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Teenagers are better behaved and less hedonistic (2018)

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

#431

Post by amp108 »

baryphonic wrote: post #339
paulryanrogers wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And if I may be so bold, I believe that many would be well-served by realizing that out there beyond the cosmos above us is something that deeply loves each of us. Unfalsifiable claims like this one tend to have a bit of baggage like eternal punishment. IMO that's one thing plaguing plenty of teens in rural parts of the US. They need fewer overseeing eyes, not more.

> Unfalsifiable claims like this one tend to have a bit of baggage like eternal punishment. Here's something that is falsifiable and true: the teen suicide rates in the oppressive and orthodox 1950s were much lower than they are in the "liberated" times today. I cannot and will not claim that this can be reduced to belief in a higher power (I would tend to be skeptical of such a just-so argument that fits my worldvie…

>> Unfalsifiable claims like this one tend to have a bit of baggage like eternal punishment.

> Here's something that is falsifiable and true: the teen suicide rates in the oppressive and orthodox 1950s were much lower than they are in the "liberated" times today. I cannot and will not claim that this can be reduced to belief in a higher power

You don't need to. Whether or not a result can be attributed to a belief has no bearing on whether the belief itself is true.

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

#432

Post by _bxg1 »

asdff wrote: post #428
_bxg1 wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and no. It's not great that people start the rat race so young now. Especially since it doesn't actually make that much of a difference: extra "accomplishments" in HS are only loosely associated with better colleges, and the college you go to is only loosely associated with how well your life actually goes afterward. The things that really end up mattering are a) choosing a field that the economy happens to want…

It reflects a failing to teach these things. You spelled it out ABC and I agree that it's as easy as that, but all kids here are extracurriculars and APs and this and that, since that is what their high school teacher is telling them them, not someone in the wider economy-based workforce. There were some extremely smart people in my high school that ended up being sold that siren song of humanities major in small exp…

Yeah. The other thing is, if you do decide to pursue that liberal arts degree - we need some people who do! - know that you are shooting for academia and plan accordingly. It's cutthroat, but it's possible. But only if you make a concerted effort. Don't just get a degree in something you like and assume a job is going to fall into your lap afterward. Have a plan.

I hate to come at it from this angle because I'm so exasperated by the parents who write off all degrees without a clear economic angle as worthless. Passion matters. But so does prudence. Choose your path carefully, and then figure out what you need to do to make it happen. The vast majority of degrees aren't get-a-job-for-free cards.

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

#433

Post by st1ck »

Izkata wrote: post #290
pier25 wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know. In Spain kids are indeed less adventurous than my generation, specially in the cities, but I've never heard about someone complaining about kids roaming. I think the number of alone activities kids can do these days to keep themselves entertained (videogames, internet, netflix, etc) is a much more influential factor.

> but I've never heard about someone complaining about kids roaming. It's a thing: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2018/09/05/mom... https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/14/parent... https://www.cnn.com/2015/04/13/living/feat-maryland-free-ran... https://nypost.com/2015/04/13/cops-coerced-our-kids-into-squ... Apparently this is somehow seen as neglect, a type of child abuse, by others.

> In Spain

GP says. What you describe is very much an American phenomenon. At least I haven't heard anything similar happening in the rest of the world.

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

#434

Post by idoby »

_bxg1 wrote: post #328
idoby wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the "popular kids" at school were the overachievers, not the jocks This may be a silver lining in an otherwise very gloomy comment page? When I was in HS (though not in the US), popularity was highly correlated with wealth and/or political activism.

Yes and no. It's not great that people start the rat race so young now. Especially since it doesn't actually make that much of a difference: extra "accomplishments" in HS are only loosely associated with better colleges, and the college you go to is only loosely associated with how well your life actually goes afterward. The things that really end up mattering are a) choosing a field that the economy happens to want…

That wasn't my point though.

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

#435

Post by saagarjha »

searchableguy wrote: post #58
saagarjha wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the best parts of Twitter is that it can give random people a voice and connect then with people who are often hard to get to otherwise. One of the worst parts of Twitter is that can give random people a voice and connect then with people who are often hard to get to otherwise. As someone without a Twitter account, I miss out on a huge amount of conversation that IMHO can add productive and interesting insight…

Hey, I see you everywhere at least.

Thanks for the reminder that I spend too much time on Hacker News ;)

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

#436

Post by foldr »

kick wrote: post #116
switch007 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The LGBT kids fuck to an extent, as do some of the lower achievers, but even then it's nowhere near as much as I expected. I'm trying to be charitable and not over-interpret the juxtaposition of "LGBT" and "lower achievers". I'm surprised you have so much time to study who is having sex. Quite remarkable.

It might actually reflect your own prejudice a bit that you're interpreting it that way. Speaking as a rainbow myself over here, it's...not unlikely? Throw a bunch of teenagers or young adults in support groups together with the subtext that they all have the same sexual orientation with no chance of being shamed for making advances for what's effectively the first time in most of their lives, and it doesn't take a f…

>Speaking as a rainbow myself over here, it's...not unlikely? Throw a bunch of teenagers or young adults in support groups together with the subtext that they all have the same sexual orientation with no chance of being shamed for making advances for what's effectively the first time in most of their lives, and it doesn't take a fortune teller to figure out what's probably going to be happening in greater rates for those kids.

Also rainbow, but I don't quite see that. The straight kids are already thrown together in all kinds of ways and for the most part know that each other are straight. On top of that, there's the issue of numbers. If there are, say, 20 out gay kids of a given gender in a high school, it's quite likely that there are no mutual attractions between any of them.

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

#437

Post by Gibbon1 »

eldavido wrote: post #417
heymijo wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> being young in 2020 in the hyper-competitive culture of major coastal metro areas of the US I think you'd be surprised how many 8th graders across the country are already stressing about SAT/ACT scores in places like southeast Ohio or Branson, MO. I just pulled Branson out of a hat and here's their recommendations for ACT/SAT testingv[0]. I've seen a lot of schools across the U.S. This schedule matches up with offi…

If you look at the bigger picture it's hard to imagine this wouldn't be the case. Not trying to start a generational food fight but realistically the world has changed since the boomers grew up. The US is facing major great power rivalry from China, we're much more internationalized (I read in the economist that only ~5% of US citizens had passports around 1990), and probably something almost nobody is talking about,…

> The decline of manufacturing EMPLOYMENT (not value created) is also a big part of this.

I read a paper that said value created down everywhere except computer equipment. And even then that's probably an accounting fiction. The US is employing less people in manufacturing and we're making less stuff across the board.

The US makes me think of a description by a GI of a German Army surrendering at the end of WWII. First there was the top echelons, generals, their staff. Along with their wives and mistresses. Followed by the troops and equipment assigned to protect HQ. All in a state of perfect order. Followed by a rump army of totally broken men. And then nothing.

If you occupy the right position in US society you can believe everything is fine. If your a smart kid from a formerly working class family in Ohio, you know by the age of 12 that you need to escape.

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

#438

Post by Chris2048 »

jandrese wrote: post #169
101404 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Finland has mandatory military service for males. How is that kind of institutionalized sexism still legal?

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…

What kind of situation wipes out the army, then leaves the country alone to recover?

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

#439

Post by Chris2048 »

as1mov wrote: post #308
magicsmoke wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scenario A: 100 women, 100 men. 100 men go off to war, 10 men return. But with polygamy, 100 women have 100 children for the next generation. Scenario B: 100 women, 100 men. 50 women and 50 men go off to war, 5 men and 5 women return. You have 55 women left in the population and 55 children for the next generation. The limiting factor in human population growth is the number of women that can have children. The cold…

It's a good thing then we don't have any country with just 200 people in them. It's same excuse used when someone asks why safety of women comes before men, conveniently ignoring that the scenario itself is so far out, it's not going to happen.

Do you not understand what an example is?

multiple 200 by whatever number you feel will represent a true population.

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

#440

Post by [deleted] »

Chris2048 wrote: post #438
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…

What kind of situation wipes out the army, then leaves the country alone to recover?

[deleted]
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