Millennials/Generation Y discussion

Pue Research Center has some interesting data on the post-Millenial generation.

It's the most diverse and educated generation yet.

I don't really see any reason to believe that they're plausibly Conservative, neither diversity nor education is very good for Republican support. Which suggests that GOP hopes of a more right-wing future generation are nothing more than wishful thinking.

Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Nov 16th 2018 at 6:46:04 AM

An article on how millenials are becoming burned out

FWIW, millenials are defined as 22-38 in 2019 (so I for one am skirting around the edges, being born in 1995)

It depend on how define conservative, even alt rights some of them are kinda something friendly to LGTB(kind off) which show the push are more and more likey to happen, so "More conservative" dosent mean much.

A very good article, in my opinion; thanks for linking it. The point about the combination of ever-increasing requirements for getting a good job - more education more overtime, more efficiency, more student debt - combined with far worse jobs and less economic stability than our parents had hits on one of the major issues for millennials. And I agree with the author that fixing it is going to require bringing back unions and a more active government so that people have more economic security. Life becomes far more stressful when most people don’t have a stable, long-term job with a pension plan.

The point about social media is also well made - when your life feels messed up or unsatisfying, looking at other people’s presented-as-perfect lives on Facebook is going to mess with your head. My solution is to get off social media unless your job outright requires it. People who are genuine friends rather than Facebook friends will make the effort to keep in touch with you.

In terms of what she saws about all the tiresome tasks on your to-do list, I’d say some progress can be made by reconsidering which ones are necessary. Vacuuming out your car, mailing back clothes that don’t fit, going to the gym/yoga class? If it wears you down, take it off the list - don’t buy clothes unless you really need them, and then get ones that really fit at an actual physical store; don’t worry about the car; drop the fitness classes/gym membership if physical health is coming at the expense of mental health. Your kids need less supervision and scheduling than you think they do; don’t wear out them and yourself by managing their day. Stop listening to all the things society tells you that you “need to do”. It’s our generations’ version of “keeping up with the Joneses”, and just as unhealthy.

(I’m 32, and apparently hit the employment jackpot after despite a late start - a stable job that I enjoy, with good pay, a retirement plan, and health and dental benefits. Also I’m single, which makes my life a lot less overwhelming than the author of the article’s. But I’m well aware that despite being in about the top 10%, I’m still less well off than my parents were at this age - they had 2 kids and a house on a single income at my age, I have a 1-bedroom rental and am unlikely to afford anything more in my neighbourhood. But I don’t really want homeownership. The more possessions you have, the more they take over your life.)

Edited by Galadriel on Jan 6th 2019 at 7:25:17 AM

Vox has an article about a book (along with an interview with its author) that posits that Baby boomers are the real cause of the US' problems (shocker, I know) and that Millennials are just their scapegoats.

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Oct 27th 2019 at 10:31:20 AM

...and?

And it means that all the memes about Millennials being snowflakes/sensitive/destroyers of industries are bullshit. Also that the Boomers are the generation responsible for our nation's awful state.

It may not be a surprise but it's still worth repeating.

that fact that has been known to anyone with a half a brain since, at least, the 90s (i.e: not republicans)

I'm more interesting in how Generation Z and Generation Alpha are being viewed by Baby boomers then with Millenials, since its all the same shit.

A lot of Baby Boomers don’t realise that such generations exist, Gen X is forgotten about and everyone under that is lumped in as a Millennial.

Yep, the "Greatest Generation" used to despise Baby Boomers for the exact same thing, deriding them as a mix of lazy hippies and commies who threw away the hard-earned cash their parents worked for on frivolous things contributed nothing but the slow and steady erosion of decent society. It's just the same generational divide over again and I wouldn't be surprised of Millennials engaged in the exact same nonsense once they reached their 50s and up, or Generation Z to their next generation and so on.

Gaming might not make you violent but certain kinds of games lend themselves well to Authoritarian and Planned Economic thinking. Grand Strategy games set you in full control of a nation, right down to command of the means of production. Anything that's not directly relevant to conquering your foes is usually abstracted and put in your vague control or else is just a number you have to contend with.

Might be a slight part of why the Alt-Right is a thing. You don't have to be young to get into that stuff. Most of my wargaming buddies are in their mid thirties or older.

Every generation is vain enough to think the generation after them is the worst one, usually ignoring all the times they made the same mistakes.

That is just saying the same in another way "it dosent make you violent but it does enchance the oportunity that make you violent", it sound more a no but yes situation.

And ignoring when many of them were pretty "sissy" liberal in their times.

There's no statistical evidence suggesting gaming increases violence or authoritarian mindsets. At least, not anymore than the rest of our media that also glorifies violence. Basically, you can't blame it on any specific games, but they are part of the "background noise" along with the rest of our media.

Edited by M84 on Oct 27th 2019 at 8:44:48 PM

Not really. There's a HUGE difference between wanting to beat someone's face in/unload an entire clip into a crowd, reload, and do it again, vs. spouting off about how great the world would be if you were in charge because you could do so well at it in a video game. Most people who lean to the extremes still aren't violent. They just shoot their mouths off and leave the guns at home/someone else's home. Probably most of the loud mouths don't even own a gun.

People are impressionable. A lot of the stubborn right wingers get most of their information off of one or two right leaning news sources, so of course they think the world follow's the right's paradigm. It's the same way if most of your exposure to the world is through this sort of game. Unless you do critical thinking and figure out the abstractions and pitfalls, it's gonna be way easier to think "maybe I could do this in real life. I already do great at the simulations!"

ETA: Yes, I did say a slight part. I never blamed the entirety on this one thing.

Edited by Journeyman on Oct 27th 2019 at 8:49:17 AM

This is an incrediblly silly argument, the sole reason the alt-right exists is because of strains of white supremacist thought that infect every level of American society.

It has nothing to do with strategy games or any other type of video games, it has to do with America and the fact that our country was literally built on white supremacy.

Then call me fucking silly because it is PART of why I think that way. Only I'm on the left side, not the alt-right. The rest is that I see all the shit going down all over this country and know that somebody's gotta do better for the rest of us. Like I said, it's there. It's a part of it. You can't speak for everybody.

Arguably this is already happening. I dunno about y'all, but I look at these post-'99 babies and find myself astonished about how little of a fuck they seem to give about people. And this whole Fortnite phenomenon just baffles me.

Edited by PhysicalStamina on Oct 27th 2019 at 10:56:27 AM

They've got doomsayers on every front and older folk who've given up any hope on them. A mix of not giving a cent for anyone and a healthy dose of Bread and Circuses is a pretty normal reaction when things seem that bad. Not everybody can be Greta Grunberg (I think I got that right) and take the fight to the adults. Especially if the elders of the household see her in action and scoff.

ETA: I'm a Millenial myself, and every time I try to have a serious political discussion I wind up getting blindsided by something and suddenly the older folk are locked down and laying out their logic and my lack of real life experience makes me outright unable to say jack shit. Don't get me started on climate change. Any time I try to talk about that, they're spinning stories about how what's happening now is just a repeat of something that happened when they were younger and it's not our fault it's just cycles and by now you can see why I'm getting annoyed.

Edited by Journeyman on Oct 27th 2019 at 11:09:31 AM

At that point you might point out that maybe it's a "cycle" because people keep refusing to do anything about it.

And then they'll just counter that it's a natural cycle that we can't and shouldn't do anything about and it'll be a stalemate. That's the entire point of their argument. "It's nature, it's not broken. Don't fix it. Hunker down and it'll get better after a while." And I really can't hate them for it because we all keep our cool when discussing these things. Neither side in these discussions raises their voice or calls names or anything out of sorts, it's just talking.

Calmly tell them they're wrong, and that they can believe what they want to, but they're still wrong.

There’s hard evidence pointing to climate change being a man-made phenomenon and not a natural cycle. [1] If anyone tells you that climate change is totally natural and A-okay they’re either utterly wrong or lying.

Edited by archonspeaks on Oct 27th 2019 at 9:19:36 AM

A lot of hard evidence, really. At this point it's more a matter of willful ignorance (at least concerning people who have easy access to such info).

Horses and water...

Edited by M84 on Oct 28th 2019 at 12:21:58 AM