American kids would much rather be YouTubers than astronauts

[m-i-l]

Children will only say they want to be things they are exposed to and understand. Looking at the list for nowadays, it still includes teachers, athletes and musicians, which they see in the media and might be able to imagine themselves doing. It doesn't include things like lawyers and computer programmers, which aren't careers children are particularly aware of, and even if they were they wouldn't fully appreciate. So the story here is simply that astronauts aren't in the media as much as they were during the Space Race and Cold War. Don't think it is anything to worry about - they'll probably change their minds by the time they grow up anyway. And who knows, by the time they grow up there might be new careers that we can't even imagine these days (I can pretty much guarantee that almost no-one would have imagined jobs like "social media influencer" and "machine learning data cleanser" when I was young).

[computronus]

they'll probably change their minds by the time they grow up anyway

The poll was conducted on 8 - 12 year olds (https://theharrispoll.com/lego-group-kicks-off-global-progra...) so I agree that there's time. When I was on the younger end of that range, I wanted to be a garbage collector, probably because it seemed like it'd be great to ride on the back of that big truck. I might have gotten wiser with age.

[bpyne]

" It doesn't include things like lawyers and computer programmers"

When my daughter was in 4th or 5th grade they had a "career day" in which students could meet parents who were in jobs they found interesting. I offered to talk with kids about being a software developer. The organizer contacted me the day before to let me know that nobody signed up to talk with me. I was a bit crestfallen. ;-)

[52-6F-62]

Heh funny you should say that. I started playing music in the age range of the poll... I'm more than double that age now and spent years playing in groups and after a brief bit of time off am actively getting back into it. (in fact getting to see one of my lifelong folk heroes just tonight by chance)

At the same age I also became fascinated by computers... and I'm working as a computer programmer.

That said—I might just be further data in support of your exposure theory.

[jamesmontalvo3]

Supporting your position: My daughters’ preschool, in the area of Johnson Space Center in Houston, did a video of all the kids saying what they want to be when they grow up. A lot of them said astronaut.

[aey]

Or they are just much more intelligent these days and are attuned to what they want.

Do you want to spend months at a time in a soda can that can explode at any moment surrounded by vacuum? Or be a modern day bard?

[trentlott]

I'll second this

I liked the idea of science, but I didn't understand at all how people end up becoming one

It honestly wasn't until halfway through undergrad that I really got it and decided to actually pursue it

[notus]

Social media influencer is a rebranded beggar, we already were able to imagine that.

[brational]

With that same explanation - i think if China's internet were more "open" we'd see youtube/vlogger higher on their list, no?

[sandworm101]

Take this from a former airforce pilot: the more you learn about the reality of such jobs, the less you want to do them. Infighting, backstabbing, constant testing by people whose job is to fail you, zero room for creativity, and near-zero input into how and where you live your life... it's not worth it.

Then when you finally get up at the controls of that cool plane your time is broken down into 5-minute increments. More tests. More senerios. More chances to fail. And if you do fail, all that effort means absolutely nothing in any other job or trade. There is a joke in TopGun about them going from f14s to driving trucks. That isnt too far from reality. Look into what entry-level commercial/civilian pilots make.

That said ... i did have a big smile on my face while doing my first aerobatics in a proper plane. 5 minutes of smile after 4+ years of testing.

[flycaliguy]

An airforce pilot must have some pull at the bar though...

[tokai]

So do you want to have a creative carrier where you are your own boss, and you'll touch the lives of other people directly.

Or do you want to train you whole life to sit in LEO half a summer to push buttons.

Makes sense to me.

[coldcode]

Sounds like drug dealing to me. You get paid to push products at people and call it a career. 5 years from now there are millions of people earning nothing on Youtube influencing no one and having no real alternative. In the end only a few strike it rich and the rest get nothing vs learning something that might actually be a reasonable career.

[mochomocha]

I'm hoping you have the minority opinion here!

"Youtuber" doesn't mean being your own boss at all. It means being a pretense for advertising, and having your sole source of income depends on the whims of a gigantic monopoly.

[okmokmz]

>where you are your own boss

You may not technically have a "boss" per se, but you are 100% beholden to Youtube as a company, their platform, and their advertisers. You absolutely cannot do anything you want, and you have little to no control of the primary means of accessing your content. The fact that people in this thread are trying to compare Youtube "influencers" to astronauts is absurd

[nencrystation]

Post-Apollo they've always preferred whatever the contemporary version of "rock star" is to Astronaut. Non-story.

[TallGuyShort]

And during Apollo, the Astronauts kind of were a contemporary version of "rock star": they were chosen from a pool of daring test pilots, they drove fancy custom Corvettes, etc. As the initial problems with space flight were worked out, space flight increasingly become a specialization for science and engineering than something for highly qualified dare devils with "the right stuff".

I'm more intrigued by the disparity in China - they seem to be in a similar phase to Apollo, where there's massive national support for the program and it's attached to a sense of national pride. I wonder if it's also that culturally they've tended to more aggressively exhaust natural resources so colonization elsewhere feels like a more natural next step.

[frereubu]

Astronauts were hugely famous with massive amounts of media coverage in 1969. Who's to say this isn't just about wanting to be someone famous, whether that's an astronaut in 1969 or a YouTuber in 2019?

[celeritascelery]

Becoming a YouTuber is much more likely then being an astronaut ever was, so this may be a good thing.

[arnaudsm]

You'd be surprised : there are more astronauts alive than YouTubers with >10M subscribers.

[mikece]

Which is another problem entirely: when you shoot for the stars and miss you're likely to have out-achieved most people in the process. But when you would rather aspire to do what literally anyone can do the chance of you achieving something new, worthwhile, or novel are somewhat diminished.

[oceanghost]

This says way more about the US, and NASA than the kids today.

The US doesn't have a shuttle fleet. We beg the Russians for a ride to space if we need one.

I grew up watching the shuttle flights, I'm 41, I watched every one I could when I was a kid, including Challenger and Columbia.

I was in the 2nd grade during the Challenger disaster, we watched the launch live in the classroom. It still upsets me to think about it. And after that disaster, we rebuilt ourselves, we did better, and we pressed on.

My children will never have an emotional attachment to space travel like that because the US does not have an effective space program.

So, of course, the kids don't want to be astronauts. They want to be whatever we the adults, model for them. And, collectively, we've been some shitty role models lately.

[gph]

I mean if the space industry/tourism takes off in the next couple decades like it's poised to, kids in this generation will have a better chance of getting to space as a private citizen than by becoming an astronaut.

The title of astronaut will likely start to change in meaning as well. Perhaps in the future it will just be a catch-all term for those who work directly in outer space as opposed to tourists or onboard staff.

[balabaster]

Or it'll just become like "pilot"

[pvaldes]

So they choose to play with videogames and makeup in their room, instead the super-dangerous activity that could freeze, burn, asphyxiate, mutilate or kill them with 99% of probability if something fails, and will temporarily destroy their muscles and health if all goes 100% ok?

Such smart kids. Their parents should be proud.

[bwb]

I am really proud to see teacher at #2 it looks like in all 3 countries, a great profession we just need to comp more.

[asark]

In the US teaching's in an interesting position, being one of the only salaried jobs with reasonable amounts of time off (once you take out the parts of Summer teachers are actually working—planning, late Summer meetings and such, plus the extra hours during the school year, it's still quite a bit better than most US jobs) that you don't have to fight or compromise to attain, and one of the only ones where taking lots of parental leave—even repeatedly—isn't likely to do serious harm to your career. The schedule also matches up pretty well with when one's kids are out of school, both during and outside the school year. It's probably the most family-friendly common job there is by a long shot, and there are teaching jobs anywhere there are people so it's relocation-friendly.

[spaceflunky]

I wouldn't get too excited... the list shows to me that the kids only know about professions they're directly exposed to or repeatedly hear a lot about.

Kinda dumb to ask kids what their ideal profession is when they really only understand about 10 jobs.

[li_am]

Popular YouTubers will easily be able to afford a trip or two to space in their lifetime, so it kind of makes sense?

[ydnaclementine]

Kids in the 80s wanted to be rock stars, it’s just the trend

[geggam]

No we didn't.

We just wanted to party :)

90s wanted to be a rockstar

80s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBShN8qT4lk

90s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmeUuoxyt_E

[labrador]

Back in my day, American kids would much rather be rock stars than astronauts

[oneepic]

In my head this sounds pretty bad. this sounds like kids won't be aspiring to be in a career that naturally involves some degree of curiosity and wonder and general coolness (astronaut), but rather some rando on YouTube with a pop filter and fast editing that already thinks he knows everything. And calls out people, and talks trash, and shows off and constantly tells people to buy them stuff on Amazon and support his content on Patreon or whatever.

...Fuck, our kids are gonna be assholes.

[noxToken]

Or kids want to be kids. They want to do things that they like such as playing games, hanging out (podcast), or reviewing tech/games/fashion/beauty. They want to do them with people they like. They want to share the experience with other people. That's one form of a YouTuber.

There are bad actors in this space. There are bad actors in every space. Should we label children who want to start a business assholes since companies like Nestle and Uber exist? Should we label children who want to be politicians assholes since some politicians vote for whoever pays the most? Should we label children who want to be scientific researchers assholes since we know some researchers fudge their findings to keep funding?

[bluedino]

The YouTube bubble has to pop at some point, right?

I came into a whole channel full of YouTube 'stars' showing off their million dollar homes in California with their sports cars etc, 9/10 of these guys I had never heard of - then again I'm not a teen.

[m23khan]

I think this is just down to the modern media technology/trends and kids lifestyles these days. When kid media staples such as Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, Bill Nye the science guy, etc. is replaced by pop-style/hyper-paced youtube stars, what can you expect?

Would an average 8 year old be drawn towards 'Neil Armstrong or Chris Hadfield' or towards a popular youtube star close to their own age group?

[viburnum]

Kids are smart, being an astronaut is a dangerous and pointless job, like doing motorcycle stunts or BASE jumping.

[wahern]

Is BASE jumping a job? I met a tower climber once. He loved his job, and I bet if he could he'd jump off some of the structures he works on.

"Tower climber" or "tower technician" seem to be the common terms according to Google. But the person I met used an unfamiliar, archaic term to describe himself, which I can't recall. Anyone know?

EDIT: Steeplejack! I think Jim Phelan was the guy I met: http://www.uphigh.com/

[RenRav]

It makes sense. Kids not too long ago wanted to be tv stars because that was all they watched. I think tv has been on its way out for years and youtube has mostly filled the void. Now they just watch youtube. 'Celebrities' to them are primarily youtube celebs.

[pzone]

I'm 31 and would certainly rather be a Youtuber than an astronaut.

[JoeAltmaier]

Kids used to want to be movie stars. Has anything changed?

[kappi]

Why should kids become astronauts! It is low paid and is one of the most riskiest job with long term health issues. Kids these days are practical.