As I listened to the webinar, there were some things that stuck out to me. One was I felt like sometimes it felt like our generation was being viewed as worse than previous generation. Something I wondered when I was listening was if loneliness, depression, and anxiety rates are really higher today, or is it just more acceptable to be open about how you feel. I didn’t relate to some of the things that were being said about our generation. For example, I don’t think my time with friends or social skills have been affected by the time I spend online. I spend a lot of time online, but I still hung out with my friends and talked to people face to face all the time. I know that it is possible that there are plenty of kids missing out on those things, my experiences have been different. I found it odd that one of the negatives of how our generation is raised is how we won’t be as experienced is drinking and sex from a younger age. I would assume that you wouldn’t want your children drinking before the age of 21 or at all, but it seemed like she was saying it is a good thing to experience things like that early on, so you’re smarter and more experienced when doing those things. . This is a very different way of thinking than what I’ve been taught and experienced.
I also noticed that “adult” experiences were portrayed as somehow desirable in teens. As a GenXer, I understand that view point because the concept was that young people would experiment with some things and push boundaries. One example that still seems to be glorified is that of the high-speed race. In the 50s, this type of contest was a proving ground with some teens. In the 80s, it was still happening to some extent, and now it is still glorified in movies. In my observations, I agree that behaviors that are risky and illegal are less acceptable in the mainstream. Thanks for your thoughts, John!