Title.
We’re kinda spoiled with “all the X we could want, whenever we want”.
It spills over. I’m bored as fuck all the time and I have lots of musical gear, a gaming pc with a steam library that has 1k games on it, a raspberry pi emulation station with thousands of classic games, a huge kickass TV with 3-4 streaming services at any given time…
I quit reddit like 5 months ago because I was tired of sitting there and bored-scrolling (among bucketloads of other reasons.) Now I bored scroll on YouTube.
It’s like emulation, for example. Your mileage may vary but I know it’s a common issue people have. When you suddenly have every nintendo game to play, it’s not the same. It’s too easy to not be satisfied and think one of the other thousand options can do it. For me it always devolves into jumping from game to game and never having the itch scratched. I think it’s like this across all media.
Teacher here. Kids want the quick dopamine hit from their phones and their school-supplied chromebooks. They do not want to take the time to try something that might be hard, and they do not want to stretch their brains at all
The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.
People said that about newspapers, too.
The issue isn’t the device, it’s the lack of restraint the kids were never taught. Of course they want that Dopamine hit. It’s free. Same reason very few people seek the satisfaction of building your table yourself, when you can buy one.
Not to say kids aren’t worse, they are, and it’s awful, but it’s a symptom, not the problem, in my opinion. The problem is they have no goals. Where do they wanna end up? The world is fucked, and most of them talk about the future as if there isn’t one. They won’t own a house, they won’t get enough to live off of with a job, a good job is locked behind ungodly amounts of debt, and the world is literally on fire. Then, the people who should fix it, the people who get elected, are selling them out for money instead of fixing it. There’s no point in doing hard things if there’s nothing to gain from it.
Kids won’t improve until the world does, because they have no reason to put down the devices. The devices offer a hollow life, and that’s more than real life is willing to give them.
Sorry about the rant, I just think it’s important to keep the focus on the problem. Kids engage wherever they get the most reward. It’s our job, not teachers, to make real life better, and it can be. Until then, sorry about the kids. I’m trying to raise mine to value what there is to value, but they definitely suck right now, even if it’s not their fault.
^
You can upvote instead of making an entire comment, FYI
Gee thanks, I didn’t know that
I remember being bored out if my mine as kid. Pre internet days, and older brothers hogging the Nintendo. When I had nothing to do I’d just feel terrible, I’d mope around the house. I’d take things apart or act out just to get some kind of stimulation. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Let the kids have some entertainment.
