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Over the last few decades, folks have started to pay a lot more attention to the various differences in behavior and upbringing between each generation. After all, as technology shifts so quickly, so do the small things that end up totally shifting generational perspectives and beliefs on everything from work, to music, mental health and more.
Someone asked “What scares you the most about the next generation?” and people shared the possibly toxic traits and behaviors they’ve noticed. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to comment your thoughts below.
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#1
I don't know. On one hand, I think younger folks are more open to talking about mental health. This is good, and sure beats my parents "just bury it so deep in your soul it never comes up" strategy.
On the other hand, it seems like kids today are way more sensitive about things. Sorry, but arriving too late to a sold-out movie or an airline losing your bag isn't a "genuine mental health trauma". No, that waiter isn't give you "microaggressions"... he's just in a f**king hurry because, if you look around, this restaurant is slammed.
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#2
The sheer ignorance. So many don't read books. They have limited vocabulary. I don't speak to many who seem to think critically. They are raised to take standard tests and consume content, rather than analyze and contemplate. It's terrifying.
#3
How big the gulf between educated, critical thinkers and reactionary illiterates will be. And how the latter will significantly outnumber the former.
kansasmagic 3 weeks ago
That's what scares me about the past, present, and future generations. Ignorance is not generational.
#4
Their inability to function when things get tough. I work with many 18-25 year old, and the second something becomes too difficult or they get told something they don't want to hear, they sit on the floor and refuse to do anything. Or they stomp around crying out how we're all "toxic and abusive towards them."
I see it other places as well. Part of life is, unfortunately, challenges, and things won't always go your way. The reactions they have are just downright frightening.
UncleJohn3000 3 weeks ago
I think many of today's social problems stem directly from the 1990s "everybody gets a medal."
#5
They CANNOT use a computer. They can surf the web, but cannot do anything useful. Many of my students are worse than my parents at doing simple things like attaching documents to emails or understanding the file path.
Luke Branwen 3 weeks ago
It's because they constantly use a phone and have zero experience with desktops / laptops. They can't use anything that's not an app.
#6
Increasing lack of critical thinking and the inability to differentiate truth or reality compared to what they are spoon fed by various types of media that don’t care about people’s best interests.
We have already seeing the increasing consequences of that over the past 20 years, and it will only get worse.
#7
Their arrogance and misusing buzzwords out of online YouTube therapy sessions, f.e. they were "traumatized" after that last math class. Their self centered behaviour will be trouble for us all down the road.
troufaki13 3 weeks ago
And the entitlement! Just because you ask doesn't mean you will receive.
#8
I teach young kids (so Gen Alpha). A lot of them can’t persevere through a challenge without going to pieces. And it’s not like “I’m crying because I can’t find my notebook because I’ve had a rough day and this is just the final straw.” It’s “I’m crying because I can’t find my notebook and no one is coming to rescue me despite the fact that if I looked in my desk for more than .5 seconds I’d find it.”
They have no understanding of their actions having consequences. My class was out of control in the lunchroom (running, pushing, throwing food) and went all surprised Pikachu that the teachers supervising lunch kept them in for recess.
They’re also lazy. We’re just starting to learn how to answer a question in a complete sentence and use evidence from a text to support our idea. I’m not asking for a ten page thesis, I’m asking for “I know the boy is happy at the end of the story because he said ‘This was a great day!’”. I model the skill, I give them sentence starters, and they still can’t even just complete the sentence starter, so they’ll just write “he’s happy” in their notebook and expect me to be like “Perfect, this is wonderful”.
A lot of it is bad parenting. It’s not just the iPads and TikTok. A lot of parents will step in before a kid is ever even challenged by something and fix it for them so they don’t learn to problem solve. They expect me to spoon feed them answers and refuse to do anything that takes more than a minute of thinking. They also make excuses for their kids’ behavior and don’t discipline them (I had a parent this week try to explain to me that the problem isn’t that their daughter talks in class, the problem is that other kids are talking to her when she talks to them). I don’t foresee these kids being able to function in any career that expects them to do anything other than exactly what they want to do and that asks nothing of them.
Bartlet for world domination 3 weeks ago
Different generation, but of the four 22-25-year-olds my company hired in the past few years, three didn't understand the concept of 'work'.
#10
Their inability to think for themselves. They need to be told what opinions to have by whatever are the dominant ones on social media.
iseefractals 3 weeks ago
This has been a growing problem for 20 years. Everyone has broken off into their respective "teams" parroting whatever the party line happens to be on any and all given subjects. Anyone that doesn't subscribe to that party line is immediately painted as the "opposition" Critical thinking, and objectivity are antiquated concepts for most people these days. "If you don't agree with me about everything, than YOU are part of the problem" It's exhausting.
#11
That they're inheriting a dying planet and student loan debt, low wages, and rising housing costs mean they're basically serfs with the illusion of freedom.
Abdullah Abd Rahman 3 weeks ago
Student loan debt is a massive issue among the graduates in ultra-capitalistic US, supposedly the richest country in the world - where free or state-supported education is villified as "socialist" or "communist". It's not as big an issue as in many countries where education is free or subsidised by the Government - like in the UK ,much of Europe and many developing countries, like Malaysia.
#12
That they are so anxious, need constant outside validation and tend to be afraid to do things on their own.
#13
Nowadays attention spans have gotten so short , so many of them can’t sit through a book if they tried. It is sad i hope books don’t ever become a thing of the past
Becky Samuel 3 weeks ago
And yet the statistics show that adults under 30 are more likely to have read a book in the past year than any other age group. Just because the media keeps telling you something doesn't mean that it's true.
#14
I see a general lack of empathy and so much social anxiety . Sometimes i am sure my grandkids would rather text people than have a face to face conversation... even with their friends.
#15
That they cannot tell the difference between facts and propaganda online.
#16
Nonexistent reading comprehension
There’s story after story of teachers who teach upper middle school with kids who can’t point out the main character of an elementary level paragraph story, or find the theme of a simple passage. It genuinely scares me that next election, some of these “covid babies” who had critical learning year(s) robbed from them will be voting based on what people tell them to think because they don’t have the mind to research for themselves.
#17
I’m a high school nurse and this is what I see:
- They have no patience and expect things to happen instantly. They don’t understand that there is no instant cure for things. For example: They think I’m crazy because I want them to sit for 10 minutes with ice on an injury.
- they can not handle being uncomfortable at all. They want to call their parents and go home for everything.
- anxiety. So much of it. They come in to the clinic freaking out because they can’t breathe, shaking, limb numbness, panicked look on their face, etc. I ask them if they could be having anxiety about something and they tell me they aren’t anxious about anything. But it’s pretty obvious they are. It just comes out of nowhere and for no particular reason. I deal with so much mental health. These poor babies.
Tyranamar Suess 3 weeks ago
I love all the obviously very anxious people I see who tell me they're fine. Um...you don't look fine. Some genuinely don't know what anxiety is. It's very interesting.
#18
Now think about writing. They can't use a stop. It's sentence after sentence after sentence nonstop.
#19
They believe that they can demand high starting salary without working experience. Totally amused me.
Damned_Cat 3 weeks ago (edited)
Ugh, yes! I used to have new staff in their early twenties constantly questioning why someone in the same position that had worked there for 8 years was making more than they were.
#20
Lack of coping mechanisms. I don't understand why, I am not a parent. But a lot seem to be unable to cope when things go awry, and very keen to claim a label which excuses/explains their total inability to cope. This is not criticism of those with genuine issues, I'm talking about the self-diagnosed.
Damned_Cat 3 weeks ago (edited)
I worry about the young people who are so quick to label interpersonal issues as "toxic" and "red flag" and are so quick to advise others to dump a relationship, get a divorce, or go no contact with their families over common issues. They advise young teenagers to save their money and move out when they turn 18 (please tell me in what country that is even possible). They have no emotional intelligence and see no value in trying to resolve issues with anyone that causes them stress. They can't see the long-term damage cutting contact can do. I agree that there are times that a person does need to walk away, but it's not always that easy and it's not usually the first solution to a problem.
#21
The thing that scares me the most about this new generation is that they are so reliant on technology. They are growing up in a world where they can't imagine life without the internet or their phones, and I think that's really dangerous. These kids are going to be adults soon and they're going to be completely unprepared for the real world if they can't function without a screen in front of them.
Susie Elle 3 weeks ago
To be honest, not having internet access CAN be a genuine problem, if you look at how many things are done via the web nowadays. I'd have a proper issue if I lost my phone if only because of the freakin' sign-in confirmation app codes I get sent for every freakin' account I need to make for everything.
#22
The sexism of some young men. It seems like they also don’t question sources and fall easily for propaganda pushed through social media.
#23
Cheating their way through school. These are future doctors or nurses.
#24
That they will have a much lower quality of life than previous generations. Too many people and not enough fresh water.
Becky Samuel 3 weeks ago
So sad that this is buried under a heap of "the youth of today.." and "we were all so much better behaved/smarter/tougher/just all round better in my day".
#25
I mentioned it elsewhere in response to how tariffs might impact my work:
But I’m a biochemist and I often oversee the hiring process at a biotech company I’m at…. I HAVE NOT HAD AN AMERICAN WITH A GOOD COMPETITIVE RESUME SHOW UP IN MY INBOX FOR A WHILE. Even for your garden variety RA roles, almost nothing…
so when I hear from teachers that “the kids are getting worse,” I DREAD what it’s gonna be like for Americans trying to break into tech constantly having to compete with nations that have their academic s**t together (China, South Korea, lots of EU countries, etc).
#26
Their sadness. Young people seem so sad - and a bit depressed too. Sad people tend not to move things forward - they just try to survive. We took all the reasons they had for optimism, hovered over their every move, and now they seem to feel resigned and sad :|.
Luke Branwen 3 weeks ago
Then again... is there anything to be optimistic about? Climate change, the uprising of fascism, end-stage capitalism, unchecked "AI", nonsense "culture wars"... they'll grow up just in time to experience the fallout.
#27
Losing touch with the real world due to excessive screen time.
#28
Still having to work at terrible jobs and feel miserable.
#29
No respect for the authority - kids today don’t pay any respect to elderly and not even their parents. They will grow up careless of other people, no empathy for anybody, just looking after themselves. There are exceptions of course, but majority of kids today are like this.
Vincent Philippart 3 weeks ago
This is the same refrain that has been repeated about "the younger generation" since ancient greece. I, for one, do not agree at all. Zoomers have no rebellion in them. They do and think whatever they are told, always hope for an authority figure to step in and solve their problems for them. Punk died in 2010.
#30
Teacher here... the issues that worry me:
* Cell phone addiction. Teenagers in class: head down. Teenagers at the bus stop: head down. Walking across the street, riding a bike, walking: head down. It makes me sad.
* Inability to focus: brain rot, meme culture, short form content equates to everyone having the attention span of a goldfish.
* Complete lack of any understanding of finances, lack of any aspiration, no interest in developing job skills that can help them in the future. This generation is going to be shocked when they find out how hard their parents work and how much it costs to live in their home town.
* Complete lack of any knowledge or understanding of the forces that brought us to our current political environment that they are about to stroll into as voting age adults in a few years. The state of things will be taken for granted, resigned to fascism or openly embracing it. The will to enact change for the better is gone, seen as futile. It saddens me to my core.
This isn't all the young people I see but I would say it's over 50% at least. There are many that give me great hope. The bright, intelligent, creative and deep feeling students I have will be the only forces holding back the ugly in the future. I hope that the value of empathy, self reliance and intelligence gains a resurgence among the youth. It makes me happy to see young people discovering older technology. I hope they someday realize the value in rejecting the need to be connected to the internet every single second of every single day of their entire lives. There is SO much more to enjoy in the world than your cell phone. I understand for many teens it is the only escape in their lives, I hope they can escape the grip of technology as well somehow.
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Bald Panda 3 weeks ago
Ignoring the sweeping generalisations, adults blaming children for their behaviour is deeply hypocritical. We're the ones who put a phone in their hands as soon as they can make a fist, we're the ones who stripped the planet of resources and critical thinking. We're the ones breeding like rabbits without a care for what future generations will inherit. You reap what you sow. I don't have kids but I pity the children of today, I certainly don't resent them.
Gozer LeGozerian 3 weeks ago
Thank f someone said it. Sick and tired of reading these whiny comments blaming young people people for everything from the very same people who should've taught them
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Bald Panda 3 weeks ago
Ignoring the sweeping generalisations, adults blaming children for their behaviour is deeply hypocritical. We're the ones who put a phone in their hands as soon as they can make a fist, we're the ones who stripped the planet of resources and critical thinking. We're the ones breeding like rabbits without a care for what future generations will inherit. You reap what you sow. I don't have kids but I pity the children of today, I certainly don't resent them.
Gozer LeGozerian 3 weeks ago
Thank f someone said it. Sick and tired of reading these whiny comments blaming young people people for everything from the very same people who should've taught them
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