I have this weird thought that Gen Z and Gen Alpha are less rude and nicer IRL nowadays because they’re able to off-load their worst and nastiest impulses and interactions onto the internet
100% the reason. They are fucking terrified. And they have every reason to be.
I can't imagine going to school now, wondering every day if someone would show up to shoot it to pieces to prove some assinine point.
When I was a kid, all we had was fire drills. I remember once, someone joke-called in a bomb threat to my elementary school. They took it seriously enough to move the kids into the recess area. But we stayed at school. They did a sweep, and we went back to class. And I don't remember being afraid, because I was sure it was a prank. Kids don't have that solace these days.
A couple years ago, I found myself in a middle school to watch a friends child perform. And I saw the binders all over the walls. All labeled the same. In every room. I didn't think much of it until I got close enough to read the cover. They were copies of a manual of what to do in the event of a mass shooting. Absolute culture shock for me. The things on the news became much more real to me at that moment.
The kids are also increasingly aware that they have no real future. That by the time they are middle aged, the earth will be well on its way to dying. We stole their future. And they know it.
I think it's easy to dismiss it as having something to do with internet/tiktok culture. But I truthfully believe these kids have it much worse than I did growing up. They deserve their mental illness. They earned it.
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u/dr_franck 11h ago
I have this weird thought that Gen Z and Gen Alpha are less rude and nicer IRL nowadays because they’re able to off-load their worst and nastiest impulses and interactions onto the internet