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Viral Thread Has Adults Listing Various Things Modern-Day Teenagers Are Not Ready To Hear (40 Things)
One of the wise people of antiquity once said that everyday experience is a collection of mistakes accumulated by a person throughout their life. A person learns from some mistakes, some they simply try not to repeat, and some of these mistakes they alas repeat all throughout their life.
Recently, the so-called "Letters to Myself" genre has been very popular on the internet, where famous and not-so-famous people describe different mistakes they made at a young age and tell what they would do differently taking into account the knowledge that they have now. Unfortunately, in one's teen years, it is difficult to believe and accept some of the life facts that seem so obvious later.
A few days ago, a question was asked in the AskReddit community directly on this topic: "What are teens today not ready to hear?" As of today, the resulting thread has about 44.2K upvotes and over 26.7K various comments, where people in adulthood and older tell which life lessons the youth should definitely learn.
Yes, the thread looks a bit boomerish, but the ancients didn't say in vain: "Forewarned is forearmed." Bored Panda has put together a list of the most popular comments from the original thread for you, so please feel free to scroll to the very end, mark the submissions you like the most and of course share your own life lessons in the comments.
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Playing music on your speakers in public areas makes you look like a complete douchebag. Nobody likes it but you.
And talking on your phone on speaker in public falls in the same category.
There are decades when nothing happens and there are weeks when decades happen.
In the adult world, getting into fights doesn’t make you look cool, it just makes you look stupid.
And always remember lol, no matter how much of a badass you think you are, there is always someone that is either more of a badass than you, or some One that might not be a badass but uses its head and it Will knock you the f**k out.
To the ones who ride the public bus in my city, specifically: nobody else wants to hear whatever TikTok you’re watching. Buy some headphones.
It's not your duty to judge others. Just take care of your own s**t.
You won't 'feel' different when you're older, or have kids. You'll just be you, it's weird.
Yes!! I'm 51, but still feel like tgat awkward teenager, it's just that now, SOMEHOW, I've managed to hold down a respectable job since i graduated, and have a house and mortgage and husband and kids. I don't know how that happened! I'm still that nerdy kid! It's just, my knees hurt now.
as much as you want to be unique, outspoken and be able to be you 100%, its just not that realistic.
as a queer poc millennial it took me a long time to learn that you gotta learn to pick your battles, read the room, and know that not every space is a space thats made for you.
Putting every aspect of yourself online is unsafe. Nobody needs to know your list of triggers or your address or your blood type
Nothing in my social media is relevant, my adress is wrong, my phone Number os wrong, i don't have any pictures of me or my family, my académic level is wrong and só is my job, you want to " know " who i am, meet me or PM me, my life is mine Alone and i only Share what i think its relevant in a certain context.
The older you get the faster it goes.
That sure is true, my dearest son got 30 last week and t feels like only a short time ;)
One day you too will be old and uncool.
And it'll happen faster than you think.
40 yr old goth. I wasn't cool as a teen. But my 17 yr olds friends think I'm a legend
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I used to be with it. Then they changed what 'it' was. Now what I'm with isn't 'it' anymore and what's 'it' seems weird and scary to me. IT WILL HAPPEN TO YOU
I was going to post that great Abe Simpson quote.
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They should also mention that the older you get, the less you care about being "cool"!
I never cared what anyone thought about me, so someone else thinking I’m cool or uncool doesn’t matter a damn to me. I am myself, and I’m the only person exactly like me. You don’t think I’m cool? You’re entitled to that. I like myself very much, and pursue my own interests and talents, and unlike so many other people these days, am quite content with myself. Which I happen to think is very cool.(To clarify, I am not OTT uncool or weird, just my own person. I am perfectly able to adjust to the etiquette required in certain social situations, and have learned how to do that without having to put on an act that’s unnatural for me.)
The other day I fell down unexpectedly when my leg collapsed from under me. A N D I couldn't get up. I remember thinking, "I thought I'd be much older when that started happening to me". But I got help standing up and hobbled to the nearby Walgreens and bought a cane. There was a time when falling down would have shamed me to no end.
Load More Replies... You can also be old AND cool. Why is it ok to say ugly stuff about old people as a "joke." But no other demographic. The alternative is being dead in case you didn't know.
That should read, one day you'll be full of knowledge, experience and memories, that's cool.
My son and his friends thought I was the coolest mom ever. I was in my 50s when he was a teenager.
I'm 41. It's true. And I don't care. Being cool was important to me for several years, but it made me unhappy. I listen to music that other people don't like. I wear whatever I feel like, and NONE of it is fashionable. I'm kind to everyone. And if someone doesn't like those things, they just won't like me. I won't be in your face about it, because it's really okay.
Hah hah… the “don’t trust anybody over 30” crowd has no idea how quickly you blow right by 30. And like #9… your brain is still the same, just with more experience and knowledge. Older and younger need to show more respect to each other. Older need to respect the young’s ideas and enthusiasm and the young need to respect the order’s wisdom and experience. It would work a lot better that way. We’re not enemies.
I was in the car the other day and my son asked me if I knew who Def Leopard was. I just started singing Pour Some Sugar on Me. His mouth falls open. How do you know them. I just laughed and said son in the 80s I lived it. Sent him my playlist. Now my 14 year old and I talk. Face to face no texts. Next Black Flag 🏴 punk
"Cool" is not a word most people would use to describe me...guess it's good I never wanted to be that...
I'm already the old guy on my street and I'm not even 40 yet lmao. Kids on the street call me old guy for some reason. Best part though I'm going to be the weird but cool old man with all the snakes and lizards and other weird pets.
"I was with it once. Then it changed, and now I don't know what it is. And it'll happen to you, too!"
My best friend and I used to live for weekend clubbing in our teens & early 20s. Now in our 40s we want to be at one of our houses curled up on the sofa with blankets, tea and biscuits watching films on a Saturday night. We love it too 😄
One day you'll look at the Grammy nominees for Best New Artist and realize you know no clue who they are (with the exception of Glass Animals because they aren't new at all), then look then up only to notice that all the music is freaking terrible and sounds interchangeable with robots trying to have sex with garbage disposals. Then you'll hear Abe Simpson's voice in your head saying, "It'll happen to you," but it's too late. It already happened.
"I used to be with it. Then what was it changed. Now whats it is strange and scary to me. Itll happen to you"
I was definitely uncool and considered a nerd when I was a teen. My face was constantly in books, I read comics, watched cartoons, listened to weird music and my favorite show was MST3k. All of these are still true about me but suddenly the things that made me uncool are the same things that are making kids cool. I'm still very uncool but I show my kids things from my past and it almost always becomes something they love.
Idk htf it happens but it definitely does. No matter how frigging cool you truly are..... you're an idiot to anyone under 25. What makes it the worst is in my mind I'm still 25 ffs. Ugh. I want my money back. This growing up ish was a total scam
Bro I’ve never been with the trends! Overrated and cringy in my opinion…
It happens the moment you have a kid who turns 8. Suddenly, you're just an uncool parent who embarrasses your kid.
"Uncool" usually happens at around 20-25, "too old"usually hits around 35-40, whereas "still too young to care" never has to go away...😜
or you realize being "cool" is just either conformity, or trying too hard not to conform.
Oddly the kids where I live like my eras music and I listen to new stuff, but heavy
Social media will give you too much of a superiority complex and hanging around people who enable you will f**k you up later in life.
Not everybody can be an internet sensation, somebody has to drive the dump truck
And driving a dump truck is steady work and steady pay. Trying to be an “influencer” is a huge risk that could turn out to be a total waste of time and money—-YOUR time and money.
It is perfectly fine to not know something. It’s OKAY to not know! Stop shaming and bullying people because you learned about something before they did. Social media is not the real world and acting like it is will only make people not want to be around you.
EDIT: I am not talking about ignorance. I’m talking about laughing when people ask a question in class, the “How do you not know that?” crowd, the mocking of people into never asking another question out of fear of ridicule and humiliation.
You guys know how the attractive and wealthy kids at school seem to just get life handed to them on a silver platter?
Get used to it.
Yep! Focus on you rather than putting energy into being angry because someone has it better than you do...because someone ALWAYS will have it better than you.
Jobs aren’t meant to always be fun/your dream, sometimes you have to work a job you hate to stay afloat.
And try them out i was a " puddle jumper " when it come to jobs, i tried a lot of stuff untill i finally found something i loved to do, and get ready to be shocked i love to work " retail "
Social media is not reality and your entire life should not revolve around it.
School has a system in place to keep you from falling behind, life doesn’t
Also, you can't ace life without effort even if you could do so with school
You need to learn the difference between normal teenage neuroses and mental illness.
You're not "mature for your age." Anyone who says that to justify wanting to be with you is a creep.
As you get older you just keep realizing how dumb you were last year.
10 years from now, no one will care about how many viewers you had on tiktok
Today's eyebrows are yesterday's clown makeup and tomorrow's regret fodder
Ok, hands up every woman that never dyed, plucked, permed or whatevered her brows? *up*
We adults are mostly just winging it, hopefully learning from the TONS of mistakes we make, but still winging it.
When the nurses handed me my first child (as we left the hospital), I said "Are you serious?""
Someone somewhere cares about you deeply and loves to see you to be happy
Condoms are for stds too even tho there are other ways to avoid pregnancy.
Australia is having a Syphillis outbreak in under 25 s at the moment who don’t seem to know what they are for
In 15 years you’re going to think the kids have gone too far and they’re going to think you’re old-fashioned.
Might have been fair warning 15 years ago, I'd be better prepared now...
Everything you do as a teenager will be cringe to your children
You're closer to being the "older" person in any given setting than you think. And by "old" I mean like 30. Got nieces and nephews just starting kindergarten? Haha. Blink and they're starting college.
That heartache you're going through? It consumes everything now but it will be nothing but a footnote in the future. You'll rarely think about it later - & when you do, it won't hurt you.
It's hard to hear that your pain isn't the worst in the world when you're feeling it. But it does help to know that it won't mean as much as it does in this moment.
At 54, I've had more than "my share of GF" but, unlike some, I've only had 2 heartbrakes. I remember them as if they were yesterday. Heartaches of other kinds, maybe you can mediate them to a soft roar but they're there.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Cut back on the sugary s**t now. Take care of your teeth now. Start working out now. You don’t have to be a bodybuilder and look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, just be active.
Now is the time to get out and do a bunch of crazy s**t but at the same time remember that whatever you do now you pay for 20 years later somehow someway. And this can be taken in a good way or a bad way. Don’t want to take care of your teeth now? Have fun dropping $30,000 on your teeth like I had to.
Not exercising or eating right? Have fun with that quadruple bypass that my father just had. My girlfriend’s parents are older than my parents but because they do those things they haven’t had nearly as much hospital visits as my parents have. By comparison my parents are falling apart and they’re only in the 50s. My girlfriend’s parents are in their 70s and objectively are healthier. The big difference? Early in the morning, every morning those two are downstairs working out hitting the weights and machines for a solid hour or two.
Do you want to speed and act a damn fool on the road? Have fun when you have to pay for your own insurance and nobody wants to ensure you to drive a f*****g Honda Civic for no less than $350, like me.
Even my f*****g car, it was my dream car and it still is the car I would be driving today had just taken care of the goddamn thing. But no it started leaking oil and I didn’t keep up with it or take it in and now I have to drive a goddamn Civic when I used to drive a Lexus.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Most often, being naturally proactive is a healthy approach to life. I have, however, encountered a number of people who have so "prevention'd" themselves out of their life experience that makes me sad. Be aware, cautious but... always curious...
Not everyone needs to go to college. High school is probably the easiest thing you'll do.
Follow your particular talents instead of letting someone else dictate what you should do for a living. Were you always the kid who could take broken things apart, fix them, and put them back together? There are countless types of jobs where people do just that. Were you the kid who was always building stuff? There are jobs for that too. Same goes for every talent and ability a person could have. Just take a moment to think about it, and figure out what you’re really good at, then research the variety of jobs requiring it. If you’re a total whiz at math and want to have a career where all you do is math, but your parents want you to be a doctor, sit them down and outline just how important and respectable, as well as lucrative, your chosen career is. Could change their minds, and stop the pressure they’ve been putting on you to go to med school.
Your metabolism won't last forever. Practice and develop healthy exercise and diet habits now before it gets harder and with more consequences later.
I'm just about to turn 30 in a couple weeks. I am 100 lbs heavier than I was in high school (to be fair I was super tall and skinny to the point of slightly underweight), and that's after losing 25 lbs since the start of July. I have high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol. I am a father of a 2 year old that doesn't want to die in the 40-60 range. I also want to live as a good example to her.
Another 35 lbs and I'll reevaluate what my body type is like and reset my goals from there. That would be 240 lbs, which I was about 4 years ago...but it would also be a more muscular/trimmed 240. I'll determine where in the 210-240 range I want to end up and what my body and lifestyle will be like.
Running is still hard, but using the elliptical is easier on the knees than it was 25 lbs ago. I want to eventually be able to do the Broad Street Run (10 miles through Philadelphia) even though I hate running. If my knees don't like it, I'll do something else as an equivalent.
As an added bonus, my sex drive I think is improving but nowhere near what it was when I was in the 220-250 range. I don't think it's 100% related, but maybe it's more than 50%.
Note: this post originally had 47 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
How about “Your parents shop at Walmart, not because they don’t care about employee treatment, but because it’s practical. Chances are, you’ll give up more and more ideals as you get older for practicality, so hold back your judgements”.
This post...felt sorta hateful. Like the whole world is against teenagers. All of us can't be grouped into a single category. We're still different people. And we don't have it as easy as you'd think.
not really, it's just giving advice we ourselves ignored as teens and now see the point of.
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Some good tips there for everyone, I think. Also, I'm of the opinion that teenagers generally, are underestimated. Obviously they don't know everything but they might surprise you if you give them the chance. In my limited experience, a constant stream of advice is worth much less than a lesson learned firsthand.
A lot of these give off the idea of "You kids and your mental struggles /derogatory". So sorry that a lot of us are self-diagnosing, it's just that therapy is hundreds of dollars. Sorry that everyone reacts to heartbreak severely in the moment, a lot of us are hanging on by threads and every little thing can be the thing to make us give up. Sorry that everything is so much harder for you as adults, but if you keep complaining to us, some of us might end up thinking that it's not worth living to adulthood.
The fact that this post makes you angry is your problem, most of this is ppls reflections on their own lives. And don't you dare try to tell people in any kind of veiled or open way that if you do something drastic it's their fault BC they offered some constructive criticism. Find an adult in your life you can talk to and I wish you the best. Just remember that this phase of life is incredibly short, the ball keeps rolling
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Most of this article wasn't even helpful, just telling kids to get their heads out of their a*s. It felt spiteful and hateful. I thought it was going to be more stuff like the heartbreak one that can ACTUALLY HELP or the condom one that can ACTUALLY HELP
At some point after hitting 30, you'll realize that your 20s was just your late childhood. It's a shame we realize that so late.
Any person who breaks up with you isn't the only one you could ever love and now your life is over. To the opposite extreme, dropping a good relationship to chase a new flame is stupid and selfish. Consider that you don't necessarily know what it is to be in love and it's not infatuation. That does. Love lasts. Two opposite tips here. Don't despair from heartbreak but don't steal someone else's spouse or ditch your own BC so and so is so attractive to you and you're sure you love them. You don't.
Come back in 15 years and tell me you still feel the same way. While not everyone can be lumped into any one category, the best advice given is straight and to the point. Often times teens think they have a firm grasp on life and while some have a better grasp than others and don't need this advice nearly as much, some will hear this advice with good intention to follow and still have to find these things out the hard way. The life experience just isn't there and unsolicited advice will always come across as this person thinks they know me, thinks they know better than me. They don't know you, by they do mostly know better because they've lived it. Either way, like someone above said, you either get it already or you have to live it and find out for yourself. If any of it doesn't seem to apply to you, it probably doesn't.
you have been fed a lot of stereotypes, much like advertising. teens are supposed be like XYZ. NOT TRUE. that kid you were when you were 5. 7, 9, 11... you WERE a great kid. you still are, YOU ARE A KID. those thoughts and wonderings you now have are just as valuable as "why is the sky blue?" people want to take the short route explaining why everything is the way it is. you deserve to know the why. 90% of my day consists of explaining to kids why I make the rules I do. 100% of the time there is a reason, usually safety. you will be adults soon enough. I hope you get as many chances as there are days before you become an adult to feel childhood, learn as you go, and become the person you want to become. be kind, be considerate, be ok with being the one that's still learning. learn, grow, be a kid when you are a kid. if you need help, ask, if you can help, do. you are not a stereotype.
You're boss was a wise man 😁 Working in a hostile-free environment is worth gold 👍
I can sense all the millenials and gen x's on here from the comments :)
How about “Your parents shop at Walmart, not because they don’t care about employee treatment, but because it’s practical. Chances are, you’ll give up more and more ideals as you get older for practicality, so hold back your judgements”.
This post...felt sorta hateful. Like the whole world is against teenagers. All of us can't be grouped into a single category. We're still different people. And we don't have it as easy as you'd think.
not really, it's just giving advice we ourselves ignored as teens and now see the point of.
Load More Replies... Some good tips there for everyone, I think. Also, I'm of the opinion that teenagers generally, are underestimated. Obviously they don't know everything but they might surprise you if you give them the chance. In my limited experience, a constant stream of advice is worth much less than a lesson learned firsthand.
A lot of these give off the idea of "You kids and your mental struggles /derogatory". So sorry that a lot of us are self-diagnosing, it's just that therapy is hundreds of dollars. Sorry that everyone reacts to heartbreak severely in the moment, a lot of us are hanging on by threads and every little thing can be the thing to make us give up. Sorry that everything is so much harder for you as adults, but if you keep complaining to us, some of us might end up thinking that it's not worth living to adulthood.
The fact that this post makes you angry is your problem, most of this is ppls reflections on their own lives. And don't you dare try to tell people in any kind of veiled or open way that if you do something drastic it's their fault BC they offered some constructive criticism. Find an adult in your life you can talk to and I wish you the best. Just remember that this phase of life is incredibly short, the ball keeps rolling
Load More Replies... Most of this article wasn't even helpful, just telling kids to get their heads out of their a*s. It felt spiteful and hateful. I thought it was going to be more stuff like the heartbreak one that can ACTUALLY HELP or the condom one that can ACTUALLY HELP
At some point after hitting 30, you'll realize that your 20s was just your late childhood. It's a shame we realize that so late.
Any person who breaks up with you isn't the only one you could ever love and now your life is over. To the opposite extreme, dropping a good relationship to chase a new flame is stupid and selfish. Consider that you don't necessarily know what it is to be in love and it's not infatuation. That does. Love lasts. Two opposite tips here. Don't despair from heartbreak but don't steal someone else's spouse or ditch your own BC so and so is so attractive to you and you're sure you love them. You don't.
Come back in 15 years and tell me you still feel the same way. While not everyone can be lumped into any one category, the best advice given is straight and to the point. Often times teens think they have a firm grasp on life and while some have a better grasp than others and don't need this advice nearly as much, some will hear this advice with good intention to follow and still have to find these things out the hard way. The life experience just isn't there and unsolicited advice will always come across as this person thinks they know me, thinks they know better than me. They don't know you, by they do mostly know better because they've lived it. Either way, like someone above said, you either get it already or you have to live it and find out for yourself. If any of it doesn't seem to apply to you, it probably doesn't.
you have been fed a lot of stereotypes, much like advertising. teens are supposed be like XYZ. NOT TRUE. that kid you were when you were 5. 7, 9, 11... you WERE a great kid. you still are, YOU ARE A KID. those thoughts and wonderings you now have are just as valuable as "why is the sky blue?" people want to take the short route explaining why everything is the way it is. you deserve to know the why. 90% of my day consists of explaining to kids why I make the rules I do. 100% of the time there is a reason, usually safety. you will be adults soon enough. I hope you get as many chances as there are days before you become an adult to feel childhood, learn as you go, and become the person you want to become. be kind, be considerate, be ok with being the one that's still learning. learn, grow, be a kid when you are a kid. if you need help, ask, if you can help, do. you are not a stereotype.
You're boss was a wise man 😁 Working in a hostile-free environment is worth gold 👍
I can sense all the millenials and gen x's on here from the comments :)
