Countering those who say this generation is lazy.

[Rageaholic]

It was this Young Turks video that brought up some good points on it.

1. We have technology that allows us to do things faster than before. Information is easily accessiable via google and other options so we don't need to spend hours looking up books and stuff.

2. Not everyone follows the traditional 9 to 5 schedule. There are some who work at 2 in the morning, some who have multiple jobs, and others who have to balance their schedules. In some ways, people are more hard working than before.

3. Even if people were less hard working than before, so what? Maybe we finally realize that there is more to life than hard work. Here's a youtube comment that summed it up best.

Perhaps Millennials are the first generation in a long time to understand that life is not work, we only live once, personal health and mental well-being is more important that a paycheck, and our self worth is not determined by the car we drive, but the knowledge we have accrued through our own research and hobbies. We are not lazy, we are simply more sensible. Work is something we have to do to earn a paycheck. True character is something we earn completely separate from work.

In other words, we work to life, not live to work. We may have things easier now with technology, but is that really such a bad thing? As I said in another thread, most of the time when people talk about the "good ol days", they make it sound so miserable and depressing and yet they still act like those were the days. WTF?

[BlaqueKatt]

In other words, we work to life, not live to work. We may have things easier now with technology, but is that really such a bad thing?

I think it's kind of a "sour grapes" envy/regret attitude, more than anything else. For so long people felt the need to "keep up with the Joneses" in terms of material possessions, so they spent more time making money to pay for a lifestyle they didn't really want but "society" told them they had to have. The current generation sees beyond that, and acts accordingly; possibly from seeing their parents so miserable, or not seeing them much at all, and they want a "better life" for themselves, not for me to judge what is a better life for someone else....

[Kheldarson]

However, while all that is true, there is also a large part of the Millennial generation that just doesn't work. While this is true of any generation, I've noticed the attitude more and more as I've grown up and moved different places. Several co-workers are satisfied with doing the minimum or nothing at all. Students don't see the point in doing their homework. And yes, a large part of that is what parents instill in terms of values in their kids, but it reflects more on the current generation than the previous.

[Gravekeeper]

<cough> A-hem.

That about covers it me thinks. ;p

[blas87]

Ideally for me, there should be an even balance between keeping a roof over your head and gas in the car, and feeling mentally healthy enough to go to that job to earn the money for those things.

I don't care for the overly-carefree people who quit/walk out of jobs without any thought to what they'll do next to keep themselves alive, but I also don't care for people who think that if you don't come home wanting to kill someone or die in your sleep of exhaustion, you haven't worked hard enough.

[Rageaholic]

I don't care for the overly-carefree people who quit/walk out of jobs without any thought to what they'll do next to keep themselves alive, but I also don't care for people who think that if you don't come home wanting to kill someone or die in your sleep of exhaustion, you haven't worked hard enough.

I think that about says it. There needs to be a balance. IMO that balance is people doing the necessary work they can to get by without making others pick up the slack. It doesn't have to be a competition.

As for the cracked article, I loved this quote.

1.
"Conversation with the therapist:

2.
I just get so pissed off by the older generation.

3.
Therapist: Why?

4.
Because when I grew up, we were force-fed the idea that if we didn’t want to be ‘flipping burgers for a living’ then we better go to college.

5.
Therapist: And?

6.
... Now we’ve gone to college, have degrees, can’t get a job, and that same generation calls us entitled ass holes because we refuse to flip burgers!

7.
Therapist: Touche."

[Panacea]

Love the quote from Cracked, Rageaholic

However, while all that is true, there is also a large part of the Millennial generation that just doesn't work. While this is true of any generation, I've noticed the attitude more and more as I've grown up and moved different places. Several co-workers are satisfied with doing the minimum or nothing at all. Students don't see the point in doing their homework. And yes, a large part of that is what parents instill in terms of values in their kids, but it reflects more on the current generation than the previous.

This is true of every generation. There's a lot of age diversity among my students; I'm just as prone to see these problems in my older students as my younger ones. Some of my Millennials are among the hardest workers I have.

And I've been dealing with idiots who try to slide by ever since I started working real jobs back in the mid 80's.

Given that much homework is simply busy work, I can't blame students for not wanting to do it.

I don't care for the overly-carefree people who quit/walk out of jobs without any thought to what they'll do next to keep themselves alive, but I also don't care for people who think that if you don't come home wanting to kill someone or die in your sleep of exhaustion, you haven't worked hard enough.

Quoted for truth. Again, I see these attitudes in several generations.

But I've never gotten the idea that work isn't hard if you aren't a pile of goo at the end of the day, and that you're a weakling if you don't pull the strong man act and go back to do again the next day and the next day.

I've never had trouble quitting a job I hated. Life is too short to stick yourself with something you can't stand, and in my profession finding work isn't too hard anyway.

[draggar]

You're dealing with the same thing us Gen-X'ers dealt with in the 90's. Older generations saying we're lazy etc.. yet they later found out that Gen-X'ers did more volunteer work than any other generation before.

As Rage said, one major issue is that our entire childhood and schooling life we're taught to get a good education so we don't have a "$5 an hour job at McDonalds" but then they complain when we don't settle for a "$5 job at McDonalds". (Current job market excluded, that is).

*Note: no offence meant to the people working at McDonalds or anyone making $5 an hour - at times like this you need to get work where you can.

The work is still there, the work can still be hard, but a different type of work now that the "Factory working" generation didn't see nor will they see at their age. If they want, I can invite them for a drive along of a day full of replacing battery backups.

[Rageaholic]

Another thing I have noticed are a number of people who think technology has made us weak. We rely so much on technology that we wouldn't know what to do without it. While true to an extent, the attitude I get from those of older generations are that they think their better because they endured tougher conditions, "I had to do everything by hand and it took hours" ect ect. What they fail to mention is that they did it that way because they had no easier way. We have an easier way to do it now so why the hell would we make things harder?

I think blaquekatt is on to something, a lot of those people just come across as bitter and spiteful that we can do things easier. They want to push us back several decades just to prove they can endure more, and that is what I find so infuriating about those people.

[draggar]

The internet has also made it harder for a lot of things. Do you think we'd all be aware of Mitt Romney's "dog on roof" drive if it wasn't for the internet? Yes, it is easier to get the information which makes it harder for people like him to live past it.

Look at all the risque picturs of people on Facebook - imagine them coming to haunt them 30-50 years down (of course I'm sure the people demonizing them for doing that did it themselves, too).

[Pinecone]

...the attitude I get from those of older generations are that they think their better because they endured tougher conditions

And then they went and built the technology that alleviated those tough conditions and created the character flaws they perceive in later generations.

[Amanita]

Last night, a friend and I were talking about this- technology and such. Recently one member of the Pagan community went on a rant on facebook, criticizing pagans who go on and on about connecting with nature, yet go on about how they would just die without their gadgets.
To some, his rant came across as techno-phobic.

I said to my friend- "I admit it, I'm an Urban Pagan, the concrete jungle is where I'm at home."
To which my friend answered "Yes, but you're not a hypocrite."

[Amanita]

I read that article on Cracked, and I do take exception to one part- the part about adding several more years to being a teenager. Just what is wrong with enjoying geeky things, playing video games, belonging to a garage band as a hobby, or having geeky collectables?

As long as you are taking care of your responsibilities, what's wrong with having fun? According to the author of this article, I would be beneath contempt for having Sci-Fi collectibles, or engaging in cosplay. Well, guess what? If cosplay were restricted to my teenage years, I would not have ever done it. I had very little money, for starters. Cosplay is expensive! Also, my mother was of the opinion that dress up was only for halloween, and although she never tried to stop me, she was of the opinion that halloween and dressing up was for kids.

As an adult, I can afford to put together costumes with some impressive materials, not just cardboard and tinfoil, or whatever cheap materials my parents will "let" me play with.

The other issue is moving out of the house- in my area, the real estate listings make me want to slice my wrists in dispair. Anything remotely close to the city, let alone in a decent neighborhood is ball-breakingly expensive. The only homes I might be able to afford are crappy mini-homes far from anything. I refuse to even consider anything that far out, as I am a non-driver, and public transit in those areas is either abysmal or non existent. Rent? Good luck finding anything in a decent neighborhood. There's also the nature of my job, I sometimes go long periods without a full time jobsite, which would be pure hell if I had to pay rent (or mortgage) every month.
I'm not the only one in this boat- Let's face it, housing prices have gone up massively since the older generation ever tried to buy real estate, much more than average wages.

Also, it used to be back in "their day", that you could make a decent living working in a store, or doing a similar job. People made careers out of it, and supported families. Not so much these days. Now, the perception is that people working these jobs are just "passing through", on their way to something else, which I guess ties in with something else in that article- the belief that it's a 4 year degree or nothing.

[Andara Bledin]

Just what is wrong with enjoying geeky things, playing video games, belonging to a garage band as a hobby, or having geeky collectables?

Yeah. I've always hated this conceit that being mature means that you can't enjoy certain pursuits.

It's bullshit.

I'm sitting her, at 40 years, in my own house, a nice car parked out front, with a job I've held for 16 years, and my by-monthly comic book delivery should be arriving next week, I have a wide-screen TV with both an Xbox 360 and a PS3 attached, I play games on both my phone and computer, often simultaneously, I attend a variety of conventions, often as staff, and am working on deciding just who I'm going to be cosplaying as next year.

I'll measure my success by my own happiness and comfort, not anyone else's.

^-.-^

[Rageaholic]

I read that article on Cracked, and I do take exception to one part- the part about adding several more years to being a teenager. Just what is wrong with enjoying geeky things, playing video games, belonging to a garage band as a hobby, or having geeky collectables?

Yeah, I was going to mention that. I don't understand the big deal with being an adult "nerd". I wonder what the writter would consider an adult hobby.

I'm also comforted by the fact that I'm not alone in being a "teenager" seven more years. I thought I was abnormal for still living at home in my college years, but it's good to know I'm not a loser for not being able to make it. I mean the economy is in the crapper, jobs are still hard to come by (especially well paying jobs), inflation is making everything more expensive, and college tuition is higher than ever. That's a lot working against us. So when I hear from people about how "I was out of the house at 18 and living on my own", I don't feel so inferior. They didn't have to deal with a shit economy like we do now.