Why do the younger generations have less empathy? And how can we stop them from going into nursing?

Nurses General Nursing

Updated:   Published

At my local college there is this blonde who was part of "Alpha Phi" who is well on her way to becoming a Nurse.

During the quarantine on Twitter she mocked people who didn't wear masks and people who believed in Bill Gates microchip in vaccines conspiracies. She called not wearing a mask a form of "Social Darwinism".

Funnily enough she is "Right Wing".

Why do today's young people have much less empathy?

Was it poor parenting by the parents of Gen Z and the Millennials?

Was it more graphic entertainment?

I would like to live in an intelligent, compassionate, and enlightened society.

Clearly America has failed Millennials and Gen Z.

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

Oh please. The older generations have been lamenting about the state of the younger generations for...well...ever. Don't paint a whole demographic of people with the same broad brush. I know PLENTY of boomers who are just as horrible. It's like they completely forgot their own struggles. 

Also, if you want to stop two whole generations of people from going into nursing, what exactly do you propose we do in 20 years when the boomers are dead and gen-Xers are retired? Nurse robots?

Also, my first reaction in response to reading your post: Okay, Boomer.

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I really dislike when people make generalizations about older people, so I wouldn't do that to the younger generalizations either. Some people are compassionate and some aren't.  It's not age related. 

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

I agree. I work with mostly way younger people and most of them are not like that at all.

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Empathy is variable in all populations, older and younger.

I suspect that if empathy was a measurable trait, empathy would follow the standard deviation curve with most of the people having the usual amount of empathy with rare outliers both extremes. 

The person in the OP description sounds like she has much in common with some of my elderly mother's acquaintances and neighbors. 

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).

The so-called Baby Boomers are the first of the Brat Generation. Our parents dealt with deprivation and magnanimous fear from the Great Depression and WW II.

Every individual has to dealt with their own pain, yet entire societies were wrestling with these stressors. They had to pull together to get through.

The pathway to a higher consciousness comes through deprivation, dealing with trials and tribulations, experiencing subsequent illuminating revelations.

If we are given everything we want or need and don't have to struggle for it, we never really arise from being materialistic. Hence, we become, or stay, self-centered brats.

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Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.

I doubt that there are many personality traits that are truly linked to a specific age. I think that perhaps the last of the people that lived through the great depression and remember it - those that would now be in their 90s, might have some generalizable traits related to living through the uncertainty and difficulty in those times. But since then, life and experiences like wars and advances in technology have all had a different effect on people depending on how they experienced it.

I could name crabby people from age 20-90, and I could also name some wonderful, generous, caring and empathetic people from those same age ranges. We're all experiencing life through our personal circumstances, and no one can really know what someone else has experienced. I work with some wonderful and caring nurses and other that are not. They can be competent and unpleasant. Might not make for the best patient experience, but it's better than nothing. 

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RitzyCinnamonRoll said:

At my local college there is this blonde who was part of "Alpha Phi" who is well on her way to becoming a Nurse.

During the quarantine on Twitter she mocked people who didn't wear masks and people who believed in Bill Gates microchip in vaccines conspiracies. She called not wearing a mask a form of "Social Darwinism".

Funnily enough she is "Right Wing".

Why do today's young people have much less empathy?

So many questions. LOL

The two I'm most curious about:

- What does being blonde have to do with it?

- Are we supposed to naturally come up with a great deal of empathy for the run-of-the-mill vaccine conspiracy theorists?

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Oh, wait. More:

- Since your first post, have you noticed more nerdy girls and/or fewer cheerleaders joining the profession?

- Does your purpose here amount to the end of your user name + T

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Specializes in Cardiac surgery.

Millennial here. Will you accuse me of lacking empathy if I tell you that you're an idiot? 

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Specializes in Burn, ICU.

So, based on a sample size of 1, you're declaring 2 generations of people to be a lost cause? That's a look that doesn't look good on you.

You don't have to like that student, agree with her, or be friends with her. If you interact with her in person (it's not even clear that you actually know her in person?) but if you do interact I suspect your disdain will be apparent and the feeling will be mutual.

(I'm also not sure whether you're a nurse/nursing student or not but if you are: you know you don't have to like, agree with, or be friends with your patients, but you still need to treat them decently.  So, if you're stuck interacting with her, consider it practice in keeping your professional face on and your judgements to yourself.  You can't control her actions, but you're in charge of your own.)

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

Im blonde and I don't have any issues at my workplace or with my colleagues...

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