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I'm sorry but that is nothing but a bunch of ignorant hand-waving. Whenever something like the quarterlife crisis is brought up, there is a strong current of th

I'm sorry but that is nothing but a bunch of ignorant hand-waving. Whenever something like the quarterlife crisis is brought up, there is a strong current of thinking that goes something like "These people should just get over themselves" Fact is, there are a number of huge factors working against young people these days. Consider the following: - You can't get a decent job without a decent education. It used to be that a highschool graduate could get a job that paid enough to support a family, a concept that is completely absurd these days. Kids these days are finishing school much later than their parents, and they don't have a choice. - the cost of school is sky-rocketting, as it debt. - A rapid climb in income inequality over the last generation (check the historical gini index for reference) means that there aren't very many quality, well paying jobs available to young people. - young people will be stuck with the bill to clean up the fucking mess we're going through right now AND pay for the retirement and medical care of the people that have brought about this shit-storm. The end result is, society has raised it's children with the wrong set of values, with policies that screw them over and now tries to wash it's hands clean by essentially saying that the stupid kids should have seen it all coming when they were pre-pubescent teens and manouvered around it.

heed 17y ago
Not just that, but there is so much social pressure and expectation that pushes you along through highschool, through college without much promotion toward the alternatives. Never once did I think or hear that I didn't have to go to college, that I could learn some sort of trade or technical skill instead. I blindly followed my nicely laid out path with little objection, and in a way feel robbed, though realize it ultimately my fault. But what's really depressing is that I can't complain, at all. I am so lucky to have this life, these opportunities, but it is totally despairing to be aware of just how narcissistic and selfish it is to be able to have a 'quarter-life crisis. The fact is though, these feelings of despair exist, and for valid reasons.
- ShardPhoenix 17y ago
  The fact that someone else has it worse doesn't make your feelings any less real.
  - sneakums 17y ago
    Group hug!
- jimbokun 17y ago
  "I blindly followed my nicely laid out path with little objection, and in a way feel robbed, though realize it ultimately my fault." A third option to feeling robbed or feeling it is your fault is thinking about what you want to do now, given the insight given you by the outcomes of your past choices. Sure, the feelings you describe are there for everyone at some point, but they don't have to determine your course of action (or inaction).
- shpxnvz 17y ago
  Welcome to the same life that everyone one of us has lived, all the way back to your parents. The particulars of your concerns, worries, feelings, and fears may be different, but the fact that you have them is not.
patio11 17y ago
It seems to me that there are two audiences for the quarterlife crisis, and they're largely determined by selection of college major. If you majored in something in Arts & Sciences which doesn't have a career attached, and then went to grad school in it (maybe a PhD) before figuring out that you have no marketable skills, you are now in your mid-to-late twenties, have a mountain of debt, and have no particular employment prospects. If you majored something which a profession attached (engineering, foreign language with an eye towards actually using it to do more than order una cerveza por favor, etc), then you probably were employable in your early twenties and almost immediately a member of the middle class, without a crushing debt load. I wouldn't exactly be the poster-child for "with it" in my father's generation but I came out of college with $20k in debt at the age of 22 with a job offer which paid very modestly, but better than working at a railroad or cereal company, both things my father had done at 22. Those aren't exactly ennui-inducing circumstances.
- martythemaniak 17y ago
  You are partially right, but gainful employment isn't the end-all, be-all. I finished engineering without debt and with plenty of excellent experience, and had no problem finding a great job at a great company. Yet, I can sympathize with much of what the article talks about and see plenty of it in my peers, including those who graduated from engineering with me. I happened to choose an interesting and well-paying career when I was 17 or so. I certainly don't think it was a choice I made because I was wise, but mostly because of luck and happenance. Most others, I think, did not get so lucky, and now they have to deal not only with that, but with economic policies firmly aligned against them. The most interesting thing perhaps is how global this phenomenon is. You have the above quarterlife crisis in north america, you have rioting muslim youth France, rioting Greek youth in Greece, massive protests and instability in Iran, the so-called "Mileuristas" in Spain (that is, people living on 1000 euros a month), etc etc. Dismissing all of this with a simple wave of the hand about the whining of young people shows a complete lack of understanding.
  - pushingbits 17y ago
    The only similiarities between the Quarterlife Crisis people the article talks about and rioting muslims in France or protesters in Iran is that they are young and unhappy. The reasons for their discontent are completely different. This is hardly a global phenomenon. You can maybe see a weaker version of it in other developed western countries. But even young people in Europe... well, they don't have the debt when graduating from college and they also don't have the "You're special!" sense of entitlement. At least not to the extent that suburbanite Americans do.
gnaritas 17y ago
> You can't get a decent job without a decent education. So, what makes you think a decent job is a right, because it isn't. Most people don't go to college, most people get low paying and/or manual labor or service jobs. Welcome to the real world. > Kids these days are finishing school much later than their parents, and they don't have a choice. They have every choice, they can choose to not bury themselves in debt to go to a school they can't afford. If you can't afford college, don't go. > the cost of school is sky-rocketting, as it debt. See above. > there aren't very many quality, well paying jobs available to young people. Have there ever been? Really? C'mon, young people have always started at the bottom of the ladder and been shit on, overworked, and taken advantage of; that's how the system works, it isn't anything new. Seriously, this all sounds like a bunch of rich white kid whining about how hard their life is (despite being full of choices most people don't even have)... you people should just get over yourselves, most people have it much harder. Most people don't go to college, most people hate their jobs, most people make shit wages and have little hope of ever making it.
- whatusername 17y ago
  I think the point is comparison to parents/grandparents. Most of our parents never went to college - but could still have Dad work a blue-collar job - and still have a nice (small) house in the suburbs with a picket fence. I think part of the issue/trend is the fact that this generation might end up worse off than their parents.. that hasn't happened all that much historically (that I can think of at least)
  - gnaritas 17y ago
    Yea, but in most parts of the country, one still can. Plenty of blue collar jobs pay pretty well, especially unionized ones like plumbing and welding and you make enough to do the little house and wife thing. I'm not sure the problem is times changing so much as kids expectation changing, they all think they'll grow up white collar and rich now instead of accepting the obvious. They may not overall be doing as well as their parents as a generation, but they aren't doing that much worse either.
  - shpxnvz 17y ago
Quarrelsome 17y ago
"- You can't get a decent job without a decent education. " Fibs. I have no "proper" or "decent" education and work as a tech lead. You just gotta work hard and find a way to stick out from the crowd. Thankfully with all the dossers in low rung jobs that isn't hard.
- alex_c 17y ago
  You just gotta work hard and find a way to stick out from the crowd. How can that possibly work for the majority of the population? We're not talking about the individual here, we're talking about changes in society.
  - ivankirigin 17y ago
    There are many niches looking for different kinds of people. That is an easy way a majority can stick out. They don't all stick out to the same people.
    - alex_c 17y ago
      That's true, but are there enough niches to absorb the millions of people graduating from college every single year?
      - ivankirigin 17y ago
        No. Way too many people go to college. They'd be freed from the debt & infantilizing lifestyle and generally would better off if they didn't go to college. "Everyone should go to college" is like a giant, farcical real-world existential play about the Lake Wobegon fallacy.
        alex_c 17y ago
        And that brings us back to the article - you're left with countless college grads with a near-useless degree who are faced with three choices: - somehow "rise above the rest" - which, by definition, not everyone can do - wallow in a career and lifestyle which is unfulfilling and doesn't live up to their expectations (as described in the article) - suck it up, cut their losses, "settle" for a "lesser" job, and live happily ever after (also see: Mike Rowe's opinion on the subject).
anamax 17y ago
> A rapid climb in income inequality over the last generation (check the historical gini index for reference) means that there aren't very many quality, well paying jobs available to young people. Inequality doesn't mean that there aren't quality, well paying jobs and equality doesn't mean that there are. Inequality is a ratio. Ratios tell you something about the relationship between things, but don't tell you anyting about their absolute values. Do you really want to say that you'd be better off if everyone was starving (gini=1.0) than you are with plenty of food, a computer, apartment, and so on because someone else can fly to Maui on a whim? Envy is stupid. If you're unhappy, greed is your friend because it's not about what someone else has, it's about what you have. (Disagree? Compare the gini coefficient in any hell-hole to the coefficient in any place that you'd be willing to live.) And, frankly, you've got it pretty peachy. Stop whining. Oh, and another thing. Most jobs are shit and always have been. Dilbert has a better job than most folks. If you're looking for something to give your life meaning, get a pet.
jcromartie 17y ago
> You can't get a decent job without a decent education. But you can get a decent job without expensive schooling. I'm sure many hackers here can attest to that. Not every kid needs to go to college, even in the service-sector economy.
fan 17y ago
"- A rapid climb in income inequality over the last generation (check the historical gini index for reference) means that there aren't very many quality, well paying jobs available to young people." The rise in income inequality is offset by the growth of average real income. In fact, every point on the income curve has risen, at least in the US. That is, if we compare the population 30 years ago to today, the real income is higher for the 10th percentile of lowest earners, the 20th percentile of lowest earners, etc. Thus, its not harder to raise a family the same way today as 30 years ago -- people's standards have just heavily ballooned. "Raising a family" used to mean getting food in the door and clothes on your familys backs. Now it means a couple of sets of HD TVs, computers, barbeque grill, etc etc...

heed 17y ago

Not just that, but there is so much social pressure and expectation that pushes you along through highschool, through college without much promotion toward the alternatives. Never once did I think or hear that I didn't have to go to college, that I could learn some sort of trade or technical skill instead. I blindly followed my nicely laid out path with little objection, and in a way feel robbed, though realize it ultimately my fault. But what's really depressing is that I can't complain, at all. I am so lucky to have this life, these opportunities, but it is totally despairing to be aware of just how narcissistic and selfish it is to be able to have a 'quarter-life crisis. The fact is though, these feelings of despair exist, and for valid reasons.

ShardPhoenix 17y ago
The fact that someone else has it worse doesn't make your feelings any less real.
- sneakums 17y ago
  Group hug!
jimbokun 17y ago
"I blindly followed my nicely laid out path with little objection, and in a way feel robbed, though realize it ultimately my fault." A third option to feeling robbed or feeling it is your fault is thinking about what you want to do now, given the insight given you by the outcomes of your past choices. Sure, the feelings you describe are there for everyone at some point, but they don't have to determine your course of action (or inaction).
shpxnvz 17y ago
Welcome to the same life that everyone one of us has lived, all the way back to your parents. The particulars of your concerns, worries, feelings, and fears may be different, but the fact that you have them is not.

patio11 17y ago

It seems to me that there are two audiences for the quarterlife crisis, and they're largely determined by selection of college major. If you majored in something in Arts & Sciences which doesn't have a career attached, and then went to grad school in it (maybe a PhD) before figuring out that you have no marketable skills, you are now in your mid-to-late twenties, have a mountain of debt, and have no particular employment prospects. If you majored something which a profession attached (engineering, foreign language with an eye towards actually using it to do more than order una cerveza por favor, etc), then you probably were employable in your early twenties and almost immediately a member of the middle class, without a crushing debt load. I wouldn't exactly be the poster-child for "with it" in my father's generation but I came out of college with $20k in debt at the age of 22 with a job offer which paid very modestly, but better than working at a railroad or cereal company, both things my father had done at 22. Those aren't exactly ennui-inducing circumstances.

martythemaniak 17y ago
You are partially right, but gainful employment isn't the end-all, be-all. I finished engineering without debt and with plenty of excellent experience, and had no problem finding a great job at a great company. Yet, I can sympathize with much of what the article talks about and see plenty of it in my peers, including those who graduated from engineering with me. I happened to choose an interesting and well-paying career when I was 17 or so. I certainly don't think it was a choice I made because I was wise, but mostly because of luck and happenance. Most others, I think, did not get so lucky, and now they have to deal not only with that, but with economic policies firmly aligned against them. The most interesting thing perhaps is how global this phenomenon is. You have the above quarterlife crisis in north america, you have rioting muslim youth France, rioting Greek youth in Greece, massive protests and instability in Iran, the so-called "Mileuristas" in Spain (that is, people living on 1000 euros a month), etc etc. Dismissing all of this with a simple wave of the hand about the whining of young people shows a complete lack of understanding.
- pushingbits 17y ago
  The only similiarities between the Quarterlife Crisis people the article talks about and rioting muslims in France or protesters in Iran is that they are young and unhappy. The reasons for their discontent are completely different. This is hardly a global phenomenon. You can maybe see a weaker version of it in other developed western countries. But even young people in Europe... well, they don't have the debt when graduating from college and they also don't have the "You're special!" sense of entitlement. At least not to the extent that suburbanite Americans do.

gnaritas 17y ago

> You can't get a decent job without a decent education. So, what makes you think a decent job is a right, because it isn't. Most people don't go to college, most people get low paying and/or manual labor or service jobs. Welcome to the real world. > Kids these days are finishing school much later than their parents, and they don't have a choice. They have every choice, they can choose to not bury themselves in debt to go to a school they can't afford. If you can't afford college, don't go. > the cost of school is sky-rocketting, as it debt. See above. > there aren't very many quality, well paying jobs available to young people. Have there ever been? Really? C'mon, young people have always started at the bottom of the ladder and been shit on, overworked, and taken advantage of; that's how the system works, it isn't anything new. Seriously, this all sounds like a bunch of rich white kid whining about how hard their life is (despite being full of choices most people don't even have)... you people should just get over yourselves, most people have it much harder. Most people don't go to college, most people hate their jobs, most people make shit wages and have little hope of ever making it.

whatusername 17y ago
I think the point is comparison to parents/grandparents. Most of our parents never went to college - but could still have Dad work a blue-collar job - and still have a nice (small) house in the suburbs with a picket fence. I think part of the issue/trend is the fact that this generation might end up worse off than their parents.. that hasn't happened all that much historically (that I can think of at least)
- gnaritas 17y ago
  Yea, but in most parts of the country, one still can. Plenty of blue collar jobs pay pretty well, especially unionized ones like plumbing and welding and you make enough to do the little house and wife thing. I'm not sure the problem is times changing so much as kids expectation changing, they all think they'll grow up white collar and rich now instead of accepting the obvious. They may not overall be doing as well as their parents as a generation, but they aren't doing that much worse either.
- shpxnvz 17y ago

Quarrelsome 17y ago

"- You can't get a decent job without a decent education. " Fibs. I have no "proper" or "decent" education and work as a tech lead. You just gotta work hard and find a way to stick out from the crowd. Thankfully with all the dossers in low rung jobs that isn't hard.

alex_c 17y ago
You just gotta work hard and find a way to stick out from the crowd. How can that possibly work for the majority of the population? We're not talking about the individual here, we're talking about changes in society.
- ivankirigin 17y ago
  There are many niches looking for different kinds of people. That is an easy way a majority can stick out. They don't all stick out to the same people.
  - alex_c 17y ago
    That's true, but are there enough niches to absorb the millions of people graduating from college every single year?
    - ivankirigin 17y ago
      No. Way too many people go to college. They'd be freed from the debt & infantilizing lifestyle and generally would better off if they didn't go to college. "Everyone should go to college" is like a giant, farcical real-world existential play about the Lake Wobegon fallacy.
      - alex_c 17y ago
        And that brings us back to the article - you're left with countless college grads with a near-useless degree who are faced with three choices: - somehow "rise above the rest" - which, by definition, not everyone can do - wallow in a career and lifestyle which is unfulfilling and doesn't live up to their expectations (as described in the article) - suck it up, cut their losses, "settle" for a "lesser" job, and live happily ever after (also see: Mike Rowe's opinion on the subject).

anamax 17y ago

> A rapid climb in income inequality over the last generation (check the historical gini index for reference) means that there aren't very many quality, well paying jobs available to young people. Inequality doesn't mean that there aren't quality, well paying jobs and equality doesn't mean that there are. Inequality is a ratio. Ratios tell you something about the relationship between things, but don't tell you anyting about their absolute values. Do you really want to say that you'd be better off if everyone was starving (gini=1.0) than you are with plenty of food, a computer, apartment, and so on because someone else can fly to Maui on a whim? Envy is stupid. If you're unhappy, greed is your friend because it's not about what someone else has, it's about what you have. (Disagree? Compare the gini coefficient in any hell-hole to the coefficient in any place that you'd be willing to live.) And, frankly, you've got it pretty peachy. Stop whining. Oh, and another thing. Most jobs are shit and always have been. Dilbert has a better job than most folks. If you're looking for something to give your life meaning, get a pet.

jcromartie 17y ago

> You can't get a decent job without a decent education. But you can get a decent job without expensive schooling. I'm sure many hackers here can attest to that. Not every kid needs to go to college, even in the service-sector economy.

fan 17y ago

"- A rapid climb in income inequality over the last generation (check the historical gini index for reference) means that there aren't very many quality, well paying jobs available to young people." The rise in income inequality is offset by the growth of average real income. In fact, every point on the income curve has risen, at least in the US. That is, if we compare the population 30 years ago to today, the real income is higher for the 10th percentile of lowest earners, the 20th percentile of lowest earners, etc. Thus, its not harder to raise a family the same way today as 30 years ago -- people's standards have just heavily ballooned. "Raising a family" used to mean getting food in the door and clothes on your familys backs. Now it means a couple of sets of HD TVs, computers, barbeque grill, etc etc...