Millennials’ & Gen Zs’ Crusoe Wake Up Call

Shipwrecked Robinson Crusoe’s parents warned him to be happy living a “middle of the road” life & didn’t listen. Today’s youth say they “value work-life value” yet surprisingly work like fiends to make the big bucks. What gives?

The WSJ article by Callum Borchers explained: “Young professionals pledge admiration for peers who carve out personal time, then fail to do the same for themselves … They’re just bad at it.” Really? Or, could it be that when life’s realities set in, these young men & women start to understand how much money is going to be needed to pay for that “personal [vaca] time”, let alone pay for a marriage, an expensive new home with pool & hot tub, two SUV EVs, a membership in the suburb’s country club, the local church’s tithing rules, spiraling inflation, two constantly eating & pooping kids and a pure bred dog that out does the kids?

According to the cited Deloitte annual survey of millennials & Gen Zers, we’re assured the “youngest people in the office say the peers they admire most” are those that “live life on their own terms.” Exactly who are the SuperStars they are talking about, the article doesn’t really say. Maybe Super Man or Super Woman. Or Super LGBTQ+. Yet, the article notes how by often working 60 hour weeks, these young workers seem “fixated on [old-fashioned] success.” The suspicion here is that the 20- & 30-Somethings are already getting a Robinson Crusoe wake up call.

Davd Soul