The Internet Generation

[Mjoll Abuser]

The internet generation AKA the douche bag generation

1. Smoke pot
2. Wear a drawstring back pack, preferably with tight jeans and a baseball cap
3. Facebook is a vital part of life
4. Learn as little about history as possible
5. Celebrities like Drake and Lady Gaga are legitimate role models


Feel free to list more...

 

[theoperation]

I think it's unfair to generalize an entire generation like that. I am young and belong to the 'internet generation', and I

1. Smoked pot twice and hated both times.
2. Do not even own any of those three items.
3. Probably spend more time of this website than Facebook.
4. Have completed two history classes (one on the enlightenment in Europe & North America, and another on Aboriginal History) as my electives at university and continue to read books relating to history, watch history documentaries and enjoy taking time to see various historical buildings and sites around my local area.
5. Don't know who Drake is and know very little about Lady Gaga other than the odd song or two I've heard while at some god awful nightclub.

In our collective favourite game, not every Altmer supports the Thalmor, not every Nord is a big dumb mead drinking barbarian, and not every Dunmer is a daedra worshipping necromancer. In fact, only a few members of those races actually fit the stereotypes, and each of the races seem to have more in common than not.

You can apply those principles to real life. Art imitates life, and whether or not they meant to, the writers of Skyrim actually did a great job reflecting racism and negative stereotypes found in the real world into a video game.

Okay, what I'm trying to say is; do not let these ideas cloud your judgement about the actual true nature of young people. We're not all the same. And we share more similarities with the older generations than differences.

 

[Omega Dragon]

Every generation has their good and bad.

1. Cannabis is far better than 90% of the stuff people have consumed on an average basis their whole lives.
2. That does sound silly... but I remember when I used a military backpack in school.
3. It does suck so many people use Facebook, but it's doomed anyways.
4. People all throughout history learn little to nothing about history; I can consider myself an exception to the rule: why the hell should I give a plops about most of history or politics when all I want to do is get into computers, computer technology, & programming? Yet somehow, I do.
5. I remember growing up being told that Arnold Schwarzeneggar, Sylvester Stallone, Sigourney Weaver, Hulk Hogan, John Travolta, Chuck Norris, Tom Cruise, Steven Seagal, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, etc. were bad role models. I remember growing up being told that any number of Metal/Hardrock bands even before my time were Satanic.

 

[Mjoll Abuser]

I think it's unfair to generalize an entire generation like that. I am young and belong to the 'internet generation', and I

1. Smoked pot twice and hated both times.
2. Do not even own any of those three items.
3. Probably spend more time of this website than Facebook.
4. Have completed two history classes (one on the enlightenment in Europe & North America, and another on Aboriginal History) as my electives at university and continue to read books relating to history, watch history documentaries and enjoy taking time to see various historical buildings and sites around my local area.
5. Don't know who Drake is and know very little about Lady Gaga other than the odd song or two I've heard while at some god awful nightclub.

So you did smoke pot and you do have a Facebook...haha just kidding. I am actually in the internet generation myself and just was listing some observations I have noticed about a vast majority of kids my age who I have observed in school. Obviously not every single person fits this description, but I am willing to bet more kids than not have tried pot, are very ignorant to history (even recent history), listen and/or look up to drug addicted, low life singers and celebrities, and most likely wear douchey clothes such as tight jeans, hoodies, hollister, white sunglasses, baseball hats, etc.

Just my two cents of course!

 

[Mjoll Abuser]

People all throughout history learn little to nothing about history;

I have to disagree, just decades ago the average young person was quite knowledgeable of US history, wars, and politics. The reason for this is that the internet was not available to instantly look up anything you like. In today's world if someone wants to discuss politics or history, you just have to look it up on your iphone. The internet has dumbed down young people quite tremendously. If you don't think so, than try asking the next teenager you see about WWII. Odds are they will say "it was the war when we killed the nazi guys"
Or ask them who President Lincoln was: "he was the guy with the hat who freed the slaves". Watch videos on youtube of people interviewing our generation, its really sad...

 

[Omega Dragon]

So you did smoke pot and you do have a Facebook...haha just kidding. I am actually in the internet generation myself and just was listing some observations I have noticed about a vast majority of kids my age who I have observed in school. Obviously not every single person fits this description, but I am willing to bet more kids than not have tried pot, are very ignorant to history (even recent history), listen and/or look up to drug addicted, low life singers and celebrities, and most likely wear douchey clothes such as tight jeans, hoodies, hollister, white sunglasses, baseball hats, etc.

Just my two cents of course!

Fair enough.

I've never done drugs nor smoke and aside from smoking cannabis or cuban cigars (as far as cuban cigars go, my old man smuggled them during the 1970s, so I was introduced to the smell growing up in the late-80s/early-90s) or getting injected with speed (I had been medically prescribed speed a long time ago after a medical incident), I've no real interest. I do drink though, and was introduced to the bar scene when I was a kid; my first drink was a Budweiser during a New Years Eve party when I was like 8 or 9 and my second was a Tequila glass when I was like 11~12 while having a family vacation in Mexico, and I went to several bars before I even turned 18 and not once was asked for my ID until after I turned 21.

I have a Facebook only because of one reason: everyone I know has it. I've an account with nearly every social network by now, and quite frankly nothing is more overrated than Facebook. It is complete trash, and even worse that people seem to have no problem supporting it despite the majority of bugs users are experiencing every day, bugs which detract from the core features of a social network itself.

I have to disagree, just decades ago the average young person was quite knowledgeable of US history, wars, and politics. The reason for this is that the internet was not available to instantly look up anything you like. In today's world if someone wants to discuss politics or history, you just have to look it up on your iphone. The internet has dumbed down young people quite tremendously. If you don't think so, than try asking the next teenager you see about WWII. Odds are they will say "it was the war when we killed the nazi guys"

Or ask them who President Lincoln was: "he was the guy with the hat who freed the slaves". Watch videos on youtube of people interviewing our generation, its really sad...

Maybe, but with the internet, the government has less monopoly on the truth than ever before. Before it came along: the average person hardly ever questioned Abraham Lincoln in the north, in the south people hardly questioned the confederacy's motives for secession. The average person also hardly questioned Pearl Harbor. Even fewer people were likely to question the Revolutionary war. But because of the internet, people actually have the ability to look up and find a million different things every single day that even just ten years ago no one thought possible.

This is where I also get into the Wikipedia vs. Encyclopedia debate (I know I'm steering off-topic): I'm not against encyclopedias, but even if they truly have had a lower error rate as some want to claim, the smallest error is far more damaging to a physical medium like an encyclopedia. Whereas, with a wikipedia system, not only can any such error be easily fixed, but people can actually find discussion about the error and /why/ it's an error and from that they can learn far more than what any individual can learn if an encyclopedia were error-less.

Yeah, maybe the generation itself is a problem. But again, every generation claims another generation has done everything wrong or doesn't do something enough. Personally, I find no generation worse than baby boomers themselves: they talk about how every generation since Gen-X (and I'm saying this while I do have my own problems with the new generations too) is taking us all down to hell, yet they just want to retire on the dole of the new generations all the same.

 

[Punz]

I just think that the use of the Internet has made people less smarter than previous generations, like Mjoll Abuser said. Not that they are not well informed, but that they are not retaining as much information in their brain, as say someone who hasn't grown up with the Internet, academic wise.

Example:

Solve for X
2x - 5 = 10

From what I've been told by my nephews, most students no longer have to show their work for math problems at their school. They simply input the problem into the calculator and BAM, they get the answer. Now, when I was in High School and College, we had the same calculators, although not as sophisticated, but we were required to show our work.

Same with reading. There are websites that just summarize the main points of the books, making actual reading useless for the test. Reading books helps a person with Word Knowledge, Paragraph Comprehension and it increases your vocabulary.

Nothing is being taught. Nothing is be retained. That's my only gripe about the Internet Generation. God forbid Google shutdown for a week. Having the information at the ready v.s. Knowing the information already. That is the issue.

But maybe that's just the way of the world. Maybe we are evolving away from Academic Studies and to a more Artist realm of thinking. But when a College Sophomore needs the Internet to explain the difference between Your and You're, something is wrong.

 

[sticky runes]

I've got a new one to add, which is fairly important.

In the old days, you had to be physically tough if you wanted to intimidate someone. Now thanks to the internet age, and sites like imdb and gamefaqs, we have cyber-bullying, where even the gawkiest little pissant can become a thug and sling abuse at people they never have to make eye contact with, from the safety of his keyboard.

 

[Mjoll Abuser]

Maybe, but with the internet, the government has less monopoly on the truth than ever before. Before it came along: the average person hardly ever questioned Abraham Lincoln in the north, in the south people hardly questioned the confederacy's motives for secession. The average person also hardly questioned Pearl Harbor. Even fewer people were likely to question the Revolutionary war. But because of the internet, people actually have the ability to look up and find a million different things every single day that even just ten years ago no one thought possible.

This is where I also get into the Wikipedia vs. Encyclopedia debate (I know I'm steering off-topic): I'm not against encyclopedias, but even if they truly have had a lower error rate as some want to claim, the smallest error is far more damaging to a physical medium like an encyclopedia. Whereas, with a wikipedia system, not only can any such error be easily fixed, but people can actually find discussion about the error and /why/ it's an error and from that they can learn far more than what any individual can learn if an encyclopedia were error-less.

Yeah, maybe the generation itself is a problem. But again, every generation claims another generation has done everything wrong or doesn't do something enough. Personally, I find no generation worse than baby boomers themselves: they talk about how every generation since Gen-X (and I'm saying this while I do have my own problems with the new generations too) is taking us all down to hell, yet they just want to retire on the dole of the new generations all the same.

Great points Punz, thanks for the discussion!

 

[Mjoll Abuser]

I've got a new one to add, which is fairly important.

In the old days, you had to be physically tough if you wanted to intimidate someone. Now thanks to the internet age, and sites like imdb and gamefaqs, we have cyber-bullying, where even the gawkiest little pissant can become a thug and sling abuse at people they never have to make eye contact with, from the safety of his keyboard.

Cyber bullying is perhaps one of the internet's worst aspects...even deadly at times. I hear about people committing suicide over cyber bullying all the time.

 

[Omega Dragon]

I've got a new one to add, which is fairly important.

In the old days, you had to be physically tough if you wanted to intimidate someone. Now thanks to the internet age, and sites like imdb and gamefaqs, we have cyber-bullying, where even the gawkiest little peasant can become a thug and sling abuse at people they never have to make eye contact with, from the safety of his keyboard.

Yet, it's even easier to deal with "bullying" now. People just don't want to use the tools given to them.

Sure, there are some legitimate cases of cyberbullying, but having been physically bullied back in elementary school (oh let me tell you... no, I'm not going to say a thing more) I just think cyberbullying gets too much attention.

 

[theoperation]

So you did smoke pot and you do have a Facebook...haha just kidding. I am actually in the internet generation myself and just was listing some observations I have noticed about a vast majority of kids my age who I have observed in school. Obviously not every single person fits this description, but I am willing to bet more kids than not have tried pot, are very ignorant to history (even recent history), listen and/or look up to drug addicted, low life singers and celebrities, and most likely wear douchey clothes such as tight jeans, hoodies, hollister, white sunglasses, baseball hats, etc.

Just my two cents of course!

I understand where you are coming from, feeling like one of the only people around that has a brain. I think three of your points are (I'm using a fairly long bow for this) valid, that being about pot usage (I think alcohol abuse is a far, far bigger problem among the youth though), Facebook addiction and ignorance to history.

But the other two, well fashion is purely subjective. You may not like the fashion (I also don't, hence me not owning any) but there's nothing inherently wrong with people wearing clothes that look different to the clothes I wear. 60 odd years ago people scoffed at the youth wearing jeans and t-shirts instead of suits. But now it doesn't appear to be a problem. Just live with it, they aren't hurting anyone.

And I never thought I'd be defending Lady Gaga as I think her music is tripe, but 40 odd years ago they were saying the same about Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix. Now I know they have talent and Gaga does not, but many of the old swing and jazz fans thought those guys were talentless drug addicts and were terrible role models, but today they are musical legends. I used to be critical of the hordes of awful commercial music fans, but now I think "what's the harm"?

 

[sticky runes]

Yet, it's even easier to deal with "bullying" now. People just don't want to use the tools given to them.

Sure, there are some legitimate cases of cyberbullying, but having been physically bullied back in elementary school (oh let me tell you... no, I'm not going to say a thing more) I just think cyberbullying gets too much attention.

I was bullied at school as well, and yes I hated it, but its in my past now. Of course, it is still an issue for a lot of young people and is a matter that should be taken very seriously.

But as a person who frequently uses the internet (for both work and leisure), I am still prone to cyber attacks from complete strangers, and I still see a lot of cyber disbutes going on, and it's very disturbing. You join an online community to chat with people who have similar interests to you, whether it's a video game or movie or TV show or muscian, and you end up having petty disputes which can get really ugly.

I think one of the differences is, that physical and verbal disputes happen in real time, and if someone in the same room is bothering you, you have a chance to fight back and take them by surprise and they may even learn their lesson and back off. With online disputes, if someone aims a nasty comment at you and you make a comment back, they have time to compose themselves and analyse what you've said and twist it around so they can type up an even nastier response, and it can just go on and on.

And you can become a troll or cyber bully without even realising it. I've typed nasty messages to people before, but I wouldn't know if I've really upset them because I'm not faced with the person or looking them in the eye, I'm just looking at a screen with text all over it. I had to remind myself - that's not me, I wouldn't treat people like that in person, so i have no right to become a cyber bully to someone.

 

[Punz]

I was bullied at school as well, and yes I hated it, but its in my past now. Of course, it is still an issue for a lot of young people and is a matter that should be taken very seriously.

But as a person who frequently uses the internet (for both work and leisure), I am still prone to cyber attacks from complete strangers, and I still see a lot of cyber disbutes going on, and it's very disturbing. You join an online community to chat with people who have similar interests to you, whether it's a video game or movie or TV show or muscian, and you end up having petty disputes which can get really ugly.

I think one of the differences is, that physical and verbal disputes happen in real time, and if someone in the same room is bothering you, you have a chance to fight back and take them by surprise and they may even learn their lesson and back off. With online disputes, if someone aims a nasty comment at you and you make a comment back, they have time to compose themselves and analyse what you've said and twist it around so they can type up an even nastier response, and it can just go on and on.

And you can become a troll or cyber bully without even realising it. I've typed nasty messages to people before, but I wouldn't know if I've really upset them because I'm not faced with the person or looking them in the eye, I'm just looking at a screen with text all over it. I had to remind myself - that's not me, I wouldn't treat people like that in person, so i have no right to become a cyber bully to someone.

Ah, remember the good old days when you were getting bullied in school then one day, you snapped and whooped their ass? I do and it was a great feeling. I've never been a tall guy, so I was picked on in elementary through High School. Sucked big time. However, when nothing else worked. When ignoring them, telling my parents or even asking my friends to have my back, didn't stop them. I fought back. I had to. You can only poke a dog with a stick for so long. I got beat up a few times, but never was I picked on by that bully again. Nope. Not advocating violence as the definitive answer, however, some times it will solve the problem. Or escalate it.

Cyber-bullying is horrible. It amazes me when I read forums or comments just how rude and verbally violent most people are. I mean, reading YouTube comments is like watching a Jerry Springer rerun. It's sickening (and hilarious) at the same time. God forbid someone disagree with you. That person is ready to jump down your ass and take a plops. Isn't that what debates or discussions boards are for? If we agreed with everything someone said, how could anyone of us learn or see another POV on an issue?

I just think cyberbullying gets too much attention.

Perhaps, but with the way our society is now, we'll see more and more of this in our media.

 

[sticky runes]

Ah, remember the good old days when you were getting bullied in school then one day, you snapped and whooped their ass? I do and it was a great feeling. I've never been a tall guy, so I was picked on in elementary through High School. Sucked big time. However, when nothing else worked. When ignoring them, telling my parents or even asking my friends to have my back, didn't stop them. I fought back. I had to. You can only poke a dog with a stick for so long. I got beat up a few times, but never was I picked on by that bully again. Nope. Not advocating violence as the definitive answer, however, some times it will solve the problem. Or escalate it.

I had exactly that experience at school. A boy in my class would bully me - he was a friend of my friends, and they wouldn't do anything about it because their parents were all mates so i was kind of the odd one out in the group. I would come home with bruises, and my parents complained to teachers many times, and nothing changed. Even the head master was informed, and he was no help. Then one day I just lost it and pinned the boy down and punched him on the nose, gave him a nose bleed. From then on, he never bothered me again, and he would even stick up for me if I had problems with other students.

You just don't get that kind of resolution with cyber bullying. Some people won't let themselves be proved wrong, and you can't reason with them like in a normal conversation, and you can't walk up to them and beat sense into them. You can't even look at eachother and say "this is silly" and laugh it off, because that's not badass enough, they'd rather stick to putting you down and proving how superior they are. It just becomes a dreary situation.

 

[theoperation]

I had exactly that experience at school. A boy in my class would bully me - he was a friend of my friends, and they wouldn't do anything about it because their parents were all mates so i was kind of the odd one out in the group. I would come home with bruises, and my parents complained to teachers many times, and nothing changed. Even the head master was informed, and he was no help. Then one day I just lost it and pinned the boy down and punched him on the nose, gave him a nose bleed. From then on, he never bothered me again, and he would even stick up for me if I had problems with other students.

You just don't get that kind of resolution with cyber bullying. Some people won't let themselves be proved wrong, and you can't reason with them like in a normal conversation, and you can't walk up to them and beat sense into them. You can't even look at eachother and say "this is silly" and laugh it off, because that's not badass enough, they'd rather stick to putting you down and proving how superior they are. It just becomes a dreary situation.

The worst thing about cyber-bullying isn't just that you can't fight back against the bullies, it's that the bullying infiltrates into your very home. Unlike you, I never stood up against my bullies physically, although I was never bullied to the extent you were(had I been I probably would have reacted similarly). Even though I'd cop it in the playground at school, or occasionally at the beach and the skate park or football oval, I knew that when I was home they couldn't get to me.

With cyber bullying, you are bullied while at home, in the place you are supposed to feel safest in the world. Even though I had the internet when I was an adolecent, I was luckily never the subject of cyber bullying. A cousin of mine has been though and it's absolutely horrible. It's not to be downplayed. And the arguement that they should just get off Facebook and the internet, well you may as well tell a teenager to cut off their ears, those websites are everything to them, as Mjoll Abuser said to begin with. It is a problem and the more attention it gets in the media, the better.

 

[sticky runes]

The worst thing about cyber-bullying isn't just that you can't fight back against the bullies, it's that the bullying infiltrates into your very home. Unlike you, I never stood up against my bullies physically, although I was never bullied to the extent you were(had I been I probably would have reacted similarly). Even though I'd cop it in the playground at school, or occasionally at the beach and the skate park or football oval, I knew that when I was home they couldn't get to me.

With cyber bullying, you are bullied while at home, in the place you are supposed to feel safest in the world. Even though I had the internet when I was an adolecent, I was luckily never the subject of cyber bullying. A cousin of mine has been though and it's absolutely horrible. It's not to be downplayed. And the arguement that they should just get off Facebook and the internet, well you may as well tell a teenager to cut off their ears, those websites are everything to them, as Mjoll Abuser said to begin with. It is a problem and the more attention it gets in the media, the better.

Of course, thats not the only incident I had at school, there were plenty of times I was teased and never got the chance to get my own back, but like you said, when you get home, you're safe from those problems. I could go off and play video games or read my comics and be in my own little world and forget all about the crappy day I had at school.

And yes, people can be victims to cyber bullying in their own home. Kids are being bullied on their computers without their parents even knowing about it. Even in mild cases, it can be disruptive. For example, if somebody joins a forum to chat about their favourite video game, and you start bashing them about a comment they made, they're going to regret joining in the first place. You can potentially ruin somebody's interest in a subject that has previously given them a lot of pleasure.

 

[theoperation]

And yes, people can be victims to cyber bullying in their own home. Kids are being bullied on their computers without their parents even knowing about it. Even in mild cases, it can be disruptive. For example, if somebody joins a forum to chat about their favourite video game, and you start bashing them about a comment they made, they're going to regret joining in the first place. You can potentially ruin somebody's interest in a subject that has previously given them a lot of pleasure.

It seems better moderated websites help a lot. Take this forum, while trolling and bullying do sometimes happen here, it is pretty well policed. On top of that, the sort of culture here doesn't allow for it. Someone starts trolling and they pretty much get negged into oblivion. If this was the kind of forum that had a lot of trolling and bullying I would have been out of here by now, but I'm still here