Have people become mentally weaker in recent times?

[Drakoes]

Simple. A lot of it comes down to their upbringing, the media and just social norms to a great extent.

[tehealadin]

Simple. A lot of it comes down to their upbringing, the media and just social norms to a great extent.

I saw an interesting video attempting to explain the upbringing aspect of it, not sure if I wholly agree with it, but it provoked thought, I won't link it as it could derail the thread as it was in relation to another topic, but the basic idea was that this mindset that has become prevalent in education and with educationalists is the every child is special doctrine, awards for taking part instead of doing well (I think this in principle is ok, but if not balanced it can get dangerous imo) etc fosters an attitude of entitlement and even a small amount of narcissism, and when they enter the real world and find out that they aren't entitled to everything, that awards and rewards are generally (though I accept not always) given on merit/aren't as special as they had been made believe, the shock of this can be profoundly damaging on the minds of these people. It was an interesting thought on the subject.

I haven't seen any empirical evidence for this, parts of it fit with my own observations e.g. I am a teacher and I find that the 3 r's, especially reading and writing, of children going from primary to secondary education is shocking, but the kids are for the most part very confident and nice, suggests to me that the doctrine of "so long as you tried, you are as good as the the rest" (even if the effort was minimal) has worked wonders for the children's confidence, but this has been put in front of basic academic abilities. I don't mean to sound as if this isn't important- it is, but there needs to be balance. Even the brightest of kids, who learn fantastically well, struggle with basic literacy and subject teachers (I am computing and IT) find we are having to teach them how to form sentences and paragraphs and how to spell, not complex words, this extends right down to basic words. Now, this isn't true of all children, but there are enough for it to be very noticeable and troubling.

And further on in the school, there is a mentality by senior managers that if a pupil wants to be in the top class, or take a class at the highest level, ability really shouldn't be considered and they should be able to take it. This is causing a lot of friction at the moment. Generally, at different stages there are assessments of varying variety, these serve 2 main purposes- to show pupils their progress, where their strengths and weaknesses lie and how to raise them up, and secondly to ensure they are studying at the right level. Certain subjects (especially maths, and in computing we are having this problem too) have found that they have strong evidence that a pupil cannot sit at a given level, but are forced to accept them anyway, knowing they will fail (they then get criticised the number of fails). Many of these kids have had ambition fostered that far exceeds their abilities, and if by some miracle they get into university, they are in for such a shock. This is also true for the world of work also.

I image this could be crushing for many of these kids. But, this is just one angle to it. I could be missing something and there are no doubt other factors at play, so this is by no means an all encompassing comment on the topic.

[Deleted]

People have not become weaker, we've just become more adept at identifying mental illness and so on.

It's like people talking about autism rates rising. They are probably not, just that we are becoming better at diagnosing it.

I hate to agree with Erin, people have always been messed up in a big way, nowadays we'll merely acknowledge and notice it. Stuff like this used to "stay in the family" and not be talked about.

On topics of claims of "pressure being higher" and "life being harder", at least for the western world that is complete and utter BS. The post war generation had it easy, the generation after them didn't have it much harder and the current generation(s) face a whole new host of problems produced by those before them. Pressure in school and job wasn't as high ever before.
We're expected to do more, achieve more and do so for less. We have to learn more even during primary education than they had by a large margin. We have less security, less social services, higher costs for almost everything. Where they started with nothing into life after college, we now start with hefty debts.

[shise]

I do think we've invented problems like lactose intolerance and gluten intolerance etc

Dude no. That is for real.

You know, not everyting is writen down, some issues simply come up eventually among the years. It is called evolution, another thing is how we influence our evolution.

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Back on topic; obviously yes. Marketing, economy, they all play an important role in cheating people to get their money for example. Peopel who buy Apple products for the sake of the apple logo are weak (no offence, but we know a lot of peopel do it for the "status").

[Thes]

I think men are becoming softer - both mentally and physically. Just my opinion...

I want to be soft and not a leader. Too much responsibility.

[Cthulhu 2020]

It seems that to people about age 30-80, moving out of the house was the "normal" thing to do. This is the war generation all the way through to the late gen X'ers.

They've forgotten the stories of their grandparents though. My (recently diceased) grandparents lived with their parents for awhile before they were ever on their feet. Pre WW1 and WW2 the economy was low and slow, and getting your footing in the world was rather difficult. People around my age say the same thing. Their grandparents all lived at home for many years before moving out. This idea that you become independent and move out of the house is a construct around the war era, when they were recruiting every able bodied male 18 and older. Those men were forced to become independent really quickly, and that just seems to have stuck since then.

However the 40's 50' 60's and to a lesser degree the 70's all saw great economic growth. This continued into the 80's and 90's only because of a drastic increase in borrowing. People were making less money, but they were borrowing to make up the difference that once hadn't existed decades before.

With economic downturn we're going back to a time when people spend many years at home with their parents while they gain their footing. Leaving home at 30 has become the norm again. In the 19th century and before, living in the "family home" and moving in with your husband's family was the NORM. Not some basement dwelling neckbeard.

If anything, this is an indication that we need to fix stagnant wages, not continue justifying their stagnation.

[PosPosPos]

And that's your opinion - you should add that.

It's a fact, not an opinion in this case.

[Fahrenheit]

15 year old Justin Bieber Fan Girls would disagree with those "Facts"

That's because they aren't women yet. I don't think detailed information on the whole women generally are hardwired to prefer the alpha male type was required, it's common knowledge.

[Deleted]

My father used to always tell me that life was so much harder in the past across the board. People dealt with more pressure than they do now and that made them mentally more resillient and head strong.


Now we have names for everything from anxiety, low self-esteem to depression and even being scared from leaving your house.



My father is incredibly old-fashioned so I should say that my views don't necessarily reflect his but I do think that he has a point since we appear to be obssessed with labels.

I do believe things like social anxiety and depression exist, but I think people are too quick to label themselves when they're in fact just a bit shy or a bit sad, and I think kids are often labeled as having ADHD when they in fact just lack discipline.

Also political correctness has forced us to constantly tread on eggshells, sure you shouldn't be insensitive but sometimes a spade should be called a spade.

But things just straight up being tougher back in the day? I'm not convinced, the pressure is still there, it just isn't the exact same since society isn't the exact same.

[Djuntas]

formor Head chief / CEO off Danske Bank started as a teller when he was 15 or so I think I once heard.

Danske bank is Denmarks biggest bank.

Times have changed.

[Shinra1]

After getting to page 2 of this 17 page thread my brain turned to mush AND I'm the OP.


Honestly users on this forum are so crazy.

[crakerjack]

I think the whole cyber bullying thing is a little stupid. I believe that you should be able to say what ever the FUCK you want online, because that's what freedom is speech is. Now if you're stupid enough to make a threat, then you can't complain when the FBI/Cops knock on your door. If it isn't a threat and it's just harassment, then there's no harm. I'm sick and tired of people thinking we need laws to stop people from being assholes online. If someone is being a massive dick to you online, then just ignore them. All those stories about teens killing themselves are utterly stupid. The blame falls on the parents for not teaching their kids properly. If I have kids, I'll inform them that there are nasty/vile/evil people in this world and the best way to deal with them is to just ignore them. Don't give them a reaction, don't comment back, just ignore them and let them live their lonely lives.

Do I think our generation has become soft mentally? Absolutely. People allow others to influence their lives WAY more than they should. If someone is trying to drag me down, i'll pull my arm back and let them fall to their demise. As long as I have myself and those around me whom I care for, there's not a single thing else that I need.

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They look and act more girly. Masculinity seems to be something bad.

Well hey now... I defy your claim. I don't care about what I wear. I lift regularly and have fairly large muscles. I also go weeks without bathing or shaving. I'm as manly as manliness gets.