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The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millenial

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Re: The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millenial

#11

Post by _mhyx »

This is kind of meandering, and it loses the thread a bit in the end (it feels like he's getting to a point he's uncomfortable with ideologically), but it's extremely accurate. The bigger point about creating the future - that he seems to miss - is that it's a future _not everyone wants_, which drives a huge part of the "maga/bernie" divide he discusses.

He is right though - the rate of downward mobility among my young, bourgeoisie 20-somethings friends in NYC is shocking. 90%+ of my friends don't save anything, but take elaborate vacations several times a year, or go to multiple, expensive festivals. I have no idea what most of them would do if they lost their jobs. One of my friends quit their job and instantly is poor. They spent 3 weeks in Europe a month ago. He really hits the nail on the head in exploring their motivations, in my opinion.

Re: The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millenial

#12

Post by hkmurakami »

yaway wrote: post #7

there are too many digressions and obscure inside-references in this essay, but this cuts to the heart of the matter: "[Premium mediocre] is an economic and cultural rearguard action by young people launched into life from the old middle class, but not quite equipped to stay there, and trying to engineer a face-saving soft landing…somewhere." i'm 24 and while i can see the humor and hyperbole in this article, its als…

I have a few good friends who lean hard towards the mission driven engineering side. They tend to find each other for continual inspiration and support.

Find kindred spirits. It'll help you stay true to your way. All of us need this kind of community support from like minded peers.

Re: The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millenial

#13

Post by UnpossibleJim »

yaway wrote: post #7

there are too many digressions and obscure inside-references in this essay, but this cuts to the heart of the matter: "[Premium mediocre] is an economic and cultural rearguard action by young people launched into life from the old middle class, but not quite equipped to stay there, and trying to engineer a face-saving soft landing…somewhere." i'm 24 and while i can see the humor and hyperbole in this article, its als…

Yeah. That's basically what happened to the kids of the 60's and the kids of the 80's. They started out anticorp and f-society, then ended up doing cocaine in the boardroom and smashing anything that they didn't own. It's a weird shift that seems to happen. =)

Re: The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millenial

#14

Post by jordanpg »

yaway wrote: post #7

there are too many digressions and obscure inside-references in this essay, but this cuts to the heart of the matter: "[Premium mediocre] is an economic and cultural rearguard action by young people launched into life from the old middle class, but not quite equipped to stay there, and trying to engineer a face-saving soft landing…somewhere." i'm 24 and while i can see the humor and hyperbole in this article, its als…

It feels like the author started by coining a catchy turn of phrase, "premium mediocrity", and then just started writing until he tenuously connected it with his various insights about the psychosocial dynamics of Millennials.

The important detail about "premium mediocrity" seems to be that it is manifestly not, in fact, "premium". It's the end result, the evolution, of armies of marketing people doing their job. A gimmick.

I think the people he writes about are more savvy to this than he gives them credit for. It's just that these kinds of consumption choices are just usually the most convenient, and there are lots of other things to be dealing with.

Re: The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millenial

#15

Post by damnfine »

mfoy_ wrote: post #9
dforrestwilson wrote: post #2

I feel like I've seen all of these strata. My timeline goes like this: 1) Worked at a defense tech startup, learned some code, told the AI what to do. 2) Got MBA, worked at big Wall Street bank with millionaire boss. Met some management teams at massive companies, discovered they were just ordinary people for the most part. Completely disregarded AI/tech because we were Too Big to Fail. 3) For the kiddos, I gave up h…

I've never understood the instagram / facebook game that people seem to dedicate inordinate amounts of effort to... I mean, I guess it's just your typical one-upsmanship in a social network... but still. People try so hard to make it look like their lives are better than everyone else's... I don't understand. :(

And you almost always make your actual life objectively worse in the process. I dated a media junkie, never any fun, always posing, aranging dishes, making 'moments' instead of actual enjoiable memories. She was an amazing person, but the near OCD levels of trying to make life look perfect to the outside just didnt work for me. The most amazing moments in her life, never documented, only a ghost shell online to paint a false memory.

Re: The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millenial

#16

Post by hkmurakami »

mfoy_ wrote: post #9
dforrestwilson wrote: post #2

I feel like I've seen all of these strata. My timeline goes like this: 1) Worked at a defense tech startup, learned some code, told the AI what to do. 2) Got MBA, worked at big Wall Street bank with millionaire boss. Met some management teams at massive companies, discovered they were just ordinary people for the most part. Completely disregarded AI/tech because we were Too Big to Fail. 3) For the kiddos, I gave up h…

I've never understood the instagram / facebook game that people seem to dedicate inordinate amounts of effort to... I mean, I guess it's just your typical one-upsmanship in a social network... but still. People try so hard to make it look like their lives are better than everyone else's... I don't understand. :(

It's a reflection of our deep insecurities, at least for some of us.

As I've resolved my internal conflicts, I've gone back and manually deleted my "high status" posts from IG/FB even if no one's going to be checking my 3 year old posts. It feels good to move past some of my past vain behavior.

Re: The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millenial

#17

Post by raverbashing »

mfoy_ wrote: post #9
dforrestwilson wrote: post #2

I feel like I've seen all of these strata. My timeline goes like this: 1) Worked at a defense tech startup, learned some code, told the AI what to do. 2) Got MBA, worked at big Wall Street bank with millionaire boss. Met some management teams at massive companies, discovered they were just ordinary people for the most part. Completely disregarded AI/tech because we were Too Big to Fail. 3) For the kiddos, I gave up h…

I've never understood the instagram / facebook game that people seem to dedicate inordinate amounts of effort to... I mean, I guess it's just your typical one-upsmanship in a social network... but still. People try so hard to make it look like their lives are better than everyone else's... I don't understand. :(

I think you don't understand because you're missing the marketing dimension of it

A lot of these "digital influencers" get endorsement deals, are paid to post for a brand or to test their products

That's what (a lot of them) are looking for

Re: The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millenial

#18

Post by [deleted] »

jerf wrote: post #10
nimbix wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like what a friend of mine likes to call "the pain of easy living".

We come from a billion+ years of organisms that have had to strive and fight for everything. Not necessarily all the time; there are brief times when resources are free and easy for some species (like, "a disease kills of 95% of your species and you're the only thing around that eats grass" or something; for the survivors it's suddenly a cornucopia), but they don't last this long, nor are they ever this easy. It's no…

[deleted]

Re: The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millenial

#19

Post by flachsechs »

_mhyx wrote: post #11

This is kind of meandering, and it loses the thread a bit in the end (it feels like he's getting to a point he's uncomfortable with ideologically), but it's extremely accurate. The bigger point about creating the future - that he seems to miss - is that it's a future _not everyone wants_, which drives a huge part of the "maga/bernie" divide he discusses. He is right though - the rate of downward mobility among my you…

> the rate of downward mobility among my young, bourgeoisie 20-somethings friends in NYC is shocking

i dunno, i'd argue these people aren't downwardly mobile because they were never upper middle class to begin with (bourgeoisie). if you have no saved money and your family can't just straight up give you money to live if you lose your job, you're lower to lower middle at best. better luck next time, etc.

and if the parents have the money but aren't willing -- then they are but a cleverly constructed socioeconomic facsimile of the upper classes, but aren't truly that thing. the upper classes will stop at nothing from ensuring their progeny maintains or outperforms their own status. to them, that's _the whole point_ of having money. by definition they will give their wealth to their offspring in times of need, barring exceptional circumstances like enabling alcoholism or something equally untoward.

upper middle and upper class kids can fuck off to do a phd for 8 years, or traipse around europe, or attempt to launch a business and fail, with basically no consequence whatsoever.

btw the 'classes' really are a [not quintile] system, like in economics. the interesting thing is the money is secondary, it's social status that really matters. and by this, i mean it is exceedingly unlikely for classes 4 and 5 to fall down, because their money is entrenched in the financial system. i.e. they own stuff and would literally have to work at liquidating and spending it all, in a sort of drawn out socioeconomic suicide.

1. lower class (poor people) 2. lower middle class 3. middle class 4. uppper middle class 5. upper class

Re: The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millenial

#20

Post by arkh »

yaway wrote: post #7

there are too many digressions and obscure inside-references in this essay, but this cuts to the heart of the matter: "[Premium mediocre] is an economic and cultural rearguard action by young people launched into life from the old middle class, but not quite equipped to stay there, and trying to engineer a face-saving soft landing…somewhere." i'm 24 and while i can see the humor and hyperbole in this article, its als…

"overall i feel my generation, or at least my social strata, will mature to be colder, harder and more distant than our predecessors. all it will take to cement this transformation is another recession "

I think you're wrong. I think the previous generation was colder and harder than us. Boomers exploited the silent generation. Boomers got children as a sacrifice to their never-ending hunger for more. They're the cold, hard and calculating ones who fucked and are fucking over every other generation.

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