Hey, Gen Z. Gen X here. I personally think this whole "young adulthood is the happiest time of your life" is some sort of bizarre Boomer artifact, and certainly wasn't in play in the late '80s or '90s. I was told that repeatedly when I was a teenager, but it certainly wasn't the case for me or most of the people I knew when I was a young man, 35 years ago. We were all totally blindsided by how bad the high school experience was, and for many of us, the college experience was bad as well.
The good news is that as we became independent from our families and the institutions that we were committed to, and found paths in our work and family life to be productive, the majority of us became totally normal, functional people. Would I say "happy"? Sometimes but certainly not always - for almost all of us. Life has its way, with health and work and family issues that larger social or economic issues will never have any influence over, regardless of the era you grow up in.
But this article says that people are least happy at 50. So, I'm 50. Am I happy? Not, like, happy happy. But am I OK? Yeah, sure, I've figured things out, have my own family, it's all turned out OK.
Am I happier than any point in young adulthood in the late '80s and early '90s? Absolutely.
This whole "best years of your life" as a teen or young adult thing is... nonsense. It has nothing to do with the possibilities of the human experience. For some people? Sure, let them have their fun. But I don't want to sound like Dan Savage, but, for everyone, it can get better. Chart your own path, work it out for yourself.
I'm 41 and the happiest I've been. Kids are growing, I've got a well paying job, bit of time for hobbies, and I've started getting more involved in the local community via a sport I enjoy. I could have done some of the the things that make me happy earlier in life but it's hard when you're putting effort into your career.
I didn't enjoy high school times, University was ok but I was too introverted back then.
I think it's counterproductive to tell people that "this time of your life is the best, you better enjoy it". People are different and framing something like that as a universal truth means that anyone who didn't have a good time somehow missed the best time of their lives.
That being said, I'm curious why it seems fairly widespread that everyone had a bad time when they were young. Am millennial, grew up in the 80s and 90s and went to college in the 00s. Junior high was fine. High school was fun. College was great. Afterwards, in adulthood, I think pressure at work caused me the most consistent unhappiness of my life, but I got better at dealing with that over time.
Gen Z has their own challenges. They’re being inundated with fake news everywhere they look. Privacy is over. Advertising is invading every aspect of life. Democratic institutions are crumbling in favour of dictatorship right before our eyes. Corporations are so above the law that they car bombed a journalist in broad daylight without fear of any repercussion.
I really feel for them. We have some serious shit to figure out before handing over the reigns. If we can’t, I seriously hope they figure something out.
In the USA at least I hope young people realize the extent to which they are being ripped off by its universities and colleges. In-state tuition now costs about what private ivy-league tuition did in the 1990's. Meanwhile, if you are attending university in the EU and you are an EU citizen your tuition is free. Let that sink in.
This article establishes, that things aren't any more like you experienced them in the past. It certainly wasn't all great in the past for young people, but statistics show it's way worse now.
Hello fellow Gen-Xer. I remember a teacher in high school (male, coach, hairy thick forearms) telling us at an end of senior year assembly, with a huge smile: "Enjoy these times, everyone. These will be the happiest days of your life!"
And I immediately thought he was a fucking pathetic loser who needs to stop raining his shitty life over the rest of us. At 17 I wasn't so stupid to believe that could possibly be true. But you hear that crap non-stop from adults at that age.
For a couple of people in my high school that might have actually been true, though. Seems to correlate with getting drunk and high (sorry, "partying") non-stop.
Also, the teacher got arrested a few years later for shoplifting.
'boomers' had their youth in the mid 60s... a booming time - music, revolution, sex, etc... and coming of age as western economies were booming (or about to) after WW2. GenX... 'greed is good' age of Wall Street, AIDS epidemic, constant threat of nuclear war permeating every aspect of culture - go watch 80s shows and see how many references to 'commies' and 'ww3' and such - it was everywhere.
Yes, I know every generation has their burdens, but yeah, I think the 'high school/teenage years is the best time of your life' may have been true for a small cohort of folks, but has become a myth perpetuated by the first consumerist generation who then got to shape culture and media for a few decades.
If your generation's financial system is such that you, at age 20, can obtain a job, immediately move into your own housing, and the house and vehicle aren't a net drain. You are accruing money despite paying for the house and vehicle. Doesn't that define the 60s? Seems like at 20 in the 60s you would at least be spared the worry of going broke due to a lost vehicle or rent payment.
While I agree with you, the Cuban Missle Crisis was the 60s, so I assume nuclear war was very vivid. But having fresh memories of WW2, perhaps we felt confident “never again?” or were numbed to the idea.
"It's an established fact," says economist who has been studying issue for only 15 years, and suddenly encounters radically contradictory data across cohorts.
Well for me adolescence was pretty OK. Had my fun, played games all day after school (which itself was alright too) and that continued well into my college and even few years after that. In college I had a blast, really the best years of my life from "careless freedom" point of view. Never ever will I live like that again, it is not sustainable in the long run, but it was really fun when I was under 25. I continued the lifestyle later, but the satisfaction with my life went rapidly down, because I wanted something deeper. Today, at 30, with wife and a child, I don't have so much fun as I used to, life is more stressful and busy, but at the end of the day it is more satisfying and I would not want it otherwise.
For some reason, college was super stressful for me emotionally. I was struggling academically, then commuting to part-time work while trying to contain personal issues creeping up on me.
Yes, there was its fun, such as golden age of PC games, pre-Facebook internet and the whole 2007 thing; but my life is far less stressful nowdays, even though I too have family and kids.
The good news is that as we became independent from our families and the institutions that we were committed to, and found paths in our work and family life to be productive, the majority of us became totally normal, functional people. Would I say "happy"? Sometimes but certainly not always - for almost all of us. Life has its way, with health and work and family issues that larger social or economic issues will never have any influence over, regardless of the era you grow up in.
But this article says that people are least happy at 50. So, I'm 50. Am I happy? Not, like, happy happy. But am I OK? Yeah, sure, I've figured things out, have my own family, it's all turned out OK.
Am I happier than any point in young adulthood in the late '80s and early '90s? Absolutely.
This whole "best years of your life" as a teen or young adult thing is... nonsense. It has nothing to do with the possibilities of the human experience. For some people? Sure, let them have their fun. But I don't want to sound like Dan Savage, but, for everyone, it can get better. Chart your own path, work it out for yourself.