30-year-olds: 'drop the pad and grow up'
via Computer and Video Games
Men in their mid 20s and 30s need to put down the Xbox controller and grow up, says writer Kay Hymowitz in an opinion piece published in the Dallas Morning News.
Thanks to the emergence of pop culture such as television and gaming today's mid-20-something male "lingers happily, in a new hybrid state of semi-hormonal adolescence and responsible self-reliance," argues the article.
In fact compared to the last generation of young men today's 20 to 30-year-old blokes can't be considered adults, she says. "Adolescence appears to be the young man's default state," a phase which the writer with the funny name has chosen to call "child-man", encouraged, she says, by gaming.
As a 21st Century, 26-year-old bloke, reads the article, "you live in an apartment with a few single guy friends. In your spare time, you play basketball with your buddies, download the latest indie songs from iTunes, have some fun with the Xbox 360, take a leisurely shower, massage some product into your hair and face - and then it's off to bars and parties, where you meet, and often bed, girls of widely varied hues and sizes." So far, so good then.
Does this typical modern young man have a wife, kids or house though, she asks: "Are you kidding?"
Back in the 60s, says the opinion piece, the average man in his 20s had achieved most of life's milestones such as a good job, marriage, a house and even a few kids in the bank.
These days, argues the Dallas Morning News piece, the vast majority of 25 year old men have neither a house, wife nor children, says Hymowitz, which is definitely nothing to do with the invention of either the pill or Ayia Napa.
"With women, you could argue that adulthood is in fact emergent," Hymowitz writes. "Single young males, or SYMs, by contrast, often seem to hang out in a playground of drinking, hooking up, playing Halo 3 and, in many cases, underachieving. With them, adulthood looks as though it's receding."
"Underachieving"? We've got over 10 thousand achievement points, lady. The clue's in the title.
We're now living in a culture different from the one of 40 years ago, when you'd marry at school, get a factory job and live in the old family home? Education fees and houses aren't cheap in 2008...
Today's generation has far more time to develop a career, build a home and find a partner than before. When you consider that we're the first generation to grow up with control pads, it's obvious why it's become a target in this debate.
We bet their parents said the same thing about how 25-year-olds play too much sport on a Sunday instead of bringing up the kids...
"The problem with child-men," the article continues, "is that they're not very promising husbands and fathers. They suffer from a proverbial 'fear of commitment'".
What about the demographic of men who have a job, house and kids and still play games, then? Perhaps this writer should realise that some blokes are adult enough to decide what their hobby is. Sound off below!
