What the hell is wrong with kids these days?

I half agree. While it is ridiculous that this thread was made by a 16 yr old, I'm going to say that a generation could be 10 Yrs. Plenty changes I think for that to be considered a generation in my opinion.

It doesn't matter. Most people on here know what I mean. And there's certainly been enough change to call it a generation.

Northern Ireland do 5 (year 8- year 12) then the following two (Sixth Form: year 13 and 14) are optional.

My baby sister is 11 and she's totally prepubescent and so are most of her friends. The boys look even younger. It's just wrong in so many ways.

Change does not define a generation, see my previous post

I swear there's been a drastic change in kids ever since our generation (around year 12) grew up.

Firstly, I tutor 3 year 8's with reading every Tuesday. They're such outspoken brats, cheeky little.. when I was that age I looked up to the elder students with respect and awe. And I swear, they're all spoiled with Iphones etc.. when I was that age I'd be lucky to get an MP3. I wouldn't dare go near the back of the bus, but now we're crowded by them!

Secondly the tv shows kids watch.. WTF is that crap? The Big Time Rush show? Wizards of Waverley Place? I'll take CBBC's Shoebox Zoo, Ace Lightning or CITV's Angela saying "Next is Digimon!". Don't even get me started on the new Tracey Beaker..

Then how naughty they are. I did work experience in the old school, only to find a park, a wooden fun reserve, football shooters, every colour you could think of. When I was in school all you saw was grey concrete, if we were lucky in the Summer we'd get chalk to draw on the concrete. We'd role-play Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh and Lilo and Stitch, and play "Mob tag" and have a blast! During that week I broke up four fights, got questioned by a year five on my sex life, and came across a year 4 who thought she could bite me and laugh it off.. (She never got to go swimming hehe)..The dinner lady I spoke to actually said the kids were way naughtier than us! Also on a Summer's day take your dog for a walk down the park, see how many kids are playing 'tag' or 'fox and hounds' as we did.. I think you'll mostly find chavs on the swings smoking.

Lastly and worst of all, a year 7 on my bus has lost her virginity.. Is that even possible? I'd only just had my first kiss at that age! And those damn year 7 guys on the back of the bus talking about their girlfriends 24/7 .. you haven't even hit puberty! At that age I was collecting Doctor Who adventures and Jackie Chan cartoon trading cards!

Are kids growing up too fast?

The problem here is two different meanings for the word generation. You're using it to mean that, which is its traditional meaning. However others are using it to mean the group of people within a few years of each other who shared a common childhood culture/experience. Perhaps these two meanings only needed the one word a few decades ago because the rate of change in our lifestyles/culture was better matched to the rate at which people grew up and had children, so only the next biological generation would really have a particularly different childhood. However this is not so much the case anymore. Things are changing a little faster, at least on the technology front, and it is making all of our experiences a lot more different than they would have been back then.

Seeing as there are 6 years between me and the OP, and he's talking about kids 3 years younger than him, I guess I don't qualify as part of the same generation; nonetheless, I agree. As a young whipper-snapper in my first year of secondary school I had nothing but respect for my elders, and university students just seemed like they were from another world to me. Now the tables have turned, and the (mostly - not all) cheeky brats have no respect for me whatsoever. Why do I deserve respect just for reaching a certain age? I guess I don't, but it'd be nice if they just treated all people with courtesy, as I did (and still do).

4 years

Couldn't agree more OP. I wonder this every day I see kids like that and it makes me question whether I actually want to go into teaching and face this on a daily basis.

My boyfriend's sister who is in year 8 has no qualms about telling her own mother to "shut the **** up" if she's "pissing her off". At her age (and still now at 18 years old) I would get such a telling off and even today I'd probably have my TV taken off me for a week despite paying for it - their argument is they pay the TV license which, to be fair, is a good point. However, I've never seen being able to keep my things as a reason to respect my parents, that should come with the territory of respecting your elders regardless. I couldn't believe it when my boyfriend said "behave or you won't get any money for the cinema" and she replied "well how well I behave depends on how much you give me". Unbelievable.

Discipline has completely gone out of the window for many parents nowadays, it's all about the children's rights. Any sense of responsibility and actually earning their keep has vanished for some and it's awful.