Bah, Teenagers

[Magpie]

And no, this is more about the really young ones. A fourteen-year-old cousin of Jackdaws tried a couple of times to commit suicide, so he's in a treatment program right now. His mom recently posted an update on Facebook

This is from <cousin>'s mom.
<cousin> is fine at this time, and getting appropriate supports.
He won't be on facebook for awhile.
Thanks for your concerns.

The first comment below it was "LOL". Just really ticked me off. I'm not sure it counts as "sucky", because at 14 it's difficult to properly put yourself in some else's shoes, and feel appropriate compassion, but it's still annoying. (The next one, presumably also from a peer, was a thanks for letting them know, it's good to hear he's getting help, but it showed up a while later).

[zombiequeen]

Was it "laugh out loud" or "lots of love" ?
I have had the same response to many bad things, but it's from people trying to abbreviate "lots of love" as LOL. Pissed me off, and when I told them that there was no reason to laugh, they explained.
Maybe that's what it is, someone having their acronyms wrong there.
Hopefully it's that, otherwise there's some kid that's going to be in a lot of trouble later.

[Magpie]

I thought that Lots of Love was done by the, shall we say, technologically illiterate. And I can remember being that age. I'm sure I was worse at it than average, but it was very difficult to realise that other people could have problems too, and that I should care and feel bad if they did.

[zombiequeen]

Yeah, I dunno. I've had some younger people do it too, even those who should have known.
I've always been more of the "Waa everybody has problems I'll feel bad for all of them and be super depressed all the time" person so I don't know, but i guess some teenagers can be pretty apathetic about the whole thing, right?

[blas]

I love teenagers.

They are just really big toddlers. With tighter pants and longer, more out of control hair, and louder screams and foul language every other word.

I'm sorry this happened. I can only hope that they truly didn't mean it.

[Magpie]

Not so much apathy (at least not in my case) but more a case of it just hasn't clicked that "yes, this is a problem, and this also is something that you should feel bad about". There was an article in the paper once about menstrual cramps, and there was a teenager saying that she thought that people needed to just grow up, take some Advil and get on with their lives. It didn't occur to her that some people have cramps (if OTC ibuprofen helps they can't be very bad), and since she was fine with just some Advil, everyone should be.

I think that part of the problem is that "depression" is an overused word. It isn't always a clinical thing. It legitimately means sadness too. So at 14 you think "oh, he's sad, he needs to grow up and deal with it". (Especially if you live with adults who still believe that.) When I was that age my empathy was based on "how did I feel when I was in a similar situation?". He should be learning better (and had better want to learn empathy), but I can see why that guy just wouldn't realise that what he said was hurtful. If he knew he might very well have not said it. (Or, then again, he might feel bad for having said it, but would say it anyhow because it's "cool", although I have less sympathy in that case).

ETA: blas, that was exactly how I saw it. Just not with such awesomeness in the phrasing.

[blas]

I actually really hate skinny jeans, and all the youngsters nowadays are wearing them. It's so gross. So whenever bf and I are out and about and we see teens acting obnoxious, I pretend to shake a cane and say "Damned teenagers and their skin tight jeans and shaggy hair. Get a job!"

[XCashier]

I actually really hate skinny jeans, and all the youngsters nowadays are wearing them. It's so gross.

Heh. If they're not wearing skinny jeans, they're wearing baggy jeans in peril of falling down. One extreme or the other.

[blas]

Yes, there are a great deal of the young males still wearing the gangster pants, over-sized white tshirts with blingy blingy necklaces and giant diamond earrings.

[Andara Bledin]

First off, I hope the kid gets the help he needs.

Yes, there are a great deal of the young males still wearing the gangster pants, over-sized white tshirts with blingy blingy necklaces and giant diamond earrings.

This reminds me of some gangsta wannabe I saw the other day. He had on a jacket that was pretty much normal size, if a bit largish on the guy, and a massively oversized shirt.

With the way the jacket pulled the shirt on at the waist and the way it ended up blousing out from the waist to knees, it looked like the dude was wearing a skrit.

What an idiot.

^-.-^