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Teenagers are better behaved and less hedonistic (2018)

economist.com

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Re: Teenagers are better behaved and less hedonistic (2018)

#261

Post by _jal »

_630w wrote: post #22

I am also curious about the effect of "private" communication channels for kids. They can be hidden to parents and friends irl but still remain public online. I have seen many groups of depressed teens online without adults or someone with experience in them. They all encourage each other to be more depressed because they all have a similarly sad life. The only perspective that gets shared is that life sucks and it i…

> I think before the digital age, it must have been hard to do it irl or not?

Eh, not so much. By the time I cared to, I had communications outside of supervision.

Some tactics change, but every generation thinks they invented parental subversion. Hint: this means your parents are probably not as clueless as you think they are.

Re: Teenagers are better behaved and less hedonistic (2018)

#262

Post by _throwaway882 »

matwood wrote: post #110
_5yps wrote: post #27

16-year-old here. My experience is probably markedly different from most teenagers in the US (I'm an immigrant who goes to a competitive school full of other immigrants) but I find that, for the most part, this article hits the nail on the head. High School is nothing like the usual media portrayal - I've never heard anyone even talk about a party, nobody's doing anything stronger than weed, nobody's fucking or even…

Wow, how things have change from when I was a teen in HS in the early 90s. I was a 'responsible' one because I had a job. Few people thought about 'getting in' (IIRC the valedictorian went to the AF academy), but otherwise we all just wanted to graduate and go to one of the 2 big state schools or the local college. I was smart enough, i.e. paid attention in class, that I never had to study (that caught up with me in…

Hah I'd say that my experience was more in line with yours than anything close to the OP. Went to HS from 2008-12', couldn't have given 2 shits about school and was just trying to get some weed and get laid. Similar mindset with all my friend since we all just wanted to go to the state school.

High school (and I'd argue undergrad) for 80% of people is a joke and a waste of time and for me was a time to learn how to network without networking. Always felt kinda funny sitting next to people in my hs,college, and now workplaces who had 'done everything right' their whole life but lo and behold were in the same place doing the same thing for the same pay. But thats probably just me being a douchebag more than anything

Re: Teenagers are better behaved and less hedonistic (2018)

#263

Post by FrojoS »

privateprofile wrote: post #232
jandrese wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Finland has a history of needing to fight off a much larger expansionist neighbor. One who has recently (a few years ago) annexed more territory while the rest of the world sat around and did nothing. Or are you asking why they don't extend the mandatory service to women? The reasons for that are somewhat historic and very _biotruth_. A country that fights a devastating war that wipes out 90% of the men but keeps the…

Israel has mandatory service for women and men, and has presently one of the most advanced armed forces.

AFAIK, in Israel women serve less time and in less dangerous roles. The only culture that I know of, which seems to have somewhat equal burden of war fighting are the Peshmerga/Kurds.

Re: Teenagers are better behaved and less hedonistic (2018)

#264

Post by watwut »

tensor wrote: post #217
watwut wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For almost the entirety of human history, 12 was old enough to get a job and look after a family. And a lot of those kids ended badly, exploited and literally had no future. The people who could afford it, did not had their 12 years old working in factories nor being responsible for "looking after a family". In good times in family farms, the kids contributed to work basically from 5 years old (and yes, 5 years old…

The ultra wealthy in that time never looked after a family as kids or adults. They had servants who did. That was not and is not "normal", it's a weird edge case.

There was also middle class and people who are not wealthy, but can afford to met have 12 years old responsible for whole family.

Re: Teenagers are better behaved and less hedonistic (2018)

#265

Post by _5yps »

tomohawk wrote: post #204
_5yps wrote: post #27

16-year-old here. My experience is probably markedly different from most teenagers in the US (I'm an immigrant who goes to a competitive school full of other immigrants) but I find that, for the most part, this article hits the nail on the head. High School is nothing like the usual media portrayal - I've never heard anyone even talk about a party, nobody's doing anything stronger than weed, nobody's fucking or even…

Waiting for the lawyers to launch a class action lawsuit against the smart phone industry.

That hardly worked against Big Tobacco. It isn't gonna do jack shit against an adversary that is nowhere near as transparently evil.

Re: Teenagers are better behaved and less hedonistic (2018)

#266

Post by 411111111111111 »

nabla9 wrote: post #170
_0ffh wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are they measuring declining IQ over time? IQ tests are regularly recalibrated to mean=100 and std=15. That opens quite the can of worms for comparabilty in all sorts of ways.

Intelligence researchers don't use IQ, they use raw data from testing. As you pointed out, IQ is not usable for research across time or across countries or cultures. You can only compare individuals in the same time and same population.

Its further biased by how many iq tests the testee has done before.

Honestly, iq tests are pointless unless you're selecting for people that are willing to invest time into worthless knowledge in order to win in a contest.

Which is a valid criteria, considering that these are the most motivated people... Its just not "intelligence", though that itself is just as pointless to measure.

Re: Teenagers are better behaved and less hedonistic (2018)

#267

Post by _5yps »

dennis_jeeves wrote: post #78
_5yps wrote: post #27

16-year-old here. My experience is probably markedly different from most teenagers in the US (I'm an immigrant who goes to a competitive school full of other immigrants) but I find that, for the most part, this article hits the nail on the head. High School is nothing like the usual media portrayal - I've never heard anyone even talk about a party, nobody's doing anything stronger than weed, nobody's fucking or even…

> I wish I could say I'm above it all, but I've certainly internalized it to some extent IMO, you are well above it all, or may be you will get there in a couple of years. You are doing fantastic for someone who is 16. Most people do not achieve this level of self-awareness even when they are 60. But there is a dark side to this precociousness. You are not ignorant, and that will often drive you to despair when you o…

[flagged]

Re: Teenagers are better behaved and less hedonistic (2018)

#268

Post by ALittleLight »

Broken_Hippo wrote: post #81
kirstenbirgit wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just some advice, since you said you're 16. When you get a compliment, I know it's tempting to downplay yourself and seem humble, but a "thank you" is almost more appropriate. Stand by yourself :)

Sometimes I agree: In this case, I read it more as telling us how much he appreciates the compliment because of the fact he generally feels subpar. I am the same when I speak Norwegian: When I get a compliment, I feel as he does.

I read it as somewhat insulting to the complimenter. "You think this is good? My own standards are much higher."

Maybe that's unfair, but in the context of the author's prior description of being involved in trying to achieve, or join, or do things to stand out, the interpretation I gave feels more plausible.

It seems much more polite and appropriate to me to not react that way.

Re: Teenagers are better behaved and less hedonistic (2018)

#269

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0 »

_5yps wrote: post #27

16-year-old here. My experience is probably markedly different from most teenagers in the US (I'm an immigrant who goes to a competitive school full of other immigrants) but I find that, for the most part, this article hits the nail on the head. High School is nothing like the usual media portrayal - I've never heard anyone even talk about a party, nobody's doing anything stronger than weed, nobody's fucking or even…

Thank you for sharing this.

Having read it, I feel kinda stupid. My teens were all about just getting through HS, parties, bonfires and generally all sorts of stupid things you do as a kid. I did not think thoughts on the level of 'my generation'. That level of abstraction did not even occur to me.

I was just very lucky to have cohort full of very smart kids, so even with all HS drama, I managed to learn a lot.

I dunno. In a sense, we had it easier. Mistakes were not live streamed. At worst, they were remembered.

I do not envy the pressure teens feel today. Not participating in this at all risks missing out on a chance to 'stand out'.

Re: Teenagers are better behaved and less hedonistic (2018)

#270

Post by dankoss »

jimmaswell wrote: post #211
_5yps wrote: post #27

16-year-old here. My experience is probably markedly different from most teenagers in the US (I'm an immigrant who goes to a competitive school full of other immigrants) but I find that, for the most part, this article hits the nail on the head. High School is nothing like the usual media portrayal - I've never heard anyone even talk about a party, nobody's doing anything stronger than weed, nobody's fucking or even…

So absurd that college admissions care about your hobbies etc. If they want to receive public funding they should have to only consider academic performance, maybe with some weighting for life circumstances. Are we missing out on the most qualified mathematicians and doctors because they didn't attend volunteer programs and play sports?

I think it's because at the top level, everyone already has perfect grades so schools need additional criteria to limit their selection pool.
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