It's common knowledge that parents have experienced childhood at one point. Therefore, teenagers don't really say “you don't know what it's like”. (At least, I haven't heard it yet). But in this generation, parents haven't had the struggle of many things that kids are faced with today.
Adults never had to worry about phone addictions during class, because they had a flip phone at best. (I'm not great with this stuff, I may be wrong).
The adults also did not have to worry about their future regarding artificial intelligence. I see every job being taken by these guys. I'm not sure if it's a big point, but AI growth at this rate, is pretty scary, and their parents can not say grew up with this.
I feel like I'm forgetting something... One sec...
What about a global fufknig pandemic?
Even if you don't get sick, every kid in elementary, middle, and high school has been deprived of 2 years of essential human interaction. That much time alone had caused so depression globally.
As a cherry on top, have you ever heard someone say someone along the lines of “man, kids these days”. Anything that follows that is most of the time the parent's fault for not raising their kids properly.
So in addition to kids not being properly raised to do anything as an adult, we also don't know how to interact with other humans.
As the technology grows, we realize more and more what a messed up world we're in. With artificial intelligence killing us in every way, video becoming more accessible to reveal racist police, and our technological reliance killing our intelligence, I think it's safe to say that parents of this generation's kids have not had the experience that the kids had.
post ending: sorry about my citations, I wanted to back up my claims because I want sure about it. maybe that kills the “shower thought” part of shower thoughts.
Isn't this broadly true of every generation that's sufficiently younger than its parents (25+ years ought to do it)? My parents didn't really understand what personal computers and console gaming systems meant to me growing up. Their parents probably didn't understand the impact television and mainframe computers meant to them growing up. (Each generation has had pretty massive global disruptions, too. World wars, smaller wars, terror attacks, and yes pandemics.)
So, yeah, their situation is unique, but so was ours. The best a parent can do is try to find the path forward with love and empathy and an eye toward the best achievable outcome for their kids. What kids hopefully come to understand is their parents are doing their best with limited information and other resources.
Edit: man I just went through some shit to post this. Somehow I was both logged out and logged in at the same time, so I couldn't post this comment. Also now if I tap in this text entry field it offers to bring up my stored passwords...