What Has Happened To Kids These Days?

I remember marching into assembly one morning at school and sitting down on the cold wooden floor, cross-legged, for a talk from a local parishioner. He delivered a speech of which I now remember almost nothing except for the part where he read a news article to us; it described some local hooliganistic behavior involving trespassing and vandalism. He then revealed to us that this article was written in 1958. His point was that youths have always been the same, and the issues found today are nothing new but have happened for generations. Many people today are heard to say things like "kids today have no respect" or "you wouldn't have seen kids doing that in my day", but is this actually true or are we just remembering things with a rosy tint?

Human nature is not going to change, of that we can be pretty certain. Environmental factors, however, are very prone to change and are subsequently responsible for many behavioral digressions. Environmental factors cover a huge breadth of variables; media reports, housing estates, parental styles, schooling quality, communication habits, dietary changes, family dynamics. These and many other factors have all changed over time and all play a part in shaping a person's behavior.

We are at our most impressionable when we are young and exposure to other people is, in most cases, the single most influential factor in affecting our behavior. Behavioral patterns can emerge in societies with more and more people influencing each other until the pattern spreads to encompass any number of individuals. We are very susceptible to conformation, particularly at a young age because insecurity causes us to seek safety in numbers. A child who stands against his/her friends at a moment of uncertainty is easily cast aside and this impacts a person very hard. To remain successfully integrated within a group of people you must adapt your behavior accordingly to fit in. This is scaled down in later life but is still very much prevalent, especially in a work environment.

The biggest contributes to a change in child behavior over the past 30 years are very arguable. Television is probably one of the most obvious culprits. TV's have now become staple elements of entertainment in the home, with many children today having their own set in their bedroom. The affect televisions have had on behaviour could be multi-faceted. TV's commonly reduce social interaction in the home, sometimes dramatically, and this can affect a child's understanding of many important things. Impeding interaction with adults, in particular, can alienate young people further, so the divide between child and adult only dissipates very slowly.

The content on television also plays a part, with media reporting incidents of violence, drunkenness or antisocial behaviour on a frequent basis. Our awareness of these actions on a countrywide scale, can skew our picture of how common they actually are. Fictional material, such as soaps and films, also portray these elements and so the idea that they are accepted factors of society begin to enter the consciousness. This notion of societal acceptance can deflate people's perception of severity and also combines with the personal acceptance of following a common body of behaviour. If awareness of isolated incidences were not so prevalent, there would be far less license for following suit.

This article has only begun to touch upon reasons behind behavioral changes in young people, but it is clear there are many contributing factors which affect this and technological advancements in communication have impacted on us in the last 20 years especially. It is frightening to see the demand for entertainment, whether it be the stories told in the news or in soap operas, has such potential to distort our picture of reality and, ironically, translate into actual behavioural reality. This has manifested into actions of children and teenagers most visibly because they are most easily influenced and their perception of reality, consequence and society is more limited than their older guardians and as such they have less fear and less righteousness.