Why are so many Millennials unhappy/dissatisfied with their personal lives?

[Sydney123]

This Millennial is kickin a$$ and taking names!

[Dwatted Wabbit]

Originally Posted by katharsis

I am a Boomer, so of course I cannot speak for young adults, but I think this video goes a very long way to explaining why so many Millennials are so unhappy/dissatisfied. It has over 9 million views, but for those who have not yet seen it, I very highly recommend it. It is 15 minutes long, but it is far from boring, imo.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hER0Qp6QJNU

I liked all of it, but I especially liked what he said about the addictive nature of social media and cellphones -- he compared it to alcohol or gambling addiction, which I think is absolutely true. (And I can relate to it because I am guilty of checking C-D about a dozen times a day just to see if I have received any "Likes". )

I didn't watch the video and don't plan to.

From the title I formed my answer: "Because their 'personal relationships' are more with devices than people. They have not been taught facts in school and they have not been taught to think and reason."

[Gerania]

Originally Posted by Dwatted Wabbit

I didn't watch the video and don't plan to.

From the title I formed my answer: "Because their 'personal relationships' are more with devices than people. They have not been taught facts in school and they have not been taught to think and reason."

I watched it some time ago. He describes a generation of 'special snowflakes.' I hate that term.

[picardlx]

Originally Posted by katharsis

I am a Boomer, so of course I cannot speak for young adults, but I think this video goes a very long way to explaining why so many Millennials are so unhappy/dissatisfied.

I haven't watched video yet.

I think for some of us it's not all about economics. Many of us have and continue to do well in careers/salaries/etc.

For me, I think it's just how society has become way more transactional. Everything. Everything from job, career growth/mentorship, relationships, friendships, all of it. When I'm down and think life just sucks, it's because of that.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by picardlx

I haven't watched video yet.

I think for some of us it's not all about economics. Many of us have and continue to do well in careers/salaries/etc.

For me, I think it's just how society has become way more transactional. Everything. Everything from job, career growth/mentorship, relationships, friendships, all of it. When I'm down and think life just sucks, it's because of that.

I think technology in general has also impacted society greatly regarding your statement on how things have become more transactional overall. Communication skills have declined due to technology, and most are in their own bubbles and comfort zones. In general, it becomes much harder to make new friends and relationships after your 20s into your 30s, even with technology. In some ways, I would take the 1980s over today if you take out the technology component and a few other factors.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

I think technology in general has also impacted society greatly regarding your statement on how things have become more transactional overall. Communication skills have declined due to technology, and most are in their own bubbles and comfort zones. In general, it becomes much harder to make new friends and relationships after your 20s into your 30s, even with technology. In some ways, I would take the 1980s over today if you take out the technology component and a few other factors.

I agree.

I frequent bars. It is rare, and I mean quite rare these days, for people to actually have a simple conversation over a beer.

[Mister 7]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

. In some ways, I would take the 1980s over today if you take out the technology component and a few other factors.

In all ways, but just for the music alone. (I'm a xennial b. 1982 FWIW).

I would kill to go back to the 80s. There have been advances in medical technology that obviously I would want, but I miss the days where the only distraction you would have is the wall phone ringing.

I mailed something out from my house yesterday and thought to myself, "I wonder if a millennial even knows how to do this?" As in, someone would ask what the flag is for. Not that they're not smart enough, but just...technology, man.

[JonathanLB]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

I think technology in general has also impacted society greatly regarding your statement on how things have become more transactional overall. Communication skills have declined due to technology, and most are in their own bubbles and comfort zones. In general, it becomes much harder to make new friends and relationships after your 20s into your 30s, even with technology. In some ways, I would take the 1980s over today if you take out the technology component and a few other factors.

Yeah, I definitely find that true. I think people warned me about this, but I kind of thought they were just being dramatic. I do often miss the great social situation I had right at the end of high school and mostly through college, but especially on my summer breaks and winter breaks. My social situation during the college year was, eh, ok at best, I'd say pretty bad actually. But during the summer I'd have every friend back in town, we'd all get together and it would be at worst 5-6 of us and at most 10 playing poker, drinking beer, playing beer pong, just having a great time. That continued to some extent a year after college as some situations just worked out that way. I took a year off because my mom had breast cancer (and sadly passed away), one of my best friends didn't get into the med school he wanted (despite graduating from Stanford!), so he spent a year taking extra classes and volunteering at the ER, but we hung out a lot and it's fair to say he took it easy that year still, another friend also ended up taking a year between college and grad school, so we had a solid group of us that would go out to bars, play poker still, and have a great time. I'd see my doctor friend twice a week usually, whereas now I have seen him one time in ten years I believe, for my 30th birthday, and that was almost 6 years ago. He lives across the country.

Then I had a new kind of "golden age" in the summer of 2011, still my favorite summer ever. I had just worked ridiculous hours per week for the past year directing and producing my first feature film, and I needed some time to relax and recover, so I just left L.A. to spend the summer at my dad's house in Portland with a pool. At that point in time I had 3 friends living in the area, so we pretty much drank, swam, and played video games all summer while I ran my company remotely (as I still do), then at the end of the summer I met my girlfriend, who 7 years later is now my fiancé, and I'm still in Portland (for one more year, then finally out again). As it happens sometimes when you're an adult, though, situations change, my best friend moved a few hours south and he's a police officer (he is 6.5 years younger, so in 2011 he wasn't in the work force yet) and I'm no longer friends with either of the other two guys (ironically, one moved to L.A.). So I have one friend here now, a guy I knew from high school and rekindled a friendship with about 5 years ago, but I rarely see him, either, he's a very busy professional.

I didn't make one new friend actually in college, my friends are guys I knew from high school or my best friend from martial arts, and the attempts I've made at making friends here have largely been unsuccessful either because I had little in common with the person ultimately, or because I had a lot in common but they ended up moving away back to wherever they came from before I even cemented a friendship. After a while, I stopped trying, knowing I'll be moving away from the city and not really thinking it's a good idea to put the time into new friendships when I'm just moving anyway.

I think friendship requires a "plan," as lame as that sounds, and when I move to my new city, I'm a financially independent guy, I can do as I please with my days, so though I'm usually work, work, work because I'm also a very motivated guy, I'm going to make finding friends and getting out in the community my #1 priority for the first year. I feel like you only have a year to say you're "new to town" and trying to make friends. I already know a lot of meet up groups for fans of the sports team, which I'm a huge fan, so that's an immediate 1 thing in common, and then you just kind of go from there, hope to meet a few people who also have a bunch of other things in common. Maybe we have a few cool neighbors, though I strongly suspect given it's a gated community of luxury homes, we're not going to meet a lot of 20s and 30s people living there, but hey, I'm not agist, I'd be happy to be friends with someone who is older too.

I try not to complain about my friend situation currently for exactly that reason -- I don't do anything to change it, so how can I complain?! It's just complaining for the sake of it. At the same time, of course I miss the good old days where I spent time with a friend once a week, and now I only really see my fiancé on a regular basis, hardly ever see my friends, but I figure it's a good opportunity to get a lot of work done and build for a better tomorrow anyway, so you just have to see the positive and at least have a plan to change the situation in the future. I am pretty outgoing and always talk with everyone, so I don't think I'll struggle to make new friends in a new city, though it's never as easy as when you're younger, I think.