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Comment by gchamonlive | Hacker News Reader

> overprotectiveness is why we have many >20 y/o people who can't speak for themselves and are overly shy.

Is this even true or is it just your personal impression?

I'd like numbers/evidence on it too, but for my own generation, I compared my cousins for years precisely about overprotectiveness, and those who were only protected against extreme imminent danger have succeeded in life way further (for their starting conditions, socially and economically) than those who had my aunts all over them not letting them fall and have scrapes.

Anecdotally, again, the parents of those who did NOT fall on dirt were much more wealthy, so these cousins of course inherited (so to speak, their parents aren't dead) the wealth and status, but gosh, they do everything they are told to do, what to study, etc. While those who did fall frequently when babies these days have generated about half of the wealth the others inherited and they are vocal, really nice professionals and of course awesome people to spend time with.

Girls were more protected than boys, regardless of everything else.

I'm not disputing that, my gripe is with the part ">20 y/o people can't speak for themselves and are overly shy". Can we really put an entire generation under this flag? Idk... I've met some 20 somethings and they seemed pretty functional to me.

You conveniently left out the the "we have many" part of that sentence you quoted. No one is suggesting it's the entire generation, or that there aren't plenty of 20-somethings who socially very functional.

But there is evidence out there that Gen Z has higher levels of shyness and social anxiety than previous generations. I personally believe overprotectiveness is one causative factor among others, although I'm not sure whether the evidence is there.

I didn't, read my original comment...

Your "gripe" ignored it, even if you quoted it in your first comment.

Sure, so tell me what's "many"? 20%, 50%, 90%? Tell me how much semantic value what I left out gives the sentence.

"Many" here means some value more than previous generations to the point that it's noticeable to the general public. It doesn't mean everyone.

My interpretation was many as in "the vast majority", which would qualify for "put an entire generation". Of course you can't have every single person fall under such a category, this is absurd and you are deliberately not giving me the benefit of the doubt just to nitpick.

But in any case, is this even true? That this generation of 20 something, as OP said, "can't speak for themselves and are overly shy"? That's my gripe. I don't think it is, at least not in such an immediately obvious way. Hope it clarifies. If it doesn't I can only wish you a happy life.

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