Millennials and Gen Z Increasingly Pessimistic About Their Lives, Survey Finds • Hacker News Board

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

#31

Post by Kye » Mon, May 20, 2019, 7:25 PM UTC

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.

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

#32

Post by dsfyu404ed » Mon, May 20, 2019, 7:25 PM UTC

klodolph wrote: post #19

inflatableDodo wrote: post #3

This from Bloomberg, is a bit like when someone slaps you in the face with your own hand and then tells you to stop hitting yourself - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-10/american-...

I read the article you linked, other than the fact that the headline is a bit of a cliche "Millennials are killing X", it didn't seem like the article was anything other than reporting on how tastes are changing.

The article linked (not the Bloomberg one but the same piece) discussed on HN (too lazy to find the link) and your comment pretty much summarizes the comments.

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

#33

Post by rootoor » Mon, May 20, 2019, 7:26 PM UTC

I am surprised that there isn’t more pessimism surrounding climate change. This is the biggest factor for me personally. However, I work at FAANG so wages and other more immediate ills do not concern me as much.

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

#34

Post by austincheney » Mon, May 20, 2019, 7:27 PM UTC

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 ocean front property or did you just list that for some abstract reason? In most countries corruption is at record low levels. Wages are also at record high levels.

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

#35

Post by [deleted] » Mon, May 20, 2019, 7:27 PM UTC

empath75 wrote: post #17

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.

Hopefully you eventually take to the streets and do something.

[deleted]

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

#36

Post by crooked-v » Mon, May 20, 2019, 7:28 PM UTC

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?

Well, to start with, 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 [1], while inflation-adjusted average wages have only gone up by $2/hour [2].

[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

#37

Post by temp99990 » Mon, May 20, 2019, 7:28 PM UTC

I’ve been fortunate to have landed in a financial position where I’m not scraping by as a millennial but having worked for several years in SF tech one thing that I have felt increasing unease with is the feeling that the companies I’ve worked for might not actually be a net positive for the world. My problem is more existential than economic, which is very much a first world problem but a problem for me nonetheless.

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

#38

Post by rubicon33 » Mon, May 20, 2019, 7:28 PM UTC

My wife and I are not having kids.

If you could sum it up into one short explanation as to why:

My wife and I don't believe that the future is going to be a better place.

Chief among the reasons are wealth inequality and buying power. If I can barely afford to buy a house now with a great job, I shudder to think what my kids would be faced with.

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

#39

Post by SamuelAdams » Mon, May 20, 2019, 7:29 PM UTC

> Less than three in ten Millennials expect to stay at their current job for the next five years.

Well yeah. I can stick around my current company for 5 years and get a 2-4% increase each year, or job hop every 2-3 years and get a 20% raise each time.

With a market like this, why wouldn't you job hop? Loyalty to a company only inhibits you.

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

#40

Post by phil248 » Mon, May 20, 2019, 7:29 PM UTC

2819b wrote: post #8

I think it boils down to "comparison being the thief of joy." Social media of all types are basically one giant comparison machine, and the people that are the most visible on social media are the richest/best looking/most successful etc.

"Keeping up with the Joneses" was an idea far before social media existed. As was worship of the wealthy and celebrities.

And the people "most visible" on social media are very specifically the people we choose to follow. Maybe we can ask why do people choose to follow so many of the "richest/best looking/most successful" people, but that's putting the cart before the horse. We could just as easily ask in the 1980's why people buy so many fashion magazines or watch Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. This pattern of behavior transcends media formats.