Why the hate for young people?

[-Samurai-]

You'll understand when you're older.

I know that's a joke, but it rings true.

I know I did a few things when I was younger that I wish I could travel back in time and punch my younger self in the face for.

I see so many cocky, and just plain immature teens/young adults every day, and I can't stand it. If I have tell one more 17 year old not to play on our escalators at work, I'll kill someone.

I also sometimes see the more mature teen/young adult that has their shit together, is responsible, and respectable. But that's rare.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Because we aren't exactly like they were when they were young. People always think that their generation is/was the best, and they see the next generation changing as messing with perfection.

Mostly i agree with this. An that youth today are worse than before. Disrespectful. Alot of stuff kids do now would be very rare 2 years ago. Teenage pregnancys, kids killing other kids or adults for no reason. Even all this crime and rioting was unheard of. Or very rare. Now its all just an every day occurance. There is a lot of great teens as well, just that no one notices them because they are behaving responsibly.

Its time to change how things are. If this continues then in 2 genrations time them teenagers are going be satan in how they act.

 

[Griffolion]

I was at a party at a farm a few days ago, with my dad at his uncle's farm along with other people of all ages.  Anyway, at the end when we're going, my dad talks to his uncle through the window of the car, ranting about how young people don't want to grow anything or work for anything (they were both drunk).  This made me think: Why are teenagers judged like this?

Because your dad can't accept the fact that times, cultures and people change. I know many young people working for the things they want, and just because they don't grow food (that's what he was on about, right?) doesn't automatically mean young people are evil creatures. It speaks more about your dad's inability to accept change and innate fear of not being as on top of the world as he was in his younger days. No offence to your dad or anything.

 

[ZeroMachine]

You'll understand when you're older.

And here it is.

I don't inherently hate younger people. But it takes a lot more for one to earn my respect.

Take, for instance... there are two girls, both 18, that just graduate from high school that I've had to deal with a lot lately because of mutual friends (for reference, I'm 22).

These two started to annoy me so much that I almost flipped out on them- something that has only happened once in my life to someone other than my parents, and the first time it would happen while I'm not dealing with other stuff that has me feeling stressed.

Then I realized "wait, Alex, why are you getting so pissed off about this? They're kids. They're just as dumb as they are potentially intelligent. They just don't know how else to act."

It was the first time I thought something like that without feeling like a condescending asshole, and it's because it's true.

With age comes the realization that young people, however smart they could be, are usually pretty stupid and narrow minded. I sure as hell was (still am, probably, though not nearly as much).

As a teacher of mine once said... "When you're young and stupid, you're young and stupid."

Oh, how right he was...

 

[ZeroMachine]

Because we aren't exactly like they were when they were young. People always think that their generation is/was the best, and they see the next generation changing as messing with perfection.

Mostly i agree with this. An that youth today are worse than before. Disrespectful. Alot of stuff kids do now would be very rare 2 years ago. Teenage pregnancys, kids killing other kids or adults for no reason. Even all this crime and rioting was unheard of. Or very rare. Now its all just an every day occurance. There is a lot of great teens as well, just that no one notices them because they are behaving responsibly.

Its time to change how things are. If this continues then in 2 genrations time them teenagers are going be satan in how they act.

That is so untrue that it's ridiculous.

Teen pregnancy is the lowest it's been in two decades.

Kids were always killing kids or adults for no reason.

Crime and rioting always happen.

You just weren't paying attention to that stuff when you were younger. Times don't get that worse that fast.

 

[FreakSheet]

Because all the good kids usually stay inside more often, and don't go to malls being dips***s.

And I say this as a teen.

 

[Ace of Spades]

According to many adults, I have no opinion or capacity for self preservation because my brain hasn't finished developing, apparently meaning that I am incapable of rational thought until that happens.

"wait, Alex, why are you getting so pissed off about this? They're kids. They're just as dumb as they are potentially intelligent. They just don't know how else to act."

Being lumped into the group of people who follow this stereotype can be quite annoying.

 

[TheAceTheOne]

Because young people are a terrible thing!

Ha, earlier I wouldn't have agreed with that but I think it's just a matter of what's going through their heads.

13-17: Trying to figure themselves out; trying to adjust to high-school, making friends; benign (for the most part) selfishness.

I fall into this category. I'm 17. I've adjusted to High School and made some great friends. I've got life relatively planned out, and I'm ready for whatever the future brings.

That being said, I don't like much of my generation, the lazy bastards. I see a bunch of entitled, whiny little punks wanting money for nothing when I look at a lot of people I know. It makes it worse for people who actually want to work for their money and do stuff the right way.

(Intriguing: Ace of Spades posted right above me... Username similarities made me do a double take.)

 

[ZeroMachine]

According to many adults, I have no opinion or capacity for self preservation because my brain hasn't finished developing, apparently meaning that I am incapable of rational thought until that happens.

"wait, Alex, why are you getting so pissed off about this? They're kids. They're just as dumb as they are potentially intelligent. They just don't know how else to act."

Being lumped into the group of people who follow this stereotype can be quite annoying.

I'm not lumping you in there. I'm saying they are just as dumb as they are potentially intelligent.

Which is why I also said "I don't inherently hate younger people. But it takes a lot more for one to earn my respect."

I don't lump people into a group until after I've dealt with them personally. If we met in person and you proved that you weren't... er... lumpable? I wouldn't do so.

 

[ZeroMachine]

Because most people at the age of 18 would rather go out and get smashed with friends then work. You are still young and most of the time dont have any responsibilities or bills so why work when you could be out having fun. Atleast thats the attitude I had at that age as did everybody else I have ever met.

As a teacher of mine once said... "When you're young and stupid, you're young and stupid."

Oh, how right he was...

Those are some very wise words right there. Sadly you can get into a lot of trouble for saying them to the wrong people.

Which, thankfully, my teacher wasn't afraid of doing, so hopefully the message got through to some people that needed to hear it.

 

[OrokuSaki]

Because human beings are assholes, teenagers are still growing up and have quite a bit of naive idealism that slowly gets torn out of you as you grow up until you become the jaded husk of a person you swore you'd never be.
Instead of trying to keep your friends you pass off the ones you lose along the way as "Acceptable loss" and you justify doing all those things that you never really wanted to begin with. Like paying bills, realizing that you pay taxes on things that don't actually help (There's a road tax for property owners for the upkeep of the roads in the town you live in. This does not stop there from being potholes and the money you pay to road tax does NOT guarantee that potholes get fixed).

So basically, adults hate young people because they see in them the versions of themselves that would kill themselves if they knew what they were going to become.

 

[Colour Scientist]

You'll understand when you're older.

This.

I guarantee you that in twenty/thirty years time you'll be complaining about the youths of the future. Every generation does it. Although some people at a certain age try to "stay down with the kids", we tend to call those mid-life crises.

 

[Abengoshis]

Every generation has judged the younger generation as being bad and hopeless.

 

[OutcastBOS]

Because young people are always trampling over lawns, breaking mailboxes and listening to their conflabbed rock-n-roll music.

 

[Erana]

Because it is an easy position to have. If you start with the premise that "kids are lazy and don't know how to work, all you have to do after that is wait until the kid does not go out looking for a job and you are proven right.

If you can show the adult a kid that works harder than him at that age, then that becomes an exception that proves the rule. If you find a hundred examples of this, then there is a ton of exceptions that prove the rule. Eventually, all it takes is one kid that chooses to play the 360 and the adult's original point is reaffirmed, that kids today are lazy, even the ones that work at least 40 hour a week at multiple jobs.

Yep.

Ageism is a real thing.
Of course, even many gamers do it with the whole, "You should only play M rated games at 17" thing, despite most of them having played said games as early as 10 themselves...

People are just discriminatory and hypocritical. I bet a lot of the older people who hold this attitude to kids were just as bad as a teenager. And honestly, a lot of them now are living on medicare and other government funds, all while decrying the evils of any form of socialism whatsoever...

 

[Extraintrovert]

I doubt there has been a single time in human history where the the current adults weren't complaining about how the youth of today don't respect their elders, don't work hard, don't plan for the future, or whatever meaningless platitude we favour at the moment. Humans are deeply, deeply stupid, and part of that stupidity is terrible memories and a complete lack of understanding regarding history. We look at people younger than us and see all the bad things, not only forgetting that we did pretty much the same things, but also that young people have always done those things, and it's doubtful that will ever change (see: humans are stupid).

Returning to your original question, the mentality is simply one of innumerable examples regarding the utter failure to use logic when constructing one's perceptions, valuing opinions over facts.

 

[Da_Vane]

Because it's simple ageism, and many people refuse to accept that ageism is exactly the same as racism, sexism, or homophobia.

Plus, there's a great deal of envy towards the young, because older people are bitter and cynical because their lives were bad. It is a sad thing about humanity that justice isn't about people getting what they deserve, but making sure that other people don't have what they don't have or never had.

Classic perpetuation of misery - taking out their own dissatisfaction on others, and trying to screw them over before they screw you over. The idea that if they can't have it, nobody should have it, and they will often destroy things to make sure other people don't have it.

Two people might be getting hanged for stealing an apple, and because they have the same punishment for the same act, it is fair. But if one is only put in prison for six months, the other gets upset over the injustice. Not because they didn't get six months imprisonment, but because the other person isn't being hanged as well.

 

[zehydra]

Go look at the London Riots and tell me that kids don't do stupid things.