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Study finds young men are playing video games instead of getting jobs

chicagotribune.com

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Re: Study finds young men are playing video games instead of getting jobs

#11

Post by csallen »

spectrum1234 wrote: post #5

"That's a big chunk of labor that could be used for something, and we're not using it," said Greg Kaplan, an economist at the University of Chicago who was not involved with the new research. I'm also an economist and this guy is not smart. Others will rush in the fill the void. Marginally there will be almost no difference. This guy is forgetting that directly below this group of men who now play video games is a ne…

I don't see how your statement contradicts his. The fact that other people will rush in to fill the void doesn't change the fact that tons of people will still be sitting at home playing video games. Hence his statement about a big chunk of labor remaining unused is still true.

Also, there's absolutely no guarantee that job opportunities will become more attractive at a rate that matches the attractiveness of video games. It's not hard to imagine a world 20 years from now in which millions of people spend 12+ hours a day in what essentially amounts to the Matrix, slaying dragons, shooting bad guys, and saving princesses. You might say to them, "Go out and get a job! There's no competition! You could make great money!" To which they could very logically reply, "Why would I need lots of money for? I'm perfectly happy right now."

Re: Study finds young men are playing video games instead of getting jobs

#12

Post by nercht12 »

What jobs? All the ones I know of are for people with "experience" with XYZ. Pardon if out of the bazillion candidates in this world, biz's can't find that oxymoron of a candidate: the perfect, outgoing socialite whose as good at brown-nosing as he is on the PC. You could roll the dice to go to school and end up stuck in debt over your head (btw, loan defaults are ever on the rise).

There's more to this story than just the problems of getting a job. Society has become very digitized, and more and more, I'm seeing children play LESS because of busy schedules, so it gets replaced by the next most convenient addicting thing: video games. Result? - Loss of imagination. When I hear of schools "bringing in technology", I can only cringe at how insert explicative the administration must be to not realize that technology is not a solution, it's only a tool. Kids aren't getting smarter (in fact, I only hear it's getting worse), they are becoming less inspired. Some guys I know got their degrees and only looked for work because they knew they needed it, but they had effectively no passion, no dream at doing much in life, and the fun they had was primarily from gaming. As someone who dreamed of doing big things, I found myself rather lonely in my objectives. (Needless to say, I don't play video games.) Anyone else felt this way?

Re: Study finds young men are playing video games instead of getting jobs

#13

Post by toomuchtodo »

csallen wrote: post #11
spectrum1234 wrote: post #5

"That's a big chunk of labor that could be used for something, and we're not using it," said Greg Kaplan, an economist at the University of Chicago who was not involved with the new research. I'm also an economist and this guy is not smart. Others will rush in the fill the void. Marginally there will be almost no difference. This guy is forgetting that directly below this group of men who now play video games is a ne…

I don't see how your statement contradicts his. The fact that other people will rush in to fill the void doesn't change the fact that tons of people will still be sitting at home playing video games. Hence his statement about a big chunk of labor remaining unused is still true. Also, there's absolutely no guarantee that job opportunities will become more attractive at a rate that matches the attractiveness of video g…

Ready Player One comes to mind.

Re: Study finds young men are playing video games instead of getting jobs

#14

Post by andrewstuart »

nercht12 wrote: post #12

What jobs? All the ones I know of are for people with "experience" with XYZ. Pardon if out of the bazillion candidates in this world, biz's can't find that oxymoron of a candidate: the perfect, outgoing socialite whose as good at brown-nosing as he is on the PC. You could roll the dice to go to school and end up stuck in debt over your head (btw, loan defaults are ever on the rise). There's more to this story than ju…

There's jobs for people who work hard. The vast majority of people don't want to do the hard work required to get a job.

A sense of entitlement for a job won't lead to anything except sitting at home playing video games wondering why no one has recognised the game players genius.

It's easy to overcome lack of experience - at least in the field of software development - by using your time not playing computer games but by programming and writing code for a well-known open source project. People don't want to hear this advice though - they want to know if there is an easier way.

Re: Study finds young men are playing video games instead of getting jobs

#16

Post by fjjrxcbdhx »

andrewstuart wrote: post #14
nercht12 wrote: post #12

What jobs? All the ones I know of are for people with "experience" with XYZ. Pardon if out of the bazillion candidates in this world, biz's can't find that oxymoron of a candidate: the perfect, outgoing socialite whose as good at brown-nosing as he is on the PC. You could roll the dice to go to school and end up stuck in debt over your head (btw, loan defaults are ever on the rise). There's more to this story than ju…

There's jobs for people who work hard. The vast majority of people don't want to do the hard work required to get a job. A sense of entitlement for a job won't lead to anything except sitting at home playing video games wondering why no one has recognised the game players genius. It's easy to overcome lack of experience - at least in the field of software development - by using your time not playing computer games bu…

>There's jobs for people who work hard.

So let's think this tautology through. It's difficult to get a job -> person is not able to get employment -> person becomes unemployed -> only lazy people are unemployed -> lazy people don't want jobs -> therefore everyone is employed

Re: Study finds young men are playing video games instead of getting jobs

#17

Post by Teever »

csallen wrote: post #11
spectrum1234 wrote: post #5

"That's a big chunk of labor that could be used for something, and we're not using it," said Greg Kaplan, an economist at the University of Chicago who was not involved with the new research. I'm also an economist and this guy is not smart. Others will rush in the fill the void. Marginally there will be almost no difference. This guy is forgetting that directly below this group of men who now play video games is a ne…

I don't see how your statement contradicts his. The fact that other people will rush in to fill the void doesn't change the fact that tons of people will still be sitting at home playing video games. Hence his statement about a big chunk of labor remaining unused is still true. Also, there's absolutely no guarantee that job opportunities will become more attractive at a rate that matches the attractiveness of video g…

But are they really a chunk of labour?

Like if people that chose to not work and play video games are a chunk of unused labour than so are unemployed alcoholics.

It's kind of a self-selecting thing, do you really want the people that don't want to work?

Re: Study finds young men are playing video games instead of getting jobs

#18

Post by andrewstuart »

fjjrxcbdhx wrote: post #16
andrewstuart wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's jobs for people who work hard. The vast majority of people don't want to do the hard work required to get a job. A sense of entitlement for a job won't lead to anything except sitting at home playing video games wondering why no one has recognised the game players genius. It's easy to overcome lack of experience - at least in the field of software development - by using your time not playing computer games bu…

>There's jobs for people who work hard. So let's think this tautology through. It's difficult to get a job -> person is not able to get employment -> person becomes unemployed -> only lazy people are unemployed -> lazy people don't want jobs -> therefore everyone is employed

You can make my words say that if you want.

Re: Study finds young men are playing video games instead of getting jobs

#19

Post by fjjrxcbdhx »

andrewstuart wrote: post #18
fjjrxcbdhx wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>There's jobs for people who work hard. So let's think this tautology through. It's difficult to get a job -> person is not able to get employment -> person becomes unemployed -> only lazy people are unemployed -> lazy people don't want jobs -> therefore everyone is employed

You can make my words say that if you want.

It's an empty statement because as long as anyone is employed, there will still be "enough jobs for people who work hard." It doesn't matter if there's 99.999% unemployment, since working hard by your definition is circularly referenced to already having a job. The word for that is a tautology.

Re: Study finds young men are playing video games instead of getting jobs

#20

Post by tomjen3 »

nercht12 wrote: post #12

What jobs? All the ones I know of are for people with "experience" with XYZ. Pardon if out of the bazillion candidates in this world, biz's can't find that oxymoron of a candidate: the perfect, outgoing socialite whose as good at brown-nosing as he is on the PC. You could roll the dice to go to school and end up stuck in debt over your head (btw, loan defaults are ever on the rise). There's more to this story than ju…

Doesn't matter if the business wants x y and z, if you only have x you write a letter and apply anyway. As in dating, let the other partner turn you down.
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