You oldies forget that being a teenager is stressful
I HAVE to defend my generation of so-called snowflakes. Yes, I agree that sometimes political correctness has gone mad. However, young people are not just one big group to be chewed up and spat out when you discover you don’t like the taste. You say that we can’t handle stress and are permanently offended. The only time I am offended is when I read the latest jibe at my generation. I’m not just another snowflake who can’t deal with sneers about being pathetic. I had to laugh when young people were castigated for not knowing how to sew a button on a shirt — it’s a skill I learned at the age of eight. We are continually criticised for not being able to handle the stress of exams and teenage life. While I think some of the measures taken have gone too far — such as universities offering ‘crying’ pods — I do think that many older people have forgotten what it is like to be young. I sat 12 examinations, while my parents took just eight exams, so, yes, this was stressful. I rarely use social media, but I can still see the huge effect it has on teenagers and know that we would be so much better off without it. But it’s ridiculous to say my whole generation is moaning endlessly online. What about all the adults who seem to live on Twitter? Knock, knock. Who’s there? Well, it isn’t a snowflake because we have an ‘extreme sense of humour failure’. This claim did make me laugh — though, if it was true, it shouldn’t have! Another unfair generalisation is that we think our opinions are the only ones that count. By constantly spouting rubbish about young people, who are really the ones who think that only their opinion counts?
reBeCCA roGerS, Kingston upon Hull, e. yorks.