I'm ony 10 years old.

[funguy2121]

snip

It substantially lessens the validity of your statements regarding adult issues, because you do have not lived any part of an adult life and do not yet quite even have the capacity to grasp what it's like to live a teenage life.

Doesn't really matter, though, as I wouldn't expect a 10-year-old to make a statement that one would usually hear from a 22-year-old or a 40-year-old.

 

[OmniscientOstrich]

They could well be a child prodigy, a cerebral mind capable of brilliant insights. But a 10 year old with have very little life experience to draw upon. Or to better illustrate my point, here's a famous scene from Good Will Hunting:

 

[Robert Ewing]

Generally, unless you are an extremely intelligent 10 year old, I won't take you as seriously as an extremely intelligent 18 year old.

But if you make out that you are an intelligent 10 year old, i'll take you more seriously, and equal to the 18 year old. Sort of the 'justice approach' of stereotyping, like stupid until proven smart.

 

[HentMas]

¬¬ if we as teenagers have the attention span of a gerbil, i would say a 10 years old haves an attention span of a gold fish, and no 10 year old can really hold his ground in an argument because he cant possibly care "THAT" much about it in the first place...

but it all depends on maturity and actual experience, so if by 10 you are really mature and have experience in the matter at hand, its still dismissed because you are 10!

so yeah, its more because people think little kids are dumb....

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

My sisters thinks im wierd becuase I talk to kids like I talk to adults. I hate it when a child is speaking and an adult will tell them to shush or speak over them. It isn't a very good example to set.

On an internet forum you should be judged by what you say not what age you are or what you look like. Thats the whole benefit of online discussion.

 

[kinapuffar]

Oh yes, I can read through this and see no hate towards 10-13 year old children which includes me so therefore you are hating me. None at all.

I have my opinions, and my age does not reflect that.

Being 10 years old isn't an ethnicity, or a lifestyle choice.
We've all been 10 years old, that gives us the credentials to judge how much a 10 year old knows about the world. We remember what it was like, we remember how little we knew about things.

When you're 20 you'll understand how little you knew when you were 10. And when you're 30 you'll understand how little you knew when you were 20, and when you're 40 you'll understand how little you knew when you were 20 etc. etc. ad infinitum.

 

[spacecowboy86]

read "ender's game", there's a side story about two youngsters who take over the world by participating in online political debates and gain a following before finally revealing their true identities.

anyways, in my opinion that's the greatest treasure of the internet. The anonymity allows you participate in any discussion and, if you so choose, give every one the preconception your a similar age as them. This allows your opinions to be taken seriously without having to prove your smart for your age. Just one of the many wonders of the internet.

by the way, I'm 14.

 

[pppppppppppppppppp]

It's more correlation than causation. While being 10 in itself does not not mean you're less intelligent; younger people are statistically less experienced and brain developed.

It just makes statistical sense to assume you're an idiot, just as I'll assume a Doctor of Aeronautic Engineering knows a thing or two about math. It's possible to convince me otherwise, but my default is to think you're stupid.

 

[Jamieson 90]

Well Since I want to go into teaching I think it would be a pretty bad thing if I did value their opinions any less than I would say an adult. The thing is kids can be very perceptive and they often pick up on things or see things that we adults sometimes miss or ignore.

However with that said, as a result of the fact that they are only ten, they do not have the life experience or education to understand the complexity of certain issues. That is not a bad thing though, I am no Doctor, therefore I do not go around giving people advice about their health. So it would be stupid to expect children to be able to debate issues they have no experience or expertise in.

Sure you might get a particularly bright 10 year old who does understand the issue, but for most 10 year olds certain political/social/historical debates etc will go over their heads. So really it depends on the subject and what we are discussing. If I know they have experience in what we are discussing then I will value their opinion, if they do not I will question them and point out the flaws, if there are any in their argument.

 

[spacecowboy86]

Oh yes, I can read through this and see no hate towards 10-13 year old children which includes me so therefore you are hating me. None at all.

I have my opinions, and my age does not reflect that.

Being 10 years old isn't an ethnicity, or a lifestyle choice.
We've all been 10 years old, that gives us the credentials to judge how much a 10 year old knows about the world. We remember what it was like, we remember how little we knew about things.

When you're 20 you'll understand how little you knew when you were 10. And when you're 30 you'll understand how little you knew when you were 20, and when you're 40 you'll understand how little you knew when you were 20 etc. etc. ad infinitum.

heck I'm 14 as I said before, and I've already noticed how much easier puzzles I tried 3 years ago are now, and how much closer I can examine plot devices and my own emotions, and as far as I can tell, I'm not slowing down in how much about the world I'm learning every day. Don't think of it as an insult, because if you're this smart and well worded now, we're saying you have the potential to be a real genius in 10 years Pixelking, just don't start thinking to yourself you're there already because almost no 10-13 year olds are.

 

[C2Ultima]

Age doesn't invalidate opinions. That'd be intelligence. The two get confused much too easily.

 

[Talespinner]

That depends entirely on what you (the hypothetical 10-year old) are trying to argue.

If it's taste ("Was that movie funny?", "does this music make you want to dance?" etc.) then your contribution is every bit as valid as the next guy's.

If it's conviction ("I believe there is a god", "I believe it's fundamentally wrong to let people under 18 see a nipple" etc.) then your input is also perfectly fine since values are as subjective as taste.

If it's analysis (Conclusions, based on facts) then you're still fine, as long as you have the required intelligence and information to arrive at the correct conclusions. This is where most children start to fall off. They tend to miss factors and thus arrive at faulty conclusions. There are however exceptions.

But if you're trying to establish a logical argument based on experience or wisdom then you're automatically disqualified. "People tend to take the easiest solution even in situations where there's a very apparent downside to it so therefore we should be careful to act on this before we've thought it over" holds absolutely zero value if it comes from a ten year old kid. If it comes from a 60 year old anthropology professor then it carries a hell of a lot more weight.

The problem is that most children are unable to tell the difference between different kinds of statements. They will often think that just because they're taken seriously in a discussion about taste they're also "entitled" to the same amount of respect when it comes to every other other subject.

I've actually managed to teach me daughter that different topic have different natures (Of course I've conveyed it a little simpler... She's not that old) so now she will actually ask me once in a while what sort of "talk" we're having. It was pretty cute at first when I didn't understand what she meant. When I realized that she was asking whether or not her input was of equal or lesser value in this specific situation I was mightily impressed. I've tried to make it clear that anything that has to do with "like/don't like" and "agree/disagree" is fair game and she seems to have learned that. A little too well some time. Annoying little bugger

 

[IkeGreil29]

It's understandable that age determines the validity of an argument. Age = experience and therefore knowledge. That fact that a 35 year old guy simply knows more facts instantly makes him better. That does not mean that a 10 year old could probably have more wisdom than adults (I just had a Holden moment there). Take for example the fact that I'm 17 and my dad's 65 (today! Happy birthday, Dad!) but I am wiser because I am a child of the internet, so I would own him in a debate about technology while he would school my ass in a debate of World History just because he lived through most occurrences.

 

[Abengoshis]

Well, that's pretty one sided. No other sides are right? Ever?

Nope.

Parents are always right ..... regardless.

Especially my wife, she's never wrong ..... and if she is ever wrong and I point it out I get a night on the sofa ..... so she's never wrong.

I've never lost an argument with any of my kids. All arguments can be settled with 4 simple words "go to your room", argument over, I win.

I wouldn't say age makes much difference. My stepdaughter is 18 and there are times she gets the misguided impression she can win.

Also depends on the points being debated.

Thats not "winning" a debate or an argument, that's refusing to continue it.

 

[RagTagBand]

No, but the likelyhood of your opinion being valid on its own merit is far lower than if you were, say, 20.

Not due to age, but due to -

* More life experience
* Having had more time to accumulate knowledge
* Having had more time to develop your critical thinking skills

Those three points are connected to "lifetime" and thus to age. A 10 year old does not have a lot of life experience, hasn't accumulated a lot of knowledge (so far) and hasn't yet developed critical thinking skills....because he or she is just 10 years old.

But that doesn't make a 10 year olds opinion invalid by default, just less likely to be valid which is what I said in my original post.

And they aren't all connected to "Lifetime". I've seen plenty of people 3-4 times older than a 10 year old who haven't spent any of that time accumulating knowledge or developing their critical thinking skills. Just because an older person has had more available time to focus on these things doesn't mean they have, and just because a younger person has had less time to focus on these things doesn't mean they haven't.

The age of a person is irrelevant to the validity of the opinion, to suggest anything other than that is stupid; It's nothing more than a textbook Genetic fallacy.

 

[Riff Moonraker]

It completely depends on the topic of discussion. However, I will say that 10 year olds have an honest streak a mile wide, and some of their comments make more sense than anything an adult can come up with...

The comment, "Out of the mouth of babes..." exists for a real reason.

 

[triggrhappy94]

And Im only a pedophile
Kids and teens are infamous for having naive opinions and not knowing stuff.

 

[ShindoL Shill]

it doesnt lessen the, value but depending on your education level (i know that america starts school a year after scotland, and some schools in scotland have brought their Standard Grade exams forward a year) you might not know enough about the subject for it to be correct more than, say, a 20 year olds.
however, there are 10 year olds who are smarter than people older than them, and they study the subject at a higher level.
of course, the subject might be sex and your school might not do even basic sex ed then (my school did very basic sex ed when we were 9/10, but more in depth at 15) you wont know much or have practical experience.

so if you're normal 10 year old, its more likely to be wrong, but not less important. if you're smarter than the average, its less likely to be wrong. if youre 70, its likely to be wrong because of now-outdated education, but you have experience. nobody's opinion matters more, only whether or not its right.

 

[rutger5000]

It certainly does the teenagers brain is still underdeveloped. Well this doesn't neccessarily makes them total retards, it does hamper their ability to give matters the full amount of thought needed. Of course there will always be the creepy 8 year old that is hyper intelligent and has an incredible ammount of live experience, but in general the brain of a 10 year old isn't properply equiped to tackle most cases.

 

[Simeon Ivanov]

Well, your sense of humor could use some work ...

But yeah, it lessens your opinion, because kids are stupid. Adults are stupid too, but they are a different kind of stupid.