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Kids These Days

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Re: Kids These Days

#31

Post by jimbokun »

bluGill wrote: post #10
jsisto wrote: post #3

> They have access to cheap travel, better food What cheap travel? Better food compared to when? Most kids are obese eating poisoned food.

When was the last time you met somebody who only walked all thier life? Never rode a horse because only the rich could afford such things. When was the last time you had no food? Starvation used to be a real problem. I'm not taking about running short at the end of the month, I'm talking about there isn't food for even the wealthy people. Food today is safer than ever. You talk about poison, but that is pure lie, it…

So better off today compared to 200 years ago.

Re: Kids These Days

#32

Post by yathern »

TFNA wrote: post #21

This bit strikes me as rather stuck in the past and oblivious to 2026: "the internet offers an escape from solitude for those rejected in the real world, allowing weirdos, nerds, and the painfully shy to make social connections in ways that would have been impossible for their counterparts in earlier decade." That statement might have been true in 1995-2012 about forums, IRC, early social media, and Tumblr. It is not…

The article intentionally is giving an overly optimistic view of the modern day, when giving the argument that "kids these days" are better off, and it's quickly contrasted with a pessimistic view:

> children and adolescents are more likely to spend their time alone; they devote hours each day to staring at their phones; they play less, sleep less, and read less for pleasure.... Our children are living in a time of crisis

Yes it's stated less technically proficient than your version, but the point remains that you can look at the current internet as a blessing or a curse, and is mostly just an intro to the rest of the article

Re: Kids These Days

#33

Post by jimbokun »

matchbok3 wrote: post #15
goolz wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I specifically do not want kids because it feels like I would be shortchanging them. I imagine all generations think it was better in their day. But you are right. Owning a car is absurdly expensive, public transit is pretty grim in the US and definitely not cheap, plus our food supply is literal slop. Even the cheap stuff is expensive now. It is truly depressing. I can’t imagine being a kid who has to navigate all t…

Shortchanging? Do you have any idea what a "typical" middle class lifestyle was like in the 1960s? (Not the romanticized one). Do you think they were eating organic avocados? Life and technology and healthcare and many other things are objectively better in many, many ways.

Maybe not organic avocados but more likely to be eating produce from your own backyard garden.

That was done for cost reasons back then but today local and seasonal produce is a staple of high end restaurants.

Re: Kids These Days

#34

Post by jimbokun »

proee wrote: post #19

That was a great article, or maybe it was just a lot of gibberish that failed to say much of anything.

The article reveals that the broader debate is more gibberish and less settled than we tend to think.

Re: Kids These Days

#35

Post by jimbokun »

bwhiting2356 wrote: post #12

> but, given that all of their peers have adopted it, there is a serious social cost to opting out. The same was true of smoking. A combination of gov regulation and social stigma have managed to reduce smoking rates.

As the author also points out.

Re: Kids These Days

#36

Post by donatj »

ks2048 wrote: post #28

> Teenagers drink less, smoke less, and are less likely to die in car accidents. Why would he put "drink less" is reasons why teens should be happier?

I think it's kind of cuts both ways.

Some of my happiest memories growing up in the late 90's early 2000's involved drinking with a bunch of friends in their basements.

My wife on the other hand drank because she was unhappy.

These things are not the same.

Re: Kids These Days

#37

Post by [deleted] »

ks2048 wrote: post #28

> Teenagers drink less, smoke less, and are less likely to die in car accidents. Why would he put "drink less" is reasons why teens should be happier?

[deleted]

Re: Kids These Days

#38

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

arijun wrote: post #16
bluGill wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When was the last time you met somebody who only walked all thier life? Never rode a horse because only the rich could afford such things. When was the last time you had no food? Starvation used to be a real problem. I'm not taking about running short at the end of the month, I'm talking about there isn't food for even the wealthy people. Food today is safer than ever. You talk about poison, but that is pure lie, it…

> You talk about poison, but that is pure lie I think it's fairly well accepted that the high obesity rates are caused by the shifting American diet. Yes it's more available than the 1950s (although I suspect not terribly so), but the effect it has on public health has been a nightmare.

You can just as readily find correlation with behavioral changes linked to a sedentary lifestyle driven by a firehouse of entertainment that first became available with cable television. That doesn't satisfy the orthorexic cause, so isn't discussed much.

Re: Kids These Days

#39

Post by TFNA »

yathern wrote: post #32
TFNA wrote: post #21

This bit strikes me as rather stuck in the past and oblivious to 2026: "the internet offers an escape from solitude for those rejected in the real world, allowing weirdos, nerds, and the painfully shy to make social connections in ways that would have been impossible for their counterparts in earlier decade." That statement might have been true in 1995-2012 about forums, IRC, early social media, and Tumblr. It is not…

The article intentionally is giving an overly optimistic view of the modern day, when giving the argument that "kids these days" are better off, and it's quickly contrasted with a pessimistic view: > children and adolescents are more likely to spend their time alone; they devote hours each day to staring at their phones; they play less, sleep less, and read less for pleasure.... Our children are living in a time of c…

I think this is the first time on HN when I've been one of those people who didn't adequately look at the linked article before commenting, and boy is my face red.

Re: Kids These Days

#40

Post by ipdashc »

TFNA wrote: post #21

This bit strikes me as rather stuck in the past and oblivious to 2026: "the internet offers an escape from solitude for those rejected in the real world, allowing weirdos, nerds, and the painfully shy to make social connections in ways that would have been impossible for their counterparts in earlier decade." That statement might have been true in 1995-2012 about forums, IRC, early social media, and Tumblr. It is not…

I think that this is true to some extent, but that people often underestimate how much Discord and group chats get used compared to "traditional" (feels weird calling it that, in this context) social media.
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