The Go Nowhere Generation

From the New York Times op-ed section courtesy of Eschaton:

But sometime in the past 30 years, someone has hit the brakes and Americans — particularly young Americans — have become risk-averse and sedentary. The timing is terrible. With an 8.3 percent unemployment rate and a foreclosure rate that would grab the attention of the Joads, young Americans are less inclined to pack up and move to sunnier economic climes.

The likelihood of 20-somethings moving to another state has dropped well over 40 percent since the 1980s, according to calculations based on Census Bureau data. The stuck-at-home mentality hits college-educated Americans as well as those without high school degrees. According to the Pew Research Center, the proportion of young adults living at home nearly doubled between 1980 and 2008, before the Great Recession hit. Even bicycle sales are lower now than they were in 2000. Today’s generation is literally going nowhere. This is the Occupy movement we should really be worried about.

And

Perhaps young people are too happy at home checking Facebook. In a study of 15 countries, Michael Sivak, a professor at the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute (who also contributed to the D.M.V. research), found that when young people spent more time on the Internet, they delayed getting their driver’s licenses. “More time on Facebook probably means less time on the road,” he said. That may mean safer roads, but it also means a bumpier, less vibrant economy.

All this turns American history on its head. We are a nation of movers and shakers. Pilgrims leapt onto leaky boats to get here. The Lost Generation chased Hemingway and Gertrude Stein to Paris. The Greatest Generation signed up to ship out to fight Nazis in Germany or the Japanese imperial forces in the Pacific. The ’60s kids joined the Peace Corps.

But Generation Y has become Generation Why Bother. The Great Recession and the still weak economy make the trend toward risk aversion worse. Children raised during recessions ultimately take fewer risks with their investments and their jobs.

More here.

Oh god.

When I was a kid I used to think that if you wrote for the New York Times that you must be pretty smart. Increasingly, I'm thinking the opposite. Or maybe the state of corporate journalism has gotten so bad that intelligent writers have to work in code or some such.

That is, the essay has the answers it seeks weaving in and out of its assertions and observations: young Americans aren't leaving home these days because there is nothing compelling them to do so. Indeed, the rise of the corporate state, the consumerization of everything, the continuing disaffection of voters from our now fictional democracy, the destruction of civil society, and, of course, the bleak jobs picture, all make staying at home and doing nothing with your life a whole lot more enticing than jumping into our cesspool of a society in order to - what? - participate in life-long endeavors that may or may not provide a living, but will almost certainly produce anxiety, depression, and a sense of meaninglessness.

Doing chores for your parents and fucking around on the internet are far more meaningful and fulfilling activities than handing your life over to a soul-sucking corporation, or teaching in an educational system that is consciously designed to not educate, or entering our corrupt political system, or working in the shitty service sector, or any other number of bankrupt "career opportunities" offered today by our pathetic excuse for a civilization. American life is pointless in the long run, and the kids appear to realize that. Nonetheless, even though the above linked essay has the truth encrypted between the lines, the writer makes the obligatory finger-wagging admonitions about facebook and video games. As if American youth suddenly collectively said, "Hey, fuck doing something with my life; I'm playing video games!"

If there is any truth to this article's central point, that twenty somethings aren't getting out there on their own, the reason is that there is nothing out there worth doing. Because our leaders have rendered American existence pointless.

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