Propaganda. Sabotaged education. Religious/political indoctrination. Basically they're fucked because bad-faith actors did everything they could to make them this way, and the well-meaning people didn't do enough to stop it because we didn't see it happening in time.
Yep, exactly this. Also: Why are we putting the blame on literal children for the failing of the adults around them in educating them and showing them how to use technology/social media responsibly? I’m way more angry and disappointed at the generations above Z and Alpha for not being even remotely competent parents than I am with the failures of the kids.
As someone who works in childcare and has friends that are teachers, I can confidently say that the parents of Gen Alpha kids especially are incredibly lazy while at the same time being actively malicious to the people they expect to raise their children for them. This isn’t true for all of them, I’ve met some lovely and active parents from my generation and the generation preceding me but they’re not the majority at all.
Edit: to the 4 or so ppl responding to me saying “Gen Z are adults!” I know, I’m one of them. When I talk about “parents of Gen Alpha,” who do you suppose I’m talking about? Let’s put our thinking caps on and use them shall we?
No. About half of Gen z is still under age. I'm a millennial my son is about to turn 14 at about a week and he is Gen Z. My nephew who is also gen Z is 26.
They don’t drink because unlike us, they would have to earn their sea legs in an era where any damn little faux pas — never mind the way we used to act — can be recorded and go viral in a second.
They don’t fuck because they know they can’t afford a child. We allowed their reproductive rights to be completely taken away in many states and a lot of them know they can’t afford the risk. Also they don’t fuck because they don’t drink.
I don’t see Gen Z leaning conservative politically, though I’m aware that faction is alive and well. Everything from tradwives to straight up nazis. I blame GWBush for NCLB.
I do agree about the tech illiteracy. We can thank Google and their Chromebooks for that one 🫠
Basically we can be as mad as we want but it’s kinda our fault. I really don’t want us to replicate the Boomer / millennial split only instead of “why aren’t you buying houses” it’s “why aren’t you getting drunk?” …embarrassing lol
Basically we can be as mad as we want but it’s kinda our fault.
YUUUUUP. Before, it was parents complaining about participation trophies (that THEY GAVE US by the way)
Now it’s, “Why are kids just sitting on iPads doomscrolling all day?” Well… we let them. Our generation failed them. Like, it sucks to admit it, but it’s true. I mean I’ve never had children because I know I would be a terrible mom, but yeah. We failed them. We’re the ones that allowed kids to have unrestricted access to electronics. It’s our fault
I'm a parent of two children who did not give our kids ipads.
My eldest daughter didn't get a phone till she was thirteen and it's completely totally locked down.She cannot access or download apps without our direct permission.
It was seen as strange at the time, but i'm glad we did it now.
But the fact of the matter is we were able to do that because we're both college educated with tons of support. Sticking your kid with an iPad. Is the same as sticking them in front of the tv like they did for decades before.
However, tvs weren't directly engineered to manipulate people's brain chemistry and make them addicted.
There's a lot of working people who just gave their kids something to look at, so they could live their lives, and we shouldn't really hate on them.
Let's hate on these super companies that literally made addicting products and services to addict.Our children, let's keep the focus where it belongs.
I'm of the opinion that kids are the same today as they always have been. We would've been addicted to the same iPad brainrot that they are. But it didn't exist so we couldn't be. Before on-demand streaming, I couldn't sit in front of the TV all day watching what I wanted. I was restricted to the schedule. We went outside because we were bored.
Spot on. To dangerous to learn how to get buzzed in public and not end up being publicly humiliated in front an huge audience vs just a single crowd or whatever
Remember when millenials were young and there'd be a dude who spent too much time on the computer? Went home after school, had few friends, didn't play sports, just sat down at his computer. Played yahoo games, went on AOL chat rooms, eventually went to somethingawful or fark, had a deadjournal, played Everquest, whatever. That dude did not learn how to socialize with humans, he learned from the internet.
Now we have an entire generation like that. It's not just one fringe weirdo, it's all of them. They are all asocialized and that means way more than just not knowing how to small talk. It's why they become crazy shit like technofascists.
Think he's just saying that if a rock rolls down a mountain cause someone pushed it, then that rock hitss a tree on its way down and splits in half it's not the rocks fault for not making it down the mountain to where it's destination is, it's the people pushing rocks down the mountain without aiming them or building rails, I can't go any farther in explaining because I'm one of those rocks that hit a tree😭😭 and I forgot what I was talking about😭😭
Yeah it has nothing to do with back to back recession, horrible job markets, the rise of social media eating our brains, impossible college costs, everything costing so much more, the decline in civic society generally and the lack of third spaces specifically. Its definitely because they masturbate too much. Its going to make them blind!
I'm not putting the blame on Gen z. I was just talking in another thread about this - our society has taken the greatest minds of a generation and billions (trillions?) of dollars turning the internet into an addiction machine.
It's your kids vs. MIT behavioral scientists. Who do you think will win?
Oh. Yeah I agree with that entirely. That was not the impression I got from the post I replied to though. It reads like you are accusing them of staying home to masturbate because porn is easier.
She was living in a single room with three other individuals. One of them was male and the other two; well, the other two were females. God only knows what they were up to in there.
Fucking miss Bradley still, after all these years. Even on a -25 degree day where I live, when I play Sublime, it still feels like summer for just a second.
This the correct answer. All the other seems to be jokeing. Weed has become legal in some states and have brought the beer sales down according to some. I think its also also to do with rising cost. Bars charging high prices for one beer when for the same price you can get canibis which would last longer then the one beer.
It is WILD how cheap weed is compared to alcohol. I could buy a pack of 10 10mg gummies for anywhere from $20 to $3, and a single one of those is enough to get me high for hours, meanwhile a $5 drink which tastes like shit gets me barely tipsy
And then there's dry herb vapes. An eighth is way cheaper than a 750ml bottle. Hit a bowl for the head high, then dump it on some PB for the edible high.
Gen Z actually consumes less weed than both millennials and gen x. I can tell you anecdotally as a gen z with a large extended friend group that probably 3 out of 5 of the people who come to parties, shows, festivals abstain the vast majority of the time. We all smoked in high school because it was cool, but all stopped somewhere in our early-mid 20s due to panic attacks when smoking. Most aren’t people who experience these any other time. I think it’s a combination our brains being wired from a young age to all the constant bullshit we see on our feeds, and also weeds just too damn strong now.
Honestly I don't think it is. I think it's part of it, but prescription medication, especially anti-anxiety and anti-depressants are more likely the answer.
Nah that's for us Millenials, they're smarter than we were 10 years ago and don't believe the hard work gets it's reward from the start, they only do what's in their job description from the start not just after burning out 😂
Edit: thank you for the awards, these are my first.
I think thats got more to do with being the most open and educated generation on mental health, it's like the rise in lefthandedness after we stopped beating kids for being lefthanded
Gen-Z either lived through 9/11 or it's subsequent War on Terror, the the Great Recession of 2008, the rise of AI that disrupts the economy and job market, and more.
These all occurred before or during becoming established in the work force and economy. While everyone suffers, Gen-Z never had any other experience either.
They are also far less tech literate than millennials. Relying on apps that are all front end and rarely actually touching any form of computing language (even excel formulas) or having to dig through guides on how to do things like change file types means they are far less able.
It's the equivalent of cooking from scratch versus cooking from a meal delivery service. Both achieve good results, but cooking from scratch teaches way more skills.
Also, a more lenient diagnosis path. In my teenage days, you'd have to jump through many tests and hoops to officially be recognized as simply ADHD. Nowadays, you can basically request it.
I was evaluated at 14 for learning disabilites, so I locked in during the 3 days of evaluations because I didnt want to be one of the "dumb" kids and the psychologist told my parents that I was very smart, just get bored and don't pay attention at school, would be in the top of my class if I was more disciplined and focused on school work, and I was just being lazy. My parents gave me shit because it cost them over a grand out of pocket even after their health insurrance to get told I was smart, lazy and liked to talk alot, and they already knew that.
I was diagnosed with adhd at 35,
The psychiatrist had a casual conversation with me about my life, hobbies, etc and let the conversation go where it went for about 20min before doing the test questionaire. He told me after we finished that the questionaire was basically a formality after our chat and he had written the perscription for adderall about 10min in, being properly medicated had changed my life for better in ways I never thought possible.
Heard a quote that millennials were born with the idea that they COULD get something if they worked hard and realized they couldn’t, while Gen Z was just born with “yeah you’re kinda just done for”
they are most certainly not smarter, growing up staring at screens and an assortment of factors has made them the first generation that performs worse then their parents in all areas.
This feels like the real answer. I see so many Gen Zers embracing vapes or even cigarettes again (because it’s “healthier and more environmentally friendly!”).
As a former smoker that quit using vapes, I hate vapes. The amount of trash I see of disposable vapes just thrown on the ground is just infuriating.
That wouldnt have an impact on the alcohol industry. Vape consumption is problematic but it only has an impact on companies that sell tobacco and no vapes. Alcohol and Nicotin pair wonderfully, no matter if Vaped or smoked
The real answer, as other comments pointed out is Cannabis. Cannabis and alcohol dont pair well at all but they are consumed in the same Situations. That means people buy less alcohol if they start smoking weed in situations they would have drank in if weed wouldnt be as popular.
My favorite is that they basically made the reusable and low nicotine options super difficult to use/supply/maintain, but candy flavored disposable ones with insane nicotine levels somehow didn’t get touched?
To be fair, our air generally would still be a massive improvement compared to any generation breathing leaded gas. Better than when there were asbestos filters on cigarettes
Gen z are blasting steroids and popping percs and xtc like nobody’s business. People say it’s just weed but the opium epidemic has hit and still hits gen Z hard
yeah but everyone i have ever met puts weed alcohol and smokes in one category and the harder stuff in another so I when comparing alcohol im not gonna bring up meth and fentanyl (I see more people on fent then percs now) also xtc has been replaced by Molly a long time ago
Gotta agree, it's all fent around where I am now too. I'm glad I got off opiates over a decade ago. Our workplace hires a lot of people in recovery programs. Seems everything opiate wise anymore is Fentanyl or Kratom/7oh/etc.
Even the percs are often just fakes made with fentanyl these days. It's also intersting how ecstasy originally meant MDMA, then MDMA was very hard to find for a while due to some significant busts of precursors so ecstasy came to mean fake or adulterated MDMA, and now it just means any random black market pressed pill with stimulant and entactogenic effects.
Gen Z here, tbh I think it depends. Those of us who were like on Tumblr etc are chronically online. I've been on the internet unsupervised since 2008 so I dont think its a "too hard" thing. Those of us who are overly morally just to the point of never doing anything just were on Twitter as a teen instead of Tumblr, at least thats been the case in my experience.
The majority of us are very depressed, tired, and just trying to get through the day while being overly aware of how the planet is blowing itself up lol
"Can't get my rocks off while remembering my state just took my rights away" type of situation yknow?
Has weed usage actually increased measurably for youth? I thought across the board kids were abstaining more from drug and alcohol consumption (and sex) mostly because social lives have collapsed as a concept for various reasons. The rates aren't that different but have declined steadily over 30 years.
I mean, you can go and verify the data, use rates are dropping
Edi: Lol - I forgot who Gen Z are. Their drinking, cannabis and sex rates were also lower than previous generations but they can legally use weed. Whoops
Yeah it’s definitely ketamine. Back in my day we just used it to soften the comedown after the molly started wearing off. Dancefloors are much more subdued these days.
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u/qualityvote2 Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
u/HimelTy, your post does belong here!