Attitude of younger people to older people.

[sbutabi]

Just an observation/question. I lived abroad for most of my youth in various European countries and I am not sure if this is a Canadian phenomenon or a sign of our times in general, but is it me or are younger people (late teens/early 20's) becoming more disrespectful in Canada. Examples (over many months), I am at a movie theatre and nicely ask a girl (late teens) to turn off her flashing (like a Disco) iphone and she replies in a rude manner. Driving with my wife to Yorkdale and we get cut off by a woman (very early 20's at most) on the phone (not hands free). I tell her (open window) that talking and driving is illegal, especially considering she almost hit us. She reponds by giving me the finger. At the next light I get out (she was next to me) and asked her calmly why she would do something like that. She shows me the finger again and takes off. In Yorkdale last Boxing Day and some kid (maybe 16) bumps into me. I am a nice guy so I say "Sorry" and he responds that "You should apologize or else". I am not a very threatening looking person, but I am also not a weakling. I would not mouth off to me if I was younger. Is it me? It is my understanding that there is nothing we (adults) can do in those situations in Canada, because anything will get you sued. What to do? Just asking, because I don't see kids with quite that big of an attitude in other countries.

[steve-0101]

I can tell you that you have more self control than I do. At least one of those kids would have left with an injury.

And to answer your question, yes I believe the younger generation do not have the same respect for the older generation as we did when we were younger.

[Ottomaddox]

Meh, every generation thinks the ones after have no respect. Does someone have to dig out the quote from Socrates again?

[45ED]

Meh, every generation thinks the ones after have no respect. Does someone have to dig out the quote from Socrates again?

Heh...

[nickscott]

It's not just a young/old thing. People are getting more rude everywhere. I live in a smallish city and have noticed a huge increase in rudeness over the past few years.

I think there are societal issues in play; less social interaction, more anonymity in public, zero accountability for actions. Facebook and Youtube fuels this narcissism which is probably why you see it more in younger people. The whole 'me first' attitude is nothing new nor is it going away anytime soon.

You're doing the right thing by speaking up, it's pretty much the only thing you can do without (as a previous poster put it) 'leaving the other guy in injury.' Be a good person yourself as an example and it'll pay dividends one day. And who knows, maybe you'll strike a chord with some kid and he'll consider changing his ways. Maybe not.

My 2 cents.

[wszeto28]

Don't think it's a young/old thing either as I've seen many adults behave the same way.

Also, what about the parents? Kids aren't learning this behaviour out of nowhere.

[JAC]

It's nothing new; each generation is less considerate than the last. Just part of the inevitable social decay inherent to any society.

We're on the downslope now, kiddies. Hope everyone enjoys the ride.

[JamesRR]

Its upbringing. Not to say its bad and represents the person or parents as a whole, but just to the specific point of having respect for elders.

Never have a I seen asian or oriental been disrespectful to elders in public. Especially when it comes to answering back, swearing or any other type of abuse, physical or verbal/

[iEyeCaptain]

I had a green left turn light into my street a couple of weeks ago. The pedestrian sign hand a big fat red hand on it.

Two teenage girls keep walking - SLOWLY - so I honked at them (so did the F150 behind me), one of the girls stopped, realized what was happening and quickly ran back to where she started. The second girl gave us the finger, a "WHAT THE HELL?" shrug/expression and slowed down her pace even more.

Entitled, spoiled brat.

Good on the other teenage girl though, for realizing her mistake and attempting to correct it!

[yao416]

Some old generation are *******s too

[kennyhohoho]

There are jerks of all shapes, sizes and colours. Very little to do with age, race, sex, etc.

[ji2o0k]

Old people need to stop sweating the small stuff and enjoy life....their time is short, enjoy everything while you can..lol!

[manmanny]

It's not just a young/old thing. People are getting more rude everywhere. I live in a smallish city and have noticed a huge increase in rudeness over the past few years.

I think there are societal issues in play; less social interaction, more anonymity in public, zero accountability for actions. Facebook and Youtube fuels this narcissism which is probably why you see it more in younger people. The whole 'me first' attitude is nothing new nor is it going away anytime soon.

You're doing the right thing by speaking up, it's pretty much the only thing you can do without (as a previous poster put it) 'leaving the other guy in injury.' Be a good person yourself as an example and it'll pay dividends one day. And who knows, maybe you'll strike a chord with some kid and he'll consider changing his ways. Maybe not.

My 2 cents.

Not everywhere. May be in Toronto. May be its one of the big city problems.

[manmanny]

Old people need to stop sweating the small stuff and enjoy life....their time is short, enjoy everything while you can..lol!

Ninety years is not short. May be in Asia. But not in Canada.

[googoo]

It also has a lot to do with parenting, or lack their of, you are taught respect for other people, you learn that opening a door(and holding it open) is the courteous thing to do. to be honest though you see MUCH less of that because being a parent has gone from being there to raise your kid, to letting your kid raise themselves while you continue to live your life.....when the kids should be your life.

Brent