[Phobiker]

Since I've been bullied in school (and other places as well) I have a wicked anxiety of teenagers. That's one of my no. 1 social anxieties. I get totally mad when I'm around them. I avoid them as much as I can, don't hang around where teenagers usually are, switching the side of the street and stuff. I just can't help. I've made a poor school-leaving qualification but I can't see myself going back to school.

 

[Georgina 22]

Yep, I was bullied at school and now I cannot stand teenagers incase they say something mean to me whilst walking passed or something.
I think my sister is annoying when she's home from Uni and I am not keen on her bf who is a teenager too and her friends lol
Teenagers are one of my anxieties

 

[citizenjane]

Now that my son is a teen (almost grown, actually) I no longer fear teenage boys. I've been around too many of them, I'm used to them by now.

When I was younger, I was afraid of them, because they don't have the social restraint that adults have: especially in groups, where they will say anything, including making really hurtful and inappropriate and insulting comments to total strangers for no reason.

Now I see that such behavior is rooted in insecurity; it's an attempt to gain status within their group by bullying and picking on others, which is why this behavior is so much more pronounced when they're in groups.
It's nothing personal.

 

[downbutnotout]

When i see a group of teens, male, female, and sometimes even a mixed group. It freaks me out.

And some of them were down the road outside their house earlier....so frustrating even looking at them. I try to look away, and not look/be seen!

Why are there so many of them?

 

[Seigfried22]

A lot of times whenever a bunch of teenage boys are around and I'm walking down the street minding my own business, they make a rude comment(usually behind my back, and there a safe distance away).
I just ignore them and shrug it off now, but awhile back one group made an especially rude comment halfway down the road and I snapped, turned around and very loudly(and foolishly) challenged their group to a fight(there was about 5 of them) and called them cowards and loudmouths when they continued to walk away.

It proves that mostly they are just being loud to impress there mates, although I do understand I was lucky in that particular situation because there are gangs of these types of buggers around genuinely looking for trouble, carrying around knives,screwdrivers, hammers and the like, and could be one scuffle away from a tragedy.

 

[DeeperUnderstanding]

I'm not a big fan of teenagers, either. I keep on thinking they'll make fun of me or say a hurtful comment. I wasn't that disrespectful when I was a teen, as some of these teens today.

 

[ilikebooks]

I abhor most teenagers, and I am one. They'll do anything in their power to belittle anyone so that they can achieve some sort of level of pseudo-respect in their groups which allows them to be the acting authority on a number of mundane topics.

[/rant]

No wonder I stay home so much. :afr

 

[blc1]

I've yet to meet a teenager I would want to talk to for more than five minutes. I find most of them dull and self absorbed. They refuse to expand their minds beyond their little social worlds. It's lamentable. I am chilled by the thought of today's teenagers becoming future leaders.

 

[slyfox]

People in my age group and teenagers make me nervous. I was made fun of constantly in school. I have very little problem talking to older people.

 

[citizenjane]

I've yet to meet a teenager I would want to talk to for more than five minutes. I find most of them dull and self absorbed. They refuse to expand their minds beyond their little social worlds. It's lamentable. I am chilled by the thought of today's teenagers becoming future leaders.

I don't think yesterday's teenagers were any better.
I was a teen in the late 80s/ early 90s, and I recall teens back then being equally appalling, if not even a little bit more so.

The only real difference I see is that teens today have become less independent, less willing to assume adulthood and all that entails.
I think they're younger, in a lot of ways, than the teens of the previous generation.
My generation grew up during the divorce boom. We were all latch-key kids. Most of us lived in single-parent households and many of us were responsible for caring for our younger siblings after school from a young age.

I think that trend has turned around, at least slightly: divorce is less common and less cavalier than it was at its peak in the late 80s. And nearly every state now has laws against children under twelve being left home unsupervised.
Nine-year-olds today go to organized afterschool programs, not home to an empty house, to babysit their two younger siblings while mom works the late shift.

People of my generation understood the concept of responsibility from a young age. We were ready to work and live independently by the time we were of age to do so. We were already chomping at the bit by our mid-teens, wanting to be free.
I think more teens dropped out of school in those days; there was less effort made to retain them if they wanted to go.
Society was also more tolerant (or at least, more resigned to the inevitability of) teen smoking and drinking, sex and drug experimentation.
I do recall some half-hearted "Just Say no To Drugs" campaign, but there was certainly no abstinence-only movement back then.
Watch the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Then watch Juno. Therein lies the difference between teens today and teens of twenty years ago (and the difference in societal attitudes about teens then and now).

I wouldn't say teens have gotten worse; I would say they're more sheltered today, and less mature.
An alarming number of them don't seem to get the fact that they will be expected to work for a living, that a regular, full-time job is the price of freedom.
That fact was never lost on the teens of my generation; we all got jobs as soon as we were able. Couldn't wait to get out of our houses and out from under our parents' thumbs.
Too many kids today will contentedly live at home until they're 30.

At least, that's my two cents on the issue.

 

[Phobiker]

It proves that mostly they are just being loud to impress there mates, although I do understand I was lucky in that particular situation because there are gangs of these types of buggers around genuinely looking for trouble, carrying around knives,screwdrivers, hammers and the like, and could be one scuffle away from a tragedy.

I know but some bullies go way too far! My school had a huge bullying problem, even with police involved.

I'm not a big fan of teenagers, either. I keep on thinking they'll make fun of me or say a hurtful comment. I wasn't that disrespectful when I was a teen, as some of these teens today.

Same here. Everyone might have been a little mean once in a while as a teen, but I also wasn't ever that disrespectful like some teens teens today are. We in Germany use to say: "That's not the fine English way!"

 

[anonymouspacket]

Now that my son is a teen (almost grown, actually) I no longer fear teenage boys. I've been around too many of them, I'm used to them by now.

When I was younger, I was afraid of them, because they don't have the social restraint that adults have: especially in groups, where they will say anything, including making really hurtful and inappropriate and insulting comments to total strangers for no reason.

Now I see that such behavior is rooted in insecurity; it's an attempt to gain status within their group by bullying and picking on others, which is why this behavior is so much more pronounced when they're in groups.
It's nothing personal.

Very well said. =)

 

[Freiheit]

I have anxiety when it comes to dealing with teenagers too and what's worse is that I myself am one and am forced to be around them a lot.

 

[Some Russian Guy]

I was bullied too... socially, by other teens in school when I was 17. So now I avoid them.

 

[copper]

I The only real difference I see is that teens today have become less independent, less willing to assume adulthood and all that entails.
I think they're younger, in a lot of ways, than the teens of the previous generation.
My generation grew up during the divorce boom. We were all latch-key kids. Most of us lived in single-parent households and many of us were responsible for caring for our younger siblings after school from a young age.

My parent's weren't divorced, but they both worked all of the time. I have a brother that is 7 years younger. Many times I had to come home to an empty house and I took care of my brother. I learned to cook, clean, do laundry, and mow the lawn at a young age. It was no problem when I moved out on my own. I knew how to do all these things. It wasn't a hard transition for me. But the kids now days don't do crap. Many parents baby them. I watched the two boys that live across the street from my house. The youngest was like 10 years old and the oldest was like 14 when I moved here in 1999. I never seen those two mow the lawn, shovel the driveway. All they did was get drove around in the SUV to their many after school events. Now they are both in college and when they aren't at school they are running around with their friends and still don't do crap around the house. I am starting to get that generation working where I do. I have to spell everything out for them. They got to have constant supervision. It just drives me nuts.

 

[UltraShy]

I am chilled by the thought of today's teenagers becoming future leaders.

I'm almost a generation older than you and I can tell you it was no different years ago. A majority of those that I went to school with are parents now. These people with kids is unimaginable. I would hardly trust them to take care of a potted plant.

 

[eelpie]

this forum is really eye opening. if i'm out running or biking or walking and come upon some teens I usually "seize up" and just try to get past without a comment b/c I am so accustomed to bullying, comments, nastiness, snickering etc. most times nothing happens but I have been conditioned in such a way. it really is too bad. from now own, i'm keeping my head up!

 

[LALoner]

Now that my son is a teen (almost grown, actually) I no longer fear teenage boys. I've been around too many of them, I'm used to them by now.

When I was younger, I was afraid of them, because they don't have the social restraint that adults have: especially in groups, where they will say anything, including making really hurtful and inappropriate and insulting comments to total strangers for no reason.

Now I see that such behavior is rooted in insecurity; it's an attempt to gain status within their group by bullying and picking on others, which is why this behavior is so much more pronounced when they're in groups.
It's nothing personal.

I think its rooted in security. If you screw with them they think they will win because of their age and stuff.

 

[LALoner]

I believe that most of the horrible teenagers of the past have grown up into decent parents and respectable citizens somehow. It just supposed to be a normal phase in human life.

Um, no.

 

[citizenjane]

My parent's weren't divorced, but they both worked all of the time. I have a brother that is 7 years younger. Many times I had to come home to an empty house and I took care of my brother. I learned to cook, clean, do laundry, and mow the lawn at a young age. It was no problem when I moved out on my own. I knew how to do all these things. It wasn't a hard transition for me. But the kids now days don't do crap. Many parents baby them. I watched the two boys that live across the street from my house. The youngest was like 10 years old and the oldest was like 14 when I moved here in 1999. I never seen those two mow the lawn, shovel the driveway. All they did was get drove around in the SUV to their many after school events. Now they are both in college and when they aren't at school they are running around with their friends and still don't do crap around the house. I am starting to get that generation working where I do. I have to spell everything out for them. They got to have constant supervision. It just drives me nuts.

Completely agree. Teens these days are big helpless babies compared to teens of our generation (you and I are close to the same age).
And I am also getting the 20/ 21-year-old set in my workplace now.
I agree, they seem to need a lot of direction. It's not that they're lazy, exactly, but they don't seem to be able to take any initiative. They seem to need everything spelled out for them all the time.