[sillyquiet]

Yeah, as much as I think the whole concept of social media influencers is sad and dumb, this smells like one of those 'dang kids and their <x>' articles that have cursed us since Aristotle.

As a Gen-Xer, I don't know how many times I read similar things growing up about my own generation, except it was metal or hair bands or glam rockers that garnered the worry.

[joegahona]

Hair bands is exactly what sprung to mind for me (fellow Gen-Xer here). "Being a celebrity" has been idolized by young people for ages, whether it's an actor/actress, musician, or professional athlete. I didn't see the actual survey questions, but takeaways like this seem really loaded and perhaps the output of a leading question:

> Just 7.13% of Gen Z responded that they would not want to be a social media Influencer.

I'd also love to see an age distribution, though they did list the range at the bottom of the article. ("The research was conducted by Censuswide with 1,000 general consumers (nat rep) aged 16-25 in the USA between 26.07.22 to 28.07.22.")

[1] Unrelated, Bill Burr has a hilarious rant about hair bands that anyone who grew up listening to would relate with. It's really striking how bad it was -- akin to seeing the graphics of old Atari 2600 games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0KXrESpAn4

[havblue]

And civilizations since Aristotle have only lasted a few centuries on average. So when adults look at younger generations and see inevitable decline, they might be correct.

[cercatrova]

Correlation does not imply causation however.

[havblue]

I don't think I implied causation as much as symptoms of decline. In this case we're talking about a large percentage of people who are entering what is historically considered adulthood, 16+, who intend to apply themselves towards a career that (arguably) doesn't offer much utility to anyone. So the ghosts of Ancient Greece would see this as part of the decline of the American civilization and I don't think they would laugh, shrug their shoulders and say, "the kids are alright".

[just-ok]

It doesn’t deny causation, either.

[xboxnolifes]

The civilization Aristotle existed in also only lasted a few centuries. Seems like not much has changed.

[SketchySeaBeast]

I'm confused as to whether you're saying that a few centuries is a decline or not. When these civilizations were first forming do you believe that the elders would have looked at the youth and seen them as strengthening?

[slothtrop]

Foolishness =/= decline.