I'm not trying to glorify a life of reckless abandon, but in the context of the actual article, it's a little concerning to me that normal parts of human life like humor and sexuality seem to be a negative to you, and we should instead strive for "sobriety." That seems a rather grim view of human existence. I'm also not sure I can take seriously the notion that somehow this is a more serious moment in history than all of the others that came before it. The Cold War and the threat of worldwide nuclear annihilation? World wars that killed millions and the worst genocide in human history? Colonialism and slavery? Religious civil wars? General poverty and starvation? At what point in history were things less serious than now? When were humor and love somehow more appropriate?

In my opinion that (as a mainstream social narrative) is a false dilemma. The real division is between casual relationships and long relationships. The message I got as a young person is that casual sex should be celebrated and endorsed. That is a lie. Casual sex erodes long, meaningful relationships. It makes it that much harder to commit. Long relationships are how functional families are built. Functional families provide a bedrock to the society at large.

I think you are having a very idealised vision of society and families. You would be surprised to see what lies beneath all those "functional" families of the past. To my experience, having an active sex life (not talking here about carelessness) and multiple partners, even one night stands, could be quite helpful for someone and help them open up and experience life.

I mean these are all sort of arbitrary categories. I'm not saying "go have casual sex, it'll enrich your life." I agree that long-term meaningful relationships are fulfilling. But sexual attraction, flirting, humor—these are all spontaneous parts of human societies and human lives. To suggest we're living in such a serious time that they're not appropriate is macabre and anti-human, in my opinion, and will only create more suffering.

How did boomers use more drugs? Since the boomer generation we had a crack epidemic, 2 heroine, 1 of those mixed with prescription opiates, and a non stop meth problem. Marijuana is legal in a bunch of states now. Psychedelics are having a revival. Mdma didn't even exist until recently and there have been two waves of rave culture

See: https://mobile.twitter.com/adam_tooze/status/121316563032673...

> At their peak in 1980 illegal drugs accounted for 5 % of total personal consumption expenditure in US. An astonishing figure corroborated by contemporary estimates that cocaine sales peaked at $35bn in 1980. Rachel Soloveichik @BEA_News

Those comments in the thread have interesting points. 350/g in 1980 compared to what it costs now. (I used to pay 60/g around 2010)

https://www.businessinsider.com/us-cocaine-prices-change-201...

Thinking about it more, I guess you need to clarify if a boomers today use more drugs or was drug use higher in the 60s,70s,80s then in 00s and 10s. Other stuff I searched suggested boomers in the 10s are hit hard by opioids

> boomers today

Drugs are increasingly unkind to the bod the older you get, so I’d imagine it’s the latter.

For the record, I paid about 125/g in the mid nineties. I’m sure someone’s made a chart of this somewhere. I remember High Times magazine or Cannabis Culture used to have a spot price table in most issues based on numbers submitted by their readership. Would make an interesting graph. I don’t tend to trust LE valuations of drug prices because their incentivized to inflate them on capture and deflate them on selling risk.

MDMA was everywhere since 1970-s. What 'recently' are you talking about?

i dont think it was recreational until the 80s but yeah looks i misremembered, it was invented in the early 1900s

> Millennials are a more sober and serious generation for a more sober and serious time. No need to regress.

I mean, the US did embark on a multi-decade war. But is our time fundamentally more serious than what the Boomers went through?

A boomer could graduate high school, get a job, buy a car, buy a house, and start saving for retirement.

Younger generations have to work 10X as hard for a chance at that kind of middle class lifestyle.

When it comes to where you live it's poor job prospects or unaffordable real estate: pick one. Everything goes up but wages. If you're not in the "professional class" by 30-40 years old you're in real trouble. There's an alternate path that involves living in low cost of living places and working your ass off while you live below your means, but that's not really easier just different.

Younger generations, especially those younger than GenX, know that you just can't fuck around... literally or metaphorically. The party's over.

Edit: Someone will comment that this was only true for white boomers. You're right. Now it's true for nobody.

It didn’t just “happen” with boomers. My parents didn’t have their first home until in their mid thirties, payed 13% interest on their mortgage, worked plenty of shit jobs on the way there, saving etc. Your description of the boomers is idealized and I think not remotely the norm. They enjoyed far fewer material possessions than we do today, and by many measures had fewer money-making opportunities than exist today, and capital wasn’t nearly as free as it is today. When you’re in your 40’s (provided you make smart choices in your 20’s and 30’s) you’ll have far more wealth than the kids of that time will. Part of it is just a function of longevity and saving. Stop expecting to be able to buy a house when you graduate. It wasn’t true for my boomer parents, wasn’t true for me (younger genX), and doesn’t seem to have changed now. If you seriously think you’re a more dour generation with tougher problems, it should be all the more motivation to stop spending money on frivolous services and throw-away possessions and save, save, save. Focus on bringing social and chemical stability to your life and creating a new, stable family. Leverage the myriad money making opportunities out there. I read comments like yours and then read an article in a business rag talking about the disrupted workforce of today, specifically how easy money is giving younger workers more freedom to set the terms of their employment. I would have killed for the low-barrier-to-entry opportunities available today on the Internet when I was in my teens. If you can’t make it in America in today’s environment, it’s a product more of your informal environmental education. Get new teachers - don’t complain, up your game.