Comment by runjake | Hacker News Reader

Comment by runjake | Hacker News Reader

- You can survive without electronic devices and the Internet. In fact, you should, some of the time.

- You should spend a lot more time outside.

- You should spend a lot more time being bored and left to your own thoughts.

- Read more books. Especially fiction. It's not a waste to grow your imagination.

- Your children will be fine.

- From a US viewpoint: Conservatives want a world that never was. Liberals want a world that will never be.

- The world isn't getting worse, the challenges are only changing. The current set of challenges doesn't have global thermonuclear war in the list, so that's good.

- On the back of that last point: everything ebbs and flows in cycles. There is no "happily ever after"/"miserable forever".

- Despite what other "old people" would tell you, you younger people have it way harder than we did. You have so many more inputs to deal with, society and tech is changing at unprecedented paces, and in virtually every aspect of your life, you are surveilled and influenced by those who don't have your best interests in mind.

"- The world isn't getting worse"

Bad stuff has always happened, but when something bad happens now, more people are made aware of it.

For example, when I was in high school in the the early '80s there was a shooting at a high school in my Midwestern US city. A kid brought a gun to school and shot two kids who said something about his brother. The shooter then turned the gun on himself. One of the other kids died too.

This was big news locally, I don't remember national TV coverage of it. There was no internet so if someone was 500 miles away, they never knew about it. It didn't spur a national debate about gun control, kid's mental health or school safety.

Although I agree with most points, I'm not sure about this one:

> The world isn't getting worse, the challenges are only changing.

Let me offer a different, less optimistic view.

The current generation, known as the Millennials, is the first to be born into a time of abundance, where they are constantly reassured that their future will not be as prosperous as that of their parents.

The majority of Millennials will never be able to purchase a home through a traditional 9-5 job, a feat that was easily achievable for their parents. Nowadays, one must either be fortunate enough to work in a highly lucrative field, inherit wealth, or simply "survive."

The most crucial aspect to consider is that Millennials are the first generation to be aware of the high likelihood that large portions of the earth will become uninhabitable within the next 50 years, unless significant changes are made. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that these changes will occur, leading to a sense of impending doom for our species. The idea that we may not exist in 50, 100, or even 200 years due to our relentless exploitation of the planet's resources is a unique burden carried by this generation and the next.

> Millennials are the first generation to be aware of the high likelihood that large portions of the earth will become uninhabitable within the next 50 years...

Not the first. I grew up in the 70s and 80s and we all thought there was a very high chance there would be global nuclear war, followed by nuclear winter, within a decade.

> Not the first. I grew up in the 70s and 80s and we all thought there was a very high chance there would be global nuclear war, followed by nuclear winter, within a decade.

I wasn't aware. Thanks for sharing.

Well, thank you!

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