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> Teens are aware that they are going to inherit a pretty terrible world, and are powerless to do anything about it. I don't mean to come across as snarky, but
by tapanjk 4y ago
> Teens are aware that they are going to inherit a pretty terrible world, and are powerless to do anything about it.
I don't mean to come across as snarky, but there is a lot to unpack in this statement. First, you inherit something that your parents or guardians own, and the world is definitely not owned by them. Second, why feel powerless if they are actually going to inherit something? They can always fix it after they take control. Again, I am not being mean, but just showing how you can think of this from a different angle.
Now let's circle back to the issue of social media. Kids who are tuned in to social media are going to constantly hear exaggerated claims of gloom and doom, and that would numb their senses. This prevents them from focusing on the present and all the things that you build for yourself are in the present.
The point is -- no matter how you frame it, the information overload is taking its toll on everybody who is exposed, not just teens.
- i_cannot_hack 4y ago> They can always fix it after they take control. The oil cannot be unburnt. The glaciers cannot be refrozen. The species cannot be made unextinct. At least not in any human lifespan.
- sacrosancty 4y agoThat stuff has no effect on the future lives of these teens. It's not as if they were ever going to see those obscure Amazon insects anyway. We don't have dodo's anymore but we're happy. I'd say they falsely fear that it will cause them great harm. I know a teen who was genuinely afraid of climate change as if she would drown in the rising sea or something like that. I think there's a lot of exaggerated apocalyptic fearmongering harming them.
- i_cannot_hack 4y agoClimate change already has a marked effect on the present lives of these teens (larger and more numerous forest fires, draughts, hurricanes and heatwaves). I would also like to point out that your insinuation that mostly "obscure Amazon insects" face extinction is false and misleading. Even by your contrived standard of "would you see them?" the extinctions will be remarkable. The world's coral reefs are visited and seen by almost 70 million tourists each year. Over half the reefs are already dead, and 90% of all reefs are estimated to be lost in less than 30 years. Of course the ecological disaster of losing the reefs will be worse than the lost sights. This is just a single example.
- modo_mario 4y ago>First, you inherit something that your parents or guardians own, and the world is definitely not owned by them. It's a figure of speech.