“Lazy Generation?”

ManlyMinute wrote:I even believe video games help people cognively progress. Any takers?

Yeah, I'll take this one on. I've got a Psych degree. Playing video games incessantly and spending a lot of time on the computer has been linked to higher rates of ADHD.

Incidentally, if you volunteer, good for you, but don't assume that none of us volunteer, or make significant contributions to society. This post and thread is nothing personal, so don't take it that way.

Marquisse pretty much summed up what I'm seeing right here:

Marquisse wrote:Many of the techie generation and beyond suffer from Entitlement Elephantitis, and are far beyond any help your local rugby team volunteers may offer. However, by far the most interesting to me is how they want to be President and CEO in their entry-level positions, and get miffed when they are sent fetching coffee, indignant that their English Lit degree hasn't offered them the corner office. I will give them this though, they have created a new texting language because it was just too darned frustrating to communicate in proper English. Kudos on that.....who's lazy again?

In my opinion, technology itself isn't the problem. It's the way society has decided to raise the next generation. Technology is great, but it's no substitute for parenting, and getting them regular exercise.

ManlyMinute wrote:Usually when people have an issue about something and like to complain about it, I like to ask those people what they're doing about it.

Well that's good, trying to get people to solve a problem. Everyone has to take responsibility for themselves, and for raising their kids... and what hwybear expressed in the original post that started this pissing contest was that a lot of parents are not. And, the problem is, you can't really go over and parent someone else's kid for them. I can lead a horse to water but I can't make it drink.

We're all dragged down by their lack of parenting, though. Society does not benefit from having people who are lazy, immature and have no sense of responsibility, but an inflated sense of entitlement, try to take the reins to lead us into the future.

Marquisse wrote:Speaking of having to figure things out ourselves and maturing, Radar Identified, my cousin went to war with a cab company because her 24 year old was so drunk one night that she couldn't take money out of her ATM, so the cabbie took her iPod as payment. Rather than cousin's daughter call and fight it herself, her mother did for her! At 24, she is old enough to put out her own fires.

This is exactly what I was referring to in parents fighting their kids battles for them. At 24, she's more than old enough to deal with that. Good grief. No offence to your cousin, but WTF?!

I cannot do "anything" save and except where it concerns my own child.

Soooo, this is not intended to lead someone to believe that you aren't doing anything to help this global issue?

Playing video games incessantly and spending a lot of time on the computer has been linked to higher rates of ADHD.

Isn't video game playing also proven to improve visual spacial skills, reaction time, fine motor reflexes, and other such skills. Not being snooty here I'm actually asking a direct question.

So if this were true then video games aren't entirely evil and may even be considered useful, provided we can find a solution to the ADHD problem.

And Marquisse if you believe that I am an all high and mighty, cocky, arrogant youth then you must understand that those were not my intentions. Unfortunately words can only convey so much personal expression and if you have taken what I have said as a personal stab then I'm sorry and I'll drop this topic altogether.

Unfortunately words can only convey so much personal expression

Hhhhmmmmm, isn't this the issue we are arguing?

Anywho, the problems with technology today is that it offers instant gratification. You want to know now you have it, need info google it, sports scores on your phone, your friends cell message away.

So when Jimmy Newgrad, from da skool of better then u, comes to the office for the first day, his view is skewed and non-realistic. I have always found that reality lessons are the toughest.

Marquisse wrote:Speaking of having to figure things out ourselves and maturing, Radar Identified, my cousin went to war with a cab company because her 24 year old was so drunk one night that she couldn't take money out of her ATM, so the cabbie took her iPod as payment. Rather than cousin's daughter call and fight it herself, her mother did for her! At 24, she is old enough to put out her own fires.

This is exactly what I was referring to in parents fighting their kids battles for them. At 24, she's more than old enough to deal with that. Good grief. No offence to your cousin, but WTF?!

I know. WTF is an understatement. I can share so much more but I'm afraid the stories are so bizarre that they might make my cousin identifiable on the 'net. They also know I belong to a forum that talks about HTA issues, so I'll leave it at that.

anyway.... Blackhawks or Flyers?

ManlyMinute wrote:Isn't video game playing also proven to improve visual spacial skills, reaction time, fine motor reflexes, and other such skills.

Reaction time: No.

Visuo-spatial skills: Yes, generally.

Fine motor reflexes: Not to the point of being detectable.

Visual perception ability: Yes, generally.

However, there are a limited set of occupations that require good reaction time and visuo-spatial skills, etc. It would, theoretically, "prime" you with a skill set to be a better driver (visuo-spatial skills)... assuming you're not text-messaging.

It also depends upon what type of video game you're playing. There's a big difference between playing World of Warcraft, Battlechess or some of the combat games.

hwybear wrote:anyway.... Blackhawks or Flyers?

With Philly coming back from a 3-0 deficit vs. Boston... I'll say Flyers in six.

hwybear wrote:anyway.... Blackhawks or Flyers?

Blackhawks in 7...... should be a good series.

Radar Identified wrote:

ManlyMinute wrote:I even believe video games help people cognively progress. Any takers?

Yeah, I'll take this one on. I've got a Psych degree. Playing video games incessantly and spending a lot of time on the computer has been linked to higher rates of ADHD.

Incidentally, if you volunteer, good for you, but don't assume that none of us volunteer, or make significant contributions to society. This post and thread is nothing personal, so don't take it that way.

Marquisse pretty much summed up what I'm seeing right here:

Marquisse wrote:Many of the techie generation and beyond suffer from Entitlement Elephantitis, and are far beyond any help your local rugby team volunteers may offer. However, by far the most interesting to me is how they want to be President and CEO in their entry-level positions, and get miffed when they are sent fetching coffee, indignant that their English Lit degree hasn't offered them the corner office. I will give them this though, they have created a new texting language because it was just too darned frustrating to communicate in proper English. Kudos on that.....who's lazy again?

In my opinion, technology itself isn't the problem. It's the way society has decided to raise the next generation. Technology is great, but it's no substitute for parenting, and getting them regular exercise.

ManlyMinute wrote:Usually when people have an issue about something and like to complain about it, I like to ask those people what they're doing about it.

Well that's good, trying to get people to solve a problem. Everyone has to take responsibility for themselves, and for raising their kids... and what hwybear expressed in the original post that started this pissing contest was that a lot of parents are not. And, the problem is, you can't really go over and parent someone else's kid for them. I can lead a horse to water but I can't make it drink.

We're all dragged down by their lack of parenting, though. Society does not benefit from having people who are lazy, immature and have no sense of responsibility, but an inflated sense of entitlement, try to take the reins to lead us into the future.

Marquisse wrote:Speaking of having to figure things out ourselves and maturing, Radar Identified, my cousin went to war with a cab company because her 24 year old was so drunk one night that she couldn't take money out of her ATM, so the cabbie took her iPod as payment. Rather than cousin's daughter call and fight it herself, her mother did for her! At 24, she is old enough to put out her own fires.

This is exactly what I was referring to in parents fighting their kids battles for them. At 24, she's more than old enough to deal with that. Good grief. No offence to your cousin, but WTF?!

Awesome response.

I'm 24. I grew up in one of very few households with Internet - both of my parents are academics and affiliated with the local university, which offered dial-up in the early 90s. We've always had several computers and many games.

With that in mind, I was incorrectly diagnosed as having ADD as a child but it turned out that i just had an exceptionally high IQ and school activities were not intellectually stimulating enough to keep me from being bored.

I did a lot of volunteering, participated in sports, rebelled against authority, played road hockey, rode my bicycle everywhere, played the occasional video game and watched a bit of TV, with millions more activities in between.

Today I fight my own battles and (like to think) I make good decisions for ONE reason and ONE alone:

My parents understood the value in not giving me everything I wanted all the time. There was discipline and a very strong sense of authority with them. I couldn't bargain with them and once a decision was made, I was unable to argue with it (no matter how good I was at arguing).

Don't get me wrong, I had everything I needed, but my parents understood that they knew better about what I needed than I did, and were not afraid to say no to me.

When I got myself into trouble, my parents guided me on the correct course of action. If I was wrong, they told me why they would not support my actions and would often punish me accordingly. If I was victimized, they took my side only after it became obvious that it wasn't by some fault of my own, but if I was able to fight the battle myself, they often let me.

Now that I'm a little bit older, some of my friends and family members are starting to have kids, and it seems so bizarre to observe people bargaining with their kids, or treating a 2-year-old like an adult and trying to reason with them, giving them more authority than they know what to do with.

Currently, I'm entrusted to make important decisions for my family, but if I mess up, the onus lies on me to correct my actions. Responsibility/accountability has been a running theme in my personal experience.

I absolutely blame the parents for I'd say probably 80+% of behavioural issues that arise in today's youth.

In fact, some of the uber-spoiled kids that I envied (and who probably made fun of me) when I was younger, are incapable of doing anything for themselves now, or live in a perpetual sense of entitlement, and have the idea that everyone/society/the world owes them things.

At the end of the day, as much as kids need to be creative and express themselves effectively, they crave structure at a young age. The problem is simply that they are too young to know that. They WANT play time all the time, but what they need is some sense of structure. An excellent way to gain this sense of structure is through sports, proper scheduling, some rules, and consequences for inappropriate behaviour. Play is important but it should not dominate any person's life.

Anyway, that's my opinion FWIW. I like to think I'm a pretty well-balanced young person, and this has been my interpretation of why.[/u][/i]

Well said Slyk...

Slyk wrote:In fact, some of the uber-spoiled kids that I envied (and who probably made fun of me) when I was younger, are incapable of doing anything for themselves now, or live in a perpetual sense of entitlement, and have the idea that everyone/society/the world owes them things.

This is a much bigger problem than people realize. In fact, today my wife and I stopped in to York University's parking office. (She's going back to school for her third degree... different story...) The receptionist was busy on the phone with a parent, whose kid had received a parking ticket. Pardon me for sounding unreasonably violent, but I wanted to reach through the phone and slap the parent. The kid is university-aged, he can fight his own friggin' battles!!!

I also happen to know a woman who was sheltered during her younger years. Her mom insisted on fighting all of her battles for her. Some times, kids do need guidance and help, but we're talking about high-school stuff that most kids (myself included) dealt with on our own. When she was cut loose into the working world, she ended up on leave (and, for a while, medication), because the stresses of the adult working world were far too great to handle. And it was not a particularly stressful job, either. How was her life made any better by having to learn how to deal with life at the age of 25? How did society benefit from her lost productivity? Life is tough and it's not fair, but parents need to properly prepare their kids for it, not always cuddle and shield them.

Anyway... how this pertains to driving... remember Tim Mulcahy? He did not parent his child. He bought him a 430-horsepower Audi S4. His son bragged about speeding and driving fast and racing. He didn't take his keys. His son died in a car crash that inspired "Premier Daddy" McGuinty to impose a restriction that no driver under the age of 21 could have any alcohol in their blood when driving. Conversely, recently we heard of a 19-year-old in Vaughan who bragged of going 140 in a 40 zone with the car his parents bought for him. His parents made a mistake, but they fixed it: When they found out what their son did, they took his car. Permanently. No messing around there.

Some of it can be outright unbelievable sometimes....

I wonder where the shift happened on a societal level. Like, I somehow doubt that a lot of people in the 1950s and 1960s North America were spoiling their kids to the degree that is more common today.

Am I wrong? I'm too young to actually know for sure, but I feel like my generation's parents always lectured about how things were different when they were growing up and how it was societally/culturally expected for children to have responsibilities and enjoy simpler luxuries rather than the way it is now...

ManlyMinute wrote:Isn't video game playing also proven to improve visual spacial skills, reaction time, fine motor reflexes, and other such skills.

Online NASCAR racing clearly improves one's driving skills

(except that one time... see avatar)

Bookm wrote:

ManlyMinute wrote:Isn't video game playing also proven to improve visual spacial skills, reaction time, fine motor reflexes, and other such skills.

Online NASCAR racing clearly improves one's driving skills

(except that one time... see avatar)

So you are really good turning to the left and going around in circles!!

I like how parents of today always seem to blame others for thier childrens actions or in this case inaction.

Lazy parents, lazy kids.

My brother children are active in sports, thier tv and video gaming time is restricted.

If parents were more active this thier kids lives instead of treating them like pets or accessories we'd all be better off.

thats my two cents.

and when you thought it couldn't get worse........

Premier open to allowing cellphones in class

Ontario schoolboards should keep an open mind when it comes to allowing cellphones in classrooms, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Wednesday.

"Telephones and BlackBerrys and the like are conduits for information today, and one of the things we want our students to do is to be well-informed," McGuinty told reporters. "And it's something that we should be looking at in our schools."

The Toronto District School Board, one of the largest schoolboards in the country, is considering a review of its cellphone policy which bans their use in the classroom and requires students turn them off during class.

The board is looking at ways to make cellphone use more acceptable in the classroom, such as letting students use them to take notes, according to spokesperson Kelly Baker.

The premiers comments have been heavily criticized by opposition leaders, especially in light of his governments recent legislation banning drivers from using cellphones and other hand-held devices behind the wheel, and his own personal ban on the use of communications devices in his cabinet meetings.

McGuinty admits that while communications devices can be a distraction for adults and children alike, he says there is a "right way" to use them.

Cell phones in class to take notes? is a big NO NO!

The very last thing a kid who is trying to learn needs a cell phone...like hellooo!