Pokemon go.

[SteelCurtain]

Today's kids are in the age of instant gratification. They don't know what it's like to actually have to get up and go find something to do. While technology is great, it's also a downfall for anyone in their twenties or younger.

They will never know the joy of slamming down the phone on someone nor will they know what it's like to have to go to a library to do actual research through periodicals. They have it way too easy.

I see the difference between the way I learned in school and the way some of my much younger fellow classmates learned. Folks in my generation are more visual learners. Young folks today, not so much.

The thing is---every generation says this about their kids. Yes, life has become much easier in some ways. But kids are learning things at a much more rapid pace as well. So while they may not have to work as hard at it, they have to do a lot more. Even my high school was different. Kids are taking pre-algebra in 6th grade nowadays. Algebra 2 in 9th.

So yeah, they'll likely never know the despair of endlessly crawling through a microfiche. But they also have to cite their sources in MLA format as 13 year olds---something I never had to do until Sophomore or Junior year. They'll never know what it's like to slam the phone, but they certainly know how to throw shade on someone's Instagram feed. (There's a fucking hilarious and eye opening This American Life on what being a middle schooler is like right now, like 6 months ago...)

Anyways, I always cringe at the lamentations over how much easier kids have it nowadays. I think it's just as hard to be a kid now as it ever was, I just think it's hard for different reasons.