For a potential solution, see "15 Million Merits", the second episode of Black Mirror. :)
Study finds young men are playing video games instead of getting jobs
21–30 of 59 posts
Re: Study finds young men are playing video games instead of getting jobs
#22What 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…
I think people want to know why there's no longer an easier way. It seems people 50 years ago didn't have to dedicate their waking hours from 6 to 18 years old constructing an impressive enough resume to give them the luxury of then dumping a hundred thousand dollars on an employable education.
Software has an obscenely low bar for getting experience, you're right. Software comprises enough job vacancies to employ the country?
The simple fact is that the system is obviously broken, and it should be just as obvious that it wasn't broke by the people who weren't yet born when it fell apart.
I'll tell you, I'm a pretty hard worker. I work nowhere near as hard as the laborers down the street who go day in day out being told this incoherent narrative of "just work harder and it'll pay off!" There's no reason to believe that it will. Why wouldn't they just do bare minimum and go home and play video games?
Re: Study finds young men are playing video games instead of getting jobs
#23Often, getting a job is a stepping stone to impress a woman, get married, and have children.
That takes a long time, and women these days usually work, making your job a lot less attractive to them.
Why not play video games at home? At least then you'd know you'd have some fun.
Re: Study finds young men are playing video games instead of getting jobs
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
If the economists in the article are to be believed, these aren't simply "people that don't want to work." They're people who ordinary have always worked, but are now being actively persuaded not to by this new force known as video games. So it's not analogous to alcoholics being alcoholics. It's better compared to the introduction of a wholly new drug into society, which has subsequently altered the behavior of a heretofore normal, hard-working, non-addicted segment.
Secondly, while it may seem appropriate to deride these people as useless and lazy ne'er-do-wells, that characterization isn't apt. It's not as if they're living lives of misery, unable to overcome some base desire to pull themselves out of it. Quite the contrary: they're happier than the rest of us. They're looking at the options that society has presented them with, and making a perfectly logical choice to spend their days engaged in meaningful, rewarding, social, challenging, and fulfilling activity -- in a fantasy world. Why would they go to work at dead end jobs if they have the option not to?
Re: Study finds young men are playing video games instead of getting jobs
#25Earlier 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…
I think people want to know why there's no longer an easier way. It seems people 50 years ago didn't have to dedicate their waking hours from 6 to 18 years old constructing an impressive enough resume to give them the luxury of then dumping a hundred thousand dollars on an employable education. Software has an obscenely low bar for getting experience, you're right. Software comprises enough job vacancies to employ th…
I only know employment in IT. I have no doubt that people in other sectors, particularly blue collar, have it much harder.
Re: Study finds young men are playing video games instead of getting jobs
#26There are many companies (should be familiar to anyone in tech) and well funded organizations working hard to give more opportunities to women.
Well, they succeeded and this is what success looks like.
Their work hasn't stopped either, so expect even more success in the future.
Re: Study finds young men are playing video games instead of getting jobs
#27Earlier 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…
I think people want to know why there's no longer an easier way. It seems people 50 years ago didn't have to dedicate their waking hours from 6 to 18 years old constructing an impressive enough resume to give them the luxury of then dumping a hundred thousand dollars on an employable education. Software has an obscenely low bar for getting experience, you're right. Software comprises enough job vacancies to employ th…
"It seems people 50 years ago didn't have to dedicate their waking hours from 6 to 18 years old constructing an impressive enough resume"
People 50 years ago didn't go to University - and they took a menial job at the factory, or did 'what their parents' did, took over the family shop/farm etc..
They earned very little, travelled little, had little in the way of material or aspirational opportunities.
They also had strong gender, family, social roles they were expected to adhere to, including going to Church every Sunday.
They also lived in mostly ethnocentric communities, knew their neighbours.
'We chose' what we have now, and at least in material terms, it's a whole lot better. There's a lot of opportunity out there.
Yes, it means most people will have to 'work' - and do things like accounting, IT, customer support etc. etc. - but frankly, that's not so bad.
Most people have little to complain about.
Re: Study finds young men are playing video games instead of getting jobs
#28This article is a pile of just-so bullshit designed to appeal to baby boomers so they can convince themselves that voting against unemployment benefits isn't going to directly screw over a whole bunch parents and children from all over the social strata.
Facts are not BS.
Re: Study finds young men are playing video games instead of getting jobs
#29This article is a pile of just-so bullshit designed to appeal to baby boomers so they can convince themselves that voting against unemployment benefits isn't going to directly screw over a whole bunch parents and children from all over the social strata.
In order to qualify for unemployment benefits, one needs to have been employed.
Re: Study finds young men are playing video games instead of getting jobs
#30"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…
Oh you're an economist, huh? And Greg Kaplan isn't smart? Doubt it.
No matter if the "void" is filled with other people, there will always be a big chunk of labour that could be used for something NOT being utilised.