4 ms·

"The things you are listing don't concern "teenagers" in their young teens, at all. They start being a problem for young adults, maybe" That's just not true, t

"The things you are listing don't concern "teenagers" in their young teens, at all. They start being a problem for young adults, maybe" That's just not true, though. I'm over 40: My first formal 'current events' portion of a social studies class happened when I was 12, IIRC. The first gulf war was the current topic. Middle schoolers would be told now that they need to think about going to college, how doing well in high school is their only hope of a scholarship, and so on. They know about political extremism: They just might not use those words. They might know someone that is queer and see the hate they get. Heck, they might be spewing the same hate as their parents. They likely know about inflation even if they don't know what it is. Poverty - or even a tight budget - affects you as a child especially in the pre-teen and younger teen years. Parents stress over money, after all, and some of their peers might have struggled with homelessness, depending on where you live. At 15, I had started to care about politics. I mean, I knew they were a thing since elementary (and the mock elections they held), but I saw how it affected me. And of course they know about the fun things. You probably didn't successfully forbit FB and Instagram if their friends don't use it: This is more common with younger folks than their parents. Plus, if they are out playing in the yard (Which I quit doing during middle school and there was no internet) they might be too young to care right now.

fullstop 4y ago
> The first gulf war was the current topic. Our view of that was from the news, as well. The events in Ukraine are much more real-time and on social media. They see stories of children separated from their parents, of parents murdered, or all of them being killed in bombings. These atrocities have always happened in war but now they are barely filtered and easily accessible. "If it can happen to those children, it can happen to me."
- Broken_Hippo 4y ago
  I didn't even consider that when I wrote the response. I mean, I remember seeing the bombs on television and being a bit worried about it, but I imagine it seems a bit more 'real' now and there is so much more available.
  - fullstop 4y ago
    An additional "sad-but-true" aspect is that people can disassociate atrocities because the people look different than they do. The people in Ukraine, in general, look Caucasian. It shouldn't make a difference, of course, but for some people this makes it all the more real.
tsol 4y ago
Yes they know about that just like they know about the plague and the possibility of an asteroid stroke destroying life on planet earth. But is inflation a big part of their day to day worries? Probably not. Political extremism maybe, but they're probably wrapped up in that as well. We've created a society where if you aren't openly fighting the bigots you are seen as allowing them to exist. So teens are very politically active and I wouldn't be surprised if it stresses them like it stresses adults. But unless they're experiencing poverty I don't think kids are getting depressed because they're worried about wealth inequality. Unless the teen in question is Karl Marx
- Broken_Hippo 4y ago
  Unless they are experiencing poverty Around 11 million children in the US live in poverty. A great number more children are poor to very poor (just over poverty might not be poverty, but it makes your life pretty bad). It probably isn't so bad in a country with a robust safety net (still poor, but not getting the full effects of poverty) I don't know about wealth inequality being the specific worry, but knowing things are getting more expensive definitely has an effect on children. Suddenly, the parent is stressed and the uncertainty gets passed on. Though, I honestly am wondering if I've missed something because while I see things about money and inflation mentioned, I haven't actually seen folks mention wealth inequality.

fullstop 4y ago

> The first gulf war was the current topic. Our view of that was from the news, as well. The events in Ukraine are much more real-time and on social media. They see stories of children separated from their parents, of parents murdered, or all of them being killed in bombings. These atrocities have always happened in war but now they are barely filtered and easily accessible. "If it can happen to those children, it can happen to me."

Broken_Hippo 4y ago
I didn't even consider that when I wrote the response. I mean, I remember seeing the bombs on television and being a bit worried about it, but I imagine it seems a bit more 'real' now and there is so much more available.
- fullstop 4y ago
  An additional "sad-but-true" aspect is that people can disassociate atrocities because the people look different than they do. The people in Ukraine, in general, look Caucasian. It shouldn't make a difference, of course, but for some people this makes it all the more real.

tsol 4y ago

Yes they know about that just like they know about the plague and the possibility of an asteroid stroke destroying life on planet earth. But is inflation a big part of their day to day worries? Probably not. Political extremism maybe, but they're probably wrapped up in that as well. We've created a society where if you aren't openly fighting the bigots you are seen as allowing them to exist. So teens are very politically active and I wouldn't be surprised if it stresses them like it stresses adults. But unless they're experiencing poverty I don't think kids are getting depressed because they're worried about wealth inequality. Unless the teen in question is Karl Marx

Broken_Hippo 4y ago
Unless they are experiencing poverty Around 11 million children in the US live in poverty. A great number more children are poor to very poor (just over poverty might not be poverty, but it makes your life pretty bad). It probably isn't so bad in a country with a robust safety net (still poor, but not getting the full effects of poverty) I don't know about wealth inequality being the specific worry, but knowing things are getting more expensive definitely has an effect on children. Suddenly, the parent is stressed and the uncertainty gets passed on. Though, I honestly am wondering if I've missed something because while I see things about money and inflation mentioned, I haven't actually seen folks mention wealth inequality.