“I was twenty-five, a man in those days, master of a large plantation…”
(Which is both from W.E.B. Du Bois’ The Comet and the movie Interview With the Vampire. Did not know the former!)
Online discussion and arguments led me to believe there’s a significant difference in how fast Gen X grew up vs. Zoomers today, and later research confirmed it. We’re growing up slower, which is a sign of a society healthy enough to support that. Kinda odd to me though.
At 16 I was having sex, driving a car and working a bag boy job. Very few of us had cars, but I don’t know of any peers who didn’t have a license at 16, and almost every one of us passed first try. Losing one’s virginity and working a job at 16 wasn’t unusual one way or the other. Girl that snuck over and took my virginity was 14.
People today are not hitting those milestones until their early 20s.
I do not think it’s a sign of a society being healthy. It’s probably the most unhealthy thing for any society. I think it basically arises from the distinct lack of pathways into ‘adulthood’ - university is now marketed as a way to extend being a kid, home ownership and access to work is completely off the table for loads of people. Young Zoomers either live with their parents through university/after high school, or will have to live with them after graduating, or will have to “slum it” with their friends while desperately trying to get into work.
To some people, knowing and experiencing all this means they act out by being immature and irresponsible members of society. For others it just affects their self image, and they are racked with insecurity or anxiety. Both are bad, and i see both when i look around st my peers. And the ones who are doing okay are absolute rats about it, like “i climbed out of the bucket, so why couldn’t you??”
Yes - in fact they actually have no place in society, which is stressful, and grew up with teachers and parents always turning to them and going “oh by the way, the society you inherit from us isn’t going to work. Not sorry.” So they had the dread of knowing that, being informed they had to work harder and be smarter than generations before them.
There is a LOT of antipathy from Zoomers and Millennials towards Boomers, and some of it is even directed to Gen X, and some Zoomers hate Millennials.
When you get a job as gen z it’s always like “we’re doing you a favour, kid, we don’t really need you.” Other generations act like they’re babysitters for us. Many Gen Z rise to this position and act very immaturely because being obnoxious is in-vogue (e.g Looksmaxxing, Andrew Tate, tiktok bullying - it trickles down)
“I was twenty-five, a man in those days, master of a large plantation…”
(Which is both from W.E.B. Du Bois’ The Comet and the movie Interview With the Vampire. Did not know the former!)
Online discussion and arguments led me to believe there’s a significant difference in how fast Gen X grew up vs. Zoomers today, and later research confirmed it. We’re growing up slower, which is a sign of a society healthy enough to support that. Kinda odd to me though.
At 16 I was having sex, driving a car and working a bag boy job. Very few of us had cars, but I don’t know of any peers who didn’t have a license at 16, and almost every one of us passed first try. Losing one’s virginity and working a job at 16 wasn’t unusual one way or the other. Girl that snuck over and took my virginity was 14.
People today are not hitting those milestones until their early 20s.
I do not think it’s a sign of a society being healthy. It’s probably the most unhealthy thing for any society. I think it basically arises from the distinct lack of pathways into ‘adulthood’ - university is now marketed as a way to extend being a kid, home ownership and access to work is completely off the table for loads of people. Young Zoomers either live with their parents through university/after high school, or will have to live with them after graduating, or will have to “slum it” with their friends while desperately trying to get into work.
To some people, knowing and experiencing all this means they act out by being immature and irresponsible members of society. For others it just affects their self image, and they are racked with insecurity or anxiety. Both are bad, and i see both when i look around st my peers. And the ones who are doing okay are absolute rats about it, like “i climbed out of the bucket, so why couldn’t you??”
“they are racked with insecurity or anxiety”
That would explain much of what I see on social media. Are you saying they don’t know their place in society and that’s stressful?
Yes - in fact they actually have no place in society, which is stressful, and grew up with teachers and parents always turning to them and going “oh by the way, the society you inherit from us isn’t going to work. Not sorry.” So they had the dread of knowing that, being informed they had to work harder and be smarter than generations before them.
There is a LOT of antipathy from Zoomers and Millennials towards Boomers, and some of it is even directed to Gen X, and some Zoomers hate Millennials.
When you get a job as gen z it’s always like “we’re doing you a favour, kid, we don’t really need you.” Other generations act like they’re babysitters for us. Many Gen Z rise to this position and act very immaturely because being obnoxious is in-vogue (e.g Looksmaxxing, Andrew Tate, tiktok bullying - it trickles down)