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It’s 1965 and you’re a 26-year-old white guy. You have a factory job, or maybe you work for an insurance broker. Either way, you’re married, probably have been for a few years now; you met your wife in high school, where she was in your sister’s class. You’ve already got one kid, with another on the way. For now, you’re renting an apartment in your parents’ two-family house, but you’re saving up for a three-bedroom ranch house in the next town. Yup, you’re an adult!
Now meet the twenty-first-century you, also 26. You’ve finished college and work in a cubicle in a large Chicago financial-services firm. You live in an apartment with a few single guy friends. In your spare time, you play basketball with your buddies, download the latest indie songs from iTunes, have some fun with the Xbox 360, take a leisurely shower, massage some product into your hair and face—and then it’s off to bars and parties, where you meet, and often bed, girls of widely varied hues and sizes. They come from everywhere: California, Tokyo, Alaska, Australia. Wife? Kids? House? Are you kidding?
I'm a baby boomer (1953) and at 26 the last thing I and many of my male friends wanted was a wife, kids and mortgage.
Actually we bought our homes/townhomes/condos, but as singles, and had no desire to share it with someone who thought "it's time to settle down".
Living in a large city (Houston) during the '70s and '80s it was pretty much, as the story in the OP states, ..."off to bars and parties, where you meet, and often bed, girls of widely varied hues and sizes. They come from everywhere: California, Tokyo, Alaska, Australia....."
Big can of worms here. What do you all think? Are men now in an extended adolescence?
heh....I said "extended"!
Back in 1965 most people didn't go to college like they do today, and back then a high school diploma was worth more than a bachelor's degree is today. Back in 1965, a man could support himself and a family off the money he made at the factory needing only a high school diploma. Today, it takes 2-3 roommates just to make ends meet in an entry level job that REQUIRES a bachelor's degree. Plus, there is the factor of the ongoing recession and many twenty-somethings still living with their parents because they are unable to find work. Tens of thousands in debt for a college education that means absolutely nothing.
So yeah, extended adolescence is a real thing, but it is the result of this economy and the devaluation of higher education.
Big can of worms here. What do you all think? Are men now in an extended adolescence?
heh....I said "extended"!
You're me, a male, it's 2012, you're reading this thread late at night that talks about something like the median age of marriage. You take the 10 seconds it takes to look up the historical age of marriage data that you can easily find online. You realize how pointless the article is given that in 1890 the median age for marriage for a man was 26. It's now 28. Big change.
Big can of worms here. What do you all think? Are men now in an extended adolescence?
heh....I said "extended"!
....you said extended
YES,DEFINATELY!!
You cannot hire a young guy to do a "man's" job anymore...they just flat out refuse to do it.
Out of a dozen or more nephews,I have ONE working a man's job in the coal mines,married and doesn't even have a game console of any kind( I likes the GTA myself)...he fishes and hunts with me,I've taught him to weld and run equipment and he used those skills to get a fair paying job in the real world.
The rest? Either they still live at home in their 20's or group up with 10 other deadbeats to pay the rent in a run down shack where they play video games around the clock,play in bands that NEVER play outside of the house and live on Doritos and soda..IF they work,it's at a minimum wage no skill job where they can be replaced at a seconds notice by the other 10 million applications in the employer's drawer..I've offered all of them the same chance and they all turned me down on learning sellable job skills,but wanted me to teach them to play guitar...screw u....if a robber broke into their home,they would give him their girlfriend to keep him from stealing their XBox.
I would hate to be a women in my 20's looking for a good mate because the pickings are slim.
Location: Democratic Peoples Republic of Redneckistan
11,078 posts, read 15,078,355 times
Reputation: 3937
Boy,you aren't getting many bites on this one are ya
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)...he fishes and hunts with me,I've taught him to weld and run equipment and he used those skills to get a fair paying job in the real world.
