HIPSTER RUNOFF

Just read another article trying to figure out the 'social forces' that have constructed Generation Y as they have 'grown up', graduated from college, and chose to neglect their standard duties as functional members of society. For some reason, every1 is trying to figure out 'hipsters' / 'twenty somethings' / 'college grads who can't find work' / college grads who are 'above' working entry-level jobs that aren't 'fulfilling.' Seems like 20something just know how to chill hard, and realize we don't have to 'fucking conform', except we have 'the balls' 2 follow thru cuz we can just chill on our laptops all day 2 escape from society without actually giving up 'being social.'

Are u 20something?
R u unemployed?
Did u graduate from college, but not really digging ur options/career path(s) available?
Did u move back in with ur loving parents because they are 'upper middle class'?
Do u feel pressure to get a 'real job', 'get married', and 'have some kids' asap?
R u a free spirit who is in no hurry to 'start real life'?

It’s happening all over, in all sorts of families, not just young people moving back home but also young people taking longer to reach adulthood overall. It’s a development that predates the current economic doldrums, and no one knows yet what the impact will be — on the prospects of the young men and women; on the parents on whom so many of them depend; on society, built on the expectation of an orderly progression in which kids finish school, grow up, start careers, make a family and eventually retire to live on pensions supported by the next crop of kids who finish school, grow up, start careers, make a family and on and on. The traditional cycle seems to have gone off course, as young people remain un­tethered to romantic partners or to permanent homes, going back to school for lack of better options, traveling, avoiding commitments, competing ferociously for unpaid internships or temporary (and often grueling) Teach for America jobs, forestalling the beginning of adult life.

Worried. I thought Teach for America was a 'legitimate' option for jumpstarting my career. Worried that the on-campus recruiter I talked to last week was just 'blowing smoke up my ass' to meet recruitment quotas.

Are yall glad that ur not like ur parents, and u haven't felt pressure to start a career that would probably 'peak' with a job in middle management? Is ur life meant for 'so much more' than such inhumane desk work?

Forty percent move back home with their parents at least once. They go through an average of seven jobs in their 20s, more job changes than in any other stretch. Two-thirds spend at least some time living with a romantic partner without being married. And marriage occurs later than ever. The median age at first marriage in the early 1970s, when the baby boomers were young, was 21 for women and 23 for men; by 2009 it had climbed to 26 for women and 28 for men, five years in a little more than a generation.

Seems like they also asked 20 year old ppl to document their lives' with their iPhones to make the story 'visually captivating'

The New York Times Magazine asked 13 young photographers to capture the identity of their generation using iPhones. They brought back photos of friends, family members, strangers and themselves. See each photographer’s work, organized by row, below.

Here is a sample 'photo'. Seems kinda like the vibe is some1 taking a myspace pic even though they are about 10 years too old.

Do u feel pressure to 'get pregnant' or do fertility drugs mean that you can pop out 7 identical babies when ur 45 years old?

Among the cultural changes he points to that have led to “emerging adulthood” are the need for more education to survive in an information-based economy; fewer entry-level jobs even after all that schooling; young people feeling less rush to marry because of the general acceptance of premarital sex, cohabitation and birth control; and young women feeling less rush to have babies given their wide range of career options and their access to assisted reproductive technology if they delay pregnancy beyond their most fertile years.

Not sure why this beardbro is in this story. Seems to just be an 'effing hipster' who represents a zany 20something who doesn't care abt society's standards. Seems chill that he is 'living strong, wearing yellow'.

It seems like there is 'no official age' where society calls u an adult, so 20something bros can just delay 'growing up' as long as possible.' Wish local + federal governments who get their shit 2gether:

Our uncertainty about this question is reflected in our scattershot approach to markers of adulthood. People can vote at 18, but in some states they don’t age out of foster care until 21. They can join the military at 18, but they can’t drink until 21. They can drive at 16, but they can’t rent a car until 25 without some hefty surcharges. If they are full-time students, the Internal Revenue Service considers them dependents until 24; those without health insurance will soon be able to stay on their parents’ plans even if they’re not in school until age 26, or up to 30 in some states. Parents have no access to their child’s college records if the child is over 18, but parents’ income is taken into account when the child applies for financial aid up to age 24. We seem unable to agree when someone is old enough to take on adult responsibilities. But we’re pretty sure it’s not simply a matter of age.

So confused. Wish u were just considered an adult right after the first time u grew a nice bush of pubes / share an intense orgasm with a a member of the opposite sex.

'Age is just a number n e ways... All we are is flowers in the wind.'

Do u think that ur gonna live to 100 years old, so there really isn't any worry about 'wasting ur 20s' banging as many ppl as possible? Do u feel pressured to 'get married' to form a collective identity with another human, or are u focused on 'finding urself'?

The more profound question behind the scholarly intrigue is the one that really captivates parents: whether the prolongation of this unsettled time of life is a good thing or a bad thing. With life spans stretching into the ninth decade, is it better for young people to experiment in their 20s before making choices they’ll have to live with for more than half a century? Or is adulthood now so malleable, with marriage and employment options constantly being reassessed, that young people would be better off just getting started on something, or else they’ll never catch up, consigned to remain always a few steps behind the early bloomers? Is emerging adulthood a rich and varied period for self-discovery, as Arnett says it is? Or is it just another term for self-indulgence?

Might just get a job at my local Hot Topic / Pac Sun

Seems like in ur 20s, u can' believe u can do anything'. Seems like an empowering outlook on life. Hope it lasts forever, so that even after my life 'turns to shit' and I have to 'take care of kids + a naggy, annoying life partner', I will always know that my life will pan out:

DURING THE PERIOD he calls emerging adulthood, Arnett says that young men and women are more self-focused than at any other time of life, less certain about the future and yet also more optimistic, no matter what their economic background. This is where the “sense of possibilities” comes in, he says; they have not yet tempered their ideal­istic visions of what awaits. “The dreary, dead-end jobs, the bitter divorces, the disappointing and disrespectful children . . . none of them imagine that this is what the future holds for them,” he wrote. Ask them if they agree with the statement “I am very sure that someday I will get to where I want to be in life,” and 96 percent of them will say yes. But despite elements that are exciting, even exhilarating, about being this age, there is a downside, too: dread, frustration, uncertainty, a sense of not quite understanding the rules of the game. More than positive or negative feelings, what Arnett heard most often was ambivalence — beginning with his finding that 60 percent of his subjects told him they felt like both grown-ups and not-quite-grown-ups.

R u a 'grown up'?

Seems like we are all trying to deal with 'getting old' or something, even comedic dads. For some reason, the Gen Y struggle seems 'more special' because our collective identity is more unique.

Good 2 know that when ur parents are rich u r in a better position than if ur parents are poor, since they can't really offer u money 2 help u. 'Relieved' that my parents are rich, and I can just 'piss away my twenties' instead of actually having legitimate responsibilities.

This dependence on Mom and Dad also means that during the 20s the rift between rich and poor becomes entrenched. According to data gathered by the Network on Transitions to Adulthood, a research consortium supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, American parents give an average of 10 percent of their income to their 18- to 21-year-old children. This percentage is basically the same no matter the family’s total income, meaning that upper-class kids tend to get more than working-class ones. And wealthier kids have other, less obvious, advantages. When they go to four-year colleges or universities, they get supervised dormitory housing, health care and alumni networks not available at community colleges. And they often get a leg up on their careers by using parents’ contacts to help land an entry-level job — or by using parents as a financial backup when they want to take an interesting internship that doesn’t pay.

Not sure if this article offered any job tips, like 'upload ur resume' to monster.com / hotjobs.com or anything like that. Really hope Gen Y bros just chill hard, have no money for retirement, and are forced into virtual homelessness.

Why are 20somethings not willing to 'get real jobs' like Gen Xers + Baby boomer + every other old ass person before 'us'?
Why won't 20something hipsters 'grow up'?

Did u ever move back in with ur parents, and feel a lot of weird vibes because of their expectations for ur life, and ur lack of conformity to society's antiquated norms? Do your parents truly 'love you for YOU' or do they just love the person who they think u r?

Is ur mom chill, or do u feel a lot of 'disappointed' vibes from her?

Did this article 'uncover' anything 'insightful'?
Do 20somethings need to 'get their shit together'?
Will Gen Y 'retire' without a retirement fund?
Should we all just continue trying to be bloggers/social media gurus/buzzband members, instead of getting jobs as teachers/insurance agents/bank tellers?
Will there be some sort of "Recession of Chill" when 20somethings don't accomplish their dreams?
Will u land ur dream job, or is ur head in the clouds?
Do parents have a responsibility to get their kids' head out of their asses, even though their children now 'look like grown ups'?
What is more interesting: the era of articles abt Gen Y 'using the internet a lot' or the articles abt Gen Y 'growing up and not having real jobs'?

Should I get my life together before it is too late?
Should I just go to 'grad school'/law school to extend my youth?
Am I 'above' 98% of the job opportunities that are available for me?
Does n e 1 know if it is true that every human on Earth will die one day?
Am I 'living in a goddamned dreamworld' because I believe that within my lifetime, scientists will find a way to make us live forever?

According to the professional social networking site LinkedIn, Ninja has become one of the fastest growing job titles of the Great Recession.

Just read this Wall Street Journal article about how people are making up fake titles to make themselves seem like they are distinguished/unique/qualified/passionate candidates when they apply for jobs. Basically, since most job listings are flooded with hundreds of applicants, people have increasingly made up dumb job titles that attempt to represent their abilities and/or connection to their profession. The new kewl job description is 'ninja', replacing the popular web 1.0 buzz term 'guru.'

In 2009, the growth of "ninja" as a new job description far outpaced the growth of other trendy titles, according to LinkedIn Corp., a Web site that provides networking for more than 65 million professionals. While the numbers are still small on LinkedIn—some 800 current or former ninjas have public profiles on the site—their growth has skyrocketed past other fashionable careers such as "gurus" and "evangelists," says Monica Rogati, a scientist at LinkedIn who finds patterns in jobs data.

Do u have a linkedin profile?
What is ur job title?
Would u call urself a ninja?

Do u think it is a good idea to call urself a 'ninja' when u apply for a job? If I used to work at Subway, should I call myself a sandwich ninja instead of a 'sandwich artist'? If you work at McDonalds, can u call yourself a Burger MGMT Ninja just to make sure that people know you were more than just another sad McDonalds employee?

"The concept of a ninja is metaphorical. It's about confidence," says Alex Schliker, who has been advertising to hire one for his San Francisco business software start-up, CureCRM. It's "an easy way to say you need to be good at learning anything new I throw at you," he says.

Ninja is "sexier" than its predecessor, Mr. Schliker says: "Guru is so Web 1.0."

Feel scared about growing up. Like I will have to beg people for a job, convince them that I am 'qualified' to work at their firm. I wish they could just chill with me for a while, then realize I am a chill + authentic bro who truly 'gets' the world.

When I graduate from college, am I 'fucked'?
Do u have any tips for building a strong resume?
Will I become a millionaire before I die?
Have you ever done something gimmicky to get a dumb job at a creative agency?
R u going to be unemployed for the rest of ur life if u don't become a ninja?
Should I just spend the rest of my life pretending like I am an 'expert' at the internet and trying to build my twitter brand?

The New York Times did a story about how unpaid internships might be illegal. They basically say unpaid internships are ways for companies to scam young people looking for opportunities into working for free. Even though most companies exist 2 make money, they often try to 'cut costs' and exploit the efforts of young people who don't know any better/don't have better career opportunities.

“If you’re a for-profit employer or you want to pursue an internship with a for-profit employer, there aren’t going to be many circumstances where you can have an internship and not be paid and still be in compliance with the law,” said Nancy J. Leppink, the acting director of the department’s wage and hour division.

Wonder if employers feel sad that they can't hire optimistic college students who are funded by federal loans or their rich parents to do some free labor. Did u have an unpaid internship during college where you learned a lot / were treated like shit?

Many regulators say that violations are widespread, but that it is unusually hard to mount a major enforcement effort because interns are often afraid to file complaints. Many fear they will become known as troublemakers in their chosen field, endangering their chances with a potential future employer.

Do u feel like u have to get an internship in order to get 'real experience'? Has an employer ever treated u like shit as an intern?

The story also featured a picture of a girl who did an unpaid internship for a company that booked musical acts. I think she is supposed to appear as a 'victim' because she goes to NYU, but still has to do 'unpaid bitch work.'

There were tons of unsourced examples of 'unfair employers' who treated their interns 'like janitors', minorities, and miscellaneous unskilled laborers. If u had an intern, would u make them do 'bitchwork' or try to make them more employable?

Many students said they had held internships that involved noneducational menial work. To be sure, many internships involve some unskilled work, but when the jobs are mostly drudgery, regulators say, it is clearly illegal not to pay interns.

One Ivy League student said she spent an unpaid three-month internship at a magazine packaging and shipping 20 or 40 apparel samples a day back to fashion houses that had provided them for photo shoots.

At Little Airplane, a Manhattan children’s film company, an N.Y.U. student who hoped to work in animation during her unpaid internship said she was instead assigned to the facilities department and ordered to wipe the door handles each day to minimize the spread of swine flu.

Do u have an internship horror story?
Have u interned at an alt company?
Are employers 'ass holes'?
Will u get screwed over more if you intern with a Fortune 500 company or if you try to get alt cred by working at a boutique company?
Do u have any work experience, or do u just think u'll live at home with ur parents for the rest of ur life?
Are unpaid interns 'victims' or should they 'shut up' and get to work / clean the bathroom / run to get the office some coffee?
Are young adults too entitled these days/think they can achieve their dream job?
Are internships the same thing as 'slavery'?
Should the Alt Report hire 5-10 unpaid interns?