As someone who has just finished that phase of his life, would you like my observations? I may be able to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket.

If you want to post them, I wouldn't complain! ^...^

High school age people are incredibly insecure. (Now, normally I abstain from making such sweeping generalizations, but here it's pretty much fact.) This makes most folks have a predisposition to look down upon others, whether they're actively aware of it or not, so that they feel better about themselves thus assuaging their insecurities with false senses of superiority.

In layman's terms, They insult because they feel incompetent. This working theory actually explains a vast majority of internet trolls for the same reasons. They feel incompetent in real life, so the make up a cocky arrogant persona online. It's not always a bad thing, and is actually a healthy sign of development if not taken to extremes. I did it, they do it, most other people do it, and I can bet with a fair bit of confidence you do it too whether you know it or not. All of us make condescending remarks about others to varying degrees.

True, it sounds like you're not quite as bad as some. Between you and me we're a lot alike in that respect. What you see online is what you get in the real world, and neither of us are perfect. But the skill to keep an open and objective mind as best you can will serve you VERY well later in life when building professional relationships and true friendships in College.

[Editor's note: It's kinda late here, so please disregard any inconsistencies of tone or flow. I'm tired.]

Now, the reason you're seeing them so often nowadays is really an interesting one because the explanations are twofold!

Part 1: You're now in high school. Never in your life (unless you become a high school teacher, then god help you) will there ever be a more concentrated area of hormones, tempers, budding testicles wanting to assert their masculinity and dominance, and developing ovaries with no desires other than make sure they're the only set around. You are actually seeing a dramatic uptick in condescension because it's actually there. People have never been more insecure, and they have lots o targets to pick from.

Part 2: This reason is the sneakier, and more nefarious reason that will come back to bite you over and over for the rest of your life. You're noticing it more now because you're looking for it. Either actively or unconsciously, but you're looking for these behaviors. I've recently noticed beer ads more as I approach my 21st birthday, and the same applies for religious advertisements and such now that I have become an agnostic atheist. When you're unsure about something, or desiring something, you tend to notice it much more. Even though it's prevalence may or may not be any more prevalent.

The people at my work do this. I think it's just getting caught up in the attitude socially, and then it becomes a part of their personality. Ignorance is contagious =/

It annoys the hell out of me, too. They judge so blindly (though I do, too, but am less quick to blurt it out). I just wanna tell them to shut the fuck up and mind their own fucking business.

*nuzzles* I know how you feel.