OK, I'm over 30 so you can trust me.
Thought I would add my 2 cents to this post.
This guy is a bit of a pessimist but he brings up some very good points. I can only speak for America, so I have no idea what the teen generation is like in other countries. I do think the teen generation is a little to in love with their technology and the millions of ways to keep up with their friends. I think it would be more socially helpful if one could spend more time actually interacting with people face to face instead of Facebook and MySpace. When I was in High School I was part of many clubs (way back in the day before this crazy internet thingy). And maybe that is the case with many of you on this site, but I think a large portion is too addicted to pop culture and technology. They care more about what is happening with Britney than learning something new and useful.
I?m going to impart the knowledge of my age on you younglings. You teen years will be a crazy time and I hate to say it, but the friends you have now will be gone very soon. You will all move on with your life and that is what you should be preparing for. This is not to say that you shouldn?t enjoy your teen years, hell it is the last time you will be able to really live without responsibility. But guess what, the responsibility hammer is coming fast! If you want to actually make something of yourself, be a contribution to society, have a good job, earn good money, have a good meaningful relationship, you can start preparing now. Take advantage of you parent?s wisdom. Learn to cook. Learn to use power tools. Learn to do the laundry. Learn to iron your clothes. (My 28 year old wife didn?t know how to iron until I showed her). My god people, you should know these things before you are 18.
About the historical references he mentioned, I agree 100% with him. I remember when I went to go see that shittacular movie ?Titanic? with a girlfriend and a 17 year old niece. When the movie was over, I asked the niece, ?What did you think?? she replied ?I did think it would be so sad, and I had no idea the boat was going to sink, that sucked.? No joke. Also, I was in line at a Best Buy (buying a new game I?m sure) and there were two young girls in line behind me. One had recently seen the remake of King Kong and was describing the movie to her friend. It was obvious that neither of them had any clue that this was a remake and has been done a number of times before. I will now use my wife as an example. I will first note that my wife is brilliant. She has book smarts out the wazoo, but there are many culture references that fall short on her. When she was packing up all her stuff to come live with me she found an old book entitled something like ?Things all teenagers should know? and it had many historical facts and stories in it (Greek mythology and shorts on American history). It was actually a really good book. She didn?t know half the things in it. I knew about 90%. We had very similar educations, so I can?t blame the school systems. I think the difference was my father. He read all the time and we would have long discussions about historical events and the things he has read. So what I am saying is, parents should take a more active role in their children?s education (in America at least).
All this rant to make a simple point? enjoy your teen years, but when you hit your college years, get ready to be serious. If you want to get a good job, you had better start preparing. I have interviewed tons of newly graduated people and most of them have no idea what to do in an interview, how to act, or what questions to ask. I will forget your good grades if you don?t know how to act mature. I buckled down and studied my ass off in college, and did a cooperative education program to get experience before I graduated. As a result, I have an amazing job that I love that pays really good. So now that I am out of college and making my own money, I can afford whatever toys I like and still have plenty to save. Your Facebook/Myspace crap will not impress an employer, and since you need money to live, you will need a job. And once you have that job, you won't need to study anymore, your evenings are your own... to play COD4, have sex with your significant other, hang out with friends (the life long kind now).
Sorry for the rant. I?m not trying to talk down to anybody, I just would like to share some things that I can look back on now and say ?I wish someone had told me that when I was 18?.