Is youth wasted on the young? I think not.

Aww cheers, Number! :-)

Shardovan said:

Bob Dylan wrote, 'Ah but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.' 

Well, you get a +1 from me for manifesting an excellent quote that helpfully puts some real perspective on the 'age' rumblings here in recent times.

Fair point!

It might be cos it's a link with no context!

Oh dear, that minus score tells me I've offended - sorry about that, genuinely not my intention! I just thought the song has a nice balance in it of 'each 'side' needs to laugh at itself a bit' - at the end of the day we *are* each other. Nobody got cheated of a youth and nobody gets out of this thing alive. 

I think that true 'I have it all sussed' wisdom is ever-elusive anyway. As Bob Dylan wrote, 'Ah but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.' 

www.youtube.com/watch

It's a phrase I've used, never meant to be negative towards young people but as others have said, it's more to say " if I knew then what I did now" I'd be better places to do well, but having youth now would make me physically more capable to do something with my life's experience.

I think there does need to be something done about social media and kids access to it. Maybe make it a slightly older age to access Facebook, Snapchat and other similar platforms.

Kids are under pressure from bullying and other angles 24/7 now, rather than just during school time.

Problem with the pack mentality of kids though is that once one parent gives in and get their kids a phone, others follow, even when they don't want to, as they know their child will be ostracized for not having the same things as others. It needs to change. There will always be people too lazy to parent well who just let their kids do whatever they want. 

It's a joke, about the fact that when us "oldies" were young we didn't have the wisdom and experience we do now, and a lot of us would like to be transported back into our younger, fitter bodies with our memories intact to give life another go, as we think we could do it better now.

Unfortunately it seems that social and mainstream media these days is very keen on division, and one of those divisions they are trying to create is between the young and old. We mustn't let ourselves be conned into this.

I'm old, and I like to see young people join this forum. I hope that I can sometimes help them by sharing my life experiences, knowledge, and observations, and I like to hear about what their lives are like, what they enjoy, and how it affects someone to be diagnosed earlier than I was.

We are all unique and valuable.

I think that when you get older and your body starts getting creaky and stops you from doing the things you can finally afford to do, is when people say youth is wasted on the young. It's a phrase I sometimes use when I'm aching, lacking in energy and my knees won't work properly, it's the youthful body I envy, the ease with which it reovers from injury, the energy I had. I don't envy anything else abouot being young, either when I was young or for the young of today.

NAS94050 said:

I think you are asking far too much of the youth.

Oddly enough, another reason why the benefits of youth are wasted on them

When I was younger I didn't think critically, I think you are asking far too much of the youth.  Just my opinion.

I totally agree with you, councils are shutting places where people meet, swimming baths and even some recreation centres. People are no longer willing to give there time to help run youth clubs. All the emphasis is on money. Not mant people are willing to work for nothing.

We can all look back and say we didn't understand what were doing back then, it is the same for the youth today in time they will look back. The amount of pressure put on children even at school are far me than we ever had.  The education system needs to be looked.  Too many people sat in offices making rules that they have no idea what the consequence's are to young people. 

There not much out there for young people youth clubs are closing down I remember in my younger days I used to go to a religious youth club it was very basic but it was somewhere for me to go to hang out with people. We go camping in the summer which was good fun the religious side wasn’t great as I’m not a religious person. But the one thing I can’t stand is walking around in Tesco for example and seeing babies and toddlers on smart phones it’s just not right. My 5 year old niece doesn’t know how to use one and I agree with my sister on that one. Bring back youth clubs to create a safe space for children and young players.

NAS94050 said:

I would not say the youth is wasted on the youth, more that they have been programmed to behave like this.

My take is that youth are educated to think for themselves but are foolish enough to give into social pressures, advertising and generally influenced by what is being pushed at them rather than thinking critically for themselves.

I'm not saying they are stupid, just they are too lazy typically the ask the "why" questions and take time to weigh up the arguements as it takes too much effort.

This results in them giving into influence and prevents them from making the most from those valuable years of health, vitality and energy.

Age gives us more opportunity to examine our choices and realise where we have been "played" by those seeking to influence us, so it is for this reason that I agree that youth is wasted on the young.

So many issues in there.

I think social media and advertising are worse than ever. One of the worst things we’ve ever invented. It puts people into echo chambers, has distorted politics, bombards people with disinformation that aligns with their personal prejudices and it fools people into thinking online connections are as valid as real world ones. It’s bad for everyone but I am very glad it wasn’t a thing when I was at school. The potential for bullying and exclusion is horrendous.

Computer games: this isn’t a recent thing. It was true even when I was a child. I don’t think they really desensitise people to violence unless they already have an underlying problem. On that note though, there is much on social media or in movies that you could argue desensitises people.

I’m not a parent so it would be wrong of me to criticise harried parents who sit their kid in front of an iPad but my mum and my aunts gave me a lot of their time, taught me to read as a toddler etc. It would be a shame to lose that.

The general statement about youth being wasted on the young isn’t entirely false though. When I was young I didn’t really understand the need to take care of my body, I hadn’t yet developed the confidence and skills to do many things I can do now and I generally realise now that time is not an unlimited resource.