I’ve no idea how this crisis actually plays out.
This is a crisis. A large crisis. In fact, if you got a moment, it’s a twelve-storey crisis with a magnificent entrance hall, carpeting throughout, 24-hour portage, and an enormous sign on the roof, saying ‘This Is a Large Crisis’. A large crisis requires a large plan. Get me two pencils and a pair of underpants.
(Blackadder quote from series 4)
You know, the fucked up thing about it all is I was always told that the kind of delayed gratification that came from major accomplishments like a college degree, a steady career, a comfortable savings account, would all outweigh the fleeting pleasure of parties and stupid little trinkets and other such fun. I wish I had taken so much more time for myself because I burned out so hard achieving some of these things and failing to achieve others that I struggle deeply to imagine a future with me in it.
I hope whatever youth is left in the world spends their time having fun. I hope their lives are worth living now, and that mine will be someday too.
I reached peak purchasing power in 2003. It’s been regression since. The social contract isn’t just broken, it’s shredded and burned.
Just adjusting for inflation, I should be making $145K at my experience level from when I started my career. I’ve never cracked $50K. Meanwhile, costs rose to the point that I’d need to be making $145K to have the sort of life one expects in their mid-40s.
Also, copyeditors are no longer a thing.
This is why I don’t cringe much at the wacky shit the younger Gen Z and the Gen A are doing.
the cringe part is them not organizing and resisting