So this is the year that me and all the friends I went to school with turn 30 (Happy Birthday Michelle!). “30 is nothing” say the old folk while the youngins think “damn that is wicked old”. In the meantime I’m here having a mini mid-life crisis. I’m contemplating selling my home and become a nomad because I’m irresponsible and staid and it looks like I’m not the only one doing this.
According to this months Time magazine there is a new phase for humans in the growth from baby to adult which they call twixters. Time says they are aged between 18-25, don’t own property, possibly still live with their parents and flit from job to job. I think their age definition is still a bit too young as I know plenty of people my age that fit that description.
Twixters is a pretty shit name for the phenomenon though – it brings up images of a long dark brown stick with caramel inside it instead of some demographic in todays society. I actually favour the Japanese word for it – “Freeters“.Perhaps this is just my generations way of having their own age of aquarius. Our teachers taught us to fear the unprotected penis because of aids and pregnancy. They told us sex was dangerous, don’t do drugs mmkay, being happy is one of the most important things you should achieve and higher education is the only way to get ahead in life. Is it our fault that we followed these recommendations and discovered that life is pretty cool when you don’t work 9-5.
For a start we had 12 years of 9-3 with 45 mins break at lunch and 15 mins either side. Then if we went to university or tafe we only had to go 3 times a week and even then it was sometimes only 3 hours at a time. If we didn’t go to uni we began casual jobs working nights, weekends or part-time because employers don’t want to give us paid holidays as full time employees. It’s little wonder then that after a lifetime of conditioning to only work a few hours at a time that we aren’t interested in long working hours. We’ve learnt to have fun with little money and that there is more to life than work.
So, suffer all you parents with 35 year old kids still at home and employers who can’t find full time employees. You brought it all on yourself. It will be interesting to see what happens when all these freesters and twixters come in to power after the baby boomers retire.
And your ad says bargain backpacker travel – how fittng! 🙂
I’ll find out when I get there – 3 week till I’m 21!
yay for you, you must be so proud and old, wait did I say that outloud:P
Ummm, coupla questions:
+ How do the freesters and twixters “come in to power”? – are Presidents and Prime Ministers going to become part-time jobs? “Gosh, I backpacked through Europe last year and made some loose change by being a Queen, two Prime Ministers and a tin-pot dictator… wicked!”
+ “We’ve learnt to have fun with little money” – well, yaah; like, doesn’t every destitute teen in Ethiopia have an iPod and Nike sneakers and broadband internet? And like, you don’t need much money to jump on a international plane flight, right?. Wadda mean the average annual income of a Sierra Leonne adult is US4.50? Maybe they need to backpack throoo Europe.
Oh, you mean white, western twixters :), pardon me, my GreenPeace subscription is showing…
What do you mean? The prime minister’s job already is part-time. Don’t they have a 3 month break or something at the end of the year? That’s just like school. All he does is gossip about the other groups and feign interest in current events – just like school.
Being a freester doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to go overseas. But you’re right, I didn’t notice any slang words for a freester from Cambodia. But I’m sure they exist in Russia.