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There's been a change between my generation and the one that came before that was sudden and pervasive. Young adults in their early 20's have been graduating from college for the last decade into an environment that doesn't want them; even well educated and eager young adults looking for work are frequently forced to take menial, low paying jobs and forced into living arraignments where we become interdependent with our peers in order to subsist.
Many of us are still working what are effectively temporary jobs. A large portion of my friends move from one contract to another, never really being able to definitively say how long they'll be employed. Some of us work as almost permanent substitute teachers, unable to find a real, permanent position. An apartment to onesself is right out, because you never know when the bottom will fall out and suddenly you won't be able to pay, and you drop your lease. A house is certainly out - even if you can afford the payment on it initially, there's no guarantee that you'll be able to in 6 months, much less even be in the same location if you have to move to find work.
Increasingly, it feels like there's a nation full of permanent underclass. A group that theoretically has the required skills but has successfully been leveraged by current business processes into a mass of ever-rotating 'assets' that can be picked up and slotted into whatever current business need and dropped whenever they're inconvenient. There's little need for permanent workers, and many of us have what is seen as an identical or similar skill set.
And increasingly, myself and my peers have felt left out of society. A bunch of early 20's to early 30-year olds who struggle to find work bussing tables or working basic tech support. We can't even afford our own place. There's a sense of community, sure, when you're constantly sharing a place with others, pooling food and gas, but it's trying, too.
I feel like all the articles I've read in the past - the ones that are decrying the young generation as unwilling to grow up citing a tendency to play video games, engage in fandom, and other past times are really missing the point. The activities that seem childish to them are just our points of common interest and have nothing to do about our willingness to work or our drive. The messages decrying our 'entitlement' and egos are self-aggrandizing jokes. It could be that we're tired of sacrificing ourselves to a workplace culture that demands our loyalty and sweat while feeling like it can discard us as soon as we're not optimally profitable.
The laid back, almost fatalistic attitudes expressed are a reaction to the realities we're facing. These problems are bigger then us. We can, and do, continuously throw ourselves at societies brick wall, and we know what to expect. Many of us are already resigned to a life of almost perpetual economically second-class citizens.
Many of us are still working what are effectively temporary jobs. A large portion of my friends move from one contract to another, never really being able to definitively say how long they'll be employed. Some of us work as almost permanent substitute teachers, unable to find a real, permanent position. An apartment to onesself is right out, because you never know when the bottom will fall out and suddenly you won't be able to pay, and you drop your lease. A house is certainly out - even if you can afford the payment on it initially, there's no guarantee that you'll be able to in 6 months, much less even be in the same location if you have to move to find work.
Increasingly, it feels like there's a nation full of permanent underclass. A group that theoretically has the required skills but has successfully been leveraged by current business processes into a mass of ever-rotating 'assets' that can be picked up and slotted into whatever current business need and dropped whenever they're inconvenient. There's little need for permanent workers, and many of us have what is seen as an identical or similar skill set.
And increasingly, myself and my peers have felt left out of society. A bunch of early 20's to early 30-year olds who struggle to find work bussing tables or working basic tech support. We can't even afford our own place. There's a sense of community, sure, when you're constantly sharing a place with others, pooling food and gas, but it's trying, too.
I feel like all the articles I've read in the past - the ones that are decrying the young generation as unwilling to grow up citing a tendency to play video games, engage in fandom, and other past times are really missing the point. The activities that seem childish to them are just our points of common interest and have nothing to do about our willingness to work or our drive. The messages decrying our 'entitlement' and egos are self-aggrandizing jokes. It could be that we're tired of sacrificing ourselves to a workplace culture that demands our loyalty and sweat while feeling like it can discard us as soon as we're not optimally profitable.
The laid back, almost fatalistic attitudes expressed are a reaction to the realities we're facing. These problems are bigger then us. We can, and do, continuously throw ourselves at societies brick wall, and we know what to expect. Many of us are already resigned to a life of almost perpetual economically second-class citizens.
