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Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

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Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#41

Post by blattimwind »

austincheney wrote: post #34
WhompingWindows wrote: post #9

Social media's ills, rising wealth and income inequality, rising sea levels, mass extinction event, crumbling roads, shit wages, corruption in government and industry, governments overwhelmingly filled with representatives of other generations with different priorities...there is a huge list of reasons to be pessimistic and they are constantly thrown in our faces online.

It’s really hard to take that seriously. If social media is causing you heartburn then back away from it or delete your accounts. I deleted my Facebook account nearly a decade ago and deleted my Reddit account last year. Nobody is forcing you to be a drug addict slave of online media. Some of your list looks like entitled anxiety desperately in search of sympathy. For example you mention rising sea levels. Do you own…

> Do you own ocean front property or did you just list that for some abstract reason?

I know some nice Dutch people :)

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#42

Post by dsfyu404ed »

Kye wrote: post #31
syn0byte wrote: post #15

A single mother working as a waitress at Denny's in the 1980's had more spending power than a college educated cubicle drone in 2019; Let's talk about how is social media's fault! Twice in the last 20 years - more than any other time in US history combined - The Presidential election went to the candidate that LOST the popular vote; These generations just lack a proper understanding of civics! The beatings will conti…

>> "Twice in the last 20 years - more than any other time in US history combined - The Presidential election went to the candidate that LOST the popular vote" There aren't a lot of data points--less than 100--for this, so it might not be statistically significant. Both those presidents are awful , but that could be an anomaly once seen in the context of a more significant sample.

Trump hasn't gotten us into any trillion dollar boondoggles in the middle east (knock on wood) so I think the history books in 100yr are going to consider W "bad" and Trump "mediocre". I'd still rather have W in the white house though. Uncouth comments and geopolitical stupidity get forgotten in the long term. Iraq, the GWOT and the accompanying erosion of our freedoms will be what's in the history books. Obama will be known for the ACA (even if it is subsequently repealed it will be known as the first attempt at a nation wide healthcare solution). Trump will be a footnote. It'll be interesting to see what the next administration brings.

Edit: Is this at -2 because I'm wrong or because people lose the capacity for critical thought when the orange man is involved?

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#43

Post by crooked-v »

xyzzyz wrote: post #26
syn0byte wrote: post #15

A single mother working as a waitress at Denny's in the 1980's had more spending power than a college educated cubicle drone in 2019; Let's talk about how is social media's fault! Twice in the last 20 years - more than any other time in US history combined - The Presidential election went to the candidate that LOST the popular vote; These generations just lack a proper understanding of civics! The beatings will conti…

A single mother working as a waitress at Denny's in the 1980's had more spending power than a college educated cubicle drone in 2019 Do you have any source to support this? Because real median personal[1] income went up almost 50% since then[2]. [1] — don't confuse it with real median household income, which didn't grow nearly as much, because of a significant rise in single-person households which pushes the median…

For some simple examples, inflation-adjusted home prices have gone up by a factor of 6 and inflation-adjusted education prices have gone up by a factor of 3 over the past few generations [1], while inflation-adjusted average wages have only gone up by $2/hour [2]. That single mom would have had a dramatically easier time providing housing and education for kids even with lower purchasing power for most consumer goods.

[1]: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/29/how-much-college-tuition-has...

[2]: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/07/for-most-us...

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#44

Post by el_benhameen »

ilovecaching wrote: post #6

I think this is predominantly due to these generations feeling the affects of social media. They are the guinea pigs of a world wide experiment. They’re the first generation that is constantly barraged with photos that lead them to fomo and unrealistic expectations. I would argue this is a greater factor in producing pessimests than a downturned economy or bearing the burden of the boomers mistakes (climate change et…

A single point of anecdata, but I couldn't care less about what my acquaintances are posting on social media (though I do think that the marketing there is designed to create fomo, etc.) I've been feeling pessimistic lately, and it's almost entirely due to the idea that my two kids will live in a world defined by climate-induced catastrophe and upheaval, and that most of those in a position to make the large-scale changes necessary to mitigate this are at best ambivalent and at worst openly hostile toward those changes.

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#45

Post by Qwertystop »

oldjokes wrote: post #20
luckydata wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

maybe we're also the first generation in a while that's seeing things considered normal by our parents systematically out of reach? Maybe we're a little pissed off that the implicit promise society made us if we "worked hard and played by the rules" like politicians like to say is being systematically broken? It's pretty clear it's not just the way we fell about things, we're objectively worse off than the previous c…

I hear this complaint a lot, but never really any details. What specifically are you mad about being out of reach and which metrics do you think you're worse off on compared to previous generations? Honest question. Is it just materials and money per person? Something more?

Owning a home is a big one. Being able to afford retirement is another. Not having college debt.

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#48

Post by internet_user »

crooked-v wrote: post #43
xyzzyz wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A single mother working as a waitress at Denny's in the 1980's had more spending power than a college educated cubicle drone in 2019 Do you have any source to support this? Because real median personal[1] income went up almost 50% since then[2]. [1] — don't confuse it with real median household income, which didn't grow nearly as much, because of a significant rise in single-person households which pushes the median…

For some simple examples, inflation-adjusted home prices have gone up by a factor of 6 and inflation-adjusted education prices have gone up by a factor of 3 over the past few generations [1], while inflation-adjusted average wages have only gone up by $2/hour [2]. That single mom would have had a dramatically easier time providing housing and education for kids even with lower purchasing power for most consumer goods…

that just means a single mother today working the same job would be able to afford fewer things than 20 years ago.

where is the comparison with cubicle drones?

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#49

Post by john_moscow »

makerofspoons wrote: post #30

"Climate change, protecting the environment and natural disasters topped the list of most respondents on a personal level, but less than three in ten of both the Millennial and Gen Z cohorts cited it as a worry." This is surprising. As a Gen Z-er this highlights the kind of bubble I find myself in- my friend group is almost universally in a state of despair about the collapsing biosphere. Climate change and mass exti…

Are you sure? Does the climate change affect your personal life more than inability to afford reasonable real estate or kid-related expenses off most today's salaries?

Re: Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds

#50

Post by Kye »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #42
Kye wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> "Twice in the last 20 years - more than any other time in US history combined - The Presidential election went to the candidate that LOST the popular vote" There aren't a lot of data points--less than 100--for this, so it might not be statistically significant. Both those presidents are awful , but that could be an anomaly once seen in the context of a more significant sample.

Trump hasn't gotten us into any trillion dollar boondoggles in the middle east (knock on wood) so I think the history books in 100yr are going to consider W "bad" and Trump "mediocre". I'd still rather have W in the white house though. Uncouth comments and geopolitical stupidity get forgotten in the long term. Iraq, the GWOT and the accompanying erosion of our freedoms will be what's in the history books. Obama will…

Time will tell, but you might be right. Almost everything I dislike (or fear) about Trump is stuff W was on board with, but it was the status quo then. W wasn't great for LGBTQ+ rights (for example) either, but his views and polices didn't stand out as much. Trump's SCOTUS picks will probably look worse in the 100 year view.
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