Sunday, March 6, 2011

Men becoming babies?

I typed this post with my shirt off, just after chopping wood and building a barn*.

I'm not saying I'm in complete support or completely against this statement, but I will say that being a guy and not knowing AT ALL how to do basic repairs is pathetic. (I wasn't going talk about not being able to change a tire due to somebody that reads my blog having an issue with it about a year ago... oh damn I did anyway, oops!).

Its fine if you live in an apt and work in a cubicle and don't really need to do a whole lot yourself for daily living, but having no background knowledge in how to change a screen-door really is the end of society as we know it**. The root of which is just laziness with a touch of apprehension.

On the other side, there is no reason anymore to do everything yourself. lets be realistic. If changing the oil in my Volkswagen myself is roughly the same price as having it done at a competent shop, why wouldn't I do that? But I don't go into there saying "20,000 mile service please" without having any idea what that actually is.

Back to the article I'm linking to. There is a prevailing theory now that many 20-something men are in a state of extended adolescence. Urban lifestyles, more and more female colleagues, pushing off marriage/children later in life and more of a focus towards (immediately) post-college lifestyles have all given support to this. Why move on and grow up if you don't have to? The point I was trying to make above was, the type of 26 year old whose focus in life is ultra-casual on a day-to-day basis probably wouldn't mesh well outside of their bubble. By greying the lines between teenage hobbies/pastimes, college-aged ones, then adding a touch of adultness (jobs, living on their own) but not enough that they're actually severed from their parentally funded nest egg, a new type of 20-something has recently emerged. They don't have the basic knowledge or daily-skills that somebody of the same age did even 10 years ago, and definitely not 20 years ago.

Here's my question, is that a bad thing? The financial independence part aside and if services are available to fill the gaps is this "social evolution" something that can't continue?*** Feel free to comment.



*prob not 100% accurate
**being extreme to make my point
***I'm not even close to polarized on this topic. I still play video games, have many seemingly adolescent hobbies and am far too into Transformers for it to be ironic.

Source -> http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2011/03/05/manning_up/index.html

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