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The advent of the internet and social media meant that the generation of current people in their 20s saw much more of what different people lived like as an exa

The advent of the internet and social media meant that the generation of current people in their 20s saw much more of what different people lived like as an example. They could stumble into early retirement, vagabonding, yoga, libertarian-ideology, psychology research, startups, furries, and many other lifestyle and thought pattern choices that led to much more ability to choose both their purpose and their action steps for the future earlier. This means that a lot of lessons that were delayed for earlier generations with less variation of choices presented are now hitting earlier. More choices may lead to less satisfaction: http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun04/toomany.aspx http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun04/toomany.aspx Happiness is tricky to define.

LaurensBER 10y ago
Can confirm, my Facebook timeline is very depressing as someone in their late 20ties. Sure it might only be ~5% of my friends who are travelling, starting companies, etc but it does create a vague sense of background stress that I'm wasting my time not knowing what my "passion" is and just working a 9-5ish job with 5 - 8 weeks of vacation a year. It's pretty ridiculous when you think about it but it seems to be human nature.
- lgieron 10y ago
  If it helps - travelling is not a passion (IMO) and those people starting companies are very likely to be searching for a job in a couple years.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- pavel_lishin 10y ago
  > Sure it might only be ~5% of my friends who are travelling, starting companies, etc but it does create a vague sense of background stress that I'm wasting my time not knowing what my "passion" is and just working a 9-5ish job with 5 - 8 weeks of vacation a year. Not sure if this will help, but you've probably got Facebook friends who look at your feed and envy you and feel like they're wasting their lives.
  - klenwell 10y ago
    A 9-5 job with 5-8 weeks of vacation a year? I suspect GP just gave a lot of readers here something to be depressed about.
- caseysoftware 10y ago
  Turn off Facebook. Seriously, I logged out a month ago and it's been great. It's one less thing to pay attention to.. but more importantly, it gets rid of 90% of the crap, arguments, and a source of potential-envy/angst.
  - tajen 10y ago
    Honestly... how do you fill in your compilation time? There's always those free 30s/2min (whether you're compiling js or java) where you have too much caffeine to accept nooping. That's where my addiction to 9Gag and facebook is rooted, and that's how I noticed that grand newspapers fill the pretty mediocre slot of idle-time fillers.
- noname123 10y ago
  This is what I use to get rid of Facebook timeline; and use FB strictly as a Messenger. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/news-feed-eradicator-for/fjcldmjmjhkklehbacihaiopjklihlgg?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/news-feed-eradicat... Occasionally, I get curious and log onto my phone's Firefox to see my newsfeed and it's so funny that the same people from six months or a year ago are posting the same messages, being "mindful," "lab coat ceremonies for med/PA school," (from the same people every year) "active lifestyle pictures". In a way, it was really insightful because I realized that it's actually the opposite, these "lifestyle" people did not grow up but are keeping on parroting what they should be doing year after year. However instead of posting witty one-liners on someone's self-serving pictures, I've reached out to my friends more on FB messenger one-on-one where we've talked about loneliness, depression and failures - which led to meeting people I normally wouldn't meet up in real life. I seriously wish that there could be a movement/art project where people would share their worst, mundane and most insecure moments on Facebook to portray modern living more accurately and to counter the current state of affairs on that site.
  - theseatoms 10y ago
    > I seriously wish that there could be a movement/art project where people would share their worst, mundane and most insecure moments on Facebook to portray modern living more accurately and to counter the current state of affairs on that site. These types of posts seem commonplace on Twitter.
  - Bahamut 10y ago
    There's also https://www.messenger.com/ https://www.messenger.com/ - official from Facebook for exclusively messaging.
- TheOtherHobbes 10y ago
  A quote I find useful - unlike most quotes - is "Don't compare your inside to everyone else's outside." In my 20s I knew people who seemed to have it together. When I was in my 30s and 40s almost all of them lost the plot in various ways, with an assortment of expensively broken relationships, bankruptcies, and even a few unexplained and unexpected deaths. Doing what makes you happy is so much better than doing what you think other people may think should make you happy.

LaurensBER 10y ago

Can confirm, my Facebook timeline is very depressing as someone in their late 20ties. Sure it might only be ~5% of my friends who are travelling, starting companies, etc but it does create a vague sense of background stress that I'm wasting my time not knowing what my "passion" is and just working a 9-5ish job with 5 - 8 weeks of vacation a year. It's pretty ridiculous when you think about it but it seems to be human nature.

lgieron 10y ago
If it helps - travelling is not a passion (IMO) and those people starting companies are very likely to be searching for a job in a couple years.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
pavel_lishin 10y ago
> Sure it might only be ~5% of my friends who are travelling, starting companies, etc but it does create a vague sense of background stress that I'm wasting my time not knowing what my "passion" is and just working a 9-5ish job with 5 - 8 weeks of vacation a year. Not sure if this will help, but you've probably got Facebook friends who look at your feed and envy you and feel like they're wasting their lives.
- klenwell 10y ago
  A 9-5 job with 5-8 weeks of vacation a year? I suspect GP just gave a lot of readers here something to be depressed about.
caseysoftware 10y ago
Turn off Facebook. Seriously, I logged out a month ago and it's been great. It's one less thing to pay attention to.. but more importantly, it gets rid of 90% of the crap, arguments, and a source of potential-envy/angst.
- tajen 10y ago
  Honestly... how do you fill in your compilation time? There's always those free 30s/2min (whether you're compiling js or java) where you have too much caffeine to accept nooping. That's where my addiction to 9Gag and facebook is rooted, and that's how I noticed that grand newspapers fill the pretty mediocre slot of idle-time fillers.
noname123 10y ago
This is what I use to get rid of Facebook timeline; and use FB strictly as a Messenger. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/news-feed-eradicator-for/fjcldmjmjhkklehbacihaiopjklihlgg?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/news-feed-eradicat... Occasionally, I get curious and log onto my phone's Firefox to see my newsfeed and it's so funny that the same people from six months or a year ago are posting the same messages, being "mindful," "lab coat ceremonies for med/PA school," (from the same people every year) "active lifestyle pictures". In a way, it was really insightful because I realized that it's actually the opposite, these "lifestyle" people did not grow up but are keeping on parroting what they should be doing year after year. However instead of posting witty one-liners on someone's self-serving pictures, I've reached out to my friends more on FB messenger one-on-one where we've talked about loneliness, depression and failures - which led to meeting people I normally wouldn't meet up in real life. I seriously wish that there could be a movement/art project where people would share their worst, mundane and most insecure moments on Facebook to portray modern living more accurately and to counter the current state of affairs on that site.
- theseatoms 10y ago
  > I seriously wish that there could be a movement/art project where people would share their worst, mundane and most insecure moments on Facebook to portray modern living more accurately and to counter the current state of affairs on that site. These types of posts seem commonplace on Twitter.
- Bahamut 10y ago
  There's also https://www.messenger.com/ https://www.messenger.com/ - official from Facebook for exclusively messaging.
TheOtherHobbes 10y ago
A quote I find useful - unlike most quotes - is "Don't compare your inside to everyone else's outside." In my 20s I knew people who seemed to have it together. When I was in my 30s and 40s almost all of them lost the plot in various ways, with an assortment of expensively broken relationships, bankruptcies, and even a few unexplained and unexpected deaths. Doing what makes you happy is so much better than doing what you think other people may think should make you happy.