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It's funny to me how the simple category of having a job is weighted so highly in some people's minds. I live a life pretty similar to the NEETs described, in a

It's funny to me how the simple category of having a job is weighted so highly in some people's minds. I live a life pretty similar to the NEETs described, in all honesty. I live in a suburb in my 20s, I spend most of my time on screens, single, living alone, very occasionally get together with friends. But because I have a software job, I guess I am part of the "successful" class? No, it's not about working or not working in my opinion. It's about a society that has GINI-d it's way out of social mobility, a society that easily lets people close themselves off in extremely comfortable bubbles of cheap entertainment, a society that is so stratified, so alienating, that people would rather just close themselves off from it. Western society has basically just reverted to feudalism, IMO. Assets are simply too expensive, so circumstances of birth become the most important factor in your quality of life. Working hard doesn't matter because even with the most prestigious jobs in society, you have no way to catch up. The losers who weren't born into a favorable position, such as myself, just occupy themselves with digital bread and circuses. What else is there to do? I'm basically just a bitch of the Outer Party and I've accepted it.

ericmcer 4y ago
Wealth inequality was been worse in the US at other times and I would challenge the notion that our current wealthy elite is the most powerful and influential version in history. If anything workers have never had as many rights and opportunities as they do now. Maybe we are more aware of it than previous generations were, maybe humans are just animals and we function better with idealistic blinders of nationalism.
waboremo 4y ago
Such great points you've brought up, and hopefully it's not lost on many posters on HN, that technicality of on paper being "successful" but realistically not living very differently from NEETs. It says a lot about western society when many would likely see company towns as a hugely beneficial move these days. An example is bloomberg calling Amazon's potential factory towns as champions for the working class. What a backwards world.
D13Fd 4y ago
NEETs? GINI-d? The "Outer Party"? Do you hear yourself? I don't know what those things mean, and I think it's pretty weird that you assume the average reader will. And we're pretty far from "feudalism." What "assets" are you talking about that you need to get a decent job? The only one I can think of that is truly locked away behind high prices is education, but even there lots of people succeed by working hard and taking on debt for school.
- throwaway23597 4y ago
  > NEETs? GINI-d? The "Outer Party"? Do you hear yourself? I don't know what those things mean, and I think it's pretty weird that you assume the average reader will. Did you not read the article? Do you not know what the GINI coefficient is? It strikes me that you're being disingenuous.
- the_only_law 4y ago
  I'd really hope most HN users who are unfamiliar with common internet slang (NEET) or economic measures (GINI) would be smart enough to use their preferred search engine to fill in the blanks.
  - lostmsu 4y ago
    > I'd really hope most HN users who are unfamiliar with common internet slang (NEET) or economic measures (GINI) would be smart enough to use their preferred search engine to fill in the blanks. It hurts the efficiency of discussion. You write a post that 100+ people will read many of them not immediately knowing what some of those are. You may have saved 5 seconds typing abbreviations, but wasted quite a few minutes of their time in aggregate. P.S. NEET (from urban dictionary): > This is a term used in the field of education. The acronym stands for "Not in Education, Employment or Training" but young people have started to use it as a term for bums/layabouts with no future. GINI is a way to measure value of some definition of inequality.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
Bellamy 4y ago
Panem et circenses.
nonethewiser 4y ago
> I live in a suburb in my 20s, I spend most of my time on screens, single, living alone, very occasionally get together with friends. But because I have a software job, I guess I am part of the "successful" class? I would say "I have a software job" is the healthiest quality you listed with the other things ranging from a little negative to neutral. By all means pursue your own interests, but we all know people choose things that aren't good for them all the time so simply professing a preference doesn't undermine concern.
chasd00 4y ago
Weren't people like you described as hermits before Internet culture? There's a difference between choosing to live the life of a hermit and being forced to.
lostmsu 4y ago
There's a huge difference between you choosing to spend the resources you earned on whatever you want, and resources other people earned. It is the later part, that calls for questioning.

ericmcer 4y ago

Wealth inequality was been worse in the US at other times and I would challenge the notion that our current wealthy elite is the most powerful and influential version in history. If anything workers have never had as many rights and opportunities as they do now. Maybe we are more aware of it than previous generations were, maybe humans are just animals and we function better with idealistic blinders of nationalism.

waboremo 4y ago

Such great points you've brought up, and hopefully it's not lost on many posters on HN, that technicality of on paper being "successful" but realistically not living very differently from NEETs. It says a lot about western society when many would likely see company towns as a hugely beneficial move these days. An example is bloomberg calling Amazon's potential factory towns as champions for the working class. What a backwards world.

D13Fd 4y ago

NEETs? GINI-d? The "Outer Party"? Do you hear yourself? I don't know what those things mean, and I think it's pretty weird that you assume the average reader will. And we're pretty far from "feudalism." What "assets" are you talking about that you need to get a decent job? The only one I can think of that is truly locked away behind high prices is education, but even there lots of people succeed by working hard and taking on debt for school.

throwaway23597 4y ago
> NEETs? GINI-d? The "Outer Party"? Do you hear yourself? I don't know what those things mean, and I think it's pretty weird that you assume the average reader will. Did you not read the article? Do you not know what the GINI coefficient is? It strikes me that you're being disingenuous.
the_only_law 4y ago
I'd really hope most HN users who are unfamiliar with common internet slang (NEET) or economic measures (GINI) would be smart enough to use their preferred search engine to fill in the blanks.
- lostmsu 4y ago
  > I'd really hope most HN users who are unfamiliar with common internet slang (NEET) or economic measures (GINI) would be smart enough to use their preferred search engine to fill in the blanks. It hurts the efficiency of discussion. You write a post that 100+ people will read many of them not immediately knowing what some of those are. You may have saved 5 seconds typing abbreviations, but wasted quite a few minutes of their time in aggregate. P.S. NEET (from urban dictionary): > This is a term used in the field of education. The acronym stands for "Not in Education, Employment or Training" but young people have started to use it as a term for bums/layabouts with no future. GINI is a way to measure value of some definition of inequality.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]

Bellamy 4y ago

Panem et circenses.

nonethewiser 4y ago

> I live in a suburb in my 20s, I spend most of my time on screens, single, living alone, very occasionally get together with friends. But because I have a software job, I guess I am part of the "successful" class? I would say "I have a software job" is the healthiest quality you listed with the other things ranging from a little negative to neutral. By all means pursue your own interests, but we all know people choose things that aren't good for them all the time so simply professing a preference doesn't undermine concern.

chasd00 4y ago

Weren't people like you described as hermits before Internet culture? There's a difference between choosing to live the life of a hermit and being forced to.

lostmsu 4y ago

There's a huge difference between you choosing to spend the resources you earned on whatever you want, and resources other people earned. It is the later part, that calls for questioning.