“NJ, I can agree to a certain extent that kids today may be no different than they’ve ever been, but I do believe the game they are being forced to play in life has changed since the time of Socrates.”
I respectfully disagree. People, especially young people, emigrated to the US in various waves because the resources at home were, basically, nil. The Irish (my relatives) were forced out of Ireland by the English (my other relatives) and ended up here in a desperate attempt to not starve to death. Speaking more academically, populations tend to increase until they hit the carrying capacity of the environment (I don’t mean this in the green sense). So there will always be a struggle for resources. The only exception that I’m aware of was directly after the plagues that swept through Europe. The drastic reduction in population allowed many to acquire land and other resources they otherwise could not have. Even in that case , my understanding is that the sudden per capita “abundance” of resources did not result in excessive prosperity.
I think the media over the past 50 years has given people a false impression of what is average. Watch HGTV and see what people making a very modest income say they “can’t” live with (Formica counters or old carpet, for example). Life has always involved a struggle for the best stuff (jobs, houses, mates,etc). I think people have just forgotten that.[/quote]
I actually agree with everything you’ve said above, NJ. What you mentioned about the media giving a false impression of what is “average” is at the core of what I meant about young people being forced to play a different game today.
IMO, the media, peer pressure, and familial reinforcement about what one is “entitled” to in life, are creating masses of delusional young people.
That’s not to say many will not succeed, and do extremely well–but more will not. They will simply be left behind wondering–“why didn’t I get what I wanted?”–not realizing they have simply been duped by false promises.
