Why Are Young People So Angry and Violent These Days?

MrJim said:
Certainly a lot of merit in what you say there, but that is only one component of the problem.

When I was a kid growing up in the late 60's & early 70's, both my parents worked. Not so we could have expensive goodies, because we had few of those, but just to pay the bills & maybe have a little left over at the end of the month just in case. This was the case with many of my friends too. And there wasn't anywhere near the drama with us that there is with kids these days.

When I was working as a high school sub just a few years ago, there was one day, on one campus, when every administrator on duty as well as campus security, had to patrol the grounds between & during class looking for & trying to prevent fights that were breaking out. Some kind of gang thing.

When I was in high school, we didn't even HAVE a campus security patrol!!!

Wasn't needed.
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I guess that I did not make myself very clear, but what you are saying is what I was referring to. I also grew up in the late 50's and 60's, but I was lucky enough to have my Mother home when I got home from school. She ran the house, but my Dad still made most of the decisions. They were a team, of sorts. Later, after I graduated high school and went to college, my Mom went to work to help with the bills, not to buy tech devises because there were none. They just needed more money to live on because everything skyrocketed in those days because of inflation. Again, luck was on my side. I received some scholarship money and a grant. I took out a small student loan, which my Mother and Dad insisted on paying. After college graduation, I went into the Marines. I should have reversed it and had the G.I. bill help pay for my education. Oh, well.

It's just really different today. I'm not saying it is worse, but just very different. My parents said the same when I was growing up too. My Mother used to tell me what it cost her to go to the movies or buy candy, go roller skating and so on. I used to think, wow, that's really cheap. What the heck happened?
 

My thinking is disappointment and frustration.
Children need to learn how to handle these feelings early in life.
Toddlers throw tantrums because of these emotions and people bend over backwards rather than see them upset.

I'm a terrible parent. I actually refused to do things to eliminate both emotions. Instead, I helped them to suck it up because that is an important life skill. Adults and teens throwing tantrums can be dangerous.
 
We have moved a long way from the strict discipline of the past to the permissiveness of today in the home, the school, and society in general. The abuses of the harsh discipline meted out in the past led to the lack of control leniency of today and, hopefully, a balance will be struck at some point.
 

Dame Warrigal said:
My thinking is disappointment and frustration.Children need to learn how to handle these feelings early in life.Toddlers throw tantrums because of these emotions and people bend over backwards rather than see them upset.I'm a terrible parent. I actually refused to do things to eliminate both emotions. Instead, I helped them to suck it up because that is an important life skill. Adults and teens throwing tantrums can be dangerous.
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It's like Dr. Bill Cosby once said, "Not every kid needs to make the Little League team. Those that don't have to learn to deal with rejection." Or, "Not every player on the Little League team needs to be awarded a trophy for Best Player. There can only be one Best Player. The others have to learn to work hard to get better."
 
Ralphy1 said:
We have moved a long way from the strict discipline of the past to the permissiveness of today in the home, the school, and society in general. The abuses of the harsh discipline meted out in the past led to the lack of control leniency of today and, hopefully, a balance will be struck at some point.
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I think that sums it up pretty well. As a society, we have engaged in a collective knee-jerk (over)reaction to those excesses & are now, reluctant to engage in even a hint of actual & occasionally necessary discipline. Kids today know it & (many of them) take full advantage of it, while laughing up their sleeves.
 
Kids need to be kept more busy and that doesn't mean the electronic stuff. Unfortunately, a lot of parents, especially the single moms, can't financially afford those "keep more busy" activities. A mom, who was discussing her young son's past criminal problems in a tv interview, said a friend of hers told her to get her son into Scouts or some type of sports. She said she told her friend, "are you going to pay for the membership and uniforms? And, if I'm working, who's going to take him to this stuff?"

One thing I will say.......from being "farm raised", farm and ranch kids do get into trouble, but not nearly the trouble suburban and big-city kids can/do. Farm and ranch kids have responsibilities of taking care of livestock, etc. Many are in 4-H and FFA.
 
SifuPhil said:
I read an article last week about the declining real-world social skills of our adolescents, and it placed a large part of the responsibility not only upon the video games but electronic communication as a whole. Facebook is a biggie in this - it offers "friendships" that can not only be started and stopped instantly, but also bought (paid advertising for "Likes").

Cell phone texting adds to the problem, according to the article. All of these vicarious social interactions do not prepare the kids for the real world, and when their coping mechanisms suddenly stop working they blow a gasket.
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Technology leads to instant gratification day in day out. When they don't get it watch out. They are like a junky that didn't get their daily fix.
 
And cell phones have added yet another responsibility & challenge to the daily life of public school teachers. Every day is a constant battle with them to put away their cell phones in class. Texting each other the answers on tests has created a whole new way of cheating as well.
 
I agree with you, KnightofAlbion... I know some may be very angry...but not all. I think much of it is how they are approached. I also agree with Davey. I hold parents MUCH more responsible than electronics or any of the social media sites.
To too many parents, kids are 'in the way' and too much responsibility...and to 'give them stuff' is the way they try to compensate.
Some young people may be 'angry' ... but maybe disillusioned is a better word...just like adults are becoming more savvy as to what is REALLY going on with government, control of religion, media programming, etc... most kids are not buying into this...and neither are they buying into the talk-nice-bullshit-politically-correct approach. THIS could be a good thing. It all depends upon how much real attention and love they receive from parents and other positive support systems.
 
I strongly believe it is connected to all the excessive violent movies. Movies have become more and more violent in the last 20 years
or more. In some movies like "Cold Mountain" there is one or more senseless killings every 10-12 minutes, I actually counted this out
through the movie. Take out your watch next time you are in the movie theatre and count the time intervals. I don't think parents
should allow their children to see such films, even animated ones. This point has been made many times before, and the movie
industry execs just say don;'t censor us, we are giving people what they want under the first amendment. This is also true for some
TV shows. The situation will continue to get worse as years pass.
 
Athos said:
I strongly believe it is connected to all the excessive violent movies. Movies have become more and more violent in the last 20 years
or more. In some movies like "Cold Mountain" there is one or more senseless killings every 10-12 minutes, I actually counted this out
through the movie. Take out your watch next time you are in the movie theatre and count the time intervals. I don't think parents
should allow their children to see such films, even animated ones. This point has been made many times before, and the movie
industry execs just say don;'t censor us, we are giving people what they want under the first amendment. This is also true for some
TV shows. The situation will continue to get worse as years pass.
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Parents today allow it for the simple reason is they want to rest after 10-12 hours a work day to give the kids everything they ask for.
 
Athos said:
I strongly believe it is connected to all the excessive violent movies. Movies have become more and more violent in the last 20 years
or more. In some movies like "Cold Mountain" there is one or more senseless killings every 10-12 minutes, I actually counted this out
through the movie. Take out your watch next time you are in the movie theatre and count the time intervals. I don't think parents
should allow their children to see such films, even animated ones. This point has been made many times before, and the movie
industry execs just say don;'t censor us, we are giving people what they want under the first amendment. This is also true for some
TV shows. The situation will continue to get worse as years pass.
Click to expand...

Yes & don't forget the violent TV shows, video games & music.

We are a violence worshipping culture.

We should not be shocked or surprised at what we are turning our kids into.
 
In defense of SOME of the young ones anyway I know a lot of seniors who are pretty nasty, have attitude and a time bomb temper but they work at controlling it more on their own without drugs(sometimes) and they at least try to be courteous even if they can't stand someone's guts. The young ones operate on shear impulse now a days, there is no discipline. Again many nasty seniors out there but at least they know to extend an olive branch or courtesy if they just don't plain ignore you.

One test for anger, rudeness or ignorance is self control or lack there of. If I see an actual tantrum or fit at something relatively minor you drop down a notch on the truly nice scale.
 

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