That’s not show-off behavior. That’s thoughtless, entitled spoiled behavior.

She's doing it because it's pissing you off. I suspect she may not litter when on her own. As another PP said, she's rebelling.

Teens *have to* rebel, and if they are not allowed to rebel in harmless ways, they will go underground and rebel in worse ways. So while the littering is not exactly harmless to the environment, it's harmless to her in that it's not like she's frying her brain on crack.

Teens get a dopamine surge when you notice and comment or get riled. This ensures that they will do it again. So you have to ignore it. It won't go away immediately but it will go away after they test you multiple times and you do not react. (they have to test you multiple times, because you reacted before. If you had never reacted, it would have ended sooner)

(from Yes Your Teen is Crazy--book)

Anonymous wrote:Her attitude is typical of millennials. No forward thinking. Not apologetic. Disrespectful.
There is a coworker at work with the "be ignorant about XYZ, then apologize later for it" (he was about to purchase XYZ w/ the company credit card w/o purposely getting approval first). Um, play with fire much?

If there was ever a time for..... "Ok Boomer".....

It's really Not. Millennials have their over sharing faults and preoccupation with cultivating and image (not all that different from the 80s except their new scope of reach via social) but they are VERY socially aware in general. Care about environment etc

There was PSA put out by the national parks - or maybe it was a subset of them- about littering. Esp. the misconception that it is fine to throw out biodegradable food, including banana peels and apple cores. Find it and show it to her.

Long story short: it is bad for the environment and the wildlife.