Are all teenagers totally apathetic?

[Da Chi]

I almost shat a brick the first time I realized I shouldn't bother cutting a pizza and just ate it like a giant cookie.

What?

 

[justhereforthemoney]

I made it to the bottom! Yay!
But yea if you get really excited about something someone will probably make fun of you for it. Its in a friendly way though so just laugh it off after they have finished and you can probably tell them about it. But the apathy thing is 1. A way that people avoid that happening to them so they won't have their feelings hurt and 2. a kind of humor that will be around for while after you have grown up. I'm 20 and me and my friends still do that all the time (and yes even though we are guys and you assume we are immature we are 20 and in college doing good so we are pretty mature).

 

[the27thvoice]

Sounds like you over react. Sounds like they aren't into the tings you are into. I can pretty much guarantee that they have other things that they get passionate about.

 

[Lucifron]

Who cares?

Meh.

Problem officer?

OT: Of course they're not!

 

[Dark Knifer]

Probally more then other generations, but that will change over time when they get more responsibilities.

 

[Gypc]

Some people are scared to show what they care about. High school is harsh on anyone different.

Too apathetic to elaborate.

 

[Daipire]

Probably, I never really thought about it. Meh, I guess....
/being stereotypical

But I'm terribly apathetic, at certain points.
Liberal application of stuff that isn't boring will fix that, though.

If apathy lasts more then four hours, consult a girl (Talking with girls always cheers me up).

 

[Deleted]

I have had an interesting few days. As I'm sure you all know, it's that time of year when school is back in, and TV shows are coming back on the air.

You might wonder how these two are related, and how they are related to the topic. Well, about a week ago, I was extremely excited for one of my favorite shows to come back on the air. Oftentimes, I would joke about how excited I was, and how I was counting down the minutes until it aired to various people. Most of those people responded with something along the lines of, "... Why are you so excited about a TV show?" To which I would reply, "I just get really into it!"

I've also started hanging out with a new group of people. They are all best friends, and I'm sort of a new comer to the group. We hang out all lunch, and do the norm. Walk around and talk. However, I've noticed something that makes me incredibly sad. It seem that these girls never get really excited for anything. They just seem to talk about nothing important, and never talk about things that they like. It's always just about school, or who's a *****, or whatever drama is going on. Of course, I haven't been around these girls for long (Though I used to be friends with all three of them. In fact, I was best friends with two of them at one point.) so maybe I just haven't seen what they are truly happy about. I don't want to be hypocritical in saying that they seem unhappy and then belittling them for that, because I am a pretty unhappy person myself. But I can get happy and excited for certain things, be it a new episode of a favorite TV show, a funny story, whatever.

But they just seem so apathetic. I don't hang out with them on the weekends, so I'm sure they have fun then, and I've seen them laugh a hell of a lot at certain things at school, but there's just an underlying sense of not caring, and it makes me sad.

Another thing that makes me uneasy is the fact that people mock you if you express an interest in something. They will rub it in your face if you are excited for something, and make fun of you for it. Most of it is in a joking way, but it's like they are saying that not caring at all -or holding it in altogether- is cooler than actually liking something.

I don't want to put on a superiority complex or anything, but I feel that we are above this kind of pettiness. Isn't it okay to be excited, and to express the fact that you are excited without having to be ridiculed for it?

For the record, I know this may sound like I picked the wrong group to hang out with. I don't really have the right group, and I've been told that my best bet in high school is to reconnect with old friends, so I'm giving it a shot.

It seems that most teenagers are like that, anyways. But that is my question to you, Escapists. Do you feel like most teenagers are apathetic about... mostly everything? Do you feel I'm overreacting? Is it all just in my head?

Here's a broader question for more discussion: When/if you were a teenager, what kinds of discussions did you have? What kinds of discussions do you hear nowadays that make you want to put cotton in your ears?

Oh, and I feel I should mention that I am fifteen, with many of my peers going on sixteen.

Seriously, if you guys made it all the way down to the bottom, I applaud your guts. That was a lot of boring text.

Its cool to act like you don't care about things. Everyone wants to be the dude with the cigar standing there saying "I don't give a fuck". Everyone has something they love in media but perhaps some people want to keep it a secret.

Especially with young teens like you. Don't worry you're ahead of the pack, just don't get over excited over things because teens are usually cynical and you should be fine.

 

[TimeLord]

I resent being generalised as an apathetic teenager. Yes I only have 4 months left of being a teenager before I turn 20 but oh well!

I hide my emotions round other people unless it's my girlfriend. Normally I take out my anger in a nice game of Force Unleashed.

Nothing says anger management like a lightsaber to the face!

 

[Cazza]

Well I don't have conversations about anything important with my friends. It's sad but it's only because none of us have the same intrests on major topics. We're friends because we just get along well.

 

[rabidmidget]

I'm a teenager (17) and although I am apathetic to a lot of things, I am definitely passionate about more things than I am apathetic.

Although it's always good to have some apathy, life seems much less cruel when you look at the bad things and say "meh".

 

[Dogstile]

Not all. Some are. I personally know loads of people who get way to excited on COD.

Me personally? You'd think I was apathetic until I told you about my plan to get good at guitar so I can make a spartan suit, play an awesome solo in front of a crowd and then end the show with a flame from my wrist mounted flamethrower.

 

[Kortney]

snip

No group of people are any one thing. Generalisations never work. Are teenagers apathetic? Well I'm a teenager and I'm not apathetic so therefore the statement "teenagers are apathetic" is false. Also, apathetic towards what? I know some very "apathetic" people but some things in their life they are extremely enthusiastic with.

In short, don't generalise.

 

[YouShouldDeleteThisAccount]

Meh, I don't really-- Oh wait.

Seriousness. Well, me and my friends repeating conversation types are; What Defines Art. What we'd do in a Zombie Apocalypse. Philosophy and Religion. Various video games we play. Math of course. More video games. And SCIENCE!

We're a bunch of bizarre surrealist academic nerds. Sometimes our conversations make no sense, but we're not apathetic, if anything we're overly enthusiastic, it's pretty fun.

 

[Rachel317]

I'm 19, and I get excited about all sorts. I was excited all year because I knew TrueBlood was coming back for another season, I get excited when sequels to books I love are announced, dammit, I get excited when a new Pokemon game is coming out!

Seriously though...some people are just like that. Luckily, all of my friends get excited about something, whether it's a videogame, a band's new album, a film on at the cinema they want to see...my two best friends and I almost had palpitations when we found out Toy Story 3 was coming out =D!
And we get VERY animated when we discuss our plans for the inevitable zombie apocalypse.

I DO think you're hanging out with the wrong people...but then again, they get you through the school day, don't they? If you don't see them at weekends, just count them as "school friends" as opposed to real friends, get out and about, find people who are a bit more on your wavelength. Find people who enjoy the same TV programmes, the same music, the same hobbies, and they will soon become your real friends.

High school is a daunting prospect without friends though, so I would advise you not to cut your ties with these girls, just hang out during lunch and you'll do ok.

 

[Withall]

Iv'e noticed that teenagers are (usually) also more than average cynical. I'm of the firm mindset that if one wants to look at society's faults, you look at the teenagers of said society.

 

[EeveeElectro]

Point out some new Jimmy Choo shoes to the girls or a Luis Shitton Vitton handbag and watch them clap and squeal like stupid little piglets. They sound like them sort of girls who will only get excited over a fit new character in Hollyoaks or a handbag they like.
In school, I mainly stayed with the geeks, or so to speak. If I was excited about a new game coming out, we'd all talk about it together and such.

Damn, I get excited over seeing foil, so that doesn't apply to me.