Journal MasterOfMagic's Journal: The Entitlement Generation 2
I'm (as a 20-something) am sick and tired of people from my generation acting while whiny, entitled twats (that's a technical term, and rhymes with bats). In a thread about AT&T and Version offering opt-in Internet monitoring for their customers, I mentioned (posting as AC as I normally do at work these days) that, if I had children, I would monitor their online activities. The first response from an Anonymous Coward was that I was a fascist big-brother and that I didn't trust my children. Now, maybe I was being trolled (quite likely, actually), but since I've been lax in my attendance of Biters Anonymous meetings, I just couldn't resist in backhanding the entitled little twat (again, a technical term).
I know this subject is older than steam (literally, just look up what Plato and Socrates had to say about the failings of later generations), but will someone please explain to me how many in my generation feel so entitled that any sort of restriction on things paid for by their parents (cell phone minutes, monitoring of Internet connection, restriction of driving hours on a car or car insurance paid for by their parents, a curfew while living at home, and so forth) is fascism. I didn't have a cell phone as a kid. My parents didn't buy me a car and they certainly didn't pay for my car insurance. My parents, did, however pay for their house, and while it did suck at the time, I didn't act like a spoiled little twat (again with the technical language!) when I had to be home for curfew.
Is it just teenage angst? Is it that this generation really is different? Is it just that I want people off my lawn? Is it that now that I'm a bit older, I can look with hindsight at my parents and see that they weren't evil overlords who set out to crush my high?
Bottom line if I had kids: I pay for the Internet. I will monitor what you do. That doesn't mean I sit with a window open and watch your textisms flying back and forth with your 'bff jill' in AIM. It doesn't mean that I read your email or that I follow every click you make with your mouse. It doesn't mean that I listen to your phone calls or randomly open up VNC to look at your desktop. It means that if I have a reason to suspect that you are doing something you shouldn't be doing, (trying to hook up online with someone twice your age from sugardaddies.com when you're 15 and in my house, giving out your name and address online, trying to break the law, or in some other way violating the rules of my house) I will dig through the logs of your online activity on the Internet connection I pay for, will listen to your telephone calls on the phone that I pay for, and search the bedroom you use that I pay for. It's a way of giving you notice that your online activities will be logged and will be referred to when needed, so govern yourself accordingly, and if you don't like it, you're free to not use the Internet, free to pay for your own phone, and free to move out.
Biters Anonymous (Score:2)
I've been lax, too. [slashdot.org] I don't think you were trolled, though. More than likely it was some snot-nosed kid who responded to you.
Plato and Socrates did bitch about the younger generation, but I'm pretty sure they had steam back then (unless you meant the game company).
I don't think this generation is a whole lot different than mine was, and I'm old enough to be YOUR dad! That's just how young people are. The trick is, as you age, gaining the good things that come with age while not giving up the good things fro
Re: (Score:2)
Apparently (and I found this out a few days ago), the phrase "older than steam" refers to something older than the steam engine and modern printing. Apparently it's used when discussing themes that predate modern printing, such as things back in Greek and Roman times. Picked it up while browsing the TV Tropes Wiki [tvtropes.org].