Adults have a tendency to label the youth of today as kids who don’t have any respect, who should be taught some manners and who are heading nowhere fast. And the fact that these kids are like that is portrayed by those adults as something unique for our time – in the good old days kids had much more respect and manners.
Years ago I was attending a presentation about ancient Egypt. At some point the Egyptologist who was giving the presentation said that they had discovered scriptures containing a passage in which a school teacher who lived thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt was complaining about how badly mannered the kids of his day were, as opposed to the behavior of kids in his own youth..!
So in this regard there really is nothing new under the sun. It is natural for young people to want to rebel and experiment. This youthful attitude is, however, for the vast majority of people impossible to maintain as they approach the age of 30 and beyond. Most people want to fit into society, get a job, settle down and raise a family. So most people get civilized and subsequently start to complain about how uniquely ill–mannered the young people are...