HBR is losing it. This is the sort of murky, PR as meaningful content, that you'd expect from HuffPo. As to the mind wandering being harmful, there has been LOADS of material to counter that (here's a book about the benefits, by a real life science person, not some contracted copywriter! https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wandering-Mind-Brain-Youre-Looking/...)
Does stuff like this article goes to print? It seems that they have a separate group to make science-y stuff "go viral" to compete with BuzzFeed. Kind of like what WaPo is doing now.
The problem with the data in this study is that it comes from the users of an app called Happify, which is likely installed by people who don't consider themselves happy to begin with.
I think it's also somewhat difficult to make statements about change over lifespan without a longitudinal design that tracks the same participants over time. I would guess that engagement styles with an app like Happify also differ by age.
They do link to a few scholarly studies that agree with their conclusions as a company, so I don't feel like this is totally reliant on the app users. Here is one of them that I was able to download and read: https://www.academia.edu/3633328/The_holistic_phase_model_of...
I hate to be one of those people who comments on the meta-article as opposed to the article. but this is something I found really interesting.
I didn't even realize I was reading something from Happify until halfway into the article. The whole thing was very interesting, especially as a person who just turned 29. While this article isn't necessarily an advertisement, it did cause me to google Happify and see what it was about. As I did this it occurred to me: this is what "sponsored content" should be! When you see "sponsored content" on a website it doesn't have to be some trash advertisement that's made to look like the rest of the site. It could be something as good as this article!
I disagree. I don't mind sponsored content if it is of high quality and is interesting, but only if it is clearly labeled as being a paid advertisement and I know from the outset.
Your awareness of this fact will affect your judgement and how you interpret what you've read.
The advent of the internet and social media meant that the generation of current people in their 20s saw much more of what different people lived like as an example. They could stumble into early retirement, vagabonding, yoga, libertarian-ideology, psychology research, startups, furries, and many other lifestyle and thought pattern choices that led to much more ability to choose both their purpose and their action steps for the future earlier. This means that a lot of lessons that were delayed for earlier generations with less variation of choices presented are now hitting earlier.
Can confirm, my Facebook timeline is very depressing as someone in their late 20ties.
Sure it might only be ~5% of my friends who are travelling, starting companies, etc but it does create a vague sense of background stress that I'm wasting my time not knowing what my "passion" is and just working a 9-5ish job with 5 - 8 weeks of vacation a year.
It's pretty ridiculous when you think about it but it seems to be human nature.
Why late twenties? This part seems to describe people in their early twenties:
"When young adults get their first jobs and move into their own apartments, they’re going it alone, usually for the first time. Moreover, as they attempt to establish their status as adults, their environment sends them mixed messages: regardless of their professional or personal achievements, they are still considered by others to be "kids,"
Some people don't move out of the house until their late 20s, but some people do, and by their late 20s have things "figured out".
I think the problem here is they're taking data from a bunch of late-20s millennials.
> This prolonged interim state results in a lot of pain, and some studies suggest today’s young people are suffering more than previous generations did.
These kids aren't being drafted into war service. Crime and teenage pregnancy are down, civil rights are increasing, commodities are cheap and plentiful, access to global information and communication is higher than ever, advances in medicine continue to make formerly terminal diseases become manageable or preventable. The biggest thing millennials have to stress over is their debt and their ability to secure a job, both of which are issues most people have had to deal with by their late 20s.
From what I understand of the quarter-life crisis, it presents mainly in people who have been so privileged that they feel that even though they can self-sustain, they should be doing something better, like following a passion, or living in a different place. Fear of death is another factor, but it's less present than the fear of missing out.
Your late 20s are basically the end of what should be a wonderful time: wasting your youth and not worrying about your body falling apart (which it will begin to shortly). If kids these days are actually in a great deal of pain, it's because our society has given then an irrational sense of entitlement and fear of not having the best of everything.
As a late 20s millennial, what if having a quarter life crisis is actually the sanest thing? Why shouldn't we have a crisis? We live on this earth for some 80 years, most of it which we have to spend commuting, in cubicles or doing other chores just for sustenance. Inevitably our body will fail us, we'll be in pain, we'll die, loved ones will die. Nothing we do really matters all that much either. I wouldn't say I'm depressed or overly concerned with these things but they're increasingly in the back of my mind. I'm just saying, maybe thinking about these things is the sane thing to do? Just because people in the past didn't have time to think about it because they were fighting for their lives, does that make it better or right?
> 20-somethings were more likely to report negative feelings and mind wandering, both are detrimental to well-being
Letting my mind wander whenever it wants, and only focus on working when I'm in the mood, has been the best thing I've done in my entire career and for my sanity. My mind is so much clearer when it is free to wander.
I wonder if they misunderstood in ability to focus with mind wandering. Day dreaming, which is what I learned to call it when I was very young, is very beneficial to my sanity and creativity. I get all sorts of ideas when I let my mind go where it wants to go.
That being said, I'm 26 and a lot of my friends and myself describe what the authors are talking about when we talk about life. It's really hard to find your place and be happy in this crazy world. I feel lucky to have found programming and my wife, but many of my pals aren't having the same feelings of direction and satisfaction. It's all subjective to what each individual desires anyway, but its interesting to ponder.
The very short article had a link to a large BPO company as an 'in association with' at the side of the page.
But the page didn't load well, so re-loaded.
The same article had a link another large BPO company (competitor to the first), also as a 'in association with' at the side of the page.
If working for a consultancy in a BPO role, it is very likely late 20s is the worst time of your life. Graduate, join a big name, and then pin-holed into a tiny-tiny role doing a repetitive job in an extremely hierarchical organisation where career progression is slow not for anyone, but everyone, as verticals in the organisation prevent diversification.
To quote Adam Smith, often quoted regarding the brilliance of pin-production and need for specialisation, but having far greater insight into the consequences of such production methods, now done by ERP and email:
> The man whose whole life is spent in performing a few simple operations generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to become. The torpor of his mind renders him not only incapable of relishing or bearing a part in any rational conversation, but of conceiving any generous, nobdle, or tender tentiment, and consequently of forming any just judgement concerning many even of the orginary duties of private life.
> The rude state of husbandry which preceeds the improvement of manufactures, and the extention of foreign commerce. In such societies, the varied occupations of evey man oblige evey man to exert his capacity, and to invent expendients for removing difficulties which are continually occurring.
One side thought is that I really wonder what the societal implications are of life-stage depression shifting down to a younger age, coupled with a massive generational cohort (millennials) all entering that life phase at the same time. What effect does a collective wave of people all feeling hopeless at once have on our culture?
[+] [-] te_chris|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Yhippa|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pm90|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] reustle|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] madaxe_again|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cs2818|10 years ago|reply
I think it's also somewhat difficult to make statements about change over lifespan without a longitudinal design that tracks the same participants over time. I would guess that engagement styles with an app like Happify also differ by age.
[+] [-] vagab0ndk1ng|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Blackthorn|10 years ago|reply
I didn't even realize I was reading something from Happify until halfway into the article. The whole thing was very interesting, especially as a person who just turned 29. While this article isn't necessarily an advertisement, it did cause me to google Happify and see what it was about. As I did this it occurred to me: this is what "sponsored content" should be! When you see "sponsored content" on a website it doesn't have to be some trash advertisement that's made to look like the rest of the site. It could be something as good as this article!
[+] [-] mattdotc|10 years ago|reply
I disagree. I don't mind sponsored content if it is of high quality and is interesting, but only if it is clearly labeled as being a paid advertisement and I know from the outset.
Your awareness of this fact will affect your judgement and how you interpret what you've read.
[+] [-] tdkl|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Artistry121|10 years ago|reply
More choices may lead to less satisfaction: http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun04/toomany.aspx
Happiness is tricky to define.
[+] [-] LaurensBER|10 years ago|reply
Sure it might only be ~5% of my friends who are travelling, starting companies, etc but it does create a vague sense of background stress that I'm wasting my time not knowing what my "passion" is and just working a 9-5ish job with 5 - 8 weeks of vacation a year.
It's pretty ridiculous when you think about it but it seems to be human nature.
[+] [-] chubot|10 years ago|reply
"When young adults get their first jobs and move into their own apartments, they’re going it alone, usually for the first time. Moreover, as they attempt to establish their status as adults, their environment sends them mixed messages: regardless of their professional or personal achievements, they are still considered by others to be "kids,"
Some people don't move out of the house until their late 20s, but some people do, and by their late 20s have things "figured out".
[+] [-] peterwwillis|10 years ago|reply
> This prolonged interim state results in a lot of pain, and some studies suggest today’s young people are suffering more than previous generations did.
These kids aren't being drafted into war service. Crime and teenage pregnancy are down, civil rights are increasing, commodities are cheap and plentiful, access to global information and communication is higher than ever, advances in medicine continue to make formerly terminal diseases become manageable or preventable. The biggest thing millennials have to stress over is their debt and their ability to secure a job, both of which are issues most people have had to deal with by their late 20s.
From what I understand of the quarter-life crisis, it presents mainly in people who have been so privileged that they feel that even though they can self-sustain, they should be doing something better, like following a passion, or living in a different place. Fear of death is another factor, but it's less present than the fear of missing out.
Your late 20s are basically the end of what should be a wonderful time: wasting your youth and not worrying about your body falling apart (which it will begin to shortly). If kids these days are actually in a great deal of pain, it's because our society has given then an irrational sense of entitlement and fear of not having the best of everything.
[+] [-] purplelobster|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rayvd|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] reustle|10 years ago|reply
> 20-somethings were more likely to report negative feelings and mind wandering, both are detrimental to well-being
Letting my mind wander whenever it wants, and only focus on working when I'm in the mood, has been the best thing I've done in my entire career and for my sanity. My mind is so much clearer when it is free to wander.
[+] [-] epalmer|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] davidhariri|10 years ago|reply
That being said, I'm 26 and a lot of my friends and myself describe what the authors are talking about when we talk about life. It's really hard to find your place and be happy in this crazy world. I feel lucky to have found programming and my wife, but many of my pals aren't having the same feelings of direction and satisfaction. It's all subjective to what each individual desires anyway, but its interesting to ponder.
[+] [-] zhte415|10 years ago|reply
But the page didn't load well, so re-loaded.
The same article had a link another large BPO company (competitor to the first), also as a 'in association with' at the side of the page.
If working for a consultancy in a BPO role, it is very likely late 20s is the worst time of your life. Graduate, join a big name, and then pin-holed into a tiny-tiny role doing a repetitive job in an extremely hierarchical organisation where career progression is slow not for anyone, but everyone, as verticals in the organisation prevent diversification.
To quote Adam Smith, often quoted regarding the brilliance of pin-production and need for specialisation, but having far greater insight into the consequences of such production methods, now done by ERP and email:
> The man whose whole life is spent in performing a few simple operations generally becomes as stupid and ignorant as it is possible for a human creature to become. The torpor of his mind renders him not only incapable of relishing or bearing a part in any rational conversation, but of conceiving any generous, nobdle, or tender tentiment, and consequently of forming any just judgement concerning many even of the orginary duties of private life.
> The rude state of husbandry which preceeds the improvement of manufactures, and the extention of foreign commerce. In such societies, the varied occupations of evey man oblige evey man to exert his capacity, and to invent expendients for removing difficulties which are continually occurring.
[+] [-] unknown|10 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] apahwa|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aaronwidd|10 years ago|reply
One side thought is that I really wonder what the societal implications are of life-stage depression shifting down to a younger age, coupled with a massive generational cohort (millennials) all entering that life phase at the same time. What effect does a collective wave of people all feeling hopeless at once have on our culture?
[+] [-] macavity23|10 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hockeybias|10 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] johndoez|10 years ago|reply
[deleted]