This is a teenager • Hacker News Board

Re: This is a teenager

#661

Post by defrost » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 4:57 AM UTC

petesergeant wrote: post #656

autoexec wrote: post #626

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> f you’re truly broke, there’s Medicaid Which you still might not qualify for, and may not get even if you do qualify for it ( https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/apr/15/john-ol... ) > 90% of Americans are insured. Which doesn't prevent nearly 40% of americans from being forced to put off needed medical care because of the expense they're still subjected to. ( https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/20/americans-put-…

Again, with the caveat that I much prefer the British system... > nearly 40% of americans from being forced to put off needed medical care Hard to interpret UK NHS waiting-time figures, especially given the political weight given to them, but these[0][1] paint a picture of 6 month to >1 year waiting times. 0: https://www.boa.ac.uk/resource/boa-statement-on-nhs-app-show... 1: https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/news-and-events/m…

It might be worth stressing for US audiences that the UK NHS waiting times quoted are for elective non life threatening procedures; osteoarthritis surgeries that decrease pain for people already with a degenerative joint disease, hip and knee replacements, etc.

The long wait times, 22 weeks mean average, > 63 week in 8% of extreme waits, are regrettable but not indicitive of waiting for urgent emergency life threatening required non elective procedures which are relatively prompt and immediate for the most part.

Re: This is a teenager

#662

Post by waihtis » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 5:01 AM UTC

ascorbic wrote: post #649

l0c0b0x wrote: post #519

I was Alex (my name is not Alex). Graduated high school in 97, but with a 2.1 GPA (yeah, pretty bad). Went to community college while working part time, living in a 'separated' household (mom/dad did the splits), supported both my parents both emotionally and financially (as much as I could) through their transition and new living arrangements. We were all immigrants, and still learning the ropes in this wonderful co…

That's great, and I'm genuinely glad to hear you've done well, but your story in no way negates the data in the article. It's not claiming that nobody coming from an adverse childhood succeeeds - just that it's a lot harder. Your post is a great example of survivorship bias. I doubt that there are many people in poverty who post to HN.

[flagged]

Re: This is a teenager

#663

Post by noisy_boy » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 5:01 AM UTC

komali2 wrote: post #587

noisy_boy wrote: post #574

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I agree on your take. Mental strength in people in adverse conditions is not the rule, it is the exception. Most won't have enough of it to overcome the difficulties and will instead fall prey to easy traps like drugs etc. It is easy for most of us, who have managed well enough to be commenting here which probably implies a baseline amount of mental strength, to take the shining examples and think that these…

A lot of cozy people underestimate the willpower challenge of poverty. I meet so many tech bros that victim blame. "the mom working two jobs has at least an hour at night. She can use that time to take free coding classes, teach herself to code, upskill and get a high paying programming job. It's not easy but it's possible." Some variation of that said to me so many times. "my family grew up poor and I figured it out…

So true. This may come across as first world problems but here goes: once I forgot to take my wallet to the office; so no cash or cards (I had taken a cab and realized this once I reached office). I had to borrow some money from my co-worker (which I was quite uncomfortable about since I have a bit of an allergy about borrowing money). That day, I repeatedly calculated how much I had left to ensure that I had enough for lunch, dinner (which I used to do near office) and transportation. Not even close to hardships of someone dealing with real financial challenges but it was like a sneak peak that I stayed with me.

Re: This is a teenager

#664

Post by bbqq » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 5:02 AM UTC

age of first sex? n/a. age of the first of a long series of rejections from the opposite sex was quite a young age.

I guess we all have our own positive and negative deviations from the mean across different aspects of life's 'expected' outcomes.

Re: This is a teenager

#665

Post by chgs » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 5:03 AM UTC

ciupicri wrote: post #579

kylehotchkiss wrote: post #567

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rather than looking at USA as Scandinavian county, imagine living in some of the counties in the global south. The competition for good jobs is so intense that you’ll work 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. You won’t miss work if you’re sick or have a family event because then somebody else gets your job. Culturally second chances don’t exist, and you’re the only chance your children have to get through school (because y…

There are no doubt way worse places than the US. I was under the impressions that Americans work hard too. For example, if I'm not mistaking there's no mandated minimum number of vacation days, so you might get only 11 compared to 20 in most European countries. > Heaven forbid you get sick. The medical act is (very) good in the US, but is it affordable? > The children have to compete in complicated exams to even have…

20 days? The norm is 30-40 in the U.K (9ish bank holidays plus 20 minimum but many professional jobs are 25-30). I can’t imagine mainland Europe is worse.

Re: This is a teenager

#666

Post by chgs » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 5:08 AM UTC

defrost wrote: post #661

petesergeant wrote: post #656

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Again, with the caveat that I much prefer the British system... > nearly 40% of americans from being forced to put off needed medical care Hard to interpret UK NHS waiting-time figures, especially given the political weight given to them, but these[0][1] paint a picture of 6 month to >1 year waiting times. 0: https://www.boa.ac.uk/resource/boa-statement-on-nhs-app-show... 1: https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/news-and-events/m…

It might be worth stressing for US audiences that the UK NHS waiting times quoted are for elective non life threatening procedures; osteoarthritis surgeries that decrease pain for people already with a degenerative joint disease, hip and knee replacements, etc. The long wait times, 22 weeks mean average, > 63 week in 8% of extreme waits, are regrettable but not indicitive of waiting for urgent emergency life threaten…

I’ve used emergency care in the US and U.K. waiting in the U.K. was half an hour, in the US was 4 hours. The U.K. was of course free, the US was $2k

Same problem, same prescription.

Re: This is a teenager

#667

Post by monero-xmr » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 5:10 AM UTC

Red_Leaves_Flyy wrote: post #606

batshit_beaver wrote: post #487

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The outcome of this has been to make it harder to fail as a kid. I'd like to go a little further and suggest that more recently there's been a trend of not holding the adults accountable either. Instead of trying to improve outcomes for all, we seem to have decided to choose the path of collective failure.

When do the greater communities need to pay their dues? Schools cost money to run but taxpayers balk and cry over every cent increase. There are crumbling schools with toxic air and water that lack adequate HVAC paying their teachers unlivable salaries. This is the result of neglect to preserve and invest which is a condemnation of those who allowed such neglect on their watch when they should have championed such pl…

As a counterpoint, Boston spends more per student than every other city ($31.3k in 2023 dollars):

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/05/30/metro/boston-now-spen....

But the outcomes are quite poor.

How can society justify spending more on the same institutions that have miserable outcomes?

In the private sector, less revenue forces belt-tightening, purchasing software and tools that enhance productivity, and ultimately bankruptcy if it can't work. Where in the public sector is anyone held accountable for failure? When will we accept that simply throwing more money down the pit won't solve what is a multi-faceted issue that primarily isn't about money?

Re: This is a teenager

#668

Post by Gigachad » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 5:14 AM UTC

Red_Leaves_Flyy wrote: post #615

SoftTalker wrote: post #608

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I learned out to fill out a basic Form 1040 tax return in middle school (late 1970s). Banking now is WAY easier. Balancing a checkbook? All your transactions and your balance are available 24/7 on your phone. Your paycheck appears in your bank account automatically. You used to have to get a paper check at work and then take it to the bank (open 9-5, maybe a little later on Fridays, and 9-12 or maybe 2pm on Saturday)…

You focus on banking, I’m talking about budgets. Do you track every cent in and out and have a quarterly updated forecast of your financial position a decade out? How close are you to that? If your answer doesn’t include a spreadsheet of some sort you’re not budgeting but taking a shortcut on faith your intuitions are correct. Did you get taught how credit applications work, how banks determine credit worthiness, how…

My bank app does that stuff automatically. They have identified and classified pretty much all merchants so the app can breakdown spending and tell you exactly how much you spend on essentials, restaurants, alcohol, etc.

You get the same info as your spreadsheet, but without any work.

Re: This is a teenager

#669

Post by Generous8030 » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 5:14 AM UTC

sangnoir wrote: post #621

parentheses wrote: post #609

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While you may be right, I feel the dynamic is more about the fact that most expats tend to be more educated than the average. If someone willingly moved to a country where limited opportunity exists, that may not apply to them since they're better equipped for it. This is especially true if you consider Indians or Chinese in America. Those populations have an even more acute education lead. So many people want to com…

> While you may be right, I feel the dynamic is more about the fact that most expats tend to be more educated than the average That's my point exactly! It's not that all Americans are particularly entitled, lazy, uncreative, or risk-averse. I specifically chose American investors in their country of origin as a counterpoint to the implication that Americanness infers lack of grit/drive, doubly so when Americans can s…

> That's my point exactly! It's not that all Americans are particularly lazy, uncreative, risk-averse

And I said the opposite? the problem is not with all Americans, just the ones perpetually complaining that all of their misfortunes were caused by being born here vs some ideal place (which they can't never really point to in a map) where they were going to magically have an easier life.

> Voluntary migrants (that includes expats) are a self-selected, self-motivated bunch. OP is did not contrasting themself to the appropriate percentile of Americans.

I'm not Indian or Chinese (I'm a black latino), came here with not even a bachelors degree, and honestly, with no particular skill that someone from here could not obtain in a relatively short amount of time; I was still able to insert myself into the tech scene and find my place there. I'm still working on improving myself day to day, so I guess maybe you have a point on the motivation aspect, but that is an intrinsic quality, and I don't like how this analysis somehow attributes the lack of motivation on other people to , and suggest that if I don't feel gullible and pay more taxes (which is the subtext of this piece) I somehow failed "Alex".

Re: This is a teenager

#670

Post by aszantu » Wed, Apr 17, 2024, 5:14 AM UTC

This girl was unlucky, she got hit a few times when she was young. By mum, by "friends", bullied in kindergarden and bullied and bossed in school and when it looked like it would all be okay, the parents divorced. She felt like she's not good enough for this world, but eventually she found out she had been depressed for 25 year and blessed/cursed with adhd. When she fixed her diet, it all turned around and she got her first stable income at 37 and went up the ladder a bit. She happy? No. Happiness is for others. Today it's enough to not suffer too much.