Taking the Slow Life Strategy to the Extreme: How Gen Z-ers are Postponing Common Milestones of Adulthood

Key Highlights :

1. The boomers, who are the generation following the baby boomers, are more likely to delay adulthood milestones such as marriage and parenting.

2. The members of Gen Z are more likely to be content to wait until their late 20s or 30s to achieve these milestones.

3. This cautiousness has negative consequences, including a decreased willingness to argue and an increased pessimism about life.

     In the early 1960s, typical Americans were eager to start adult life. They married, launched careers, and had children as soon as they could. Half of all women married before their 20th birthday. But when the baby boomers came of age, they adopted a “slow life strategy”, postponing the common milestones of adulthood until later in life. Now, the members of Gen Z are taking this strategy to the extreme.

     Generation Z has already transformed adolescence. They are getting their driver’s licenses later than earlier generations, and are less likely to do things associated with adulthood and independence, such as drinking alcohol, working for pay, or having sex. In 2021, only 15 percent of Gen Z ninth graders had had sex, compared to 40 percent of Gen X when they were in ninth grade.

     The slow life strategy makes perfect sense, as people are living longer and it’s wise to pace yourself through life. But something else is going on here. Gen Z-ers grew up with hypercautious parenting, a media culture that generates division and anger, and a political culture that magnifies a sense of menace. This has led to a culture of exaggerated distrust and presumed toxicity that has influenced us all, but especially the younger generations.

     The younger generations are hypervigilant to danger and less likely to do drugs or get into fights or car accidents than teens in previous generations. But they are also less likely to take risks, date, or believe they can control their own destinies. College students have become much less willing to argue with one another in class, and many have a defeatist attitude about life.

     It’s always good to be on guard against danger, but this culture of distrust has its downsides. People may miss out on meeting the person who could be the love of their life, and they may go through life with a pessimistic outlook.

     Baby boomers postponed common milestones of adulthood, and Gen Z-ers are doing that with a vengeance. They are taking the slow life strategy to the extreme, and it’s important to understand both the benefits and the downsides of this new approach.

Continue Reading at Source : nytimes