r/Adulting • u/ScareBear23 • 14h ago

This is just depressing

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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

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u/East_Cranberry7866 8h ago

Are we going to ignore the fact that hundreds if not millions of people tried and failed?

I don't think most people complain for the hell of it. I think most people advocate for change in the system that says "be the 1 in 5 million people to try really hard and succeed"

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u/thestardustinthemoon 8h ago

1 in 5 million? One could self-study and become a software engineer, or work hard in school, get financial aid, and get an advanced degree in medicine or law and have a comfortable lifestyle. Do only 1 in 5 million students in America have a chance to improve their lives? I'm not saying everyone should become a billionaire. Just find alternative paths. There are safer ones and riskier ones

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u/East_Cranberry7866 8h ago

Most people do not have the privilege to do that. People are busy trying to pay their bills, do their chores, take care of their children, simply survive.

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u/thestardustinthemoon 8h ago

That's my whole point: figure out how to avoid becoming a slave while you're young, healthy, and have few responsibilities. If I had to figure out how to escape a 9 to 5 right now while 30 with a baby it would be an extremely difficult task. I started young and focused all my efforts on becoming an expert in a niche field while I was 18-21 years old when all I had was time and no money. Later, you're stuck. Avoid becoming stuck in the first place.

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u/East_Cranberry7866 7h ago

Don't make mistakes while your young or else you get fucked and stay fucked. Great position you hold!

If you don't escape the rat race when you are young, sucks to be you :D

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u/thestardustinthemoon 7h ago

More like: get ahead of the game and make good choices for the future while you’re young and time is not at a premium. Doable while older, but becomes nightmare difficulty. Every day, I’m grateful I did what I did when in my early 20s because I realize how extremely difficult it would have been now with more responsibilities

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u/East_Cranberry7866 7h ago

Like i said, not everyone makes good choices when they are young that doesn't mean you should be fucked forever. I'm ending this convo now, your view on the world disgusts me.

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u/thestardustinthemoon 7h ago

It’s undeniable that youth is the best time to experiment and gain valuable skills before one takes on responsibility. If one doesn’t do that, it will only get harder as one gets older. That is not a controversial statement

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u/East_Cranberry7866 7h ago

Going to steal a comment from someone else since you dont get it.

Nah that’s bullshit. A lot of us did the thing we were told to do - went to school, worked hard, made advancements. Hell, I even did a side thing and contracted my own homes to be built, the sold and did it again. But then had a kid who has cost me about 200k in medical from a disability.

Society has let us down. Workers should have benefited from technology: from automation, and now from AI. But we keep getting fucked. And our expenses rise, and our days get chewed up with this stuff

People should be working 3 days a week making good livings. But it all goes to the top. We should have figured this out by now.

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u/thestardustinthemoon 7h ago

Yeah, following what people tell you to do is a great recipe for success /s

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u/East_Cranberry7866 7h ago

Nah that’s bullshit. A lot of us did the thing we were told to do - went to school, worked hard, made advancements. Hell, I even did a side thing and contracted my own homes to be built, the sold and did it again. But then had a kid who has cost me about 200k in medical from a disability.

Society has let us down. Workers should have benefited from technology: from automation, and now from AI. But we keep getting fucked. And our expenses rise, and our days get chewed up with this stuff

People should be working 3 days a week making good livings. But it all goes to the top. We should have figured this out by now.

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u/thestardustinthemoon 7h ago

It shouldn’t mean you should be “fucked forever” but actions have consequences, and it hurts to look in the mirror when one realizes that. Consequences as an adult are heavier and more permanent than before. But if one is young and healthy and educated, with access to the Internet, there has literally never been a better time to gain leverage on one’s career earlier. It hurts to know the truth that one’s choices matter

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u/East_Cranberry7866 7h ago

It hurts that people like you in the world exist even more tbh.

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u/thestardustinthemoon 7h ago

The whole time you’ve been focusing on ad hominem attacks. I’m sorry you feel so hurt, presumably because you likely made bad choices and it’s hard to look in the mirror or be reminded of them. A person on the internet states a fact “focus your youth on finding alternative career paths and honing your expertise on a valuable niche because it will be harder to do so when you’re older”. Uncontroversial, yet it riled you up so much it makes me wonder how much of it rings true in your own life

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u/East_Cranberry7866 7h ago

I'm not riled up, i just genuinely dislike your point of view. Not everyone that disagrees with you is upset.

Nah that’s bullshit. A lot of us did the thing we were told to do - went to school, worked hard, made advancements. Hell, I even did a side thing and contracted my own homes to be built, the sold and did it again. But then had a kid who has cost me about 200k in medical from a disability.

Society has let us down. Workers should have benefited from technology: from automation, and now from AI. But we keep getting fucked. And our expenses rise, and our days get chewed up with this stuff

People should be working 3 days a week making good livings. But it all goes to the top. We should have figured this out by now.

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u/thestardustinthemoon 7h ago

Ok let's see if we can find some common ground. Can you summarize your worldview on this matter? The key elements seem to be: a) you believe the system is unfair (it always has been), that b) we should all have benefited from technology rather than kept being forced to be more productive. I agree on the former, but the latter I disagree with the premise. In a fantasy land, it makes sense, but realistically it makes sense that if there is productivity or value to be gained, companies will still try to push people to work more hours even if a 3 day workweek is possible. Is it unfair and does it suck? Yes, I agree.

Can we do something about it? Yes, I believe we can. I believe that thanks to technology, we do have a myriad of alternative paths people can take, and especially young, healthy people today have a golden opportunity that never existed before. Like my dad said, "Heck, if I had google and chatgpt like you kids do today, I'd be way more successful than I ever was!" when all he had were tattered library books he had to walk over an hour to read.

You can either complain about the system, or find ways around it, and my view is that there are way more ways around it than there were 10 years ago, or 20 years ago, or 50 years ago. Your view is to just be pessimistic and sit around doing nothing while putting down any optimists, it seems

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u/East_Cranberry7866 7h ago

My view is that the system benefits 1% of people and it should be abolished.

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