Do a lot of young people lack interpersonal skills in the workplace and life in general now?

Bigbobby

Is it just me or do other people think that in the workplace and life in general that in many cases young people seem to lack communication and social skills? I have been working in the NHS in pharmacy for just under 10 years now and started off as a pharmacy assistant and I have now worked my way up to a supervisor.  It is now that I am really starting to notice this issue in many of the younger staff in particular.
Several things I have noticed:
-You try and initiate conversation whether work related or banter during quiet periods...how was your weekend? How are you finding your new role?  Did you watch the footie last night?  All I seem to get is a few word response at best.
-The stare is the big one.  Again you ask a question and they just seem to freeze and do not know how to respond
-Lack of initiative and problem solving themselves.  As soon as something happens that is outside their routine, comfort zone or out of kilter a bit again they just seem to freeze, panic and expect me to solve all their problems.
-Scared of answering the phone.  As soon as the phone goes which of course requires verbal skills they just ignore it or just pass it on to a senior member of staff.
These are just some examples and I am not giving a blanket opinion saying these apply to every young person but from experience in many cases they do. 
I then ask myself way is this? 
-Is it social media/technology where communication is just through your phone which could mean that you are not developing proper face to face communication skills.  I see it all the time are work, down the street, on the bus etc where people are just on their phone all the time
-Lack of socialising in general?  When I was younger I climbed trees, played football on the park, then went to pub when older, fishing, hiking etc.  Looking back it was fun and it developed my social skills.  Is it the case that young people are now more isolated, staying at home more on their phones and computer playing games?  
-Are young people now being mollycoddled by their parents more and as a result are not developing their own independent living skills?
-Has the COVID pandemic/lockdowns has a lasting impact on young people?
-Financial constraints?  I remember the 2008 financial crisis and more recently the cost of living post pandemic.  Could it be a lack of UK economic growth over recent years, wage growth and inflation means young people have less money in their pocket? As a result they are less likely to afford social activities?  The amount of pubs and shops in my town that have shut is just absurd.
I am 39 now and looking back when I was younger I was more of an introvert.  I lacked life experience but by the time I hit my 20s I became more confident and learnt how to socialise and communicate better.  Fast forward to today and it seems that in many cases people who have now hit their 20s have still not developed their communication skills and this adds pressure and stress to other member of staff which I think is incredibly rude.
Again and I will emphasise again that this does not apply to every single young person.  I will totally respect other people other people's views who may disagree with me, I am just more interested in what other people's opinions, views and observations are?

Marksfish

We were in the pub a couple of years a go. A group of 4 youngsters were sat around a table. Not one of them spoke to the other and they were all communicating by phone. Very weird to watch..

swingaloo

I think most of it is down to technology. Recently I went on a journey by bus which I dont normally do. Almost every person on the bus was on their phone. No one acknowledges anyone nowadays but just stare at the phone.

Last night hubby and I went for a meal and the couple on the next table to us hardly spoke a word to each other, both of them just looked at a phone. You drive along a road and every person you pass is using a phone, kids come out of school and the phone is the first thing they reach for, no chatting to each other.

I work in a shop and everyday we get mums in with prams. The babies are holding mums phone and watching cartoons. I dont think parents read to children any more, its all looking at a screen. 
People dont seem to know how to hold a face to face conversation anymore.

Myci85

I think it is a mixture of lots of things, but I feel whilst technology can obviously be amazing, it definitely has a part to play in this. It seems to be the norm now that when families go out for meals etc, the kids are given a tablet to keep them entertained whilst the adults either talk, or sit on their phones. And I suspect a lot of these families also sit their kids in front of the TV or again with a tablet to eat at home. Before tablets etc were a thing, family meals were an opportunity for kids to learn social skills as everyone would sit together round the table and talk. 
I went out of my way with my two to encourage them to talk to people out and about, to be the one to ask for assistance in shops etc, and family meals no phones allowed at the table, we talked and played cards games together etc. As a result, at 19 and 16 both are confident in being able to talk to people and hold a conversation. They're still far more absorbed by tech than I would like, but I guess they're a product of their generation.

Savvy_Sue

TBH, you could be describing me when I first started temping while at Uni. I'm not sure I was much better when I first graduated: rabbit in headlights!

And I'm sure COVID didn't help. 

Thinking about it, I suspect my older 2 were much the same, except that I think they've always been fine talking technical stuff: small talk not so much. Youngest probably came across as a cocky know-it-all but let's not go there.

So no, it's not something I've noticed.

Bigbobby

Yeh i totally agree with the smartphone thing.  When I was young in the 90s and early 00s smartphones were not around.  My first phone was with Orange and about the size of something from the Normandy landings.  The internet was starting but you had to have the patience of a saint with the internet dial up.  Social Media was friends reunited and myspace but it was not used a lot.  In fact I would say that back then anything computer/tech based was seen as a bit of a geek peculiar sort of thing.
It is that lack of proper face to face interaction that is not developing people's communication skills whether that be with friends on the park, cafe, on the bus, restaurants, pub with your mates etc.  Scary where society is heading!

strawb_shortcake

I think technology plays a big part too, we often see families sat out eating but very young children are left to watch a screen before the food is served and whilst eating. Parents then wonder years later why their child can't use a knife and fork and have no table manners.

Children seem to be sat away indoors for much of the weekend and holidays, I played out from when I was about 8, as a teenager I was rarely at home. Now my children's main socialising is at school or specific out of school clubs. We live semi rurally so it's not like they have friends on the doorstep. Though one is having a tech free camp with their friends over the holidays, so perhaps they aren't all that bad

I used to managed graduates in a previous role, and social skills were lacking 10 years ago, so not necessarily that new. I think as we all become more aware of Autism and the like we tend to analyse others more closely, so what we may have once seen as shy we read far more into.

LightFlare

100% technology

they are so used to communicating via text,emojis etc that they haven’t really got the social skills to maintain a conversation 

same with problem solving etc - it’s too convenient and easy to just google the problem/solution than to figure it yourself 

so much information available at the click of a few buttons has on some ways made people (in general) mentally lazy 

im convinced that the upsurge in “mental health “ issues is due to tech and social media. Our youngsters just arent used to and being prepared for the real world and thus they can’t cope

Bigbobby

Totally agree with the convenience thing with the internet. Answers to issues they have are just a few clicks.
Internet has it's place but a lot of the info is too unreliable and people are just too lazy to use other sources.
I'm starting to read more text books whether that be history, economics, cooking etc. I also used an ordinance surveyap on holiday. I find these traditional sources so much more reliable than the internet and it gets your brain thinking. 

dumpster_fire2025

Bigbobby said:

Is it just me or do other people think that in the workplace and life in general that in many cases young people seem to lack communication and social skills? I have been working in the NHS in pharmacy for just under 10 years now and started off as a pharmacy assistant and I have now worked my way up to a supervisor.  It is now that I am really starting to notice this issue in many of the younger staff in particular.
Several things I have noticed:
-You try and initiate conversation whether work related or banter during quiet periods...how was your weekend? How are you finding your new role?  Did you watch the footie last night?  All I seem to get is a few word response at best.
-The stare is the big one.  Again you ask a question and they just seem to freeze and do not know how to respond
-Lack of initiative and problem solving themselves.  As soon as something happens that is outside their routine, comfort zone or out of kilter a bit again they just seem to freeze, panic and expect me to solve all their problems.
-Scared of answering the phone.  As soon as the phone goes which of course requires verbal skills they just ignore it or just pass it on to a senior member of staff.
These are just some examples and I am not giving a blanket opinion saying these apply to every young person but from experience in many cases they do. 
I then ask myself way is this? 
-Is it social media/technology where communication is just through your phone which could mean that you are not developing proper face to face communication skills.  I see it all the time are work, down the street, on the bus etc where people are just on their phone all the time
-Lack of socialising in general?  When I was younger I climbed trees, played football on the park, then went to pub when older, fishing, hiking etc.  Looking back it was fun and it developed my social skills.  Is it the case that young people are now more isolated, staying at home more on their phones and computer playing games?  
-Are young people now being mollycoddled by their parents more and as a result are not developing their own independent living skills?
-Has the COVID pandemic/lockdowns has a lasting impact on young people?
-Financial constraints?  I remember the 2008 financial crisis and more recently the cost of living post pandemic.  Could it be a lack of UK economic growth over recent years, wage growth and inflation means young people have less money in their pocket? As a result they are less likely to afford social activities?  The amount of pubs and shops in my town that have shut is just absurd.
I am 39 now and looking back when I was younger I was more of an introvert.  I lacked life experience but by the time I hit my 20s I became more confident and learnt how to socialise and communicate better.  Fast forward to today and it seems that in many cases people who have now hit their 20s have still not developed their communication skills and this adds pressure and stress to other member of staff which I think is incredibly rude.
Again and I will emphasise again that this does not apply to every single young person.  I will totally respect other people other people's views who may disagree with me, I am just more interested in what other people's opinions, views and observations are?

Welcome to the HR culture.

I rarely speak to colleagues because my views are not DEI friendly. I suspect most people, whether they have my political views or not, know that a misunderstood word results in job termination. So we just don't bother anymore.

zagfles

There might be some truth in overuse of technology resulting in less social skills, but I know a lot of young people who have great social skills, problem solving ability etc. And there've always been people, of all ages, who are incapable of doing anything outside their normal routine and go into panic mode whenever anything unexpected happens. I've worked with people of all ages who are incapable of doing anything outside set routines and processes. One thing to bear in mind is that in the past a lot of jobs were boring and mundane and a lot of people liked those sort of jobs where they had a set routine and never needed to think outside the box or problem solve. Those types of jobs have mostly gone as technology can do most of the mundane stuff.

TBH it sounds like your employer's selection process isn't doing a good job if it doesn't test applicants problem solving ability, reaction to non standard situations etc. Either that or maybe they don't pay enough, I know at our old place they offered good training but then rubbish pay, so what tended to happen was they got a good cross section of recruits who stayed for the training, but then the better ones always left for better paying jobs, and those who left were the ones who had good problem solving and social skills, the ones that remained were the ones who had less drive and poor social/problem solving skills.