OPINION: Is Generation Z the rudest cohort of young people ever known?

Is Generation Z, those now aged 12 to 27, the rudest generation ever known? I think it must be.

They are casual, uncaring and never imagine that arrangements they make are to be honoured.

As a case in point, my eldest grandson, aged 23, contacted me a couple of weeks ago to ask if he could come to lunch on Sunday.

We get on well and always have interesting conversations, so I said yes, I would be delighted.

Could he please confirm, and I would book a nearby restaurant.

As I hadn’t seen or heard from him since Christmas, I was thrilled that he had got in touch of his own accord.

I heard no more, so on the appointed day I messaged him three ways, by email, text and phone. No reply.

Should I start cooking, book the restaurant, or what? 12 o’clock came, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm. Nothing.

No grandson, no messages.

Finally, at 8pm and after prompting by his father, I had a brief text saying that he was out late the night before and sorry he didn’t let me know he wouldn’t be coming.

That meant a whole day, as far as I was concerned, was wasted. Don’t I matter? Don’t I count? It appears not.

I could perhaps excuse this behaviour in a 14-year-old, but for somebody who is supposedly an adult and holding down a responsible job, it is unforgivable and rude.

Nor is this an isolated example; just the latest.

Why are Gen Z so negligent and indifferent?

Vague promises to visit are rarely kept.

Admittedly, seeing your old granny or great aunt for lunch may not be the most exciting of adventures, but in our day, we viewed such visits as our bounden duty, knowing that the lonely elderly folk would be greatly cheered by the lively presence of young people.

And it’s not as though we are particularly demanding. Just seeing them once or twice a year is all we ask. But even that, it seems, is too much.

It didn’t occur to any of them, for instance, to wonder if I might be all on my own over Easter or think to cheer me up with a phone call or card.

And I know that it is not just my particular family who behaves like this.

Such lack of consideration is endemic among Gen Z.

A friend has several nieces and nephews in their teens and 20s. They say they are coming over, she gets in pizzas or other takeaway and looks forward to their visit.

Then, if something more exciting turns up, as it often does, they just don’t arrive, hardly ever bothering to let her know.

And “thank you”, it appears, is not in this generation’s vocabulary.

It never occurs to my five grandchildren, now all adults, to write or phone to say thank you for presents or for money sent for their gap years, driving lessons, new computers or guitars.

They have never been disciplined and believe the world revolves around them.

We shower largesse on them in the hope of a scrap of regard in return, which hardly ever comes.

Last year, I sent a special book about the Brontes to the teenage granddaughter of a friend who was studying Jane Eyre for A-level.

I bought the book in Haworth where the Brontes had lived and enclosed some postcards of the sisters as well.

Did I ever get any sort of acknowledgement? Did I heck!

These youngsters are the princelings of today, leading the lives they choose and never mind about anybody else.

The fact that somebody might be waiting in all day for a visit that never materialises, does not enter their heads.

And even when they do deign to pay a visit, usually turning up late, they spend the time just staring at their phones.

Why are Gen Z so negligent and indifferent?

My own take on this is that they have been spoilt to death from day one.

They have never been disciplined and believe the world revolves around them.

Schools, it seems, are not allowed to put anything negative on end-of-term reports, but must always offer the utmost encouragement, however low the standard.

The days of teachers putting pupils in their place with a cutting remark are long over.

Parents would complain that their little darlings had been upset and needed counselling and the teacher would probably get the sack.

Another factor is that their electronic devices have become more important to them than people.

Whenever you see a gaggle of teenagers in the street, their heads will be down looking at their phones, rather than interacting with each other.

Their whole lives, it seems, are conducted online.

And whereas my generation (I’m now 80), and also their parents, were independent and out in the world in our early 20s, at the latest, this lot are still living at home, not paying rent and having their washing done and meals cooked for them on demand.

This prolonged indulgence means that they never really grow up. So is it any wonder that they don’t give a minute’s thought to anybody else?