4 ms·

Ah "kids these days"...[0] I love to imagine what some older folk must've have said about "kids these days" back in the 60s and 70s. Probably a pile of useless

by fny 10y ago

Ah "kids these days"...[0] I love to imagine what some older folk must've have said about "kids these days" back in the 60s and 70s. Probably a pile of useless fornicating, high-seeking hippies... But I digress. From my perspective, we're seeing this generation swoon over the dream of being doers and entrepreneurs. Isn't the lifeblood of nearly every startup young and hungry talent willing to work to "change the world" or make "the next big thing"? Isn't the average age of YC founders in the mid 20s? Aren't technology companies are often criticized for being agist? I often wonder about adults these days... [0]: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/literally-psyched/when-i-was-your-age-or-what-is-it-with-kids-these-days/ https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/literally-psyched/when-...

veddox 10y ago
> Isn't the lifeblood of nearly every startup young and hungry talent willing to work to "change the world" or make "the next big thing"? What percentage of young adults work in a startup? I know we're on HN here, but don't forget there's a world outside Silicon Valley...
jdietrich 10y ago
I don't think that kids these days are awful. I think they're great - they're socially progressive, they're cultured, they have high aspirations and they work really hard. I think that successive generations have let them down, due to a culture of parenting that is dominated by fear. I'm not a naysayer or a nostalgic pessimist. I think that there are clear trends in society, some positive and some negative. It's obviously great news that we no longer consider it acceptable to beat children or to smoke during pregnancy. There is a clear trend in parenting and schooling towards more structure, more pressure and far less independence. We have seen a huge increase in educational attainment and college admission which is overwhelmingly a good thing, but the greater focus on academic study has come at the cost of other skills. For every twentysomething who founds a startup, there are dozens of baristas with liberal arts degrees. A lot of those baristas might dream of founding a startup, but very few of them have the skills, experience and confidence to do so. Research indicates that the average age of an entrepreneur is actually 40; most successful businesses are founded by people with an established career and a great deal of professional experience. High rates of youth unemployment and underemployment are likely to have a significant impact on innovation in ten or twenty years. http://www.kauffman.org/what-we-do/research/2010/05/the-anatomy-of-an-entrepreneur http://www.kauffman.org/what-we-do/research/2010/05/the-anat...
nommm-nommm 10y ago
Isn't "an opportunity to change the world" just a hook to get 20-somethings without families into working long hours?
legostormtroopr 10y ago
“The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.” ― Socrates

by fny 10y ago

veddox 10y ago

> Isn't the lifeblood of nearly every startup young and hungry talent willing to work to "change the world" or make "the next big thing"? What percentage of young adults work in a startup? I know we're on HN here, but don't forget there's a world outside Silicon Valley...

jdietrich 10y ago

I don't think that kids these days are awful. I think they're great - they're socially progressive, they're cultured, they have high aspirations and they work really hard. I think that successive generations have let them down, due to a culture of parenting that is dominated by fear. I'm not a naysayer or a nostalgic pessimist. I think that there are clear trends in society, some positive and some negative. It's obviously great news that we no longer consider it acceptable to beat children or to smoke during pregnancy. There is a clear trend in parenting and schooling towards more structure, more pressure and far less independence. We have seen a huge increase in educational attainment and college admission which is overwhelmingly a good thing, but the greater focus on academic study has come at the cost of other skills. For every twentysomething who founds a startup, there are dozens of baristas with liberal arts degrees. A lot of those baristas might dream of founding a startup, but very few of them have the skills, experience and confidence to do so. Research indicates that the average age of an entrepreneur is actually 40; most successful businesses are founded by people with an established career and a great deal of professional experience. High rates of youth unemployment and underemployment are likely to have a significant impact on innovation in ten or twenty years. http://www.kauffman.org/what-we-do/research/2010/05/the-anatomy-of-an-entrepreneur http://www.kauffman.org/what-we-do/research/2010/05/the-anat...

nommm-nommm 10y ago

Isn't "an opportunity to change the world" just a hook to get 20-somethings without families into working long hours?

legostormtroopr 10y ago

“The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.” ― Socrates