Narcissists in Neverland

We're living in much tougher times now, economically, than the previous generation, and generation before that... By far...

My generation, Gen Y, will live at significantly lower standards of life thanks to the people in charge. Baby Boomers and such.

Thanks guys.... really appreciate it. And don't give me this nonsense about not trying hard enough. This generation more than ever has a higher rate of masters, professional and soon to be doctoral degrees than any other generation. And plus you didn't face the burgening costs of Tuition, and studen loan payments. Myself, I have a Masters already, and am currently taking courses towards a degree in Business, possibly an MBA. that's nearly 100,000 in loans, hard work, and i'm feeling the pinch. What's 70,000 for an Undergraduate degree get you? If you're lucky you'll be a car salesman making 400 per week in no time.

That's the American way of hard work, isn't it?

I'm all for pursuing activities and employment that one enjoys. I'm 100% behind giving back, volunteering, and conducting one's life towards more than just monetary gain. I applaud the GenY folks who are doing that. But I do have a question ... why is it acceptable for a GenY person to do this and not a GenX? I've worked very hard to be able to pursue opportunities that I enjoy and that give back to the world. But now I find myself in a position where I have to again put aside these worthy goals so others can achieve them? Perhaps the mindset should be self-reliance. Determine what you can do to achieve your goals, not what others can sacrifice so you can.

I'm all for pursuing activities and employment that one enjoys. I'm 100% behind giving back, volunteering, and conducting one's life towards more than just monetary gain. I applaud the GenY folks who are doing that. But I do have a question ... why is it acceptable for a GenY person to do this and not a GenX? I've worked very hard to be able to pursue opportunities that I enjoy and that give back to the world. But now I find myself in a position where I have to again put aside these worthy goals so others can achieve them? Perhaps the mindset should be self-reliance. Determine what you can do to achieve your goals, not what others can sacrifice so you can.

I think it is pretty funny that these parents are upset that their 20 something children are still living at home. Their parenting style facilitated their current situation. The article above portrays the Generation Y as spoiled and entitled. This may be true in some cases, but what do you expect when this is the way they have been brought up by there parents.

Technically I am at the upper end of "Generation Y", but I have always felt a part of "Generation X". I have a different perspective on why younger generations are not settling down into a stable career than discussed in the article. Most people in their 20's have seen their parents really focused on their career. In nuclear families many mothers worked, even if they didn't have to, so that the family would be more financially secure. This meant kids of our generation got more of the things we wanted, but family life was rushed and focussed on work. Many times the whole family suffered due to divorce, relocation or stress about money (afterall people can always find a way to spend what they make). My point with all of this is that I think that many young people do not equate money and careers with happiness or personal fulfillment. Many of us have not seen this pan out in our parents lives, so there is little motivation to pursue them ourselves.

In addition we are left with a mess of a planet and tons of social problems. We are all collectively lucky that young people are stepping up to volunteer and do what they feel is right. It is hard to say what the effect of current job switching will have on the economy long term, but I am willing to bet that for every person in their 20's who doesn't work steadily there are at least 2 that do.

I am lucky to be a young person who has a career that pays a decent wage and allows me to follow my interests. I have worked hard to be support myself independently since finishing college. During that time I have had to make decisions to follow career paths toward either money or social good. Up until now it has been easy to chose the path towards social good. It is all just about perspective. Do you want to drive a Lexus, or feel good about what you do everyday? For me it is an easy call to make.

So a generation comes a long that is more civic minded than any generation since the "greatest generation" and people like Vencat and Twenge decide to call us "Generation Me," how ridiculous. We are more voluntaristic, more engaged in politics, and more aware of the world than any generation before, but since we don't bow to the almighty dollar, we're supposedly living in a fantasy world. What sad lives Twenge and Vencat must live if they think one should not believe in his/herself and should be more concerned about accumulating wealth than living a life that makes one happy. Finally, I think Vencat and Twenge should step back and look at the world today's youth are stepping into. The economy is terrible for someone trying to get their first real job, college degrees are far more common than they were among previous generations, and we have taken on huge debts to get through school. Im sure many would love to get into a steady job that they can hold down for a long time, have health insurance, and live in their own place. Unfortunately, many have been unable to do so through no fault of their own.

This article blew my mind. It fails to offer a more logical cause to all of the ???Peter Pan??? habits of my generation. First off, the work week has grown significantly in the last decade or so. It is now averaging at about 50 hours as opposed to the 40 of times past. The fact that we have seen how so much work can tax ones personal life is a very good reason for many of us to put importance in balancing work and personal life. Also, the economy is in the crapper, many of us cannot get the high paying job we are apparently running from. Furthermore, the real cost of living has increased. People have less disposable income and more debt so moving out of the house has become increasingly difficult. In conclusion, this article was inflammatory and stupid!

I must say I rather resent being lumped together in this category and the overly generalised comments that Gen Y'ers are lazy, selfish and don't like to take responsibility. I turned 25 last month and I haven't live at home since I went abroad for college when I was 19. I have since graduated with a degree in Molecular Biology gotten a job at a world reknowned institution. I am currently getting a Masters degree part time until I go to Medical school. I bought my own car last year and am getting ready to purchase my first place. I hardly think that is lazy. On the other hand, my sister is almost 27 and although she has a degree and a good paying job she still lives at home and has no intentions of moving out any time soon. She even went so far as to suggest that our parents "don't really want her to move out" (she's deluded). Many of us so-called "Gen Y'ers" are highly motivated and are extremely responsible. i think we know what we want to achieve in life but are also mindful that our lives are for living and we only get to do this once. Not to place blame but I like to believe that we gen Y'ers did not get like this on our own. Our parents are the ones that seem reluctant to cut the cord sometimes and let us go. They enable this sort of eternal dependence on them and then they wonder why their kids are are reluctant to step up to the plate and take control of their own lives. Growing up these kids were never given a chance to be independent and now just by virtue of the decade we were born in we're all being lumped together unfairly. Just my two cents.

I must say I rather resent being lumped together in this category and the overly generalised comments that Gen Y'ers are lazy, selfish and don't like to take responsibility. I turned 25 last month and I haven't live at home since I went abroad for college when I was 19. I have since graduated with a degree in Molecular Biology gotten a job at a world reknowned institution. I am currently getting a Masters degree part time until I go to Medical school. I bought my own car last year and am getting ready to purchase my first place. I hardly think that is lazy. On the other hand, my sister is almost 27 and although she has a degree and a good paying job she still lives at home and has no intentions of moving out any time soon. She even went so far as to suggest that our parents "don't really want her to move out" (she's deluded). Many of us so-called "Gen Y'ers" are highly motivated and are extremely responsible. i think we know what we want to achieve in life but are also mindful that our lives are for living and we only get to do this once. Not to place blame but I like to believe that we gen Y'ers did not get like this on our own. Our parents are the ones that seem reluctant to cut the cord sometimes and let us go. They enable this sort of eternal dependence on them and then they wonder why their kids are are reluctant to step up to the plate and take control of their own lives. Growing up these kids were never given a chance to be independent and now just by virtue of the decade we were born in we're all being lumped together unfairly. Just my two cents.

I can think of another generation that put off moving out of the parent's home, took on low-paying work and engaged actively in politics - the generation that fought WW2. Did anyone call them the "Me" generation? Perhaps if the baby boomers were as concerned with the state of their world as the Gen-Yers, we would live in a nation that is involved in one less war, has better equality and lives up to the greatness on which it was founded. Some of these Gen Yers are a little foolish, and yes, materialistic (iPod anyone?), but the example that was given in the first paragraph makes me look forward to a future run by caring individuals like this young Parisian, not by SUV and Plasma TV obsessed I-Bankers and Mortgage Brokers.

The one positive aspect of this cultural chift that the article ignores is mentioned in the first paragraph - the young Parisian is living at home so that her work can matter. Many people of this generation see their work in terms of both monetary reward and social reward. Perhaps if the previous generation were able to strike just such a balance between social responsibility and plasma TVs, we would have a more responsible population, one less war and a happier, more equitable nation. One such generation did just that - the "greatest generation" which served in a war first, then bought a home. I miss that attitude, that your country and your freedom comes first, and your needs (car, house, job, money) come later.

So a generation comes along that is more civic minded than any generation since the "Greatest Generation" and Vencat calls us the "Me Generation," how ridiculous. Our generation is more voluntaristic, more engaged in politics, and more aware of the world than any generation before us (http://www.newpolitics.net/node/360?full_report=1), but since we don't value the almighty dollar above everything else, we're narcissists living in a fantasy world. What a sad life Vencat must live if she thinks that believing in oneself is the result of "bad advice" and living a balanced life makes one immature.

Ever consider that some of us are actually full-time job seekers? I'm 27, still live at home, have years of full-time editorial work under my belt and several published clips, a BA in political science and communications and I still can't get hired in a full-time position anywhere - I'm either underqualified or overqualified. Maybe if some employers stopped assuming that all of us are flighty about work, those of us who aren't can prove ourselves. Yeah, some choose to laze around and drain their parents for all they've got, but some of us are simply stuck here, waiting for someone to look past our age and give us a chance.

I'm a part of generation Y i am 24, and i hold down a steady job i own my own house and a brand new car, and guess what i moved out at 20. Granted there are those people out there who do live off of their parents and work a job because it's "fun", but really whose fault is that, who enables these people to do this; their parents, i mean come on if you want your kids out make an ultimatium, tell them they have to move out. i have many friends who actually still live at home, some of them just graduated and good god the amount of debt they have is staggering, so they cant buy a house or really even afford to make a rent payment they have 700-800 a month in school loans alone . As far as making decisions on my own, i can make my own decisions but i still have my parents on speed dial, you know what, i believe in the value of family, and yes i do run major decisions by my parents they still dont make the ultimate decison, but they have a wealth of knowledge and experience that i couldnt hope to have or achieve at my age. So come on now people remember to keep an open mind we are all not the same and basing our generation on the people you know limits not only us but yourselves.

Where do I begin, I think this article is about 95% accurate. The 5% innaccuracy is due to their definition of a Gen Y. Just because I'm 26 does not make me or any other twentysomething a Gen Y. Gen Yers are just as theis article explains, spoiled, pampered, parent dependent, and embarassing. I have been completely self dependent since I was 17. I paid my own way through college, without a single student loan, and completed my BBA by the age of 25. Granted a little later than the rest of my age group, but that's because I didn't have mommy and daddy to take care of me. Now I work for one of the largest companies in the world, where I get paid very well, and love going to work every day. It's about time that society stops categorizing us by our age, and categorize us by what we've accomplished. There are plenty of "Gen Yers" that have taken responsibilty for their own lives, like we all should. Don't take away from all that we've accomplished by putting us in the same category as the real Gen Yers, unlike them we actually earned all that we have.

Where do I begin, I think this article is about 95% accurate. The 5% innaccuracy is due to their definition of a Gen Y. Just because I'm 26 does not make me or any other twentysomething a Gen Y. Gen Yers are just as theis article explains, spoiled, pampered, parent dependent, and embarassing. I have been completely self dependent since I was 17. I paid my own way through college, without a single student loan, and completed my BBA by the age of 25. Granted a little later than the rest of my age group, but that's because I didn't have mommy and daddy to take care of me. Now I work for one of the largest companies in the world, where I get paid very well, and love going to work every day. It's about time that society stops categorizing us by our age, and categorize us by what we've accomplished. There are plenty of "Gen Yers" that have taken responsibilty for their own lives, like we all should. Don't take away from all that we've accomplished by putting us in the same category as the real Gen Yers, unlike them we actually earned all that we have.

I'd rather take my time growing up in my 20s. I feel it prevents that mid-life crisis that seems to be so prevalent among those baby boomers that did such a good job "growing up" in their early 20s. I may take longer to get my life established, by some standards, but at least I won't have it "made" by 40 only to throw it all away when that crisis hits me and I decide I married the wrong person and wasted my life at the wrong job.

Between having to be a parent to our parents and ever-increasing demands in school that leave us no time for the "real world", can you really blame us for sinking for a few years after graduation? We've been taking care of our responsibilities and other people since childhood and suddenly we're supposed to just know how to take care of ourselves? We can't learn if no one teaches us. Why do you think all you baby boomers take care of the y'ers during our twenties, because we took care of you up until then and we'll be the ones taking care of you later on as well. I don't think a few years of no stress and no taking care of anyone is too much to ask.

Ugh. I'm getting sick of all this baby boomer/Gen x/Gen Y stuff. When will people realize that we are all individuals ? TImes have changed for sure, but it's unfair to generalize so much. I am Gen Y/Me//whatever and it is such a crock to read this stuff over and over again that supposedly describes me. I've worked since day 1 instead of relying on my parents -- the quote "the lord helps those who help themselves" still rings in my ears. Moved out at 17 and would be ASHAMED to move back home and be a burden on them. Yes, I've had to make decisions at times, such as doing amateur nights in college so that I would have money for food and living with 6 people in a 2 bedroom house. but tough. I have worked hard, chose to live in a cheaper but not so cool area in the midwest so that I could buy my own starter home ( a modest 1940s bungalow with no dishwasher or central air, god forbid !) and have taken on a roommate as what I have to do in order to make everything work with my student loans and all-- yes I paid for my ENTIRE college education. I think any more focus towards work/life balance in this generation is due to us seeing our parents all split up for various reasons, alcoholism, workaholism etc and trying not to make those same mistakes. I still don't know how to talk to my father, we don't have that much to say I guess. All of this generalizing makes me nuts. Times change.