(in your opinion) Do people grow up too fast these days?

<p>By "growing up" I mean topics such as:
-dating
-drugs/alcohol
-professional life (i.e interviewing)
-etc</p>

<p>I've been thinking this since 7th grade when my friend got her first boyfriend. I was honestly really shocked that anyone in 7th grade would date (they were 12... just, lolwat). Now I'm seeing kids in 5th-6th grade with iPhones/smartphones who have/want boyfriends/girlfriends. I think it's just plain weird. What can you even do with your boy/girlfriend at that age? Hold hands while your parent drives you to watch Ice Age 4?</p>

<p>inb4 "yolo"</p>

<p>I feel bad for humanity when I see kids just 4-5 years younger than me (I’m 17) already cursing and being ghetto. </p>

<p>I don’t curse, I’m not ghetto. </p>

<p>-When kids I know tweet that they’re currently fried, drunk, high, etc.
-The kids who say pot isn’t bad at all.</p>

<p>

I laughed so hard.</p>

<p>Yes, girls under the age of 12 wearing ‘booty shorts’, kids having cell phones better than mine lol. Students in my school who try to act like adults and high and mighty. I remembered when drugs were being passes around since the 6th grade. There was this one freshman who got drunk and had a water bottle full of jack on the last day of school.</p>

<p>I was just thinking about the same thing. I was at a wedding reception yesterday, chatting and playing with the daughters of my dad’s friend, who were 13 and 11. They had the vocabularies of sailors and were sprouting off all of these terribly offensive sayings and were calling things “gay” and crap like that, talking about drugs and whatnot, and the 11 year old was like “omg can’t wait to get an iPhone!”</p>

<p>I mean, I was a goodie two-shoes when I was younger, but I didn’t know any swears until I was 12…</p>

<p>I suppose another option would be a tandem bicycle. lolol</p>

<p>Glad to know I’m not the only one who thinks this… and kids cursing just for the sake of cursing is hilarious. Especially when they don’t even know the meaning of the cuss words.</p>

<p>^It’s funny just hearing them drop the F-bomb repeatedly, I’m like: Do you even know what you’re saying!</p>

<p>yeah, kids are as stupid and smart as ever.</p>

<p>I really hate those kids who think they know everything and when you correct them they get all salty and complain.</p>

<p>

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<p>I’m glad I wasn’t drinking water over my laptop as I read that. </p>

<p>Anyway, I think the OP’s reaction is completely normal to what is an inevitable trend. While we might find ourselves on the cutting edge for a while, we soon turn conservative as the next generation start defining what is socially acceptable and what is not. Hell, a few generations removed from now, we might have gotten over this monogamous love thing, and each person would have multiple girl/boyfriends. </p>

<p>So do young people grow up too fast nowadays? In your eyes, perhaps. But in their own eyes? They’re just growing up normally.</p>

<p>I think kids are growing up faster than ever, but I’m not entirely sure if this trend is beneficial. It’s not exactly the precocity that people cherish and admire; rather, it is one that is frowned upon, carrying poor qualities such as dating, drugs, drinking and sexual activeness. Unfortunately, this seems to be the common sentiment throughout history.</p>

<p>I don’t think kids are growing up faster than ever. For God’s sake, kids used to get married and have babies when they were like 15.</p>

<p>I’m not saying that doesn’t happen now, but it happens a hell of a lot less often.</p>

<p>I don’t know. It seems like they’re all growing up really fast but when I look back to when I was 9 or 10 or 11 we kind of talked about the same things. I remember always thinking that adults were underestimating us and what we actually knew about things.</p>

<p>I’ve seen four or five year old kids playing iPad or ipod in the supermarket.</p>

<p>it is so cute when extremely young kids use technology :).</p>

<p>They always have.
12 year old have always sworn. They just swear more often when trying to look older in front of older kids.
Kids have always done things earlier then the generation before.
Ask you’re parents they’ll say the same about you.
I suppose I know what I was like in 6th grade and I was sweet. But I knew a girl who smoked and swore.
I knew kids who kissed. I was just 12 so in my naive eyes it’s not the same as looking back at kids now a says</p>

<p>At McDonalds I saw a toddler eating a BigMac while playing on an iPad. To make matters worse his parents weren’t even sitting with him. They were on the other side watching TV…</p>

<p>^Talk about attachment parenting right there.</p>

<p>People grow up too slow these days, should be procreating ASAP.</p>

<p>@Qube when I walked in I honestly thought that kid was forgotten :/</p>

<p>Kids are growing up too fast and adults too slow.</p>