3 ms·

You need to give us some idea of what the "real" problem is, then. Otherwise we have nothing to go on here.

taylodl 3y ago
Performance stress. The schools are stressing college to the kids. Living in a more affluent neighborhood they're afraid if they don't go to college then they'll be taking a considerable hit to their standard of living. Apparently they don't mention it every so often. I'm probably over-exaggerating a bit but they're pounding college! college! college! into these kids' heads every single period of every single day. Making things worse, they can't get a reprieve in sports. If you've been involved in kids sports you know there's a huge push for kids to use sports to get a college scholarship. Even if they're not trying to get a scholarship they're using it to build their college resumé. Gotta get those extracurricular activities in! In fact that's how all extracurricular activities are. All the joy has been sucked out. It's college! college! college! Become president of the club - looks good on the college resumé! Make sure you have the right variety of activities for your resumé! I unwittingly signed my kids up for this nightmare. When I signed them up for sports I had no expectation they'd be star athletes - I just knew from my experience growing up playing team sports really helped me learn to work with others. The other activities were to engage the mind. Do things outside of school for both your mind and body. I knew the crazies were there, but I didn't realize the effect they were having. Now it's becoming clearer what's happened. The girls and boys have responded to the stress in two different ways. The boys are dropping out. You see article after article trying to explain why boys aren't going to school, not getting jobs, and so forth. They've dropped out. On the other hand, girls have freaked out. They've become an anxiety-ridden mess. Meanwhile everybody is trying to figure out why the boys are becoming deadbeats and the girls are depressed. They blame video games, they blame phones. They blame everything but where the fault actually lies: stress. The more interesting question then is why do today's kids feel the stress more than the kids from previous generations? I have ideas but this answer is already too long.
- peteradio 3y ago
  I'm not the only one who wouldn't mind hearing more of your thoughts on this. I've got young kids now and want to know what I'm in for.
- lisasays 3y ago
  That's very helpful -- thanks for the detailed summary. Come to think of it -- they may be turning to their phones in part to seek relief from all of the stressors you've mentioned. Just like us poor, harassed adults. Though I do suspect the phones are a probably co-factor (in introducing stressors of their own).
  - taylodl 3y ago
    I too suspect the phones are probably a co-factor. I just don't think they're the root cause. It's an interesting observation we adults use our phones to take a break from the real world. Kids are too. We can turn this question on its head and ask whether the phones have enabled a higher level of stress? Maybe we're all having problems but as adults we're better experienced to cope?

Performance stress. The schools are stressing college to the kids. Living in a more affluent neighborhood they're afraid if they don't go to college then they'll be taking a considerable hit to their standard of living. Apparently they don't mention it every so often. I'm probably over-exaggerating a bit but they're pounding college! college! college! into these kids' heads every single period of every single day. Making things worse, they can't get a reprieve in sports. If you've been involved in kids sports you know there's a huge push for kids to use sports to get a college scholarship. Even if they're not trying to get a scholarship they're using it to build their college resumé. Gotta get those extracurricular activities in! In fact that's how all extracurricular activities are. All the joy has been sucked out. It's college! college! college! Become president of the club - looks good on the college resumé! Make sure you have the right variety of activities for your resumé! I unwittingly signed my kids up for this nightmare. When I signed them up for sports I had no expectation they'd be star athletes - I just knew from my experience growing up playing team sports really helped me learn to work with others. The other activities were to engage the mind. Do things outside of school for both your mind and body. I knew the crazies were there, but I didn't realize the effect they were having. Now it's becoming clearer what's happened. The girls and boys have responded to the stress in two different ways. The boys are dropping out. You see article after article trying to explain why boys aren't going to school, not getting jobs, and so forth. They've dropped out. On the other hand, girls have freaked out. They've become an anxiety-ridden mess. Meanwhile everybody is trying to figure out why the boys are becoming deadbeats and the girls are depressed. They blame video games, they blame phones. They blame everything but where the fault actually lies: stress. The more interesting question then is why do today's kids feel the stress more than the kids from previous generations? I have ideas but this answer is already too long.

peteradio 3y ago
I'm not the only one who wouldn't mind hearing more of your thoughts on this. I've got young kids now and want to know what I'm in for.
lisasays 3y ago
That's very helpful -- thanks for the detailed summary. Come to think of it -- they may be turning to their phones in part to seek relief from all of the stressors you've mentioned. Just like us poor, harassed adults. Though I do suspect the phones are a probably co-factor (in introducing stressors of their own).
- taylodl 3y ago
  I too suspect the phones are probably a co-factor. I just don't think they're the root cause. It's an interesting observation we adults use our phones to take a break from the real world. Kids are too. We can turn this question on its head and ask whether the phones have enabled a higher level of stress? Maybe we're all having problems but as adults we're better experienced to cope?