Are kids really getting both physically and mentally weaker every generation?

[Juventud]

They may be mentally weaker but we aren't taking into account them growing up around social media. Which really does affect a lot of social interaction and interaction in general, as much as we'd like to deny.

I grew up just before cell/mobile phones came out. The internet was just starting. There were only anonymous chat rooms.

If i grew up now with facebook and Internet/music/video everything on a hand held phone to distract me from social interaction and 'escape', I'd probably be messed up and mentally weaker.

Avoiding dangerous sports/activities will probably make these kids live longer though. Pretty sure i fucked myself up playing Rugby/AFL/Soccer (knees) growing up.

 

[snakedafunky]

The North ultimately beat the South because it outnumbered the South and it was able to rely on Irish conscripts from Ireland and other immigrants While manufacturing did matter the extra bodies where what won the day. Remember the North lost many more troops than the South did. Also what was important was Lincoln's willingness to lose troops. The South could have fought for another year or two but simply had enough likely becasue everyone lose was a citizen not just a immigrant conscript.

If GDP was all that mattered the Germans would have beat the Russians. The Russians the Afghanis and us the Vietnamese.

Germanies GDP won against Russia in WW1. But it lost against the one from the western allies.
GDP in WW2 from Germany and the Soviet Unions was around the same. The greater Reich in around 1942 was a bit larger than the Soviet one but not by much.
Overall the allies had like 10 times the GDP the Axis had.

 

[Nooob]

13 years old back then weren't seen as "kids" and there were no such thing called "teenager" until the mid 20th century.

 

[Bamboozled]

You can see it by looking at sports. Times that would get you an Olympic gold medal today wouldn't win a high school meet in the 1930s. Every generation gets weaker than the previous one. IQ tests have to be constantly recalibrated because of how much lower the mean is.

Source this cuz I think it's interesting.

Edit: You clarified.

I have never looked but it would seem contrary.

The majority of benefits we have today are through technology more than physical differences.

 

[Lord Coke]

I refuse to believe this nonsense about IQ tests. If you believe these Harvard professors your average person had a 75 IQ at the turn of the century. Have you ever met a person with a 75 iq? That is to low to join the military. 83 is the cut off. You can not comprehend words on paper. You can't follow instructions. I just don't buy it.

 

[Jack V Savage]

Germanies GDP won against Russia in WW1. But it lost against the one from the western allies.
GDP in WW2 from Germany and the Soviet Unions was around the same. The greater Reich in around 1942 was a bit larger than the Soviet one but not by much.
Overall the allies had like 10 times the GDP the Axis had.

This mostly covers my response. Also, obviously it doesn't apply to cases where one country is half-assing the war and the other is fighting for survival.

I refuse to believe this nonsense about IQ tests. If you believe these Harvard professors your average person had a 75 IQ at the turn of the century. Have you ever met a person with a 75 iq? That is to low to join the military. 83 is the cut off. You can not comprehend words on paper. You can't follow instructions. I just don't buy it.

Yeah, Flynn has discussed this. It's not measuring computing power--we're getting better at logic and abstract reasoning because the modern world calls for that stuff more.

 

[funcrusher2007]

I won’t speak about the world as a whole, but I will speak about MY world..

Construction.


The newest generation of kids is beyond pussified...

Seem weak ,malnourished and get circles ran Around them by 40-50 years old daily. They lack stamina and proper healthy routine.

3-4 monster energy drinks for breakfast just to get them through to lunch,then they chug more...then by 12:00 there dust.


They all seem to have a lack of focus aswell.

I see there diet and bad habits as there biggest weakness.

I know this isn’t a Ivy League study or anything but I feel construction is a great barometer of generational strength,especially if you’ve done it for 25 years like myself.


As a foreman, my ratio of success for Apprenticship hovers around 20:1 ,it’s that bad...meaning for every twenty kids,one will bring it. The rest will wash out or try and sue for harassment or some shit lol(I partially kid) but it’s really sad...it’s got so bad that our union is literally holding meetings on how to fix this.

 

[BillytheFish]

easier life makes for less capable people. I don't even see how that could be debated.

That's just on the physical side. I don't think there has been a good enough study done yet on iq, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if iq was dropping starting with people about my age (27). I can barely remember a time when every problem couldn't be solved with a quick Google search. Of course there will always be outliers who are the curious and the ambitious. Those few will continue to advance society, but your average person can make it through a day without thinking about anything ever. Have a problem? Ask siri

IQ? Generation Z has the highest known IQ- and this has been covered in extensive psychological studies. You are part of generation Z.

 

[Lord Coke]

This mostly covers my response. Also, obviously it doesn't apply to cases where one country is half-assing the war and the other is fighting for survival.



Yeah, Flynn has discussed this. It's not measuring computing power--we're getting better at logic and abstract reasoning because the modern world calls for that stuff more.

I am asking here because I really don't know. Was high school math taught back then? I know it was invented back in Classical Age. I am assuming geometry was taught in school maybe up to trig. You can't do that with a 75 iq

 

[BillytheFish]

Absolutely they are weaker and more fragile. Each generation that passes we are doing less and less manual labor and a lot less is expected from kids.

Mentally and emotionally they are weaker too. It’s almost like kids today all have autism. They rarely raise their voice or get rowdy. They don’t take criticism well and are obviously easily offended. I will say they are much better behaved than my generation was...but almost too behaved like robots

So have people where you are from always dreamed of being manual laborers for a living? Mentally and emotionally weaker-HIGHEST IQs of any generation. As for criticism or easily offended...dont know who youre measuring that among the millions of citizens of the world. Rarely raise their voice or get rowdy- Protestors of guns in schools are newest examples? protestors against Iraq an earlier one?

 

[superpunch]

Did a grip test at my JHS last year. Some 7th grade boys got under 20kg, like a few got 10 or 12, which is essentially nothing. One kid had 60 or so. Which is pretty dang good. But 50% of the boys were straight up pathetic.
I got 87kg or so. Which is not great, but hey I don't work out any more.

Grip strength is a retarded measure of strength. It's just your tendons adapting to manual labor. It has nothing to do with muscular strength. It's forearm tendon strength.

I got better grip strength than a 250 lb shredded guy by rock climbing for a month. And I'm a pudgy 150 lb guy.

Of course a scientist would decide to use that as a metric of strength lol.

Weaker grip strength just means that kids do less manual labor nowadays. However, most kids are way stronger nowadays. Fat kids are strong. The average Japanese guy back then was like 5'2" 115 lbs. I guarantee that Japanese kids today are stronger.

 

[BillytheFish]

I won’t speak about the world as a whole, but I will speak about MY world..

Construction.


The newest generation of kids is beyond pussified...

Seem weak ,malnourished and get circles ran Around them by 40-50 years old daily. They lack stamina and proper healthy routine.

3-4 monster energy drinks for breakfast just to get them through to lunch,then they chug more...then by 12:00 there dust.


They all seem to have a lack of focus aswell.

I see there diet and bad habits as there biggest weakness.

I know this isn’t a Ivy League study or anything but I feel construction is a great barometer of generational strength,especially if you’ve done it for 25 years like myself.


As a foreman, my ratio of success for Apprenticship hovers around 20:1 ,it’s that bad...meaning for every twenty kids,one will bring it. The rest will wash out or try and sue for harassment or some shit lol(I partially kid) but it’s really sad...it’s got so bad that our union is literally holding meetings on how to fix this.

I see your points here and no doubt true in your personal experience, but also factors in that younger people have been pressured into avoiding manual labor jobs and to seek college degrees. If your priority is studying vs 8 hours of physical labor then you suck ass at school and end up in said labor job...then not only will you be physically less capable but infinitely less motivated to be there. My point is our society as it moves forward is evolving for various reasons resulting in lower standards in different areas.

Technical or mechanical skills are dying because for 30 years we've been telling our youth to get college degrees.

 

[funcrusher2007]

I see your points here and no doubt true in your personal experience, but also factors in that younger people have been pressured into avoiding manual labor jobs and to seek college degrees. If your priority is studying vs 8 hours of physical labor then you suck ass at school and end up in said labor job...then not only will you be physically less capable but infinitely less motivated to be there. My point is our society as it moves forward is evolving for various reasons resulting in lower standards in different areas.

Technical or mechanical skills are dying because for 30 years we've been telling our youth to get college degrees.

I actually was gonna add something similar to what you wrote...
The cause of this is modern culture and it’s lack of want to manually work..automation,technology,etc. are all contributions to a physically weaker society..add diet,fast food,sugar ,etc.. and it really gets bad.

Lack of focus on trades,crafts...

I see a lot of the college washouts,I feel bad for them... go to college get shit degree...don’t understand why there job is shit,pay is shit, and loan dept up the ass...

They got hosed by it.


I dropped out of high school to work full time,I had a gpa of 4.2 in all a.p. Honors classes but was homeless and needed to work..


I make a little over 90k a year. With no loan debt.

I think The lack of manual labor interest has also in turn caused an increase in demand and an increase in pay for us blue collar guys. So it’s great for us.

 

[senri]

Which means humanity adjusts to it's current environment. A person can complain test levels are lower now in the average guy but do they also subscribe to going back in time to a less advanced society in order to boost it back up because of what the workforce has to do? Seems like there aren't simple solutions to turn it around.

Sapiens were a lot more durable and tighter due to lack of technology work was all tangible. The striations of the muscle bellies was colorful built on the tribulations of movement throughout ones life. The tastes of the time was unique...

Not much has changed, get the flesh primed and trained and you will see the same phenomena.

 

[senri]

II was joking, as both claims are the opposite of reality. Look up winning 100m times in the Olympics over time and compare to winning times in high school meets today. That works for a lot of events. Literacy rates and reasoning skills also have been steadily rising.

Correct. Sapiens today are so much more supple and delicious of today. One day you will all comprehend the taste...

 

[superpunch]

nm

 

[BillytheFish]

I actually was gonna add something similar to what you wrote...
The cause of this is modern culture and it’s lack of want to manually work..automation,technology,etc. are all contributions to a physically weaker society..add diet,fast food,sugar ,etc.. and it really gets bad.

Lack of focus on trades,crafts...

I see a lot of the college washouts,I feel bad for them... go to college get shit degree...don’t understand why there job is shit,pay is shit, and loan dept up the ass...

They got hosed by it.


I dropped out of high school to work full time,I had a gpa of 4.2 in all a.p. Honors classes but was homeless and needed to work..


I make a little over 90k a year. With no loan debt.

I think The lack of manual labor interest has also in turn caused an increase in demand and an increase in pay for us blue collar guys. So it’s great for us.

In the UK I remember they started offering to pay for people's apprenticeships due to shortages of technical trades. On the other hand though, when people talk about modern generations being weaker...its hard to talk about context. In 3rd world countries some fuckers are putting in 20 hours a week because they have to. If your profession doesnt involve being physical then less chance of the population needing that requirement. Plus in all fairness I live in Texas, and the amount of construction guys with big arms but fucking HUGE bellies is numerous haha

 

[aus101]

If you start lifting in 7th grade or grew up doing push ups wrestling etc a 200 pound bench is easy for a 9th grader.

For 7th or 8th graders though it’s def decent.

 

[hillelslovak87]

More sugar, less movement, seems to make less healthy, less robust people. I noticed when I was in high school, how the avg size of the kids shortened from when I was a freshman to seeing the new freshman coming in when I was a senior. It was a marked difference. Then again, my teachers were fucking students left and right without me knowing, so what the fuck did I know?

 

[Rygu]

In North America and Europe, absolutely.