Teenagers are way dumber than my generation

[Red Squirrel]

Back when I was a teen we just played with cap guns and cut bullets with axes when we wanted to do stupid crap. Simpler times.

 

[child of wonder]

Kids aren't dumber; it's more a reflection of the times. Every one of them has a device that puts them in a public competition with their peers and the world at large for attention and the apps on the device have been engineered to trigger an endorphin response. Naturally, boundaries need to be pushed further and further to get ahead in this competition to get those sweet, sweet endorphins.

It's the 21st century's "chasing the dragon."

 

[KB]

The question is, how many teens are doing this. If its just 30 then its not a generational thing, just a stupid thing.

 

[momeNt]

When I was in junior high almost 20 years ago kids snorted their necklaces and pulled them out of their mouths for shits and giggles. One kid caught an infection from it.

You can breath around a necklace if it gets lodged in your throat instead of going out your mouth. A condom can create a seal and very effectively suffocate you. There is a way to enjoy the marvels of human anatomy safely, or recklessly, and condoms is definitely reckless.

 

[Riverhound777]

I'm pretty sure I recall either kids at my school or hearing about kids doing this with live worms when I was little, so not a new thing. Or was it Jackass?

 

[IronWing]

There's no way a kid is going to get a jackass up his nose.

 

[zinfamous]

When I was in junior high almost 20 years ago kids snorted their necklaces and pulled them out of their mouths for shits and giggles. One kid caught an infection from it.

string, dental floss, snorting corn/sneezing it out.

This really isn't anything new in the genre of stupid human endeavors.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

It's a rolling window of dumbass.

15 year olds are universally more prone to dumbass behavior than 30 year olds. Meanwhile the 60 year old parents of said 30 year olds are sitting there thinking, "Jesus Christ, why don't you just... nope. Not going to say it. You're 30 fucking years old. Ask me advice and I'll offer it but you need to figure this shit out."

Old people die because they can't stand it anymore.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Kids aren't dumber; it's more a reflection of the times. Every one of them has a device that puts them in a public competition with their peers and the world at large for attention and the apps on the device have been engineered to trigger an endorphin response. Naturally, boundaries need to be pushed further and further to get ahead in this competition to get those sweet, sweet endorphins.

It's the 21st century's "chasing the dragon."

I agree with this.

I'm hoping that kids never stop playing outside because that was a highlight of my childhood

Edit: I see too many young children with cellphones (just gettem a basic phone) and adults who'll happily give their child their ipad to shut them up

 

[madoka]

 

[Red Squirrel]

Practice safe laundry.

 

[clamum]

I'm surprised that no terrorists have managed to harness the power of social media and exploit this. Post some fake videos of teens surviving stunts that would be automatically fatal if done for real, let the dumbass real teens try to copy the stunts and *poof*.

I guess it's not exactly what you are talking about, but at first it made me think of the new book by an author I like: Random Acts by Franklin Horton, where "a terrorist in Frankfurt was desperate to please his leadership. He planned the perfect attack, one in which vulnerable people would be invited through social media to participate in a flash mob. There, the unwitting participants, thinking they were taking part in a random act of kindness, would find themselves engaged in a random act of terror."

I don't think chubbs there will need to worry about needing condoms anytime soon.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I don't think chubbs there will need to worry about needing condoms anytime soon.

Just because she's not your fetish, doesn't mean...

Just saying. She probably gets laid more than anybody here.

 

[ImpulsE69]

It's because of fame. Their only idols these days are stars. They have been given something we were not given, a free worldwide audience. They see that things like Jackass exist and say "I can do that, and I can be famous". So when it comes to 'doing dumb things' I would say, they are no worse than we were, they just have more incentive to be stupid for views/friends/likes/popularity as rewards. They are looking for their free ride claim to fame.

Now as for intelligence...I would say yes, they are slipping considerably, but not all of them. There are some brilliant kids out there.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

I guess it's not exactly what you are talking about, but at first it made me think of the new book by an author I like: Random Acts by Franklin Horton, where "a terrorist in Frankfurt was desperate to please his leadership. He planned the perfect attack, one in which vulnerable people would be invited through social media to participate in a flash mob. There, the unwitting participants, thinking they were taking part in a random act of kindness, would find themselves engaged in a random act of terror."

Seems like it could be a Black Mirror episode. I'm going to pick up that book, sounds interesting.

 

[ultimatebob]

Nah... our generation did stupid stuff like that as well, except that we didn't have Instagram and YouTube to post proof of our stupidity back then

 

[Drako]

I don't think chubbs there will need to worry about needing condoms anytime soon.

"The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin'"

- Spinal Tap

 

[clamum]

Just because she's not your fetish, doesn't mean...

Just saying. She probably gets laid more than anybody here.

She probably does get laid more than me. Just about anyone gets laid more than I do. FML

 

[whm1974]

The dumbest I ran across happened when I was 12 or 13 y/o. I was at a party when some older kid was waving a gun around. I used really foul language and almost came real close to kicking to him in the balls before he gave me the firearm. The damn thing was loaded.

Good thing my stepfather and uncles taught me well about gun safety.

 

[PenguinPower]

Ten years ago...
“I can’t believe these kids today playing this knockout game on innocent people! Can’t they just be destructive to themselves?”

Today...
“I can’t believe these kids today are eating Tide pods and snorting condoms! Why are they doing this to themselves?”