Parents of early teens and electronic privacy?

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inreb said:
"Every" one thinks teens are monsters and out of control. I know I'm nitpicking but am not comfortable with the use of the word "every". When I was growing up in the late sixties/early seventies I became acutely aware of the huge generation gap because, you know, it was the hippie era and most parents went thru WW2. Not being around long enough to acquire full context it sure seemed to me that the unenlightened older generation waged a psychological war against teens. It's the adults you couldn't talk to because to them everything was black and white. If you look at the way adults bi*** and moan about the police, government, employers and in the case of men, their wives, who resents authority?
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No, I don't think ALL teens are monsters. I do think that they lack experience and judgement and rarely appreciate the full ramifications of their actions. And as a group, the collective IQ drops exponentially with every addition.
I grew up in the same era and the Hippies vs. Establishment is somewhat hackneyed and overblown. True counterculture types made up a minuscule percentage of the population. The fashions and music may have been widely adopted but the politics and social mores remained largely conservative. We went to church, joined Scouts, listened to our parents and teachers, and generally respected authority. This was in Montreal, one of the more liberal cities in Canada, not some backwater.
We still questioned things, bristled against what we thought were gross injustices (mostly to do with being denied privileges we hadn't earned), and thought we knew it all. It's a normal part of growing up; you even see it in the animal kingdom, the young challenging the old.
The difference is we never lost our respect for the generation before us and the social conventions they established.
If you find the majority of adults you surround yourself with do nothing but ***** and moan about authority, perhaps you should find a new circle. Questioning things is healthy; morose complaining is not. And complaining about one's spouse in front of others is boorish, to say the least.
I make no secret of nor apologies for my conservative approach to things. It's served me well. I think we've lost a lot of values that guided us as a society which have been replaced by an inordinate amount of caterwauling about "my rights" with little to no acknowledgement of "my obligations".
 
Xllent post CanadianBiker, stepping out for coffee now so will respond later.
 
CanadianBiker said:
I grew up in the same era and the Hippies vs. Establishment is somewhat hackneyed and overblown. True counterculture types made up a minuscule percentage of the population. The fashions and music may have been widely adopted but the politics and social mores remained largely conservative. We went to church, joined Scouts, listened to our parents and teachers, and generally respected authority. This was in Montreal, one of the more liberal cities in Canada, not some backwater.
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I'll address one issue per post. True counter culture types wasn't something most parents had to deal with. It was more a situation of the average teen wanting to adopt the style of dress and grooming made popular by youth culture. Most teens want to fit in, not stick out like a sore thumb for negative reasons. That's healthy and normal. There wasn't a young guy who didn't want to wear his hair over the ears and past the collar, bell bottom jeans and maybe tie dyed T shirt. Or something colourful and groovy. This was considered totally unacceptable and completely forbidden by dumb parents and if it meant a 4-5 year war "while living under my roof!" then so be it. I say dumb parents because not picking battles smartly. They may win that battle but at what cost?
 
CanadianBiker said:
If you find the majority of adults you surround yourself with do nothing but ***** and moan about authority, perhaps you should find a new circle. Questioning things is healthy; morose complaining is not. And complaining about one's spouse in front of others is boorish, to say the least.
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It's not the people I surround myself with it's the whole of popular culture. I can read all negative toward authority figures online, newspapers, magazines, talking heads on the telly, it's everywhere. It almost seems every adult thinks everybody other adult is a buffoon at best or evil at worst from the Prime Minister on down. But hey if a kid questions authority..........
 
inreb said:
It's not the people I surround myself with it's the whole of popular culture. I can read all negative toward authority figures online, newspapers, magazines, talking heads on the telly, it's everywhere. It almost seems every adult thinks everybody other adult is a buffoon at best or evil at worst from the Prime Minister on down. But hey if a kid questions authority..........
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We only think of you as a buffoon. Albeit, our favourite buffoon, but a buffoon, nonetheless.
 
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inreb said:
Is that square really necessary?
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I dream of a world where emoticons are visible across all types and makes of devices.
 
Joe Bass said:
I dream of a world where emoticons are visible across all types and makes of devices.
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It's more like a parallelogram in the quote. It's a nightmare.
 
Today is a holiday, no need for multi-syllabic words.
Sent from my Nokia Lumia 625 Windows Phone using Tapatalk
 
No rest for the wicked.
 
I dream of a world with no emoticons , people would understand sarcasm as an art form and there would be no need to attach a dopey face to a comment. If you were angry you could convey that feeling through a proper choice of available vocabulary. Hemingway , even while a raging drunk and somewhat mentally unstable never used an emoticon. I rather doubt he would of even if they were available while he honed his gun handling skills.
As for attaching that smiley with the sunglasses in a post, if you have conceived something witty, be willing to let others judge the wit. Hanging out the applause sign is reminiscent of 60's television.
 
I have a smiley with sunglasses attached to my posts?

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Edit: Damn. I do. Haven't used the pc for gtam since joining. Back when I was still wet behind the ears. Will fix that in the near future (sometime before 2016).
The sunglasses had a meaning, like Joe Cool. But Joe Bass is more accurate, so I guess that one is on the chopping block.
Started off this year well. (would normally insert straight faced emoticon here, but I won't)
 
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crankcall said:
I dream of a world with no emoticons , people would understand sarcasm as an art form and there would be no need to attach a dopey face to a comment. If you were angry you could convey that feeling through a proper choice of available vocabulary. Hemingway , even while a raging drunk and somewhat mentally unstable never used an emoticon. I rather doubt he would of even if they were available while he honed his gun handling skills.

As for attaching that smiley with the sunglasses in a post, if you have conceived something witty, be willing to let others judge the wit. Hanging out the applause sign is reminiscent of 60's television.
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Looking back at my post, it was well done, wasn't it? I just totally cheapened that with the smiley-tongue-out-emoticon-parallelogram thing.
 
Fixed.
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crankcall said:
Hemingway , even while a raging drunk and somewhat mentally unstable never used an emoticon. I rather doubt he would of even if they were available while he honed his gun handling skills.
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I've been saying essentially the same for years, not as elegantly of course. However it is nice to see those sentiments reiterated by someone of your caliber. That tells me I'm on the right track:headbang:
 
crankcall said:
I dream of a world with no emoticons , people would understand sarcasm as an art form and there would be no need to attach a dopey face to a comment. If you were angry you could convey that feeling through a proper choice of available vocabulary. Hemingway , even while a raging drunk and somewhat mentally unstable never used an emoticon. I rather doubt he would of even if they were available while he honed his gun handling skills.
As for attaching that smiley with the sunglasses in a post, if you have conceived something witty, be willing to let others judge the wit. Hanging out the applause sign is reminiscent of 60's television.
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He probably also knew that it's would HAVE, not would OF. And '60s, not 60's.
I'll spare you the usual smiley intended to indicate no ill will.
 
CanadianBiker said:
He probably also knew that it's would HAVE, not would OF. And '60s, not 60's.
I'll spare you the usual smiley intended to indicate no ill will.
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:lmao:I saw a picture of a saying tattooed on a womans chest that used OF instead of HAVE. :)
 
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inreb said:
I'll address one issue per post. True counter culture types wasn't something most parents had to deal with. It was more a situation of the average teen wanting to adopt the style of dress and grooming made popular by youth culture. Most teens want to fit in, not stick out like a sore thumb for negative reasons. That's healthy and normal. There wasn't a young guy who didn't want to wear his hair over the ears and past the collar, bell bottom jeans and maybe tie dyed T shirt. Or something colourful and groovy. This was considered totally unacceptable and completely forbidden by dumb parents and if it meant a 4-5 year war "while living under my roof!" then so be it. I say dumb parents because not picking battles smartly. They may win that battle but at what cost?
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Most of my friends had long hair. Mine was down to my butt by age 17. And most of our fathers had the same haircut they wore in the service, mine included. It created some tension but I don't recall any major blowups over it, for any of us. They understood the difference between true rebellion and the trappings.
I can only draw on my own experience. My parents were very Old World European, with a strong emphasis on honesty, obligation, respect and achievement. As long as we met those criteria, they didn't sweat the small stuff too much. But they also kept a close eye on us so the small stuff didn't become the big stuff.
 
inreb said:
It's not the people I surround myself with it's the whole of popular culture. I can read all negative toward authority figures online, newspapers, magazines, talking heads on the telly, it's everywhere. It almost seems every adult thinks everybody other adult is a buffoon at best or evil at worst from the Prime Minister on down. But hey if a kid questions authority..........
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"Popular culture" starts with us. Make a concerted effort to elevate the tone of debate. Avoid the media outlets that are only forums for shrill wailing (The Star comes to mind). You won't change the world but you'll change your small space in it.
 
CanadianBiker said:
Most of my friends had long hair. Mine was down to my butt by age 17. And most of our fathers had the same haircut they wore in the service, mine included. It created some tension but I don't recall any major blowups over it, for any of us. They understood the difference between true rebellion and the trappings.
I can only draw on my own experience. My parents were very Old World European, with a strong emphasis on honesty, obligation, respect and achievement. As long as we met those criteria, they didn't sweat the small stuff too much. But they also kept a close eye on us so the small stuff didn't become the big stuff.
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That's what I'm kinda getting at (small stuff/big stuff) They way it comes across is that some people think this generation is out of control, we're hearing all this bad stuff, so clamp down. Keep the kids busy because idle hands are the devils playground. Don't ride bicycle to school, you're too stupid not to get creamed. Don't walk to school you'll get raped. Don't play in the woods(see rape). If this is how they grow up and see the world where everybody is at risk from evil adult no wonder it messes kids up.
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