Kids these days, I tell ya. They just don’t want to work. I hear it all the time for the older generation in my office. I can’t help but think, “Yeah, duh!”
We’re more affluent
The older generation has worked really hard. I can only assume it’s because they wanted to create a better world for their children. Thank you to those who did! The world is better now and we’d like to enjoy it. It would be a waste if you spent all that time and effort for nothing, right?
Growing up with plenty means we don’t need “a strong work ethic.”
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdp
We live longer
In 50 years, we’ve added about 8 years of life. That’s almost 10% more. The younger generation doesn’t need to grow up quick. We have more time to play with. More time to fall in love, or lounge around the house, or go on walks.
“Overworked” is a bad word. We can, and need to, pace ourselves.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data-visualization/mortality-trends/index.htm
What’s in it for me?
We have a perfect storm of factors that define this generation: Living in your parent’s basement smoking weed is the most popular option for people in the prime of their lives, getting married / cohabiting is now old fashioned, and living alone is the most popular it’s been since the 1880’s.
Men no longer need to be the providers for their family. And women no longer need to be dependent on men. So… what’s in it for me? Why should we put in the extra hours, be on call, and come in on weekends?
Work sucks
I don’t have a statistic for this, but it’s a well known fact: work sucks. Ask anyone and they’ll tell you about how awful their job is. They hate their boss, or their co-workers, or this policy, etc. etc. There are a few people who say they love their job, but secretly, they hate it. Everyone would much rather be doing anything else.
Maybe we shouldn’t lament the kids these days. Maybe they’re onto something (duh).