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Youth of today

110 replies

CarerWhoCaresTooMuch · 21/02/2023 00:25

What is it with them.?? Whilst I know I’m going to sound like my gran probably get a roasting too but I just don’t get them. Im working in retail and what I’m seeing these days just disgusts me. Foul mouthed , Cocky , vaping youths who think it’s their absolute right to steal , trash the shops and even abuse anyone who would question any behaviour, I know kids will be kids and it’s part of ‘Growing up’ , yes times have changed but what the hell has actually happened? They genuinely don’t give two monkeys about what they say or do, There’s no respect , common curtesy , manners . Some of the mischief as it was put to me just this evening ‘ a bit of entertainment’ is actually criminal damage , disturbing the peace . They don’t even care if they are on camera , seems like there’s nothing to stop them.
Yes I know there are also some absolute cracking youngsters out there too.
I’d love to know what the parents of these youngsters actually think and how they would feel if they knew what their child was up too. Obviously things were different when I was growing and I know the world we live in now is also very different, so I guess I’m just wondering how everyone else feels and what they think.

OP posts:
hekissedmybottom · 21/02/2023 13:09

Sep200024 · 21/02/2023 13:00

So which generation was it that killed off the tightly knit communities??

Was it today’s teenagers?

It doesn't matter who killed it, but today's teens are the result.

Sep200024 · 21/02/2023 13:13

hekissedmybottom · 21/02/2023 13:09

It doesn't matter who killed it, but today's teens are the result.

Oh, love that!!

What an attitude to have 🤣

AllOfThemWitches · 21/02/2023 13:20

Well, I'm not sure past generations got it right all the time re parenting, lots of troubled adults out there.

User135644 · 21/02/2023 13:20

Sep200024 · 21/02/2023 13:00

So which generation was it that killed off the tightly knit communities??

Was it today’s teenagers?

It was Margaret Thatcher.

Then the current Tory lot cutting the police to the bone and youth centres etc.

User135644 · 21/02/2023 13:21

User135644 · 21/02/2023 13:20

It was Margaret Thatcher.

Then the current Tory lot cutting the police to the bone and youth centres etc.

And it's the elderly that keep voting in the Tories to wreck everything.

JoonT · 21/02/2023 13:35

In general, ignorant, violent, uncivilised, irresponsible, anti-social people produce clones of themselves. They give them no moral guidance, and then set them loose on the world. When they hit adolescence, such kids can be extremely dangerous, and that’s why we notice them.

This has been happening forever. Unless society is prepared to stop the worst, most dysfunctional people from having such kids, we simply have to put up with it. Jut pray they move next door to some other poor sod and ruin his life instead of yours.

KILM · 21/02/2023 13:54

Oh my days the people saying there's 'more of it now' or you 'hear more of it now' 'I never heard of anyone my age behaving like that'

  1. Then you weren't hanging out with those kinds of teenagers.
  2. You literally carry a device in your hand which means everyone on the planet is now connected and their community news and wider news is accessible to you and being pushed to you (depending on the algorithm) 24/7 so of course you hear more of it ffs - more of its recorded/observed!
  3. Older people are much more interested in news of unruly teenagers than actual teenagers so you probably just weren't told about it at the time!
  4. See 4 again. Seriously. You didn't have community fb pages! You didn't have CCTV!
KILM · 21/02/2023 13:56

That should be: See 2 again. You just know about it more now!

stayathomer · 21/02/2023 14:02

It depends on the teens surely. We (I work in a shop) had a man in over Christmas who was helped home by two teenagers form the toughest school when he started slipping. We have kids and teens in all the time, as in all the time(!) that properly ask how you are when you do the 'how are you' thing (that you do out of habit and don't expect an answer to!) There are a few tough kids about but if Ihad to do a percentage I'd say 85% nice 15% cocky, shouty little 'I don't give a ' (generally scooting in front of traffic) kids. Try saying hi to a few or nodding to a few and see how you go op

HoodieBell · 21/02/2023 14:34

@DdraigGoch About 7% of teens regularly vape, in the 1990s 10% of teens regularly smoked.

DdraigGoch · 21/02/2023 14:47

HoodieBell · 21/02/2023 14:34

@DdraigGoch About 7% of teens regularly vape, in the 1990s 10% of teens regularly smoked.

I was a teen post-smoking ban so my baseline is a bit lower. Especially once you count the current generation's teen smokers who will be in addition to the 7%, it's worrying that we've made next to no progress in 30 years.

OhmygodDont · 21/02/2023 14:49

Poor parenting breeds more poor parenting and repeat. Look to the parents and grandparents and great grandparents who shared their wisdoms. When it comes to the absolute worst.

Mid range poorly behaved teenagers are the vapers to the 90’s smokers etc.

There was an article in the papers recently here about knife crime with stolen Deliveroo bikes. The second I saw one of the boys faces I wasn’t shocked I knew which family he came from and new the types he would be hanging around with. Mum (dads stayed silent) is all her poor baby boy he wasn’t really involved it’s all a mistake blah blah blah. Excuses.

SinnerBoy · 21/02/2023 15:03

I must say that it does seem that there is a lot more knife crime than when I was a teenager (I was born in 1970). I remember hearing about stabbings and being scared. At high school, two boys stabbed people, different years and it was incredible and shocking.

That said, there would be fights every day and a couple of "official" ones per week, where lads would go to a corner of the school field and have it out.

There's some antisocial behaviour local to me, dope smoking kids in the park at night and the odd brawl. I don't see as much lingering round the Metro Station and bus stops, gobbing next to old ladies and that sort of thing. I see quite a lot of kind and considerate behaviour from kids and young people.

AllOfThemWitches · 21/02/2023 15:12

I think early intervention is the way forward, especially for kids suspected to have or diagnosed with ADHD.

User135644 · 21/02/2023 15:13

HoodieBell · 21/02/2023 14:34

@DdraigGoch About 7% of teens regularly vape, in the 1990s 10% of teens regularly smoked.

Teens smoking isn't anti-social behaviour though in itself.

JudgeRinderonTinder · 21/02/2023 15:22

People were saying the exact same thing about millennials, my generation.

It’s largely just your perception.

Shunkleisshiny · 21/02/2023 15:43

On our estate there is a 'park' with a kiddies playground, swings/slides etc. There used to be a 'youth' shelter, basically a roof with vandal proof seating, I say used to be because teens from miles around would come to use the park.
When I say use, this meant:
Human poo smeared down the kiddies slide.
The swings thrown over the top bars.
Hippie crack canisters strewn all over the park.
Residents bins pinched and set alight,so they could keep warm.
Kicking residents fences in, and general vandalism.

Needless to say, after many complaints, the shelter was taken down, these kids have only themselves to blame through their mindless behaviour they spoilt a good thing.

Some years ago, a pupil from the local comp was killed in a road accident, a tree was planted on the park as a memorial to the boy, as he played for the local football team on that pitch. It lasted two days before it was torn out. Someone turned the kid in who did it, and he was a classmate of the dead boy.

'Parents' are seen dropping their little darlings at the park, and then giving them booze!

This is in the most affluent village of our town, so it's not some sink estate, and before I am flamed as a 'pearl clutcher', I was brought up in a very rough area and can hold my own, but myself nor any of my group of friends then, would have never behaved like this.

Now there are no consequences.

girlfriend44 · 21/02/2023 15:51

KILM · 21/02/2023 13:54

Oh my days the people saying there's 'more of it now' or you 'hear more of it now' 'I never heard of anyone my age behaving like that'

  1. Then you weren't hanging out with those kinds of teenagers.
  2. You literally carry a device in your hand which means everyone on the planet is now connected and their community news and wider news is accessible to you and being pushed to you (depending on the algorithm) 24/7 so of course you hear more of it ffs - more of its recorded/observed!
  3. Older people are much more interested in news of unruly teenagers than actual teenagers so you probably just weren't told about it at the time!
  4. See 4 again. Seriously. You didn't have community fb pages! You didn't have CCTV!

There was generally more respect around. You didn't assault doctors and paramedics.

You didn't hear of youths drinking in parks and looking for trouble and then stabbing someone to death if they intervened. It didn't happen.

Jericha · 21/02/2023 17:05

I used to work in a shop and the rudest age group I had the misfortune of serving was those 70+. I obviously don't think all over 70s are rude however, it just happened that in that particular shop we had a high number of ill mannered pensioners. I have however also encountered lots of lovely older people, and know the rude ones were rude because that was their personality, it wasn't down to their age. There's arseholes in every subset of society unfortunately, and sometimes one is over represented Grin

OhmygodDont · 21/02/2023 17:21

girlfriend44 · 21/02/2023 15:51

There was generally more respect around. You didn't assault doctors and paramedics.

You didn't hear of youths drinking in parks and looking for trouble and then stabbing someone to death if they intervened. It didn't happen.

Only person I’ve personally heard of assaulting a paramedic was a 40 year old women. She certain isn’t a youth. A drunk but not youth.

ClannadSinger · 21/02/2023 17:49

Sep200024 · 21/02/2023 02:15

I always think that if you want to cast aspersions on an entire generation, then you should may be first think about which generation it was that raised them and taught them everything they know.

Absolutely. Was just going to come on and say please don't tar them all with the same brush. There are plenty of lovely teenagers out there.

Goldenbear · 21/02/2023 18:20

Knife crime is area specific though so I think the stats show highest in Northern areas, lowest is Surrey. Your perception is obviously going to be altered depending on your context!

Shunkleisshiny a place can be affluent in its locality but is it educated. I live in an affluent area of the city and there is no way any of that would happen with the kids from parents' who are liberal but morally sound the DC are largely the same. As someone else pointed out smoking is not anti - social in terms of violent behaviour, hanging out is not a crime and neither is chatting in a park as a group of teenagers at 8 at night. If they arw doing no harm it is fine.

HoodieBell · 21/02/2023 18:20

@DdraigGoch The number of teen smokers is down to 2% so a vast improvement there. Hopefully the vapers are having nicotine free vapes.

Goldenbear · 21/02/2023 18:25

Shunkleisshiny no poo smeared children's slides, no swings wrapped around the bars making them unusable like they were in my youth in 90s south London suburb! We have park committees and the local community are hot on stuff like that.

DdraigGoch · 21/02/2023 19:03

HoodieBell · 21/02/2023 18:20

@DdraigGoch The number of teen smokers is down to 2% so a vast improvement there. Hopefully the vapers are having nicotine free vapes.

So assuming that the smokers and vapers are distinct groups, that means that the sum is 9%. Not really the sort of improvement that I'd like to have seen in 30 years, it seems that one vice has just been swapped for another. We don't yet know the long-term risks of vaping. What I am noticing is the frequency of use. They seem to vape almost continuously. We also seem to have lost the social conventions on when you can and can't do it - these days virtually no one would dream of lighting up a cigarette inside a building but lots will vape.