People often say teenagers "think they know everything"?

This is indeed a deep question.

I'll just write a few lines to give you an idea of what I think -

We learn at every age - our learning starts from the day we are born.

As we get into our teens, we start learning more than what our parents teach us - this is usually the time when we get our first opportunity to experience the world by ourself.

During our teen years, for the most part, we learn FACTS. There aren't usually gray areas in many subjects. There's only right and wrong for us.

As we grow up, and experience the world more, including discussing experiences with other experienced people, we come to know that there isn't one right thing in many issues, and the concept of right and wrong becomes muddled with conflicting opinions, ideas, and needs. There are many examples.

I'm not sure why others say this, but I say this when I see absolutist views from teens - The other day, in a Q about military and women, a bunch of teens got on the Q and filled it with an absolutist view - "The US army is filled with drones - we don't need physical strength - we only need someone who can operate these drones from a remote location thousands of miles away". This made me laugh. I just told them that real war isn't like what they see in Transformers or Avatar, and that real strength, agility, stamina and quick thinking are key factors influencing survival in real-time combat situations.

Look at some of the 16 yo Feminists anywhere on the internet. They claim to be "HUGE" Feminists as if they've turned Feminism inside-out to know what it's about. Their arguments are also reminiscent of textbook Feminism "We women have been oppressed by men for tens of thousands of years". As if these girls lived all those years. LOL.

It's absolutist views like these from teens that make me talk about experience. This isn't just an ageist's opinion.

I think some teenagers are like that, but most can actually accept that they're young and inexperienced. I think a lot of adults are way worse for that, I know a lot of elder men and women who think they are superior to teenagers because they're older, but they can't even work a computer or accept the fact that some youths know more than them. Teenagers are stereotyped as moody and ignorant but I know quite a few who are willing to accept that they don't know everything, myself included. So, yes, it makes sense that this attitude gets worse with age, that explains why adults are worse than teenagers for that.

No, I don't see that as a true statement.

With the onset of asolescence and the initial rush of growth hormones, teenagers start becoming adults. They question the infallibility of their parents and through rebellion usually believe that they know better how to grow up than their parents do. There is a feeling that "they don't understand" and "they can't possibly know what I'm going through" and that translates into "they don't know anything. I know more about everything."

Gratefully, this is a fairly short bell-curve, and the mixture of fewer rebellious feelings, experience and learning what it is they actually don't know, and seeing that their parents might actually understand them better than they wanted to admit tends to cool this disgusted and disregarding nature.

As we age, many of us develop the ability to admit we are wrong about something and are more willing to admit it than teens. A teen would just be emotional about it and storm off in a huff.

I don't think I know everything. In fact, as I have aged I realize how little I do know. But, I do know enough to make me dangerous.

Teenagers are in the stage of figuring out how life works, plus trying to make the break from their parents. We all went through it and most of us turned into decent adults.

When my kids went through that, I took it all calmly. I'd still tell them what I thought, though. Sometimes I was wrong, and then I'd apologize, but more often they were wrong and later apologized to ME.

And whoever got apologized to got to do the "Told you so" dance. Which is very silly. And then we'd all laugh.

Your right about it getting worse day by day. I'm even more confused about the world now than I was a few years ago.

Anyway teenagers live in an imaginary world, which is, sometimes better. Because the reality can be hell a lot worse.

Teenagers have got better memories than people in their 40's but we tend to know far more about everything, than they do, unless it's anything about Justin Bieber or that Buble guy. Teens know about spot cream, perfecting they're hair and wearing the latest fashionable clothes. They know how to have a tantrum and how to slam doors and swear like a trooper.

Teens know how to be angry with their Government and have lot's of energy to spare for making sparkly banners and waving them on the marches... Teens know how to be smug that they've got 70 years left of life!

Most people after teen years learn to recognize when they don't know what they're talking about. THAT is what they mean by saying that- that teens are too self-absorbed and inexperienced to know they're usually wrong.

if adults know everything then why is the world so f*cked up... it wasn't teenagers who started the world wars, crusades, slavery, economic crises, genocides etc...

adults don't know sh*t, they've just lived longer so they've had more things happen to them, it's not because they're these all knowing and all wise creatures, you aren't better than someone because you were born before them by 15 years...

no. maybe as a twentager one still thinks they know everything, but the wise will reach a point where they realize they know less than they thought, and from that point on each year we realize we know less and less.