Narcissists in Neverland

I feel this article is a premature assessment of a misunderstood generation. I didn't realize that money was the only thing important to GenX. I'll be sure NOT to relay the message "You can be whoever you want to be" to my own children.

I find this article very inetresting. I am a GEN-X 36 years old and a high achiever and feel that I want to be more like a generations Y. I constantly battle with babyboomers at work who dont want to do anything different and are scared to let go of control. I have been sold into all the things that we need through constant bombardment of advertising. I love my wife and son more than anything in the world and want to chunk most of the other chains around my next, like homes, cars, and all of that to explore the world and meet and help new people. Something I did while I was younger but only while I was doing the right thing of finishing college, and developing a career.

I'm reading this at my full time job whilst I go to full time college. I work precisely _becuase_ I want to be able to do what I want. Your article is sort of a laugh. Perhaps the generation has changed, but a much smarter observation would be that the undergirding economic state of a the modern enconomy has changed in such a way that the social structure is changing with it.

Comment: "In most cultures, kids do stay at home until they're married, often well into their 30s, so maybe that's "the way it's supposed to work." If you love your daughter and she's able to work and not be in debt, why would you force her out of the house? Chances are, she'd want to leave at a certain age anyway, but wouldn't you want to give her the comfort of knowing she can fall back on something if things go wrong?"

If a "child" is still home at 30, there is something definitely wrong. If they can't cut the apron strings by/before then, then a prospectiive spouse needs to run the other way....QUICK!

My daughter knows we'll always be here if she needs us. However, she also has enough self pride and self esteem to know that she has absolutely no business living at home after she's graduated from college. Too many "kids" have never been allowed to do for themselves and have never been taught self reliance. They need to get off their proverbial behinds and get out into the world, not be a leech on mom and dad because they're too lazy to grow up.

The Baby Boomers have built up weatlh, bought second homes, shrinking the supply, driving up the price. Gen X either had to pay amazing sums to those Boomers or the Boomers parents or facethe thought of living at home at 40. o now the boomers have ineherited more then any generation ever, at the same time they have goughed the X'ers who are now in debt up to the eyeballs of their roomatewho is standing on their shoulders. The Y generation has to throw up their hands thinkging they will never afford a house and don't want the debt the X'ers have so why not rent or stay home and not worry about money. The X'ers got screwed, our parents generation got the inheritance from the penny pinching generation before them and the X'ers money from the houseing.... and.. to make so many mothers out there happy, they get to sit on their fat cash a lecture the CX Generation about how foolish we are being in so much debt. Nice.

Mr. Gecko, oops I mean Ms. Vencat. Let me get this straight, young people seeking self-fulfillment and enlightenment is bad. The horror of these young people joining the Peace Corp. or volunteering their time at an inner-city school, or joining environmental or political movements. Pretty narcissistic aren't they?

Please distinguish between humanitarian work and "screwing around," between youth facing unattainable housing prices in a drastically increasing western wealth gap and incompetent "narcissists in neverland." My friends aren't tickled by their inability to afford health insurance, nor are their parents are handing out cash for their children's pleasure-cruises as your hyperbole suggests. They do, however, value passion over money, and by golly if you Baby Boomers think differently how 'bout you write an article called "Middle-aged Misers?" Here's a question for ya: do you think we WANT to be living with our parents?

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Yeah, somebody needs to tell Emily Flynn Vencat, that being this article more highlights her (or his, because my generation actually cares about fighting gender stereotyping and money-oriented success and all that crap) inability to understand gen-Yers than it does explain any kind of reality. I work hard every day, like all of my 20 year old friends, and we still have lost hope that growing up doesn't mean giving up or giving in to this sadistic system like Emily Flynn Vencat obviously did.

Wait a second: I'm a Gen-Yer who has consciously made the decision to stay at my parents house following college graduation because I want to be able to have the ability and cause to save money for a nest-egg in the future. That I want to ensure that I am able to own both a great house and a great car comfortably is my reasoning for choosing not to "go out into the real world." As it is, I do work a "real" job on top of my academic and university-related extracurricular activities - and, yes, I simultaneously understand the value of money and volunteer-ism in today's world. But I'm also able to prioritize.

Give me a break, people. We don't all have our head in the clouds.

a similar article appeared in 1989's Time Magazine about Generation X, thereby meaning it is the same complaint issued generation after generation ...

Oh by the way, I'm at work right now at 11:36 pm and I started working at 10 am.

Why write this article? What good is there in polarizing the generation gap even more? I think any argument such as this should be precluded with a statement, "remember that Baby Boomers are your parents and that Gen Y'ers are your children." That being said, this argument isn't new or creative. It says nothing about individuals in either generation set and is therefore just a generalization of prejudice. GenY'ers are some of the most interesting AND accomplished people I've run into (I'm 30 so I fall into GenX/Y I guess). It's rare that you see someone in their 20s put price before principle and that is a hard road and it should be lauded instead of derided.

Furthermore the assertion that most people in their 20s are unaccomplished is false in my experience. All my friends from high school and college have advanced degrees for the most part. Most of them own their own homes and many have children they raise on their own without their parents helping if you can force yourself to consider that.

I've started to stray off my original point though which is just that these kinds of arguments only widen the generation gap instead of seeking to meet it. Baby Boomers might be surprised at the ingenuity and resourcefulness that years of volunteering and internships bring. Most of the time, those volunteer programs and internships that people gawk at as irresponsible behavior are methods to fatten up a resume so we can compete with people who have more experience. Try to be nicer to your junior collegues, you'll make more money by retaining them and looking at a problem in a different way.

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I think I just read another newsweek article about money not buying happiness??! So what is so bad about wanting to find happiness in your job instead of high $$'s? Gen-Yers parents raised them to feel comfortable about making these kinds of decisions and obviously are supporting them. It's their decision as parents to do so...So why is anybody questioning their parenting?

If one is 21 or older, they should be embarrassed for mooching off their parents, in college or not. Get off your ass and work. I joined the military at 18 and have been on my own for 10 yrs. I have no respect for lazy 20 somethings living in a dreamland.

I came out of school with an Engineering degree and did what I was 'supposed' to do. I got a job at a manufacturing facility where I worked 50-60 hours a week. I got my own place and supported myself. But I couldn't stand it! I was luckily able to save up enough money to quit and live off my savings. Now I spend my days volunteering for local charities. I would rather be unemployed than stay at a crap job. Does that make me a bad person? This article says it does. Why do Gen Y'ers have to conform to the Baby Boomer standards? If enough Gen Y'ers do things differently, if enough of us ask why we need to be a slave to our jobs, then society will have to adapt. And to me, Gen Y'ers have got the right idea.