I just saw the funniest thing on TV news this afternoon. Apparently, some teenager went on face book and really trashed her parents. The dad was none too happy, he took her lap top away from her, layed it on the ground and emptied his pistol into it. Shot it all to hell and told her if she wanted a new lap top she could go get a job and buy her own. They had the whole thing on video.

sheepdog,

I read about the incident on a tech news website. They did post the video too, which I didn't look at yet. The incident is probably another side to watching what you say on FaceBook. FaceBook is a social medium and people using it should adhere to the same standards that journalists do when they have news articles published in a newspaper or magazine. Not everyone can take on the responsibility of making sure that whatever they say does not offend anybody or wrongfully target somebody.

Having a laptop taken away and shot is perhaps an extreme - they could have given away the laptop to a charity organization or something, but it conveys the point in a rather expensive way. A laptop, however, is something that kids these days use for their education too so depriving them of something that they need to study is not a solution to the problem of kids posting stuff online. Perhaps getting an Internet blocking software to prevent them from accessing certain websites would help.

<sub>I actually saw it on national news, probably Fox, so it wasn't just a wild or fabricated facebook or U Tube video, like a lot of stuff that goes around online.

Now, here's something that might shock you. I went to public school. We had no computers. And guess what? I still got an education! Granted, I don't spell the best in the world, but that's just because I'm always in too big a hurry to run spell checker, or pick up the dictionary. The point is, I do know how to use a dictionary should I want to. We had these things called libraries where if we wanted to know something we went there and looked it up.
My point to all this is that you don't need a computer for school. A computer is a privledge and a tool. If you abuse your tools and privledges, you loose them. Obviously, if she was using the computer to trash her parents, she wasn't using it for her education now was she? Or, maybe she was. She sure did learn one lesson, which would be don't trash your parents on face book!

Yes, they could of given away her computer. But that wouldn't of made quite the impression shooting the dang thing did now would it? Sometimes you just have to make a point, even if that in this case may seem a bit extreme, it did no doubt make the point in a plain and unmistakeable mannor. One even the most dense teenager could understand, I would think.</sub>

The ‘generation gap’, as they call it, is widening day by day. The so called technological advancement has made the things more worse. There is sharp decline in the sanctity of human relationships. The respect the elders used to command from the youngsters is on the brink of extinction. The incident under reference is just an example of it. Who is to be held responsible? There may not be clear cut answer to it. There would be justifications by both the sides – the elders and the youngsters; they would like to exonerate themselves from being blamed for it.

As said by a character in the famous novel ‘Day of the Jackal’ written by Frederick Forsyth “we are living in hair raising times’. And, it is a fact that in order to keep up with these times, human being had to make amends to a lot of well established norms in the society. But everything with regards to the human relationships was manageable till the dawn of the IT era. Along with its high-fly facilities that catapulted the humanity into unprecedented technological heights, it also dealt a severe blow to the time tested human values - the mankind is almost brought down to the level of robots. The youngsters, who are living almost like robots, no more care about many values that were so close to the hearts of the elders. They are not interested in anything apart from technologically advanced ‘stuff’, as they call it. The sacred books of the yore that set rules governing the upkeep of the relationships and emphasized on the necessity of safegaurding it for the well being society, have been put aside by the youngsters as ‘trash’. Of course, no efforts worth mentioning was carried out by the elders to take note of this dangerous trend and to nip it in its bud; instead, they simply allowed the youngsters to get on with it. And, now, it is payback time. I feel pity on the father though. I have not seen what was the ‘considered’ opinion of the daughter about her parents, but could presume that it was something really ‘appalling’ so far the hapless father is concerned.

Though I don’t completely blame the sons and daughters of the present age for the state of affairs as it stands with regards to the relationship with their parents, I would like to remind them of one thing – the gap of age between yours and your parents cannot be shortened even by a second by anything in the Universe, it will remain as it is, try however you may.

Finally a word of advice to the father concerned - 'Forgive them father, for they do not know what they do'.

I really like your post, it's quite brilliant! You've done a wonderful job of explaining one of the major problems facing our society. Granted, children have always been disrespectful to their parents, but in small ways, just little things, nothing like the rantings of todays teenagers. Part of that results from growing up and finding and molding our own personalities. It is a normal part of growing up. I think all kids go threw that phase of developing independance where they think they are smarter than their parents. But if the parents are allowed to give the child a firm background in what is right and wrong, most children eventually grow up and learn to accept the responsibilites of life.

But in our current situation, parents have less and less recourse for raising their children. Liberal attitudes are forced down the throats of any parents who are trying their best to raise their children in a way that teaches them respect and responsibility. I greatly fear the day that will come when this generation comes of age. They will have grown up having their own way and will have no respect for anyone or any consideration of what their responsibilities are. They will lay the blame for anything that happens to them on someone or something else. It can't possibly be their fault now can it?

How will these children of today even hold down a job? If their bosses give them an unpleasant task that they don't want to do, they will simply refuse, or quit the job. How will things ever get done? I see this happening already. When was the last time you were in a restuarant or some other customer service industry and were treated respectuflly by the employees? It would probably be easier to remember the last time you were forced to endure the surly, unfriendly attitude of a teenage that was completly unhelpful and acted like they were doing you a favor by allowing you to come into their place of business.

Since you didn't see the video, I can tell you that the girl was extremely nasty to her parents. She cursed them venomently. She was upset because they expected her to do some chores around the house. Simple stuff, make her bed, unload the dish washer, wipe off the kitchen counters, take out the trash. Her attitude was typical of todays modern teenager. They expect parent to do everything for them and don't think they should have to do a single thing to contribute. They don't seem to realize it's the work of the parents that puts food on the table and keeps a roof over their heads. Not to mention their very own laptop computer!

My opinion is the kids of today have no respect for no one or nothing.And why because the dont get punished like in my day 40 years ago.when i was a kid a smack from our parents never hurt us or a punishment in school like the cane or the ruler on the hand which i had once but cant remember what for but i remember clearly the teacher who did it,
And another fact most of the kids today get everything handed to them on a plate.They want the latest mobile they get get it they want a laptop they get it and they get all of this for not having to do any chores.And when you ask them to help you with anything most parents get answed back and wont help you.
When i was a kid we only ever got things for birthdays and christmases and we respected our belongings because of this.
I remember not getting pocket money till i was 11 and then it was only 20p a week which you could buy lots of sweets for that or a comic and some sweets.And for our pocket money we would wash up or clean our bedrooms or hoover anything and we never thought anything about doing these chores back then it was the normal thing.to do.
And i remember before we had pocket money we would get a treat of sweets on the friday when we went shopping or a treat of sweets on the sunday when we went with daddy to get the sunday newspaper.
We even used to entertain ourselves we would with friends go and make camps in the woods near us or we would play schools in one anothers back gardens or ball games on the street with our friends we never had modern high tech things to keep us entertained.One thing i wouldnt want to be a kid now a days i prefer it in my childhood days.
so you see parents and governments are to blame how kids behave today.So really the father was to blame too for his actions.

Oh I couldn't agree with you more Nanna! I am amazed at what kids are getting today! I remember having to get permission to even talk on the telephone, can't even dream of owning my own phone as a child! My mom was a clean freak, I remember having to dust the furnature every day of my life threw my entire childhood, and dry the dishes and put them away after supper. (I have to say, to this day I now air dry my dish and put them away after they air dry, I'm perfectly fine with letting them sit in the sink in the dish drainer until they are dry thank you!)

But what really blows my mind today is the fact that you are actually seeing commercials on television telling kids to go outside and play??/!!!!! That's just insane to me. When we were kids it was impossible to keep us in the house, me especially! Couldn't wait to get out the door. I find it rather frightening that kids are so hooked on computers and computer games that they don't want to be outside.

Yes! u are very right that the children nowadays need to be reminded to go out n play,they are not aware of what instinct they lack,but the 'the war is on' type of phase is not going to help either. The parents have to understand the worth and maturity of their child, and then give them anything that is not so expensive, that even if it needs to be destroyed, it doesnt feel like your pocket has been drilled. Composed and patient behaviour on the parent's part is inevitable.One thing that i really wonder about is that why do the kids cant just trust their parents and talk to them about their problems, probably the parents have to try a little harder to grab their child's confidence and this would help bridge the most talked about generation gap.

It is a great curiosity that as you said, children do not trust their parents and do not talk to them about things going on in their lives. At least a lot of children. I know the reason I didn't, was because I was rather onery as a teenager, and most of what I did I would of gotten in serious trouble so there was no talking to my folks. My parents were without a doubt, quite strict on me. Not that it stopped me from getting into lots of mischief.

I think part of the problem with the lack of communication between parent and child is that teenagers are trying so desperatly to come into their own, and want to be in control of their lives and be mature. They want to work threw their trouble on their own without input from their parents. They think dealing with life is a sign of maturity. What I don't get is why nearly all teenagers can't figure out that what you do is gain wisdom with time and experience. They tend to think they are smarter than their parents, and they think parents don't understand their difficulties. They don't realize that when they get older they are going to look back at their teenage years and think, Oh my goodness, why was I such an idiot?

Well in my opinion all the father actios are justified... I hate facebook because it is only a tool to idiotize all the teenagers and some adult people. Here in my country you have to see all the fools who spend almost all the day, not kidding, chatting or simply reading updates and photos from another facebook users. I am tired of this. I only use the facebook to chat when is necessary because all the old chat rooms have dissapeared from the internet since facebook and almost all the people I need to chat is connected all day long in the facebook. And it is truth teenagers dont trust in their parents. Maybe they are having sexual relationships and the fathers are the last to know about it. The trust and the old respect to your parents actually is being losing because all the new technologies like facebook, twitter or blackberry the teenagers only want to expend their time chatting and knowing everything about all the people.

The teenager are confused human beings that is known from eternity. In this stage all of us experiment some feelings and certain thinkness that mark us for all the life. This create like sheepdog says a lack of communication with our parents but this have not to be like this. Once you get mature all this feelings and thinkness have to disapear but now that maybe is imposible because all the teenagers are not worried to get mature they only want to know the last comments or see the last photo on the facebook or the last update in the twitter or being chatting all day long in the blackberry.

Once the technology arrived here we are not using it we are slaves of the technology and dont have time for all the important things like study, or excersive in a long term future we all will see all the consequences of this...

Dont be a technology slave.

Regards...

I agree with fermin25 fully, it has become an overdose of these social networking sites.Children really don't have any time to play a sport going outdoors or reading a wonderful novel or even sparing a good time with parents and grandparents. But they have enough time to chat with someone sitting somewhere in a different corner of the world.Its really a big question whether this generation children are getting enriched or spoiled through these sites.

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