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The recent World Happiness Report[0] concluded: > In many but not all regions, the young are happier than the old. But in North America happiness has fallen so

The recent World Happiness Report[0] concluded: > In many but not all regions, the young are happier than the old. But in North America happiness has fallen so sharply for the young that they are now less happy than the old. By contrast, in the transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the young are much happier than the old. In Western Europe as a whole happiness is similar at all ages, while elsewhere it tends to decline over the life cycle (with an occasional upturn for the old). I think social media is a red herring. For whatever reason, young people in America are unhappy and instead if dealing with hard problems we think "let's just take social media away, that will fix it". Does Finland not have social media? Why are young people in Finland happier than they are in America? I predict this trend will continue, we will take social media away from kids and they will still be unhappy as they look for things to do in their small apartment while mom and dad look at their cell phones. [0]: https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2024/happiness-and-age-summary/ https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2024/happiness-and-age-summ...

ericmcer 3y ago
I have a 14 year old and the content of social media seems to be what bums her out. She seems to be ingrained with the idea that she will never own a home, environmental disasters will be constant and the economy will be in shambles by the time she reaches adulthood. Maybe America just has a uniquely depressive social media environment? I have not read any kind of large scale studies examining the "tone" of social media feeds in different countries but that would be interesting. * Also whenever she says stuff like that I respond by letting her know she will be able to buy a house if she wants one, the economy will always be good for people who are work smart and hard, etc.
- psadauskas 3y ago
  > she will be able to buy a house if she wants one, the economy will always be good for people who are work smart and hard, etc. Yeah, I don't think that's true at all. Its just anecdata, but I have several friends in their 30s for which that's just not the case. They're smart and work (harder than I do, just not in tech), but the price of a down payment on a home is going up faster than they're able to save, and they already live relatively frugally. We live in a major metro area, not a particularly expensive one, but the same is true for most of my cousins in the same age range spread across the country. I feel like my age group (mid 40s) is the last one that could afford home ownership, and me only because I got lucky by working in tech. Other people I know that are better educated and work harder than me are just shut out of the housing market, without some kind of windfall.
  - floxy 3y ago
    https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=conventional+97+mortgage&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=conventional+97+mortgage&ia...
    - lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 3y ago
      Is it easy to find one that doesn't require private mortgage insurance? I remember that being a sticking point when I looked into this in the past few years. The problem I see with requiring such insurance is that I'd already be paying whatever interest rate on a higher loan amount for the same 15- or 30-year period and it's rather insulting when a high credit score isn't a signal that the loan is low risk. How many years of literally 0 late bill payments do I need before I can reasonably expect a bank to assume that I won't miss the payments that I sign up for? (Undefined, unless one has the 20% up front, then 0.) It's a bit of a joke. Anyway, I guess that got a bit rant-y; just saying that this feels more like exploitation by banks than banks offering a reasonable option. It lowers one's purchasing power unless one is able to save for a down payment.
      - floxy 3y ago
        I didn't know I was supposed to be insulted by PMI, so I just paid it.
      - Zpalmtree 3y ago
        Why should the lender take on more risk because you don't like it?
  - ericmcer 3y ago
    You are totally right housing prices have skyrocketed relative to wages, but you cant just tell kids they are doomed. There have always been good times and hard times and there are always people who succeed or fail regardless.
    - smileysteve 3y ago
      > but you cant just tell kids they are doomed But you can expose them to broader view points; Why is owning a house a goal, or dilemma that would lead to depression? This is perhaps the "American" part; how many countries is home and automobile ownership a top coming of age marker? Environmental disasters are going to happen (especially in top article of Florida) how can a kid take part through volunteering or voting for non disaster policies? Economic disaster ^^ see above ^^ but yes, America has not grasped with demographic shift with baby boomer retirements; and a future lack of workers; this is where parents can teach children self sufficiency.
- darth_avocado 3y ago
  I am an adult and I have the same concerns. Went to a top university, got a decent job, found a partner who also has a decent job and don't use social media much. Still don't think we would be able to own a home for a while, every time we get close to the financial ability to buy a house, the goal post moves. The economy has always been up and down. We've both seen harsh times economically when companies let people go on a whim. Healthcare is a nightmare. You could have a good job/health insurance most of your life and could be out of one for just a couple months, and if an incident happens in that period, you set yourself back by years in terms of savings. The environment keeps getting worse, considering we actually saw the things get worse in the last 30 years with our own eyes. There is just a perpetual fight to keep your quality of life consistent. Working hard and smart is no longer enough.
- ttt3ts 3y ago
  > Maybe America just has a uniquely depressive social media environment? You might have something here. Given the other responses to your post which are largely unrelated but undeniably depressing. Now I have to go see if such a study exists...
- silverquiet 3y ago
  I don't know if I'm that smart, but I worked as hard as I could at my last tech job and still got laid off. Do own a house, but it was basically a gift from the parents - maybe you can buy your daughter one too?
- jrflowers 3y ago
  > She seems to be ingrained with the idea that she will never own a home, environmental disasters will be constant and the economy will be in shambles by the time she reaches adulthood. This is very troubling. Without social media teens would have to hear those things from their elders and peers in person or read about them elsewhere on the internet
  - Zpalmtree 3y ago
    These are all nonsense though
    - jrflowers 3y ago
      This is a good point. Because you disagree with that, it is not ubiquitous
- userabchn 3y ago
  > Maybe America just has a uniquely depressive social media environment? Perhaps America is a bigger target than other countries for foreign influence operations that seek to cause division and depression using social media.
  - sangnoir 3y ago
    Perhaps America was a uniquely divided society from the very beginning? Either that, or foreign influence operations have been a multigenerational affairs - which year or decade could one say America was not divided?
    - sangnoir 3y ago
      To double down: chattel slavery, the expansion west by conquest, a civil war, the Chinese Exclusion Act, Jim Crow and Japanese internment camps are not the ingredients of a cohesive society. The fault lines in American society were not imposed from the outside. There was never a point when the US was egalitarian in practice.
  - joemazerino 3y ago
    This and this again. Tiktok is a foreign influence machine on its own and it is wrecking havoc across the West. Compare Western Tiktok to Chinese Tiktok and see the difference for yourself.
    - mk89 3y ago
      Let's take TikTok down. I am all for it. Let's also take Facebook and Instagram down, though. Bad propaganda from China that makes our kids depressed is as bad as the same bad propaganda from an American company. And Facebook stopped being a place to make friends a long time ago.
    - boredpeter 3y ago
      [dead]
- DougN7 3y ago
  I think my 25 year old son had bought into the same thought pattern. I’m trying to help, but parents are often thought to be clueless. Having said that, I’ve found FOMO hitting me hard when looking at Facebook posts, so I’ve stopped looking, and feeling better.
- fulafel 3y ago
  Not sure we should be trying to fix away awareness of the climate crisis, which seems to be a blind spot for most older people preventing the democratic process from taking the needed drastic actions. (Same could be said for the increasing economic inequality despite record GDP, though it's more survivable near term)
  - AlexandrB 3y ago
    I think these two things are in conflict. Drastic action on the climate will almost certainly make most people's lives harder (at least in the short term) and will probably be tougher on the poor than the rich - for examples food price increases due to higher energy costs. Once you get down to the nuts and bolts of the changes needed, it's a tough sell to those already struggling.
    - rhelz 3y ago
      If you include all the externalities, fossils fuels are the most expensive, not the least expensive, of the alternatives we have today. > Drastic action on the climate will almost certainly make most people's lives harder The human body cools itself by evaporation of sweat. This mechanism stops working at 95 degrees F at 100% humidity, or at 115 degrees with 50% humidity. Last summer in southern Indiana, where I live, we have a week of over 100 degrees/50% humidity. Recall, if you have a temperature of 103 degrees, they recommend you see a doctor immediately. Over 108 degrees and you risk brain damage. And currently the world is warming at the rate of just over 1/3 of a degree per decade. Drastic action? The most drastic thing we could be doing is nothing. Solar is already cheaper than coal, and the price of solar panels is following a Moore's law like curve. Wind farms aren't far behind, and they've already saved Texas's bacon a couple of times. It doesn't matter how many social media sites they shut down, kids are going to be depressed because nobody seems to take the problems their generation are going to face seriously.
    - fulafel 3y ago
      You might also say that past increases in economic inequality have come from other factors, so you might say we have headroom to roll back those to compensate for the climate crisis caused effects. (Also as the poor are even now hit hardst by global heating, there's definitely a moral responsibility for the rich to do much more)
- api 3y ago
  "Never own a home." As I say at every opportunity: it's housing prices. Housing prices are the #1 reason for youth "doom and gloom" about their economic future, at least in many Western countries and especially anglosphere countries. Social media doesn't help, especially for teens (and it's apparently worse for girls), but it's not the only or even main cause.
- astrodust 3y ago
  "I respond by letting her know she will be able to buy a house if she wants one..." Guess you haven't mentioned that Santa isn't real, either.
- viraptor 3y ago
  > by letting her know she will be able to buy a house if she wants one It should be easy to prove, right? Run the numbers for median income at specific age, house costs, interest, inflation, etc. for your area. If it's obviously affordable, you can show it. Depending on the location, you may not like the answer though... That fear is not completely made up, you know? I guess most of us are waiting for that inevitable bubble pop, but... you know the saying about irrational markets. > environmental disasters will be constant The way things are going and with our response... yeah, I worry the same. At this point just the inertia of the system will make things worse for close to a decade, even if we get much better. It's a valid worry. If you're saying to her you're basically ignoring those possibilities, that's unlikely to help with being worried.
- rhelz 3y ago
  > I respond by letting her know she will be able to buy a house if she wants one I assume she's good at math? I'm sure she's solved way harder math problems than calculating how long it will take to save up a $200k down payment when you make $4k a month and pay 80% of that in rent and taxes. > the economy will always be good for people who are work smart and hard, Ummm....well, if that's been your experience, God bless you man. But you are writing a check you can't cash if you say it will be true of your daughter's generation. Is it really even a good idea to emphasize hard work? My teachers/parents always said if I worked hard enough I would succeed, but man, this has only made me work 50, then 60, then 80 hours a week, desperately trying to turn an inherently doomed project into a success. I've worked waaaay harder on my failures than on my success. That one time I was competing with a team of 5 russian Ph.D.'s to see whose software library would go into the product. That one time at a startup, where I found out too late that the founder always fires all his workers before their stock options vest. Even my failed marriage!! I worked harder trying to keep things together than I ever worked on anything. With my current wife its not work at all. If you just tell your daughter that hard work will always ensure success, you are just setting her up for serial burnout after burnout. If you are working hard, that's not a sign you are winning, its a sign you are losing. And blaming it on social media is just shooting the messenger.
  - ericmcer 3y ago
    You are really ignoring that I put smart before hard. Sorry things haven't gone your way though, I am kinda surprised someone could have been in tech for > 10 years and not have significant savings, stock, real estate or something built up.
    - rhelz 3y ago
      > You are really ignoring that I put smart before hard. chuckle. Well, I'm sure that will cheer up the kiddies: "I guess you just don't deserve a house, because you aren't smart enough." > I am kinda surprised someone could have been in tech for > 10 years and not have significant savings, That'll cheer up the kiddies too :-) "Wow, what's wrong with you; I can't believe you don't have anything to show for your 4 years in college and 20 years working for the man....how is that even possible? I guess you just didn't have what it takes..." After such words of encouragement, I'm feeling better already :-) chuckle I don't want to pillory you, but I hope you might consider the possibility that canceling Tik-Tok isn't going to be some magic bullet to cheer up the youth. I've had my fair share of success and failure--its just that the successes were sooooo much easier than the failures. If the team is right, the product-market fit is right, and its an idea whose time has come, the whole universe seems to be pulling for you. Yes, you are humping, but it's because you are like a kid on an easter egg hunt, and want to pick up as many easter eggs as you can! But what if there're no easter eggs in the field? I.e. if the economy is down, they laid off all the people who actually know how the code works, the ones who are left introduce 5 bugs for every 1 bug they fix.. ...it's like trying to paddle a boat upstream vs downstream. Yes, some factors are in your control, and you should make sure those are taken care of. But by far the lion's share of success comes from things entirely out of your control: * What country were you born in? * Did you have teachers who cared? * Could your parents pay for college, or did you start off $100k in debt? * Did you avoid coming down with multiple sclerosis, or having a drunk driver plow into you, etc so you never had any long-term health problems? * Did the president of the united state just spend $3 trillion of your dollars on an oil war which gave us absolutely nothing in return? * Did those jerks on wall street detonate the economy again? * Did the president cut taxes for everybody else but you, and finance it literally by printing money, bloating the money supply, and inevitably resulting in increasing the debt by $8.5 trillion and sparking the worst inflation we've seen since the OPEC crisis? * And is he just going to get away with trying to steal your vote, so what little say you still have have will also be taken away? The kids have a legitimate beef. You are not going to "work smarter, and harder" your way out of this.
- kevingadd 3y ago
  Lying to her like that will probably undermine her trust in you going forward. I understand that you mean well, and sometimes we have to lie to kids about things that are too complex for them to understand, but this doesn't sound like one of these cases. It might be more effective to gently massage the truth so that it's compatible with the negativity she's digested, i.e. 'here's what's being done to manage the climate, here's the measures that are keeping the economy in good shape'.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
oglop 3y ago
Interesting young populations bordering all too real conflicts and war and existentially threatening neighbors are happier than people who have, by comparison, so much less to be unhappy about. Also the old are very rich in America. They hold stocks and do well. I’m a millennial and can’t say I’ve had that experience. I would bet old Europeans own less securities and are less wealthy possibly. This decreases the older generations happiness possibly and may artificially raise youth happiness in comparison. It’s all interesting and there’s a lot here to look at and ponder over. I do think there’s something unique about American youths and how they use these technologies though. I would also bet there’s less commerce masked as social media platforms Europe. Many young Americans sort of blend the use of these apps with attempts to make money. That’s my perception at least. That may introduce stressors not seen in a society which doesn’t have such a focus on being industrious or busy constantly.
- jjav 3y ago
  > Also the old are very rich in America. They hold stocks and do well. That is quite a generalization. The rich old people are indeed very rich. Also, a lot of old people are quite poor and poverty is increasing in that age bracket. https://www.ncoa.org/article/latest-census-bureau-data-shows-americans-65-only-group-to-experience-increase-in-poverty https://www.ncoa.org/article/latest-census-bureau-data-shows...
  - coryrc 3y ago
    We spend far, far more on a single invalid dementia patient in a nursing home than on a poor family with young kids. And not nearly enough on preventing young single people from becoming poor single mothers.
- sameoldtune 3y ago
  Came here to write similar things. The US has had absolutely unrivaled prosperity in the last 70 years. I think some healthy global arbitration is occurring. Globalization, remote work, and raising standards of living mean there are fewer faceless foreign workers to grind to dust—some of that pain inevitably will come back home now in the form of lower real wages and less glamorous work. Young people still have good wages and opportunities, but it is hard not to be envious of previous (white) generations that could expect a separated house and a pension for working at a factory. It would be nice if young people could have a broader perspective on this point, but that’s a complaint as old as civilization.
AzzyHN 3y ago
Social media certainly doesn't help, but once again, the powers that be find everything to blame except for themselves for creating the conditions of misery necessary for "infinite" growth
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

ericmcer 3y ago

I have a 14 year old and the content of social media seems to be what bums her out. She seems to be ingrained with the idea that she will never own a home, environmental disasters will be constant and the economy will be in shambles by the time she reaches adulthood. Maybe America just has a uniquely depressive social media environment? I have not read any kind of large scale studies examining the "tone" of social media feeds in different countries but that would be interesting. * Also whenever she says stuff like that I respond by letting her know she will be able to buy a house if she wants one, the economy will always be good for people who are work smart and hard, etc.

psadauskas 3y ago
> she will be able to buy a house if she wants one, the economy will always be good for people who are work smart and hard, etc. Yeah, I don't think that's true at all. Its just anecdata, but I have several friends in their 30s for which that's just not the case. They're smart and work (harder than I do, just not in tech), but the price of a down payment on a home is going up faster than they're able to save, and they already live relatively frugally. We live in a major metro area, not a particularly expensive one, but the same is true for most of my cousins in the same age range spread across the country. I feel like my age group (mid 40s) is the last one that could afford home ownership, and me only because I got lucky by working in tech. Other people I know that are better educated and work harder than me are just shut out of the housing market, without some kind of windfall.
- floxy 3y ago
  https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=conventional+97+mortgage&ia=web https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=conventional+97+mortgage&ia...
  - lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 3y ago
    Is it easy to find one that doesn't require private mortgage insurance? I remember that being a sticking point when I looked into this in the past few years. The problem I see with requiring such insurance is that I'd already be paying whatever interest rate on a higher loan amount for the same 15- or 30-year period and it's rather insulting when a high credit score isn't a signal that the loan is low risk. How many years of literally 0 late bill payments do I need before I can reasonably expect a bank to assume that I won't miss the payments that I sign up for? (Undefined, unless one has the 20% up front, then 0.) It's a bit of a joke. Anyway, I guess that got a bit rant-y; just saying that this feels more like exploitation by banks than banks offering a reasonable option. It lowers one's purchasing power unless one is able to save for a down payment.
    - floxy 3y ago
      I didn't know I was supposed to be insulted by PMI, so I just paid it.
    - Zpalmtree 3y ago
      Why should the lender take on more risk because you don't like it?
- ericmcer 3y ago
  You are totally right housing prices have skyrocketed relative to wages, but you cant just tell kids they are doomed. There have always been good times and hard times and there are always people who succeed or fail regardless.
  - smileysteve 3y ago
    > but you cant just tell kids they are doomed But you can expose them to broader view points; Why is owning a house a goal, or dilemma that would lead to depression? This is perhaps the "American" part; how many countries is home and automobile ownership a top coming of age marker? Environmental disasters are going to happen (especially in top article of Florida) how can a kid take part through volunteering or voting for non disaster policies? Economic disaster ^^ see above ^^ but yes, America has not grasped with demographic shift with baby boomer retirements; and a future lack of workers; this is where parents can teach children self sufficiency.
darth_avocado 3y ago
I am an adult and I have the same concerns. Went to a top university, got a decent job, found a partner who also has a decent job and don't use social media much. Still don't think we would be able to own a home for a while, every time we get close to the financial ability to buy a house, the goal post moves. The economy has always been up and down. We've both seen harsh times economically when companies let people go on a whim. Healthcare is a nightmare. You could have a good job/health insurance most of your life and could be out of one for just a couple months, and if an incident happens in that period, you set yourself back by years in terms of savings. The environment keeps getting worse, considering we actually saw the things get worse in the last 30 years with our own eyes. There is just a perpetual fight to keep your quality of life consistent. Working hard and smart is no longer enough.
ttt3ts 3y ago
> Maybe America just has a uniquely depressive social media environment? You might have something here. Given the other responses to your post which are largely unrelated but undeniably depressing. Now I have to go see if such a study exists...
silverquiet 3y ago
I don't know if I'm that smart, but I worked as hard as I could at my last tech job and still got laid off. Do own a house, but it was basically a gift from the parents - maybe you can buy your daughter one too?
jrflowers 3y ago
> She seems to be ingrained with the idea that she will never own a home, environmental disasters will be constant and the economy will be in shambles by the time she reaches adulthood. This is very troubling. Without social media teens would have to hear those things from their elders and peers in person or read about them elsewhere on the internet
- Zpalmtree 3y ago
  These are all nonsense though
  - jrflowers 3y ago
    This is a good point. Because you disagree with that, it is not ubiquitous
userabchn 3y ago
> Maybe America just has a uniquely depressive social media environment? Perhaps America is a bigger target than other countries for foreign influence operations that seek to cause division and depression using social media.
- sangnoir 3y ago
  Perhaps America was a uniquely divided society from the very beginning? Either that, or foreign influence operations have been a multigenerational affairs - which year or decade could one say America was not divided?
  - sangnoir 3y ago
    To double down: chattel slavery, the expansion west by conquest, a civil war, the Chinese Exclusion Act, Jim Crow and Japanese internment camps are not the ingredients of a cohesive society. The fault lines in American society were not imposed from the outside. There was never a point when the US was egalitarian in practice.
- joemazerino 3y ago
  This and this again. Tiktok is a foreign influence machine on its own and it is wrecking havoc across the West. Compare Western Tiktok to Chinese Tiktok and see the difference for yourself.
  - mk89 3y ago
    Let's take TikTok down. I am all for it. Let's also take Facebook and Instagram down, though. Bad propaganda from China that makes our kids depressed is as bad as the same bad propaganda from an American company. And Facebook stopped being a place to make friends a long time ago.
  - boredpeter 3y ago
    [dead]
DougN7 3y ago
I think my 25 year old son had bought into the same thought pattern. I’m trying to help, but parents are often thought to be clueless. Having said that, I’ve found FOMO hitting me hard when looking at Facebook posts, so I’ve stopped looking, and feeling better.
fulafel 3y ago
Not sure we should be trying to fix away awareness of the climate crisis, which seems to be a blind spot for most older people preventing the democratic process from taking the needed drastic actions. (Same could be said for the increasing economic inequality despite record GDP, though it's more survivable near term)
- AlexandrB 3y ago
  I think these two things are in conflict. Drastic action on the climate will almost certainly make most people's lives harder (at least in the short term) and will probably be tougher on the poor than the rich - for examples food price increases due to higher energy costs. Once you get down to the nuts and bolts of the changes needed, it's a tough sell to those already struggling.
  - rhelz 3y ago
    If you include all the externalities, fossils fuels are the most expensive, not the least expensive, of the alternatives we have today. > Drastic action on the climate will almost certainly make most people's lives harder The human body cools itself by evaporation of sweat. This mechanism stops working at 95 degrees F at 100% humidity, or at 115 degrees with 50% humidity. Last summer in southern Indiana, where I live, we have a week of over 100 degrees/50% humidity. Recall, if you have a temperature of 103 degrees, they recommend you see a doctor immediately. Over 108 degrees and you risk brain damage. And currently the world is warming at the rate of just over 1/3 of a degree per decade. Drastic action? The most drastic thing we could be doing is nothing. Solar is already cheaper than coal, and the price of solar panels is following a Moore's law like curve. Wind farms aren't far behind, and they've already saved Texas's bacon a couple of times. It doesn't matter how many social media sites they shut down, kids are going to be depressed because nobody seems to take the problems their generation are going to face seriously.
  - fulafel 3y ago
    You might also say that past increases in economic inequality have come from other factors, so you might say we have headroom to roll back those to compensate for the climate crisis caused effects. (Also as the poor are even now hit hardst by global heating, there's definitely a moral responsibility for the rich to do much more)
api 3y ago
"Never own a home." As I say at every opportunity: it's housing prices. Housing prices are the #1 reason for youth "doom and gloom" about their economic future, at least in many Western countries and especially anglosphere countries. Social media doesn't help, especially for teens (and it's apparently worse for girls), but it's not the only or even main cause.
astrodust 3y ago
"I respond by letting her know she will be able to buy a house if she wants one..." Guess you haven't mentioned that Santa isn't real, either.
viraptor 3y ago
> by letting her know she will be able to buy a house if she wants one It should be easy to prove, right? Run the numbers for median income at specific age, house costs, interest, inflation, etc. for your area. If it's obviously affordable, you can show it. Depending on the location, you may not like the answer though... That fear is not completely made up, you know? I guess most of us are waiting for that inevitable bubble pop, but... you know the saying about irrational markets. > environmental disasters will be constant The way things are going and with our response... yeah, I worry the same. At this point just the inertia of the system will make things worse for close to a decade, even if we get much better. It's a valid worry. If you're saying to her you're basically ignoring those possibilities, that's unlikely to help with being worried.
rhelz 3y ago
> I respond by letting her know she will be able to buy a house if she wants one I assume she's good at math? I'm sure she's solved way harder math problems than calculating how long it will take to save up a $200k down payment when you make $4k a month and pay 80% of that in rent and taxes. > the economy will always be good for people who are work smart and hard, Ummm....well, if that's been your experience, God bless you man. But you are writing a check you can't cash if you say it will be true of your daughter's generation. Is it really even a good idea to emphasize hard work? My teachers/parents always said if I worked hard enough I would succeed, but man, this has only made me work 50, then 60, then 80 hours a week, desperately trying to turn an inherently doomed project into a success. I've worked waaaay harder on my failures than on my success. That one time I was competing with a team of 5 russian Ph.D.'s to see whose software library would go into the product. That one time at a startup, where I found out too late that the founder always fires all his workers before their stock options vest. Even my failed marriage!! I worked harder trying to keep things together than I ever worked on anything. With my current wife its not work at all. If you just tell your daughter that hard work will always ensure success, you are just setting her up for serial burnout after burnout. If you are working hard, that's not a sign you are winning, its a sign you are losing. And blaming it on social media is just shooting the messenger.
- ericmcer 3y ago
  You are really ignoring that I put smart before hard. Sorry things haven't gone your way though, I am kinda surprised someone could have been in tech for > 10 years and not have significant savings, stock, real estate or something built up.
  - rhelz 3y ago
    > You are really ignoring that I put smart before hard. chuckle. Well, I'm sure that will cheer up the kiddies: "I guess you just don't deserve a house, because you aren't smart enough." > I am kinda surprised someone could have been in tech for > 10 years and not have significant savings, That'll cheer up the kiddies too :-) "Wow, what's wrong with you; I can't believe you don't have anything to show for your 4 years in college and 20 years working for the man....how is that even possible? I guess you just didn't have what it takes..." After such words of encouragement, I'm feeling better already :-) chuckle I don't want to pillory you, but I hope you might consider the possibility that canceling Tik-Tok isn't going to be some magic bullet to cheer up the youth. I've had my fair share of success and failure--its just that the successes were sooooo much easier than the failures. If the team is right, the product-market fit is right, and its an idea whose time has come, the whole universe seems to be pulling for you. Yes, you are humping, but it's because you are like a kid on an easter egg hunt, and want to pick up as many easter eggs as you can! But what if there're no easter eggs in the field? I.e. if the economy is down, they laid off all the people who actually know how the code works, the ones who are left introduce 5 bugs for every 1 bug they fix.. ...it's like trying to paddle a boat upstream vs downstream. Yes, some factors are in your control, and you should make sure those are taken care of. But by far the lion's share of success comes from things entirely out of your control: * What country were you born in? * Did you have teachers who cared? * Could your parents pay for college, or did you start off $100k in debt? * Did you avoid coming down with multiple sclerosis, or having a drunk driver plow into you, etc so you never had any long-term health problems? * Did the president of the united state just spend $3 trillion of your dollars on an oil war which gave us absolutely nothing in return? * Did those jerks on wall street detonate the economy again? * Did the president cut taxes for everybody else but you, and finance it literally by printing money, bloating the money supply, and inevitably resulting in increasing the debt by $8.5 trillion and sparking the worst inflation we've seen since the OPEC crisis? * And is he just going to get away with trying to steal your vote, so what little say you still have have will also be taken away? The kids have a legitimate beef. You are not going to "work smarter, and harder" your way out of this.
kevingadd 3y ago
Lying to her like that will probably undermine her trust in you going forward. I understand that you mean well, and sometimes we have to lie to kids about things that are too complex for them to understand, but this doesn't sound like one of these cases. It might be more effective to gently massage the truth so that it's compatible with the negativity she's digested, i.e. 'here's what's being done to manage the climate, here's the measures that are keeping the economy in good shape'.
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oglop 3y ago

Interesting young populations bordering all too real conflicts and war and existentially threatening neighbors are happier than people who have, by comparison, so much less to be unhappy about. Also the old are very rich in America. They hold stocks and do well. I’m a millennial and can’t say I’ve had that experience. I would bet old Europeans own less securities and are less wealthy possibly. This decreases the older generations happiness possibly and may artificially raise youth happiness in comparison. It’s all interesting and there’s a lot here to look at and ponder over. I do think there’s something unique about American youths and how they use these technologies though. I would also bet there’s less commerce masked as social media platforms Europe. Many young Americans sort of blend the use of these apps with attempts to make money. That’s my perception at least. That may introduce stressors not seen in a society which doesn’t have such a focus on being industrious or busy constantly.

jjav 3y ago
> Also the old are very rich in America. They hold stocks and do well. That is quite a generalization. The rich old people are indeed very rich. Also, a lot of old people are quite poor and poverty is increasing in that age bracket. https://www.ncoa.org/article/latest-census-bureau-data-shows-americans-65-only-group-to-experience-increase-in-poverty https://www.ncoa.org/article/latest-census-bureau-data-shows...
- coryrc 3y ago
  We spend far, far more on a single invalid dementia patient in a nursing home than on a poor family with young kids. And not nearly enough on preventing young single people from becoming poor single mothers.
sameoldtune 3y ago
Came here to write similar things. The US has had absolutely unrivaled prosperity in the last 70 years. I think some healthy global arbitration is occurring. Globalization, remote work, and raising standards of living mean there are fewer faceless foreign workers to grind to dust—some of that pain inevitably will come back home now in the form of lower real wages and less glamorous work. Young people still have good wages and opportunities, but it is hard not to be envious of previous (white) generations that could expect a separated house and a pension for working at a factory. It would be nice if young people could have a broader perspective on this point, but that’s a complaint as old as civilization.

AzzyHN 3y ago

Social media certainly doesn't help, but once again, the powers that be find everything to blame except for themselves for creating the conditions of misery necessary for "infinite" growth

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