5 ms·

This is spot on. Multigenerational housing used to be the norm, not a symbol of failure. Why we all think it's a great idea to leave our families at 18 and pay

by tharne 5y ago

This is spot on. Multigenerational housing used to be the norm, not a symbol of failure. Why we all think it's a great idea to leave our families at 18 and pay high rents so that we can live with strangers we found on the internet is beyond me.

openknot 5y ago
There are good reasons in response to: "Why we all think it's a great idea to leave our families at 18 and pay high rents so that we can live with strangers we found on the internet is beyond me," though personally I also don't believe that multigenerational housing is a symbol of failure, and often lets a person save a lot of money. It's more difficult to maintain a romantic relationship when living with family (especially if both partners live with family), and it can also delay life skills (e.g. learning how to cook at home, clean, and generally learn to live more independently; though it's possible to deliberately learn this while living with family, it becomes a necessity to learn after moving out).
- tharne 5y ago
  There are definitely some benefits to living on one's own for a while, but I do not think we should continue to view as the only viable option, or even the default for that matter.
  - decafninja 5y ago
    Being pressured to move out of your parents' home ASAP is largely an American phenomenon I think. Maybe parts of Europe as well? In many parts of the world, the point where you are expected to (and socially pressured to) move out of your parents home is marriage. Of course there are exceptions, like moving to a faraway city for a job, etc. Whereas I see many American youths bleeding away their income on rent and expenses while living 10 minutes away from their parents' home.
    - info781 5y ago
      It is the weathly countries where people move out younger.
betwixthewires 5y ago
The thing is, the people that do the systems planning of our economy and social structure have an incentive for every man to move into a productive lifestyle the minute he turns 18. But there's a misalignment of incentives; what appears productive for society is not productive for the young men in question. So of course, in print, there's a crisis of young men staying at home with their parents til they're 30. But for young men, there's a crisis of incentive. Why on earth would a young man want to go give half his waking life to barely pay his own rent, then run on the treadmill that is modern online dating for, at best, meaningless hedonistic interactions with maybe, maybe not, women he's attracted to? What it comes down to is that men have no incentive to do anything other than low effort, intangible self service, because the other alternative is just a more expensive version of the exact same thing.
- giantg2 5y ago
  I have a family to support. If I realized just how bad the corporate world was, I would have stayed single, bought some land, and quit my job once I had enough money saved for a safety net so I could do a low effort job.
- sokoloff 5y ago
  Much of our life’s joy comes from what amounts to “meaningless hedonistic interactions”. It’s not that surprising that after having a taste of that in college or early adulthood that people sign up for that trade. I did, and I’d do it again.
  - betwixthewires 5y ago
    I've had my share of them too. They're great. It's not going to motivate me to try to one day afford a 4 bedroom house though, if that's all the future has in store for me. You're not getting career men with those prospects.
- CyberDildonics 5y ago
  the people that do the systems planning of our economy and social structure Who are these people and are they in the room with us now?

by tharne 5y ago

openknot 5y ago

There are good reasons in response to: "Why we all think it's a great idea to leave our families at 18 and pay high rents so that we can live with strangers we found on the internet is beyond me," though personally I also don't believe that multigenerational housing is a symbol of failure, and often lets a person save a lot of money. It's more difficult to maintain a romantic relationship when living with family (especially if both partners live with family), and it can also delay life skills (e.g. learning how to cook at home, clean, and generally learn to live more independently; though it's possible to deliberately learn this while living with family, it becomes a necessity to learn after moving out).

tharne 5y ago
There are definitely some benefits to living on one's own for a while, but I do not think we should continue to view as the only viable option, or even the default for that matter.
- decafninja 5y ago
  Being pressured to move out of your parents' home ASAP is largely an American phenomenon I think. Maybe parts of Europe as well? In many parts of the world, the point where you are expected to (and socially pressured to) move out of your parents home is marriage. Of course there are exceptions, like moving to a faraway city for a job, etc. Whereas I see many American youths bleeding away their income on rent and expenses while living 10 minutes away from their parents' home.
  - info781 5y ago
    It is the weathly countries where people move out younger.

betwixthewires 5y ago

The thing is, the people that do the systems planning of our economy and social structure have an incentive for every man to move into a productive lifestyle the minute he turns 18. But there's a misalignment of incentives; what appears productive for society is not productive for the young men in question. So of course, in print, there's a crisis of young men staying at home with their parents til they're 30. But for young men, there's a crisis of incentive. Why on earth would a young man want to go give half his waking life to barely pay his own rent, then run on the treadmill that is modern online dating for, at best, meaningless hedonistic interactions with maybe, maybe not, women he's attracted to? What it comes down to is that men have no incentive to do anything other than low effort, intangible self service, because the other alternative is just a more expensive version of the exact same thing.

giantg2 5y ago
I have a family to support. If I realized just how bad the corporate world was, I would have stayed single, bought some land, and quit my job once I had enough money saved for a safety net so I could do a low effort job.
sokoloff 5y ago
Much of our life’s joy comes from what amounts to “meaningless hedonistic interactions”. It’s not that surprising that after having a taste of that in college or early adulthood that people sign up for that trade. I did, and I’d do it again.
- betwixthewires 5y ago
  I've had my share of them too. They're great. It's not going to motivate me to try to one day afford a 4 bedroom house though, if that's all the future has in store for me. You're not getting career men with those prospects.
CyberDildonics 5y ago
the people that do the systems planning of our economy and social structure Who are these people and are they in the room with us now?