I ran across this story while doing research for my other class' final essay. It's by Lev Grossman, and it was featured in TIME back in 2005.
Meet "Twixters". Read the article HERE.
I think this is a very interesting article, because it deals with what all of you are going to be going through in a few years. In particular, I'd like your opinions about this phenomenon of Twixters because this article is 6 years old. In the post-Depression American economy, is this even viable now? Are we able to afford not growing up anymore? And what's to become of us as a culture if this IS correct, and Twixters rise to prominence? If everyone's a child...who's going to be the adult?
300-500 words, please, of your best thoughts. It's an interesting topic, and it has nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with you.
-- MP
I would have to agree with Lev Grossman stating that twixters or teens that won’t grow up are an increasing problem in America. But because this article was written six years ago some of the reasons for why the twixters are not growing up are not correct due to the economic depression we find ourselves in. For most twixters in today’s society it is no longer a choice whether or not to grow up but is uncontrollable to the person. While there still are many lazy lost kids out there that can’t break the tie with their parents and go to college to party instead of learn but the majority find themselves not having a choice because they cannot find a job. Because they can’t find a job they might as well stay in college and enjoy themselves. Even if they find openings in a job businesses would rather higher the guy who has 20 years of experience over the guy with absolutely no experience. So now even with a college degree you’re not guaranteed a job like you were 20 to 30 years ago. Also colleges keep raising the tuition costs creating so much debt that they can’t support themselves let alone a family and have to keep relying on their parents for the essentials.
ReplyDeleteMy step brother is a perfect example of a current day twixter that had no other choice but to keep relying on his parents. When he graduated from college it looked like he had his whole life planned out. He had wife, degree in bioengineering and an apartment. But when the depression hit he lost his job, his wife divorced him and he wound up back at home. He now has a degree in bioengineering working as a cashier at Sam’s Club with over $120,000 in debt. So because of things like the economy and college tuition kids no longer have a choice to stay children but rather are forced to be bums living off their parents for the rest of their lives.
I also agree with Lev Grossman. Most young adults today are still wanting to live their teenage lifes. My brother for instance is 20 years old. He has no job, no license(or car), does not go to school, and basically lives off his friends. His friends must really love him. I dont think I could have someone living off me for free when I'm struggling myself. Well not trying to throw him under the bus but he is a great example of the twixter! My brrothers not the only one though! I'm sure there's tons of 'young adults" between the ages of 20 and 30 that still live with their parents and dont have jobs. In my eyes this is a problem. If your a young adult and your not trying to atleast go to school, then I think it's appropriate to atleast get a job. Especially if your still living with your parents, or a roomate.
ReplyDeleteWith the divorce rate as high as it is, it is most definitely important for a person to wait until they are able to stand on their own two feet without the assistance of their parents. Having a family and settling down requires both parties to be financially stable and to possess a serious sense of maturity. My mother had just finished high school when she married my father. They were married 28 years and are now divorced. Maybe they would still be together if they hadn’t married so soon. It is important for a person to take the time to find themselves before they decide to tie a knot with someone else.
ReplyDeleteIt is better for a person to overvalue a car or a flat screen TV now while they are young and have little responsibilities, than to overvalue those things while that person is a parent. We all deserve to have a time in our life when it is solely about what we want to do. For some, this time is pushed too far. If a person is 29 years old and still living with their parents it sounds like that individual’s parents are being too sympathetic.
I am 19 years old and I know I would be lost without the assistance and guidance from my parents. However I do plan on moving out in the fall and I plan to support myself. I feel it is almost required for our parents to help us to get on our feet.
I have no intentions of getting married until after I’m graduated and have started my career. I want to have this time for myself and to do the things I want to do while I have the opportunity to do so. If everyone decides to do this and wait, I strongly believe the divorce rates will decrease. It is possible to be in this stage and still be a responsible individual. It is possible for a person to be an adult and still hold little responsibilities. As long as that person is behaving appropriately and not taking advantage of their parents, then I don’t see the harm in taking your time to start a family.
Wait, isnt this pretty much that same blogpost about women getting all distraught over the disappearing 'good man'? Arent these articles basically talking about the same thing, this supposedly new pheonima of the unpassionate 20 year old? yeah? thought so.
ReplyDeleteWell damn, what really is there to say about all this. Yeah, i could go on about how there is really nothing wrong with fucking around in your 20s and just living to meet the bills is good enough, but 1. i already wrote that blog and 2. thats just a lot of bull.
Wake up people. this is just some more of that activator talk. To hell with all the condoning the neverdowell attitude. If you dont have anything major going on in your life, well then maybe its time to put the bong and brew down, clean yourself up, sit down, and get into anything.
Im not trying to hate on anyone and yeah i get that really putting yourself into something can be hard and you gotta work hard and work consistently at it and its real easy for little things to fuck something major up, and sometimes you get real hurt when things dont work out like you want, but this is all some self denial that articles like this are just trying to promote. That its okay to have problems and sit around and mope and do nothing about it... to hell with that.
The truth is there aint no one else that can lead your life for you, no one else makes your decisions, no one else is to blame. Ulimately life is supposted to be all about what you put into it, so if your putting nothing into it dont expect a whole lot out of it.
But, and this is where it gets really good, if you put your all into everything, really give your full potential to living, strive and work hard and dominate every fucking opportunity with no fear and no doubt, then hell, there wont be anything that can stand in your way....
Damn, in the hopes of keeping this from reading like a one of those perfidious motivational novel i'll end this blogpost here.
Twixters seem to just be the people who are undecided and can never make up their minds. I see these people already forming here at school. The ones that put aside their work to go hang out with friends and when it affects school, they just drop the class or switch majors. Life seems to give these types of people to much slack and not enough credit to the ones that put forth a lot of effort to get ahead and start off their careers. I understand that you need to have time to experiment with new jobs and find out what works with you, but wasn’t that what you were supposed to do your freshman year of college? You spend all those years and money in something that you don’t even know you want to do when you graduate? It baffles me. I personally want to graduate ahead of time if possible. It’s called me responsible and mature. These people must not have paid for college themselves. If they did then they would see that there is a lot more to life than just picking up and moving. If they were just moving to a new city to start a new life and get away from problems, then they more than likely brought the problem with them. The problem is them. Jobs are hard to come by now days and its takes lots of work and effort to get them. You can’t just try for a little while, then give up and become a waiter for 2 years and complain because you got screwed. I personally have no pity for these people. You had your chance in college to party. But as far as the marriage situation, I feel like it is never too late to marry someone. If you marry just because you feel as though you are getting too old, then I’m guessing it won’t be a solid relationship. Marriage can happen at any age and at any time. Your life and how it pans out does not depend on it.
ReplyDeleteThis article reads a lot like the Kay Hymowitz essay except that it actually focuses on both sexes and not just men. It’s tough to write about basically the same article, however seeing that this article was written in 2005 and the other one is more recent, I guess that means this group of people is still around. I’m not entirely sure what else to say about this subject. I can’t really see too much wrong with it, these people are just making sure they know what they want to do with their life, and it would suck to be miserable with the career you end up in. I myself have taken kind of a great circle route to figure out what I want to do; I’m 26 and a sophomore in college so I will be close to thirty by the time I get to where I want to go. Again the whole marriage thing is nothing to be worried about in my opinion, there is a huge rise in divorce so what is the purpose of getting married young when you’re probably just going to get divorced anyway. There is no age limit on when you can get married so why rush. I know I haven’t said a whole lot in this blog but I think my final though is just the fact that articles like these just seem like a huge generalization, its not like everyone is partaking in this sort of behavior, there are still kids getting out of college and going right to work plus we still need people to work in jobs like retail and the food industry so if these so called twixters fill that role for a while where is the harm in that?
ReplyDeleteI’m willing to bet that Kay Hymowitz (The good men article) never read this article. Such a shame really, she could learn so much from this article.
ReplyDeleteTwixters are here to stay. At least until the next generation come along. Everytime a new generation enters the workforce; there is a clash of beliefs and work ethic. If you have ever worked alongside employees of a different generation, you know what I mean. However, there is truth in Lev Grossmans article.
Presently, in most parts of the world, becoming an adult requires nothing more than reaching a certain age. However, in America, becoming an adult consists of having a stable occupation while being financially independent. Adulthood has become more of an achieved status than a time trial. Now the bad news. The amount of time and effort required to achieve the role of an adult has increased. Of course, there are always exceptions to this as the affluent need not worry about achieving financial independence.
How valuable will your college degree be? Not as valuable as that same degree would have been 30 years ago. Bachelor’s degrees are so common in the United States that jobs that once required Bachelor’s degrees now require a Masters or higher. And these Graduate and Post Graduate degrees require more time and more money. Money that the average college student does not have and will rely on loans to see them through. This extended time burden, along with the promise of massive loan repayments, it is easy to see why twixters are shunning their responsibilities. Why rush to reach adulthood when it will take longer to reach. In the meantime, these twixters are enjoying themselves.
With the way things are headed, more and more jobs will require higher degrees. What happens when everyone has higher education? If equal in education, what other factors will employers look for? I suggest you start to work on these desirable traits while you still have the upper hand.
This article is a similar concept to the previous one about pre-adults. This article thinks about it a different way though. The first article was more about it being a current and new problem but this article seemed to think of it was a change in American culture. I think that if things at colleges don’t change and jobs are more geared to the global economy there will be the ten year “I wonder what to do with the rest of my life, cause for now im chillin” period. I don’t know if that’s what they are going to call it or what. The problem with this is I think that this period will probably keep on growing until it grows too much and people will do something about it. The whole reason for this period is probably because these twixters don’t want to leave the car free life style of living at home or going to college. Not that college is not stressful it is, but it is more fun and not as much pressure than having an actual job and family. The article seemed to argue that it was a good period for kids to decide what they want to actually do with their lives. I think that it actually a lack of ambition and want to leave this part of their life. The beginning of the article opens talking about what those three do and one of the things was they go out 3 times a week. To me this is not a search for what they want to do in their life but just holding onto their college years. Maybe because I am now 19 and I do not want to grow up either I think maybe 21 or 22 is a little early to switch into real life but I think that people who are getting older like into their 30’s, are probably just being lazy. There is of course some people who will take that long to finally achieve their goal of the perfect career but I’m sure it is few and far between that they are using their twixter period to the fullest.
ReplyDeleteEven though this was based off of six years ago, I do still feel like this qualifies nowadays. The age group they are now considering "Twixters" exist and I know a few. I do not think it's because of being lazy. I think coming fresh out of college years ago finding a job wasn't as hard as it is now. Young adults now do thinks its okay to mooch off mommy and daddy for a few more years until they "figure it out" I'm not going to lie I think it will be nice to go home to my mom after graduating so I wont have to buy much of anything, work at my local job, out partying "figuring it out". There do come a time when you have to grow up and handle responsiblities because once people get too comfortable they have a tendency to take advantage of. I understand its hard to pay off debts, getting a car, a new place, and all that stuff but its not impossible. It's nothing wrong with working your way up. Its not every young adult within this age group but I feel at one point in everyone life they all have that moment when they to feel they dont want to worry and have a carefree life and maybe that's what they found out with "twixters"
ReplyDeleteYes I feel there is a lot of people like this out there today. I feel this mainly happens because they get pushed when they re in high school and college to stay out of trouble and get good grades. Almost like their teenage lives have been pushed down by adults trying to control before they spin out of control. So when they finally don't have a parent or adult breathing down their neck every 5 minutes, they break loose. For many people this can be considered good. If you come out of college with a solid job you can afford to be crazy every once in a while. Sadly this is usually not the case. Most people rebel because they can find a job so they basically say screw it and run off doing whatever they want without thinking. I think if we let kids live while their young we can avoid this happening. Its bette to have them go wild while living under the roof of an adult than all by themselves fresh out of college.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lev Grossman ,as the generations go by men and women in their mid 20's are still acting like teenagers, partying, not settling in to a house/apartment, and going from job to job. I don't blame it on them though, I blame it on what the world has become and how hard it is for people to find jobs. 20 years ago, finding a job wasn't hard and buying a home was easy as well. I know a few "twixters". They are responsible young men with jobs, but at the same time dress younger then their ages, and engage in social activities as if they were still in college. It's also not their fault because when they lived at home their parents were strict, and did not allow them much freedom. Now that they have no one holding them back, they finally get to enjoy whats left of their youth and have some fun and slow down later. I don't find anything wrong this considering I'm not planning to get married until 28 or 29 because I'm not looking forward to tying my self down for the rest of my life. But in the end, the "twixters" lifestyles are not to blame. I think its because of the bad economy, strict teenage years, and the difficulty of finding a job is what leads them to their life styles.
ReplyDeleteI am somewhat hesitant to admit that I can possibly fall into the category of a “Twixter”. As of right now I really don't know where I'm going with my life. I want to get a job, I want to get an apartment, I want to get my degree. I just don't want to be stuck in a position of misery, doing something I despise for the rest of my life. I've recently decided to change my major. Initially, I was an English major, which I chose because not only do I enjoy it, but it also requires minimal math and science background. Now however, I've decided to go into biological anthropology. Going from one extreme to another? Yes. But, how I see it, is I'll potentially be able to get a hands-on job as a forensic anthropologist after earning my degree and attaining the proper training.
ReplyDeleteMy problem is not wanting to be anywhere permanently. I want to see the world. I don't know where I want to live for the rest of my life. I suffer the same “disease” as all of the Twixter's in the article. I don't want to be tied down. I don't want to resign a full future to jump from college to adulthood. I agree that the time from 18-25 is essential to determine what exactly you want from life. You have college to decide what field you'd like to work in, and the three or four years after can be used to experiment. I feel that I would be dead weight in the adult world, unless of course I was entirely certain that I knew where I wanted my life to go.
I don't think it's okay, however, to stay with your parents past the age of 26. Sure, if a disability or certain circumstance makes it impossible to live on your own it's understandable. But I personally wanted to get away from my parents as soon as possible. That's one of the main reasons why I chose to go to Kent. I wanted to cut myself off in a way. Sure my parents still financially support me, but I no longer rely on them to take care of me on a daily basis. I like having the responsibility of everyday life. Those who are 26 and up need to realize that at some point they are going to have to accept life's responsibilities. Life can be put off for two or three years, but not forever.