Despite Having Unprecedented Access To Technology, Generation Z Is Already Bored (thedailybeast.com) 338
Taylor Lorenz, writing for The Daily Beast: There is a notion among older people that teens, with their smartphones and unlimited internet access, never experience boredom. CNN and other media outlets have repeatedly declared that smartphones have killed boredom as we know it. But today's teens are still bored, often incredibly so. They're just more likely to experience a new type of boredom: phone bored.
As members of what has been dubbed "Generation Z," a cohort that spans those born roughly between the years 1998 and 2010, today's teens and tweens have had unparalleled access to technology. Many have had smartphones since elementary, if not middle school. They've grown up with high-speed internet, laptops, and social media.
It's tempting to think that these devices, with their endless ability to stimulate, offer salvation from the type of mind-numbing boredom that is so core to the teen experience. But humans adapt to the conditions that surround them, and technical advances are no different. What seemed novel to one generation feels passe to the next. To many teens, smartphones and the internet have already lost their appeal.
As members of what has been dubbed "Generation Z," a cohort that spans those born roughly between the years 1998 and 2010, today's teens and tweens have had unparalleled access to technology. Many have had smartphones since elementary, if not middle school. They've grown up with high-speed internet, laptops, and social media.
It's tempting to think that these devices, with their endless ability to stimulate, offer salvation from the type of mind-numbing boredom that is so core to the teen experience. But humans adapt to the conditions that surround them, and technical advances are no different. What seemed novel to one generation feels passe to the next. To many teens, smartphones and the internet have already lost their appeal.
Go outside! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Go outside! (Score:5, Insightful)
You're partially there.
As parents, one thing you can do to alleviate boredom is to get your kids outside to play when they're younger. To give them a part of keeping up the household (chores specifically), but also include them in the boring crap like teaching them like taxes and to keep a household budget (boring, but IMHO among necessary skills they'll need), to make them watch the news with you and... talk to them about it all along the way. To answer questions. To pay attention to them when they talk, to give advice when asked, and to guide them.
Most importantly, to get your kids off the damn phone/tablet/laptop/desktop and to help prepare them for the real world. This means that as parents, you yourself need to get off the damn phone/tablet/laptop/desktop, and interact with them.
TL;DR - busy kids aren't bored.
(...before my own kids grew up and left home, they regularly did their share of chores, watched me do the taxes, and asked a ton of questions along the way, helped in the garden, helped with building projects around the property, and similar. Even if you live in the city, there's a ton of activity that can be done that ultimately gives them a *huge* boost over their peers when they finally hit the Real World.)
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Go outside! (Score:4, Insightful)
Who modded that down, ...
Though your ID would seem to indicate otherwise, you must be new here. :-) :-(
Things get modded down because "reasons".
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And do what exactly? (Score:3)
Re: And do what exactly? (Score:2)
Let's not forget, many of them ALSO live in gated communities, where just GETTING to the nearest public sidewalk beyond the gate could EASILY be a half-mile trek. From my own childhood, I'd say ~1/2 mile is the limit for casual trip by bike, and 1.5-3 miles is the absolute frontier for a highly-motivated trip that will leave them drenched in sweat and tired when they arrive(*)
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(*) example distances for me. Note that I grew up in a small town with no public transportation WHATSOEVER. It now has buses, but
Re: And do what exactly? (Score:2)
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When I was a kid, we didn't have a car. I usually took 2-3 3+ mile walks a day. We had public transportation, but it wasn't very good. Taking the bus often meant long waits and maybe a 10-20 minute walk from the bus stop to where we were going.
Re: And do what exactly? (Score:4, Insightful)
Something is wrong with you if you are drenched in sweat in a 1.5 mile trip.
Or you live in Houston.
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Re:And do what exactly? (Score:4, Funny)
You're not properly bubblewrapping the children. Outside is dirty, messy and dangerous. Something Bad Might Happen!!!!! (tm)
We MUST give up our liberties for security!
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Haha, we played that exact same game but called it "smear the queer". I'm guessing that name wouldn't fly these days.
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When I was a kid we made up a game called "Kill the man with the ball". One player would pick up a playground ball and start running, everyone else would either punch him or wrestle him to the ground. Once tackled you had to drop the ball so someone else could pick it up and run off with it.
I realized years later that without knowing it, we had invented Rugby.
We would line up against a brick wall with our arms and legs spread like a giant letter "X". Then our friends would kick a football (soccer ball) at us as hard as they could. The idea is, whoever is against the wall was not allowed to flinch or move any of their body, or protect themselves (or their groins)... even if the balls hit us.
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We would line up against a brick wall with our arms and legs spread like a giant letter "X".
We played butt's up [wikipedia.org] with a racquetball. Three outs meant taking position facing the wall and getting pegged. No flinching. A racquetball can bruise, but a football sounds worse.
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The world is a dangerous place, we must harden all things to prevent bad things from happening. It all starts with mothers bubblewrapping their kids and not allowing them to go outside and play.
Here, have an iPad and watch another episode of that show. It is much safer than playing with Jimmy across the street. His parents are Republicans!
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Not really, that's just how it's depicted on TV. In many (most?) real world suburbs, there's all sorts of places to ride your bike as well as proximity to parks and the like.
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Re:And do what exactly? (Score:5, Interesting)
It's true! And even if money were no issue, I still don't think I'd ever choose to live in Silicon Valley or someplace similar. I get that some people love living like that, but it's not for everyone.
Anytime a discussion comes up suggesting how awful the suburbs are (or similarly, about how much it must suck to live in a "flyover" state), I have this internal struggle of "wow that's totally at odds with my experience" vs "shhh... it's in your own best interest to let 'em keep thinking that". :)
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This is where it comes to sacrifices you make when you live somewhere like Silicon Valley, or most major tech hubs.
Is this a particularly US thing, I wonder? The city near me is Cambridge, UK, and it's one of the most cycle-friendly cities in the country, while also being a major tech hub. The Really Big City near me is London, and again there are a lot of cyclists and a lot of tech.
Re:And do what exactly? (Score:3)
Re:And do what exactly? (Score:4, Informative)
They have all of the freedom, and free time...but no one to do it with, and no one to show them the way.
Their parents are all working their asses off to stay afloat.
Re:And do what exactly? (Score:5, Insightful)
This exactly. I'm always amused by the sci-fi trope of an immortal being eventually getting tired of life, or people needing jobs, no matter how pointless, to "give them purpose". There is so much to see, do and learn to last countless lifetimes. Anyone that would get bored of life has no intellectual curiosity.
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This exactly. I'm always amused by the sci-fi trope of an immortal being eventually getting tired of life, or people needing jobs, no matter how pointless, to "give them purpose". There is so much to see, do and learn to last countless lifetimes. Anyone that would get bored of life has no intellectual curiosity.
I imagine the brain would forget things too fast to get completely bored. What is old will be new again once you've forgotten it the first time (because you're that old your brain has overwritten the original memory).
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I think you forget what it's actually like. There has been no point in my life unpleasant and stressful as when I was a teenager - the rife and constant violence at school, the unending mental bullying, the lack of confidence in own abilities, the lack of knowledge of own abilities, the lack of understanding of the world, the lack of control of what happens...
Remember what it was like, *really* remember rather than lauding it about some imagined blue remembered hills.
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Damn kids, get back on my lawn so I can kick you off
There's no need to kick them off . . . just leave an extra sharpened set of Lawn Darts laying around on your lawn.
The problem will take care of itself.
That said, on my last business trip to the US, just north of Round Rock, Texas . . . I was surprised that no children were outside playing when I visited some colleagues at home. They all told me to be careful driving at dusk, because there would be deer in the road.
Where I grew up, in scenic New Jersey, at dusk there would be kids in the road.
While driv
Of course they're bored (Score:5, Insightful)
Mobile games are shit. Why would I ever be subject to a timer and spend years getting anywhere in a game? Unless you're a millionaire, modern mobile games are very often unnecessarily protracted grinds.
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If you get bored you aren't trying to take on more challenging tasks than games.
Re:Of course they're bored (Score:4, Insightful)
Mind numbing boredom is now normal for teen years???
WTF did this happen?
Geez, I know everyone has some down time, but when I was a teen, I was anything but bored most of the time.
In the summer, we had the neighborhood pool and I ran around with the kids in my neighborood. We had skateboards, we built ramps to skateboard up and do tricks....we were all over the neighborhoods during the days. When I was 16yrs, I also had a job at a medium, upper end restaurant, started washing dishes and made my way up to head bus boy, I usually worked one weeknight, and Fri and Sat nights, making good money for a HS kid. Saved that to buy a car.
So, working...chasing girls, sneaking out for beer bashes, parties, etc....and we didn't have a fucking cell phone in existence.
Good grief, the only excuse one has to be bored,is ones own self, theres a shit ton of things to do out there, hell even more opportunities today in some ways.
Again, I know this isn't going on 24/7, but geez, I would never have described any portion of my life to date as "mind numbingly boring".
There's always something to get into and do.
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If you've ever talked to a teen in any generation, you should know that a whiny "I'm Bored" is one of the most common complaints known to humankind.
Re: Of course they're bored (Score:5, Funny)
It has all to do with having hobbies that aren't passive consummation.
Honestly, that's my favourite type of consummation. Let her do all the hard work.
Re:Of course they're bored (Score:5, Insightful)
Mobile games are shit. Why would I ever be subject to a timer and spend years getting anywhere in a game? Unless you're a millionaire, modern mobile games are very often unnecessarily protracted grinds.
I think the point of the article is that teens will always be bored. It's a time in your life when you start to desire experiences that you aren't mature enough to have had. You want independence, but you can't take care of yourself. You want relationship, but you often don't know how to put others first. You want fulfillment, but you can't really see much of the big picture.
Really, it's connection to others that teens need, and the majority of that comes through a loving family. Social media (and games, I guess) is just a crappy imitation of the real thing.
Re:Of course they're bored (Score:4, Insightful)
Instill a purpose in your kids, and they won't be bored, ever. There is always something one can do if there is a purpose. Even if you can't do everything you want, there are things you can do.
We've this generation of kids that their purpose is playing video games.
Re:Of course they're bored (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think boredom in itself is a bad thing, it's part of life, part of finding out your own thoughts and who you are. To have the space to think, imagine, and decide what you're going to do to relieve the boredom...
A constantly occupied mind has no time to actually ponder.
Re:Of course they're bored (Score:4, Insightful)
I would suggest that "pondering" is not boredom, and is a sign of an active mind. I can be alone walking in a forest, and never bored.
IMHO Boredom is an untrained mind.
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A boring person is going to be bor
english idiom (Score:3)
"since elementary, if not middle school" isn't the typical English idiom supposed to be "X, if not Y" supposed to have Y as the more "extreme" case?
"good, if not great", "injured, if not dead", etc?
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Yes.
If they've had them since elementary school, of course they've had them since middle school as well.
On the other hand, having them since middle school does not imply that they have had them since elementary school.
Choice paralysis, not boredom (Score:5, Insightful)
Infinite options, infinite "boredom."
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Infinite options, infinite "boredom."
That probably explains why they're eating Tide Pods and snorting condoms...
They're furniture (Score:5, Insightful)
Now? Computers and smartphones are appliances - they're not fun, they're not novel - they're meant to just sit there doing their job. And this is natural, it's not current generation's 'fault' that they're not excited by this tech. I wasn't excited by the fact I didn't need to double declutch to learn to drive, it was just how things were and are.
I'd be interested to know what is considered fresh and exciting in the same way. Seems that the use of these platforms is big, and the creation of things with them. But interest in the tech itself is less common, and I'm not surprised by this at all.
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Oh yeah! Drugs and Alcohol, too.
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What the devil are you talking about? (Score:3)
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I'd be interested to know what is considered fresh and exciting in the same way. Seems that the use of these platforms is big, and the creation of things with them. But interest in the tech itself is less common, and I'm not surprised by this at all.
I got into computers in the 70s first through teletype access to GE's online BASIC in 1970 while in 12th grade. I finally built my first computer (Netronics Elf II) in 1977. Like you, I learned a lot in those early days, and had a lot of fun too.
Fast forward to 2009, and I rediscovered that early excitement when I discovered Arduinos, and more recently, Raspberry Pis.
While most of the fun has disappeared from the smartphones and desktop PCs, Arduinos, Raspberry Pis, and other similar platforms are st
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I think one of the issues is that too much complexity isn't really solvable by young minds - I grew up with a Spectrum and was alright with it, the language was BASIC, and it was thrown in your face whenever you switched the thing on. There was loads of help to be had, every Spectrum the same. When I graduated to a PC in my early teens I stopped programming, basically until I went to university and was taught "properly". There was too much complexity, the route wasn't clear and any help you might get was fr
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Re: They're furniture (Score:2)
Exactly. Millennials & GenZ are just as smart as previous generations... the difference is, if a GenX'er had a computer in elementary school, it was a lifestyle that defined you & made you a nerd. By the time Millennials were adults, computers were taken for granted (even in tech-illiterate non-nerdy families).
Ditto for mobile phones. If a GenX'er had a mobile phone in high school, it meant his family was REALLY RICH. For an 18 year old Millennial, it meant you were at least upper middle class. For
Why would it save off bordom? (Score:5, Insightful)
Greatest Generation had Radio
Baby boomers had TV to entertain themselves as teenagers.
Gen X had Video Games.
Millennials had the internet
Gen Z has cell phones.
Entertainment of any type gets boring. Because we are craving stimulation often from actually working on something, that pushes us further and expands us more. But many institutions such as jobs and school, have rules and regulation that often don't put people on the pace that they need to be at. Either too slow and gets board, or too fast which they get frustrated.
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Entertainment of any type gets boring.
This why you should go directly to elector-stimulating pleasure centers. That never gets boring.
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To expand on your "entertainment gets boring" idea, every single medium you listed has inherent limits. And each one developed its own tropes.
The number of radio stations could be unlimited... But the genres of music or voice programs you'll find is very finite.
The number of TV channels could be unlimited... But the genres of television shows and movies is very finite.
The number of video games could be unlimited... But the genres of games and methods of interacting with the system is finite.
The number o
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What's the point of schooling other than to get kids used to being under the thumb of a ruler?
So that they are smart enough to know the answer to that question.
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They teach kids the same stuff at the same time because it very difficult to have personalize learning on an institutional scale.
While the idea of home schooling would probably be a better fix, it also amplifies the class structure you may be born into. Being born into a blue collar home where such parents didn't have high school degree level of education. Will not be able to teach a child who may be gifted in more complex areas. So they send them to a school where they can get more education then what th
Too Much + Too Early = Unrealistic Expectations (Score:2)
What do you expect to happen? Better yet, let's get critica
What a dilemma (Score:4, Insightful)
The Earth (Score:4, Interesting)
There is a whole planet to explore.
Put down the phone and look at the actual planet they are on.
If THAT bores you look up at night at the Universe.
Re:The Earth (Score:5, Funny)
There is a whole planet to explore.
Put down the phone and look at the actual planet they are on.
If THAT bores you look up at night at the Universe.
Cool! Is there an app for that ?
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Cool! Is there an app for that ?
Yes several. You can explore the earth and the heavens without ever leaving the comfort of your living room or doing something dangerous, like breaking a sweat.
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There is a whole planet to explore.
Just stay the fuck off my lawn!
Re:The Earth (Score:4, Funny)
Just stay the fuck off my lawn!
You can't tell me where to zoom in on google maps!
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Maslow is a harsh mistress (Score:2)
In an absolute sense, the technological advances over my lifetime are utterly stunning to me.
In a relative sense, it all has far too rapidly become the new normal.
Sadly, I'm not sure we're wired for it to be much different.
Obligatory XKCD (Score:3)
Different kind of boredom. (Score:4, Insightful)
I have an 18 year old brother. Looking at him and his friends connected all the time, it's not that they're never bored, but instead what I see is a different kind of boredom, that's borderline anxious. They are bored, but constantly agitated to find a new, exciting thing to connect. People older than me, like my grandfather, display a more peaceful kind of boredom. It might be just an age thing, guess I'll discover this in a few years.
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I agree with that. I am deployed, and can use the internet to reach out to people anywhere. I experience anxiety as I am trying to make connections to make the time pass. People used to do it without that connectivity, and probably were more bored, but possibly more at peace.
AI (Score:2)
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No Perspective (Score:2)
Humans are problem-solving animals. Tech can be pretty and use lots and lots of transistors but if it has nothing to offer by way of personal growth they people be bored with it.
You can increase the resolution on a video game -- all the way from the original breadboarded Pong to the latest real-time 4K-3D gorefest and VR and yes you will get attention and often addiction. But at the end of the day the competition and the puzzles to solve ("find the key to the door", "learn this riddle") is the same or ba
who? (Score:2)
There is a notion among older people that teens, with their smartphones and unlimited internet access, never experience boredom.
Wha? Who, exactly, thought that?
Childless "older people", I guess?
Creativity vs Boredom (Score:5, Insightful)
I remember when I was growing up, if I said I was bored my mom would always respond with, "if you're bored I can give you something to do." Of course being bored doesn't mean I have nothing to do. If that were true I could always find something to do, even if it just meant counting from one to a million. No, boredom comes from not having anything to do which I find interesting or stimulating. What I've learned is that I find far more satisfaction (and less boredom) by building or creating things. While it's easy to download a game on my phone or computer, I find it more stimulating to build my own. This is true even if the game is something simple like tic-tac-toe. Figuring out how to display the game, handle inputs, detect if someone wins, and build a decent AI is something I find interesting. Had I downloaded a tic-tac-toe game I would be bored with it, even though it would surely be more polished than my version. Not everyone likes programming, though, but there are a lot of areas that involve creativity: woodworking, sewing, painting, writing, cooking, landscaping, etc. It's just a matter of finding what you like.
Go Outside (Score:2)
Maybe they should put down the phones and go outside. Yeesh, I spent my summers playing basketball with my friends. Maybe if they put down the phone and actually physically interact with people, they won't be bored. It's a huge world, more than FB, Instagram and snap. It's no different than when I was a kid and I got sick and watched TV all day.
Being bored is the core teen experience? (Score:2)
"It's tempting to think that these devices, with their endless ability to stimulate, offer salvation from the type of mind-numbing boredom that is so core to the teen experience."
The core teen experience is mind-numbing boredom? Are you sure? Having a nearly infinite range of possibilities and potential may result in some form of analysis paralysis - IF you're the sort of person that needs to obsessively analyze and think through all the ramifications - but we're talking about teens. Not exactly the folks
Hobbies (Score:3)
Smartphones are awful for entertainment (Score:2)
I'm an older millennial with apparently post-Gen Z kids. If I gave my older son a choice between my iPhone and a GameBoy (especially a GBA) I know that once he got the handle of the controls he'd have a lot more fun with the GameBoy than the phone. Fact is, the systems we grew up with were simply more fun and less frustrating for entertainment than a smartphone. Anyone who tries to do more than basic apps on a phone learns pretty quickly that they're just garbage for any sort of gaming experience that reall
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The only thing that is fundamentally better about old systems is having physical controls instead of touch control. The main problem on the mobile gaming front is the signal to noise ratio is terrible, and crappy games dominate because they are so much easier to make and anyone can churn out software now.
I don't know if you have revisited shows from your youth, but when I did, I discovered pretty quickly they were a lot crappier than I remember. I would say that on this front, my child watches shows that
It depends on the person (Score:2)
Sure, most of them are bored because they've been fed media and entertainment non-stop their whole lives. After a while, either you need even more of it, or you become numb to it and lose interest.
The smart ones learn things and then start doing things on their own. You can start doing CAD, computer programming, microcontrollers, robotics, computer-assisted manufacturing such as 3D printers, CNC routers and laser cutters, etc.
When you start designing and making your own projects, the next blockbuster movies
Not despite (Score:2)
FTFT
Not generational, mental (Score:2)
Whether you can motivate and excite yourself has very little to do with the availability of tools.
It depends on your mind. There are people out there building primitive shacks in the woods with stone axes.
Nothing is interesting in and of itself. It becomes interesting if our minds take interest, simple as that. If novelty is the only hook your mind is capable of, then you're plain fucked...
mentally retarded (Score:2)
I'm serious, it's literally creating brains that are underdeveloped and it will retard their mental abilities. The actual literally meaning of the label. It need not be permanent or have equal levels of damage to do a society great harm.
Creativity is severely lacking in people who never have to stimulate their own mind (imagine. No, consuming media that spells everything out does not count. It's akin to using training wheels and thinking you are good at riding a bike. ) Their attention spans, patience, an
BORING! (Score:2)
Quickly consumed, slowly refreshed. (Score:2)
It's very easy to quickly consume media, especially from the web - news, games, pics, texts, tweets, videos, etc... - but those sources often don't get refreshed as quickly. For example, I have a *bunch* of free time and I can easily read through all the various news sources without them posting anything new for a while.
I'm guessing that youngsters aren't used to having to constantly create their own entertainment, like "back in the day". When I was a teenager, there was NO: Internet, cell-phones, TiVo/D
Dumb article (Score:4, Insightful)
Just like you cannot always be "happy", you cannot always be entertained. Real life has sadness and boredom.
looking forward to smartphones losing their appeal (Score:2)
I have a twenty-something daughter who spends every free moment in her room with Instagram and Youtube. I am very much looking forward to the day when her smartphone loses its appeal and she eventually looks up and realizes that there is a "real reality" beyond her window.
As an aside, I think the real reason kids are bored is that the great majority of all this phone and internet connectivity is designed to be passively experienced. People have become, by and large, content consumers with no real desire t
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Hey man, the job market is tough for the younger crowd. Some side income can be really helpful. ....Are you SURE her interaction online is "passive"?
Yes. If she was making money off youtube, more power to her. She actually has the tools (I've seen to this) and the education (arts and communication school) to perhaps make a living off youtube. So far, she's chosen not to. (And in anticipation of the snide comments, I'm pretty sure she's not on xhamster either.)
People have become, by and large, content consumers
As opposed to people watching football? How man man-hours have you spent in your life watching TV?
That's not "opposed" at all. Watching football is exactly being a content consumer.
As to the man-hours I've spent watching TV, I confess growing up that TV was pretty much my life, all 3 channels of it. As an adult, TV has become a lot less important. I watch one movie a week, on Friday, with pizza and beer. I follow three 45 minute series, (sans commercials) on demand, and confidentially, I'm way behind at the moment. The rest of my off-time is spent reading, doing photography (my side business, conte
*Because of* having unprecidented access... (Score:2)
There, FIFY.
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It always leads the way (Score:2)
We're working on robot lovers as fast as we can!
Boredom is a personality issue (Score:2)
At least for the last half century or longer. I spend a lot of time at the public library as a teen, and boredom was not of the things I had any issue with. All these electronic gadgets cannot fix boredom, because boredom is a personality problem, not a result of lack of possible entertainment. Of course, all these grand "Buy this and never be bored again!" are just the usual marketing lies and they are far older than personal electronics.
Silver lining (Score:2)
Why you always gotta be such a god-damned downer?
The alternative is that teens are forever sucked into their devices like semi-lobotomized digital zombies. Oh look, they're bored of that. HURRZAH! We get some good news and you old crotchety bastards just have to find some way to complain about it.
Directionless and lacking in hope (Score:2)
I totally understand from a Nerd perspective. (Score:2)
Back in the 80ies there was so much that still had to be done. The state of IT was just leaving the steam-age and we got all excited when the C64 came out and we could instantly push the envelope even further. We dreamt of devices resembling todays tablets and VR goggles, didn't we? Remember the "consoles" in Enders Game? We have those now. And better than OSC imagined. And Star Trek NG and their devices look friggin' *dated*! Amazing isn't it?
These days there's nothing to explore in the IT space (except fo
INB4 : Boring is profitable! (Score:2)
Just ask Elon Musk and one of his most recent ventures.
Only boring people get bored (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, I said it. You get bored because you're not willing you exercise yourself. You're sitting around waiting for someone else to be creative to stimulate you. Well, guess what, any environment will eventually become "normal", and observing a "normal" environment is boring. It is only when you're actively involved in changing, manipulating, improving your own environment that you see it as ever changing and exposing more detail.
You don't have to go outside. You don't even have to put down your phone. But, you do have to change from a consumer into a producer if you want to avoid boredom.
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"...than facebook or whatever..." I'm told facebook is now passe, "only old people use it", and even instagram has lost appeal. Snapchat is still acceptable, but it's going by the wayside also.
Your point still stands, though.
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Does not match my experience. Most adults just hide their stupidity better than teens.
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Bollocks! There are plenty of tools for creating on the internet. For example, you can download and install a tool on your Android phone that allows you to build applications - right on the phone (e.g. Android Studio [instructables.com] etc)
The problem is you have to roll up your sleeves and not only get started, but follow through. That requires focus over time - which apparently is in short supply. Instant gratification does not build the next creative thing (whatever that may be).
There is no free lunch. There is no