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Comment by mainecoder | Hacker News Reader

It is correct that reforms are needed. It is interesting however that this generation has the lowest mental toughness, since the standards did not necessarily increase but the people changed and could not handle the stress, wait until the tough times come.

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"This generation has the lowest mental toughness"

If you are in the US, in the past 25yr:

* 9/11

* 25y of constant combat deployments around the world

* 2008 recession

* 2026-ish recession

* Loss of company pensions and stability

* Massive housing crisis in availability of type of homes needed, and costs - builders are only incentivized to build upper middle class+ housing in many areas

* Gig work where people are working 3 jobs with no benefits or retirement becoming more popular

* College financial cost unsustainable

* Massive increase in school and public shootings

* Covid

Any ideas of stability in US society that may have come from their parents simply do not exist anymore. The path of a middle class life for most people in the US is gone.

A gazillion more things I'm not thinking of.

I'm getting close to 50, and any time somebody talks about how "x,y,z generation is weak", not even 99% of the time, but 100% of the time, I know the person saying that is simply incompetent.

> any time somebody talks about how "x,y,z generation is weak", not even 99% of the time, but 100% of the time, I know the person saying that is simply incompetent.

Don't assume incompetence when simple malice can explain the observations... especially when the topic is a blame game.

Isn’t this list seen as reasons intentionally directed perseverance has eroded, since these events condition people to just react and survive on a shorter-term horizon? You two may be using different definitions of mental toughness. Just observing you two interact.

I mean, are you really trying to say that the 2010s were worse than the 1930s or getting drafted into armed combat in the 1910s, 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s? To me, that's just playing into the stereotype of millennials.

I didn't say anything along those lines. In fact, I want to highlight something in particular that I said that makes me wonder how much you wanted to react vs how much you actually read:

"Any ideas of stability in US society that may have come from their parents simply do not exist anymore."

I alluded to the 25 years of constant background combat deployments that most people aren't even aware of happening unless they are extremely impacted by it.

Some more so than others, like the old Onion joke: https://theonion.com/soldier-excited-to-take-over-father-s-o...

> I didn't say anything along those lines.

It seems like you're arguing against the statement that "This generation [which we'll assume refers to millenials] has the lowest mental toughness".

Then - again, by my reading here, so correct me if I'm misinterpreting you - you attempt to support your counterpoint with a list of events which - while certainly not great - pale, in my opinion, to the day-to-day fear of atomic war and the very real knowledge that even as things stand (e.g., without atomic war), your birthday could still be picked tomorrow, and within months you'll be shipped off to the killing fields. Simply put, it's possible for a thing to be bad, but not as-bad as another thing.

I don't think previous generations were under any illusion of societal stability, except possibly the baby boomers - and they had 'Nam, JFK/MLK, Kent State, Watergate, and COINTELPRO to snap them out of that.

Even with all the events you mention, US society is still far more stable than it was in the past. Of course, it'll seem much less stable if one only chooses to focus on the unstable, but I think it's fair to label that a you-problem.

I'm pretty sure mainecoder, the person he was responding to, isn't 95 years old, so I think you can avoid any 1930s references :D

> this generation has the lowest mental toughness, since the standards did not necessarily increase but the people changed and could not handle the stress, wait until the tough times come

A bunch of people in every generation say this.

My grandparents said it about those who got to skip growing up in the depression. Their grandparents about selling everything they owned and moving to America. Some days as I trudge through the snow to work uphill both ways I think of them.

I was searching for some ancient quotes describing the same sentiment and found a page with several quotes, including this one from Aristotle (4th century BCE):

"[Young people] are high-minded because they have not yet been humbled by life, nor have they experienced the force of circumstances. ... They think they know everything, and are always quite sure about it."

https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/28169/what-is-th...

Did the standards actually "not increased?" It is very easy to just assume younger people cant possibly have more challenges then we did. And very hard to admit when they actually face harder competition then we did.

do you know how much smoking and drinking at work there was when this system was started???

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