Why are young people so rude and thoughtless?

Question

About 80% of the answers up to 49, CASE IN POINT.

To ML, Mich, Ceci and Sweetgal: Generalizing isn't always wrong if at least 80% of it is true, and out of 53 just about everyone on page 1 proved my point.

Answer 1

For such an open question, there is a multitude of answers. But from a point of view of a young adult I can agree that many young people can be rude and thoughtless. It is a part of their development. Over the years, the span of development has stretched out a bit. In previous decades, when children reached the age of 18, they were considered adults and many began their own families, careers and went to college, etc. They had to be members of society and respectable in order to be successful. Now days, with the way the government is, and the way society has changed, many adults are not even considered or treated as adults until they graduate from college and/or start a family. Many young people still live with their families way beyond the previous decades 18 year old.

If you are speaking in regards to those between the ages of 0 and 18, that is another matter, and all you need to do is look at the available role models for these children. Since the dawn of women's feminism and women going to the workplace, and the need now as a result of that movement for a double income home, many children are not "raised" as the once were but are now "entertained." Children are given a plethora of media to keep them occupied, and a majority of that material does not promote a positive character. Look at MTV, or many video games, or the movies that are now out on television. Children become independent by neccessity of hte parents, long before they should be "released" to the world.

As a teacher I have witnessed this rudeness and thoughfulness (all stemmed from selfishness) in the classroom on a regular basis, and unfortunately lack the parents support in discipline. On many occasions if I sent a student to the office for begin disrespectful, cussing, disrupting, etc. and the parent would request a meeting with the teacher and claim their child would never do such a thing. Unfortunately these parents did not know their children.

In other cases, these children had children for parents. Parents who were also rude and thoughless.

My guess is that if we reverted to traditionally values and morals and the structured family where there is a parent available for parenting and these parents are trained and brought up to be parents, we would see a shift back to the good ole days.

By the way, I am 26, and I am not one of those young people that are considered to be rude and thoughtless . . . but then again, i was raised with tradional values and morals, and I am determined to teach my children to be respectful, thoughtful, compassionate, and polite. Please and Thank you.

Answer 2

I'm not sure how many of that 80% of the worlds "young people" you have met, but here is another way of looking at it...

If I were a younger person right now, watching people, watching TV, news, politicians, etc... I'd be asking:

"Why are older people so rude and spiteful, and not thoughtless, but quite mindful and rehearsed at their spite?"


1) try and remember when you were young, and older folks
would show you little or no respect, and how that made you feel.

2) now multiply that by 100 and that's what today's youth have to deal with.

I have found in life, and I am about to turn 34, not young, but not old either, that I get from people exactly what I give. Perhaps if more respect and less critisizing were offered on yours or other adults, especially teachers, the results would be quite differant.

I just think most older people have lost the ability for empathy, to put themselves in others shoes, ones that were worn by them in a much easier and inocent age. Just a thought.

Answer 3

If a person is a child, it's most likely because they're learning, and their parents/educators and peers are teaching them both good and bad lessons about social etiquette and ethics. If the person is a teen, my opinion is such that they are breaking from the role of being proper and polite, they're exercising individuality and TRYING like heck to become adults. I think most people go through this phase during adolescence, it gives the individual lessons in self-esteem, self-image and how they fit in the world around them...the impact they have on others both in positive ways and negative ways. There is always the chance that the person is downright mean, rude, unkind, unhappy with themselves...they will find no happiness with others until they resolve personal issues.

Answer 4

I notice a lot of the earlier answers (screw you, *****, etc) have proven your point admirably.

Part of the reason I think is that there are no longer consequences for such behaviour, and schools/churches/parents don't seem to think that teaching manners is their job anymore. Anonymous forums such as the internet where the most ignorant social interaction is commonplace leads some to believe that such behaviour is amusing.

As far as the ignorant young people who work in customer service type jobs, they are minimum wage workers employed by large, faceless corporations who don't care about them. They feel no connection to their work, have an entitlement attitude, and little work ethic. In some ways it's not surprising, but as prevelant as it is these days, it is not universal.

There ARE polite, conscientious young people out there, but unfortunately it's the ignorant morons who make the biggest impression.

Answer 5

My young and thoughtless 14 year-old daughter led a group of her classmates, along with the help of some tireless adults, including parents and teachers, to make changes to a local pond that has a history of people drowning. The most recent victims were part of a group of friends my daughter associated with. Throughout this process, it was mandantory for her to remain thoughtful and not be rude, along with many other adult-like qualities.

My youngest daughter recently made artwork for my grandfather who passed away. We weren't able to attend the funeral, and she thought grandpa needed to know how she felt. She also made one for grandma, so she wouldn't feel left out.

Rudeness and thoughtlessness are not just traits for children or young people. Every age group has their fair share. Quit being such a prejudiced prick.

Answer 6

I think a lot of young people nowadays find it hard to think of the people around them because they have been brought up, by our modern culture in general and, to some extent, unintentionally by their parents in such an extremely consumerist society that they haven't learned anything except "I want X, Y and Z" so they are simply incapable of seeing anything else. I don't think it's really a deliberate attitude, they just have a blinkered view that can only see their own desires, they've never really been given much alternative.

Answer 7

You are making a generalization about young people. But on the other hand; the ones who are rude obvioulsy dont have parents who correct them, or maybe these young people hang out with the wrong crowds of people. I believe tv has alot to do with it as well. Younger people think it's "cool" to be rude and thoughless, they think that by acting like that makes them a better and stronger person. Thier are many reasons to this question.

Answer 8

Because our education system fails to make kids accountable for actions and centers the attention on the "all about me" theory. (Which is also what a lot of parents live under.) Bring back spats, prayer and the mandatory draft for all kids (girls and guys) over 18. A little time in a war will scare them into being nicer.

Answer 9

There are a lot of people who are rude and thoughtless, it isn't restricted to young people. You'll find more rude people online thought because it's more anonymous, there are no repercussions for their rudeness.

Just a note, I am a young person, relatively speaking, but I consider myself neither rude nor thoughtless.

Answer 10

Many are not. I blame the parents that allow them to be rude and the media for making that behavior seem "cool" to the young. My children are all well mannered and caring. Guess I did something right.