Hoo boy.

For the record, I volunteer at a place where I am in fairly regular contact with teenagers and young adults--say, ages 15-20. And I'm confident that I observe a fairly accurate cross-section of the population in that age.

The biggest thing: Not being realistic with how the world works. Everybody wants to be an anime artist; no one wants to be a plumber. Now, that's hardly something unique to that generation, but thanks to social media (and changing parenting techniques) they refuse to have backup plans or listen to anyone about career planning. They demand to go to a scam artist school, getting tens of thousands of dollars in debt, and their parents are MIA. I'm all for chasing your dreams, but you have to at least do your research. It makes me sad because I know full well, with 100% certainty, these are all kids who are going to be 35 years old, living at home, working at some shitty retail job, and blaming the fact that they aren't writing video game scripts for a living because of the Baby Boomers.

But it extends beyond that. Kids basically refuse to put any effort into anything. You need to fill out a financial aid form that takes maybe 20 mins to complete? Nope! That's someone else's responsibility, and, oh, I missed the deadline so I guess I'll just want 6 more months and apply again. We're giving you a week to write up a document on something? Nah, I'll play apps on my phone and half-ass a completely unacceptable thing a half hour before it's due and then complain that life is unfair when I'm called out on it. I've observed dozens of kids over the past two years and without fail they all have this attitude.

I'm not naive--I know full well every generation has this issue. I just think that in today's world, with an endless supply of distractions (and a constant comparison to how everyone else is doing via social media) has amplified this greatly.