Is it odd for a teenager to become LESS cynical as they grow up?

[Your Fearless Captain]

We live in an age in which an electronic signal will be sent to satellites in space and back, carrying millions of points of data a second, and be perfectly decoded into a high rez image by a machine performing millions of calculations a second, so I can see a funny picture of a cat on my phone while i'm waiting for a bus. Also, we live in an age in which a mass murder or heinous crime is considered absolutely shocking and not, "Tuesday". We live in an age in which the idea of dying from a cold or a broken bone seems strange. We live in the most amazing time ever to be alive. So amazing that the only thing outpacing our advancements is our expectations. It only makes sense that as you leave a childhood where cynicism is cool, that you appreciate how good we have it, and how great the world has become.

+1 internets. Seriously.

OT: Also 17 I have noticed that I'm also less cynical.

 

[xplosive59]

I would probably say I am cynical myself but not in an "edgy" teen way such as "the world sucks and there is no reason to do anything" but more from a super critical standpoint. I think critical would be a better way of describing it, I usually detest "edgy" kids.

 

[ThisGuyLikesNoTacos]

Well I obviously started being less cynical after bullying stopped. Also after all the hating on "edgy" kids I heard, I took is as a hint.

 

[roushutsu]

It's not odd, it's life. It will happen for everyone, you're just fortunate to have it happen sooner. Makes life easier when you take it in stride.

 

[MiskWisk]

I got less cynical, but that could be because I was cynical at 12 so I could only get less cynical after that.

 

[eternal-chaplain]

Well, this was at least the hope of my parents.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

I only ask because a lot of the teenagers I know become the 'life is pain and the world is going to shit and nothing even matters in the world type', and yet I've actually become more in love with the world and in general more idealistic as I'm getting older (I'm 17, if anyone is wondering). Is this an odd thing, or is it just that negative people become like black holes and suck all of the attention upon themselves, meaning that people with a more positive outlook aren't really noticed?

Teenagers think that life needs to be a constant flood of new stimuli at a breakneck speed. Then they get older and mellow out a bit and realize this:

CAPTCHA: half empty. Wow, why is captcha always somehow relevant to the conversation? Keywords probably.

 

[Waffle_Man]

I've stopped caring too. I care enough to keep going to work every day and do what I set out to do in my life, but I'm stockpiling guns and ammo in my spare time because I do not believe society as we know it will make it much longer.

I've never heard that one before.

Everyone has always said that for thousands of years, but there have never been 7 billion people on the planet when THEY said it,there have never been the kinds of challenges they faced in food, water, energy, climate change, globalization and loss of control over the economy. This truly is a unique point in human history, and you should be worried.

There had also never been something quite like Gangis Khan, the black death, the spanish flu, the world wars, or the threat of atomic annihilation.

Every day will be like any other, until the next day it suddenly isn't. For some people they probably feel like it's already happening, broke, can't find work, no help, lashing out.

Do I need to go into the different implications of what it means to be me impoverished in a modern western civilization versus being impoverished in practically any other circumstance for the span of most of human history?

I don't weep for the end of society though, I don't see much difference between full on Mad-Max and now.

I see that you like to travel a lot.

The biggest difference is instead of someone bullying you in highschool until you kill yourself, they'd just kill you.

The two are almost indistinguishable.

People find creative ways to be the confrontational, nasty animals they are in society. Sometimes I wish we'd just drop the act anyhow.

I can see why you're unhappy and scared of the future. Fortunately though, I don't live in Detroit, so my outlook on life is much cheerier.