Youth Maturing Too Fast?

[Sage JoWii]

I'm in my living room and I can hear my uncle's current girlfriend letting someone, she is talking on the phone w/, know that her 7-yr old daughter has Facebook. I find myself laughing @ the thought that some 7 year old child has a Facebook page because every part of that statement seems absurd. To what end does this seven year old need a social networking page for? Isn't seven a bit young to even want a FB profile? Should I feel pity that the child is growing up too fast or should I feel irritated the adult is encouraging it?

I also know that it's not my place to ask any of those questions because the parenting of that child is not my responsibility so I instead present this for debate:

If the future is in the hands of the next generation, should steps be taken to curb the maturing of this next generation?

My stance:
At some point the realization dawns that the generation that'll follow you is growing at a faster rate than you did and it's not looking like it's gonna be pretty. It's not uncommon for kids to have FB pages, or myspace. It's not uncommon anymore for kids that are 12 or 13 to be dressing like they're 18 or something; my point being that kids are on an accelerated path to growing up.
What it seems like to me though is that parents aren't trying to intervene, instead opting to accept it and let it be. I feel that my youth was pretty average and my development maybe a bit fast due to my living circumstances but all in all I feel it was a mostly positive development; IMO, I had time to make mistakes and learn from them.

What I fear is, that w/ all the access to mature information available to the newer generation coming after us is it won't allow time for the mistake/correction > learn process (for lack of a p.c. way to say) and allows for mistakes later in their life which come w/ bigger consequences. Should we be worried?

P.S. >_> It's my first thread here..

 

[Dabuz]

who is to say they are growing up faster?

Kids these days just have access to materials we lacked when we were their age (cellphones, ipods, ect.) but that doesn't mean they are necessarily maturing too fast, just growing up differently. With society's grown reliance on technology its only natural for a child to use such technology at earlier ages, but that doesn't mean they grow up faster, mentally their brains will still grow at the same pace ours did (or still are doing for the younger bunch here) and physically they grow at a similar pace (i say SIMILAR only because of hormones in a lot of dairy and meat products have started accelerating growth by a little bit).

Chances are, the current generation will say the same thing about the generation that comes after because that next generation will also grow up with tools that the previous generation either didn't have at all, or didn't have until they were older.

I do say that we should not curve the way kids grow up now though, they will develop their own sense of morals and learn and lessons in different ways, and we should embrace it, not worry about it, there will always be people who don't learn all the necessary lessons and make big mistakes in life and people who do not, regardless of how those people grow up.

 

[Xatres]

who is to say they are growing up faster?

Kids these days just have access to materials we lacked when we were their age (cellphones, ipods, ect.) but that doesn't mean they are necessarily maturing too fast, just growing up differently. With society's grown reliance on technology its only natural for a child to use such technology at earlier ages, but that doesn't mean they grow up faster, mentally their brains will still grow at the same pace ours did (or still are doing for the younger bunch here) and physically they grow at a similar pace (i say SIMILAR only because of hormones in a lot of dairy and meat products have started accelerating growth by a little bit).

I agree. Things that became popular to our generation, MySpace and Facebook, are now becoming popular for younger and younger kids. It's just the way of things. Trends trickle down as younger generations imitate the ones that come before. They will hurry to get to what they see as "cool." Conversely, they will rush away from the things they view as "uncool," resulting in what our generation would view as social rebellion.

Chances are, the current generation will say the same thing about the generation that comes after because that next generation will also grow up with tools that the previous generation either didn't have at all, or didn't have until they were older.

Also true. Time marches on, after all.

I do say that we should not curve the way kids grow up now though, they will develop their own sense of morals and learn and lessons in different ways, and we should embrace it, not worry about it, there will always be people who don't learn all the necessary lessons and make big mistakes in life and people who do not, regardless of how those people grow up.

I disagree on this point.

Social trends are one thing, but morals are another. I believe it is the responsibility of the older generation to impart moral teaching to the generation below. The way we teach these lessons may change, but the fact that the need to be taught does not. It's the nature of humanity (and the entire animal kingdom) to teach their children what they need to know for life. For animals, this means hunting and stalking prey. For humans, it means living morally within society.

I fail to see how we can just shrug our shoulders and "embrace" children "developing their own sense of morals." The fact that many people today allow their kids to learn morality through things like the internet may very well be why kids are "growing up too fast."

Why would a 12-year-old dress like a skank on her facebook profile? We say it's inappropriate, but maybe she hasn't been taught that. No one told her it was inappropriate, so she just emulates what she sees 18-year-olds doing. She doesn't understand that there are very real differences between a preteen and an adult when it comes to sexuality.

Without someone to teach her such intricacies, how will she learn?

It should be our mission to prevent people from "[failing to] learn all the necessary lessons and [from making] big mistakes in life."

Forgive me if I've misrepresented your views in any way in my response.

P.S. Stealing my palegreen, eh?

 

[Dabuz]

I disagree on this point.

Social trends are one thing, but morals are another. I believe it is the responsibility of the older generation to impart moral teaching to the generation below. The way we teach these lessons may change, but the fact that the need to be taught does not. It's the nature of humanity (and the entire animal kingdom) to teach their children what they need to know for life. For animals, this means hunting and stalking prey. For humans, it means living morally within society.

I don't have any arguments with this

I fail to see how we can just shrug our shoulders and "embrace" children "developing their own sense of morals." The fact that many people today allow their kids to learn morality through things like the internet may very well be why kids are "growing up too fast."

Why would a 12-year-old dress like a skank on her facebook profile? We say it's inappropriate, but maybe she hasn't been taught that. No one told her it was inappropriate, so she just emulates what she sees 18-year-olds doing. She doesn't understand that there are very real differences between a preteen and an adult when it comes to sexuality.

Yes, i agree kids growing up can learn things wrong on the internet, but that hasn't stopped companies from creating magazines and ads which kids will see and try to emulate (even though mags and ads fall more into early teen, like age 14-15 category) Whether through FB or not, a kid will see very similar concepts of beauty or maturity in their everyday life. (unless they grow up sheltered)

But, instead of seeing the internet as just a place for learning bad morals, it could very well be embraced and used to spread great morals, there are websites that have things like children's book, there are lots of responsible people on facebook to look up to, ADs can promote things like getting a good education, being nice and drug aware, ect.

Post edit: Also, i think a reason why a lot of people say the new generation is growing up to fast is because a lot of products are now being targeted purposely towards kids, and there are things like Kids Bop which is meant to bridge the generation gaps by music

Without someone to teach her such intricacies, how will she learn?It should be our mission to prevent people from "[failing to] learn all the necessary lessons and [from making] big mistakes in life."

I'm not saying parents should not teach kids these things themselves, because that won't be curving the way children learn as long we don't limit them to only being taught by parents/ real world experiences.

By curving, i mean if we limit how a child should learn or teach a child in a way that they won't feel comfortable learning by. For example, lets pretend there was a kid that was 10 years old named Ike. Ike never went to school and now that he is 10 he will be going to his first day of school, but throughout his life he has learned his morals through magazines and TV. He comes home that day and tells his parents he doesn't feel comfortable in school, forcing him to go to school would be curving his morals. Now, lets say another child, Samus, has been in school since she was 4, and she comes home from school when she is 10, and says she likes learning form school, but her parents tell her they will home school her despite Samus not feeling comfortable being home schooled. Samus preferred method of going to school to learn morals is not being embraced in this situation.

Post edit: An aspect of maturity for parents is to understand this, but kids won't be mature enough to understand this until they are becoming around parent age as well

Forgive me if I've misrepresented your views in any way in my response.

You were pretty accurate...just your last paragraph was a little misinformed about my views.

P.S. Stealing my palegreen, eh?

I use all the colors and fonts here when possible :D


post edit: The one thing i believe really makes it hard to argue about kids growing up and maturing faster is that, no matter how trends leap to younger generations, a child's mind grows at the same rate throughout the years and will achieve understanding of certain "mature" concepts at roughly the same age as the previous generations


edit: acrostic is right about me going off to morals....i'll edit this post ASAP to get more on topicz

 

[#HBC | Acrostic]

Just to clarify. "Morals" weren't an original topic of conversation in the opening post. "Maturity" was the main topic that was being discussed. Unless you equivocate "morals" to be synonymous with "maturity," you're essentially discussing another matter entirely.

Also, it's fine to tout "morals" around as some desirable higher standard. Yet the meaning behind the term itself is often defined upon personal interpretation. This is undesirable as a discussion on "morals" could fundamentally mean very different things to very different people. This point has become especially evident with dabuz's last point as he insisted that a 4 and 10 year old child's initial opinions about school should be respected and obeyed by a guardian according to what s/he thinks is the "right decision". Again another distinction should be made whether or not "right decisions" are always "moral decisions" and vice versa.

Defining terms is important when considering abstract-social terminology that is used outside traditional dictionary constraints and one should proceed with caution when such terms are often associated with personal bias and interpretation. That's all.

 

[Dragoon Fighter]

I argue youths are not maturing fast enough. As listed in the opening kids are using mature tools that have great and huge responsibilities behind them ... most kids do not have as a developed sense of responsibility maturity and morals (yes, I read Acrostic's post I just think it is part of the list but not the main argument.) So I will argue that they need to mature faster to equal the responsibilities that comes with the tools they have.

 

[Dre89]

Kids are growing up too slow in our society. There are 12 year olds in other societies that are more independant and capable than most 21 year olds in ours.

 

[TheOriginalSmasher]

Children, and teenagers are defidently Maturing far too slow, they act as if they are invincible and think the world is they're oyster.

Personally, I blame the parents now adays, they defidently aren't as strict as they used to be.

There is also the fact that Teachers used to be allowed to hit students, immoral, but effective.

 

[Dre89]

There is nothing wrong with hitting a child within reason.

Some of the best kids/people I know were hit, or punished firmly as children.

 

[TheOriginalSmasher]

There is nothing wrong with hitting a child within reason.

Some of the best kids/people I know were hit, or punished firmly as children.

Beethoven is a prime example, though, I think his father was an alcoholic.

 

[Dre89]

The golden rule with hitting a child, is to make sure you're doing in their best interest, to condition them, rather than out of your anger. If the father is an alcoholic, I'm skeptical as to whether the motive would always be the former.

 

[Jun.]

First of all, there is no accurate way to measure change. There are no units or scales to measure the rate at which the youth is maturing therefore any difference in changes are solely determined by comparing one era to another which is widely based on opinions.

example.
The youth of the late 50's early 60's listening to Elvis VS The youth of today engaging in social networking

Are these two social phenomena comparable? Even through extensive research a conclusion might be reached however it is impossible to determine the rate at which youth is maturing since there are so many differences in the times and additional factors.

There is however a clear indication of maturity, and that is puberty. In my opinion puberty is the sign of maturing biologically which in turn effects their behavior thus changing their role in society. Records show that the age at which both males and females reach puberty haven't changed therefore my stance is:

No, children are not maturing any faster

reference
http://www.slate.com/id/2264500/

 

[fragbait]

Kids are growing up too slow in our society. There are 12 year olds in other societies that are more independant and capable than most 21 year olds in ours.

Agreed, but how many of these are 3rd world societies that hardly know what clothing or an education is? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say most of them. In advanced society like ours, one is not forced to fend for themselves in a way like others are, and the norm today is that a 21 year old will still be going through secondary school, so they can have some chance at making it in our society. Of COURSE the 21 year old isn't capable in comparison, because the only thing the 21 year old has to worry about most of the time is that paper due on Monday, while that 12 year old you speak of has to worry about finding the next meal, not catching the house on fire and avoiding environmental hazards.

 

[Dre89]

That's the point, we're so spoiled and privellaged in our society that we take longer to mature.

A third world 12 year old would be far more independantand mature than a 21 year old.

I actually believe the sex age should be lower, because we are sexually mature before 16. I just don't think we can afford to lower it in our society because of the immaturity.

I'm not advocating 40 year olds with 15 year olds, I'm talking about people of the same age. The average life expectancy of an ancient Egyptian peasant was 35. So the first humans, without technology, wouldn't have lived very long, perhaps to around 30. Obviously, these people couldn't afforsd to mature at 21, then get married at 30, becuase their kids wouldn't even be 5 before the parents passed away. That's why we hit puberty so young, because in those times you had have to had kids before 20, so that you had enoughtime to raise them before you passed on. Nevertheless, our society is too immature for that now though.

 

[fragbait]

Agreed. On top of that consider that the system isn't made for someone under the age of about 25 that has kids to survive and be well off, and it's just not a great idea to be mature that quick.

Considering the question, however is ARE they, not SHOULD they, then, yes, they are. With a combination of medias all influencing today's youth, it's not unheard of for you to walk by a 14 year old talking about her latest exploits in the bedroom with her same aged friends. While the general state of mind is an immature one, in comparison to the previous generation at the same age, we do have a sort of shorter time to the same level of maturity in our society (barring Mental, but that is more the fault of the establishment responsible for teaching, saving all of the actual useful information for college). Just from looking at my younger friends, and thinking, "Wow. I didn't even know what that WAS when I was their age" I think is a big sign of it.
Of course, then you have to go back to a previous debater's argument: How can one accurately measure maturity? You can use the Legal definition (age 18 in the US), you can use Physical ones (height, weight, etc), you can use any number of method, all of which will give you different results.

Just from a logic standpoint, comparing current youth with past youth, I would say Yes.

 

[#HBC | Acrostic]

Fragbait you appear to be well versed in what it means to be a 21 year old college student.

 

[Dre89]

Fragbait I think there's a difference between maturity and enpowerment.

The reason why you see so many pregnant 14 year old girls is not because they're mature, it's because they've been given the freedom that only a mature person should have, when they're not mature enough to handle it. That's why teen pregnancy is undesirable; because society feels that people of that age aren't mature enough for that sort of responsibility.

I don't really see what you're talking about as maturity, I see it more as enpowerment. In our society, we measure maturity by age, in that you are entitled to more privellages the older you get (drinking, legal sex, driver's licence, voting etc.). You see here, that the more mature you become the more enpowered you become. The issue today though is that we're enpowering people at younger ages, when they haven't earned their "maturity credentials".

If anything, I think this just reflects that society as a whole is becoming more mature.

 

[fragbait]

Fragbait you appear to be well versed in what it means to be a 21 year old college student.

I"m not sure if this is meant as a statement of agreeance or as an attack on my points. Please be more clear.

Fragbait I think there's a difference between maturity and enpowerment.

The reason why you see so many pregnant 14 year old girls is not because they're mature, it's because they've been given the freedom that only a mature person should have, when they're not mature enough to handle it. That's why teen pregnancy is undesirable; because society feels that people of that age aren't mature enough for that sort of responsibility.

I don't really see what you're talking about as maturity, I see it more as enpowerment. In our society, we measure maturity by age, in that you are entitled to more privellages the older you get (drinking, legal sex, driver's licence, voting etc.). You see here, that the more mature you become the more enpowered you become. The issue today though is that we're enpowering people at younger ages, when they haven't earned their "maturity credentials".

If anything, I think this just reflects that society as a whole is becoming more mature.

I see what you are getting at here.
However, whatever told us as a society that age is a reflector of maturity? There are plenty of cases where 2 people of the same age are at totally different states of maturity. Likewise, a 14 year old could very well be more mature than a 21 year old in the same situation. Giving people privileges by age is simply an attempt by law and government to establish something to base maturity on, which quite frankly is a flawed system, but it's the best we have at this point.

 

[Dre89]

I'm not saying age is a legitimate method of assessing maturity, I'm just saying our society perceives it that way.

This is in contrast to a tribe I heard about. In our society, we are bestowed privellages as we reach certain ages. In this tribe, age is no factor. For a male to earn privellages and responsibility, and his title as a "man", he must complete an initiation process, which can be done at any age. Until he completes it, he will be considered a boy, and will live the women, not allowed to marry and procreate etc.

I find that to be a very interesting contrast to our age-based system.

 

[fragbait]

Alright, that's fair to say.
Also, yeah, that little story demonstrates perfectly my previous statement about low-tech cultures. We've got it too easy here xD

 

[Dre89]

Alright, that's fair to say.
Also, yeah, that little story demonstrates perfectly my previous statement about low-tech cultures. We've got it too easy here xD

Couldn't agree more.