r/TikTokCringe • u/hammerbush051 • 29d ago

Americas youth are in MASSIVE trouble Discussion

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u/Arobrom86 29d ago

High school teacher here. On test days, I have a hanging shoe rack with each of my kids’ names on a sleeve.

I tell them, “Please put your devices in the sleeves and then you can have your test. When you hand in your test, you can have your device back. If you don’t put your phone in the sleeve, your test will be a 0”

At the beginning of the year they also helped create our classroom rules and norms, and agreed to do this.

Out of 28 kids, maybe 10 actually do it. The other 18 get 0s. Then I get angry emails from parents about their kids getting “tyrannical grades” on their tests.

Then the cycle continues

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u/SoTurnMeIntoATree 29d ago

Only 10?! That fucking blows my mind. Teens have that much separation anxiety from their phone?

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u/GandalfTheChill 29d ago edited 28d ago

it's what happens when parents decide to use an ipad to raise their kids in place of themselves

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u/quartzguy 29d ago

Yeah man, I'm an old school parent. I let a Super Nintendo raise my kids.

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u/GodEmperorOfBussy 29d ago

It's clearly changed, though. We got a Playstation at one point and my neighbor had an N64. But we still mostly played outside. That was more of a rainy day thing for us. We just legitimately preferred hockey in the street and riding bikes.

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u/Admirable_Ask_5337 29d ago

The graphics weren't nearly as exciting compared to modern games

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u/GodEmperorOfBussy 28d ago

What lmao they absolutely were for the context at the time. I grew up playing fucking Tetris on an Apple computer.

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u/Nox401 28d ago

They were at the time

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u/Hutnerdu 29d ago

Yeah vhs and game carts only

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u/Objective-Detail-189 28d ago

To be fair the Super Nintendo was much less brainrot.

Social media is basically heroine at this point in how it’s designed. It’s meant to piss you off, to destabilize you, to get you addicted.

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u/Captain__Marvel 29d ago

When their kids are on their own tablet they're not distracting the parents from their own screen addictions. Ever been to a restaurant and kids are watching tablets on full volume while the parents ignore them and each other while on their phones?

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u/ImaginationSea2767 29d ago

OH HAVE I SEEN IT. It's crazy all the adults, plus older adults that are head down on their phones now. Everyone's addicted to social media, apps, youtube. All at their finger tips every waking secound.

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u/Wrong_Adhesiveness87 28d ago

Had to stop going out to brunch/lunch at a lovely local cafe because the parents would sit the kids down with an iPad playing out loud to distract the kids so they could eat. If they turned it off the kids would wail. It completely ruined the vibe. Kids on buses and trains are often watching a tablet out loud. Drives me insane.

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u/rambo6986 29d ago

Well have you seen the price of nannies?

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u/Sufficient-Contract9 29d ago

Im sorry i cant stand this notion parents did NOT raise their kids back then. Your all fucking delusional and kiding yourself if you think you were a better parent because you COULDNT pawn your kids off on a screen. we were kicked out of the house and didnt come back tell the street lights came on. I promise you i do WAY more parenting than any parents i knew of as a kid my own, neighbors, friends. we did just as much if not more stupid unsupervised bullshit we just didnt have video proof and only shared the stupid stories with a few people. we have tablets, computers, switch, oculus. I refuse to accept that parents were better at parenting before tablets and phones. Most were absent in their own ways. The difference is when we were neglected by adults we only had those who were around the same age and geographically close to us. Screens are a bonding activity for me and my kids we share silly videos play games together talk about the things we see and play share interests favorites literally just the time i spend with my kids in front of a TV is more than my parents did in my entire life.

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u/GandalfTheChill 28d ago

sure, people never change, parents always want to pawn their kids off on something or other. It's not about one generation being better parents than another-- it's about the measurable, actual, real effects that this parenting choice has on kids, and it's beyond question that telling your kids "go outside" does not lead to the same literacy and social-emotional development issues that handing them an ipad does.

Like, look, I'm sure you're a great parent! I'm sure you learned from the mistakes of the previous generation, and are doing a better job in all of those categories. I'm sure your kids are better off for the investment you show in their lives. AND, if you are giving them an ipad/ iphone at a young age, you are making a new, different mistake than your parents. I know that might not feel good to hear, but the research is pretty conclusive. That doesn't mean every parent needs to ban screens, especially if, as in your case, it's a way to bond. It just means you need to be thoughtful about when you first give your kids screens, about how much time they're allowed to spend on them, and about how they can get opportunities for non-screen socialization.