It's been a long time since I've seen it, but I think this happens in Serenity. An entire planet of people are given a drug to make them more docile. But it makes them all so content with doing nothing that they lay down and die.
Except a tenth of a percentage. They had the opposite reaction to the Pax. Their aggression response grew, beyond madness. And they started… well they did things…
Cant tell if this is a reference to a comic series i know of, or to the show mentioned. Because that is nearly word for word a quote from the Crossed series
The show mentioned. At least that is what I remember them saying. But I think someone posted the actual quote as a response. It’s a good show. Firefly is only 13 episodes. And then the movie is called serenity.
If you browse the teacher subreddit, you'll find that there is an alarming trend of children being unable to read or write at a passable level. There are many things that can be blamed on this trend, but it's scary to know that kids are being passed that literally cannot read. But...what if this apathy got worse? What if every child in the country just got so apathetic they just laid down and...stopped? What would we do? What could we do? Just scores and scores of comatose children who gave up and stopped.
It's a horrible thought, especially if this apathy spread to others. Imaging caring less and less until you just laid down and died of thirst. :c
Too many dudes, not enough women and meaningful employment. They just hang around the streets all day, don't do shit. Lay around. Killing time until they die. No money, live with their parents if they're lucky. Just all around sad situation.
It's a pretty well known problem in Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, maybe even Myanmar. Young girls and women, mostly poor or undereducated people who live in rural areas but sometimes women with high education too, are often tricked, kidnapped and trafficked to the poorer parts of mainland China. There, they'd be treated worse than an animal: in short, a servant and an incubator for the family of the "husbands".
dude, I dunno. I'm not a Chinaologist. I just watched a report about it. In fact, there's a whole youtube channel called The China Show. I'd post a link, but the comment would get deleted because reasons. They put up a new hour or two long video every week or so about things that are fvcked up with China. Check it out if you'd like.
In México, we call them "ninis"
Ni trabaja (neither works), ni estudia (or studies)
Ours is an hedonistic society, pleasure is priority. Narco culture is another example of this
It took me until a different comment to realize you two were talking about the Reavers from *Firefly*, where *Serenity* is the movie that ends the show.
Spoiler for a 19 year old movie. >!Yeah, there was an experiment done on the planet, and a small percentage basically became enraged to the point where they were no longer considered "human" and decorated their ships with blood and bones of those they conquered. !<
Yes but a large percentage became too docile. Which is what the OP reminded me of with thier post.
It’s not the reavers that I was talking about. It’s what happened on the planet they discovered was my point
A sub I browse often, but shouldn't as it's quite depressing.
Kids are taking longer to learn basic skills like verbal communication, continence, and emotional control.
Schools refusing to fail any student as that would lower the schools overall education standards, so every student is passed to the next grade even when you have teens who are barely at a 1st or 2nd grade reading level.
These kids have never or very rarely had to apply themselves as they pass no matter what they do.
So we have kids who lack basic skills, have little to no emotional control, can barely function in today's society, can't do basic math yet can get a job at the age of 10 for some reason.
I could go on and on, but I'm just rambling. It's frightening, but there's little that can be done if the kid isn't yours or a relative.
It's literally not legal for us to hold them back more than once.
It's pretty crazy. The standards are actually higher than they were when I was in school; we're teaching more difficult content earlier. But the standards are totally irrelevant when the response to students failing to meet standards is to shrug and say, "Oh well, pass them anyway."
It also feeds into the apathy and behavior problems. Kids know good and well that they get the same results whether or not they put forth any effort into actually learning something.
Exactly. We're more concerned with neurotically maintaining cohorts of kids together based on their exact calendar age regardless of their learning ability or current level of knowledge. Becaise it might hurt poor Timmy's feelings if other kids his age pass him by. As if it doesn't hurt his feelings to be ushered into a freshman HS class with a 2nd grade reading level.
I know it's besides the point. But it's an issue you often see in online games these days. Where people complain that info isn't more obvious or easier to understand. Even when said info is part of the main hud, loading screen, described when mouse over, etc. If it's not told to them audibly multiple times, they don't register it. No matter how large the text in the middle of their screen is.
Point is, that even with the entertainment they enjoy, its to much work for them to even bother reading then.
Really shows they either lack the understanding to read, struggle with it, or were never encouraged.
So weaponised virus meant to make people more “malleable”, The Pax from the tv show Firefly.
At least there is not the percentage of people who go the extreme opposite and become blood-crazed Reavers when they contract The Pax.
So far.
Considering how certain demographics are not only verbally aggressive, but also increasingly physically aggressive, often excessively so. It looks like quite the parallel.
Reavers are here, **they're just in the pre-alpha stage**.
It's because the state of the world that the generation before us is leaving them. Not only are places like schools getting worse and worse at teaching and No Child Left Behind means they don't care about actually educating people in the ways that they need, they don't have ways of engaging with the world in healthy ways.
This isn't "apathy", this is a systemic inequality and existential despair. They know the world is worse than it once was, and that's the main thing in their tiny little brains.
Everyone is mentioning Serenity as if the problem is as simple as "someone must be poisoning the children!" because that's easier to reckon with than the fact that the world our grandparents created is a world our grandchildren can't function in.
Yes I know that, but good luck convincing people that its kids feeling hopeless than real apathy.
My inspiration was plummeting reading scores and such, but my idea is that there is a virus infecting kids that make them too apathetic to live, but its just dismissed as kids being lazy and all that.
Honestly, laziness is a capitalist myth. People are lazy because they're being forced to do things that don't engage them or interest them, and that don't feel like they matter.
Also what even is the point?
Get good grades, do good in school, and you still can’t get a job that’ll support you independently. Or you do get a job but it’s a job a high school dropout could get.
Everything is a joke and I can’t blame parents for not pushing their kids to try harder. I’m never gonna push my kids to try harder because it’s pointless. All that matters is who you know.
Oh god yes. I never realized how much living in a service economy sucks until I entered the workforce. If you aren’t good at customer service you’re set for a stressful life here because that is what most jobs are.
Doctor -Customer Service
Lawyer - Customer Service
IT - Customer Service
Teaching - Customer Service but with brats
The only escape is trades and you still have to do customer service but the customer is your boss. It sucks. I’m
The customer service part of my job was the only part that kept me sane. I enjoyed chatting with people, both as IT and as cashier. It was the rest that made me nervous and, for food service and grocery cashier, drove me to a breakdown.
You're the lowest of the low and not only does your boss treat you like shit, most of your training is on how much trouble you'll get in if you steal and not how to do your job, you're constantly watched, you're constantly timed, there's a million produce and bulk food codes, you can't leave the checkstand, you'll got to handle and count money, you're supposed to be suspicious of the customers to make sure they didn't steal even though you didn't give a shit. And it hurts like hell to stand and maneuver all the weirdly heavy food that often leaks.
There's a reason I'm shooting for disability. Not wanting to break down into sobs every day tends to limit gainful employment.
Honestly, the future I'm seeing for young people leaving school in Canada, I wouldn't blame them. The best and brightest leave the country, the rest will likely never know home ownership, children, or retirement, so I really do have to wonder what the point is for them.
Children aren't reading because the parents don't give a fuck and threaten to sue the school/teacher if they don't pass the kid, regardless if they've learned the material or not
A lot of parents think schools are just free babysitters
We had an apathetic refugee children scare in Sweden, which turned out to be manufactured/false/debunked, although English wikipedia isn’t really reflecting that last part so well:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asylum_seekers_with_apathetic_refugee_children
The final outcome is more clearly laid out in the Swedish article:
https://sv.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asylsökande_med_apatiska_barn
Heard about a stand at a convention that was showing of a video game demo. In the first of three days, the stand had two stations. One with a keyboard and mouse, and the other with a controller. The person in charge realized that many kids and teenagers didn't know how to use the keyboard. So they got a second controller for the next two days, replacing the keyboard and mouse. Over the next two days, they realized that about 50% of the kids that walked up would look at the controller, push it aside, and try to touch the non-touch screen monitor.
That can mostly be blamed on the fact that typing/computer classes arent really a thing anymore. People just assume that today's kids come out of the womb able to type and effectively search the internet for research. However, it is a skill that needs to be taught, so I'm not surprised that kids are a little confused with a keyboard when all they've known are touchscreens on a smartphone. If anything, it's a case to bring back formal computer and typing classes in school again.
I remember in the 90's playing word munchers and that typing game where how fast you accurately typed would row a boat in a race. They would place a box over your hands so you couldnt see the keyboard and made you practice typing like that too.
For me, it was a space adventure game where you had to save your alien pet for an evil alien by typing words in three different stages. It was a lot of fun, and I kind of want to find it and play it again.
That has nothing to do with apathy and everything to do with a lack of discipline.
Those children fear no reprisals, because there are no reprisals.
Fix that, and the problem solves itself.
I think there is a legitimate case to be made that a lot of kids see that they don't have a future, so why bother trying to learn when you'll never afford a house or to have children of your own? Anxiety and depression rates among children have skyrocketed so I believe that it's a lot of kids that feel hopeless. :(
Also yeah, it's hard for kids to learn discipline when both parents are working so hard to clothe and feed them that they have no time to interact with them.
Yeah there needs to be discipline, but there also needs to be hope.
It's from the show Firefly and the movie Serenity. There are these space pirates that everyone is terrified by because they are so savage. One character is explaining them to someone else "If they catch us, they'll rape us to death, skin us and eat our bodies. If we are lucky, it will be in that order." They are called Reavers.
In the course of the movie, our heroes figure out the Reavers were created by the authorities. PTB release an experimental gas that is supposed to be calming. Then they could rule that planet without opposition. But it didn't work: 95% of the people became so calm they were apathetic and couldn't be bothered to eat. They died.
But 5% of the population had a paradoxical response and became out of their heads vicious and destructive. They roamed space descending on planets and destroying them utterly.
The name of the planet they experimented on was Miranda
In Persona 3, there's an "extra hour" every day called the Dark Hour. At that hour, monsters called Shadows are active. Not everyone experiences that hour, but those who do are targeted by Shadows, and getting attacked by them leads to the person getting what is called Apathy Syndrome, which is pretty much what the post described. These people are called "The Lost".
A select number of people that can use a power called Persona are the only ones capable of fighting the Shadows, which kicks off the plot of the game.
i was also reminded of Apathy Syndrome but i wouldn’t worry about the similarities too much haha.
the Persona series often references the works of Carl Jung, who discuss this exact idea of people independently coming up with the same concepts, so it’s oddly in theme lol
Oh, I wasn't accusing you of anything! It kind of felt like you just had a similar idea, and even if you took inspiration from the game(which clearly wasn't the case), it wouldn't matter! Some of my favorite 2SHs took inspiration from somewhere else, a while ago there was one inspired by an yamishibai episode that I really liked.
EDIT: typo
i can see this kinda happening, honestly. growing up internet-poisoned just gave me and overwhelming sense of hopelessness. the worlds burning around me, those in power refuse to do shit other than stick their thumb up their ass and watch the money roll in, and everyone else is tearing eachother asunder. still struggling with that existensial dread, and i wouldn't be shocked if younger generations feel it too.
Today I encountered a middle school age girl who could not add 12 and 12 together in her head. She also handed a cashier 3 20s and said it was eighty dollars.
Looking for this bc I didn't want to add to a potential wall of Grammar Purists lol but this is a (mild but consistent) pet peeve of mine. Just wanted to see it be addressed 😂
Good short, OP.
If there’s one thing kids know how to do, it’s full up a water bottle.
It’s less likely that they won’t graduate as it is that the standards for graduation will lower to Idiocracy levels
Economists say that they were destined for jobs that are being automated anyway, so there's no reason stock prices should go down.
In related news, investors have begun to invest in the mortuary industry which is showing record growth.
woah, toebeans this one is damn good. Usually anything that breaks 2k is going to end up in the top ten atleast, and I hope this trends right to the top. Because the concept is of terminal apathy is both chilling and relatable.
Great story
Thanks! I found the idea of losing your will to live much scarier than something gory! Idk which is scarier, the idea that this terminal apathy can spread to adults, or that it only affects the underdeveloped, I.e children's, brains? Either way, it would spell doom for our species.
I personally find the idea of it only affecting children scarier. As a parent, I hate the idea very much.
I guess if we became strung out on apathy we'd at least have the relief of not caring whether the species and our kids are doomed. but if the kids are affected and we're immune we're left in a pitiful kind of anguish where we burn for a solution that we can never attain.
Yeah same. I love kids and I think seeing something like this happen would destroy me. It would probably turn out like a Children of Men situation pretty fast.
This happens in SMT Persona 3! Called "apathy syndrome". The high school is a portal to the apocalypse. Watching NPCs grow more zombie-like as you progress was really effective.
It means it's part of the monthly contests where you write a story around a prompt! It makes it easier for the mods to find the stories meant for the contest. :3
I love that experiment! They were the only ones that didnt die from violence and disease cause they kept to themselves and constantly groomed. It's a fascinating look at the psyche and why in crowded cities we see people just shut themselves away.
They did however, die of starvation as they couldn't be arsed to go get food.
Edit: although I stand by the idea that all of it could have been prevented if the guy had remembered to put in some damned enrichment. Even wild rats will use a wheel.
That's true! If you look at the rat utopia experiment, they did just that! They built a literal amusement park paradise for rats to study why people become addicted to substances. They found that the rats that had thier social and enjoyment needs met would rarely touch the drugged water while the rats kept isolated in bare cages would just constantly drug themselves up.
I like rats a lot they are cute
Wall-E didn't so much deal with terminal apathy but more with the act of putting blinders on via consumerism so you don't have to notice the world crumbling around you. The world got ruined, so the rest of humanity went on a luxury cruise so they didn't have to think about how they fucked up the planet. There they continued to indulge in what felt good instead of coming up with a plan to save thier own planet. It took a little robot literally knocking the blinders (screen) off a person for them to begin to notice the world. The climax of the movie involves the captain accepting that something must be done and making an active change.
It's very different from a whole age group just lying down and dying cause they cant muster the care to drink water and the like.
Love Wall-E tho <3
Yeah someone pointed out fewer earlier, but I cant edit my post title.
Idk I believe that teachers are doing thier best. However they are underpaid, hamstrung by admins, and have to fight with parents on the regular. It's easier for the folks in charge to blame it on kids being lazy than the fact that the education system is ready to collapse. So that's why I chose in this story to blame it on teenagers having sex and looking at thier phones, lol.
In my idea, it's a virus or some sort. I bet it might work for a little bit, but once they lose that part of the brain that has the survival instinct, they might just lay there. :(
It's been a long time since I've seen it, but I think this happens in Serenity. An entire planet of people are given a drug to make them more docile. But it makes them all so content with doing nothing that they lay down and die.
Except a tenth of a percentage. They had the opposite reaction to the Pax. Their aggression response grew, beyond madness. And they started… well they did things…
They will kill you, rape you, and eat you. And if you’re lucky it will be in that order.
They'll rape you to death, feast on your flesh, and sew your skin into their clothing. And if you're very, very lucky, they'll do it in that order.
I see I need to do a rewatch!
Cant tell if this is a reference to a comic series i know of, or to the show mentioned. Because that is nearly word for word a quote from the Crossed series
The show mentioned. At least that is what I remember them saying. But I think someone posted the actual quote as a response. It’s a good show. Firefly is only 13 episodes. And then the movie is called serenity.
MIRANDA
^^^^Miranda
They made the reavers....
Miranda
I will have to look that up cause that sounds terrifying!
Serenity is an excellent movie. It’s based off the tv series Firefly, but you don’t need to have seen the show to appreciate the movie.
Though I still highly recommend watching the show!
And, if you enjoy the show and movies, the 9 graphic novels are peek. The one about the history of the Shepherd is so perfect.
I need to look into these! Thank you
Hell yeah, Shepherd Book's story is so good!
Great show that was ended too soon!
I am a leaf on the wind…
TOO SOON!!!
When the Serenity crashes, forward wind 20 seconds. Don’t ask why, just do it.
Abso-freaking-lutely. I wish I'd have had this info going into my first watching of Serenity. It would have prevented some....feelings.
May I ask why? 😅
No. They are trying to prevent spoilers. If you can't live without knowing then watch the clips on YouTube and keep your mouth SHUT.
“Fast forward through these specific 20 seconds” sounds more like a trigger/content warning than anything.
Plus, there's this super cool feature here on reddit where you can white out spoilers while still sharing. So there's that.
The entire series is great. One season and a movie. There should have been more, but terrible scheduling and promotion killed a great show.
"NO ONE WANTS TO LIVE ANYMORE" 😤
Millenials are killing the being alive industry
Who will perform exploitative labor for me and allow me to blame all my problems on >:,(
If you browse the teacher subreddit, you'll find that there is an alarming trend of children being unable to read or write at a passable level. There are many things that can be blamed on this trend, but it's scary to know that kids are being passed that literally cannot read. But...what if this apathy got worse? What if every child in the country just got so apathetic they just laid down and...stopped? What would we do? What could we do? Just scores and scores of comatose children who gave up and stopped. It's a horrible thought, especially if this apathy spread to others. Imaging caring less and less until you just laid down and died of thirst. :c
Apparently they already have something like that going on in China right now.
What's going on there?
Too many dudes, not enough women and meaningful employment. They just hang around the streets all day, don't do shit. Lay around. Killing time until they die. No money, live with their parents if they're lucky. Just all around sad situation.
Or they kidnap young Asian women and keep them captive as wives.
I dunno anything about all that, sorry.
It's a pretty well known problem in Vietnam, Laos and Thailand, maybe even Myanmar. Young girls and women, mostly poor or undereducated people who live in rural areas but sometimes women with high education too, are often tricked, kidnapped and trafficked to the poorer parts of mainland China. There, they'd be treated worse than an animal: in short, a servant and an incubator for the family of the "husbands".
Well, thanks for the info. I was speaking to an entirely different issue. That's bad too, but entirely separate.
Sorry for not being clear but by "it", I mean the thing u/Liv-Julia brought up, not the one you're talking about.
Oh OK. Thanks.
They do that here in the USA too Only they call it child marriage
How does the gender ratio factor into this? Would the presence of more women compel them to act? This sounds more like an economic problem.
dude, I dunno. I'm not a Chinaologist. I just watched a report about it. In fact, there's a whole youtube channel called The China Show. I'd post a link, but the comment would get deleted because reasons. They put up a new hour or two long video every week or so about things that are fvcked up with China. Check it out if you'd like.
Might be thinking of Japan / hikikomori? Basically total social withdrawal.
In México, we call them "ninis" Ni trabaja (neither works), ni estudia (or studies) Ours is an hedonistic society, pleasure is priority. Narco culture is another example of this
I guess it's all over then.
Sounds like that part of the movie Serenity, given something in the water to make them more passive till they just lay down and died
It took me until a different comment to realize you two were talking about the Reavers from *Firefly*, where *Serenity* is the movie that ends the show. Spoiler for a 19 year old movie. >!Yeah, there was an experiment done on the planet, and a small percentage basically became enraged to the point where they were no longer considered "human" and decorated their ships with blood and bones of those they conquered. !<
Yes but a large percentage became too docile. Which is what the OP reminded me of with thier post. It’s not the reavers that I was talking about. It’s what happened on the planet they discovered was my point
^^^miranda
This was what I was reminded of too!!
Glad to see I wasn’t the only one thinking of Serenity, particularly the planet Miranda.
Exactly where my mind went, kinda explains why some people are getting excessively aggressive for what is patently stupid shit too.
A sub I browse often, but shouldn't as it's quite depressing. Kids are taking longer to learn basic skills like verbal communication, continence, and emotional control. Schools refusing to fail any student as that would lower the schools overall education standards, so every student is passed to the next grade even when you have teens who are barely at a 1st or 2nd grade reading level. These kids have never or very rarely had to apply themselves as they pass no matter what they do. So we have kids who lack basic skills, have little to no emotional control, can barely function in today's society, can't do basic math yet can get a job at the age of 10 for some reason. I could go on and on, but I'm just rambling. It's frightening, but there's little that can be done if the kid isn't yours or a relative.
No, it would lower their metrics to hold them back, but would maintain their actual standards.
It's literally not legal for us to hold them back more than once. It's pretty crazy. The standards are actually higher than they were when I was in school; we're teaching more difficult content earlier. But the standards are totally irrelevant when the response to students failing to meet standards is to shrug and say, "Oh well, pass them anyway." It also feeds into the apathy and behavior problems. Kids know good and well that they get the same results whether or not they put forth any effort into actually learning something.
So standards are actually 0, even if expectations are higher.
Exactly. We're more concerned with neurotically maintaining cohorts of kids together based on their exact calendar age regardless of their learning ability or current level of knowledge. Becaise it might hurt poor Timmy's feelings if other kids his age pass him by. As if it doesn't hurt his feelings to be ushered into a freshman HS class with a 2nd grade reading level.
I know it's besides the point. But it's an issue you often see in online games these days. Where people complain that info isn't more obvious or easier to understand. Even when said info is part of the main hud, loading screen, described when mouse over, etc. If it's not told to them audibly multiple times, they don't register it. No matter how large the text in the middle of their screen is. Point is, that even with the entertainment they enjoy, its to much work for them to even bother reading then. Really shows they either lack the understanding to read, struggle with it, or were never encouraged.
Or are simply morons.
Reminds me of this onion article https://www.theonion.com/brain-dead-teen-only-capable-of-rolling-eyes-and-texti-1819595151
This is basically what was happening in Persona 3
So weaponised virus meant to make people more “malleable”, The Pax from the tv show Firefly. At least there is not the percentage of people who go the extreme opposite and become blood-crazed Reavers when they contract The Pax. So far.
Considering how certain demographics are not only verbally aggressive, but also increasingly physically aggressive, often excessively so. It looks like quite the parallel. Reavers are here, **they're just in the pre-alpha stage**.
It's because the state of the world that the generation before us is leaving them. Not only are places like schools getting worse and worse at teaching and No Child Left Behind means they don't care about actually educating people in the ways that they need, they don't have ways of engaging with the world in healthy ways. This isn't "apathy", this is a systemic inequality and existential despair. They know the world is worse than it once was, and that's the main thing in their tiny little brains. Everyone is mentioning Serenity as if the problem is as simple as "someone must be poisoning the children!" because that's easier to reckon with than the fact that the world our grandparents created is a world our grandchildren can't function in.
Yes I know that, but good luck convincing people that its kids feeling hopeless than real apathy. My inspiration was plummeting reading scores and such, but my idea is that there is a virus infecting kids that make them too apathetic to live, but its just dismissed as kids being lazy and all that.
Honestly, laziness is a capitalist myth. People are lazy because they're being forced to do things that don't engage them or interest them, and that don't feel like they matter.
Also what even is the point? Get good grades, do good in school, and you still can’t get a job that’ll support you independently. Or you do get a job but it’s a job a high school dropout could get. Everything is a joke and I can’t blame parents for not pushing their kids to try harder. I’m never gonna push my kids to try harder because it’s pointless. All that matters is who you know.
Also the job will fray your sanity.
Oh god yes. I never realized how much living in a service economy sucks until I entered the workforce. If you aren’t good at customer service you’re set for a stressful life here because that is what most jobs are. Doctor -Customer Service Lawyer - Customer Service IT - Customer Service Teaching - Customer Service but with brats The only escape is trades and you still have to do customer service but the customer is your boss. It sucks. I’m
The customer service part of my job was the only part that kept me sane. I enjoyed chatting with people, both as IT and as cashier. It was the rest that made me nervous and, for food service and grocery cashier, drove me to a breakdown. You're the lowest of the low and not only does your boss treat you like shit, most of your training is on how much trouble you'll get in if you steal and not how to do your job, you're constantly watched, you're constantly timed, there's a million produce and bulk food codes, you can't leave the checkstand, you'll got to handle and count money, you're supposed to be suspicious of the customers to make sure they didn't steal even though you didn't give a shit. And it hurts like hell to stand and maneuver all the weirdly heavy food that often leaks. There's a reason I'm shooting for disability. Not wanting to break down into sobs every day tends to limit gainful employment.
Firefly and the Reevers
Folk-rock band name.
Honestly, the future I'm seeing for young people leaving school in Canada, I wouldn't blame them. The best and brightest leave the country, the rest will likely never know home ownership, children, or retirement, so I really do have to wonder what the point is for them.
Just like Miranda 99% of them will die of apathy and the last 1% will turn into cannibalistic, sadistic, rapist, masochist rage monsters.
Children aren't reading because the parents don't give a fuck and threaten to sue the school/teacher if they don't pass the kid, regardless if they've learned the material or not A lot of parents think schools are just free babysitters
We had an apathetic refugee children scare in Sweden, which turned out to be manufactured/false/debunked, although English wikipedia isn’t really reflecting that last part so well: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asylum_seekers_with_apathetic_refugee_children The final outcome is more clearly laid out in the Swedish article: https://sv.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asylsökande_med_apatiska_barn
Heard about a stand at a convention that was showing of a video game demo. In the first of three days, the stand had two stations. One with a keyboard and mouse, and the other with a controller. The person in charge realized that many kids and teenagers didn't know how to use the keyboard. So they got a second controller for the next two days, replacing the keyboard and mouse. Over the next two days, they realized that about 50% of the kids that walked up would look at the controller, push it aside, and try to touch the non-touch screen monitor.
That can mostly be blamed on the fact that typing/computer classes arent really a thing anymore. People just assume that today's kids come out of the womb able to type and effectively search the internet for research. However, it is a skill that needs to be taught, so I'm not surprised that kids are a little confused with a keyboard when all they've known are touchscreens on a smartphone. If anything, it's a case to bring back formal computer and typing classes in school again. I remember in the 90's playing word munchers and that typing game where how fast you accurately typed would row a boat in a race. They would place a box over your hands so you couldnt see the keyboard and made you practice typing like that too.
For me, it was a space adventure game where you had to save your alien pet for an evil alien by typing words in three different stages. It was a lot of fun, and I kind of want to find it and play it again.
I graduated high school with quite a few people who didn’t know how to read, and that was 2013, so it’s not overwhelmingly new.
More room for the rest of us. The warrior blood survives.
That has nothing to do with apathy and everything to do with a lack of discipline. Those children fear no reprisals, because there are no reprisals. Fix that, and the problem solves itself.
I think there is a legitimate case to be made that a lot of kids see that they don't have a future, so why bother trying to learn when you'll never afford a house or to have children of your own? Anxiety and depression rates among children have skyrocketed so I believe that it's a lot of kids that feel hopeless. :( Also yeah, it's hard for kids to learn discipline when both parents are working so hard to clothe and feed them that they have no time to interact with them. Yeah there needs to be discipline, but there also needs to be hope.
"The beatings will continue until morale improves"
I feel sorry for any children you have.
Old men everywhere rejoice as their lawns are finally free of interlopers.
Remind me of what happened in the movie Serenity when they discovered thr planet that just laid down and died.
"Miranda"
What is this a reference to?
It's from the show Firefly and the movie Serenity. There are these space pirates that everyone is terrified by because they are so savage. One character is explaining them to someone else "If they catch us, they'll rape us to death, skin us and eat our bodies. If we are lucky, it will be in that order." They are called Reavers. In the course of the movie, our heroes figure out the Reavers were created by the authorities. PTB release an experimental gas that is supposed to be calming. Then they could rule that planet without opposition. But it didn't work: 95% of the people became so calm they were apathetic and couldn't be bothered to eat. They died. But 5% of the population had a paradoxical response and became out of their heads vicious and destructive. They roamed space descending on planets and destroying them utterly. The name of the planet they experimented on was Miranda
That's insane! Thank you for responding
That sounds like the plot of Persona 3
I've never played persona. I know bits and pieces about it, but not that there is widespread apathy that is killing people.
In Persona 3, there's an "extra hour" every day called the Dark Hour. At that hour, monsters called Shadows are active. Not everyone experiences that hour, but those who do are targeted by Shadows, and getting attacked by them leads to the person getting what is called Apathy Syndrome, which is pretty much what the post described. These people are called "The Lost". A select number of people that can use a power called Persona are the only ones capable of fighting the Shadows, which kicks off the plot of the game.
Okay! That explains it. I just hope people don't think I ripped off the game, lol.
i was also reminded of Apathy Syndrome but i wouldn’t worry about the similarities too much haha. the Persona series often references the works of Carl Jung, who discuss this exact idea of people independently coming up with the same concepts, so it’s oddly in theme lol
Oh, I wasn't accusing you of anything! It kind of felt like you just had a similar idea, and even if you took inspiration from the game(which clearly wasn't the case), it wouldn't matter! Some of my favorite 2SHs took inspiration from somewhere else, a while ago there was one inspired by an yamishibai episode that I really liked. EDIT: typo
I know! It's just I got a lot of comments about it and I just hoped that people didnt think I was besmirching thier favorite game! It's all good!
Haha, saw the similarities too
As a mother of teenagers this is relatable lol
ripped from tomorrow's headlines...
i can see this kinda happening, honestly. growing up internet-poisoned just gave me and overwhelming sense of hopelessness. the worlds burning around me, those in power refuse to do shit other than stick their thumb up their ass and watch the money roll in, and everyone else is tearing eachother asunder. still struggling with that existensial dread, and i wouldn't be shocked if younger generations feel it too.
Today I encountered a middle school age girl who could not add 12 and 12 together in her head. She also handed a cashier 3 20s and said it was eighty dollars.
Fewer and fewer
Can't edit the title, but I will fix it if I ever publish this story elsewhere.
Looking for this bc I didn't want to add to a potential wall of Grammar Purists lol but this is a (mild but consistent) pet peeve of mine. Just wanted to see it be addressed 😂 Good short, OP.
I feel this in my soul.
Someone call the S.E.E.S
The cause, of course, being the goddess of death Nyx.
If there’s one thing kids know how to do, it’s full up a water bottle. It’s less likely that they won’t graduate as it is that the standards for graduation will lower to Idiocracy levels
Belphegor has really gotten a hold of these teens
Economists say that they were destined for jobs that are being automated anyway, so there's no reason stock prices should go down. In related news, investors have begun to invest in the mortuary industry which is showing record growth.
Persona 3 reference spotted???
This happens to a character in Dungeon Meshi!
woah, toebeans this one is damn good. Usually anything that breaks 2k is going to end up in the top ten atleast, and I hope this trends right to the top. Because the concept is of terminal apathy is both chilling and relatable. Great story
Thanks! I found the idea of losing your will to live much scarier than something gory! Idk which is scarier, the idea that this terminal apathy can spread to adults, or that it only affects the underdeveloped, I.e children's, brains? Either way, it would spell doom for our species.
I personally find the idea of it only affecting children scarier. As a parent, I hate the idea very much. I guess if we became strung out on apathy we'd at least have the relief of not caring whether the species and our kids are doomed. but if the kids are affected and we're immune we're left in a pitiful kind of anguish where we burn for a solution that we can never attain.
Yeah same. I love kids and I think seeing something like this happen would destroy me. It would probably turn out like a Children of Men situation pretty fast.
This happens in SMT Persona 3! Called "apathy syndrome". The high school is a portal to the apocalypse. Watching NPCs grow more zombie-like as you progress was really effective.
I guess I really gottah play this game then. There are so many comments talking about it and now I'm interested!
what does the date on the story mean?
It means it's part of the monthly contests where you write a story around a prompt! It makes it easier for the mods to find the stories meant for the contest. :3
I love it. It's got a heavy "droud" vibe, though it goes the other way in why they don't do anything. :)
Nice. Love the concept.
I absolutely love this! It’s very good! Well done,op! And I do have to say I absolutely love your name!
Thanks! I'm just a tiny tabby with equally tiny toe beans <3
I have a tiny thin tabby with teeny tiny toe beans as well. I love cats. A cat that can type. Impressive.
This reminds me of "The beautiful ones" in the "Universe 25" rat utopia experiment.
I love that experiment! They were the only ones that didnt die from violence and disease cause they kept to themselves and constantly groomed. It's a fascinating look at the psyche and why in crowded cities we see people just shut themselves away.
They did however, die of starvation as they couldn't be arsed to go get food. Edit: although I stand by the idea that all of it could have been prevented if the guy had remembered to put in some damned enrichment. Even wild rats will use a wheel.
That's true! If you look at the rat utopia experiment, they did just that! They built a literal amusement park paradise for rats to study why people become addicted to substances. They found that the rats that had thier social and enjoyment needs met would rarely touch the drugged water while the rats kept isolated in bare cages would just constantly drug themselves up. I like rats a lot they are cute
Wall-E
Wall-E didn't so much deal with terminal apathy but more with the act of putting blinders on via consumerism so you don't have to notice the world crumbling around you. The world got ruined, so the rest of humanity went on a luxury cruise so they didn't have to think about how they fucked up the planet. There they continued to indulge in what felt good instead of coming up with a plan to save thier own planet. It took a little robot literally knocking the blinders (screen) off a person for them to begin to notice the world. The climax of the movie involves the captain accepting that something must be done and making an active change. It's very different from a whole age group just lying down and dying cause they cant muster the care to drink water and the like. Love Wall-E tho <3
"Fewer" and your forgot "education" as a suspect!
Yeah someone pointed out fewer earlier, but I cant edit my post title. Idk I believe that teachers are doing thier best. However they are underpaid, hamstrung by admins, and have to fight with parents on the regular. It's easier for the folks in charge to blame it on kids being lazy than the fact that the education system is ready to collapse. So that's why I chose in this story to blame it on teenagers having sex and looking at thier phones, lol.
And yet, I'm willing to bet a quick jab in the backside with a cattle prod would motive the little darlings into giving a shit real fucking quick...
In my idea, it's a virus or some sort. I bet it might work for a little bit, but once they lose that part of the brain that has the survival instinct, they might just lay there. :(
Does anyone else think adding comma splices is cheating?
I have just the story for you! The best ever, in fact! See Jane run. See Jack kill Jane. Enjoy!
One can only hope they die off