Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The first thing I'll do is put on a helmet figuring pretty soon they'll pass a law that says you have to wear one while driving a car, texting while walking and pushing a grocery cart.
Ha-ha, just kidding about that grocery cart pushing. I'll be living with my parents. Moms will take care of that after she does my laundry. She's great. She'll even call that guy who interviewed me for a job and yell at him because I wasn't hired. I mean, who wants to work for a company that doesn't give you 3 weeks vacation, anyway?
I'll do an Internet search on Safe Spaces to find the nearest one just in case I hear somebody say something mean. Haters! They're all haters! Then, I'll whip out my iPhone to text my BFF and ask, "Hey, what offends us today?" Asher and Kai will make fun of me because I have no idea where North Korea is. How should I know? It's not like I'll ever go there. I'll tell them, "How do you expect me to watch the news when they are always talking about taxes and stuff?" Who pays taxes? It's so boring.
Then, I'll upload selfies to Facebook, of me at the store, me at school, me eating lunch, me getting an abortion and me playing a video game after I write my blog about me and the exhausting day I had.
What do you mean, I'm supposed to keep my old lady brain? I have to fit in.
Read through all posts. Very interesting viewpoints. Most apparently wouldn't want to be 18 in today's world.
If I were 18 today and knowing what I know now, I would still go into a STEM field because there will always be work in that area. But first I might take a "gap year" (like the Brits) and go overseas for a period. I did live overseas, from the age of 40 onwards, but I would like to have tried that while still young (and single). Anyway, people with STEM skills can always find work and don't need to resort to being English teachers.
I wouldn't want to be an 18 year old today. No way. I am glad that I grew up in the '60s and '70s. Wouldn't change a thing, even as painful as that time of my life was back then.
You wake up tomorrow and you are 18 again. You have the same memories, knowledge, same universe, same time, only thing that has changed is you are an 18 year old all over again and can't change it. Apart from just having to deal with being a young adult again how would you take it? Would you be depressed? View it as a new lease on life and use it to experience things you didn't before? Keep in mind you still have all your memories from the age you are now, you're just in your body as it was at 18. I can imagine it would be very awkward for any children/grandchildren you may have for sure, but otherwise think you could get used to it and also being able to retain all the knowledge you had before definitely could be a great benefit.
Not sure what reaction you're hoping for here, but I'd pass. Don't see any reason or advantage to doing the groundhog day thing.
For me, the best thing about being 18 was not knowing or caring about what I didn't know.
I wouldn't want to be young in the current culture. When I was 18 and with my friends, we were totally engaged with each other and talking for hours about our interests in the world. We'd make plans to meet and then simply be with each other, spending time together doing that things we enjoyed.
Today I see my children and their friends distant from each other physically. Yes, they're texting and sharing things online, but that's not the same as spending those long hours face-to-face, interacting in a purely human way. They spend a lot of time at home in a way that baffles older people who spent their youth exploring their surroundings and expanding their horizons. Even when they're with each other, they're being interrupted by smartphones or just sitting together and all staring at the screens in their hands.
At one time, I asked my son, you're young and have plenty of free time. You have your bus pass. Why are you not going to the beaches, parks, museums, art galleries, concerts, theaters, book shops, and so on of our area, to meet your friends and experience the world with them? His answer was that online was good enough for him.
It makes me sad because I don't think the young people realize what they're missing. The level of depression in that demographic is high and rising. The Atlantic featured an article about the way technology has taken over young people's initiative to get out and about and experience real life. It's called "Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?"
Since the OP said we would have all of our memories I wouldn't want to go back. Sitting next to a girl in class and knowing she would die at 22. Knowing the day our parents would die. Going to a wedding and seeing the happy couple that would be divorced 3 years later.
I haven't had a perfect life but it wasn't too bad. I will keep this one.
josie13, you hit the nail on the head with that post. What it says for our cultural future is frightning. I am SO glad to have known a richer, more engaging life with others.
Question is, how to wake these kids up to something they have no clue about and already think they know everything anyway?
I see no end to this trend, only worse things as they become more and more socially isolated and inept at what were once basic life skills.
And it's not just happening in social and neighborhood settings.
This self-imposed social isolation and human detachment is in schools, workplaces, and families where individuals can't seem to put down the phone or tablet and talk to another human or engage in their surroundings.
I was at a park on Saturday walking my dogs on a beautiful path along the river. The older people out walking smiled and said hello and interacted with me and the dogs. The younger ones had their faces implanted in their phones.
I've made a hobby out of really observing this sad behavior and it is more prevalent than not in every social situation. Grocery shopping, libraries, parks, restaurants, hospitals, workplaces, poolside, while eating, classrooms, meetings in the workplace, you name it. Not trying to start a new thread here, but I find it disturbing in a Twilight Zone kind of way.
Here's more: got a 5 and 3 year old niece and nephew who have been given iPads already because they ''cry and want Nana's all the time''. Last family gathering my SO and I sat and watched everybody, I mean from toddler to granny, stare at their devices. Since we didn't bring ours along, we left early. This Thanksgiving we are staying home ''device free''.
It is beyond sad and disturbing, yet the youth today see it as normal because they are born into it. Born with ''blinders'' on and don't know any better. End of rant.
I wouldn't want to be young in the current culture. When I was 18 and with my friends, we were totally engaged with each other and talking for hours about our interests in the world. We'd make plans to meet and then simply be with each other, spending time together doing that things we enjoyed.
Today I see my children and their friends distant from each other physically. Yes, they're texting and sharing things online, but that's not the same as spending those long hours face-to-face, interacting in a purely human way. They spend a lot of time at home in a way that baffles older people who spent their youth exploring their surroundings and expanding their horizons. Even when they're with each other, they're being interrupted by smartphones or just sitting together and all staring at the screens in their hands.
At one time, I asked my son, you're young and have plenty of free time. You have your bus pass. Why are you not going to the beaches, parks, museums, art galleries, concerts, theaters, book shops, and so on of our area, to meet your friends and experience the world with them? His answer was that online was good enough for him.
It makes me sad because I don't think the young people realize what they're missing. The level of depression in that demographic is high and rising. The Atlantic featured an article about the way technology has taken over young people's initiative to get out and about and experience real life. It's called "Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?"
Yep, things are definitely different between those even my age and those ten years younger than me.
One of my cousins just turned 22. She's always online, Instagramming, Snapchatting, etc. I'm pretty techie and have all those accounts, but rarely use them. I despise Snapchat. Even Facebook is getting too much for me.
A lot of people getting on social media to stay connected, but I think it ultimately agitates a lot of people more than they get a benefit from it. If I haven't seen someone since high school, chances are we weren't close enough to keep in touch anyway, and their Facebook just ends up being clutter. I frankly couldn't care less about John Smith's toddler running around when I haven't seen John in a decade. Those I want to keep in touch with have my phone number or know where to find me. I'll see things on Facebook about person X or Y and then I end up digging into the story. For me, it's not really healthy.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
