It's funny to me how the simple category of having a job is weighted so highly in some people's minds. I live a life pretty similar to the NEETs described, in all honesty. I live in a suburb in my 20s, I spend most of my time on screens, single, living alone, very occasionally get together with friends. But because I have a software job, I guess I am part of the "successful" class? No, it's not about working or not working in my opinion. It's about a society that has GINI-d it's way out of social mobility, a society that easily lets people close themselves off in extremely comfortable bubbles of cheap entertainment, a society that is so stratified, so alienating, that people would rather just close themselves off from it.

Western society has basically just reverted to feudalism, IMO. Assets are simply too expensive, so circumstances of birth become the most important factor in your quality of life. Working hard doesn't matter because even with the most prestigious jobs in society, you have no way to catch up. The losers who weren't born into a favorable position, such as myself, just occupy themselves with digital bread and circuses. What else is there to do? I'm basically just a bitch of the Outer Party and I've accepted it.