This is so fucking shit for young people

[ssd]

Yeah i know its shit for everyone before you pounce on me

But imagine being around 20 just now...no pubs, no nightclubs, no jobs around, no buzz in your town centre, no excuse to dress up in something new, or planning your latest night out, meeting your pals and all the excitement of the night ahead.

Its just so fucking shite.

I got the train home tonight from work, Glasgow city centre is a ghost town. Places that were always busy boarded up, of course everything except like of newsagents and tesco's shut. Its Friday night. It was always jumping when i was young, absolutely jumping. It was dead. On the train was a bunch if young boys, playing music a bit too loud, all singing along....going home from the city centre at 6pm!!!!. I could have cried watching them all, a nice sunny evening and the only place they are heading was back to mum and dads, or a local park maybe, i dont know. They were about 18, casual dressed, haircuts, all wanting a good time with their pals and probably hoping to meet a partner if they were single.

Where is the life for these kids???

This has gone on long enough. I dont care if i never see inside a pub again. I've had a brilliant social life at that age. Now they have fuck all.

Its too much.

It's the uni kids I feel most for all that dept for what. Just awful.

My dd is 15 and I howl this over by the time she gets to 18 but who bloody knows 😡😥

I agree. I have a 19 year old and a 14 year old. They just want to do the normal things.

I feel for them! 🙁 18-25 is usally prime time for clubbing, pubs, holidays with friends etc.

@Tealightsandd

It's massively shit, but it's even more shit for elderly. At least the young will have a chance to make up for lost time.

The elderly have had most of their lives while everyone else has put theirs on hold to protect them.

Mine are 20 and 23. Its utterly shit all round.

I dont think people realise how bad their city centres are now until they go back into them. I hadn't been in since xmas. Ive socialised in town for 35 years. Its always been busy, great atmosphere, loads of pubs, clubs, great music scene, theatres. Festivals in summer. Etc.

Honestly its beyond awful. So many places boarded up. Big retailers closed for good. Pubs and restaurants empty inside. Famous city centre restaurants gone for good. No buzz, no atmosphere. No one dressed up, looking great. No life at all. Just tesco metro open. Co op open, takeaways at a window.

Honestly awful.

@sambecket

Yep totally agree!!!!

It is shit, mine are 12 and 15 now and I’m basically just letting them have friends round and stuff now. They will all be in school with no distancing soon enough. It really is time for all this crap to come to an end now, lockdown is now way past being worth it.

And my poor niece got her first real exciting job after uni, working in the big city, looking at flat shares and hoping to live that life when you first start work. 4 months in this started and she’s back at parents home, working online all day. Trying to get to know colleagues/the job while never being there. Not the start of any career you’d want.

It's massively shit, but it's even more shit for elderly. At least the young will have a chance to make up for lost time

Or perhaps not... There’s a fair bit of evidence that graduating (or leaving school) during a recession can impact earning potential for a decade or more, and that some graduates/school leavers who can’t find appropriate entry level jobs for their qualifications will never catch up.

www.ifs.org.uk/publications/14816

No university experience but loan debt piling up
Sums it up

Also, mine took theory driving tests and passed .... looking likely they will expire as the back log for driving tests means it’s nigh impossible to book a test .... then theory test runs out .... they will have to pay and retake it

Don’t even get me started on the student loans and accommodation

I agree. It’s utterly shit for everyone but most shit and, and longest lasting shit, for the 15-25 year old age range imo.

I am gutted for my 18 year old ds, first year at uni and an announcement tacked on to the news saying they can't reopen campus until 17th May. Only housemates for company and they keep to their rooms. He got very lonely and anxious - everything closed and hard to make friends.

It was seeing the young boys/men on the Train that did it for me. They were like mine. They were playing 'yes sir, i can boogie' and singing along. Its a song the Scotland team sang recently when we actually won!!! They shouldn't be singing it on the train home at 6pm, they should be in pubs,clubs, getting a lumber at closing time and a sore head tomorrow.

This feels unnatural at 54, imagine being fucking 21.
Im so upset for them

Absolutely it’s the worst for teenagers and young people in their twenties. I hope that the public feeling turns if lockdown is ever threatened again and the young people just won’t have it. I would’ve been breaking every rule when I was younger (I’m good now!). Life is short.

Makes me really sad. Will uni life ever be the same? I fear not. So sad.

My teenage and early-20s DC are very aware that they are missing out. As @TempsPerdu posted above, their lifetime job chances and earning potential will probably be blighted by this.

That’s before we look at the inevitable cuts to services when they get older. We have had a working NHS and welfare system. I don’t think it will exist when today’s teens are old enough to need it.

...agree with everyone posting about blighted university experiences. My DC have done their best with online learning and limited social opportunities, but it is massively unfair to them. Today’s youth have reasons to be very angry.

There was a choice, sacrifice the futures of young people or the life expectancy of the over 80s.

The government with the backing of the majority of the population chose to sacrifice young people's futures.

I completely relate to your posts. I have an 18 year old daughter and she is just so isolated and fed up. What should have been the best time of her life has been soured by all this. They can’t ever get these years back.

@ifonly4 I really hope your daughter can do her year abroad, what an anxious and rubbish time for her and so many others.
The idea of young people having to pay fees and rents at uni for this year makes me seethe.

@1dayatatime That’s true, that was the choice. I have felt from the beginning that it is so wrong to sacrifice the young. I don’t believe they will forgive ever their elders.

I feel so sorry for my 19 year old niece. She has had both her 18th and 19th birthdays in lockdown. She missed out on all the end of school celebrations including a holiday with her friends. She has now started college, all online, so has not had the opportunity to meet new people or to enjoy the social life.

She has missed so many things which we took for granted at her age. I remember going off to uni and partying, meeting new people, experiencing having to look after myself (usually not very well!)

I know people have experienced a lot worse during the pandemic but I just feel so sorry for her. And people saying that young people will catch up. How do you catch up on your 18th birthday or your end of school celebrations?

I would not want to be young right now! It isn't much fun for them at all.

Our kids are that age, one dropped out 2 just about hanging in.

Totally agree OP, I think back to when I was 18, always clubbing, at the pub, travelling. My DC are 13,11 & 8 so actually I’m glad this is happening now and not when they are older, however I’m so worried for their future job opportunities etc.
Totally disagree that it is most shit for the elderly and all of the elderly I know don’t agree with this either!!!