Young Men Are Playing Video Games Instead of Getting Jobs

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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This is a fairly long read, and the first half of it is relegated to describing the repetitive and seemingly meaningless gameplay in Mass Effect: Andromeda, however once you are past that, it gets into some very interesting discussion about young low-skilled men in society. The gist is that a bunch of twenty-something guys are wasting their 20s sitting around playing video games and that when they get into their 30s and 40s, it will have substantially effed up their lives. The article however goes much much deeper than that and touches on a lot of political and social elements that surround this phenomenon, and they do tie it all back into "real" gaming. And just a reminder, if you want to be violently forced out of gaming...again...Daikatana is on sale.

Eventually I quit playing. I already have a job, and though I enjoy it quite a bit, I didn't feel as if I needed another one.

But what about those who aren't employed? It's easy to imagine a game like Andromeda taking the place of work.

The economy has rebounded since the great recession, and national unemployment now sits below 5 percent. But that figure only counts people who are actively seeking work. Even as the unemployment rate has dropped, labor force participation—the number of people who either work or want to work—has dwindled. In particular, young men without college degrees have become increasingly detached from the labor market. And what they appear to be doing instead is playing video games.

In 2000, just 35 percent of lower-skilled young men lived with family. Now a slight majority of lower-skilled young men reside with their parents, whether they're employed or not. For those who lack employment, the figure is 70 percent. The vast majority of low-skilled young men-roughly 90 percent-have not built families. "If you're not working, as a man in your 20s with less than a bachelor's degree, you're pretty much single and childless," Hurst said last year on the podcast EconTalk.

Yet this group reports far higher levels of overall happiness than low-skilled young men from the turn of the 21st century. In contrast, self-reported happiness for older workers without college degrees fell during the same period. For low-skilled young women and men with college degrees, it stayed basically the same. A significant part of the difference comes down to what Hurst has called "innovations in leisure computer activities for young men."
 
Not sure if Reason.com is the best source of accurate information. I particularly like their banging the drum for everyone to support the TPP.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but he's noticing there are less men without degrees in the workforce their 20s now. He's also noticing there are more videogames now. Therefore, young men are playing videogames instead of working as a national trend? Especially since the average gamer is around 35? I may have missed something, but this sounds like pure correlation. Otherwise ice cream causes drownings.
 
Not sure if Reason.com is the best source of accurate information.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but he's noticing there are less men without degrees in the workforce their 20s now. He's also noticing there are more videogames now. Therefore, young men are playing videogames instead of working as a national trend? Especially since the average gamer is around 35?

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.
 
Just the other day I heard the theory that millennials eat out too much, then I heard the theory that millennials aren't eating out enough causing restaurants to fail. This whole "lets blame the millennials for x" thing is ridiculous.
 
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.
Exactly. The thing is without data, it's hard to conclude much. The reality could be 3% of the demographic, which barely even matters, or it could be 50%, which is a nightmare, but the topic is framed in these types of articles so everyone's going to discuss it like it's 95% of them.
 
Not sure if Reason.com is the best source of accurate information. I particularly like their banging the drum for everyone to support the TPP.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but he's noticing there are less men without degrees in the workforce their 20s now. He's also noticing there are more videogames now. Therefore, young men are playing videogames instead of working as a national trend? Especially since the average gamer is around 35? I may have missed something, but this sounds like pure correlation. Otherwise ice cream causes drownings.
He's probably also going to make the correlation between pirates and global warming.
 
Looking at the author's bio, he looks like another coastal elite who thinks very highly of himself.
Exactly. The thing is without data, it's hard to conclude much. The reality could be 3% of the demographic, which barely even matters, or it could be 50%, which is a nightmare, but the topic is framed in these types of articles so everyone's going to discuss it like it's 95% of them.
This isn't a study, it's bloviation. A word soup published to try and justify this guy's writing degree, I'll bet.
 
One of the people I managed at my job quit to play competitive video games. He was a good programmer and has a computer science degree. We were all confused by his move. He isn't ranked high on the game he plays, doesn't have any Twitch/YouTube presence, etc. I've also heard he was only mediocre at the game (but can't confirm). My thinking was why not practice get better after work so you still get an income? He told me he had saved up enough money to go for it. Who am I to judge? If it doesn't work out, he does have programming experience and could get another job (which he also told me he didn't want).
Hell, he could have gone to another company in my area and likely got a 20-30% raise without even trying. In general, we are not very competitive on salaries where I work. I can confirm :)
 
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.
 
Parents should kick them out of the house.
Ha. I don't like to admit it, but I can get complacent and if there isn't a motivating force for me to achieve I will rest on my laurels. So yea if you aren't a self starter you will need a kick in the pants to get moving.
 
:yuck: Kyle mentioned Daikatana [again]. There have been more Daikatana mentions this week or so than about ever. :arghh:
Again, suck it down...

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I've got a friend who fits this to a T....

Lives in his dad's trailer, holds random odd-jobs long enough to buy a new XBox or whatever, then quits when it gets mildly difficult and spends a year playing Fallout.

I don't think this is anything new, addiction is addiction, and if you're a dude in your 30s with no education, no skillset, no real work experience you either crawl into a bottle, needle, or sometimes a controller. Sometimes a combination of those.

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.
 
Not sure if Reason.com is the best source of accurate information. I particularly like their banging the drum for everyone to support the TPP.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but he's noticing there are less men without degrees in the workforce their 20s now. He's also noticing there are more videogames now. Therefore, young men are playing videogames instead of working as a national trend? Especially since the average gamer is around 35? I may have missed something, but this sounds like pure correlation. Otherwise ice cream causes drownings.

I dont see why Reason.com supporting the TPP makes whatever they are saying here any less viable.
 
"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.

Also, I propose a follow-up article :


"Young Men Are Playing Video Games Instead of Getting Laid"

I can play video games and get laid...clearly they arent doing it right ;).
 
I think the reason behind the OP was not to provide real scientific evidence but to just give some amusing lunch reading and a way to throw another diakatana plug out there. :)
 
"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 ;).
Based on your join date, Id say you are on your way to an old man. The article is about youngsters :D
 
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.
 
"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.
Who said it was an indicator of success? It is more a propagation of the human race question IMO.
 
Once I got a real job making real money, I didn't have time for gaming. Now that I have a family on top of those things, I have zero time for games and only time for taking care of business or making money.
 
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.

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.

If your friend is terrified of doing "adult shit" then his parents are epic failures.
 
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.

If your friend is terrified of doing "adult shit" then his parents are epic failures.

Oh, I don't disagree.

I just mean, 50 years ago you could be weirdo loaner who'd go town to town helping dig fence post holes and painting sheds and crap. There aren't a lot of random menial jobs like there use to be for losers. He's a friend of mine, but a total loser in that regard, not discounting that :)
 
Do these guys not have any testosterone? At that age, my hormones would never had allowed me to do nothing but sit home and play games. I thought about sex all the time, and spent most of my free time in pursuit of it.
 
Just the other day I heard the theory that millennials eat out too much, then I heard the theory that millennials aren't eating out enough causing restaurants to fail. This whole "lets blame the millennials for x" thing is ridiculous.

Even more so because the definition of "millennial" is so fluid that it seems to just mean "those damn kids". The point of grouping generations is that people who were born around the same time, had similar experiences, and thus often similar development. Ok so for the original definition of millennial, that would work. It was people born from 1982 (where the name comes form since that was the class of 2000) until about 1995. Fair enough. However lately I've seen it defined by some to be, not kidding here, from 1980 up till now. So someone could be as old as 37 or as young as a newborn, and still be a "millennial" according to that definition. That makes no sense. You would literally have parents in the same generation as their kinds (in families, a generation is offspring) and the experiences of an 80s kid is going to be WAY different than the experience of a kid now.

It really does seem to have just become a go-to whine meaning "those damn kids for my own personal definition of kid are ruining everything!"
 
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.

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.
 
Once I got a real job making real money, I didn't have time for gaming. Now that I have a family on top of those things, I have zero time for games and only time for taking care of business or making money.
I hear you! I work my day job, then go home and am family guy. I still find some time to play games, but it's probably closer in the 4-6 hours a week range.
 
I hear you! I work my day job, then go home and am family guy. I still find some time to play games, but it's probably closer in the 4-6 hours a week range.

+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.
 
Nothing beats the amount of time some millennials spend on SnapChat and Instagram narcissistically taking selfies of themselves and applying every known filter to make themselves look better.
 
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