Jürgen Hubert

The #Fediverse population skews old - I think the median age is in the mid-40s.

So how can we, as older people who have presumably seen some shit, support younger people who are anxious about their personal future and the future of the world at large for entirely understandable reasons?

I mean, I definitely hit some rather low points in my life. But I now have a stable career, gotten out a debt hole, and even own an apartment where I have only 10 years left to pay off the mortgage.

In contrast, young people who need to enter the workforce to pay their bills are constantly told that AI will make their beginners' skills worthless, and there is a high chance that we will soon enter a new Great Depression once the #AIBubble bursts.

Oh, and fascists are taking over more and more countries while the global environment is collapsing more and more.

In other words, young people need all the help they can get. So how can we support them?

May 21 at 8:23amWeb
Show threadStevan2d ago
@juergen_hubert I often wonder what we can say to younger folk, Jürgen, as really, we are the generations who have responsibility for the mess. Or as the old joke goes, "What we need is fewer people telling us what we need."
We should perhaps be talking to our own generation and getting them to stop acting perversely, rather than trying to advise younger folk, who, I firmly believe, are a source of hope, and help the younger generation only when they ask for it, for what they need.
Show threadermo | Rune Morling2d ago

@juergen_hubert I mean, we could start by simply asking what they think and what they are looking for?

We're still flexible enough of mind, and now have the economical wherewithal to actually invest in something that will benefit both us *and* the next generation?

If you look at the fossil fuel/extraction lobby, they seem dead set on protecting their investments at all costs, the consequences be damned.

The real trap here is to have an event horizon consisting entirely of personal interests.

Show threadaspiring retiree2d ago

@ermo @juergen_hubert

I agree with expanding the event horizon beyond hedonistic self-realization.
There's plenty of other stuff to do.

Though I'm not the demographic OP's question was addressed to.

I have something specific in mind to build a future worth living and growing old in.
The future I see as my birthright and destroyed before my time.

I'm still working on a draft of a thorough description of the project and don't want to publish it quite yet.
But I'm willing to share if there's interest.

Show threadRashunda Tramble2d ago
@juergen_hubert I'm 56. I have two stepkids. They're 30 & 20. The only thing I can do is give them space: space to ask questions; space to scream; space to tell me to shut up when I offer unasked-for opinions. I also try to silently offer myself as an example.
Show threadLethe2d ago

@juergen_hubert
Oh hey tag yourself I'm the younger people.

I'm not going to reiterate the anxiety that we are all collectively dealing with. Let's just say that many of us don't have long-term plans or dreams because we have no idea what the world will be like 10, 20, 30 years from now.

We could start by trying to reconnect the severed thread between the generations, talking and learning from each other on an eye level and rebuilding communities.

Older people can also acknowledge that they have much more power and privilege than younger people and use them for good.

Show threadJürgen Hubert2d ago

@lethe

I acknowledge my share of the privilege and culpability of my generation.

Show threadPteryx the Puzzle Secretary2d ago

@lethe @juergen_hubert
Though arguably not as much power and privilege as we were promised, to speak of the generations I'm nestled between (Gen X and Millennial) here in the US. Some of the problem (though obviously not all of it) is simply that the Boomers won't let go of the reins, care more about themselves than their civic duty, and won't listen to us any more than they will you.

For my own part, at this point I hate it anytime I'm forced to vote for people older than me (late 40s).

Show threadVirginicus2d ago
@pteryx @lethe @juergen_hubert This is similar to how I saw it. So I retired! Two 20-somethings took over my job (just about the best job I ever heard of). I stayed on as a consultant for when they get stuck, provided they don’t call too often.
Show threadMaddieM42d ago

@juergen_hubert I think about this a lot as someone with a goddaughter. Most of the help and advice I can offer these days is personal and small. How to handle job drama, making tough calls about vehicle ownership. Usually, I end up being a rubber duck for her to talk through her problems, and it's... nice. It's nice that I don't need all the answers to be useful.

Something that she and I both know is that the problem of this world isn't the old people per se, it's that older generations act and vote like it's only their own lifetime that matters. Why invest in the future if you won't see it? And I honestly think one of the most useful things I can do is stigmatize that selfish attitude in people my age and above. It should be called for what it is. It should be embarrassing.

Show threadCrystal2d ago
@juergen_hubert
As I left work, a young co-worker asked me please to not leave. He and his wife had moved for the work and they had no family or close friends nearby. My husband and I became their trusted friends. We are able to share knowledge when asked, and I was able to share time as their newborn learned to walk. What I am hearing and seeing is that the younger people want friends they can trust when they cannot have family to help or advise them.