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Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






How do?

My name is Mad Doc Grotsnik, and I'm a little over 37 years of age. Now, depending on who you ask, I either fall into the late Gen X period, or I'm one of the very first Milennials. Others yet call it Xillenial, which I kind of like the sound of. Sounds a bit like Xenos.

And I'm here to tell you what's it been like growing up through the 80's, 90's, 00's and 10's.

At first, it was pretty good. Mostly because I was a kid and really didn't know better. Life just was what it was. TV ruled - He-Man, Thundercats, Transformers, Galaxy Rangers. All that stuff. Glorified toy commercials which somehow turned out more than intended. We had home computers. Alright in the earliest days it was the simple ZX Spectrum (mine had the rubber keys, and required a separate tape deck). Yes, life was easy in those days. Get up, brekkie, go to school, come home, much about. Rinse and repeat. So far, so standard childhood.

But then came the later 90's. Yes, that was a bit of time jump, wasn't it. By then, we had the grassroots of the internet. Websites were basic, Google was basic, the connection was dial up. I distinctly remember my old 56k modem taking around, ooooh....4 hours to download the trailer for The Phantom Menace. But hey, new toys were new. We were the very first to get to use them (though sadly my education ended before it made much headway in that sphere). But why did my education end there?

Well, it's simple. From my birth until I was aged 17, University was free for all. If you got the grades, you could attend whichever Uni would take you, and with further work, walk away with a degree. But then.....but then, the first of many rug pulls on my generation was performed.

You see, the very same preceding generations decided you can indeed get something for nothing, if you use your free degree to get a well paying job, and then vote to end free Uni. I mean, why should you pay for someone else's uni education? Sure, some poor rube paid for yours, and you're doing alright Jack. But this will lower your tax, won't it. Yeah. Thanks for that.

Then came the 00's. Idiotic, world destabilising wars, followed by a financial crash, suppressed wages and soaring house prices. Wow. What a world you've created for us!

10's? Well well well. It's not enough that Milennials now need to pay for Uni, but you've just jacked up the fees...and look! House prices continue to go mental because Baby Boomers have so much equity in the homes they bought for a measly few grand, that they're now becoming Buy To Let Barons - an unregulated market where you can, and do, charge just whatever you want. It's not enough to cover your mortgage, why not whack another 40% on it? I mean, your gold plated, final salary pension just isn't enough. Best rig that housing market even further. Maybe it's time for another twist of the knife. Go on, vote us out of the EU on the back of a campaign of shameless lies, the architects of had no ability and no intention of ever delivering on.

So before you call us feckless. Before you call us self-obsessed. Before the word 'entitled' trips from your aged, dry, cracking lips. Stop. Stop and take a look in the mirror. We didn't make this world the way it is. We merely inhabit it. You. You did this to us. And don't you dare try to claim we just need to work harder. It's hard to do that when you're on a Zero Hours contract, and thus have no idea what your work pattern is going to be.

We are paying the price for your selfishness and naked greed. We're the first generation in a long, long time to be objectively worse off than it's parents. Because. Of. You.

I'd love to see you try to start from scratch the way we have to. I don't think you could hack it. Your privilege and perks have made you soft. So soft, you'll vote for anything you think will keep things stacked your way, and decry the actions of younger people who try to redress the balance.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
And there's much more where that came from.

Me, I got lucky in later life. Started in my current job in 2012, and I've never looked back. It's now become a career, and I'm doing really quite well for myself.

For once, I caught a break.

But peeps a bit younger than me? Well, after a year of putting them up, my house guests have finally, just about, secured their own flat. After a year's hard scrimping and saving up a deposit. To rent. Not a deposit to buy. A deposit to rent.

Two adults. In work. Taking a year to save up a rental deposit. Does that give you any idea what we're up against out here?

And the younger the subject, the tougher it gets. I live in a prosperous little town. Yet there's barely a full time job to be had. It's all part time or Zero Hours. How are you meant to plan your life in the face of that? It's not simply 'well, you'll just have to tighten my belt, uphill both ways, in my day, lucky for a farthing blah blah blah'. One month you might be flush, having worked 160 hours. The next month? Oh poop. You've managed just 40 hours. At minimum wage, the flush month is a struggle. The short month? Whoops, guess that's the rent missed - and now you risk homelessness as a result.

That is what young people are up against. And again, we didn't make it this way. Who would? Who would vote for that for themselves?

Nobody. But, we totes know who'd vote it on others. I mean, surely if you're not well on your way to paying off your mortgage by 30, alongside a dog and two kids, you're just a narcissitic, entitled oik - and certainly not a victim of a greedy generation utterly blind to the plight they've foisted on others.

You have repeatedly shafted us since the word go. Every Nice Thing you enjoyed has been taken away. Apparently, we can't afford that anymore - but we can afford to prop up your pensions with a triple lock, or ensure your decent salary is sustained by paying us two thirds of fifty percent of sod all for the same hours.

You might've guessed - I'm extremely angry about this state of affairs.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/07/19 11:44:22


   
Made in pl
Wicked Warp Spider





It is even harder than what you wrote for Central and Eastern European "Xillennials", sometime called "transformers" in Poland, because we were the last generation to live our childhoods behind the Iron Courtain and were to young to "hop on the change train" right after - when people just 5-10 years older than us made stunning careers in newly open economy (seriously, everybody could have their dream job back then if he only lived in large enough city and was of right age) we were still in high school. Then, when we went to universities and even more so when we left them, most career doors were already closed for years to come, occupied by the same people 5-10 years older than us.

One simple statistics shows this "generation uncertainty" rather nicely - women from my generation (born '77-82) have their first child not only when they're significantly older than neighbouring generations, they have their first child AFTER next generation have theirs.
   
Made in nl
Wolf Guard Bodyguard in Terminator Armor




I can say nothing except to say I agree wholeheartedly.
Turning 38 next month, and like you caught a lucky break when I fell into the NDT industry.
I would only add that the complaint should extend to almost everything you'd think you're paying taxes for, like healthcare, public transport and infrastructure
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Yup.

And let's face it, we work more hours for less pay. So to call us slackers is an upfront urine extraction and no mistake.

We are being squeezed, and squeezed and squeezed again to help pay for shortfalls we never created in the first place.

Yes, like anyone, we are lucky to have jobs. But unlike Baby Boomers, we can't buy a house with just any job. And to get the sorts of jobs where we could, we need to rack up £27,000 minimum Uni debt to do so - which we need to pay off.

Never mind the various other social ills caused by a feckless older generation determined to see services cut the bone. Those affect us too, and we have to live with the consequences for far longer.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And when it comes to secondary/high school achievement?

Stop claiming the exams are getting easier just because results improve.

Consider this. I completed secondary school pre-internet, and may have been the last year to do so.

So when I had an essay to write, I had to do just that. Write it. Only the luckiest students had home PCs and a printer. That stuff was expensive.

And if I needed a source book of some kind? If my parents were wealthy, I have no doubt they'd have bought me those books. But they weren't. So instead I joined the mad dash of 20 or so students down the library to try to snag one of the two copies held there.

Now? Well, for a start, I can type up my essays and what have you. And that allows for an editing process which is incredibly time efficient. I can cut paragraphs and paste them elsewhere. I can review and tweak my wording as needed (and I do this at work. Regularly). In short, I can finish as I draft. No more 'sodding pen won't work' or 'curse my left handedness smudging the ink. That'll cost me marks'.

As for research? Pretty much the sum total of human knowledge is at our collective finger tips. We can google it. Kids are taught how to do that efficiently, and how to check the information they're cribbing from. For instance, Wikipedia is no good for citing in an essay, but it's an excellent way of finding better sources.

Exams aren't getting easier. At all. Stop being jealous. All that's happening is access to knowledge is becoming more prevalent, and the advent of the digital age has made essay writing an awful lot easier - you don't get writer's cramp for a start.

It's just another arrow in the bitter quiver of a generation who refuses to let anothers Have Nice Things.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/07/19 14:08:58


   
Made in gb
Keeper of the Holy Orb of Antioch





avoiding the lorax on Crion

On exams and schooling. We now have at our easy command the sum of human knowledge, we can find from home information on any subject needed.

No trips to libiary, city libiary or even London.
Sure if doing a university level essay specialist books are standard but even now with internet, I can place a request order via city libiary for a copy.

Win win.

For exams, for school essays, its not easier we just bow have at command, so much information, so many connections and linked subjects.

Its hard to not find what you need!

I was at school early ish internet, still using dvd encyclopedia and such.

Now days. Information is just there by the ton, endless info.
If need deeper just get the book the decent webpage cites

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/07/19 15:26:35


Sgt. Vanden - OOC Hey, that was your doing. I didn't choose to fly in the "Dongerprise'.

"May the odds be ever in your favour"

Hybrid Son Of Oxayotl wrote:
I have no clue how Dakka's moderation work. I expect it involves throwing a lot of d100 and looking at many random tables.

FudgeDumper - It could be that you are just so uncomfortable with the idea of your chapters primarch having his way with a docile tyranid spore cyst, that you must deny they have any feelings at all.  
   
Made in us
Pragmatic Primus Commanding Cult Forces






Southeastern PA, USA

In my undergraduate pre-WWW days, I was ahead of the curve by knowing how to use Telnet to dial into the electronic card catalogs of other universities in my city. Still meant I had to travel to actually procure the books and articles, of course.

As a graduate student just eight years later, I was downloading every full-text article I needed online. I only set foot in my university library maybe two times, which was great for a commuting student like me. That's an amazing amount of change in 8 years.


Not sure what that really has to do with the attitudes of Baby Boomers toward Millennials, however...

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Made in gb
[DCM]
Moustache-twirling Princeps





Gone-to-ground in the craters of Coventry

I had a day out in London when I was in Uni, to protest about tuition fees being introduced, probably 4 years or so before you would have been there. The NUS bussed us there, we walked around a bit and caused the traffic to clog up, all for the (slim) chance it would slow the tide of ever-increasing debt for the next students to come along. I had my fees paid through uni, but I knew what it'd be like if I was there a year or two later.

I had 16 years climbing slowly though the private sector's IT jobs, and ended up here, in the public sector. I'll be grateful of the 1% pay rise, yet being paid too much anyway. I love our government.

6000 pts - 4000 pts - Harlies: 1000 pts - 1000 ptsDS:70+S+G++MB+IPw40k86/f+D++A++/cWD64R+T(T)DM+
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"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw (probably)
Clubs around Coventry, UK 
   
Made in nl
Wolf Guard Bodyguard in Terminator Armor




In any case, the problem with information these days, especially online, is signal-to-noise. There's just so much crappy, or outright wrong information out there, one needs almost as much time sorting it all out as we did writing it down. Correctly. Edited for spelling, grammar, punctuation *and* style.
   
Made in us
5th God of Chaos! (Ho-hum)





Curb stomping in the Eye of Terror!

:waves:

Fellow Xillenial here (40yo).

I remember the early 80's playing Atari / Nintendo / Arcades... US vs. USSR movies... Ronnie R.

I remember the 90's where we had pagers and barely used cell phones.

I remember the 00's where all things internety took off.

...and the 10's where social media goes ape gak.

We're a unique generation where in our 30's/40's, we have alot of old-geezer stories. (I know how to find books in library via the index cards )

My favorite, is watching a millenial trying to read a printed map for directions w/o the use of Google Maps ...

Or this.

Home Alone entire basis is that the parents couldn't get hold of their young son. (a world w/o ubiquitous cellphones)



Live Ork, Be Ork. or D'Ork!


 
   
Made in gb
Mekboy Hammerin' Somethin'





Dorset, England

I'm 28 and I gotta be honest I think we do have it easier in some areas.

For example, teaching is so good now that getting good exam results is an absolute doddle.

Uni does cost more but really student loans don't matter as you only pay them when you earn over a certain wage so they can never become affordable.

Its true that harder to save up for a house, but as people get married and have children much later in life they are much more affordable once you get them as you are being payed a lot more.
Also, because most women work now we get to split the cost instead of buying a house all by ourselves, you gotta love equality!

So I think we come out about even on those things, but we got cool stuff like gap years, amazing holidays ever year, crazy cheap electronics, much better job variety due to the expectation that we will switch jobs every few years, loads more opportunities to work abroad, no power cuts or three day working weeks because of bloody trade unions! etc.

there are pros and cons to all generations but like most people I think mine is best. Objectively if you are a woman, a foreigner or a homosexual then living now is much better what with all the anti-discrimination laws as well!

   
Made in us
Battlefield Tourist




MN (Currently in WY)

As a 77-82 as well (Proud Gen-Xer), the thing I hate most is that politically we just will never matter. Baby Boomers rule for now, and when they are gone Millenials will rule over us. We are essentially voiceless in the political process as a generation. Bummer dude.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/07/19 17:03:31


Support Blood and Spectacles Publishing:
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Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut



Glasgow

I think there's a whole heap of wishful thinking or extremely good fortune skewing this:

 Kroem wrote:
For example, teaching is so good now that getting good exam results is an absolute doddle.


A decline in difficulty will do that - and I say that not in a 'they get it easy now' sense, but as someone who marks university essays and exams and sees the absolutely stark difference between British and non-British kids. For the most part the Europeans that think they're mediocre blow the Brits with straight As out the water. The international kids that actually did really well at home? Oaft!

Its true that harder to save up for a house, but as people get married and have children much later in life they are much more affordable once you get them as you are being payed a lot more.
Also, because most women work now we get to split the cost instead of buying a house all by ourselves, you gotta love equality!


Most boomer women work/worked. That aside, I don't think this is at all realistic. Very few people can afford, at any point in their career, to buy a house comparable to what their parents would have been able to a decade of more earlier in theirs.

...we got cool stuff like gap years, amazing holidays ever year...


Only the very lucky/wealthy. I certainly didn't get any of that, nor did any of my friends. My wife and all her pals did - and they think it was a great time to be young, too...
   
Made in us
Pragmatic Primus Commanding Cult Forces






Southeastern PA, USA

Gen Xers were labeled 'slackers', and now we're running all kinds of stuff. People tend to view younger generations as lazier, less competent, etc...that's just how it goes. I graduated into a recession, so I understand what it's like to just get by for a while as a young person. Those are crucial years in a career too...if things stall or go nowhere for you, it can take some time to make up the difference.

Still, I'm gonna throw something out there for discussion. Is it possible that Millennials want things on their terms a little more than previous generations? I could be 100% wrong, but it seems as though their priorities may be a bit different, especially when it comes to their lifestyles as young people.

Are they perhaps a *little* less interested in moving their lives to where the work is, especially if it's not a desirable location? Are they maybe a *little* less willing to give up travel, going out to eat, or their expensive coffees, craft beers and brands in the name of savings? I feel like that tends to jibe with some of the research I've seen.

I didn't start making a decent wage until the second half of my 20s, yet I had savings and could afford things because I did my best to live within my means, including my lifestyle. That meant I missed out some things, but my financial and career focus also helped get me to where I am. I think there may be a genuine generational shift here, although I also think it's hard to truly blame Millennials for a consumer attitude that may have been coached in them since the time they were young children.

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Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut



Glasgow

 gorgon wrote:
Gen Xers were labeled 'slackers', and now we're running all kinds of stuff. People tend to view younger generations as lazier, less competent, etc...that's just how it goes...

...Is it possible that Millennials want things on their terms a little more than previous generations?


Err...
   
Made in us
Pragmatic Primus Commanding Cult Forces






Southeastern PA, USA

nfe wrote:
 gorgon wrote:
Gen Xers were labeled 'slackers', and now we're running all kinds of stuff. People tend to view younger generations as lazier, less competent, etc...that's just how it goes...

...Is it possible that Millennials want things on their terms a little more than previous generations?


Err...


They aren't the same things. I'm talking about different life priorities, not different work ethics or ability levels.

What's more, I'm talking about incremental attitudinal change here and not absolutes, although I'm sure the nature of the interwebz will inevitably steer things in that tiresome black-and-white direction.


See, the changes at my alma mater since my time there are fascinating to me. The amount of money that universities pour into amenities now (at least in the U.S.) is staggering. And it's been explained to me that the reason is because today's students are much more discriminating when it comes to things like their dorm rooms, the quality of the food, the recreational facilities, etc. Those are things that really weren't so much on the radars of college students in the '80s and early '90s. Universities actually tended to skimp when it came to that stuff. But something is clearly different in students' attitudes today.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/07/19 18:27:57


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Made in us
5th God of Chaos! (Yea'rly!)




The Great State of Texas

 jhe90 wrote:
On exams and schooling. We now have at our easy command the sum of human knowledge, we can find from home information on any subject needed.

No trips to libiary, city libiary or even London.
Sure if doing a university level essay specialist books are standard but even now with internet, I can place a request order via city libiary for a copy.

Win win.

For exams, for school essays, its not easier we just bow have at command, so much information, so many connections and linked subjects.

Its hard to not find what you need!

I was at school early ish internet, still using dvd encyclopedia and such.

Now days. Information is just there by the ton, endless info.
If need deeper just get the book the decent webpage cites



Information is not knowledge though.

-"Wait a minute.....who is that Frazz is talking to in the gallery? Hmmm something is going on here.....Oh.... it seems there is some dispute over video taping of some sort......Frazz is really upset now..........wait a minute......whats he go there.......is it? Can it be?....Frazz has just unleashed his hidden weiner dog from his mini bag, while quoting shakespeares "Let slip the dogs the war!!" GG
-"Don't mind Frazzled. He's just Dakka's crazy old dude locked in the attic. He's harmless. Mostly."
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Made in jp
[MOD]
Anti-piracy Officer






Somewhere in south-central England.

That is a very good point.

I'm writing a load of fiction. My latest story starts here... This is the index of all the stories...

We're not very big on official rules. Rules lead to people looking for loopholes. What's here is about it. 
   
Made in gb
Regular Dakkanaut





Speaking as someone from the slightly younger generation growing up in the 90s to 00s, I look back to the older current generations and see the truths from the lies (or as I interpret the, anyway). None of us can truly moan about our living standards as they have improved and refined over time. Each decade has brought better technology and quality of life even if you claim some form of current stagnation. Poverty isn't what you would class as poverty 50 years ago and we are all a lot healthier whatever lifestyle we choose. I don't really see that getting a job is harder today than it was back in the years X. What has changed is the transition of mechanisation and a shift in new/decline in other industries.

Personally I believe each generation builds on the last, but each subsequent generation is too keen to be spoon fed more. I feel that my generation and those younger are/will be too picky and demanding. People are becoming a force of want rather than need. The jobs are out their if you need it rather than the 'I want this one' but it isn't available so will complain mentality. Of course we are facing increasing issues that we can blame on previous generations, but we ourselves will be burdens on those younger than us. The terrible fact is we are living too long and not paying in a sustainable amount.

I am one for getting on with things. I threw myself into an unknown with my job and work very hard at it (compared to most people my age). Unlike most who seem to spend rather than save and put a higher value on lifestyle rather than work, I am a polar opposite but will set myself up to be self sufficient with money. I usually work 6-6 6 days a week unless for a special task such as taking rye grass to a bio-digester where I worked 6-9 14 days straight. My pay is low but my overtime makes up the loss. If I can do it so can everyone else, the problem is people aren't willing to do such things anymore.
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Yup.

Back in days of yore, I worked in a school doing IT support, and occasionally classroom support. Yes, it was my old secondary school. Yes, it does make me Screech.

We tried to teach the kids critical thinking when Googling. The task was simple. We'd choose something for them to find, but it had to be something which required a decent crack at the spelling.

I chose Sawney Bean. Easy for me to type, but announced vocally, trickier to find.

The kids then had to put their hand up and have a crack at what the subject matter was.

Basic Google-Fu - learning how to best ask a question to elicit the most information.

   
Made in ca
Preacher of the Emperor




At a Place, Making Dolls Great Again

Unless a job will get me into a better living situation, I don't really see the point in throwing myself full force into things.
I suppose some jobs still have advancement, (mine does not) but I have gotten to a point where I could never afford to go to school or pay off the debt and live at the same time.
And being very weird and unpopular with the ladies means I won't get married or anything.

So what I have now, the 1 bedroom apartment, is as good as it will ever get.
Regardless of what I actually ever do.
There is only so high I can climb and that isn't that high, so I have lost all desire to work harder, I don't care about buying copious amounts of warhammer that much, can't travel since my job rarely gives days off and while they say you're allowed a holiday they don't really like to actually give your days to you, and they keep throwing more work with no more pay and no more hours.
Personally I hope I don't live to be old, then I am fethed.

Make Dolls Great Again
Clover/Trump 2016
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Made in ca
Longtime Dakkanaut




Building a blood in water scent

 Frazzled wrote:
 jhe90 wrote:
On exams and schooling. We now have at our easy command the sum of human knowledge, we can find from home information on any subject needed.

No trips to libiary, city libiary or even London.
Sure if doing a university level essay specialist books are standard but even now with internet, I can place a request order via city libiary for a copy.

Win win.

For exams, for school essays, its not easier we just bow have at command, so much information, so many connections and linked subjects.

Its hard to not find what you need!

I was at school early ish internet, still using dvd encyclopedia and such.

Now days. Information is just there by the ton, endless info.
If need deeper just get the book the decent webpage cites



Information is not knowledge though.


Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty Beauty is not love Love is not music. Music... is the best. - FZ

We were once so close to heaven, St. Peter came out and gave us medals; declaring us "The nicest of the damned".

“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'” 
   
Made in gb
Stalwart Veteran Guard Sergeant




Wales

I'm probably considered new to the Xillenial - I'm 32 this year. While I don't remember much of the 80's, I remember playing my SEGA negative to death, collecting WWF stickers to collect all of Brett "The Human" Heart, watching telly on 4 channels and not having a mobile phone till I was 16.

Anyway, agree with Grotsnik. I was lucky. I got a modern apprentice position in the steelworks where I live, and been there since 2004. I earn enough to pay my mortgage, food for my wife and 2 children and let my wife be a stay at home mum.

Like I said, I was lucky, but also sensible. Uni was a money sink, and I got into my job just as zero hour contracts begun. Saw the writing on the wall, managed to jump ship in time. Many of my friends didn't.

374th Mechanized 195pts 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut




North Carolina

 Rainbow Dash wrote:
Unless a job will get me into a better living situation, I don't really see the point in throwing myself full force into things.
I suppose some jobs still have advancement, (mine does not) but I have gotten to a point where I could never afford to go to school or pay off the debt and live at the same time.
And being very weird and unpopular with the ladies means I won't get married or anything.

So what I have now, the 1 bedroom apartment, is as good as it will ever get.
Regardless of what I actually ever do.
There is only so high I can climb and that isn't that high, so I have lost all desire to work harder, I don't care about buying copious amounts of warhammer that much, can't travel since my job rarely gives days off and while they say you're allowed a holiday they don't really like to actually give your days to you, and they keep throwing more work with no more pay and no more hours.
Personally I hope I don't live to be old, then I am fethed.


I wouldn't sell yourself short I think we all know plenty of weird people who are married.

Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur
 
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut



Glasgow

 gorgon wrote:
nfe wrote:
 gorgon wrote:
Gen Xers were labeled 'slackers', and now we're running all kinds of stuff. People tend to view younger generations as lazier, less competent, etc...that's just how it goes...

...Is it possible that Millennials want things on their terms a little more than previous generations?


Err...


They aren't the same things. I'm talking about different life priorities, not different work ethics or ability levels.

What's more, I'm talking about incremental attitudinal change here and not absolutes, although I'm sure the nature of the interwebz will inevitably steer things in that tiresome black-and-white direction.


See, the changes at my alma mater since my time there are fascinating to me. The amount of money that universities pour into amenities now (at least in the U.S.) is staggering. And it's been explained to me that the reason is because today's students are much more discriminating when it comes to things like their dorm rooms, the quality of the food, the recreational facilities, etc. Those are things that really weren't so much on the radars of college students in the '80s and early '90s. Universities actually tended to skimp when it came to that stuff. But something is clearly different in students' attitudes today.


Perhaps it occurs to some students that they're paying vastly more for those amenities than previous generations, and have vastly less choice?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 jhe90 wrote:
On exams and schooling. We now have at our easy command the sum of human knowledge, we can find from home information on any subject needed.

No trips to libiary, city libiary or even London.
Sure if doing a university level essay specialist books are standard but even now with internet, I can place a request order via city libiary for a copy.

Win win.

For exams, for school essays, its not easier we just bow have at command, so much information, so many connections and linked subjects.

Its hard to not find what you need!

I was at school early ish internet, still using dvd encyclopedia and such.

Now days. Information is just there by the ton, endless info.
If need deeper just get the book the decent webpage cites


Unfortunately, the ability to access information does not confer the ability to process it. Honestly, undergraduate essays can be staggeringly bad. Hell, plenty postgraduates are barely capable of constructing an argument or drawing independent conclusions. If the marking scheme was up to me, about 1 in 5 first year essays I mark would pass. Maybe 2 and 5 second years. Alas, with marking schemes as they are, I think I've failed two essays ever.

Obviously I can't go back in time and see pre-internet university essays, but I don't see them being worse...

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/07/19 19:39:11


 
   
Made in us
Kid_Kyoto






Probably work

 Rainbow Dash wrote:
Unless a job will get me into a better living situation, I don't really see the point in throwing myself full force into things.
I suppose some jobs still have advancement, (mine does not) but I have gotten to a point where I could never afford to go to school or pay off the debt and live at the same time.
And being very weird and unpopular with the ladies means I won't get married or anything.

So what I have now, the 1 bedroom apartment, is as good as it will ever get.
Regardless of what I actually ever do.
There is only so high I can climb and that isn't that high, so I have lost all desire to work harder, I don't care about buying copious amounts of warhammer that much, can't travel since my job rarely gives days off and while they say you're allowed a holiday they don't really like to actually give your days to you, and they keep throwing more work with no more pay and no more hours.
Personally I hope I don't live to be old, then I am fethed.


I'm 33 and make double the median salary for my area. I live in what's effectively a 3 bedroom apartment with my girlfriend, paying for it all on my income, and I make enough money to keep saving and buy myself shiny things whenever feels good.

You... might want to consider a new job. It's a strange thing to me that people willfully work jobs that don't give time off and are borderline abusive to their employees. My girlfriend does that even though she could probably get a job with actual benefits pretty much anywhere else out of some misguided sense of "loyalty". I ask how that's possible when they're not loyal to her, but that's another rabbit hole. I just shake my head.

Also, if you want to be more popular with the women, maybe stop referring to yourself as "Rainbow Dash"? Might help you get taken more seriously.

Assume all my mathhammer comes from here: https://github.com/daed/mathhammer 
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Not always that easy.

For instance, the town I live in, as mentioned, is affluent. Rents are a good bit above the national average, wages anything but.

If like me you get lucky and earn above the median for the nation, it's a nice place to live. But if like my soon-to-be-former flat mates, who work minimum wage jobs, not so much

   
Made in us
Kid_Kyoto






Probably work

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
If like me you get lucky and earn above the median for the nation, it's a nice place to live. But if like my soon-to-be-former flat mates, who work minimum wage jobs, not so much


And that's the thing that falls apart for me. Why does one keep working a gak job like that? Even when they have other opportunities? I mean, even if you're not getting jobs thrown at you, you can still keep LOOKING, at least.

I didn't come from a wealthy family. I got student loans for college. I paid for my sister's student loans after the fact because (as the art major) it was apparent she wasn't going to be able to pay them off herself. I keep offering to pay for my 21 year old brother to go to college, but instead he lives with our parents still, working for just above minimum wage as a retail stockboy. I was scrambling to be out of the house at 18.

I just don't get this relaxed mentality about that kind of stuff.

Assume all my mathhammer comes from here: https://github.com/daed/mathhammer 
   
Made in us
[DCM]
Secret Squirrel






Leerstetten, Germany

 daedalus wrote:

I'm 33 and make double the median salary for my area.

You... might want to consider a new job.


I wonder which is more likely. That someone was fortunate enough to have the skills and opportunities to get a job that pays double the median salary for an area, or that all the other people are just not willing to look for jobs that pay double the median salary?
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






 daedalus wrote:
 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
If like me you get lucky and earn above the median for the nation, it's a nice place to live. But if like my soon-to-be-former flat mates, who work minimum wage jobs, not so much


And that's the thing that falls apart for me. Why does one keep working a gak job like that? Even when they have other opportunities? I mean, even if you're not getting jobs thrown at you, you can still keep LOOKING, at least.

I didn't come from a wealthy family. I got student loans for college. I paid for my sister's student loans after the fact because (as the art major) it was apparent she wasn't going to be able to pay them off herself. I keep offering to pay for my 21 year old brother to go to college, but instead he lives with our parents still, working for just above minimum wage as a retail stockboy. I was scrambling to be out of the house at 18.

I just don't get this relaxed mentality about that kind of stuff.


Because after years of remorseless grind for pitiful wages, and better jobs applied for that never get back to you, hope wears thin.

Then there's social circles to think about. Ever since I got my break, and doubled my wage, my friends have started following suit. I'm no shining paragon of virtue by any means. But, I am absolute irrefutable proof it can happen.

If you're stuck in a rut, chances are your friends are too. And much like drug addicts, that's a vicious circle.

   
Made in us
Kid_Kyoto






Probably work

 d-usa wrote:

I wonder which is more likely. That someone was fortunate enough to have the skills and opportunities to get a job that pays double the median salary for an area, or that all the other people are just not willing to look for jobs that pay double the median salary?


My confusion lies in the apparent lack of effort toward making the first of your hypotheticals one's reality.

The inevitable outcome to this train of thought is that we determine that I'm "better" than other people, for values of "better" including some nebulous combination of "talented/smarter/better trained/connected/lucky/racially lucky/magical".

I do not think I'm better than other people. I think we're all more alike than we're usually willing to admit. I instead posit that I'm not better than anyone else and there exist jobs out there that are accessible to people, but they don't go for them because they don't think they can. Maybe I just know a more shiftless subset of people though.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:


Because after years of remorseless grind for pitiful wages, and better jobs applied for that never get back to you, hope wears thin.

Then there's social circles to think about. Ever since I got my break, and doubled my wage, my friends have started following suit. I'm no shining paragon of virtue by any means. But, I am absolute irrefutable proof it can happen.

If you're stuck in a rut, chances are your friends are too. And much like drug addicts, that's a vicious circle.


The first part doesn't really apply much to my anecdotes, but I could see that for a (small) subset of people.

The bit about social circles is profound though, and it's not the first time in even the last week or so I've heard that suggested in some form or another. I think there's a lot more to that than people want to admit.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2017/07/19 20:22:31


Assume all my mathhammer comes from here: https://github.com/daed/mathhammer 
   
 
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