Who says they have it easier?

How often have you heard someone say kids today have it so much easier than we did when we were younger?

What nonsense. In truth, such a statement is so inaccurate it hardly justifies a response. However, I feel compelled to address this serious issue because if left unchallenged, such thinking becomes a festering boil, one that does a great disservice to our youth.

I will concede, that in this high-tech, modern world in which our youth are connected to a vast array of information and seemingly endless opportunities, it may appear as though our youth have it easier, but in fact those same opportunities come with many challenges and obstacles. Cyber bullying, for instance, is just one negative side of this new era of instant communication and connectivity.

But the challenges our youth face aren’t solely connected with the internet or technology.

While modern technology can link us to the rest of the world in just a matter of seconds, one might think that an unlimited wealth of opportunities awaits today’s youth, when, in fact, just the opposite is true. While information and knowledge can be the keys to success, oftentimes they aren’t enough and I bristle every time I hear someone say that kids nowadays have it a lot easier than earlier generations because that’s just not true.

Different challenges and, perhaps, enhanced opportunities, yes. But easier? No way. In fact, not only do they not have it easier, but I would also suggest that on some levels they actually have it a lot harder than previous generations.

It may seem to some that young people these days have it easier because of all the material things they possess and the seemingly endless list of opportunities that lay before them, but the fact remains that along with those things come new stress levels and certainly higher levels of expectations and subsequent pressures.

These are different times from when you and I were children, just as the years from our youth were different from those experienced by our own parents and grandparents and those who came before them. As such, while we tend to compare the lives of our children with our own childhood experiences, our observations are usually way off the mark. The truth is every older generation draws these conclusions about the youth of the day. It is often easier than taking the time to understand the challenges and obstacles of today’s youth.

As the father of two, I speak from personal experience when I say young people don’t have it easier. I have witnessed firsthand the angst that young people are often put through, not only because of peer pressure, but because of parental expectations and because of a system that expects them to grow up and mature much more quickly than when I was a teenager. Trust me, those pressures do not make their lives any easier.

It’s true that we do give our children more material things than we may have enjoyed in our youth, but that is primarily because the means and technology exist for us to do so. However, it is also true that with those things we expect our young people to mature and succeed at a quicker rate and as such, in many cases, our children are not allowed to have a childhood.

In fact, by the time our young people hit junior high school they are practically supposed to know what they want to do with the remainder of their lives so that they can make the right curriculum choices. How can they possibly know such things at age 14? Hell, I know some adults who still don’t know what they want to do when they grow up and they’re over 40.

But pressures from within the school system are only one source of angst experienced by the younger generation. In truth, today’s youth growing up in this high-tech, computerized era of instant communications and technology are constantly bombarded with challenges and opportunities that many of us couldn’t even imagine when we were their ages.

Then add to all of this, the normal pressures of growing up such as our sons’ and daughters’ personal insecurities and feelings of inadequacy and the social stresses of trying to fit in with their peers and you have a potent cocktail for inner turmoil that seems more profound today because of the modern technology such as cell phones and computers.

So it was that I cringed a few days ago while standing in the line-up at a local supermarket that I overheard several individuals of a senior persuasion waxing poetic about the evils of this generation’s young people and lamenting about the lost youth that we are raising.

Now, while I will agree that there are many bad apples running amuck in our communities (every generation has them), I will also argue that there are far more members of the younger generation who are blossoming into fine, upstanding and contributing members of society. It’s just that we tend to dwell on the negative.

In fact, I know many young people who, through their long and varied list of activities in their schools and community involvement, could put many of their elders to shame. It’s true. I know some young people who defy explanation. They are exemplary students, outstanding athletes, dedicated volunteers and allround wonderful kids, yet some of the senior generation seem determined to label the lot of them as lost youth.

Such stereotypes are wrong and simply, unfair. While it is true that some young people are responsible for some of the problems in today’s society, adults are equally as culpable, so it is inaccurate and misleading to paint all young people with the same brush.

If the pressures of technology and society are not enough, think of the other obstacles getting in the way as our young people look to the future. Growing unemployment rates and escalating student debts are just two more of the alarming realities facing the younger generation. Anyone who thinks the youth have easier today is sorely misinformed and mistaken.

The truth is scary and we

— I mean all of us — have a role to play in helping these younger generations to overcome these obstacles. The youth must be part of the solution, but clearly they cannot overcome these issues without our leadership and guidance. The next time you make an observation by suggesting that today’s youth have it easier, I urge you to think about you’re saying.

While it may be common for older generations to pass judgment on the younger set, I would suggest that it behoves us to become better informed about those youngsters before we write them off. And above all, never, ever assume that the young people of today have it easier because that is simply not the case, or at least that’s the view from here.