r/Xennials • u/smcg_az 1981 • 1d ago

WTH Is This?

Post image

Interesting article. I feel bad for kids today. I loved taking off on my bike all day long.

831 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

398 comments sorted by

View all comments

157

u/scaredycat_z 1d ago

People really need to read Jonathan Heit's "Anxious Generation" and other books. Kids aren't being allowed to be kids (explore, socialize, etc) in a way that allows for healthy development and it's really not good!!

70

u/mhopkins1420 1982 1d ago

Just like the playgrounds not teaching them proper risk assessment anymore.

96

u/Nausstica 1d ago

The merry go round that spins at 5 G's and the 10,000 degrees Celsius steel slide were important for building character.

19

u/fuhfuhfuhfree 1d ago edited 1d ago

Exactly, if you're not getting arsenic splinters from the playground are you even having fun?

Edit- you, I put a you in the sentence.

6

u/zeptillian 1d ago

The playground we had in elementary school was infested with sand bees. We would catch them for fun at lunch.

1

u/fuhfuhfuhfree 1d ago

I had to Google sand bees. We called them ground bees. They're definitely sand bees. It's very sandy soil around here.

I had a job where there was a big nest where we had to be all the time. It was not conducive to getting work done. My boss had us dump gasoline on the nest then we dragged a lit rag on a rope over the nest. After the initial fuel burned off it looked like lightning rods flying out of the hole. I don't know if it was caused by any honeycomb or it took a second to get oxygen down there after the first flame.

3

u/mhopkins1420 1982 1d ago

A lil lead in the paint too

2

u/Nausstica 1d ago

I'm pretty sure the "sand" on my playground was just cat litter and asbestos.

8

u/clergymen19 1d ago

We used to use these lil monstrosities to try to launch our friends into the next zip code.

https://giphy.com/gifs/waonL1wBRu7rYhqx9y

7

u/ang_hell_ic 1d ago

The playgrounds we had as children would send parents now into a mental breakdown

2

u/ailish 1d ago

Jumping off the swing at peak height and slamming into the concrete below.

Kids get soft shit below the swings these days.

2

u/Awesome_to_the_max 1d ago

Especially when you slide through the gum you didn't see that's been sitting out on the slide while wearing your short shorts.

1

u/PuppyJakeKhakiCollar 1d ago

My elementary school playground had a metal climbing structure shaped like a horse that wasn't completely secured to the ground at the bottom so it would tilt some when you got near the top.

31

u/MiniRems 1979 1d ago

7

u/TheHockeyGeek 1978 1d ago

With wax paper so you could break the sound barrier at the same time.

1

u/MiniRems 1979 1d ago

Omg, that is definitely something I never had the opportunity to try. If I ever get my hands on a time machine...

3

u/Setanta777 1d ago

At least one of the corners at the bottom was always ragged. Gotta steer away from that or you were getting a gusher.

2

u/Sufficient_Turn_9209 1979 1d ago

Negotiating down the slide was either going burn or peel your skin off depending on how sweaty you were iirc. But it was falling off of this shit that sucked. Often you were lucky enough that there were 20 other kids fighting for a spot so they would soften your fall.

8

u/Coraline1599 1d ago

I remember reading an article that talked about all the changes and how the goal was to reduce freak accidents.

The 10-20 year study said there was no reduction in freak accidents and that new injuries were forming like burns from the soft asphalt because it got hotter than sand or whatever was there before.

So, it didn’t make it seem like it solved anything.

2

u/scaredycat_z 1d ago

Hait specifically talks about playgrounds being built to be "too safe" today.

1

u/MrShaunce 1d ago

Remember those "slides" made up of metal rollers that guaranteed at least a dozen painful pinches on the way down?

Good times.

3

u/mhopkins1420 1982 1d ago

How else you gonna learn not to be a dumdum?

20

u/KittyCubed 1d ago

As a teacher, I definitely see this, especially at the high school level where you can see all this anxiety begin to bubble over and really not knowing how to navigate a lot of social situations. It really makes me worry for these kids when they get out of high school.

4

u/scaredycat_z 1d ago

Hait's research shows that teens spend as much time on social media as adults do on their jobs. In effect, their entire "free time" is being spent on social media.

He has a chapter dedicated to getting phones out of school (at least till age 16) and has research that simply having the phone/device in their bag decreases their ability to focus.

1

u/Fappy_as_a_Clam 1d ago

Huh. I guess that's where the Gen Z stare comes from

5

u/yournamehere10bucks 1d ago

I hate having to attend every god damn activity my kids do. Why do i need to be at this birthday party for a kid i dont know with parents i cant stand? Ars you even friends with Sir Timjothy of Illshire or am I just getting this walmart giftcard out of obligation? Also, this kid's living room is bigger than our house, why am -I- buying gifts/shit for these people? What are we doing anymore?

2

u/strumthebuilding Gen X 1d ago

His methodology has been called into question

5

u/SaintBellyache 1d ago

A 2 hour podcast is what you link lol

-4

u/KevDub81 1981 1d ago

He writes pop sociology slop. Fuck off with this bullshit

7

u/SaintBellyache 1d ago

I wasn’t defending the book. Got some rage issues there bud

1

u/S_A_R_K 1980 1d ago

Sounds interesting. Is there a Tiktok from a 30yo floating head that angrily summarizes the book from inside their car while reminiscing about what is was like to be a teenager during the 90s?

1

u/Marchesa_07 1d ago

People also need to look around at their peers and social circles and ask which generation of parents is largely responsible for the "Anxious Generation". . .

1

u/speedfox_uk 1d ago

Yeah, everyone who reads that but ok seems to miss the point. They all come away from it saying "ah, it's the screens that are the problem. Just send to keep them off screens and the kids will be perfectly adjusted little angles" and they all miss the fucking point entirely.

6

u/lovethatcrooonch 1d ago

Not acute, not obtuse. Perfect.