Everyone has had a moment when they forget to tell someone thank you or forget to hold the door for someone. But there are many deeper mistakes than just the absence of a thank you. There is also a lack of empathy, respect, compromise, and simple communications skills. All of these are noticeably absent in many of the interactions with children and teenagers of this generation. What caused this downfall in social skill development?
“I think that they (social stills) are severely lacking, and our generation has become so codependent on their devices to communicate,” said junior Paisley Koch.
Respect is a major part of social interaction and is how to build relationships and trust among your peers. Oftentimes interactions between others, especially teens, show a lack of respect and publicize rude and snarky behavior, which is all too glamorized in this society.
Senior Clara Conessa said, “I can see the difference from my generation to my siblings’ generation, who are younger than me, that it (rude behavior) is a bit more normalized for them than us.”
There is also the problem of not being able to communicate with adults and workplace superiors such as a manager, director or teacher. Being able to communicate with your peers and employers is important to your career and can even determine your amount of income within a job. This can also be translated to respect within schools between the students and teachers. Students of this generation have been known to be disrespectful toward their elders and to simply not know how to communicate with their superiors.
“I think these generations and the ones after us have definitely been set up for performing much worse than those prior,” said Koch.
The lack of social skills can be marked up to many things, including social media and a rising addiction to phones. But it can also be blamed on parenting styles and lack of accountability in this culture that we have created.
“I feel like people can’t hold a conversation at all anymore. I’m guilty of that because when the conversation gets stale, you immediately pull out the phone. It’s almost like a reflex,” said senior Meaghan Rouse, “Just say something because chances are that the conversation is not going to be as bad as you think it is. People can surprise you.”
