# Individualist trends and fads: kids just phoning it in these days? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 22, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631 "2011-03-22T18:14:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631/61 "2011-03-24T20:37:30Z")
Here’s what I think: Kids – in general – are no more slackers and whiners than they’ve ever been. It’s just that the slackers and whiners have never been as publically visible as they are now. Now that we know instantly what _everybody_ is doing, thinking, and feeling _all the time_, there is so much mundane and pointless noise that it’s easy to miss somebody who actually has an original thought or provocative point of view. But they’re out there. Relax. The next generation will find their way, just like all the rest have. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631/62 "2011-03-24T20:55:07Z")
> [@Mississippienne](#): > > I’m a 26-year-old Gen Yer/Millenial here. > > How many people in the '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s etc. were ever authentically part of the beatnik/hippie/punk/etc. subcultures that’ve come to define those decades? There’s this too–heck, my mom (Boomer that she is) is absolutely PROUD of having a hippie dress/mannerism/music aesthetic while being a hardline Catholic and conservative. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631/63 "2011-03-24T21:45:10Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > It’s supposed to be the other way around. Your parents are supposed to be yelling at you to turn that music down, not copying your My Chemical Romance mp3s to their iPod. I really like MCR. And my oldest does, too. This blows my mind because there’s no way she’s got enough life experience to realy _get_ them. It’s like a 4 year old looking at a Picasso and saying, “OOh! Pretty!” But that’s the nature of art, I guess. It’s all about what the viewer interprets it as and has fukawl to do with what the actual artist had in mind. Like when Lennon said the Beatles were more popular than Jesus and everyone else took him out of context or misconstrued what he was talking about. Personally, I’ve never really cared for the Beatles but they were kinda before my time. I liked Nirvana and Primus, but they’re kinda after my time unless I want to be considered the oldest element of a generation. Which sounds a little like an Aqualung-esque character hanging out with the kids to gratify his own nefarious desires. But as seedy as that sounds it’s either that or self-identify with The Boomers and assume the mantle of responsibility for the Cold War, Disco and desegregation. Not that those were all necessarily bad things, that nasty Kennedy business aside, but where, really does one draw the line? ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631/64 "2011-03-25T00:02:43Z")
A sudden fad for public nudity might bring back some edginess cred for the young. Then again, back in the early 2000’s some guy tried it on his college campus, and the college spent two weeks trying to find some rule they could use to make him put his clothes back on. But shock and outrage? No. Nothing shocks us anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Alpine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpine/32/17813_2.png) [@Alpine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpine)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631/65 "2011-03-25T01:11:01Z")
Here’s an article I saw just today: [Gen Y Not Slackers, Just Slow Starters](http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20110324/sc_livescience/genynotslackersjustslowstarters) > [@](#): > > …new research suggests their heavy dependence on Mom and Dad might ultimately prepare them to be successful adults. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631/66 "2011-03-25T02:29:19Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Today’s sub-20 crowd communicates increasingly through channels that don’t ping the radar of the older crowd. I just saw a story on Cracked about how [this video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD2LRROpph0)has apparently swept the nation (indeed, the world). It must have swept right past me, because I’ve never seen it. You’ve nailed it, right here. The reason you think my generation is phoning it in is because no one is keeping you up-to-date on things. You’re not hitting up Twitter, Reddit, and Digg. You’re not aware of what my generation is up to. So when Rebecca Black goes viral, you miss it. > [@Kozmik](#): > > While that music video has an interesting premise with her getting up at 7 AM, cereal, bus stop, and then it changes, and then it really changes when she sings, “yesterday was Thursday…” - that was the only part of the music video I liked. She certainly has a future in eclectic music genres. You…_liked_ part of the video?! Do you even understand what the meme is about?! The whole buzz about the video is whether it’s the worst song ever or if it’s just _almost_ the worst song ever. Man, you’re old. > [@msmith537](#): > > What good is a “movement” that no one outside of the movement ever sees? > > I’m curious though. When I was in college, it was rare to find anyone in the dorms on a weekend night. Everyone would go out to fraternity or appartment parties or bars or wherever. Do a larger number of kids spend their time inside surfing the web or playing World or Warcraft and such? Are those activities considered “mainstream” or is it still pretty nerdy? In my response to **StusBlues** , I was going to metaphorically say “Oh, there are still parties. It’s just no one’s inviting you anymore.” and here you go and say it literally. It’s the same thing as when adults say “kids don’t play outside anymore.” Oh, they certainly do. They’re just not knocking on your door asking if you want to go play kickball. So, yes, **msmith** , college students still go to frat parties and bars on the weekends. You’re just not invited. Now you’d better hurry along…wouldn’t want to miss your “programs”. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631/67 "2011-03-25T02:51:19Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > You…_liked_ part of the video?! Do you even understand what the meme is about?! The whole buzz about the video is whether it’s the worst song ever or if it’s just _almost_ the worst song ever. Man, you’re old. Well, everyone knows kids have a capacity to be mean. I like the video too (but of course it’s a given that I’m a geeze) and I think that because of her beauty alone (well, that and the fact that she appears to be being brought up well) that little girl is gonna have a much better life than most of the smartasses out there making fun of her. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2011, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631/68 "2011-03-25T03:58:54Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Nothing shocks us anymore. [Not since 1988 anyway](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing's_Shocking). Man, has it really been 23 years? ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631/69 "2011-03-26T21:52:09Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > [Not since 1988 anyway](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing's_Shocking). > > Man, has it really been 23 years? You hit it on the head there. It’s a bit humbling to consider that my girlfriend was two fricking years old when that came out. Damn, I’m old. ---
**Author:** ![gravitycrash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@gravitycrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gravitycrash)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631/70 "2011-03-26T23:07:56Z")
It seems that teenagers are way more liberal minded than the teens I hung out with but my perception is probably skewed. Fortunately most of them nowadays seem either too lethargic to vote or too busy texting to care. Oh and get off my lawn. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631/71 "2011-03-27T00:07:49Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Texting, and lots of it. > > I really do think this is the crux of what the OP is getting at. Previous generations have competed with their grandparents for the same public space–a limited number of television and radio stations, physical facilities, and so forth. Today’s sub-20 crowd communicates increasingly through channels that don’t ping the radar of the older crowd. I just saw a story on Cracked about how [this video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD2LRROpph0)has apparently swept the nation (indeed, the world). It must have swept right past me, because I’ve never seen it. You couldn’t say that about trends and fads of the past; you may not have liked them, but you damn well saw them. > > Today, a person or movement can have twenty million Twitter followers and yet still be invisible to the lion’s share of the population. What the born-since-1990 generation does is largely staying within that circle. You make a really interesting point here, but I also have to say I believe technology has significantly narrowed gaps between Gen X and Gen Y. We both operate in the same electronic universe, so we have an awful lot in common. I am 28. I feel silly saying this, but I have more in common with the average sixteen year old than the average forty year old. We watch the same movies and TV shows, listen to the same music, and laugh at the same jokes. I understood immediately while watching that video that it was intended as a tongue-in-cheek jab at inane club music. I think it is hilarious. I don’t even know if it’s generational anymore so much as an issue of shared space. Gen X and Gen Y typically interact with one another all the time on the internet, so there is an understanding there that is lost on many people of older generations. It’s not just a matter of whether or not you can operate an iPhone, but more about how you relate to and understand the world. If _Scott Pilgrim vs. The World_ made perfect sense to you, you might know what I mean. There is a secondary effect to this internet phenomenon - which is that I believe kids are beginning to become more comfortable with difference. Kids these days are exceptionally tolerant of diversity. I’m not saying there aren’t sexist racist homophobic jackasses too, but generally speaking the internet opens up the whole universe of weird and wonderful things that come from people who aren’t exactly like we are. I see a lot of kids nowadays into their own thing and not giving a damn what other people think of their interests or ideals. Kids today are not dumb, not by a long shot. Right now they’re screwing around on the internet, but I firmly believe the next ten years or so are going to see some remarkable innovations and achievements. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631/72 "2011-03-27T00:25:09Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I understood immediately while watching that video that it was intended as a tongue-in-cheek jab at inane club music. I think it is hilarious. Just read the CS thread… I stand corrected. Apparently that was an honest attempt at a pop song. In which case it is a parody of itself, and fucking _hysterical._ ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631/73 "2011-03-27T00:36:40Z")
And Sunday…comes afterwarrrrrds. 😃 Just a cute little 13 year old girl bein’ a cute little 13 year old girl. Haters need ta back off. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631/74 "2011-03-27T01:00:31Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Look! Another place where Boomers declare themselves the arbiters of cool for all eternity. Because that never stops being cool. :rolleyes: Well said. The boomers are the only yardstick for all time, and like, they were all at Woodstock, man, it was the time, man. And classic rock is the best stuff ever. > [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > And Sunday…comes afterwarrrrrds. 😃 > > Just a cute little 13 year old girl bein’ a cute little 13 year old girl. Haters need ta back off. 🆒 God help me, I agree with SA. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631/75 "2011-03-27T01:46:36Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Not hardly, Junior. Adults do not take people under 30 seriously about much of anything. We don’t like that hippity-hop shakey booty music they play (way too damn loud) in their cars, we think they look like damn fools running around with their pants around their knees and their baseball caps on backwards. When they opine about national or international affairs, based on the entirety of their two whole decades of experience, we :rolleyes: The feeling is mutual, though [not everyone is susceptible](http://partiallyclips.com/2002/07/28/fishing-with-grampa/). ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631/76 "2011-03-27T01:52:51Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > And Sunday…comes afterwarrrrrds. 😃 > > Just a cute little 13 year old girl bein’ a cute little 13 year old girl. Haters need ta back off. 🆒 I get to attend a lot of children’s performances. The kids are always cute, no question. The question is what the adults involved in the production have made out of it: sometimes the adults are awesome and cool and help the kids do something awesome and cool, and other times the adults have the kids do really cringeworthy stuff. Bless Rebecca’s heart, her video is in the latter category. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631/77 "2011-03-27T02:07:37Z")
Well, as I understand it, the video was just a little project financed by her parents in order to put a song she’d written to music and record a fun little video of it. They had no idea that anyone in particular was going to pay any attention to it other than maybe some of Rebecca’s friends, where the expectation was that they’d join in the fun. So her parents found a music company that caters to things like this and paid them, I think, two thousand dollars to put her words to music and film the video. Now lots of people are acting like this should be a professional-quality release and are bashing her because it isn’t. I don’t think it’s fair to hold her and/or the standards of her video up to scrutiny as to whether it was cringeworthy or not. Kids her age have been doing cringeworthy things since time immemorial. Her parents just thought it would be fun present to do this for her and now everyone (or many at least) is bashing her for not putting out a music-business-quality video, and I think they’re being ridiculous. ETA: I’m not talking about you, necessarily, **NHoD** , but the millions of people around the globe who are behaving viciously and hurtfully toward this kid when she was only trying to have a little fun. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631/78 "2011-03-27T02:19:10Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > ETA: I’m not talking about you, necessarily, **NHoD** , but the millions of people around the globe who are behaving viciously and hurtfully toward this kid when she was only trying to have a little fun. I do agree that, with the full story, she comes across as pretty blameless. However, the vanity studio that facilitated it for her are really bad–not because of the low production qualities, but because of the profoundly inane lyrics and the terrible over-autotuning. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631/79 "2011-03-27T02:31:17Z")
As I understand it she wrote the lyrics to the song and the idea of the video was simply to create a fun little music video out of the song she’d written. And while we’re on the subject let me ask you this: do you think that perhaps a lot of the riducule this video is coming in for is based primarily on its innocence and wholesomeness? Wholesomeness always comes in for grief from the younger crowd, going all the way back to _Leave It To Beaver_ and the Frankie and Annette beach movies. So I’m thinking that the sheer wholesomeness of this thing - which I’m sure is exactly what her parents wanted - has to bear some if not much of the responsibilty for the grief this video is coming in for now. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2011, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631/80 "2011-03-27T02:53:52Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > As I understand it she wrote the lyrics to the song and the idea of the video was simply to create a fun little music video out of the song she’d written. I don’t think that’s correct: I believe the producer wrote the lyrics. She chose the song from a bunch of ones he’d written, but it’s a grown-ass man responsible for those lyrics. The idea of the video was to give the girl a taste of what a career as a singer would be like, since she’s talked about it; the best comparison I’ve heard was that if the girl wanted to be a scientist, maybe you’d spend a lot of money getting her entered into science competitions, or the like. Mom wanted the girl to realize what being a singer entailed. > [@](#): > > And while we’re on the subject let me ask you this: do you think that perhaps a lot of the riducule this video is coming in for is based primarily on its innocence and wholesomeness? Wholesomeness always comes in for grief from the younger crowd, going all the way back to _Leave It To Beaver_ and the Frankie and Annette beach movies. So I’m thinking that the sheer wholesomeness of this thing - which I’m sure is exactly what her parents wanted - has to bear some if not much of the responsibilty for the grief this video is coming in for now. Possibly there’s some of that, in the “nobody’s worse than a reformed drunk” category: nobody harshes on kids more than people who’ve just recently been kids. It’s a way that young adults have of separating themselves from their recent childhood. But it’s not just wholesome kids who get mocked. You should hear the vitriol that twentysomething goths have for teenaged emo kids, as if anyone in the world can tell the difference between them. Hell, it’s a similar dynamic to the black Irish race riots of the 19th century: one of the best ways to show that you’re not a member of a despised subgroup is to shit all over members of that group. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/individualist-trends-and-fads-kids-just-phoning-it-in-these-days/575631.md?page=5)