Is it the whole generation or just my kid's friends? (teens, games)

[zentropa]

I have a 19 year old daughter who is a freshman at a private liberal arts college in PA. The college is a good one, with an acceptance rate of less than 50%, so i was hoping she would meet some smart, interesting kids there.

But so far, all I have seen are unmotivated, incurious, slovenly teens who, outside of class, do little but play video games. It was the same with her peers in high school, but I expected them to grow out of it I guess.

I am working in Switzerland at this time, so when she came overseas to visit after Christmas, she brought a guy friend who had never been to Europe with her to do some traveling. Well, the first 2 days all this kid did was sit at his laptop and play one game, for hours and hours and hours. I could not really interest him in going anywhere or seeing anything. He didn't even shower. Apparently this is typical of their circle.

I was able to pry them out of the house and put them on a train to Zurich yesterday, but I guarantee they (at least he) are spending hours at the youth hostel sitting in front of a glowing screen.

My daughter plays a lot of video games too, but at least she has other interests and I can get her to go outside into the daylight.

I guess I just don't get it. Is this a generational thing?

[msm_teacher]

Wow. That's not what I see at all in that generation in our family. Between my side and my husband's side, almost everyone that age is out all over the country and world. They are out there exploring and learning, following their dreams. Thank goodness for Facebook - it is a blast seeing their adventures play out in real time.

[ben86]

I'd say I wasted a lot of my time aged, say, 13 to 15 on computer games and my friends weren't really that different, but I sold my Playstation when I was 16 (I'm 24 now) and haven't played computer games since. It does seem a waste of being 19 to me. When I was 19 I backpacked around Italy for three months with no laptop, no iPod and only used my mobile phone once, in an emergency.

[golfgal]

We have on computer game junkie in the family but he certainly would not be playing games if he was visiting someone in Switzerland. He loves to travel. Some of his friends do nothing but play computer games but most have outside interests as well. Our other two play video games when there isn't anything better to do. Our DD does use Just Dance to work out with though.

[lucygirl951]

My college students will come up with all kinds of excuses for not finishing their essays or not thoroughly researching their topics, and yet every time I walk into our computer lab classroom to teach, they are neither writing nor researching. They are playing Farmville or checking fantasy football scores. It is a very plugged in generation.

[Pitt Chick]

I have not seen that to the extent you describe.

[liloulou]

Definitely seems to be that they are the extreme... maybe you could ask them to look up stuff in Switzerland on their computer that they'd like to go see... use their electronics to serve a useful purpose. Maybe they don't know what they're missing....

[lilred0005]

I've definitely noticed it. I'm in my mid-30s and my generation was the first "plugged-in" generation but maybe cause we weren't raised on it like the later generation, we were still quite social. Now I see MANY anti-social kids who do NOT know how to relate or deal in person with people, it's actually scary imo.

[lucygirl951]

Yes, the Jersey Shore style social skills are quite something to deal with for teachers. I wouldn't say that most of my students are this anti-social in their behavior, but a good 20% are. I just try to focus on the other 80%.

[stan4]

Um, even all the adults I encounter have their heads bent over and their faces all in their iphones...why should the kids be different?