Teens: A generation of criminals

United States
February 15, 2007 11:38am CST
As a boy or girl turns 15, something inside them changes and it's not completely due to physical maturity. It's due to a rampant rejection of civilized behavior and an arrogance that has not been seen since the Vietnam area of the 1960s. Young people simply ignore everything they need to know to survive. They think that cell phones are the answer to all their problems and their entire lives are spent on the phone. Drugs and crime soon follow. Is this a doomed generation?
4 people like this
21 responses
@k1tten (2318)
• United States
15 Feb 07
No. If it was then the generations before wouldn't be here. In the 1920's the young followed jazz and the non-to-appropriate dances. Their parents thought the same as you do now. It is not that you hit a generation gap or a point when a teen becomes 'wild' it is a societial deal. Not everyone is like that anyway. I'm not like that. I have no cellphone to spend my entire life on. I have no clue where you're getting your findings but they are just a little bit wrong.
2 people like this
@Aussies2007 (5336)
• Australia
15 Feb 07
It is not actually their fault. It is the fault of society for preventing the parents of today to discipline their children. And the parents of today are not much better than their children anyway. It is hard today to find an adult without a mobile phone. And they are doing as much chatting as their children. I am starting to realise that the revolution of the sixties which gave all sort of freedom to people has now gone too far and will turn into a disaster if it is not reversed. A society simply cannot operate without discipline... nor can it survive. We have replaced discipline with laws to punish those who break the rules. If we had been taught not to break the rules... there would be very little need for those laws.
• Canada
15 Feb 07
IT's all peer pressure
• United States
16 Feb 07
Cell phones clearly are symtomatic of the excesses of society. Even if young people would simply hold off on gratification just for a little while, the world would be a better place.
• Brazil
16 Feb 07
The problem is that if one waits for the kids to become teenagers to communicate, one might be too lat, thus the generation of criminals start. Raising a child is like building a house, if the early foundation is solid, the house can withstand anything. Talk with them a lot during their younger years, build that base. Then when theyre teenagers, you dont need to worry about anything.
• United States
17 Feb 07
Outstanding and often overlooked point here. Yes, it starts young. When a baby comeds along, the fascination for that child does last a few years, until school age comes along, and then high school. As the child matures, a certain mental exhaustion sets in for the parents, and I think they simply give up trying if the youth becomes petulant and, later, combative.
• United States
15 Feb 07
This has happened generation after generation. People thought that the younger generation was completely doomed. And, I see that was not true because we, as a people have survived. Society has changed, and children too change. Chemicals are released in their brain and they think and act rashly. Secondly, you're just stereotyping a few individuals and your using those to support generalizations that don't mean anything. You do it in all your posts.
1 person likes this
• United States
16 Feb 07
Excuse me, no stereotypes here. All you have to do is see how many young people have cell phones and how much they abuse them at the expense of everything else in their lives. These are facts, not stereotypes.
• Canada
16 Feb 07
As a mother of two teenagers I disagree with you. Obviously you do not remember your own life @ that age. For all time, right throughout history, all teenagers have believed they are indestructible. They are self centred, selfish and arrogant but deep down most of them grow up to be kind, caring, responsible citizens. We need to teach these young people respect, love them without conditions and inspire them to reach their hearts desire. This is our next generation....support them or they won't support you when THEY are in charge.
1 person likes this
• United States
16 Feb 07
You are living in a dangerous fantasy and I feel sorry for your teens, for they will adopt your fatalistic and seriously flawed perception of history. What an arrogant statement to make in characterizing young people in such a harsh manner "for all time." As recently as the late 19th century, girls and boys were considered fully mature by age 13, and married often before their 14th birthday. Our present age drags kids through the artifice of "adolescence," the concept of which didn't even exist until 1900. High school is an invention devised to warehouse kids (actually mature adults) ages 13-18 because we prevented them from honest work and apprenticeships through stupid and communistic child-labor laws. With attitudes such as yours, no wonder teens throw up their hands, grab their cell phones, and drop out of society.
@dhel74 (25)
• Philippines
16 Feb 07
I must say that it happened to a any young boy and girls when this kids are not properly guided by parents. It's ok to discover new things in life but make sure that properly guided by parents. Kids must learn to be obedient to their parents coz no parents will do and think bad for their kids.. They want always the best for their children.. sometimes kids felt they are being ignored coz parents are busy with their own career. They do work hard because they do that for the future of their kids - send them to good school, things they need to live comfortably. Kids must not think that they are being ignored.. they must understand their parents.... For now you will not understand yet.. but in the future you will say that i am right.. Like how my parents work hard for us to have good education.. Our parents always tell us to study hard for us to ahve a good future.. Coz education is the most important u are going to ahve to survive in the future besides of the moral value we teach you....
1 person likes this
• United States
16 Feb 07
Your solution sounds so simple and easy, but cell-phone abuse has clouded the picture, given teens away too much freedom and parents are simply left scratching their heads ansd wondering what their kids are really up to. Parents are cut out of the picture, and this is encouraged by public schools who don't want parents really involved in education. Jobs? Most young people have forgotten that concept until they turn 18 and the socialist safety net drops out from under them.
@emarie (5442)
• United States
16 Feb 07
society and parenting are some of the major contributions to the rise in young violence and gangs. hey, i love my cell when i was a teen myself, it wasn't even that long ago (at least i feel) and we didn't result in violence. it depends on the childs surroundings. of course if they live in a neighborhood that has a lot of gangs and crimes, the likelyhood of them becoming a gang member or getting into trouble is higher then a teen growing up in a safer comminuty. but you can't always rule those teens out either. the home environment is probably the strongest influance any child/teen can have, positive role models can prevent any teen from acting up, also, letting them set positive goals for themselves in life and forcing them to work for it, which is something parents and teachers can encourage for children. i think any generation has a possibility of becoming 'doomed' probably a lot of people said that. teen are naturally rebellous and thats just because they are at a time in their life where they're not considered children and they're not considered adults. since we all went through this stage we all can understand.
@jahvo6 (623)
• Peru
16 Feb 07
Yeah I agree I see al these teens so disrispectful, arroagant and they din't even get good grades at school, they don't know nothing about other cultures they don't care, all they c are for is their cars, cell phones, wardrobes, joints etc. parents have to blame for this and society, bad schools of course.
• United States
16 Feb 07
What I fear now is the increasing evdience that teens, en masse, are giving up on even the concept of school. They see no value in it, they see no consequences for either cutting class or ignoring assignments over protracted periods -- but they love their cell phones.
• Italy
16 Feb 07
I don't agree with your idea. I think that this is just a wrong common point of a lot of people. As there are bad guys there are also good guys; the TV enphatize only the bad happenings...but this is not a reason to think that!
• United States
16 Feb 07
Well, the evidence is all around you unless you've been living in a cave the last five years. Yes, your point about broadcast media placing emphasis on the "bad" things is absolutely true. But cell-phone abuse and crass rudeness to others is unnecessary and can't be fully blamed on obscene and inflammatory media.
• United States
16 Feb 07
It's what the society is pushing to these kids that they are giving back, the society itself is corrupt. The world no longer recognise good behaviours anymore, we embrase more wrongs and evil these days than good. If it's not BAD, then it's not in vogue. Worst of all, technology is moving at a worst speed we can't even contain anymore, and most of these tools are dangerous weapons in the hands of an unguided child. Parents are not even there anymore to guide these kids, everybody is after what he can make, kids grow up practically raising themselves. It's getting worst everyday.
• United States
16 Feb 07
You have hit a home run here. Yes, young people (and I tend to defend them for the most part on this) see what society at large values, and adopts that philosophy. Secondly, you make an outstanding observation in that technology is moving at a speed that is leaving most of us behind. We are presented with a powerful tool, cell phones, which is being horrifically misused, the consequences of which we are only beginning to comprehend.
• United States
16 Feb 07
I think teenagers are only living up to their expectations. Every few generations we get these adults who think we are criminals and never trust us, it's a statiscly proven fact, and then there comes a time when children are trusted. But this is the era that we are not trusted. We only live up to your expectations of us. We have cops in our schools, teachers will never let students use the restroom because they think they are only trying to get out of class, parents never let us chill with out bf or gf because they do not trust us to make inteligent decisions. My point is that when we have all these expectations put on us we are going to live up to them. Give us a reason to behave, if you do not trust us anyway and your always paranoid then we will not try to behave. And about cell phones, I just almost got hit by a car because an ADULT was on her cell phone. So trust me when I say that adults are just as bad. Perhaps this generation is doomed at fault of the adults?
• India
16 Feb 07
Actually speaking they cant be blamed fully for this..neither can the society be blamed for this.. The change doesnt come when they turn 15 or so..but has been taking place right from their birth and it takes full form only at that age..i.e teenage..! Right from the child is born till the age of 10 or something it takes decisions called the Fundamental childhood illogical decisions..these are found out now scientifically.. These are those decisions that rule that kid's life throughout.. Depending on whether the child has taken good or bad decisions during its childhood..it turns out to a gud or bad guy..it cannot be helped coz..those decisions are programmed in the brain in the form of neuron patterns and cannot be changed surgically.. But in the recent times..scientific proof has been providing evidence for an ancient technique called deeksha or transfer of energy..by which these neurons can be altered by just placing hand on ur head..this is applicable not only for the kids or teens but also for the elders.. This kind of deekshas are given in a university called Oneness University in India..There ar special programmes for foreigners too! They are doing a great deal in shaping tommorrows world by changing and liberatig todays youth.. For more details www.onenessuniversity.org www.newbrain-newworld.com
• United States
16 Feb 07
The age of 15 tends to be a pivot point, right as a teen enters high school (if he or she even chooses to do so). There is a girl I know in a nearby town who just simply stopped going to school after she graduated from the eighth grade. She saw what was in store for her in high school and wants no part of it. Here it is, nearly spring, and she has not been in school for the entire school year. Her mom has tried to get her into an independent study, but to no avail. This girl has given up. This is very sad. But she does have a cell phone and uses it most of her waking moments.
• Romania
16 Feb 07
I think the parent are the problem because they don't have enough conversations with the kids these days, they try to find their own path in life and can take a wrong path wich they usually do, a path of coolness made by their own ideas combined with computer games, tv shows, movies and make their own fashion and look. If parents weren't that busy as to have a good and kind conversation with their kids every day for at least 30 minutes untill they reach 15 this wouldn't have happened and teenagers wouldn't be like they are today. But I disagree with tehnology being involved in this "transformation". A cell phone for example is a thing that everybody can have for conversation with whomever and wherever he/she wants because this is the future of phones.
• India
16 Feb 07
Yes this is a doomed generation and it doesnt happen all because of parents to an afeect media also plays big role On tv we see many such programmes in which kids become heroes in thier school just by doing some kool things in thier skools but in reality it is not possible . when they realize this they go thru a period of depression and try and find a new way too become kool that is becoming a high skool rebel-drinkin, drivin and smokin and breaking all th rules possible
• United States
16 Feb 07
I would not say this is a doomed generation, but a decidedly different one. After all, many in this generation are making handsome living off the cell-phone culture. As for depression, that is clearly part-and-parcel of widespread Internet distribution of whatever bad, tragic news is floating around out there, making everyone far more demoralized than circumstances merit.
• India
16 Feb 07
blame it on the adoption and apeing of the rap culture
• Philippines
15 Feb 07
nope, if there is love in their houses - which they called home. I think these boys or girls won't resort to these due to lack of attention.
• United States
16 Feb 07
There would likely be love in the home if there was a home to begin with, and our homes are disintegrating -- becoming a very low priority while teens waste away time, energy and resources on cell phones and related wasteful activities.
@tacapan (22)
• Philippines
16 Feb 07
i agree that teens nowadays are really that liberated so to speak but of course there are some who remained to be the products of old ideals and perceptions...some teens also have their own self control with regards to cell phones though i believe there are some who really viewd cell phone as their life..wat a mess indeed..
• United States
16 Feb 07
You make two excellent points. One, the "old ideals and perceptions" are precisely what is needed, not more cell phones. Second, teens are using cell phones as a replacement for what appears to be a deep emotional void in their lives. They must escape reality and tghey do it through their cell phones.
@Sadi85 (10)
• Pakistan
15 Feb 07
Crime is a learned behavior.Children learn criminal behaviors from their family and peers,as well as observe in their neighbourhoods and in the community at large.These behaviors are reinforced by what youth see on television,on the internet, in video games, movies, music videos,and what they hear in their music. When children are disciplined with severe corporal punishment or verbal abuse, or when they are physically or sexually abused, or when they witness such a behavior in their home, it is not surprising that they behave violently toward others. So efforts should be directed at dramatically decreasing the exposure of children and adolescents to crime and voilence in the home, community and through the media.As an individual is exposed to more risk factors, the probability that she or he will engage in criminal activities increases. Clearly voilence and crime leads to Crime
• United States
16 Feb 07
Yes, but if you go too far the other way and "spare the rod" as they say, kids grow up knowing that there will be zero consequences for their poor behavior at home, in school, at work and almost everywhere else. Without consequences, there is no discipline, and without discipline, society falls apart. First cars, then TV, and now cell phones -- three of the most destructive devices ever invented and the cause of God knows how much pain and suffering over the last 100 years!
1 person likes this
• Canada
16 Feb 07
So just because I am 17 years of age, that automatically makes me a criminal? As I recall, there are many prisons overpopulated with adult criminals. Adults have their share of problems too.
• United States
16 Feb 07
Hold on, and be honest: How much time do you spend on your cell phone each day? What type of "friends" do you really have? Are you burning away your educational opportunities and, therefore, severely limiting your life's potential? And the adult criminals in prison to which you refer: How did they get that way?
• United States
16 Feb 07
It is a combination of self discipline, self control, and moderation or a lack thereof.
• United States
16 Feb 07
It is even simpler than that: Delaying gratification of these impulses, even for a few hours or days, would go far in lessening the turbulent results of serious cell-phone addictions.