TODAY’S teenagers get a bad reputation. Often characterised as phone-addicted, selfie-obsessed narcissists who care more about documenting their life online than they do living it. A scourge on society, if you believe the grumblings of naysayers.
A couple of months ago, in the first throes of summer, we were quick to bemoan the army of neon-clad adolescents who descended on Glasgow’s TRNSMT festival, leaving a trail of glitter behind them. Loud? Yes. Using empty Lucozade bottles to disguise a half a litre of Mad Dog? Almost definitely. But, the way social media sharpened its pitchforks, you would have thought heart-shaped sunglasses were a calling card for the eventual downfall of society.
All that fuss is why I find it is pertinent to point out that, after several weeks of attending massive outdoor concerts, it’s not young ‘uns who are the problem.
It wasn’t a teenager who jabbed me in the back repeatedly with a selfie stick, and the woman who obnoxiously heckled Dave Grohl throughout the Foo Fighter’s recent Bellahouston Park gig certainly wasn’t born in the noughties. See also: the greying gentleman who downed a pint only to bring it back up all over the poor person in front
of him.
The younger lot? They smiled, laughed and sang along, offering a cheerful “sorry pal” whenever an overzealous dance move hit someone next to them.
Rather than declaring a case of Teenagers versus the Middle Aged, I think it is important to ask: is this actually annoying, or am I just getting a bit old? For me – someone who is young enough to happily elbow my way to the front of a gig but old enough that my lower back will feel the effects of it the next day – it is a bit of both.
During my recent gig adventures, I found my eyes rolling at a younger couple who spent the majority of The Cure’s two-and-a-half hour set with their tongues in each other’s mouths. Then I sheepishly remembered that, only one decade earlier, I had been guilty of doing exactly the same thing. By my own admission, I am an ageing hypocrite with a short memory.
Still, it remains my observation that those who claim to be older and wiser are often drunker and sloppier, as anyone forced to endure public transport the last time Take That played Glasgow will attest. The finger of blame may often be pointed at teenagers because it’s easy but the real anti-social behaviour is hardly limited to those under the age of 21.
As far as I’m concerned, the kids are alright. Not so convinced about the parents.
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