Why are teens disrespectful towards elders now a days? (father, messages, college)

[furrypro]

Our elders tend to "lose it" as they get older. So there really isn't any reason to give any extra respect or benefit of the doubt to elders. Everyone should be treated respectfully. Their differences should be resolved carefully rather than automatically taking sides with "elders".

Originally Posted by InsaneTraveler

I highly doubt that teens are more disrespectful towards elders today.

I do believe though that in the old days, elderly people could be rude as hell to younger people and get no repercussions for it. That doesn't fly so much these days. If an elderly person was rude to me, I would be rude right back. In the distant past the elderly were revered because it was unlikely that one made to old age. They were rare. Old people are a dime a dozen these days and deserve no different respect than anyone else.

[LexWest]

I'm really surprised at the responses here. If people think this is ok, then I suppose they won't be surprised people to treat them worse when they become elderly.

Losing respect didn't happen overnight. Those who witnessed this 20 years ago were experiencing gradual signs of change. Kids were never perfect, but you can't tell me kids in older generations weren't more apt to open doors for people, etc. in said situation. Better manners and class existed at some point.

There's a lot of selfishness today that's becoming more ingrained in our culture and common curteseys are getting thrown out the door.

[Baldrick]

Not all are, many are not.

"Why do people make so many generalisations about others now a days?"
or
"Some people seem to make a lot of generalisations now a days?"

You choose which is the right one...

[chielgirl]

Start at 1:15

[chielgirl]

Originally Posted by Wembley

Alot of the problem among both teachers and parents is they are too darn busy text messaging or chatting on their phone to fulfill their responsibilities to the kids. I see it all the time.

Ummm, no.
I don't see teachers chatting or texting in the classroom.
Respect is taught at HOME.

Where do you see teachers texting and chatting on the phone during class.
I'm interested in this.

[fleetiebelle]

I just saw this article yesterday that sheds a little light on the subject: Why Are American Kids So Spoiled? : The New Yorker

With the exception of the imperial offspring of the Ming dynasty and the dauphins of pre-Revolutionary France, contemporary American kids may represent the most indulged young people in the history of the world. It’s not just that they’ve been given unprecedented amounts of stuff—clothes, toys, cameras, skis, computers, televisions, cell phones, PlayStations, iPods. (The market for Burberry Baby and other forms of kiddie “couture” has reportedly been growing by ten per cent a year.) They’ve also been granted unprecedented authority. “Parents want their kids’ approval, a reversal of the past ideal of children striving for their parents’ approval,” Jean Twenge and W. Keith Campbell, both professors of psychology, have written. In many middle-class families, children have one, two, sometimes three adults at their beck and call. This is a social experiment on a grand scale, and a growing number of adults fear that it isn’t working out so well: according to one poll, commissioned by Time and CNN, two-thirds of American parents think that their children are spoiled.[LEFT]
[/LEFT]

[Huckleberry3911948]

a grossly inflated sense of self worth. see book
"the me generation".
even when shown the great disparity in ability, they feel there has been some magic trick performed.

[ADA_NC]

I thought my thread got deleted...but it just got moved to some soft forum

people have posed question on what was I doing while this went on... I was busy shutting my 7 year old and 2 year olds ears to all the profanity being used by these 5 teens!!

I want to take care of my kids.. period... I did not want to get in the middle of this and get abused in front of my kids, so i moved to other end of train..

Would I have interrupted this if I was alone.. may be / may be not!

I expect teens to know their surrounding and behave accordingly....but abusing an older person is a crime.. in any culture. As somebody said once.. children and elder people require social hand-holding since they cannot take care of themselves.

Bottom line : everybody gets old ... so treat elders the way you want others to treat you when you get old.. if you want to be abused when you get old.. go ahead and be a jerk!!

[chielgirl]

Kids do things for shock value.
That's nothing new.

[Virijat]

I find the 'nowadays' laughable. We just choose to see the past with pink tinted glasses.