Nothing New Under the Sun

“Our youths love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders, and love to chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their household. They no longer rise when their elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up their food, and tyrannize their teachers.” — Socrates, Greek philosopher and teacher (470-399 B.C.)

The origins of that quote, like many, are often disputed, but it does illustrate the point that “the problem with today’s youth” most likely dates back a few millennia. I was reminded of this as I read “Tech Creates a Bubble for Kids” in this morning’s USA Today. The article makes the case that today’s teenagers are so wired to the max that they are often oblivious to the real world and lack the customary social graces.

We struggle with this some in our house too, and sometimes we have to pull the plug on the latest electronic gizmos in order to get our boys to engage the real world (Eyegal would say that includes me and my blog). But overall, we boys seem to do a pretty good job of moving between real and virtual experiences (soccer, work, mission trips and other service projects help in this regard). Still, I had to smile when I read this, remembering what the preacher in Ecclesiastes said many years ago, “there is nothing new under the sun.”