs, shops online mostly because actual shops stress her out and wears flat shoes 99% of the time. She's very different than to what I was like at her age.
She's off to uni soon and yes I know she'll have the odd drink but she's more about instant coffee and green tea than shots and spirits.

Thank god for that! Binge drinking culture in the U.K. is horrific and normalised and if that is changing then thank god

I suspect it’s because these kids have seen their binge drinking parents morph into binge drinking middle aged, fat, depressed and grey thinking there must be a better way

"Its doesn't matter how many slices of cucumber you put in your water Karen it won't help the fact you chugged seven vodkas and sprites at the bar last night."

You don't need drugs alcohol and boys when you have the sweet hit of serotonin from Instagram!

I think there is a problem in our culture when it is considered necessary to get wasted and to behave irresponsibly in order to transition into adulthood.

I had a conservative upbringing and didn’t start drinking until my early 20s. I treasure my memories from my teens, we were pretty innocent but we had so much fun. We would laugh for hours. I performed very well in my studies (no hangovers) and found different ways to let off steam. I missed out on the irresponsible sex. When I left my conservative bubble I was shocked to hear stories of my new friends losing their virginity at around 14 and most of them had never had sober sex. They had also mostly experienced more pain than I had and I felt stronger and more confident in myself.

There is so much to be said for questioning our values and the normalisation of what should be considered inappropriate behaviour amongst young adults. Let your DDs find a better way- maybe they will have even better memories and experience than you had.

From the teenagers I know there’s a real worry about looking silly, getting outside their comfort zone, doing anything unusual at all, and that’s sad to me. So they don’t like to get drunk because they don’t know what it’ll be like, what drink to order, don’t like being out late...box sets and green tea are very safe, no risk, no discomfort. They’re not into those long nights where you let your hair down, talk crap into the small hours with your new best friends and all that. You don’t need to be hammered for that, but a couple of drinks certainly helps, and it’s how you learn to chat and get along with new people. The teens I know hate talking to anyone they don’t already know, even people who have been sitting in the same classroom for a year.

I suspect it’s because these kids have seen their binge drinking parents morph into binge drinking middle aged, fat, depressed and grey
Wow. Now THAT'S vicious! And generally untrue. Most middle aged people I know who were wild in youth (drugs, sex, irresponsibility) have good jobs, go on massive bike rides, do yoga, raise money for good causes, work for local environmental issues, have nice kids and drink tea mostly!
Just because you experimented in youth doesn't mean your life is fucked. You do know that don't you??
In fact I think our openness to adventure has made us into thoughtful and empathetic humans who can accept that people sometimes make daft choices.
Not so sure about the green tea wheatgrass vanity gym going Instagram generation. .they seem desperate to avoid making ANY bad choices but sometimes our mistakes are how we learn.

I get confused about people referring to millennials about certain stuff because they would range from mid - 30s to around early - mid 20s now. When people say millennials are offended by friends for instance? Well we grew up watching it - I was 10/11 when it started and 20/21 when it ended and definitely wasn't offended by it. It was part of my generations culture to watch it on a Thursday or Friday night every week, along with Fraser, Will and Grace and later on Sex and the City.

When people refer to millennials I think they are thinking of millennium born children (generation z) who would now be 18 and under and might not enjoy those shows like we did.

I’m the tail end of 20 but I can definitely confirm that there has been a resurgence of wellness in the last few years. Going out boozing is not seen as ‘cool’ anymore- it’s all about treating your body like a temple. I think it’s a great trend tbh- as PPs have said, it’s great for health and the NHS!

The kind of youth culture you experienced and described was only really a couple of decades. Before that it was much more sedate. I'm not saying we should go back to victorian times, but there are other ways of having fun and each generation has their own.

I'm not sure which "generation " my mid-late 00s born kids fall into (who are now in the last years of primary) but they definitely have a bizarre way of entertainment. They are the YouTube generation where they don't watch any real time tv anymore, it's all streamed online and they will watch YouTube videos of other people playing a game! 🤔😂

TheFifthKey has nailed what the teens I know, think.

I feel they are missing out too. There is a medium point between having no drink and being hammered.

I am 36 and I love the young people of today. They are the better generation, more emotionally intelligent, more compassionate, sensible, kind. It is a pleasure to be around them.

My generation is harder (emotionally), but not as hard as my parents’.

Personally I do not see much fun in getting sloshed and putting yourself in all sorts of undesirable or dangerous situations through it, or shagging half the town (while drunk). It is self-destructive behaviour as I see it. Can’t fathom what there is to aspire to.

For me fun is about freedom, to do what I want, go places I dreamed about, meeting interesting people, learning new things, making your life richer. Incidentally, this can be done at any time in your life. I agree however one has more freedom in their youth (or retirement years!)

Interesting topic....
Could the whole ‘generation sensible’ thing be because of globalisation and influence from other cultures? Life is a lot more multicultural than it was when I was growing up in the 70s and 80s
I’ve lived in many different countries, (USA, Asia) and think the excess alcohol drinking culture is very much a British thing....

In my youth I took a lot of drugs and drank almost continuously. Luckily I went to uni got a degree then a professional job, had children, went back to uni, now in professional job no 2.

Don’t want my DC to do that would much prefer them to be clean living, the thing is there is NO record of some of the things I got up to thankfully.

I had this conversation with my Mum after a trip to the local beach. There was a big group of older teens, probably 16-17 and they were absolutly lovely. My youngest got bumped by a backpack one of the girls was wearing (complete accident no injuries) and they were so apologetic to me and started to play my son for a good half an hour because they were so worried that we were upset. It was so lovely. Teenagers still get such a hard rap, but this bunch were a real credit.

At 18 I didn't really drink and wouldn't touch drugs with barge poll, I drove everywhere so wouldn't drink, would meet friends down the pub, shock horror really enjoyed myself even being sober as it was more about seeing my friends and having a laugh. I'd also stay in with my boyfriend, read books and cook with him. Go cycling for the day, and concentrated progressing in work. By 20 I owned a house, and met DH, later went to uni as a mature student with DH helping to support me. Uni life passed me by as I was just there to learn.

from 13-16 though I'd taken drugs got shit faced, slept in hedges/back of cars/bedsits floors, been in pubs, clubs and a couple of raves too. I have no fond memories of any of it. just a general feeling of being out of control.

I don't think getting shitfaced is a life experience that brings much to the plate.

Absolutely agree. And it explains why teens are able to afford to eat out (all those avocado brunches that the papers love to talk about) more than 'we' expect.

My 19 year old sister occasionally goes on a 'big night out', but much more often she cooks at home (or goes out for dinner) with a group of friends and they'll share a bottle of wine or 2 between 6-8 of them. Her generation seem to have a much healthier attitude to alcohol (and food!) than mine. (Not entirely relevant but she was actually hospitalised with an eating disorder when she was 14 so it's absolutely amazing to see her cooking and enjoying food with all of her friends where they talk about nutrition, flavour and enjoyment over calories and fat content - something most of my friends my age don't even do).

For fun they do hot yoga, exercise classes, hiking and they take LOADS of trips. I suppose if they're not paying £30-70 on a night out once a week (or more) they can soon save up enough for a holiday.