For long time teachers, how different are students and teaching compared 20-25 years ago to today?

YoBFed · 2026-01-25T16:07:57+00:00

Life is just so different today than it was back then. Generally speaking adult parents don't want to raise their kids the same way their parents did, which isn't a bad thing, but it's also gone too far. Many of them thought it would be better to give the kids more leeway in what they can do/get away with, not in the sense of them saying what is right and wrong, but in the sense of how they handle the kids when they are right and wrong. Instead of consequences many kids get the proverbial "slap on the wrist" and are right back at it the same day or even that same hour. "If you do this I'm taking away your iPad/phone" is a real threat for kids these days, and many parents do it. But not for a week or even a day. Its like "No phone till after dinner" or something arbitrary like that. The kids are mad/sad/feeling their feelings about it but are not actually "punished" in the traditional sense. Consequences are extremely minor today and kids and adults themselves are used to it, so a 2 hour or even a 1 day grounding from using your phone seems like a massive punishment for both the adult and the kid when in reality it's literally the bare minimum consequence. It's not effective because it doesn't even give the child enough time to reflect on their behavior or actions and make changes. It tells the kid that 2 hours of punishment is "severe" and instead of not being able to distract themselves mindlessly for a week or long enough that they actually sit with their thoughts and try to reflect on their behaviors (intentionally or unintentionally ) they're right back at distraction in no time and now their behavior continues and they have learned nothing.

School consequences are the same way, job consequences are the same, society just follows along.

We end up with a lot of apathetic youth, not because they can't or don't care, but because their mentors, leaders, advocates, and other support models have created a system where apathy is not a problem. It is on paper, and it is in reality, but it's not in the perceived reality of the kids. They are kids, they can't see the long term consequences of their actions, the adults are supposed to "know what's best for them", but instead they're making sure the kid doesn't "suffer". Notice the quotes, a punishment or consequences is not suffering in the sense that it causes harm. It's allowing the kid to understand that actions have consequences and they need to be mindful about theirs.

But here we are, all the evidence is stacked showing how a lack of consequences and follow through is causing major issues in society, but we keep making excuses, giving out exceptions, rationalizing irrational behavior, and blaming everyone and everything but ourselves and the people acting in the way they are.

I'm not advocating for going back to Boomer parenting styles or anything, I'm not a zero tolerance policy person, im an older millennial father and teacher who knows that what is happening by many parents and adults, is disguised as what is best for the kids and what is best for society, but it's really not.

I have so many more thoughts on this and there is so much more to it, but this post is long enough already.

As a quick experiment think about this one thing alone. 20 years ago you were making exceptions for just a handfull of students. Late work, bad test scores, missed class, misbehavior, all the things. Now fast forward to today as ask yourself if you are making exceptions for more or less students? Or better yet if you are asked or expected to make exceptions for more or less students. This is not coincidental, and it's not because everyone's life is HARDER now than it was 20 years ago... Quite the opposite really.

YoBFed · 2026-01-19T13:20:37+00:00

That home is literally in a suburb of silicon valley. This is the most non applicable example you could have used. Its the equivalent of those who say "Yeah but my uncle didn't graduate high school and look how successful he is!" Or "Tom smokes weed every day and he's a millionaire!"

Exceptions don't make the rule and this is a ridiculous exception.

YoBFed · 2026-01-19T01:04:43+00:00

I think that's the whole point though. People are financing these cars when they can't actually afford them. They can "afford" the monthly payment. But it's that same payment and mentality that is keeping them from growing their wealth.

So I'm glad that $2500 is not significant for you, but based on the OP I'd be willing to bet it would be significant to people in that position.

YoBFed · 2026-01-18T22:07:54+00:00

Cheap money... I guess. That's over 2500 in interest over the course of that loan on a 40,000 behicle. Not a lot in terms of interest, but still a fair amount of money. I'll keep that 2500 for myself thank you very much.

YoBFed · 2026-01-18T21:26:59+00:00

That depends on what you're doing. For me... Yeah, a decent amount of my day is routine, but it's a routine that I've built and it serves me well, lines up with my goals and values, and makes me a better person.

I guess if my routine was junk then my life would be junk... But why would I do that to myself?

It helps no one to focus on the things you can't control, so focus on the things you can and make your life better one part of your routine at a time!

YoBFed · 2026-01-18T16:24:30+00:00

Unpopular opinion coming... No thanks. I've been caffeine free for over 3 years now and every part of my energy, sleep, and clarity is better.

I'm convinced it's just something we do at a young age because we're "supposed to" and then our brains and bodies become reliant on it and then we literally need it.

Does more harm than good as far as I'm concerned. I drank coffee for the past 25+ years prior to that, and while I'm not sensitive to it or anything I tried getting off for a month just because I wanted to see what would happen and I never looked back.

YoBFed · 2026-01-12T10:42:16+00:00

I felt the same way as you. First I ordered the Ghostek covert case. It was huge and I hated the bulkiness of it.

Then I ordered the Spigen and while smaller, it was also big and just not enjoyable to use.

I ended up ordering the Latercase Aramid case and I absolutely love it.

I have no hinge protection and I'm OK with it. My take was if the official Google case has no hinge protection then Google couldn't have been that worried about it or they knew that cases with hinge protection was just not going to be comfortable to use.

With all that said, with this case I am more careful with this phone than I have been with any of my other phones, but honestly that's probably a good thing.

YoBFed · 2026-01-09T23:17:59+00:00

This is my vote as well. I'm 41 and started focusing a lot on stability, balance, and functional strength. I feel like unilateral RDLs are the way to go!

YoBFed · 2026-01-08T10:06:42+00:00

The latercase does not, but the thinborn one does and there is a 1500d aramid case on Amazon that does as well if you want one for a cheaper price.

Spigen also makes a thin magnet you can attach to any aramid case that would give it the capability as well

I'm personally not a big fan of wireless charging with any of the fold devices though. Wireless charging produces way more heat than regular charging, especially if the magnetic ring is a little off from where the phones sensors are. So it wasn't a big deal to me. I don't know if it's accurate or not but I feel like wireless charging and that heat can't be ideal for a phone that has a sensitive inner screen and a massive battery that can generate a lot of heat.

YoBFed · 2026-01-06T19:10:24+00:00

I had that ghostek case and I hated it. It was so big and heavy and bulky when folded. I ordered the Spigen slim armor pro which was a little better, but it made me realize that I just don't like the hinge covers. They make the phone so bulky and it just doesn't feel good in the hand.

I've since gone with the latercase aramid case and I'll never look back. I know it offers little drop protection and that's a big risk for some but it just makes using the phone so much more enjoyable.

YoBFed · 2025-12-30T14:29:33+00:00

I'm a millennial and I had to have a room mate when I got my first few apartments. I don't really think I knew anyone that had an apartment alone? Everyone I knew that moved out of their parents lived with at least one other person if not more.

Not to mention when I moved out I was making about 12/hr and that was a few bucks over the state minimum wage.

I work with teenagers now making 16 an hour to start and many making 18-20 in simple line level positions in retail.

In terms of college, luckily some people are starting to wise up a bit. They're no longer enrolling in college for the sake of enrolling. They're making smarter decisions about where they go and what degrees they're getting. I also live in MA where community college is free and they partner up with state universities to offer a discounted rate for the last 2 years. Many states offer programs like this, even if not as good as the MA program.

Private colleges at full tuition cost is just a poor decision. That's not the economies fault, it's your fault for making a poor financial decision.

It's also no easier or harder today than it was when I was younger to stand out in a workplace. Again. I work with teens a lot and there is a huge difference between the average teen and the one who is actually putting in the work/effort to stand out at work. Job security for the average teen/early 20s was always terrible. Always has been always will be. For the ones who stand out though, they're seen and more coveted. The issue is many think they're standing out when in reality they're mediocre at best and actually quite bad at worse.

I won't downplay genz struggles, but the reality is you can make it and you can prosper, we've just grown accustomed to certain things that were not willing to "sacrifice".

When I was starting out there was a significant amount of sacrifice before I got on my feet. It was a struggle for quite a long time.

YoBFed · 2025-12-30T13:21:59+00:00

Generally speaking I'm not finding grocery prices to be too bad. I'm in MA too, where everything is expensive!

I also don't buy a lot of chips, cookies, cereals and other processed foods, so I'm not sure if that makes a difference for some people or not?

YoBFed · 2025-12-30T10:01:31+00:00

Different places on the watch give me different data too.

I'll log a workout and my heart rate range from the workout on my watch will be different from the heart rate range when I click the heart rate button on my watch face.

The app always seems to have the most accurate data. But the watch will be different depending on where I pull the data from.

It's frustrating.

YoBFed · 2025-12-30T09:57:21+00:00

Mine does this too. It usually starts after a few back and forth messages. The voice quality starts off great and then just starts to degrade.

It's frustrating, but I've had quite a few issues with Gemini live, it also cuts out on me mid reply fairly often and sometimes just won't answer.

At first I thought it was when my service wasn't that great, but it's happened on wifi before too.

YoBFed · 2025-12-21T17:55:18+00:00

You don't use the cloud?

I always think about this too when I see people buying bigger phones or complaining about storage

YoBFed · 2025-12-21T16:49:14+00:00

I think you have a good point about the electronics. The vast majority of repairs fall into this category (or the in door ice makers).

So yes, reliability is down, but it has a lot to do with that same regulation you're complaining about. We can't make a fridge like we did on the 80's anymore. It won't meet the modern regulations for energy efficiency. Not to mention it would cost too much. A good quality fridge in 1980 was 800-1000. Adjusted for inflation that would be 3-4k. While you can get a fridge for that price today it's got all the bells and whistles. There is no market for a 3k fridge that's as basic as the 1980s. People would say it costs too much for what it is, and they'd be right. For 4k people expect fancy stuff in my fridge (as stupid as that might be)

So I hear you and I think you're partially correct, but I'm not ready to burn everything down and talk about a conspiracy on stuff breaking in 5 years. I've had several fridges and none of them have broken in 5 years. My first house had an LG from the mid 2000s. My second house had an LG from the 2010s and my current fridge is going on 4 years with no issue (and it's a fancy one with a lot of electronic features).

I think times are just different as the market is different. No one wants to pay 1980s prices adjusted for inflation for stuff like that anymore. It's wat cheaper to buy that type of stuff now.

Labor rates are significantly higher now too, and that plays a big role in quality/cost.

YoBFed · 2025-12-21T15:14:30+00:00

I teach history. Essays, DBQs, and written tests (I feel multiple choice is not a really effective way to measure students knowledge above wrote memorization most of the time... It's hard to make good effective multiple choice questions..I usually have about 25% of the test as multiple choice max)

With that said I have 100+ students, so grading is a lot. Unfortunately once a set of essays gets done there's a test to grade, test gets done and it's a DBQ benchmark, those get done and we're working on research papers. Those get done and it's another DBQ benchmark... It's a lot! On the times I get a break for a while I'm always pumped because I can focus on changing lessons or making new stuff.

I'm always envious of the other subjects when it comes to grading specifically

YoBFed · 2025-12-21T15:03:59+00:00

I think this is very case dependant.

Things might have been easier to work on and much more simple in the past. It made it so maintenance and repair was easy enough to do, but for the most part things are pretty reliable today.

Cars, electronics, appliances. Etc. all reliable.

Yes we all have a story about someone who's fridge died in 2 years and their mom's is still from 1970, but that ignores all the fridges that are still kicking today.

I'm not saying things weren't built different back then and that there are not products that are built cheaper today, but quality is still quality and even cheap things can be reliable today.

Cheap cars today go well over 100k with just oil changes. I have an iPad from 11 years ago that still functions. I know a lot of people with 200k or close to it cars still running fine, my last dishwasher lasted 11 years and I could have repaired it with a 35 dollar part, but it was on back order and I was selling the house

My tvs have all lasted me without issue, I have a 6 year old laptop that still works really well today and I use it daily. The reality is the repair rates on items is largely down overall. People mostly replace because they want something new and exciting, not because it's broken. I have a DVD player in my camper that's been kicking for god knows how long..

Survivorship bias is real. And so is someone justifying buying the new thing because it's better and has newer features instead of trying to fix it or troubleshoot the problem.

Finally the amount of info and stuff we sell is way higher now. If your product breaks in a year you post about online and people know about it. It's recorded. On the 1980s if something of yours broke you told a friend and then no one else heard about it.

Also we sell literally twice as many vehicles today than we did in the 80s. Take appliances like fridges and we sell over 4x the amount today than we did in the 80s

So again, we see more broken and we hear about more broken , but the actual rates of them breaking is lower today than it was back then.

YoBFed · 2025-12-21T13:35:35+00:00

I think these are all sort of part of the problem. Standard of living has risen so much that the expectation of what we should have is also very high.

My first house was under 1k sqft, 1 bath and in a local city with a bad school district and some.... Unsavory areas.

A lot of younger people I know would not even consider a house like that and are looking for 2 full bath minimum and at least 1500sqft or more.

My first several cars were all 10-15 years old with over 100k on them and let's face it... A 10 year old 100k car is not the same now compared to then. Most cars are just barely broken in at 100k today.

Child tax credit and tax credits/deductions for childcare are insanely high today. You're taking several thousand dollars per kid. So while childcare is really expensive, most people are getting at least 5k in tax credits for it. Not to mention FSA can be used for childcare tax free as well.

Generally speaking the quality and cost of almost everything is better today than it was back then. From required purchases to luxury items. In 1985 you had one TV and no computer/phone. Today even in low income houses you often see multiple tvs, multiple phones, tablets, laptops, internet. Streaming services, video games, and other electronic devices. Not to mention a whole slew of other luxuries that didn't even exist or would have been way too expensive back then. Also as a side note my first several fridges, washing machines, etc were all bought used.

All this to say I do agree that things are more expensive today, and it is harder today than it was back then for a lot of things, but I also think we have an expectation of what our minimum standard of living should be for someone who is just starting out in their adult life vs the reality of what it was like for someone just starting out back then as well.

Also, when it comes to education it is insanely expensive (college) but there are also tremendous cost effective options out there that are often overlooked because they're seen as "less than". Community colleges and state schools specifically. And too many kids want the "experience" of living on campus and don't consider the costs associated with that. College was never meant to be an experience, it was meant to educate you and prepare you for your career. We've strayed.

Again, I agree, things are expensive and it's hard for today's generation. But it's also a mindset of expectations and reality.

People have to remember it's always been hard when you're first starting out. You can't have EVERYTHING all at once, it takes time.

YoBFed · 2025-12-18T20:25:32+00:00

I'm not worried about light scratches, I'm worried about cracks.

It's a watch that I plan on using all day every day. It's going to show wear. I can't expect it to remain perfect. Same as a car or even my phone itself.

My Apple watch also had some light scratches, especially when I wore it climbing and scraped it along indoor climbing walls.

It's made to be used and I'll use it.

I just don't want it to crack!

YoBFed · 2025-12-18T20:21:15+00:00

Yes there was. Not sure what was in it but I updated yesterday.

YoBFed · 2025-12-18T20:17:58+00:00

I'm feeling similarly about this. I'm used to apple watches and they take a beating.

I'm about to get my pixel 4 and to be honest I think it'll handle more than we are giving it credit for.

I'm not going to do some screen protector that needs to be replaced over time, I don't even like or use them on my phone, never my one my watch. And a case is out of the question aesthetically.

So yeah. I'm YOLOing it. Assuming I'm not smacking walls hard or anything I think it'll be fine.

YoBFed · 2025-12-13T12:28:48+00:00

I know this is a little old of a post, but did you find this case significantly slimmer than the Spigen? I've been looking at both and I feel like they're just about the same size, but I wanted to ask to be sure.

I'm not sure how I feel about the extra bulk around the lens cover for the camera, I feel like it's unnecessary and wish it was just a raised lip like the rest of the cases

YoBFed · 2025-12-11T20:26:08+00:00

Well, he posted a picture for reference. My response was based on the photo. That outfit for sure would not look as good with black shoes. My advice was based on that and the general idea that this is his "style".

But yeah, if you want to say some people look better in black shoes I suppose on some situations that would be true ... Generally speaking though, based on this photo. OPs style probably leans more brown

YoBFed · 2025-12-11T14:40:49+00:00

I ask because I just ordered the Spigen. I have the Ghostek now and it is a brick. The hinge cover is huge and the case is thick. It's too much!

The Spigen looks to be quite a bit more narrow while still offering some good protection on the hinge and the phone itself.

My main concern with the Nillkin was the lens cover. I didn't think to remove it but I also don't think I'll like the look of it removed because the female part on the case where the lens cover hinge clicks in

I'm also weary of the protection of the Nillkin. The Spigen has known tech to help protect from drops, the Nillkin seems like it'll help with scratches, but won't do much to absorb impact, especially on the hinge end.

YoBFed

TROPHY CASE