Children without adults

[SckizoBoy]

Well... I'm sure there is a certain proportion of the Escapist userbase that's under the age of 20... your input would be most appreciated... -_-

So, I'm watching what can be construed to be a somewhat loose adaptation of the Lord of the Flies, so... scenario & question: stick 500 random teenagers (some of whom know each other, but most don't, and by 'random' I really mean 'random', so there're all sorts) somewhere with no outside communication (which includes internet access) but with a reasonable supply of absolute necessities (i.e. food, water, rudimentary medical supplies etc. maybe electricity if you're feeling generous). Let's say they're isolated for a year (you can conjecture for various amounts of time), and their supplies will run out after a long while but there is still the potential for forage. What will be the state of the teenagers at the end of this time?

Are you of the the Lord of the Flies line of thought or something more light and fluffy like... say... the Coral Island? *shrug*

 

[hazabaza1]

Depends on the teenagers and exactly how old the average teenager is.
It could turn into a somewhat stable dictatorship or democracy, or it could go LOTF style with all the death and the murder and the oh my gooooooood.

Or maybe the nerds will rise up and create some kind of anti-bully destruction device.

 

[Zhukov]

If they knew that their isolation would be for a limited time and that they would eventually return to wider civilization (and be held accountable for their actions) then they might be able to keep it together.

If they thought their isolation was indefinite, then yeah, it's gonna get real ugly really quickly. Violence, rape, probably murder. It might start off nice when supplies are plentiful, but it's not going to be long before someone realises that (a) no amount of food will last forever and (b) there is no higher authority present to constrain their actions. The strongest among them would horde the supplies and the rest would be left to starve or scavenge whatever they could.

 

[WhyBotherToTry]

It could go any way, it all depends on the kind of people they are. I'm not sure if any actual killing would arise but I'd say there would more than likely be bullying and there could be violence over control of the resources.

 

[Mithcha]

500? You'd almost certainly see the formation of what would be tribes by any other name, similar to what I'm told American secondary schools already do with cliques and what not. Only they'd be a lot less 'nice' and potentially alot more territorial. That pig you really want? You'll have to take it or trade. Try and take it, you're looking at a fight, possibly what could be considered war.

Essentially with no access to modern tech, culture or social norms it'll go back to base level within a month, maybe two. Three if by chance the teenagers are really, really easy going. You'll definitely see the strong (physically) dominate in a way you just don't see in typical western society even before the supplies have begun to run out - somebody has to distribute them after all, and it's not going to the shy, weak people who do that. Given a year or two, less if you're optimistic, you could see a relatively stable system spring up though. But there would be an extremely brutal period first.

All that assumes a desert island of some sort, a small one. A large one and the group could just split, form two different tribes and pretty much never interact. Or they could split, form two different tribes and then decide the others are a threat and try to kill them.

I don't see them turning into three groups or more, simply due to numbers, even if they did you eventually end up with two large ones then perhaps a single one again given time because one would have to turn to another at some point since they're not all going to have the same skill-sets and/or be able to defend themselves, which they will need to do at some point because at some point they will fight each other over -something-, even if it takes years for that something to happen. There's so many variables that frankly if you can see it happening it's possible that it could up to and including them splitting, not meeting again for a century and finding out they both now speak different languages. Granted that ones a bit far fetched, but not impossible. Real life is stranger than fiction a lot of the time after all.

 

[Ljs1121]

If I was in that situation, I'd probably die.

Being the most unfit person in a survival of the fittest situation doesn't bode well for my health/safety.

 

[DoPo]

stick 500 random teenagers [...] and by 'random' I really mean 'random'

Ugh, thanks for that. Now I imagine them all yelling "I'm so random, bro!" then, I dunno, taking their pants down and running around, or punching themselves in the face while laughing. All while chanting "YOLO!".

 

[lechat]

snip.

yup
teenagers are prone to forming cliques and whats worse is their emotional shape. odds are without structure and supervision we would see at least 1 murder and eventually they would split into a group of the fittest and the rejects i'm sure all of you understand the dynamics of team picking amongst school kids

 

[Cazza]

There should be enough level headed kids in a group of 500. The older ones should keep the younger ones line in. I would not be surprised if some Asshole older kid bullies people out of food or does other illegal things. That's when the real test begin. They really have 3 choices here. Go wild and band into small groups. Deal with them with extremes IE kill them (It could fix the problem or create a slippy slope.). Or lock them away if possible depends on how they have setup camp or exile.

 

[DazZ.]

I'd wager they'd all form off in separate gangs and crews and some would wage war, others would try and keep to themselves and then there'd be the loners who can't handle anarchy.

I doubt any "decent" structure would form after a year, by decent I mean civil with rules that are followed by everyone, I'm sure some people would try to lead, but that would be more than one hence the groups.

This is if they don't know it's going to be over by the end of the year of course, otherwise it would be much more civil as the ones that might have gone mental may just hold out because it's almost over and some of the violent ones may hold back thinking of consequences when they're out.

Too many variables for there to be a "this would 100% happen" type thing though.

 

[chadachada123]

I think it really depends on who gets to the helm first. Like in Lord of the Flies, really. If a power-hungry asshole gets there first, then the murder/starvation will commence towards those who don't appease said asshole, and some fat kid is going to end up being crushed by a large boulder.

However, if the kids DON'T elect a dictator and instead talk everything out, there'd be a good chance that they'll divide everything evenly and work together.

 

[Xdeser2]

Even though Id like to point out that each of those are works of FICTION, as in, you cant point to it as evidence of what is going to happen, and as sad as this sounds, probably Lord of the Flies.

being 17, I kinda see this going down in this way:

Hey, lets follow the Athletic types cause their cool from most people.

The people who felt victimized by them (Truly or otherwise) would never accept anything they say no matter the validity

Giant cliques would form

and it would be a fucking jungle high school except this time there's competition for actual resources and not just who to bang.

And, of course, the sane, rational people wont be listened to in any meaningful way
__________________________________________________________

However, in actuality, it will all just depend on who's there. I Could defiantly see it also going down the rational way, with people peacefully cooperating until rescue arrives, sure, it would be the least thematic/dramatic version, but it defiantly would be preferable!

 

[uchytjes]

I honestly think it would end only in tears. Unless you give them a "we will come and pick you up in one year" speech, then everything will go to shit.

Also, if this is a scientific experiment, be sure to have a group that is told they will be picked up at a different time than when they really will be picked up. whether it is off by a week or half a year, all the bad things are likely to happen after the date they will be told they are being picked up.

 

[ethan22122]

Well, I'm 17 and if this happened to me I would probably get other like minded people and band together into a group and try to instill some form of order, and prevent absolute chaos while trying to live in peace with anyone else. If it all turned to hell though, maybe some feudal system would happen, with varying tribes and groups with a chief, or warlord or whatever.

 

[Coffeejack]

It would be tribal, like a high school but worse.

stick 500 random teenagers [...] and by 'random' I really mean 'random'

Ugh, thanks for that. Now I imagine them all yelling "I'm so random, bro!" then, I dunno, taking their pants down and running around, or punching themselves in the face while laughing. All while chanting "YOLO!".

Send them to Rook Island. I know a man who will...take care of them. Just don't play cards with him, his "house rules" suck.

 

[Quadocky]

Given how the youth are more likely to be hardy in such instances, it would go rather well. Given that communication is key, there would obviously be one individual there who has both the intellectual capacity to provide advice and leadership indirectly.

The required tasks will most likely be divided up according to ability, and given their diversity it would be quite easy to determine who fits the requirements.

Wait five hundred random teenagers on an island? Wow, what?

That is quite a lot of people. Even at that high amount it would be incredibly easy to forage and find good locations for food and water.

 

[HigherTomorrow]

Really? I can't imagine a group of 500 teenagers having so much trouble getting along. There's no doubt in my mind that the older group (17, 18, 19) would be able to take care of the younger group (13, 14, 15, 16) while also creating a stable enough society to get by for some time. With that many people, though, there's bound to be a rape or a murder among them. It's just simple statistics. But the whole society of teens crumbling? Fat chance. I doubt that, in a time of survival, the goth girls and the cheerleaders would feud over petty differences.

For example, my high school is small, maybe even a little less than 500, and I don't doubt in my mind that out of our 450-500 students, enough of us are level-headed to survive with the rest of the students. Even so, I don't doubt that there wouldn't be some of those one-off problems I mentioned.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

I'd have thought that the groups that didn't get along would just avoid eachother. Laziness generally trumps aggression, besides, by the time people are 18 they tend to not bother with all that stuff anyway. I mean, I've had a beer with people I hated a few years ago, they're not all that bad. It's probably because all those people became stoners and chilled the fuck out though.

 

[Loonyyy]

I saw some of a show that purported to be that "Kid Nation". Instead, it was standard reality tv garbage.

It'd be kind of interesting to put them there and leave it, but that's totally unethical (And almost certainly illegal). Since there'll be controls of some kind, I'm sure absolutely nothing bad outside of the usual shit kids do to each other will happen. Snoozefest.

I'm entirely doubtful of the whole "Cliques" suggestion. People tend to group together and band together, but it's not going to be the fake high school cliques that've been doing the rounds since the 90s. In the absence of the interests that these groups are meant to be formed around, you wouldn't end up with the "Nerd" Clique, the "Jock" Clique and the like.

 

[Esotera]

It totally depends on the bunch of teenagers, they might have a load of survival experience or be from a country where conditions are pretty harsh and they can live off the land already, or they could be a bunch of spoilt American high-schoolers. I'm fairly sure that after a couple of months some sort of stable arrangement of society would arise (or they'd all die out).