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Comment by _tlbb | Hacker News Reader

Being someone from gen z, it feels like there's no opportunity for anything. Not just jobs or economic opportunity, but social ones as well. I graduated high school and started college in the wake of covid so I feel extremely developmentally behind. I do some volunteer stuff in my area but I don't actually "know" or enjoy time with them outside of our volunteer work because they aren't my age or in my stage of life. I don't even play games anymore because the pressure of "making it" makes me feel worse than before playing a game.

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Your comment caught my attention as I’ve noticed GenZ comments on social media making a major point about stage of life and age. Curious to know why your friends need to be your age and in the same stage of life? I’ve always had friends that are older by 15 years, and now also younger by 15 years. So Millennials to Boomers and we connect on interests, hobbies, sports teams, hikes, walks, climbing, games, favourite beverages (beer, cocktails). My 2 cents: Over the years, friends of different ages have been essential for connections, opportunities, referrals for services, housing, advice and learning from other people’s experiences (aka the easy way).

Education was a major casualty of the pandemic that gets ignored, of course students have routinely been screwed throughout history because they don't have a voice. That said every generation gets screwed by the real world at some point. For millenials it was the 2008 financial crisis. My sister graduated college that year and the labor market was just brutal. As unceremonious an initiation as it gets. As for opportunities, the world is changing. The America that boomers built is dying, meanwhile tech and social media corrupts everything else. I wish I had advice for young people, but I'm at a loss as well and can only rant. My only hopeful prediction is that in the future we'll see a cultural rejection of the abundance and noise we have created and return to sincerity, intimacy, and a rediscovery of the great things of our past.

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