Are youngsters these days scared of having fun?

Don't see the point of that emoticon, Tegan. You obviously meant what you said, why try to pass it off as a joke?

I don't ask people to suddenly pop up on random threads are start being rude to me. And I'm getting quite fed up with it. It's beginning to feel almost organised.

I would absolutely hate to meet some of you people in real life.

and not are

It wasn't meant to be a joke. I just think that the comment aimed at dorset was pretty nasty [or am I being oversensitive again?]

What's wrong with being rude to people...I thought it made gransnet more fun?

You know, four years ago this kind of thing would have made me cry. Now it just rolls off. One thing about GN . Thickens your skin.

She asked for it! Popping up like that. Quite out of the blue.

I'm not arguing with silly, nasty, women anymore.

Bloody hell! Is it open season on jingl these days?

Grow up!

................and back to the OP.
No, I don't think for a second that youngsters are scared of having fun. I think that, as ever, young people will find their pleasures in a variety of different ways as they have always done. My sons and daughters are not party animals, are not into drink/drugs etc. but they have a wide range of hobbies and interests that to them are fun. My niece goes out on the razz occasionally and gets her fun that way; my nephew is an all singing, all dancing star of his local amateur dramatics society. My 18 year old granddaughter is a clean living young woman who gets her fun doing the D of E Award. It takes all sorts.

I'm glad to hear a 17 year old girl wants to be 'in control' at all times by avoiding alcohol.
Young boys/men are increasingly getting strange ideas from watching porn (another naughty fun thing to do) so girls need to keep their wits about them.

I understand where you are coming from buildagran and I take your OP as a generalised comment so whilst individual comments of our nearest and dearest are valid points to raise in response I think the wider picture does have a leaning to the question in your OP.

I think there is a different way of life in so many aspects for the recent generations compared to ours , accepting that is obviously a personal opinion and whatever I post will / could be attributed to posters and their circumstance today also but I am keeping my mind on generalising my thought to answer your OP.

Funny enough my husband and I were talking about this last week when we were in our front garden, we live on a main road so we see the children going to and fro from all the schools and the bus drop off point for outside areas is across the road . I said to hubby "Do hear that", naturally he replied " What". I said "Precisely , nothing hardly". I went on to say when our daughter came home from school and the kids passed by they were often giggling, laughing, shouting at one another but 'interacting' , now watch them and they are on their phones, look bloody miserable and laughter and mucking about is missing. Our local Recreation Ground used to be buzzing, now you see the same old faces and only a few kids use it these dys. There used to be 3 adult football teams, now there is none. There used to be 5 kids football teams now just 2 , the cricket team hangs on by a thread. Why, I think years ago there was a family orientated social life, we had nowt so looked to each other for company and enjoyment and we did it with our children. We still have a good Social Club here but ' the family atmosphere ' has gone. Life moves on!

I think the technological age has taken over and whilst that has some good advantages it has stunted the ability for 'our interpretation' of social interaction. How many posts on GN at some time or another refer to people using gadgets in restaurants, mums picking their kids up from school and not 'interacting' with their children because they are talking or texting on their phones. People do talk to one another but in a virtual world of technology at the expense of what you and I enjoyed through the personal contact. Is it a case of what you never had you never miss.

When I was younger I was a little b----r and I look back now and think how the hell did mum and dad let me do that! They were brilliant parents but I did things no parent would accept these days. It wasn't my mum and dads parental skills that were at fault, it was what was happening at that time, that era. I would go from Bath to Bristol by train at 14 to go to the Locarno and get the 3am milk train home. Unbelievable. We roller skated to groups such as Ike and Tina Turner , went to clubs where now I look back anything could have happened but we were innocent of so many things.

Now all we here about is murder, rape, sex attacks, drug abuse, drinks being spiked, gang related things etc. Did they not happen back in my day, obviously yes just think of Teddy Boys, The Krays, hippies , flower power but ye Gods the every day scale of violence, pornography, peadophelia is so destructive we dare not let our kids have the freedom we did, we live in fear for them and probably contribute to keeping them wrapped in cotton wool.

I think the younger generation have to find their level and technology is their era. I do worry however that it is so controlling and isolating that there is another danger for them in the form of internet harm such as virtual bullying, the pornography available to view, sexting and even in our village we had a poor lad commit suicide playing one of the 'suicide games'. I'm happy my GD (10) plays down the rec with a couple of others making a den and climbing the trees but I can't help but note they are the exception not the rule as their peer group prefer staying in playing on their tablets or are not allowed to play down the rec because of parental worry.

Oh, the milk train.. ... I'd forgotten about that POGS. Getting off at my home station at 3 in the morning and walking home. It must have been in the cold and rain at times, but all I remember was the stars, or dawn breaking. I never felt vulnerable, and if I'd met and made a date with a 'dream-boat' I'd be walking on cloud nine. Life was so much more uncomplicated then.

Pogs - I like your post, it's the deprivation of face to face social contact that worries me too, Normal chatty joking etc. And as you say, it can lead to all these family problems due to misunderstandings and unreal expectations.
But what can be done?
I read about a sort of social experiment , in America, where youth leaders took a group of teens away for a hiking trip without their smartphones, for a month. At the end they had begun to interact "normally". I don't know if there was a followup, but suspect they reverted to original mode.

I don't think I've ever seen a schoolchild on a mobile round here. They're mostly in little groups chatting together as they walk, or haring along on their bikes.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

I was thinking about this this morning. My 19 year old grandson is autistic, he goes to college but doesn't have much of a social life. I realised that by the time I was his age I'd had several years of sneaking into pubs, going to see X films and going out with unsuitable boyfriends. Looking back I think his way is probably preferable, and safer! His 12 year old brother plays an exhausting amount of sport and has a wide range of friends. There are the ones he's played football with for years, the ones he's made at the grammar school, and the ones he sees in his classes at Stagecoach. He is way more sociable than the rest of the family.

Mine don't drink or smoke, but plenty still do

Many of the late teens don't drink alcohol at all they drink water to go with the drugs and vape in between, you never see them in a pub as we used to. Different times different kids, most are good, there is always a few hardcore hopeless, always was.

Modern 7 yr olds know it's illegal to smoke in a car where a child under 18 is present. That has been the law in UK for over a decade.

10 year old thread.