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I hope Gen Z has more precious goals than getting materially rich. Not that I’m against material richness. But I do hope that we as humanity evolve together on

I hope Gen Z has more precious goals than getting materially rich. Not that I’m against material richness. But I do hope that we as humanity evolve together on a spiritual level. There’s so much material value already created, so many jobs are automated. I hope that we humans strive for higher goods, fully develop our potential, and start to learn seeing again that there’s a universal order that includes a worldly good and a worldly bad. I hope that Gen Z recognizes the madness that is currently coming to light and as a consequence starts doing better than their previous generations. I’m glad to help them wherever I can.

ptr2voidStar 5y ago
> I hope that Gen Z recognizes the madness that is currently coming to light and as a consequence starts doing better than their previous generations. This is wishful thinking - at best. Has human history not taught you anything?
- blumomo 5y ago
  Have positive thinking and self-fulfilling prophecy told you something?
jrsj 5y ago
(this is all just my opinion based on personal observations. I haven’t done research into concrete data on this so take it all with a grain of salt.) So far they seem even more materially oriented. Because that’s how we teach people to be. We lie to children and tell them that the most important thing in their lives and their primary source of fulfillment is a career. When in reality most of us get that from our relationships with other people, and a career is just a means to an end. And of course social media continues to reduce social interaction down its most shallow possible level. All financial considerations aside, Gen Z will probably be the most isolated, mentally ill, and least self sufficient generations in a very long time. And that’s because of the world we made for them.
- blumomo 5y ago
  Let’s help them create a better world. We see what they are struggling with, we as their parent generation have it in our hands.
- wrfitch 5y ago
  Hi, I'm part of Gen Z. Grain of salt, etc. You're being a little unfair here, implicitly describing an entire generation as overly materialistic, mentally ill, socially dependent children. Honestly, it sounds like the Gen Z people you know might just be heavy social media users, since people of any generation that use these tools poorly have the problems you mentioned. For those of us that don't use the standard social media channels, growing up around the internet was an absolute blessing, with some minor flaws compared to the benefits it provided. For examples of people that have benefited from being in this generation, look at the growing climate movement, or maker culture, which is democratising engineering in a way I don't think has been done before. Mental health isn't as much of a concern in this generation either imo; most people of my generation are far more comfortable talking about depression, anxiety, or autism than anyone else I talk to.
  - HDMI_Cable 5y ago
    > Honestly, it sounds like the Gen Z people you know might just be heavy social media users, since people of any generation that use these tools poorly have the problems you mentioned. Quite honestly, who around us isn't a heavy social-media user? I'm Gen Z myself, and social-media is one of those vices where there is no 'healthy' amount to have, like drinking or smoking.
    - wrfitch 5y ago
      It depends on what you consider social media - I check Twitter and HN a couple of times a day and watch YouTube videos for maybe an hour or so, but I try to be intentional and focus on interesting content rather than mindless doomscrolling, or viewing whatever an algorithm recommends. My friends aren't all the same, and some of them spend more time than they'd like on Reddit, Instagram or Tinder, but actively avoiding social media is a common topic of conversation at least in my social circle. Deleting the apps that want you to use them endlessly (Instagram and Facebook) has caused a noticeable improvement in my mental health, and I'm interested in pushing this further. To counter your example, the mental benefits of experiencing a good whisky are worth the health detriments imo, but we can agree that chugging down bud light is terrible.
passivate 5y ago
I think people are put off by the word "rich" or "wealth" in this article. But I read the article and mentally replaced it with "financial security". I work with a lot of Gen Z's and they just want some sense of security. >as a consequence starts doing better than their previous generations But how can you do better when you don't have job security/home/retirement savings? Its far easier to be generous with your time/money when you're well off. I fear we're slipping into a gritty decade even crazier income inequality.

ptr2voidStar 5y ago

> I hope that Gen Z recognizes the madness that is currently coming to light and as a consequence starts doing better than their previous generations. This is wishful thinking - at best. Has human history not taught you anything?

blumomo 5y ago
Have positive thinking and self-fulfilling prophecy told you something?

jrsj 5y ago

(this is all just my opinion based on personal observations. I haven’t done research into concrete data on this so take it all with a grain of salt.) So far they seem even more materially oriented. Because that’s how we teach people to be. We lie to children and tell them that the most important thing in their lives and their primary source of fulfillment is a career. When in reality most of us get that from our relationships with other people, and a career is just a means to an end. And of course social media continues to reduce social interaction down its most shallow possible level. All financial considerations aside, Gen Z will probably be the most isolated, mentally ill, and least self sufficient generations in a very long time. And that’s because of the world we made for them.

blumomo 5y ago
Let’s help them create a better world. We see what they are struggling with, we as their parent generation have it in our hands.
wrfitch 5y ago
Hi, I'm part of Gen Z. Grain of salt, etc. You're being a little unfair here, implicitly describing an entire generation as overly materialistic, mentally ill, socially dependent children. Honestly, it sounds like the Gen Z people you know might just be heavy social media users, since people of any generation that use these tools poorly have the problems you mentioned. For those of us that don't use the standard social media channels, growing up around the internet was an absolute blessing, with some minor flaws compared to the benefits it provided. For examples of people that have benefited from being in this generation, look at the growing climate movement, or maker culture, which is democratising engineering in a way I don't think has been done before. Mental health isn't as much of a concern in this generation either imo; most people of my generation are far more comfortable talking about depression, anxiety, or autism than anyone else I talk to.
- HDMI_Cable 5y ago
  > Honestly, it sounds like the Gen Z people you know might just be heavy social media users, since people of any generation that use these tools poorly have the problems you mentioned. Quite honestly, who around us isn't a heavy social-media user? I'm Gen Z myself, and social-media is one of those vices where there is no 'healthy' amount to have, like drinking or smoking.
  - wrfitch 5y ago
    It depends on what you consider social media - I check Twitter and HN a couple of times a day and watch YouTube videos for maybe an hour or so, but I try to be intentional and focus on interesting content rather than mindless doomscrolling, or viewing whatever an algorithm recommends. My friends aren't all the same, and some of them spend more time than they'd like on Reddit, Instagram or Tinder, but actively avoiding social media is a common topic of conversation at least in my social circle. Deleting the apps that want you to use them endlessly (Instagram and Facebook) has caused a noticeable improvement in my mental health, and I'm interested in pushing this further. To counter your example, the mental benefits of experiencing a good whisky are worth the health detriments imo, but we can agree that chugging down bud light is terrible.

passivate 5y ago

I think people are put off by the word "rich" or "wealth" in this article. But I read the article and mentally replaced it with "financial security". I work with a lot of Gen Z's and they just want some sense of security. >as a consequence starts doing better than their previous generations But how can you do better when you don't have job security/home/retirement savings? Its far easier to be generous with your time/money when you're well off. I fear we're slipping into a gritty decade even crazier income inequality.