Its easy to dump on the youngsters, but they are no different than we were. They just got dealt a different hand, and I suspect the croupier is crooked.

I was born in 1947 into a working class immigrant family, brought up in a Federal housing project, and came of age in an FHA-financed tract housing suburb. My childhood memories were dominated by legends of the War, the Depression, and the Old Country. My adolescence was marked by political assassinations, civil rights, Vietnam and the Beatles. By the time I was 30, I had been living away from home for a decade, earned a Master's degree, served in the military, mastered two blue collar trades and one high tech skill (all three now obsolete!), lived and worked for a year in a foreign country, and was flat broke, but completely out of debt. And I was living with (and supporting) a woman 10 years younger than I was.

I don't think today's slacker youth is intrinsically any worse, (or better) than we were. People are all pretty much the same, all over and for all time. Individuals may vary enormously but populations are remarkably similar. But I do believe I had breaks and opportunities that are no longer available to them, advantages and institutions that have been steadily degrading for the last three or four decades.
But I was also young enough and strong enough to handle the growing challenges but old enough to still benefit from the waning opportunities. By the skin of my teeth, when the time came for marriage and career, I was prepared, not just professionally and academically, but in real world experience and street creds. I had an excellent education.

I can't help it if I'm lucky. Through no fault of their own, I don't think today's kids can say that. It's not their fault, it is ours. Our generation is flawed. We have a tendency to take full credit for our successes, but we often blame the times, and others, for our failures. I do my best to avoid falling into that trap. Whether I am successful or not in doing that is not for me say.