Gen Y Are Unhappy and Here's Why

Good read

TL;DR in pictures

 

Gen Y here and have to disagree. I believe every generation has its winners and losers, but modern technology has disproportionately amplified the voices of the younger losers

 

Everyone's got unfulfilled dreams and disappointments, and a host of "That's not Fair" events.

 

This. Every generation has people with limiting beliefs. "I can't do X." "I'll never afford Y."

The challenge presented to the current generation is to keep forging forward and not get dragged down by all of the noise made by the whingers.

 

It comes down to that individual's own DNA when it comes to the whole debate in "glass half full" or "glass half empty".

I have 2 beautiful daughter's one is 16 one is 18 and I can see the massive difference in the way they both think about life and in particular money,both have the same exposure to how me treat money in our household.
One is great with money the other is not so I guess as with most things in life it's driven by the individual as to what their priorities are..

 

Generalisations always have exceptions, but I think there are some spot on observations in that article.

I have seen many examples in my career and life in general of gen Ys that fit that mould to a tee, especially the sense of inflated importance and being "special". It is great to have a positive self image but it needs to be tempered with a good dose of reality too!

 

Young people are getting smarter with every generation.

Gen Y may appear unhappy because they are smart enough and aware enough to know they are. They don't play the denial game their grandparents did. They talk about things. They are more in touch with their own emotions.

The world is in turmoil and the human race suffers from a severe autoimmune disorder, people killing each other and not identifying that we are all part of one race. That's because the collective efforts of previous generations have not worked. If they did, the world would be a better place - it's not!

Future generations have a chance to reverse some of the atrocities created by past generations and they are born more and more capable and brilliant with each generation. This is the evolution of human consciousness.

 

Social media can increase your sensitivity to how much less attractive, wealthy, successful etc you seem compared to what is projected by others. But ultimately, as stated, that's to do with the personalities involved.

There's also the unhappiness that comes with watching your parents work themselves into the ground and still not yet have what they want (thankfully I'm seeing this turn around for mine), and some being unwilling to tread the same path.

Every generation is a mixed bag.

 

Yes, I wouldn't like to see my parents not being able to afford to look after themselves in their old old age.

 

Gen Y here. I'm doing better than most, but I can definitely understand the frustration felt by a lot of my peers. Casualised workforce, highest graduate unemployment since the recession, youth unemployment and underemployment at all time highs and it's the low skilled/young that take the brunt of the economy as we are the ones without experience...yet it's always the 'I'm 50+ and nobody will employ me' stories that get all the attention in the media

It'll be interesting to see how the labour force adapts to technological change in the 21st century. That and the increased presence of globalisation, which along with technology makes offshoring jobs and even complete industries easier than ever.

 

Not from my observation X.

Maybe smarter in some aspects such as technology use and development etc, but generally the same as 40 years ago...kids still learn to read at roughly the same age as per then, learn to walk at roughly the same age as per then, we still have a growing number of folks entering into various religious beliefs and acting atrociously in the name of their chosen religions, we keep building more jails - and keep filling them up....and so on.

We have not progressed all that much. We are potentially smarter, but this is not the practical application.

The trend in almost every society is for the more educated and financially stable folks to be having LESS children, while the less educated and less financially section of the society are still reproducing in larger numbers.

This group are the ones more likely to make terrible life decisions, more inclined to smoke, to use drugs (so are richer folks, I know - but smaller %), to commit domestic violence and other crimes, to be on welfare, to be sick...to basically remain poor with less lifestyle and lifestyle choices, etc.

Here's one example; I know a young guy; 24 year old mechanic who is still finishing off his apprenticeship (4th year). A nice enough guy, but a "rough diamond" - a bit of a bogan, and has been a hoon...currently on P plates for losing his licence for speeding - and I mean speeding.

So what? I hear folks say.

Well; he is married with 3 boys under the age of 6, his wife does not work and they only have one car (she has no licence). His wage is $17.72 per hour as a 4th year apprentice.

Still not convinced?

He has numerous tattoos (they cost a lot of money to get done), he is a smoker, he turns up to work each day drinking a take-away coffee, and often has left-over pizza from the take-away pizza place.

So; a bloke on that small amount of money - you would think that the very obvious and smart thing to be doing is staring him in the face....this type of life is far more common than many here in the fishbowl ever see.

He is not an isolated or minority case. He is a common case in an ever-increasing demographic across not just Aus - but every western society.

This is the group who are repopulating the planet far more than the group who have 1 or 2 kids who go off to Uni or become Year 12 graduates etc.

Some of this group's kids will rise to the top of course, but an enormous percentage will follow their parents example.

 

Sad fact is these young parents will probably get divorced.
And society will then pick up the tab of course.

 

Was sitting in the stands at the state of origin last night,and when you watch what happens around you,young couple beside us were going through 8 rum and cokes every 20 minutes at 9 bucks a pop,half way through the game the lady comes back with a tray of drinks husband did not put the flip chair down and the lady missed the chair and the drink went everywhere,some people will never have nothing and some no matter age will rise above just adapt and change..

 

I don't think it is a generational thing. My parents are boomers and both got masters later in life. My brother in law is Gen X and decided at 40 that it was "too late" to do any further study. He has struggled ever since.

 

You don't have to be much of a scholar to become financially well-off; you do need to study the right subjects - financial stuff and investing.

 

Agreed. I wasn't equating formal education with financial success. My parents didn't do further study to make more money, they were pursuing professional interests. Later, these led to higher paid jobs but even then their wages were modest because of their chose professions. I know people who make a lot more without degrees.

I was more using it as an example of limiting beliefs. My parents "I can" vs my brother in law "I can't". My parents are not wealthy, but they are not struggling. My brother in law is struggling and has been for years. It's a mindset thing

 

Yeah, they should've been sneaking in the tinnies like the good old days.

 

+1 to the @Bayview big post ... I've met shedloads of people like this whose priorities are cross-wired.

I'm Gen-Y though I don't think I act like most Gen-Y people. What I see as the biggest problem with Gen-Y is that they seem to live in an age of entitlement. In the old days, people knew they couldn't have everything so didn't expect it. Now, people expect things to be handed to them on a platter and complain if they have to get off their arse for the privilege.

 

And they get everything on credit.
I don't think most would know how to save and buy something later.

 

Always find these types of threads interesting... Gen Y's are XYZ... Wonder if it was because of the way they were raised?