101–110 of 140 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
our richest man is essentially a man child and i believe mores in society are always established by those at the top.
How is he a “man child”? Does tweeting funny memes or light trolling make you child? If yes, is that not negated by raising multiple children, founding multiple businesses, and employing hundreds of people?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe it's because the children who manage society and business want their workers and citizens to take their bullshit seriously. So they shaped a false and convenient image of what it means to be an "adult", such as putting work above family and personal life.
Yes, it's because of incentives. In dating, it's seen as a big negative to be a "manchild" or be dating a manchild; in less inflammatory terms, being seen as immature is seen as negative in the dating world. This is actually quite fair: it's natural for someone in a relationship to prefer a responsible person with self-control (e.g. holds a good job, cleans up, and is financially responsible). A person can take being…
I know a few "NEETs" in my life that are "manchildren" and few of them are happy, and I know a few workaholics that also feel miserable. The thing is, success does indeed make people happy, and so does free time. To feel satisfied one must find work that feels somewhat meaningful, or at least shows some kind of success, and have enough time to enjoy life itself.
TL;DR: too much of anything is a bad thing. Being a manchild or a workaholic is equally bad. Find a balance between fun and work.
I have all the paraphernalia of adulthood - a mortgage, a car, a career, a wife, a child (and hopefully more on the way) - but I have none of the mindset, attitude, or even the body language “adults” used to have. Or at least adults from my father’s generation. I do improv on the weekends. Sometimes I produce music. Edgy, electronic stuff. I like to dance and do strange, funny gestures and voices with my kid. Its a r…
These days, you can do your own thing, and people are generally cool with that as long as you don't bother them with your hobbies. There's less judging, less expectations to fit the norm, and more self-expression in a lot of "modern" behaviour.
Certain people in the older generation seem to lament this; "back in my day, we didn't play dress up and go to conventions" and other such nonsense. I don't know if it's inability to let other people have fun or envy of the freedoms (young) adults have these days, but it feels like the main focus of their complaint seems all about how modern things weren't considered proper and right back when they were young, rather than provide some reason why people shouldn't do what they do for fun.
Another change is the internet: my dad didn't have the internet when he was young so many hobbies he developed were based on social activities (sports and such) and collecting (records, CDs, etc.); you were very unlikely to run into someone who was as much into painting tiny figurines as you are online.
I also think childhood media plays a role: kids' shows have moved away from random violence towards a more constructive, positive role. The message of "just be yourself and you can do anything you want" that children's media repeated has seeped into kids of yesteryear, just like many shows about accepting people for who they are and being kind to another is changing the way kids act these days. Compare that to the old magazines from the 50s and 60s where children were told how to prepare for adulthood, how to be a good husband/wife, it was all so dang militaristic!
None of this is universal, of course; there are always people who will oppose the mainstream, who will do their own thing, or who will cling to old, outdated norms. However, you can find many discussions online about how kids are more caring towards each other than before, and you can find many news articles about "millenials" doing all kinds of things "wrong", written by angry old people who failed to keep up with the world.
Your last sentence is exactly right: who the hell cares? That's what makes the millennials different from the generation before it, and I'm sure their grandchildren will bring their own unique twist to society!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
our richest man is essentially a man child and i believe mores in society are always established by those at the top.
How is he a “man child”? Does tweeting funny memes or light trolling make you child? If yes, is that not negated by raising multiple children, founding multiple businesses, and employing hundreds of people?
I gave up after a paragraph or two. It looked like it was going to moan about people trying to have fun and do some self care. I don’t have time for that. Over time, I’ve come to see many “senior” or “success” behaviours as refined versions of childhood ones. Political sniping, business competitiveness, standard hierarchical power dynamics, etc. These are all “playground tactics” but grown up. I don’t see (many) “suc…
Very true, childish behavior, specially by decision makers, is the bane of society (always has been). Cosplaying by adults should be the least of our worries, and besides it isn't even a recent phenonema (at least not for men): carnival, secret cults, religious ceremonies.
I’m confused how that’s fundamentally different than cosplay at a convention.
I wonder if this ties into the quiet quitting and anti-work sentiment we're seeing post COVID too. People are stressed, wages lower than we deserve and no sign of changing, competition is now global with benefits going to a fraction of society, economic news which just gets darker. I don't blame people for regressing and "lying flat". My escape is watching people fishing and diving on deserted Indonesian islands on Y…
People are working too hard for too little gain. It's a mass burnout all over the society. And now, everyone will have to face another boom bust cycle. At some point, people just stop caring. The society wasn't working for them anyway. It might as well collapse.
Neoteny - "also called juvenilization,[5] is the delaying or slowing of the physiological, or somatic, development of an organism, typically an animal. Neoteny is found in modern humans compared to other primates."
> Neoteny is seen in domesticated animals such as dogs and mice.[25] This is because there are more resources available, less competition for those resources, and with the lowered competition the animals expend less energy obtaining those resources. This allows them to mature and reproduce more quickly than their wild counterparts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoteny
The point of being human is to change the environment to permit a more relaxed and enjoyable life.
What we call "adulthood" is the adjustment to a harsh reality, but that reality is not immutable. Science and technology (developed by our "neotenous" brains) gives us the leverage to literally remake the world in our image.
One of the biggest childishness-in-adulthood trends I've noticed is people supporting Trump. I could see a fourth-grader falling for Trump's schtick, maybe even a seventh-grader, but beyond that age supporting Trump is just a sign that you have not matured.
I think it's worth considering whether there are numerous levels to this phenomenon, and that you yourself are on one of those levels (as we all are)...and perhaps not the highest one (of which there may be no such thing, in fact).