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It isn't week will. It is a lack of confidence. Kids are socially aware. Group dynamics are more important than grades. They don't like doing anything on th
by sandworm101 5y ago
It isn't week will. It is a lack of confidence. Kids are socially aware. Group dynamics are more important than grades. They don't like doing anything on their own because that risks doing something that might not be socially acceptable. Studying with a partner means constant validation that studying is a worthwhile activity. It is like a young dog that will not settle until it sees another dog do so first. So it isn't lack of will rather the very modern need to comport with social norms that drives people to stream someone studying. It validates their decision to study too.
Think of echo chambers/bubbles in politics. People think one thing, then find other people online who think the same. Finding other people saying the same things then reinforces their beliefs. So someone wanting to spend a few hours studying finds someone online doing the same, reinforcing their choice to study.
- Siira 5y agoThere is some genuine insight here, but it is needlessly bundled with defending the kids. Blind conformity is bad, and falls under the umbrella of having a weak will.
- sandworm101 5y agoDon't blame the kids for their blind conformity. That is dictated at them from above. Kids today live in fear of being singled out in an negative manner. It can destroy your future. Mistakes are now permanent. A viral video of you doing something stupid as a teenager might come up in job applications decades later. Getting caught drinking alcohol in the park on a Friday night might mean jail/expulsion from school. And don't get me started on grade inflation. Study the wrong material, bomb a test, and you can say goodbye to that 97% average needed for university applications. So every kid is desperate to make sure they are studying exactly the same material as everyone else. That is the only safe way to make sure you don't waste time on a tangent. Kids today do and should fear breaking social norms. They live in a very rigid society.
- Forgeties79 5y ago> Kids today live in fear of being singled out in an negative manner. This is not a new phenomenon in the slightest. Bullying and teasing have been around forever. The only thing that changes are what people will be bullied and teased about, but ultimately it doesn’t impact whether the bullying happens. Kids will always find a way to identify themselves by what they are not, or single out someone for not conforming, even if it’s completely innocuous or out of their control. Hell adults do it too. Kids just don’t have the ability to couch it in dog whistles or cover it with some window dressing. They will pick on a kid for being different until an adult teaches them to respect differences. That has always been the case.
- lupire 5y agoIt's not a very interesting criticism to say that most of humanity and mammals are social and look to each other for reassurance. You could turn it around and criticize people for being anti-social in their independence and disrepst for other people's needs and wisdom.
- Retric 5y agoThere is nothing inherently blind about following because there is normally multiple examples to chose from. Picking a stream of someone studying among all the other possible streams is very much a choice even if that choice provides some validation. In aggregate culture is a back and forth of people pushing in new directions or independently discovering existing ones and others following their lead, but it’s the followers who determine what’s normal more than the pioneers.
- LigmaYC 5y agoFollowers do not determine what's normal, they only do what they consider is already normal. And pioneers do what they care about regardless of whether it is 'normal'.
- Retric 5y agoIf only 1 person does something it’s not normal. Hell if 1,000 or even 100,000 people on the planet do something it’s still not nominal but the vast majority of that first 1,000 let alone everyone after that going to be followers. Put another way the first person to ever make pizza didn’t suddenly transform it into a cultural phenomenon. It was enough people copying the idea that transformed the initial concept into one of the most popular types of food.
- LigmaYC 5y agoThere's another group in between pioneers and followers, the people who are willing to follow things that haven't gained traction yet. That group plus pioneers are most important to entering the mass market of followers.
- Retric 5y agoThe group you’re describing are still as you just said following someone else. But even if you add a new group of early followers it also works in the other direction. Stuff most people do also stops being popular because of what the largest groups of follower’s decides to stop doing.
- pixl97 5y agoMost people are weak willed, hence society exists.
- LigmaYC 5y agoA lack of individuality such that an action needs to be validated externally is definitely a weak will.