Maybe the Kids Aren´t the Problem

Every generation seems convinced that the next one is falling apart.

"They don't read."

"They can't focus."

"They're addicted to their phones."

"They have no work ethic."

If you listen long enough, you'd think civilization is always one generation away from collapse. But here's the question I keep coming back to: Compared to what?

Compared to our idealized memory of childhood? Or compared to what previous generations were actually like? Because those are two very different things.

We tend to compare today's kids to the best version of yesterday, not the real one.

The reality is that teenagers in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s weren't spending every afternoon reading Shakespeare or discussing philosophy. They watched television for hours, played video games, skipped homework, got into trouble, and found creative ways to avoid doing chores. Adults complained about them too.

In fact, adults have been complaining about young people for thousands of years. So maybe this isn't really a story about kids. Maybe it's a story about adults forgetting what they were like. That doesn't mean there aren't real concerns.

Social media is designed to compete for attention. Infinite scrolling, notifications, and recommendation algorithms genuinely change how we consume information. There is growing evidence that excessive screen time can affect sleep, attention, and mental well-being.

Those are real issues. But here's where the conversation often takes a strange turn.

The same people criticizing today's children often belong to generations that handed them a world with climate change, housing shortages, rising inequality, political polarization, pollution, and record levels of public debt.

That's not an accusation. It's just perspective. Every generation inherits a messy world, improves some parts of it, and leaves behind new problems for the next. The generations before us also achieved incredible things.

Modern medicine, commercial aviation, the internet, space exploration, computers, vaccines, global communication. Millions of people lifted out of extreme poverty. History is never one-sided.  Neither heroes nor villains. Just people doing remarkable things while making spectacular mistakes. And today's kids will probably be no different.

They may struggle with attention spans, but they also navigate technologies their parents never imagined. They collaborate across continents without thinking twice. They learn new skills from creators on the other side of the world.

Many are growing up with a broader awareness of mental health, diversity, and global issues than previous generations ever had. They are different. Not necessarily worse. Just different. Maybe that's the point. 

Instead of asking whether this generation is "better" or "worse," perhaps we should ask a better question: What kind of adults are we helping them become?

Technology isn't destiny. Neither is nostalgia. Phones don't automatically ruin childhood any more than television did. The real challenge isn't teaching children how to use technology. It's teaching them when not to use it.

It's teaching curiosity instead of endless consumption. Creation instead of constant scrolling. Conversation instead of isolation. Because every generation thinks it inherited the toughest problems and every generation thinks the next one isn't ready.

History suggests they're usually wrong. The future has always been built by young people whom older people underestimated. And I promise you, this time it won't be any different.

Thanks for reading. Abrazos.

Diego Rojas