Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

U.S. teens are spending less time with their friends in person

theconversation.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 294 posts

Re: U.S. teens are spending less time with their friends in person

#131

Post by chillingeffect »

Zenst wrote: post #111
frosted-flakes wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What kind of knives are we talking about? Are even mini Swiss Army knives with 1.5" blades banned? What about a multi-tool like a Leatherman Wave, which has three 3" blades along with pliers, etc? I carry my leatherman everywhere I go, and wouldn't blink if I saw a 14 year old with one. Ontario, Canada.

The official line is:- https://www.police.uk/crime-prevention-advice/possession-of-... However, interpretation of what threatening is varies and for some people say walking a dog, the sight of a knife of any form would be a call to the police - however legal or not. This and the internet has demonstrated time and time again, that whatever is said or done - their will always be some who will take offence. Take a look…

Wow, so if I, say buy a cooking knife and get "caught" carrying it home from the store, "A court will decide if you’ve got a good reason to carry a knife if you’re charged with carrying it illegally."

Or if I take a chef's knife to a friend's house to cook dinner with them, the same court will intervene? Presumably following an arrest?

That second link is just so creepy to me (pacifist American). I can see how it uses language in such an incriminating way. It's so absolute: "When you carry a knife, you're risking everything." That's a sublime exaggeration. Worst case, I'm risking one life. Not trivial, but a far cry from "everything."

"knife crime has devastating personal effects on you, your friends, and your family." Meh, it may. But mostly it sounds like the effects are all visited on me by the government. Icky, over-reaching and emasculating.

I can see how it gives people who are already good the warm fuzzies, but actual criminals will mock and sneer at this "effort." ...and it looks like "knife crime" (as opposed to say "burglary" or "homicide", actual crimes, not crimes directed by a specific weapon (again with that authoritarian language)) has nearly doubled in the last 5 years, so great job with your authoritarian campaign, UK! /s https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42749089

Re: U.S. teens are spending less time with their friends in person

#132

Post by BurningFrog »

arcticfox wrote: post #93
RobLach wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

50 years from now teens will have a subscription to curated experiences for them to get together in-person for while their typical interpersonal interactions will happen over the Internet where it’s nice with a relatively null marginal cost.

> 50 years from now This sounds like 5 years from now to me, if not today in large part

It will be 5 years from now in China.

The rest of us can watch and learn.

Re: U.S. teens are spending less time with their friends in person

#133

Post by justwalt »

hardwaregeek wrote: post #116

Idk if this is specific to my generation, but us young people suck at hanging out. People never confirm whether or not they're going to an event. They flake all the time, often without warning. If they're not flaking, they're perpetually late, often absurdly (nothing like getting to a place and getting a text about just leaving). It drives me nuts. But it's so ubiquitous, it's hard to take a stand against it. It's li…

The flaking is terrible, oh my goodness. It’s hard to find friends who won’t do that to you.

Re: U.S. teens are spending less time with their friends in person

#134

Post by beenBoutIT »

chongli wrote: post #66
e40 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can tell you that as a parent of an 18 yr old, I've always encouraged him to go out and be with his friends. Since he was 12, he's much preferred to meet online in games. Whole groups of them. Whooping and hollering until the wee hours of the morning, when they can. But, I generally agree with your statement. Oh, I have a son, some it might be vastly different for daughters.

Video games have brought an unprecedented transformation in the way young boys spend their free time, and not all for the good. As a volunteer who tutors kids in high school (and a former "hardcore gamer") and middle school I will say, anecdotally speaking, that they've made boys more sedentary, more isolated, and less interested in school. I think the most insidious aspect of video games is that they are a success s…

I'm in my mid-30s as well and I agree w/ your conclusion. I find that games work best when played occasionally as a substitute for real life activities that aren't legal or safe. E.g., GTA V allows you to steal cars, play with gasoline and rob 711's; activities that if attempted IRL would either kill you or land you in prison.

Re: U.S. teens are spending less time with their friends in person

#135

Post by skookumchuck »

frosted-flakes wrote: post #88
Zenst wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK, both are now illegal, can't even sell a knife to anybody under 18, same with glue and many things above and beyond alcohol and tobacco. Equally, having a knife in public, would be mandatory jail in the UK in the current climate. For a child, they would be taken into care and some serious nightmares for the parents from social services and the police. As for explosives, all the above, but far worse. By defa…

What kind of knives are we talking about? Are even mini Swiss Army knives with 1.5" blades banned? What about a multi-tool like a Leatherman Wave, which has three 3" blades along with pliers, etc? I carry my leatherman everywhere I go, and wouldn't blink if I saw a 14 year old with one. Ontario, Canada.

> What kind of knives are we talking about?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQrLPtr_ikE

Re: U.S. teens are spending less time with their friends in person

#136

Post by skookumchuck »

microcolonel wrote: post #109
chongli wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Video games have brought an unprecedented transformation in the way young boys spend their free time, and not all for the good. As a volunteer who tutors kids in high school (and a former "hardcore gamer") and middle school I will say, anecdotally speaking, that they've made boys more sedentary, more isolated, and less interested in school. I think the most insidious aspect of video games is that they are a success s…

> and less interested in school. Though my profession is probably owed to the unsanctioned time I spent online in my youth (especially time away from school), and I luckily never had access to enough unearned money to buy a fast enough computer to play video games, never really played video games much, and still don't now that I have threadrippers, hundreds of gigs of ram, and top tier GPUs sitting around everywhere.…

> I'd probably have them on a feature phone ...

Everyone thinks that, and then caves under the pressure.

Re: U.S. teens are spending less time with their friends in person

#137

Post by skookumchuck »

microcolonel wrote: post #105
Zak wrote: post #14

Part of the issue, I think is that teenagers are more restricted by parents, laws, and business owners than they used to be. As with younger children, parents are less likely now than in past decades to allow their teenage children to travel alone or hang out in groups without adults present. Legal restrictions compound the issue, with curfew laws being increasingly common, as well as increased driving ages and gradu…

> Part of the issue, I think is that teenagers are more restricted by parents, laws, and business owners than they used to be. Part of this is the ever increasing liability (real or perceived) of being in any proximity to somebody else's kids as a business owner or member of the general public.

So true. A friend of mine owns a shop, and she wants nothing to do with kids in her store.

Re: U.S. teens are spending less time with their friends in person

#138

Post by beenBoutIT »

SubiculumCode wrote: post #100
Zak wrote: post #14

Part of the issue, I think is that teenagers are more restricted by parents, laws, and business owners than they used to be. As with younger children, parents are less likely now than in past decades to allow their teenage children to travel alone or hang out in groups without adults present. Legal restrictions compound the issue, with curfew laws being increasingly common, as well as increased driving ages and gradu…

For some maybe but for my son and all his friends they just rather be on their phone. i dont understand it personally

Think of them less as 'phones' and more as 'portable strip malls'. A video arcade with every game next door to porn shop with every porno next to a theater w/ every movie and there's places to meet up with friends, meet girls or buy drugs. There's a phone there if you need to make a call but it's not the main attraction.

Re: U.S. teens are spending less time with their friends in person

#139

Post by [deleted] »

Zak wrote: post #14

Part of the issue, I think is that teenagers are more restricted by parents, laws, and business owners than they used to be. As with younger children, parents are less likely now than in past decades to allow their teenage children to travel alone or hang out in groups without adults present. Legal restrictions compound the issue, with curfew laws being increasingly common, as well as increased driving ages and gradu…

[deleted]

Re: U.S. teens are spending less time with their friends in person

#140

Post by mrhappyunhappy »

I think it’s just an indication of how much more addicting technology is than people care to admit. To say that there was nothing fun to do back in the olden days would be false. These days there are way more options that are much more addicting and gratifying. Why play in the park when you can blast people online. Games are designed to build addiction and sure enough it works - kids would rather fame than do anything outside.

I don’t know if there is any easy way around this. I personally struggled with gaming addiction for the longest time and kept lying to myself that I was in total control. Looking back I feel sorry for all the kids who are sucked into the world of gaming now, especially when adults who grew up gaming themselves are nothing wrong with it. I tuned into a random twitch stream one time with this grown ass guy playing some mmo and his little kid came in the room and asked daddy to play with him. He just dismissed the kiddo and told him to go find mommy. Really fucking sad.

Post reply on HN