Youth and Laziness

[Erzengel]

When I was younger, yes I was spoiled. I always had parents who doted on me. However, during the summer, I mowed the lawn, winter I shoveled/snow blowed the driveway, and in the fall, raked the leaves.

I had several elderly neighbors, so when I was done with snow at my house, I went over theirs to help them with their driveway.

As I got older, I stopped seeing kids go door to door asking if they can shovel your walkway.

After the big snow fall after Christmas last year, after I dug myself out, I went over to the "in laws", and sighed as I looked at their long driveway trying to psyche myself up. An older guy in a truck stopped and asked if we wanted him to do the driveway for $40. Arms and back tired, we said yes.

While he was setting up, I brought up the subject of how years ago there were kids who went door to door and what happened and the guy turned to me and replied that kids today are lazy.

So I know we have a younger crowd here, well are you kids lazy?

 

[Violet Lantern]

I'm not reading all that.

 

[Aesop Rocks]

While I doubt we're the same age, Erz, I can clearly see what you mean.

Going off of the shoveling driveways thing, that's literally exactly how it was around my old neighborhood. As I grew up, the effort to go out and shovel driveways for a few extra bucks totally went down the crapper. Which sucks because the people I knew around us were paying a good $50 for their driveways to be cleared.

I don't think it's people being lazy, so much as it is people just...not caring.

Dad: "Go shovel the driveway"
Kid: "ugh, no".

3 hours later
Kid: "why the F can't I get my car out of the drive?!".

 

[Violet Lantern]

When my brother, who is 10 years older, was a teenager it was VERY common for teenagers to have a part-time job during High School. I never had one(now, granted, I didn't get a car until about a month before graduation so it's kind of hard to hold a job without your own wheels when you lived out in the country like I did). And most of the other teenagers I knew didn't have one.

Then again, that may not be all laziness. Part of it is economics I think. The types of jobs teenagers go after have been increasingly grabbed up by more qualified, older but underemployed people and immigrants.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

With a decreasing need to do simple tasks physically/in person anymore thanks to the convenience of the internet and smartphones; things that require a greater deal of effort(like shoveling snow for example) seem like one of Hercules' 12 labors.

 

[JStorm]

I don't blame the kids, I blame the parents. Maybe not a direct correlation to your question, Erz, but the story makes a decent point:

At Mass last week, a kid - maybe ten - sat with his father in front of me. Sure - I know church can be boring for youngsters, but the kid steadily remained restless. About 3/4 the way through a ONE HOUR service, the kid got out of his seat and knelt down on the ground. Keep in mind, it wasn't time to pray.

In an attempt to not draw attention, I'm sure, the father tapped the kid and told him to get in his seat. Immediately, the kid turned, rolled his eyes and said "I'm sick of sitting. . gosh!!" The father did nothing.

Sure, I'm being presumptuous, but I feel safe in assuming that the kid did not get any punishment for his attitude, hence the attitude in the first place.

Had that been any of of the Storm boys, Pop would have picked us up, firmly placing us in our seat with a look of death stating "test me, boy; I dare you."


In short, I didn't have the luxury of being lazy.

 

[Violet Lantern]

I was a very, very lazy kid. The funny thing though is, I think I WANTED chores, I wanted more structure but my parents just wouldn't do it. They wouldn't let me help. They were the type that they'd rather just do everything themselves, than mess with having to show me how to do it. They were nice, loving parents but when I started to get older and needing to take on more responsibilities I was woefully unprepared for it.

 

[Erzengel]

One of best lines I heard, after the NY Giants won the Super bowl was how many fathers went to bed after watching Archie Manning raise not 1 but 2 Superbowl MVPS, looked at their fat, unmotivated, PS3 playing sons and wondered where it all went wrong.

 

[Violet Lantern]

As much as I love video games I think they are one of the causes of the rise in childhood obesity. It's weird though, we had video games as kids(well assuming you're under 35ish) and yet we'd also make time to play outside. Unlike these little ****ers today. I swear all my little 2nd cousins, nephews, nieces etc. do is play inside.

 

[Aesop Rocks]

My nephews have a PS3 and a 360. They're always outside doing physical activity.

Because their mom makes them.

 

[Erzengel]

I had a Nintendo and a PS1.

 

[Watson]

At my parents house kids still go around and shovel for us (usually I give them a dollar or so for their troubles).

But this is really why apartment living is wonderful.

 

[Aesop Rocks]

I had a Nintendo and a PS1.

Either you're a hipster way too into nostalgia, or you're just THAT old.

 

[Violet Lantern]

He said he HAD a Nintendo and PS1.

And I'd freaking love to have some old school systems. Old school games rule.

I'm not a Hipster. At all.

 

[Prison Mike]

I had a Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Nintendo 64, Playstation 2 and now 3.

 

[Aesop Rocks]

lol u 2 so mad rite now.

I had a Nintendo and a PS1 too. And then a PS2, and Xbox, and 360.

 

[Violet Lantern]

I had a Sega Genesis, SNES, PSone, Nintendo 64, PS2 and now PS3.

I'm not mad. I just didn't want anyone thinking I'm a goddamn hipster. lol

 

[Warhammer]

I'd say I'm a slacker...in school. However, I know whether it is school work, yard work, etc., if it needs to be done, it gets done.

 

[Scourge2099]

I had a Nintendo , SNES , Sega , Gameboy and PS1. Now I have a PS2 and a PSP.

 

[JAK®]

As much as I love video games I think they are one of the causes of the rise in childhood obesity. It's weird though, we had video games as kids(well assuming you're under 35ish) and yet we'd also make time to play outside. Unlike these little ****ers today. I swear all my little 2nd cousins, nephews, nieces etc. do is play inside.

From my experience kids are always the same, and adults are always complaining about them.

 

[Warhammer]

Wait a sec, Erz...you're like 25 or 26 right?

 

[Violet Lantern]

Wait a sec, Erz...you're like 25 or 26 right?

Oh is he?

It IS a bit funny when people in their 20s tries to act like some sort of elder statesman. You're still just a kid yourself, Erz. As am I(I'm 23), and anyone else under 30 IMO.

 

[Warhammer]

Haha I mean, for all I know he could be 36. But he just never seemed like it to me. Hopefully, he takes that as a compliment.

 

[The Mast]

I'm not going to be one of those guys who says everything was better back in the day.

Nostalgia is great, but that only occurs because youth is good and now that is fading further and further with every second.

Today we have better...pretty much everything. I can get in the bus and carry a device in my pocket, no bigger than my palm, that has access to the internet and everything on it. How can ANYONE glance at something like an iPhone and say anything in the past was "better", objectively?

However, I DO think there's an inherent laziness now. Things have become so convenient that even things that are NOT inconvenient, seem so.

It's not a big deal for me to stroll down the street to my friend's house and play multiplayer games, traditionally. Do I? More often than not I'll just hop on Xbox Live. The same can be seen with the advent of illegal downloading, which has pushed forward the need for legal downloading.

People, not just kids, do not often have the attention spans to sit and listen to entire albums anymore. Thus, they have iPod Shuffles.

It's a contradiction, because people are making more of an effort to make sure they don't have to do much, I think.

Convenience is great, but not at the cost of genuinely valuable practises. I know someone who feels that it's a genuine concern, at some point in the future, that kids may completely lose penmanship due to digitising. Sooner or later kids will just be bringing laptops to school and writing everything on there, maybe.

Youth have always sought the laziest avenues. I guess the worry now is that it's spreading to everyone under the guise of convenience. The gadgets and wonderous devices we have that make things convenient? They probably wouldn't exist if EVERYONE was so lazy. I feel our convenience inventions will inevitably cause a massive slowdown in intellectual creativity and advancement.

 

[JAK®]

I've read that people don't have shorter attention spans nowadays as much as we can now process information much more quickly.