Can you remember when you were young, listening to older people waffling on, often commencing with a conversational starter along the lines of: “The problem with the young people of today is…”

Another of their staples is their fond, and invariably exaggerated, reminiscences about how hard their lives used to be when they were growing up—walking ten miles to school in the snow, eating gravel for breakfast, that sort of thing—and how easy life is for the young now.

This attitude is epitomized by the classic Four Yorkshiremen sketch by Monty Python, including the part at the end where they say, “And you tell the young people of today, and they don’t believe you.”

Another well-worn theme is the supposed moral decay caused by whatever newfangled thing young people are into. In my youth, I often heard older folks grumble about the dangers of reading comics and watching television. “It’ll make you go blind,” they warned—though now that I think about it, they might have been talking about something else.

From the 1950s onward, television was often accused of dulling young people’s intellects and harming their attention spans. Fast-paced shows and constant commercials were said to train children to expect instant gratification. Concerns arose that kids would mimic what they saw, especially violence. Some intellectuals went further, branding television as the enemy of reading, conversation, and critical thinking—just so much “mindless entertainment.”

In the 1940s and '50s, comics were even more vilified than television. Many parents and educators feared comics encouraged illiteracy, anti-social behavior, and laziness. Dr. Fredric Wertham's 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent claimed comics caused youth crime and violence, sexual deviance, and disrespect for authority. He particularly targeted crime and horror comics, but even superhero stories weren't spared. I find this ironic because if Superman stood for anything, it was truth, justice, and the American way!

Basically, whatever the age into which you were born, if you were a kid enjoying something, the odds were that it was corrupting your soul.

I was just thinking about all this for some reason or other that escapes me. This prompted me to recall something I saw online a while back. It was a video featuring a series of quotes about the problems associated with young people. These quotes start in the present and date back to antiquity.

Feeling an urge to watch this again, I asked my chum ChatGPT, which responded as follows: “Yes, the video you're referring to—originally shared on Twitter (now X) and titled A History of Adults Blaming the Younger Generation—is available on YouTube. Created by History Hustle, this presents a collection of quotes that illustrate how older generations have consistently criticized younger ones throughout history."

Some of this is pure gold, like the quote by the Reverend Enos Hitchcock from 1790, who said: “The free access which many young people have to romances, novels, and plays has poisoned the mind and corrupted the morals of many a promising youth…” I bet the good reverend would have gotten on well with Dr. Wertham.

The quotes in this video date all the way back to the 4th Century BC. Now I’m wondering what older cavemen had to say about their offspring. I’m envisioning conversations that include statements like the following:

“Fire? Hah! When I was young, we used to shiver with pride!”

“You call that a club? It’s barely a stick! When I was a kid, I had a real club with three spikes and a mammoth tooth!”

“Back in my day, a mammoth hunt meant something. None of this drive-thru spearing nonsense!”

What about you? What’s your favorite quote from the video? Also, can you suggest some additional cave-related conversational possibilities?