Gen Z, a much maligned and panicked-about generation, are behind a remarkable collapse in weekend violence. Great reporting from @fransham.bsky.social www.economist.com/britain/2025... - ThreadSky

matthewholehouse.bsky.social • 14 days ago

Gen Z, a much maligned and panicked-about generation, are behind a remarkable collapse in weekend violence. Great reporting from @fransham.bsky.social

https://www.economist.com/britain/2025/05/15/how-to-prevent-drunken-punch-ups

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Comments

padsky.bsky.social•14 days ago

Speaking to my kid at secondary school and some parents wirh (much) older kids it feels like violence has been significantly removed from a lot of schools too. A good thing, if somewhat remarkable. Only have anecdotal to go on however

iainsimpson.bsky.social•14 days ago

Schools have much more robust anti-bullying policies than they used to. I remember a teacher telling me that if someone hit me, I should hit them back. Nowadays children learn from a young age that violence is something that is dealt with, not tolerated.

padsky.bsky.social•14 days ago

Good. I'm pleased as a human un general and father specifically. Remarkable how swiftly it has changed.

folkparanoia.bsky.social•14 days ago

There really has been a change in culture in school around bullying in recent decades. I think a big part of it is teachers not acting as the ringleaders as much.

dmk1793.bsky.social•14 days ago

How much is this about people staying inside

cjayanetti.bsky.social•14 days ago

that and low alcohol consumption. the narratives about Gen Z have never been that they're running riot

mattfallaize.bsky.social•14 days ago

Eh, there's been a fair bit of "the kids today, with their knives" but yes, most commentary has been "urgh, they're going to the gym and drimking green tea, the bastards"

leavingplanet.bsky.social•14 days ago

And socialising at home and online. Multiplayer games allow the violence without the um, violence.

I'm also seeing a really healthy pickup in dungeons and dragons, LARP etc. Roleplay, acting, violence by proxy. All whilst camping in a field, the devils!

milesmaxwell.bsky.social•13 days ago

Brilliant stuff - three great graphs which tell a compelling, positive story. Thanks for sharing. Hopefully we’ll have less of ‘the youth of today’ pearl-clutching from Boomers (I am one, btw!).

benansell.bsky.social•14 days ago

Wondering if we can still make the ‘it’s the lead, stupid’ arguments or if there’s a new battery of explanations.

snoopster.bsky.social•14 days ago

If there is any type of geographical breakdown then I'm sure someone will map it against old coal fields...

markpackuk.bsky.social•14 days ago

That looks to me suspiciously like a trend that mirrors that for social media usage...

matthewholehouse.bsky.social•14 days ago

Drinking is down but is it by as much as violence? Should be possible to calculate punches per pints consumed

plentie.bsky.social•14 days ago

Can't wait for a renowned social psychologist to write a bestseller about this.

jamesdaustin.bsky.social•14 days ago

And alcohol usage (and... erm... socialising more generally.)

These things may be linked.

aidan.skinner.me.uk•14 days ago

drinking at hom vs drinking out big part of it as well as lower levels

markpackuk.bsky.social•14 days ago

After being punched, people turn to drink and social media to calm down and recover?

markpackuk.bsky.social•14 days ago

(The more serious point I guess being the cost of getting drunk away from your home may be the underlying issue?)

jamesdaustin.bsky.social•14 days ago

Cost of getting drunk away from your home and the fact younger people socialise less generally.

Most violence is driven by young men aged 16 - 25 and, well, they're at home playing CoD not in the pubs

mariosrichards.bsky.social•14 days ago

Only one way to be sure.

benansell.bsky.social•14 days ago

Not sure I’ll get that RCT through ethics

mariosrichards.bsky.social•14 days ago

I think The People have had enough of so-called experts telling them they can't eat lead.

dsquareddigest.bsky.social•14 days ago

I noticed about 10 years ago that the "hard lads" at my son's school seemed to hardly ever have a fight; equivalents in my school days had pretty much a full-time job defending the title.

theangelofhistory.bsky.social•14 days ago

We’ve lost something beautiful

dsquareddigest.bsky.social•14 days ago

you've got to move on. Lenny "The Guvnor" McLean would not have been able to cope with tiktok bullying.

sophie1982.bsky.social•14 days ago

God this is interesting! Is the huge amount of exposure to being checked by your peers or the massive amounts of antidepressants and more mental health supports. Or is it the microplastics blunting those testosterone levels or is it the woke mind virus. 🤣 🤔

benadamso-o.bsky.social•14 days ago

I'm Gen X. A couple of times I asked my kids if there were any fights at school & they were like what are you even talking about? It became a running gag. They'd come home and I'd say how was your day were there any fights and they'd laugh. "Dad there are never any fights." (A few did happen in HS.)

ethicalpervert.bsky.social•14 days ago

I'm Gen X. My 12 year old watched his classmates jump their English teacher last year!

sophie1982.bsky.social•14 days ago

I remember once having to pick my lunch tray up and just casually moving as two boys fought over the table I was eating at. This was a gifted kids school too lol. We just didn’t even blink.

theangelofhistory.bsky.social•14 days ago

From what gather both violence and open bullying are taken very seriously now in a way they weren’t 30 years ago

annettebramley.bsky.social•14 days ago

Although my kids also knew exactly who was dealing drugs at school so not sure everything is rosy. I do think the less alcohol consumption probably has a lot to answer for in the data though.

adamlbrown.bsky.social•14 days ago

This is good, but also it's because they're not leaving the house, which isn't so great

janetsouthcoast.bsky.social•14 days ago

11-17 is down, when you would be led to believe violence among young people is rampant.

billheywood.bsky.social•14 days ago

Good news

They seem less keen on getting drunk as previous generations were

bobsrailrelics.co.uk•14 days ago

There is a song by Martyn Joseph called 'Here comes the young'. Second line is "inclusive in every way' Sums up Z's.

fintantwrong.bsky.social•14 days ago

I have a theory about this: no exposure to leaded petrol fumes.

iramjohn.bsky.social•14 days ago

The real question is what makes Monday night violence so recalcitrant, and why this means trans women can’t be allowed to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity.

danielbullen.bsky.social•14 days ago

Wonder if there is a correlation to less alcohol consumption?

okthen25.bsky.social•14 days ago

They are not going out anymore. Whilst this reduces the horrible binge drinking I am not sure if it is good for them.

tootlefish.bsky.social•14 days ago

A side point, Monday is now more violent than Saturday, which I would not have believed.

nharper.bsky.social•14 days ago

it's the overflow from the sunday scaries

tootlefish.bsky.social•14 days ago

Yeah, I can see why it is the worst weekday. But compared to saturday took me by surprise.

cskog.bsky.social•14 days ago

Chat, please overlay childhood blood levels offset by 20 years prior.

sauvez-nos-ames.bsky.social•14 days ago

Wonder if that correlates with the reduction in the use of lead containing products and lead related environmental conditions.

fintantwrong.bsky.social•14 days ago

Yes.

pete-wells.bsky.social•14 days ago

Less lead, and less alcohol too I think

naomiofla.bsky.social•13 days ago

Definitely alcohol

wilburd.bsky.social•14 days ago

What a great trend. I'm a little worried it is caused by people just going out less, but still something to be celebrated.

simmo7484.bsky.social•14 days ago

That's exactly what it's caused by.

Nightclubs that used to be filled every Friday and Saturday night don't even exist anymore, complete shift of mindset in last 15 years.

A good/bad thing depends on perspective I suppose.

climatenick.bsky.social•14 days ago

Mindset and price! No one can afford prices at nightclubs any more.

jim.londoncentric.media•14 days ago

You can see this in football crowds, the teens are giving lip and filming themselves squaring up for social content but the only actual punches are being thrown by blokes in their 50s.

jrkasstan.bsky.social•14 days ago

CC @profgeoffpearson.bsky.social

eoinkeating.bsky.social•14 days ago

They’re also behind a remarkable collapse in public house bar queuing protocol. Old school ranks (scrums along the bar) replaced by two, maybe three, files stretching to ten or twelve apiece or until they run out of space in the seating area…

matthewholehouse.bsky.social•14 days ago

just a remarkably polite generation

eoinkeating.bsky.social•14 days ago

Having two Gen Z sons (and one marginal millennial), we’ve been impressed on more than a number of occasions by the solidarity of their friendship groups. Wonderful to see. They’re a fine group. Apart from suspect bar protocol.

eoinkeating.bsky.social•14 days ago

That politeness extends to we old gits whispering to each other whether to rebel and rush the bar like the old days (2024).

davidjwbailey.bsky.social•14 days ago

Tail End of the Tetra-Ethyl Lead in the environment scandal

jamesk80p.bsky.social•14 days ago

Every succeeding generation gets slammed in the UK - we live in a country of ridiculous nostalgia for the past that never was viewed through rose-tinted spectacles which never worked

vpcampbell.bsky.social•14 days ago

They're all at home on their smart phones/playing videogames/watching YouTube.

localnotail.bsky.social•14 days ago

Increased proportion of Muslims in Gen Z + lots of children who have seen their parents drinking and decided against it?

carterwickstrom.bsky.social•14 days ago

decreased environmental lead exposure

cat9.bsky.social•14 days ago

Very interesting piece, Matthew.

I especially liked this critical thinking by Prof. Shepherd:

"Police statistics undercount violent behaviour, as many assaults are not reported. Professor Shepherd realised that hospital attendances would provide a more complete picture."

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