How would YOU feel if you were 25 right now?

seadoug

seadoug

Well-known Member
Location
Texas
So, how would you feel about life if you were 25 today?
  • I bought my first house when I was 28 y/o. Granted, it was with a 14% variable rate mortgage but the house was affordable enough that I could handle it.
  • If I wanted to date someone I met them at work or in a social situation.
  • Reagan was President so we were pretty much beyond the scandal-ridden Tricky Dick years. Politics were relatively straightforward and civilized. College tuition was affordable.
  • If Walter Cronkite was on TV I trusted him. There was no "fake news", at least that I was aware of.
  • There was no internet so I was not looking at other people's lives and feeling I was missing out. Nor was I bombarded with fake information.
Gen Z's today are living through a whole different set of circumstances.
  • They can't afford homes.
  • They are meeting people online with the "80/20" rule (80% women go for 20% of men).
  • They have only seen division, discourse and inaction in politics since they became adults.
  • College tuition has gone through the roof.
  • Many feel depressed because they are fed algorithms with "influencers" who pretend to have perfect lives.
  • All of their news comes from the internet, and specifically from places like Tik-Tok.
I'm seeing that many are apathetic to government because they feel it isn't doing anything for them. This includes both parties.

Also, in most cases this group doesn't desire to get their hands dirty. This says it all:

Approximately 57% of Gen Z individuals aspire to become social media influencers. A 2023 Morning Consult survey revealed that this percentage remains consistent with previous years, indicating a sustained interest in influencer careers among young adults. This figure highlights the growing appeal of influencer culture and the perceived opportunities it offers for career and financial success.

Just wondering how this will all turn out when they are the adults running the country. (Maybe they will be more adult than those running the country now?) Maybe they will make some positive changes? Maybe not? Thoughts?
 

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I agree with many of the points you've made. I think I would feel sad, confused and unsure going by everything that's happening in the country right now, schools and workplaces are no longer secure safe places to be every day.

I think constant involvement on social media for financial, romantic or entertainment reasons is destroying our society and depressing many of our young people. Some log off feeling empty, suicidal in a bad state of mind, and they feel very alone.

When they are adults they might be more mature and make better choices that will benefit others, but that's a tall order to fill in this particular day and age.

All I can say is my heart goes out to them, it shouldn't be so hard for them to buy a home, a car, and get a paycheck that they can live on, pay their bills, save for their future and enjoy some luxuries and vacations. They should be much happier and enjoying that time in their lives. I wish them well. ☮️
 
Aunt Bea said:
Turn off the news!

All any of us need to do is run our own race.

There are millions of young folks out there figuring things out just like we did, just like every generation before us did.
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Agreed, but I didn't have to figure things out when I was 25. I had already graduated from college and was well into a career that ultimately lasted for over 40 years.

Yours are some of the most intelligent posts in this forum, but I'm going to revert back to my original post. How long is it going to take for them to figure things out? Are they going to change the world and politics as we know it? Is it going to take years of feeling like they have been forgotten before they make a difference? I know none of us really knows the answer but this is all about looking toward the future.
 
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I think the first words to come out would be swear words or some crudity in incredulity of what a mess things had seemed to slide into from my original passby and I would be asking myself is staying around gonna be worth it??
 
seadoug said:
So, how would you feel about life if you were 25 today?
  • I bought my first house when I was 28 y/o. Granted, it was with a 14% variable rate mortgage but the house was affordable enough that I could handle it.
  • If I wanted to date someone I met them at work or in a social situation.
  • Reagan was President so we were pretty much beyond the scandal-ridden Tricky Dick years. Politics were relatively straightforward and civilized. College tuition was affordable.
  • If Walter Cronkite was on TV I trusted him. There was no "fake news", at least that I was aware of.
  • There was no internet so I was not looking at other people's lives and feeling I was missing out. Nor was I bombarded with fake information.
Gen Z's today are living through a whole different set of circumstances.
  • They can't afford homes.
  • They are meeting people online with the "80/20" rule (80% women go for 20% of men).
  • They have only seen division, discourse and inaction in politics since they became adults.
  • College tuition has gone through the roof.
  • Many feel depressed because they are fed algorithms with "influencers" who pretend to have perfect lives.
  • All of their news comes from the internet, and specifically from places like Tik-Tok.
I'm seeing that many are apathetic to government because they feel it isn't doing anything for them. This includes both parties.

Also, in most cases this group doesn't desire to get their hands dirty. This says it all:

Approximately 57% of Gen Z individuals aspire to become social media influencers. A 2023 Morning Consult survey revealed that this percentage remains consistent with previous years, indicating a sustained interest in influencer careers among young adults. This figure highlights the growing appeal of influencer culture and the perceived opportunities it offers for career and financial success.

Just wondering how this will all turn out when they are the adults running the country. (Maybe they will be more adult than those running the country now?) Maybe they will make some positive changes? Maybe not? Thoughts?
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I have little confidence that Gen Z will be more adult. But confidence is high that they will not reach our age. I hope they do, since my plan is 50 more years whilst I enter my 2nd puberty LOL. I recommend sunshine, fresh air, brisk walking, and some time in nature. Grow your own and DIY if you can. May the force be with you...
 
seadoug said:
So, how would you feel about life if you were 25 today?
  • I bought my first house when I was 28 y/o. Granted, it was with a 14% variable rate mortgage but the house was affordable enough that I could handle it.
  • If I wanted to date someone I met them at work or in a social situation.
  • Reagan was President so we were pretty much beyond the scandal-ridden Tricky Dick years. Politics were relatively straightforward and civilized. College tuition was affordable.
  • If Walter Cronkite was on TV I trusted him. There was no "fake news", at least that I was aware of.
  • There was no internet so I was not looking at other people's lives and feeling I was missing out. Nor was I bombarded with fake information.
Gen Z's today are living through a whole different set of circumstances.
  • They can't afford homes.
  • They are meeting people online with the "80/20" rule (80% women go for 20% of men).
  • They have only seen division, discourse and inaction in politics since they became adults.
  • College tuition has gone through the roof.
  • Many feel depressed because they are fed algorithms with "influencers" who pretend to have perfect lives.
  • All of their news comes from the internet, and specifically from places like Tik-Tok.
I'm seeing that many are apathetic to government because they feel it isn't doing anything for them. This includes both parties.

Also, in most cases this group doesn't desire to get their hands dirty. This says it all:

Approximately 57% of Gen Z individuals aspire to become social media influencers. A 2023 Morning Consult survey revealed that this percentage remains consistent with previous years, indicating a sustained interest in influencer careers among young adults. This figure highlights the growing appeal of influencer culture and the perceived opportunities it offers for career and financial success.

Just wondering how this will all turn out when they are the adults running the country. (Maybe they will be more adult than those running the country now?) Maybe they will make some positive changes? Maybe not? Thoughts?
Click to expand...
I think I would feel much the same as I did when I was 25; the world changes and, for every generation, there are advantages and disadvantages.

Personally, I don't think it is fair or useful to blame a previous generation for the hardships a subsequent generation faces because every generation is of its time, we all face different problems and disappointments and, hopefully, we learn from them and hope that the next generation will benefit from our mistakes and experiences.

Of course homes were cheaper back in the day but, so were salaries and so were expectations. Let's not forget that the parents who became house owners are the same folk who have (or will) leave an inheritance to their offspring which the average family of our generation never had.

Yes, education was cheaper but that didn't mean that young people could or did take advantage of it, a lot of families lived on the breadline and, at 17-18 years old, a child would already be working and contributing to the family income.

Isn't the 80-20 thing something pushed by the likes of Andrew Tate who has made a fortune by inciting hate against women? Quite frankly, any man who gives those views credence is, in my opinion, not someone anyone would want to meet. Apparently there are "femcels" too and, my views would equally apply to them.

Would I want to be 25 now? Absolutely. Women today have more choices in life and career.
 
Generation Z is generally defined as those born between 1997 and 2012. This makes them between 13 and 28 years old in 2025….

so a lot of them are not dealing with buying houses and cars.
 
hearlady said:
I'd have to agree with this. How could I believe anything else without despair?
Good thread @seadoug !
I'll be thinking about it today.
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I agree with your post. Sadly, you can't believe anything else though without despair. Things are very much different than they were when we were young, and not for the better. I can't believe at my age I'd be witnessing such a decline in our country, it is becoming unrecognizable. It's always good to stay positive and remain hopeful for the present and future generations, doing otherwise will bring certain despair.

 
I think some are looking back at the 1980s too affectionally, like there were no scandals in the Reagan Admin. Well, there was Iran Contra, the HUD grant rigging,, the lobbying scandals, EPA scandals, Operation Ill Wind, Wedtech and "Debate Gate". Plus in the early 1980s, there was a major worldwide recession. Things were not as rosy as we fondly remember them, like the Miami Race Riot of 1980.
We are the same human beings that were born in the 60s as those born today. I do remember the WWII crowd saying the my generation were all "hippies", and drug addicted lay abouts and the world was going to go to hell when they passed away. Sound familiar?
 
I think if I was 25 today I would feel the same as I felt when I was 25, hungry for living.

At 25 I was living life very aggressively, already purchased a house I was remodeling, had a great circle of friends, working a full time job and a part time job, playing rugby and chasing women.

I see no reason why I would live differently now, sure things have changed but if you're resourceful you figure it out.
 
There are a lot of questions in the OP that require speculation, just one of which concerns the price of homes. The upward spiral has to change or the day will come when no one can afford one.

I can't point to any past time in my life when all was ideal, but the best years of my life personally were between the ages of 45 and 50.

I don't believe in going back, even if I could.
 
At 25 we were on top of the world, just moved to DC, had great jobs, lived the life. Did anyone hold our hands, coddle us? Every generation grows up but not the way ours did.

Do it again? Not if I know what I do now.
 
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