Generation Y.

AKA: Millenials. AKA: People born sometime between 1980 & 1999.

A heads up for those who haven’t swung by Wait But Why yet, these articles are a bit longer than the usual fare. So, a quick summary if time or reading skills are in short supply for you.

A person’s happiness is equal to the difference between expectations and reality.

So, if some girl expects to grow up to be an overworked mother with no job opportunities, but instead becomes an incredibly bad ass fitness model who is paid insane amounts of money, she will most likely be quite happy.  (Probably)

On the other hand, if some mom told her daughter she would grow up to be the richest, most awesomest person in the world but the girl ends up with a menial 8-5 job doing data entry, she won’t be very happy. (Most likely)

Expectation vs. Reality.

Essentially, Generation Y has been showered with praise, false expectations, special attention, and a whole heaping pile of bullcrappery. This leads to an immense unfulfilled attitude when life gets in the way. You add social media to the mix, where people get to “craft” an image of their life, and you have envy coupled with despair when that low paying 8-5 doesn’t match up to your friend’s cruise around the world. Too high of expectations has created a whole generation of miserable young adults. It sucks.

This article should be required reading for anyone in college, or recently graduated persons. Check it out.

Why Generation Y Yuppies Are Unhappy via Wait But Why