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An article in the Wall Street Journal claims a study they reviewed indicated young men were refusing to find new work because of the siren-like qualities of the latest video games. Their super-realisitic vistas are being blamed for the increase in young men being unwilling to get off their couches and seek out new employment.
“The rise of gaming “accounts for 23 to 46 percent of the decline in market work for younger men during the 2000s,” the paper’s authors write. For men ages 21 to 30, hours worked fell by 12% between 2000 and 2015, compared with a decline of 8% in hours worked for men 31 to 55.”
The study claims 70% of the family members of these young men are enabling them to avoid working up from 46% in the year 2000. While the source of this study or its conclusions are still a subject for debate, I believe this is a more complicated issue than presented in their article.
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Would you say videogames are responsible for your continued unemployment? Do you find their super-realism the reason you just don’t consider work meaningful anymore? Are there more serious issues with seeking work where you live?
If we stop blaming videogames, we need to ask: What factors would you attribute to your inability to find meaningful work you enjoy? Do you live in a section of the country hit by chronic unemployment due to plant closures, technology shifts or failed infrastructure projects? What are your strategies for finding new work?
Families: Do you have a man in your household not working? Do videogames consume his waking hours? Are you frustrated by this? How have you dealt with this problem? Or do you think this is a more systemic problem caused by national priorities?
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Tl;dr: The job hunt is abominable! Regardless of how well or badly the economy is doing, the job hunt has become an experience that goes beyond frustrating, into an actively degrading experience. For starters, even minimum-wage jobs at big-box stores require you to submit personality tests that feel intrusive, and force you to lie about yourself in order to remain under consideration. And those are for the bottom-of-the-barrel jobs! For other jobs, add in things like social media vetting, credit checks, wellness initiatives, and interviews that make you feel like your entire life history is being put on trial. Like… Read more »
Thaddeus, Thanks for posting this. Employment is a big issue and, as you say, “more complicated” than the Wall Street Journal article suggests. I began to live in two worlds when my first wife and I adopted a baby after we had one son. It was a commitment we made while we were in college. “We’ll have a child and adopt a child. Why bring more than one child into the world, when there are already many who need homes.” Our daughter, Angela, is Black. She’s now 45 years old and has four children. The three oldest are working age… Read more »