Remember the days, when as soon as we got our first job, the entire building /colony would celebrate, distribute sweets and wish us success? A milestone achieved, a journey begun, life set hai ab feeling in the air!
We now have a small group of people who think about work/career differently. They are defying the idea of career as the biggest definition of success in life and calling it quits. They post on social media about their decision to quit or opt out of careers, thousands of followers like it, actually applaud their courage and encourage them. Without hope, extremely pessimistic about future, these youth largely from East Asia & America are embracing the philosophy of “lying flat” and doing nothing.
Though the percentage is very low, the trend is alarming, according to research 2.3% of Americans under 45 are planning on leaving the labour force, compared to just 0.9% of Americans over 45. Frustrated with the pressure of ‘work hard to make a career’ clubbed with a pessimistic belief that there is no point in planning a future-oriented life where the resources are getting depleted, they feel the future will be about taking care of elderly population rather than themselves. So, they claim they are burnt out and quit jobs…and do nothing.
A bunch of people from this generation have given up on the ideas of dating, marriage, having kids or owning a home.
A few successful people are also feeling pessimistic about future. They associate optimism with pain as their logical minds have lost trust in the world as it functions now. Their narrative about resources being depleted, the world not being sustainable anymore and eventually all this will collapse, baffled me.
Another trend that raised an eyebrow is that the new generation is making fewer friends. Either they are creating content for social media and have lakhs of followers but less friends or they are completely off social media and spend more time with their cats and dogs or video games, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Growing up, most of us built friendships for different reasons; to find a social circle, to build a network, to find a mate, to find someone to spend time with. With some in this generation giving up on the ideas of dating, marriage, having kids and owing homes, the social fabric of communities looks ready for disruption or may just evolve to another form.
How did we come to this, I wonder? A digital Revolution that makes us feel we are free, whereas we are in reality being controlled and conditioned by the dopamine delivered to us while we lie flat on our couches! Spiritual Opium; yep that is what it is being called. As a religion agnostic person (perceived as atheist), I have always had the theory that, it is important to believe in the presence of an unknown force. It helps in our quest to know more about this force, which in turn propels innovations and positive manifestations that we won’t be doomed, we are here to thrive. Ours resources may deplete, but maybe as a race we will shift to another planet. Too many star trek movies I guess have conditioned me, but the point is, the belief holds us to a large cause beyond self.
Call me hopeful, but I don’t think the trend will last. A dark truth, but the bright side of capitalism is that most of us can shun everything except our materialism. Ask most of the new gens, if they are willing to be without a high-end mobile, a gaming device or would they be ok not travelling the world nomadically and you will know why I am hopeful, Freedom comes at a cost, and you have to earn to pay for freedom. Sounds dark, but is an undeniable fact!
When they say "I will not marry, buy a house or have children, I will not buy a bag or wear a watch, I will slack off work”, I think they are lying, they are lying flat on our face. Just like how we lied flat on their face that the only way to live life is to have a secure job, marry, have children, buy a house…. Whatever the chronology.
None of the two is an absolute truth. The world always meets evolution halfway through the journey.
Those in the 40-50 age group are getting there; to the middle I mean. Showing that 40s is the new 20s, slowly 50s will be the new 20s. They are breaking away from the 996-work culture (9 am to 9pm, 6 days a week). Leading the way in harmonized living and working instead of slogging it over, a cue for the lying flatters that they can have it both ways! Ever heard a multinational corporation telling its employees to not work? Nike and many start-ups have shut their stores/offices for a week – 10 days to help their staff reset and recharge. Picking on the trend, countries are proposing 30-hour weeks and four-day workweeks.
R & R & R (Reset & Recharge & Rediscover) is definitely better than lying flat, quitting jobs and doing nothing or so I think.
My guess is youngsters get exhausted at the prospect of working very hard for what looks like a ‘small reward ‘, because once they get an expensive iPhone or computer games funded by their parents, they realize the salary they earn is not enough to take care of their ‘needs’, they tend to get disappointed. May be these youngsters are just revolting coz they have to work hard to get a good life. Everyone wants a good life and that is what gives me hope. Many of the lie-flatters will probably return to work eventually; either coz they will run out of money or get bored!
The truth is that giving up on life and evolution of life is not that easy. So then chill, shall we?