Gallup: Fewer than half of U.S. parents report excellent relationships with their teens
“The findings on parent-child relationships, from Gallup’s 2023 Familial and Adolescent Health Survey, expand on recently published research that found social media use is high among U.S. teenagers and associated with poor mental health and less parental regulation of screen time.” - Gallup
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OK, let me start by noting that morally speaking, there are a couple of things that young people are doing better than before. For example, the abortion rate among young people is roughly halved versus what it was when I was young, and the sexual experimentation/fornication rate is also down a lot.
That noted, I can think of two things that are making life difficult on parents. First, the old system of vetted authority sources--older adults seen as source of wisdom, Encyclopaedia Brittanica is better than World Book, etc., is breaking down, and "elder wisdom" seems to be being replaced in many quarters by "TikTok wisdom", where the beauty of one's visage in spandex shapewear, and the wildness of one's behavior, seems to be seen as a substitute for learning, life experience, and vetting.
Second, a lot of kids seem to be very aware that they can weaponize child protective services and the police against their parents, and that makes effective discipline very difficult. There were certainly places where a correction was needed when I was young, but there are increasing times where any limitation on a child's freedom can bring down the wrath of the state, with ruinous implications for family finances and freedoms. It's been an over-correction, in my view.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
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