16 minutes ago, charliearon said:

If I were to give advice to someone starting out in today's workforce:

4.  Spend A LOT less time on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, texting ...

5.  Get a direction in life and do it quickly ... time is NOT on your side

6.  Say "thanks folks, but I need to do this for myself"

7.  In the US you don't need an education to be successful, but you do need face to face social interaction, motivation, critical thinking, hard work (unless you are born into wealth)

8.  Success is NOT measured by income/$$$, but by passion and whatever reward that passion brings

2 hours ago, SayAgain said:

For example the US ranks 36th globally in education spending as a percent of GDP.

Repeating this ... I don't think many realize just how bad a job the US is doing in educating it's populous.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_spending_on_education_as_percentage_of_GDP

Feel free to validate the cross references, all listed.

Don't need to be super smart, but do need to taught on Critical Thinking.  

24 minutes ago, SayAgain said:

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_spending_on_education_as_percentage_of_GDP

Feel free to validate the cross references, all listed.

Wow, you're right! I'd forgotten about that huge percentage of the world's CEO's who come from Cuba, Kiribati and the Marshall Islands🫡.

4 hours ago, DD_Arthur said:

huge percentage of the world's CEO's

That’s your metric?  Yikes!  But what exactly is the “huge percentage” … data?

8 hours ago, SayAgain said:

I don't know your location 

 

12 hours ago, Reader said:

Over here in the UK

 

9 hours ago, SayAgain said:

Friends and co-workers, probably about 200 or so ..

 

😁 So 200 freinds and coworkers one day said to you "my kids are lazy"

Sorry for being sceptical about that claim.

 

 

9 hours ago, LHookins said:

When you get to an age where you can't do everything for yourself, one option is to move in with one of your adult children.  They might be more or less welcoming depending on how you treated them as children and when they turned 18.  Because sometimes, what goes around, comes around.

 

Precisely! Kick em out when they are kids and you might find the door firmly closed when you yourself need help.

My daughter and me live together. Not because I'm decrepid but due to various life circumstances. 

Such nonsense been spoken here, in my opinion, generalising that the majority of modern young people are just lazy. When in reality research suggests the oposite.

Social media might well be contributing to various mental health issues, but they aren't all sitting in their mums basement playing computer games, like that episode from South Park, and yelling for mum to bring them the potty to poo in.

 

https://medium.com/@yongenewong/are-young-people-truly-lazy-fab5e424c42e

 

"Many studies can be pointed to to show that younger generations are actually, in reality, working more, studying more, spending more time in school, and having less free time to themselves. This is further emphasized by related studies showing significant evidence of Gen Z being more empathetic towards others compared to previous generations, and also showing more self-control and being"

Edited July 26, 2025Jul 26 by martin-w

19 hours ago, martin-w said:

Social media, he claims.

Does it look like he's wearing a hat?  Well, what do I know.  My fashion sense was molded by 7 years in the Army and "Dress for Success".

I suspect he believes everything he's saying, but there's just something a few degrees off course.  I'll listen to him, but I won't take him as gospel.

Keep in mind he's promoting his book.  That... is an advertisement to sell you something.

Hook

20 hours ago, SayAgain said:

I know people age 51+ still living with "mom".

Considering "mom" is in her 70s, this is probably a good arrangement for  her.

20 hours ago, SayAgain said:

Just the other day I was at a retail outlet and grown adults are walking around with "comfort teddy bears" (not just one or two adults, several).

Who were they buying them for? 😄

20 hours ago, SayAgain said:

The endless AI generated videos that I have to keep telling my mother-in-law and/or other friends they're fake and how to spot them as such

I watched a video the other day.  It looked completely real except the person was less animated than normal and was slightly suspicious.  When a word was mispronounced, I knew the sound and video were totally AI generated and skipped the rest.  The information may have been AI generated as well.

17 hours ago, SayAgain said:

One candidate I asked why she had 25 one month jobs of her resume (programming jobs) … her response was “tasks were completed” … she couldn’t even tell me what version of .NET she worked with …yeah right.

That's more or less what I did.  I did a lot of contract work, never as short as "one month", and gladly moved on when they were completed.  I worked with .NET once, and I couldn't tell you what version it was given it was some decades ago.  I avoided Microsoft stuff.  I did stuff like device drivers in assembly language and C/C++ in Unix.  I implemented 401(k) processing in a payroll system (BASIC Four) for a medium sized company with employees in five states, each with different laws, and maintained the system.  I enhanced a CAD/CAM system in OS/2.  I even worked for a game company with their Unix billing software.  Many of these jobs were multi-year.  Some were just a few months, with specified end dates.

No offense, but I suspect if you'd interviewed me, I would have turned down the job.  I did this more than once.

Hook

Edited July 26, 2025Jul 26 by LHookins

11 hours ago, SayAgain said:

one new hire that demanded another employee vacate a shared office so they could take a nap.

I had an office mate put her head down on her desk and take a nap.  I figured she needed it, and was going to wake her up after 20 minutes.  The boss even looked in to check on us, but didn't say anything.  She woke up on her own at the 20 minute mark.  No need to vacate the office. 🙂 

Hook

 

7 hours ago, martin-w said:

Precisely! Kick em out when they are kids and you might find the door firmly closed when you yourself need help.

I think you're exaggerating a bit here.  No one said to "kick them out".  However, if you want to raise a generation of independent, mature people then they have to be nudged into the real world when they're in their early 20s at the latest I would say.

I don't know much about Gen Z, but my comments are related primarily to the so-called Millennials, many of whom are indeed spoiled and entitled and made this way by their primarily Baby Boomer parents.  My parents were from the generation just before the Boomers, born during WW2, not after, and they are different in general from those born in the early to mid 1950s.

Your particular situation is a bit different in that you live in the Channel Islands, which is a very expensive place to live considering that the main economic activity there is banking and finance due to the tax haven status, therefore lots of wealthy folks.  This makes it understandable that a young person there would have difficulty getting out on their own what with extremely high rents and real estate costs, kind of like London or NYC.  A lot of places aren't so expensive like that.

Dave

Edited July 26, 2025Jul 26 by dave2013

7 hours ago, martin-w said:

Such nonsense been spoken here, in my opinion, generalising that the majority of modern young people are just lazy

The laziness isn’t limited to young people.  I see it daily everywhere I go.  The video you posted and your references are generalized, so not really sure what your point is?  You don’t think people are lazy?

5 hours ago, LHookins said:

I figured she needed it, and was going to wake her up after 20 minutes

My current company HR policy, that would be grounds for immediate dismissal.

No I wouldn’t hire you and agree you wouldn’t want to work for my company and/or me.

Like I said I interview candidates, when they put down they have 5 years SQL experience but can’t tell me what third normal form is, they lied … really basic questions.  If one is going to put down a technology reference on their resume they need to put in the time to at least learn the basics … so yes lazy again.

I got many of these, 8 Billion, no, but no research data ever includes massive sample set as proof in the video.  You generalize trends, this is common, done with auto insurance, health insurance, home loans, etc.

 

33 minutes ago, SayAgain said:

My current company HR policy, that would be grounds for immediate dismissal.

Hell, no wonder young people don't want to work.

It's not like we had time clocks and needed to clock out for breaks.  I know from personal experience that she was more productive after her power nap.  It's not like we were working on an assembly line.  In that particular company things were pretty flexible.  But if I never see another IBM Series 1 it'll be too soon.

You know, we really are "from different planets."  Although we use most of the same words, we speak different languages.  Our interpretations of reality are different.  Although we can both be successful, we wouldn't be successful together.  I've worked with a few such people.  It's not pleasant for either of us.

Hook

1 hour ago, SayAgain said:

when they put down they have 5 years SQL experience but can’t tell me what third normal form is, they lied

It means they had 5 years experience writing queries, but never designed a relational database.  I never used SQL.  I did study relational database theory though.

Hook

6 hours ago, dave2013 said:

think you're exaggerating a bit here.  No one said to "kick them out". 

 

I obviously didn't mean littearly kick them out, it was a figure of speech. Meant in the same context that I was responding to.

My kids have never been "nudged" into the real world, and yet they are fine human beings, better than me in many ways. A sample size of two, of course, but I suspect many parents would have the same experience. I think this kids are lazy and need "nudging" claim is just an invented notion, to be honest without much to back it up. Sure, some young people will be like that, but in my experience the majority  are perfectly willing to leave home but can't. 

 

 

6 hours ago, dave2013 said:

don't know much about Gen Z, but my comments are related primarily to the so-called Millennials, many of whom are indeed spoiled and entitled and made this way by their primarily Baby Boomer parents. 

 

Im a so called "baby boomer". And I have not, and I know of only a minority of parents that have, generated spoild entitled kids. It happens, but I see no evidence its happening more due to baby boomer parents. These are just invented notions, I would say. But if any research proves this is the case, fair enough.

This "millenials are lazy" and spoiled thing is just a trendy claim to make these days, I would say. Its just "what people say."

It might be worth considering that laziness is a subjective term. 

 

6 hours ago, dave2013 said:

Your particular situation is a bit different in that you live in the Channel Islands, which is a very expensive place to live considering that the main economic activity there is banking and finance due to the tax haven status, therefore lots of wealthy folks. 

 

There are wealthy people here but 25% of households are low income after housing costs. Housing is expensive here due to limited land supply, high building costs and high demand because its a picturesque island with a low crime rate. 

My comments also applied to the UK, as well as here. Youngsters in the UK have extreme difficulty buying and renting, too. Average rent for a mediocre two bed house in England in very close to Jersey, at £1400. Average house purchase is cheaper, at 300,000... but 300,000 is still a huge debt for a youngsters, necessitating a very big mortgage. 

 

 

Edited July 26, 2025Jul 26 by martin-w

6 hours ago, SayAgain said:

You don’t think people are lazy?

 

Of course "some are" but at 67, in my experience, I see no increase in laziness. All I see in this thread is speculation and invented notions. No facts to back up this claim.