I am not jaded. I love this county. They, my peers, are not jaded either - they are uneducated. This is not their fault. Their educators have failed them. And I don't just mean their teachers in school.
Why have older generations failed to impart to so many of my compatriots these values that used to be considered American? Why have they failed to impart a love of this country?
Why don't they ask themselves this? Why do they tell my peers they know nothing, and then do nothing to change that but wag fingers?
They are jaded because they are ignorant of the things of which they should be proud. They are ignorant not for any particular lack of intelligence or interest, but simply because smartphones have stolen their lives entirely. This is not an exaggeration. They are spending upwards of twelve hours a day on these devices. If it were anything else it would be seen as a terrifying addiction.
And no, they are not "learning digitally." They are watching youtube, and it's not anything educational. You'd think this would be common knowledge by now, but apparently not.
I will tell you what to do for a start:
1) No smartphones of any kind for any minors in your care. Period. Done, no argument. If you won't take this first step for any minors in your care, you are failing in your duty of care. Failing, I would say, grossly, pathetically, and disgustingly.
2) No smartphones in school. None. They must be kept in lockers, and must be actively confiscated if seen. If your kid's school does not adhere to this policy, home school.
Learning & fun evaporate when a smartphone enters the room. It only takes one - then everyone is worried about being recorded saying something "cringe" or getting a question wrong and looking dumb. Your children are terrified of making mistakes - you say this all the time. This is why. And you've probably contributed by recording them playing sports, recording them playing music, and whipping out your phone whenever they did a "funny kid thing."
99.9% of you won't take these steps, because your kid would complain, and you aren't willing to do the hard part of being a parent. And you're probably on your phone too! If you took your kid's away, then you'd actually have to put yours down. And you won't! So there we are.
Thanks for this - I needed it. You address and express far better than I could so many of the points that I've been stewing over lately while seeing the 'behavior' (marches, protests) and 'opinions' (social media 'stuff') of the younger generations. Too many I know (even some older people) are so far into the leftist self-hatred mindset that I often despair...and I'm glad that I'm older and will probably be dead before the younger people gain enough power in this country only to willfully demolish all the 'good' about this country to 'pay for the sins' of the 'bad' instead of making the US better for all. And I used to consider myself to the 'left of center.' But today's 'left' has left me far behind in it's rush to insanity.
1) Geezus, Jamie's getting a little dark. 2) "Americans deserve to be killed for sitting on stolen land" Haha, screw you guys. I own this dirt, and yes, my land is in "my land".
I never understood the notion of being proud (or ashamed) of something over which you have no control. Every country has its own notions of exceptionalism, and this Lake Wobegonism has informed the ideological core of much of the geopolitical misery of history. I'm an American by accident of my birth, and that is neither good nor bad. Our country is what its people have made it. We don't have some Goldstein we can plausibly blame our troubles on, although it's been tried (FDR, Soros, bin Laden, et al).
The younger generations have not been encouraged to acquire the habit of critical thought, and the echo-chamber of unsourced hearsay bullshit they are constantly fed online has made it easy for them to latch onto facile notions to explain the world's problems. I'm surprised we didn't hit a tipping point on Jan 6th and plunge into something like a civil war. We may yet, but I still like to think that what is wrong with America can be fixed with what is right with America. We'll see.
This is the sort of Naive Realism that keeps me coming back to Substance.
It's about time some Americans woke up and noticed how fake the world is, and transparent *though sincere* rhetoric like this is unlikely to change any of their minds.
Response from a young American:
I am not jaded. I love this county. They, my peers, are not jaded either - they are uneducated. This is not their fault. Their educators have failed them. And I don't just mean their teachers in school.
Why have older generations failed to impart to so many of my compatriots these values that used to be considered American? Why have they failed to impart a love of this country?
Why don't they ask themselves this? Why do they tell my peers they know nothing, and then do nothing to change that but wag fingers?
They are jaded because they are ignorant of the things of which they should be proud. They are ignorant not for any particular lack of intelligence or interest, but simply because smartphones have stolen their lives entirely. This is not an exaggeration. They are spending upwards of twelve hours a day on these devices. If it were anything else it would be seen as a terrifying addiction.
And no, they are not "learning digitally." They are watching youtube, and it's not anything educational. You'd think this would be common knowledge by now, but apparently not.
I will tell you what to do for a start:
1) No smartphones of any kind for any minors in your care. Period. Done, no argument. If you won't take this first step for any minors in your care, you are failing in your duty of care. Failing, I would say, grossly, pathetically, and disgustingly.
2) No smartphones in school. None. They must be kept in lockers, and must be actively confiscated if seen. If your kid's school does not adhere to this policy, home school.
Learning & fun evaporate when a smartphone enters the room. It only takes one - then everyone is worried about being recorded saying something "cringe" or getting a question wrong and looking dumb. Your children are terrified of making mistakes - you say this all the time. This is why. And you've probably contributed by recording them playing sports, recording them playing music, and whipping out your phone whenever they did a "funny kid thing."
99.9% of you won't take these steps, because your kid would complain, and you aren't willing to do the hard part of being a parent. And you're probably on your phone too! If you took your kid's away, then you'd actually have to put yours down. And you won't! So there we are.
Thanks for this - I needed it. You address and express far better than I could so many of the points that I've been stewing over lately while seeing the 'behavior' (marches, protests) and 'opinions' (social media 'stuff') of the younger generations. Too many I know (even some older people) are so far into the leftist self-hatred mindset that I often despair...and I'm glad that I'm older and will probably be dead before the younger people gain enough power in this country only to willfully demolish all the 'good' about this country to 'pay for the sins' of the 'bad' instead of making the US better for all. And I used to consider myself to the 'left of center.' But today's 'left' has left me far behind in it's rush to insanity.
1) Geezus, Jamie's getting a little dark. 2) "Americans deserve to be killed for sitting on stolen land" Haha, screw you guys. I own this dirt, and yes, my land is in "my land".
Wow. Jamie Paul spitting fire. Brother, *preach!*
Brilliant. Every word.
I never understood the notion of being proud (or ashamed) of something over which you have no control. Every country has its own notions of exceptionalism, and this Lake Wobegonism has informed the ideological core of much of the geopolitical misery of history. I'm an American by accident of my birth, and that is neither good nor bad. Our country is what its people have made it. We don't have some Goldstein we can plausibly blame our troubles on, although it's been tried (FDR, Soros, bin Laden, et al).
The younger generations have not been encouraged to acquire the habit of critical thought, and the echo-chamber of unsourced hearsay bullshit they are constantly fed online has made it easy for them to latch onto facile notions to explain the world's problems. I'm surprised we didn't hit a tipping point on Jan 6th and plunge into something like a civil war. We may yet, but I still like to think that what is wrong with America can be fixed with what is right with America. We'll see.
Aren't all college kids radical and shallow? For my generation, it was all about Che Guevara. That was our "Bin Laden letter".
This is the sort of Naive Realism that keeps me coming back to Substance.
It's about time some Americans woke up and noticed how fake the world is, and transparent *though sincere* rhetoric like this is unlikely to change any of their minds.