Young Men Are Playing Video Games Instead of Getting Jobs

Without going TOO off the deepend of sociology and psychology here....

I'd be curious how much this may or may not be the impact of the "EVERYONE IS A WINNER" generation that we've started to raise?

I mean, is it possible we've (well, not me, YOU, I don't have kids) raised them to be so afraid of REAL failure that video games become the only place they can "work" and not be afraid of failing? Plus, video games have winners and losers. Nobody gets a participation prize for getting team wiped. Maybe too many kids grew up only getting HONEST winning/losing scenarios from video games because all they got in little league was a purple ribbon and a hug no matter how much they sucked.
 
I saw low skilled people and thought 14-15 years old that should be getting their first jobs, and saw they are talking about 20's. How are you low skilled in your fucking 20's? That is ONLY by choice and lack of motivation, by 20's I was in professional level work, and I don't mean as in training either. By my 20's I had done a number of jobs, with all sorts of experience, lots of it sucked balls and paid almost nothing, but it was skill building.
 
BlueFireIce said:
I saw low skilled people and thought 14-15 years old that should be getting their first jobs, and saw they are talking about 20's. How are you low skilled in your fucking 20's? That is ONLY by choice and lack of motivation, by 20's I was in professional level work, and I don't mean as in training either. By my 20's I had done a number of jobs, with all sorts of experience, lots of it sucked balls and paid almost nothing, but it was skill building.
Click to expand...

I'm low skilled but I've gotten really good at hiding that fact....perhaps that IS the skill I've learned.
 
nutzo said:
Once the parents have been enabling them for 25 years, it's hard to break the habit.

My parents had a rule. As long as we were going to college full time, we could live at home.
Once we were out of college and working, they charged us rent (just enough to cover food and utilities).

I didn't want to get stuck in the renting cycle, so I saved and moved out when I could afford to buy my own place at 23.

I played video games, but I also worked full time. Once I had a family, I didn't have as much time fro gaming, and most my gaming switch to playing kid friendly games.
Click to expand...

I had a similar situation. Parents had no issue with me living at home (in fact they preferred it because it was cheaper), BUT I had to be in school or working (and part-time for either didn't cut it, it was school full time OR work full time).

Nowadays I don't play games because they don't hold my interest like they used to. Today I prefer to read non-fiction (fiction also stopped holding my interest) or work on personal projects.
 
kju1 said:
"The vast majority of low-skilled young men-roughly 90 percent-have not built families."

Why is thi an indicator to success? Not everyone wants to get maried and have kids.



I can play video games and get laid...clearly they arent doing it right ;).
Click to expand...
Don't know. Having a family was never high on my list of priorities.
Cobra said:
I'm 35 years old and gaming is my primary hobby. I put in an average of 16 hours a week playing. I've also been employed full time for 13 years now and part time for 8 years before that. If I lost my job tomorrow, I'd play just as much games, and put the rest of the effort into getting another job. Being at home with no money to spend sucks, even if you have TV or video games. Maybe I'm an exception though.
Click to expand...
33 and I'm the same way. When I was unemployed I spent 4-6 hours every day looking for a job. Didn't stop me from playing video games after that shift.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Cobra
like this
If you screwed up that far in life then join the military. You get paid job training, lots of benefits, and you can still retire around 50 and have a paycheck for the rest of your life.

IMO if you're service-eligible and don't take advantage of it then you're making the choice to be in whatever situation you're in. "have to leave home" or "too fat" or "don't like being told what to do all the time" or "blah blah whine whine" don't care, you have a choice and need to live with your decisions. Most self-respecting adults have done a lot of shit they didn't want to do to get to where they are, so to see unmotivated assholes sitting around expecting the world to be handed to them is disappointing.

Life is hard, you've got to be hard too or it'll slice right through your soft snowflake body.
 
Armenius said:
When I was unemployed I spent 4-6 hours every day looking for a job. Didn't stop me from playing video games after that shift.
Click to expand...

See I think that's the hard part. I haven't been unemployed since I was 15....my old man was the same way, worked for almost 30 straight years at the same place since he was 18 and then they went out of business. He had no idea how to be unemployed or job search (and not like the "I already have a job but tossing out resumes to see what sticks" kind of job search).

I have to admit I'd be a little lost. I've moved between jobs but I've never had a stretch where I was DESPERATE to find a job. I think a lot of people just give up and say fuggit, I can make leather armor in Orzammar instead.
 
Pusher of Buttons said:
See I think that's the hard part. I haven't been unemployed since I was 15....my old man was the same way, worked for almost 30 straight years at the same place since he was 18 and then they went out of business. He had no idea how to be unemployed or job search (and not like the "I already have a job but tossing out resumes to see what sticks" kind of job search).

I have to admit I'd be a little lost. I've moved between jobs but I've never had a stretch where I was DESPERATE to find a job. I think a lot of people just give up and say fuggit, I can make leather armor in Orzammar instead.
Click to expand...

I can't really agree with this mentality though. I know a number of people that have given up looking for work, but honestly most of the time it's because they are too picky about the kind of job they want. And instead of putting in the time at a crappy job for awhile while looking for a better job, they would rather sit around being unemployed playing video games collecting "lazy ass" benefits than actually having to work for a living.
 
NoOther said:
I can't really agree with this mentality though. I know a number of people that have given up looking for work, but honestly most of the time it's because they are too picky about the kind of job they want. And instead of putting in the time at a crappy job for awhile while looking for a better job, they would rather sit around being unemployed playing video games collecting "lazy ass" benefits than actually having to work for a living.
Click to expand...

That's fair. I used to supervise group homes for disabled adults and it's amazing how people will bitch about not finding work but won't get spit on or peed on for $12 an hour.
 
Monkey God said:
I'm sorry but that's bullshit. Plenty of jobs in tech, as well as very lucrative blue-collar careers in contracting, electrical, etc.
People just need to get off their lazy asses.
Click to expand...
That's comparing apples to oranges a bit. Even though I think the author didn't do much in the way of research, he was directly comparing men with ONLY a high school education. Most tech and blue collar jobs are going to want more than that. There literally aren't as many jobs for unskilled labor as there used to be. As soon as you talk about jobs for men with a trade school education or higher, you're talking about a different demographic than what the author is.
 
dj_spanmaster said:
The writer's definitely mistaking correlation for causation. Still, Millennials have been called a "Lost Generation" by studies and reports from conservatives, moderates, and liberals of all sorts, and for various reasons. There may be an element of accuracy to some of their claim, but it's certainly not the whole story.
Click to expand...

exactly.
 
Right now - I know several of my friends' youngest siblings who are doing this very thing... Not by choice but because they can't even find basic retail jobs.

This is in Ontario, Canada - where our government has increased minimum wage to 14$ starting this January, and 15$ the following year.

My girlfriend's restaurant is forced to close - removing around 1k of weekly income from our household. And after 15 years of paying into EI as a line cook and sous chef- I'm going to find a job I know will fail, and milk EI as long as I can for destroying my industry. Oh, my position was terminated on the news as well.

Bah. Least we can legally smoke weed sometime soon. Makes all the daytime "sell your gold" commercials on DTV bearable.
 
tetris42 said:
That's comparing apples to oranges a bit. Even though I think the author didn't do much in the way of research, he was directly comparing men with ONLY a high school education. Most tech and blue collar jobs are going to want more than that. There literally aren't as many jobs for unskilled labor as there used to be. As soon as you talk about jobs for men with a trade school education or higher, you're talking about a different demographic than what the author is.
Click to expand...

Nope. lots trade jobs have an apprenticeship, for this very reason, lots if not most of those people in the fields have zero schooling, no less highschool, some get trade schooling but that tends to be down the line, many even are already licensed at that point as well. All you have to do is be willing to show up and bust ass, after getting the required hours on the job you are allowed to then take the testing for whatever field you are in. Lots of ways to get work and experience, seen it many times as well, even offering jobs to people I know who are in very bad spots without a job, they are still young as well and find out it doesn't pay what I am making, no shit, I have been doing this a long time and have the highest level certs, so they don't want to do it, because there is no instant pay off.

This is how I got started. Over my years seeing people in all the other trade fields it is amazing the number of people who will come in and have zero experience and ZERO motivation, it is like they expect to just sit at the job and do nothing until that 100k+ a year job just comes and falls in their lap. I have also seen people come in the same way, but with motivation, and bust ass, and in every single case in a year or two they have moved so far up the ladder.
 
Seems like a pretty logical premise. Raise the bar for entry level jobs, increase the level of sophistication and immersion in games, and you'll see more people playing them. The real rigor comes in quantifying just how many/how much of an effect it really has.
 
Well according to the latest research games are good for you! Above 25 hours a week gaming seems to be the cut-off point where the cons of gaming outweigh the benefits though. This is an area of active research. They're using games to help people with mental disorders like depression, anti-social behaviour disorders, autism etc. In fact, VR gaming with social interaction is being looked at as a way to implement cognitive behavioural therapy in a non-threatening environment.

After I read the research from 2014 to current I started playing games again (I stopped for more than twenty years, basically). FPS games are associated with beneficial effects like faster problem solving skills, better short-term memory, better spatial skills, conquering social anxieties, reduces procrastination and encourages the completion of tasks etc. I think it has helped me in my field where I have to think fast on my feet - or at least I feel that way. They're actually using games to hone surgeons' endoscopy skills. RPG games and MMORPGs help people build empathy and social skills compared to people who don't game.

So, unlike what people used to say before 2014 when there was a lack of hard data, gaming isn't a waste of time. Naturally, computer gaming can become an addiction like anything else. I don't think playing computer games makes someone unemployed. It probably helps him cope with a loss of self-esteem. My guess anyway.
 
I used to play World of Warcraft for.. well.. I spent my college days and then some. But I yearned for more. I yeared to get out. It was depressing not making anything for myself or even have money coming in to get all the fancy toys.

I did so through the military. Playing video games got depressing after a while. If you play games during the work days, you were essentially alone. Now, I suppose, that's not a problem with Twitch, and other streaming services around. But back then, it was more lonely than anything else.

Playing video games just doesn't really appeal to me as much as It did.
 
Take the blue pill young man. Accept a universal living income, live with your parents and immerse yourself into the matrix. Forget the red pill. It only leads to the harshness of reality with work, demanding shrews, children, and a dog eat dog world. Who would want to compete for prosperity, meaningful relationships, freedom and liberty when you can live in the matrix? Why have dreams and ambitions when the government will provide for you and you can play your way through the matrix? The blue pill will bring you peace and contentment while the red pill leads to revolution...
 
RogueTadhg said:
I used to play World of Warcraft for.. well.. I spent my college days and then some. But I yearned for more. I yeared to get out. It was depressing not making anything for myself or even have money coming in to get all the fancy toys.

I did so through the military. Playing video games got depressing after a while. If you play games during the work days, you were essentially alone. Now, I suppose, that's not a problem with Twitch, and other streaming services around. But back then, it was more lonely than anything else.

Playing video games just doesn't really appeal to me as much as It did.
Click to expand...

That's why I can't get into grinding MMORPGs.... they feel like a job to me. I'll play 20 hours of Fallout or whatever on a weekend, but I rarely fire up on work days. I think grinding games start taking over your life eventually. I remember buying Guild Wars 2 and a week in some guy had logged over 140 hours in game...That's Just stupid.
 
"..............I could steal my daddy's cue and make a living at playen pool"
 
scojer said:
This does not surprise me one bit. I've met a few people who "play games for a living" on twitch. They can't afford anything, and they beg for money from whoever they can. I straight up told them that I play games when I'm home from a hard day of work, and I don't give money to bums.

They then moved back into their parent's house...

That is another problem, the parents are enablers. They aren't kicking kids out at 18 anymore, and they let their kids live with them until they're well into their 30's.
Click to expand...

They can be. While on the one hand, most parents do want their kids out and living their lives. they want to know that they did a good job raising them, success is the sign they are looking and hoping for.

At the same time, if your kid was legitimately screwed and needed help, how many Mom's and Dad's wouldn't give everything to help?

So if kids start believing the game is rigged and their are no opportunities, and parents start believing it as well. You can see where this goes.
 
Pusher of Buttons said:
Without going TOO off the deepend of sociology and psychology here....

I'd be curious how much this may or may not be the impact of the "EVERYONE IS A WINNER" generation that we've started to raise?

I mean, is it possible we've (well, not me, YOU, I don't have kids) raised them to be so afraid of REAL failure that video games become the only place they can "work" and not be afraid of failing? Plus, video games have winners and losers. Nobody gets a participation prize for getting team wiped. Maybe too many kids grew up only getting HONEST winning/losing scenarios from video games because all they got in little league was a purple ribbon and a hug no matter how much they sucked.
Click to expand...

Honestly, I think it is a symptom of nostalgia. Constantly surrounding oneself with their youth and not evolving/growing. A steady diet of the same material. It's safe and non-challenging. It doesn't threaten the user with the unknown. There's no call to push oneself past their comfort zone. That then becomes a societal crutch as people bond over these "sameness" desires. Not that having interest should be vilified. But, when all your interests are broken down to "childhood fantasies" it becomes kinda scary. Then, you have these circles that form around what should be a hobby but starts projecting itself as wanting desperately to find vindication in their inability to seek growth. A hobby becomes life...and not a functional one. I've known people get so consumed in escape that they dropped out of college, not worked, and hid from even their own friends. Then, these same people cry about the cruelty of the world. Which, it is cruel...but you're not making it easier on yourself by trying to hide from it.

Hollywood seems content on repacking the past too. People idolize their childhood heroes to a fault as their only consumption is a product dressed as "empowerment." Someone try to make the comparison these are modern day Gods. I reject that. These are products. One can argue that an ideology is a product, and if that's the conversation, I'd agree. Still, being sold and coddled to be nothing but an overgrown child is not really a ideology. So, we might come to impasse.

Then, you have a current society who shuns intellectualism and prides itself on blaming the other. Raising false flags on constructs and truths. Emotions run high; logic and reason get tossed. It's a mess right now. I would hate to be a student asking questions and trying to make sense of the world right now.
 
ruffbytes said:
+1

I've also changed as well. I used to spend about 14-16 hours a day on the computer during the week in my 20s. Now in the 30s it is *extremely* hard for me to even play games on a weeknight. I would much rather be outside working on my various projects or just sitting on the porch reading a book.
Click to expand...

i used to play games competitively in the ami-pro leagues. I would easily spend 8 hours every day playing games on top of working 4-6 hours and going to school. These days I just don't have that kind of drive to play that much. I may end up playing for a few hours here and there on the weekend, but hard for me to be motivated during the week when I have other stuff to do.
 
NoOther said:
It takes 8-12 hours a day 5-6 days a week of practicing and training in a particular game to be able to really compete for the bigger prizes. I can confirm :).
Click to expand...
Fair enough. I respected his decision as he is an adult. I hope it works out for him - haven't heard from him since he left, so not sure how he is doing. (I don't feel it's my right to creep on a previous employee).
 
NoOther said:
I can't really agree with this mentality though. I know a number of people that have given up looking for work, but honestly most of the time it's because they are too picky about the kind of job they want. And instead of putting in the time at a crappy job for awhile while looking for a better job, they would rather sit around being unemployed playing video games collecting "lazy ass" benefits than actually having to work for a living.
Click to expand...

The company I worked for went bust early in the .com bubble.
Started looking for a job, but IT jobs where pretty scarce. Then 911 happened and nobody was hiring.

Finally took a help desk job a few months later. 40% pay cut and really didn't like the job, but at least it was a paycheck.
Took me years to get back into a real IT job and even get close to what I was making before.
 
kju1 said:
"The vast majority of low-skilled young men-roughly 90 percent-have not built families."

Why is this an indicator to success? Not everyone wants to get married and have kids.
Click to expand...

Yea, what's wrong with just having kids ? (y)(n):LOL:
 
steakman1971 said:
Fair enough. I respected his decision as he is an adult. I hope it works out for him - haven't heard from him since he left, so not sure how he is doing. (I don't feel it's my right to creep on a previous employee).
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was just commenting on what it takes to compete, not really on his choice. I had the same choice, and I decided to get an actual job instead of chasing that dream. But there wasn't nearly as much money in the sport then as there is now.

nutzo said:
The company I worked for went bust early in the .com bubble.
Started looking for a job, but IT jobs where pretty scarce. Then 911 happened and nobody was hiring.

Finally took a help desk job a few months later. 40% pay cut and really didn't like the job, but at least it was a paycheck.
Took me years to get back into a real IT job and even get close to what I was making before.
Click to expand...

I know the feeling, I was working short term contracts without paid benefits for awhile, then was encouraged by my parents to get a full-time paid benefits job. I took a paycut to work for a company full-time with great benefits because they said they only hired their network admin staff from within the company. Then spent the next 2 years watching the old boys club hire outside of the company for every network admin position they opened without interviewing any internal candidates... Took awhile to get my seniority back and find a good company after that. But once I did I quickly moved up the ranks, so can't complain too much right now.
 
College thing is due to more women getting preferred entry to, more women attend post secondary than men as well. How many of these guys are Caucasian? Most likely a victim of the SJW college educated hippies attending protesting against white male privileged while wearing mask and silencing free speech for anyone that oposes them while dawning their pro color segregation flags...aka rainbow flags that clearly show colors are to be separated.
 
Gweenz said:
I could say the same thing about people wasting their 20's playing golf. Nothing to see here.
Click to expand...
You go to hell, you go to hell and die. Golf is awesome, if you wanna pick on something baseball or basketball, dudes handling balls and wood shafts in the least conditioning required sport or tall lanky guys slapping each other and screaming bloody murder while bouncing a ball...I'm so ashamed of my country for inventing it.
 
everyone knows it is play video games or pay child support to one- two women. or both. since most will not want to merry if they can just get a check and go out every weekend for some strange with daddy getting the kid only on the weekends
 
Pusher of Buttons said:
I've got a friend who fits this to a T.................................The reality is there aren't good jobs for these people anymore. They can't go work in a factory and make any money, and they're too old and embarrassed to go work at McDonald's. In my friend's case he doesn't have a car or even a driver's license right now, to even get a real job he'd need those things, and he has no money to pay for it. And the idea of doing any of those things to become a real adult terrifies him.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, Bullshit !

First they need training, a Pell Grant will cover half the costs, a student loan the other half. For a trade skill the loan is a snap to get. Then pass your tests and pay your license and go to work. Some jobs you don't even need to get hired. Barber's just find a barber shop that has an open seat to rent and set up shop, others are similar.

My wife is a barber and she clears $60K a year easy and she's been at it since 1993.

My daughter was hooked on this boy and he was going nowhere. She made all these excuses for him, how he had to be home schooled etc cause he was so introverted and had anxiety problems dealing with people. But Mom and Dad weren't going to let her stay with him in peace until he stepped up and started making something work. And he did. And he got little jobs and they let to better jobs and the boy is doing great and his employers really think highly of him and even though he is off to a late start, he's rolling and his eyes are open and he realizes that he had it wrong.

The Koolaid is BAD
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top