Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why Millennials Can’t Grow Up

slate.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 93 posts

Re: Why Millennials Can’t Grow Up

#71

Post by secstate »

jrokisky wrote: post #46
wambotron wrote: post #12

I'm thirty but I do notice many of my coworkers and other folks my age cannot grow up. It's not even just a matter of getting a job. Most of the folks I know are still partying all the time as if they're at a high school kegger. I'm not sure of the exact cause, but I do think people having children later in life (late 30s, early 40s for many people I know) coupled with the fact that most of them are only having one c…

"you have to compete for everything you want and need to live." I think I'm a special creature. This really depresses me. Do you think this is the ideal situation? I don't understand why this is currently the case. In my opinion there is more than enough to go around, and the majority of our daily problems are caused by other humans.

Woah. That's the problem to a T. You hit it right on the head. You are not a special creature. There are approximately 6 billion other creatures nearly as capable as you trying to make a go of it right now, and a substantially greater number who tried to make a go of it and are now dead.

The majority of our daily problems are caused by ourselves, not other people. We think too much about ME and not enough about others. Try taking 30 minutes a day to intentionally improve someone else's day.

And as long as I'm writing here, I'll note that parenthood becoming something we hold out as long as possible to start down is probably one the single greatest issues facing Western culture, and I'm not even convinced it's altogether a bad thing (teenage pregnancy not great, yada yada yada). But the full weight of responsibility of keeping someone else alive is enough to wake anyone out of their delusions of self.

Re: Why Millennials Can’t Grow Up

#72

Post by secstate »

philwelch wrote: post #28
codex wrote: post #2

Maturation cannot occur without independence. The Great Recession has prevented independence for a large number of young people.

I don't buy it. If it was a real recession rather than a chronic shortage in marketable skills, some of these millennials wouldn't have mommies and daddies who could afford to keep them around. My dad grew up in the Depression and somehow managed to support himself from manual labor from the age of 14. Show me an unemployed hipster 20-something willing to do day labor but unable to find any. You can't find one. Maybe…

Amen. And of course eventually we'll have something like a massive ecological disruption (or War with China) that will fuck everything up all over again and we wont have time to write asinine op-eds about "what's wrong with people" (or comment on them, pot ... kettle black). We'll be too busy digging our asses out of despair.

Re: Why Millennials Can’t Grow Up

#73

Post by onetwofiveten »

abduhl wrote: post #10
Aqueous wrote: post #5

Yay! Another article where the older generation shits on a younger generation. Is it possible - and this is just me talking here - that maybe our generation isn't composed of a bunch of emotional weaklings who can't bear the stress of life, but that you guys fucked it up pretty badly for us? Your self-interested conservative personal responsibility do it yourself policies bankrupted the economy because you were aslee…

Life is hard. Help, you assholes. Are you serious with this statement? This is exactly the attitude that the article and all of the others like it are referring to. Life is hard. Be harder.

I'm in my early thirties and pretty successful (because I worked hard and am clever). Yet, even I can see this generation is being squeezed, between high unemployment, low wages and student debts. Not to mention high housing prices (and rent). What's the point of saying "be harder"? It doesn't change reality.

Re: Why Millennials Can’t Grow Up

#74

Post by wambotron »

winstonx wrote: post #34
wambotron wrote: post #12

I'm thirty but I do notice many of my coworkers and other folks my age cannot grow up. It's not even just a matter of getting a job. Most of the folks I know are still partying all the time as if they're at a high school kegger. I'm not sure of the exact cause, but I do think people having children later in life (late 30s, early 40s for many people I know) coupled with the fact that most of them are only having one c…

> I'm thirty but I do notice many of my coworkers and other folks my age cannot grow up. It's not even just a matter of getting a job. Most of the folks I know are still partying all the time as if they're at a high school kegger. I'm thirty but I do notice many of my coworkers and other folks my age have grown too lame to party. If parties are fun, why stop?

Maybe they're fun for you but not them. Your idea of "fun" doesn't apply to everyone, sorry to tell you. The idea of being grown up and responsible does apply to everyone, though.

If you can party and still keep your shit together, more power to you. I see too many people who CANNOT, though, and the partying is just an escape from real issues they face.

Re: Why Millennials Can’t Grow Up

#75

Post by wambotron »

jrokisky wrote: post #46
wambotron wrote: post #12

I'm thirty but I do notice many of my coworkers and other folks my age cannot grow up. It's not even just a matter of getting a job. Most of the folks I know are still partying all the time as if they're at a high school kegger. I'm not sure of the exact cause, but I do think people having children later in life (late 30s, early 40s for many people I know) coupled with the fact that most of them are only having one c…

"you have to compete for everything you want and need to live." I think I'm a special creature. This really depresses me. Do you think this is the ideal situation? I don't understand why this is currently the case. In my opinion there is more than enough to go around, and the majority of our daily problems are caused by other humans.

I don't think anything in life is ideal. That's just not how it works. You have to escape the fairy tale and accept the world as it is. I agree with the other guy who said most problems are caused by ourselves. It's really important to understand that you share this planet with 6 billion other people. Step back and reassess yourself, ensure what you think you need is actually a NEED, and be kind to other folks.

Re: Why Millennials Can’t Grow Up

#76

Post by wambotron »

Swizec wrote: post #24
GuiA wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The average parent's age for first child has never been higher, just like the rate of 20-somethings still living with their parents. No matter what the reasons for that are, you can't refute that it's bound to have some interesting consequences on the psychology of the 20-somethings in question.

Average age is only up because women started child bearing later. About a hundred years ago it was common for men in their very late 20's to have finally built a life of their own and get a bride. A bride who was 16 or so because that meant she still had plenty of child bearing years ahead of her. What if men just got back to that same state, while women have joined men in this status instead of having the whole teen…

Either you have rich grand/great-grandparents or we come from VERY different places. My family has been historically poor up until my dad, who is just middle class now. Both sides of my family have struggled until death. I don't know of anyone other than maybe one or two who had parents growing up that had "built a life of their own," then married and started a family in their very late 20s.

Re: Why Millennials Can’t Grow Up

#77

Post by wambotron »

rjbwork wrote: post #59
abduhl wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and the millennials have an awesome environment to grow up and have a career in. The tech industry has one of the lowest barriers to entry ever seen. The more advanced science fields are making dramatic strides, all you need is the education and motivation to get into the industry. Quit looking backwards with green tinted glasses and consider how good you yourself have it right now. Take some goddamn responsibil…

I'm in tech, and am not really complaining for myself. But non-STEM folks are having a pretty tough time. The digital age has devastated non-STEM fields and majors. There was a time when getting an English or History degree from a respectable university opened a wealth of opportunities. Now they're more likely to be found selling shoes or making my coffee. My mother, a sweet 55 year old woman who never attended colle…

At what point in history was it ever easy for liberal arts folks? Unless you were commissioned by someone to do something lucrative, you're pretty much shit on your entire life. Whether it's undervalued or not is debatable, but I will say that nothing has changed as far as perception of liberal arts other than some broader acceptance.

What has changed is that pretty much everyone goes to college now, and many of them go for liberal arts degrees. You can't have 1000 people going for 1 job and expect them all to get it.

Re: Why Millennials Can’t Grow Up

#78

Post by dllthomas »

wambotron wrote: post #77
rjbwork wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in tech, and am not really complaining for myself. But non-STEM folks are having a pretty tough time. The digital age has devastated non-STEM fields and majors. There was a time when getting an English or History degree from a respectable university opened a wealth of opportunities. Now they're more likely to be found selling shoes or making my coffee. My mother, a sweet 55 year old woman who never attended colle…

At what point in history was it ever easy for liberal arts folks? Unless you were commissioned by someone to do something lucrative, you're pretty much shit on your entire life. Whether it's undervalued or not is debatable, but I will say that nothing has changed as far as perception of liberal arts other than some broader acceptance. What has changed is that pretty much everyone goes to college now, and many of them…

I worry a bit that you might be confusing liberal arts and fine arts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor_of_Liberal_Studies

Re: Why Millennials Can’t Grow Up

#79

Post by maxerickson »

sesteel wrote: post #55
sp332 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ever wonder why people in third-world countries generally don't grow up to be successful like boomers did? Did you always think it was because they weren't tough enough ? Actually, it's because the boomers had an awesome environment to grow up and have a career in. That environment doesn't exist anymore because the economy has tanked. Boomers literally have no idea how good they had it.

This is conjecture and hyperbole on your part. The economy has grown substantially and rather consistently over the past 40 years (except for manufacturing). It seems silly, but I feel compelled to remind today's youth that we all stand on the shoulders of giants. Also, none of us know as much as we think we do.

There are some interesting confounding factors though. Between 1970 and 2000, U.S. workforce participation increased by about 8%, while the population grew by 80 million people.

And while lots of manufacturing jobs have moved overseas or whatever, automation has had at least as much impact. If you look at it in terms of production, U.S. manufacturing has grown over time. Even something like the steel industry is pretty much at par with the output of 40 years ago, they just do it with a lot fewer people.

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000 (fiddle the dates)

http://www.multpl.com/united-states-population/table

http://minerals.usgs.gov/ds/2005/140/#steel

Re: Why Millennials Can’t Grow Up

#80

Post by philwelch »

rjbwork wrote: post #59
abduhl wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and the millennials have an awesome environment to grow up and have a career in. The tech industry has one of the lowest barriers to entry ever seen. The more advanced science fields are making dramatic strides, all you need is the education and motivation to get into the industry. Quit looking backwards with green tinted glasses and consider how good you yourself have it right now. Take some goddamn responsibil…

I'm in tech, and am not really complaining for myself. But non-STEM folks are having a pretty tough time. The digital age has devastated non-STEM fields and majors. There was a time when getting an English or History degree from a respectable university opened a wealth of opportunities. Now they're more likely to be found selling shoes or making my coffee. My mother, a sweet 55 year old woman who never attended colle…

> There was a time when getting an English or History degree from a respectable university opened a wealth of opportunities.

Unless it was Harvard, no, it didn't. People always joked that a liberal arts degree left you prepared to work in fast food and little else.

Post reply on HN