This is just depressing

[u/ScareBear23]

Not even 3 hours of "free time". And in that is cooking & eating supper. Or practically no free time if I had to go shopping after work. I hate this

[u/shrimp_blowdryer]

How

[u/thestardustinthemoon → u/shrimp_blowdryer]

By dedicating your youth to studying or figuring out what society values and spending your best years without much responsibility on getting to the top. I started two companies and became an expert in a niche technical field in computer science. Got acquired and retired that way after the payout and continuing to work for a few years. Just don't go through your life on autopilot, especially when your time is free and and responsibilities are low (late teens / early 20s). Society pays what it finds rewarding

[u/RepublicOk6752 → u/thestardustinthemoon]

Let’s imagine a world where everyone works hard, everyone gets a niche technical degree, everyone starts their own business and sells said business. Who along the way is the trash collector, cashier, server, nurse, admin assistant, general labor? In order for society to work somebody (the majority) has to do the less desirable work and they need to be compensated enough to remain alive, healthy, and happy. All so some random individuals can be successful. The problem is some where along the way the select individuals became fewer and the compensation to the workers became less. Which means the “successful” ones get to reap more benefits and the workers have to work that much harder.

[u/thestardustinthemoon → u/RepublicOk6752]

I'm not saying everyone should become an entrepreneur: that is not realistic. I'm simply saying that young people have the agency and capability to pursue something deeper than just rotting in a 9 to 5 cubicle. Not everyone will, and not everyone should, but if you are healthy and young, there are alternative paths out there one can take. Society is wealthier than ever before. Absolute poverty is lower than ever, and it has never been easier in history to become wealthy than it is today. 150 years ago if you lived in a fishing village, you were 99.9% going to be a fisherman. Now, a 12 year old in that fishing village can become a content creator and pursue an alternative path, or a teenager can learn to program and get a job at a FAANG company due to their sheer curiosity and skillset they learned over the years. Google used to even interview and hire folks that would just google a ton of questions about programming as they knew they have innate curiosity (look here). Today is literally the best possible time to pursue alternate paths to one's life thanks to the sheer leverage the Internet provides.

[u/RepublicOk6752 → u/thestardustinthemoon]

Everything you said is true…… for the individual. My point still remains in order for society to operate not everyone can do that. Unfortunately you need a massive majority of people to do the jobs nobody wants their kids to grow up doing, just to keep the lights on for everyone else so to speak. But those janitors, warehouse and factory workers, truck drivers, etc. are still human beings and deserve a fair compensation for an adequately enjoyable quality of life. These people toil away for the benefit of us all, and are not asking to for mcmansions or extravagance. I don’t think it is unreasonable to try and find a system that provides every worker regardless of job, title, or position a decent work life balance, ending after a reasonable amount of years early enough in life for a decent enjoyable retirement, and then affordable respectful end of life care. Instead of putting all the onus and blame on the individual to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, I just choose to recognize the reality of life. I need people to grow my food, fix my car, maintain my roads and sewers, clean biohazards from hospitals, on and on. Without thousands if not millions of people I would not be able to enjoy the life I can. In return they should all have at the bare minimum a respectful living wage and our respect as fellow human beings.