We should look at this later this semester, when we read Why Grow Up by Susan Neiman.
"… the majority of college students — 84 percent, according to one study — don't view themselves as full adults, nor do their parents…"
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/03/opinion/college-students-adulting.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
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And in the NYTimes Magazine:
‘The Rizzler’ and the Creeping Childishness of Pop Culture
Some corners of American entertainment are becoming worrisomely infantile
We aren’t wholly to blame for succumbing to protracted states of arrested development; they have, to some extent, been inflicted upon us by our environment. Inflation, the cost of housing and epic student debt make it feel too expensive to aspire to adult responsibilities like property or children, or else it’s too hard to promise yourself hockey-stick career growth when layoffs loom around every corner. Still, I refuse to accept the ease with which an entire generation appears to have embraced baby stuff as a balm.
The most nagging example of this, unfortunately, requires me to discuss an actual child: a feisty social media phenomenon called “the Rizzler.” I should specify in advance that I do not wish to spearhead a smear campaign against someone who probably can’t do fractions yet; what I fear and abhor is what the Rizzler’s widespread popularity represents..." https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/22/magazine/the-rizzler-costco-guys.html
This statement is pretty accurate considering our education system in my opinion. Many young students are thrown into college without a real clue of what happens around them, next to that the immense amount of debt young people pile up can be very overwhelming for young people. On the other hand, there is many many student lectures especially in the first and second semester where students get treated like little children, if it is due date extensions, absences, test replacements, or extra credit work that is too lenient, students need to be taught responsibility early on during college which again is a different topic than the financial burden of college debt as a young student.
ReplyDeleteI somewhat agree with Karim above me. I think that people of college age and in college should know a lot more about the realities of being an adult such as juggling a job and student loans, a due date being a due date, etc. However I think that as long as you can handle those realities there’s nothing wrong with acting ridiculous or being into something you enjoy. If you’ve got your life in order then you do you. Subscribe to that cringe YouTube channel, make a tik tok in public. Responsibilities first, childish activities after.
ReplyDeleteI think just overall that college age students are way farther behind the generations before us were when they are at our age. So many college age students this year lack so many life skills. For example I know a handful of people my age, who don't even know how to cook basic meals for themselves to eat. And I mean like really basic meals, like scrambled eggs, or even preheating a oven and cooking something in there.
ReplyDeleteI find the author's viewpoint to be quite saddening. All throughout their childhood they wanted to advance and mature at a higher rate than others, and now they're looking around at their peers wondering what the problem is. It seems that the author has been so focused on advancing herself that she skipped some of the nuances of how life is for the average young adult in America.
ReplyDeleteThe author talks a lot about the infantilism of the people around her age range, but only says that they enjoy 'baby stuff.' My question is what does the author consider as baby stuff? Is Star Wars apart of that? Star Trek? Video Games? Their take seems very pretentious as this isn't a new trend in our society.
Did you know that the first recognized piece of fanfiction was created in 1967. It was a Star Trek piece called Spockanalia. Then there's the Beatles whose fans shook the world in the 60s. The world was going through so much back then, and people, especially young adults who were still new to the world wanted to find a way to relieve that uneasiness in their lives. That mentality hasn't changed even today. There is not a set criteria of what it means to be an adult because hat idea will always change based on time and the circumstances that come with it.
I also don't understand how the Rizzler ties into her message. Yes, he is childish because he is a child. If anything, all he feeds into is a distraction for young adults and a form of envy. They envy how carefree and outrageous his character is because they know that they will never have that innocence again.