Why are the youth so uninformed?

[Booldawg]

Considering how the internet has opened up a world of information on our fingertips, how come the youth of today are generally clueless dullards with hardly any general knowlegde skills, bad grammar and poor wit and repartie.

For me, the net HAS widened my knowledge and skills. I've been able to attempt alot more task such as fixing stuff round the house I'd NEVER touch before. Today I've been reading up on how to ripen my tomatoes, yesterday I was using the net to make an informed choice on what car to get and how much I should be paying.

Are kids blinkered into using the net to abuse their school-mates via 'social networking' sites and playing mind-numbing games created in Flash?

[sad old git]

jake-the peg. What do you mean by " older people?, I guess I am an older person seeing as I recieve a state pension , you seem to think that we can't work things out ,eg " I don't do maths". I was taught the proper way ,meaning the three "Rs"; reading writing & arithmatic" phonetically speaking. We were taught to read and write and work things out in our heads. We now have computers and calculators( oops maybe wrong spelling) to do these things for us;, what happens if all this technology breaks down? Will the youth of today be able to add 9+3 and come up with with the right answer I'm not sure; which brings me back to our children should be taught the learning basics

[tamborine]

Most teens I come across are looking for an income through work. They scour adverts & send out CVs with little result. When presenting themselves in person has more chance of success. Most of those who knock on doors are more successful.

It pains me to see many teens chasing Uni places for pipe-dream degrees that have little commercial value at huge debts to the graduates. So disheartening for them"!

[sophie_1003]

I'm not going to argue over any of points made on here until a few things have been cleared up. To those who are putting down 'the youth of today', what age group are you referring to, what is your basis for saying that the youth of today are less well informed/educated, what generation are you comparing them to and what contact/experience do you have of young people today?

[Whoever]

Perhaps it was because when I was a child, the family always sat down for a meal together every day and we were encouraged to talk about all kinds of things which both increased our knowledge and our conversation skills. Now parents have abandoned cooking, kids eatsout of a mirowaved foil container while slouched on the sofa watching TV, or spend hours in the bedrooms playing computer games and just grunting at their parents.
The net is a wonderful information tool but it will never replace the conversational skills and SIMPLY TALKING TO EACH OTHER ! It's amazing what you can learn from talking to somebody who has a specific skill if they're prepared to share it. The net isn't the only way of learning about things.