What evidence do you have that teen boys are nicer today than when we were kids?

4 comments

1. Zero. I have seen zero evidence of this. Teenagers are exactly the same from my point of view. The things they choose to pick at may be different. But they’re still exactly the same as when I was in school.

2. I teach HS and teen boys are behaving normally for their age. Same as when I was in High School in the late 1980’s.

3. I teach, and I live in San Francisco, so I’ve seen more social awareness and empathy from many of my students than I did as a kid in Philly.

   In many ways tho teens are teens. I teach privately and have some students for years, and when they hit their teens things always take a turn with their personality and productivity. It’s a messed up time for the brain!

   Kids are also more isolated these days, they don’t have their friends around as much and I’ve noticed that when the kids are with groups is when they act the most cruel.

4. My autistic son had a relatively easy time free from bullying in both middle and high school, despite being very different from his peers. In middle school he was considerably larger than most of his classmates, so that might account for it, but that was no longer the case in high school.