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The Cheapest Generation

theatlantic.com

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Re: The Cheapest Generation

#61

Post by sliverstorm »

_delirium wrote: post #49
sliverstorm wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's always weird to hear other GenY say this. At least for me, growing up cars were exactly all of those things.

Maybe it's because they were nearly ubiquitous in the middle-class part of suburban Houston I grew up in, but even though lots of people hard cars, I somehow didn't really associate any status with them. Someone always had a car, and if you didn't, someone would pick you up. Nobody except rich kids owned their own cars, so you weren't driving anything particularly interesting anyway, just your mom's station wagon. As…

Sure, cars weren't status symbols to me or my friends, and I didn't meant to say they were. I said cars were everything my comment's parent listed- notice that comment didn't list "status symbol".

Re: The Cheapest Generation

#62

Post by wismer »

angersock wrote: post #7

Here are some scattered observations and opinions as somebody in this generation. I'm basically just dumping gut feelings here--don't expect a lot of well-written explanations. There is not a lot worth buying that is long-lasting. Most everything feels mass-produced and cheap, and the things that aren't are pretty obviously marketed at people trying to buck that trend. I don't want to pay 10x more for something witho…

> We don't believe in the news.

I'm 30. I still have faith in mainstream journalism, but not that what comes out of the 24-hour news cycle. That's rubbish.

However, there is still a corps of journalists that risk their lives (war-torn area coverage) and their careers (govt threatening arrest) to get the news out. They also happen to belong to some major news outlets.

I have faith in their abilities to sort out what can be printed and what cannot. They are able to find nuance in reporting both major and minor world events that the average citizen of the world cannot. These individuals are consummate professionals whose fidelity to ethical journalism is vibrant and strong. It would be mistake to count them out.

I raise this contention because of the noticeable rise of alternative news sources. Some of us disenchanted with mainstream news flock to these news outlets, that, while being exclusively online, do not have a large editorial presence. It's much easier for self-styled journalists to publish articles that reach into questionable territory, sometimes raising allegations against individuals, corporations or governments that may in the end not be true. Without an editorial board, we all lose.

Anyway. Every news source has a "slant". Some more so than others and I firmly believe that the "others" have it in spades. But that's just me.

Re: The Cheapest Generation

#63

Post by harpastum »

warfangle wrote: post #32
stdbrouw wrote: post #27

It's an intriguing idea and there's probably something to it, but what kind of shitty journalism is this? > Needless to say, the Great Recession is responsible for some of the decline. Yep, but somehow that's a boring assumption that doesn't gel with the authors' thinking so they just brush it aside completely. > First, gas prices more than doubled, which made car-sharing alluring. Because the cost of a car-share is…

> Because the cost of a car-share is somehow independent of gas prices? Really? Zip car rentals include gas.

But the rental price includes the price of gas. If gas prices tripled tomorrow, Zipcar would have to raise their rates.

It's a bit more decoupled for the customer, but it has the same impact overall.

Re: The Cheapest Generation

#64

Post by sliverstorm »

eli_gottlieb wrote: post #51
sliverstorm wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's always weird to hear other GenY say this. At least for me, growing up cars were exactly all of those things.

If I want the "freedom feeling" of the open road and the wind in my hair, I'll get a moped or motorcycle, and ride it in some backwoods location where joyriding doesn't actually mean getting hit by an irritated commuter.

Oh, it wasn't "freedom of open spaces", it was "freedom of travel". A large part of being a teenager is "discovery". As a young teenager, my range was effectively limited to where I could pedal. The "freedom" was the world I discovered once I gained access to four wheels. The beach, San Francisco, San Jose, the mountains, and even simply staying out late (I hated biking home at night)

Re: The Cheapest Generation

#66

Post by tylerhwillis »

angersock wrote: post #7

Here are some scattered observations and opinions as somebody in this generation. I'm basically just dumping gut feelings here--don't expect a lot of well-written explanations. There is not a lot worth buying that is long-lasting. Most everything feels mass-produced and cheap, and the things that aren't are pretty obviously marketed at people trying to buck that trend. I don't want to pay 10x more for something witho…

I share a lot of the sentiment here, but I also think our generation is conditioned from a decade of hearing about all the newsworthy corner cases.

As an example: cops don't always make it worse, 95+% of the time they are helpful and create better outcomes for society. That said, all we've heard for the last ten years are the news stories that you mentioned - so we think of them as a negative force.

I think this same problem applies, in some capacity, to all the institutions listed here. That said, every single one of these institutions needs a massive overhaul to be a functioning member of the future (except cops, I really think you're wrong on that, they may need new priorities from the government -- but their organizational structure and methods seem to work pretty well).

Re: The Cheapest Generation

#67

Post by vezzy-fnord »

adamb_ wrote: post #58

One possible explanation for why Gen Y and younger aren't interested in buying cars is that the smartphone has replaced what the car once was: The primary tool for social interaction & experiencing the world.

I've always seen it from a highly pragmatic perspective as a mere method of transport.

Re: The Cheapest Generation

#68

Post by boyter »

bradleyjg wrote: post #13
angersock wrote: post #7

Here are some scattered observations and opinions as somebody in this generation. I'm basically just dumping gut feelings here--don't expect a lot of well-written explanations. There is not a lot worth buying that is long-lasting. Most everything feels mass-produced and cheap, and the things that aren't are pretty obviously marketed at people trying to buck that trend. I don't want to pay 10x more for something witho…

Late Gen X here. If these feelings are widespread amongst Gen Y, that actually makes me optimistic for the future. Thanks for writing it up.

Gen Y here. OP nailed it. I live in Sydney Australia and its exactly how I feel.

Re: The Cheapest Generation

#69

Post by angersock »

tylerhwillis wrote: post #66
angersock wrote: post #7

Here are some scattered observations and opinions as somebody in this generation. I'm basically just dumping gut feelings here--don't expect a lot of well-written explanations. There is not a lot worth buying that is long-lasting. Most everything feels mass-produced and cheap, and the things that aren't are pretty obviously marketed at people trying to buck that trend. I don't want to pay 10x more for something witho…

I share a lot of the sentiment here, but I also think our generation is conditioned from a decade of hearing about all the newsworthy corner cases. As an example: cops don't always make it worse, 95+% of the time they are helpful and create better outcomes for society. That said, all we've heard for the last ten years are the news stories that you mentioned - so we think of them as a negative force. I think this same…

I'll answer this directly before going home.

The problem is that departments are too underfunded to maintain a large presence (the beat cop chilling on your street in your neighborhoods substation), and the construction of cities (especially suburbs) is such that they cruise around in cop cars most of the day, except when they're actually engaged in an incident.

That means that, to the normal person, the sudden appearance of a cop is that of an alien "other"--and I would suspect a similar sense of detachment from their side of the fence.

This also means that when they get involved, they have to use standardized practices, which over time snowball into the impersonal human-crushing machinery we have today.

While it might work for society at large, for the percentage of folks who get caught in the gears it can be pretty terrible--especially because the cops (by which I also include prosecuting attorneys, judges, and the other apparatchik of the judicial and executive branch) have no reason to be lenient or reasonable. They simply dispense the law, as written.

The cases where the cops aren't bad news bears? Those, I suggest, are the exception rather then the rule--modern policing is quite reactionary in nature.

Re: The Cheapest Generation

#70

Post by angersock »

jseliger wrote: post #46
angersock wrote: post #7

Here are some scattered observations and opinions as somebody in this generation. I'm basically just dumping gut feelings here--don't expect a lot of well-written explanations. There is not a lot worth buying that is long-lasting. Most everything feels mass-produced and cheap, and the things that aren't are pretty obviously marketed at people trying to buck that trend. I don't want to pay 10x more for something witho…

I like a lot of what you say, especially about cars and urban development ( http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2013/08/13/why-would-you-want-... ), but I will note a couple other things: Police... always always always make things worse They don't always make things worse, as I discovered when a random guy pounded on my door in the middle of the night and threatened to kill me: http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/guy-…

Prediction:

The real test of our generation is going to be whether or not we succeed in bringing government back down to more manageable local levels, a sort of backlash against federalism.

The majority of issues we have could and should be solved locally, for proper values of "locally". The technology we have today could then be used to federate these communities on larger issues without giving over autonomy.

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