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The Troubling Decline in Conscientiousness (ft.com) 122

Conscientiousness levels among young adults have fallen substantially since 2014 as people in their twenties and thirties report increased distractibility and carelessness alongside decreased tenacity and commitment-making, according to Financial Times analysis of Understanding America Study data.

The personality trait, which research links to longer lifespans, career success, and relationship durability, has witnessed its steepest decline during and after the pandemic. Young adults simultaneously showed rising neuroticism scores and declining extroversion measures, transforming from society's most outgoing age group to its most introverted.
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The Troubling Decline in Conscientiousness

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  • tl;dr; (Score:5, Funny)

    by Oh really now ( 5490472 ) on Friday August 08, 2025 @01:27PM (#65575580)
    tl; dr;
  • No shit... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by FuegoFuerte ( 247200 ) on Friday August 08, 2025 @01:27PM (#65575582)

    People thought we could just shut down all social interaction for a number of years and shove gadgets into people's hands with anti-social media intentionally designed to breed toxic conflict, and not have anti-social behavior result from it? It's like people watched Idiocracy and saw it as a model society we could work toward.

    • What if the most toxic part of social media is the banning, which feels like the most personal of attacks?

      • That's like saying the most toxic part of MEK is the E. It's one big toxic package.

        • If I'm free to fight the toxic self-expressions of others without a mod banning one or the other of us, do I feel better about myself (at least I'm fighting words with words!)?

          • I agree. I am a man who has strongly-held viewpoints about things, based on personal experience and/or deep knowledge resulting from years of study and research. Slashdot is basically the only place on the internet where I can express my sincere opinions freely anymore, but it's only a matter of time until I get downmodded into oblivion here also and thus censored yet again. Everywhere else I just get insta-banned.

            The whole internet is now "moderated" by nannies, censors, Nazis, bullies, and other pond scum

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward

        This reminds me of a (former) friend of mine who had the attitude that he was bullied in high school because his peer group regularly excluded him from non-compulsory social gatherings. The thing is, he was an asshole, he'd get angry easily and yell at people (for seriously trivial things), he'd generally bring down the mood of the group. Why would they want to hang out with him? They didn't. So they didn't invite him. But instead of asking himself why they didn't want to spend time with him; maybe doing so

      • You can and should ban people in real life. Refusing to interact with people who are not interestes in a mutually beneficial relationship is normal. If someone car jacks me, I cross him off the invite list to my BBQ.

  • conscientious(adj.) 1610s, of persons, "controlled by conscience, governed by the known rules of right and wrong;" of conduct, etc., "regulated by conscience," 1630s, from French conscientieux (16c.; Modern French consciencieux), from Medieval Latin conscientiosus, from Latin conscientia "sense of right, moral sense" (see conscience).

    conscience(n.) c. 1200, "faculty of knowing what is right," originally especially to Christian ethics, later "awareness that the acts for which one feels responsible do or do

    • by Roger W Moore ( 538166 ) on Friday August 08, 2025 @01:45PM (#65575616) Journal
      Like many words in English is has more than one meaning. It can still be used in the original sense that you describe and it seems like that the "diligent" meaning grew from a specialized use of the more general interpretation i.e. doing what is right, meaning working hard and carfeully.
      • carfeully --> carefully....clearly the article is right!
      • Yea, but when? This is far from a common usage of the word, and the article even stretches the usage of working diligently.

        If your company asks you to harm people, should you be conscientious of working hard or of the people you are being asked to harm?

        • Yea, but when? This is far from a common usage of the word,

          No it's not. You conveniently left out another definition [dictionary.com] of conscientious:

          careful and painstaking; particular; meticulous; scrupulous.

          conscientious application to the work at hand.

          In re: your question, the person would pay attention to the details of harming someone as they were instructed. For example, a mob hit. They wouldn't just walk up to the person in broad daylight with hundreds of people around and shoot/stab them (though this has happened). Instead, they would observe the target, find out their routine, where they live, then, when that

          • If you notice I never said they didn't use a a valid definition, I asked when this definition came into being. That's why I posted the etymology I did. And I stand by this not being the most common usage of the word.

            *insert personal attack here*

            • by Rinnon ( 1474161 )

              And I stand by this not being the most common usage of the word.

              I can only speak for myself, but when I think of conscientiousness the first definition that comes to my mind is the diligent one. Anecdotally, I don't know if I have ever heard someone use the word to refer to conscience or morality.

              Going back to your original question of "when", as you are no doubt aware it can be very difficult to pinpoint precisely when a word picks up or transitions to a new meaning. It is always going to be a gradual process, so we would need to further define the "when" you are looki

              • Total non-sequitur, you know what bugs me? Moral support. Shouldn't it be morale support? I'm not looking for someone to support me ethically, I'm looking for someone to raise enthusiasm and confidence.

                I tale your point. However, I've often wanted "moral support" in the context of doing something that I really don't want to do, but that I also know I should or must do. In that case, "moral" is indeed an appropriate word.

                After I typed the above, I did a search and found this:

                https://grammarphobia.com/blog/2010/11/moral-morale.html

                That entry was prompted by someone who posed the question that you just asked. The two words share a common root, and the meanings are clearly related; so any ambiguity around the

        • Yea, but when? This is far from a common usage of the word...

          Which meaning is "far from common"? I've seen it used both ways and I think the "diligent" meaning is the more common usage while you suggest otherwise. The diligent meaning is generally the more common one I've encountered. That's been the case in English for as long as I've been around but perhaps it's different in related languages like American?

  • career success? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sphealey ( 2855 ) on Friday August 08, 2025 @01:30PM (#65575592)

    What we might call the "Financialization Generation", which held the reins from ~1975 to at least 2021, deliberately and knowingly destroyed the conditions under which the great majority of people could experience anything known as 'career success' [1]. That they are now paying researchers to bemoan that those so undermined lack "Conscientiousness" about their work environment is a bit rich.

    [1] yes, we all know some successful entrepreneurs, the guy with 17 money-earning patents, and the super-hustlers who are on track to retire at 35 by dint of working seven jobs 120 hours/week. Those are far distant outliers to the mean

    • This.

      Increasingly, all you win by being able, focused and determined is the right to mere survival. All the while the mlst powerful and rich persons in the world treat facts as a mere suggestion, truth as a matter of taste, and logical thinking as a point of view.

    • by Marful ( 861873 )
      Yes this. Exactly this.
    • Ridiculous and just shows that you are completely lacking historical awareness. Your economic standard is about 150 % higher now than 1975. In other words, today's poor people have the material standard of 1970s middle class.

      https://data.worldbank.org/ind... [worldbank.org]

      Your problem is that your expectations are much higher than they used to be, and this is where your lack of historical awareness comes in. Look up the lifestyle in the mid-70s. You know, READ SOMETHING instead of wasting time on Slashdot.

      • You are trying to contact me. I am monitoring the disposable email that receives messages sent to alt.sp-awstsbj@yopmail.com.

        Send some information in the email that indicates it's you.

      • I'm not able to post a comment on your slashdot journal entry, your livejournal won't let me post a comment without creating an account, and the email link on your livejournal user account doesn't have an address. Replying to your comments here is the only method I have without creating yet another online account somewhere.

  • This is the inevitable result of classism and the resulting corruption. Civilization as we know it is about to collapse once again because of the moral rot from within. Is civilization doomed by the unethical actions of the upper class? Not inevitably, but quite possibly, unless those actions are curtailed and the systems enabling them are transformed.

    The danger is real, and we’re in a critical window. The upper class, due to their influence, bears disproportionate responsibility. But doom is not a fo

    • by 2TecTom ( 311314 )

      I forgot to mention the classist paywall. Just saying.

    • If that was really the cause, then civilization has been in decline since time immemorial.

      • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

        by znrt ( 2424692 )

        the only civilization that still exists consistently today since "time immemorial" is china. you might count in india to some extent.

        one common assumption in modern western civilization is that it is the civilization, the end of history blablabla. yet this ignores that it is only about 200-300 years old and has been in decline for about the last 30, at an accelerating rate. that's because, like most past civilizations that are no more, it is founded on colonialism/imperialism which is simply not sustainable

        • by 2TecTom ( 311314 )

          Both Chinese and Indian societies have collapsed many times. Their modern society has little to do with their past which is the same as our situation. The problem is scale. At this scale, power is absolute and absolute power corrupts absolutely. All our governments are way too large and way too corrupt. There's little or no connection between the rulers and we the people.

          • by znrt ( 2424692 )

            china has seen several dinasties come and go with turmoil (and some degree of "collapse" if you will) inbetween but with sociopolitical and cultural continuity across, even throughout the cultural revolution (which was a quite radical rejection of traditinal values, but still) and later adoption of capitalism. you might argue that confucianism and taoism were a breaking point too.

            western civilization otoh had many breaking points and far greater collapses and disruption. i agree this can be a subjective vie

            • by 2TecTom ( 311314 )

              “If you pursue good with labor, the labor passes away, but the good remains. If you pursue evil with pleasure, the pleasure passes away, but the evil remains.” ~ Cicero

            • by 2TecTom ( 311314 ) on Saturday August 09, 2025 @05:52AM (#65577064) Homepage Journal

              Collapse begins with the decay of individual virtue, when leaders stop acting from a sense of duty and public service (“O mores!”). Virtue produces lasting good; vice leaves indelible harm, a leader’s choices have enduring consequences (De Officiis). The rule of law must serve the people, if it doesn’t, the legal order, and thus the state unravels. (De Legibus).

              Clearly the American Empire is in decline and the unethical behavior of the upper class is the cause.

        • one common assumption in modern western civilization is that it is the civilization, the end of history blablabla. yet this ignores that it is only about 200-300 years old and has been in decline for about the last 30, at an accelerating rate.

          You guys keep saying this, but the numbers don't support it. I don't understand this obsession with insisting that we're now living in the worst period in history, despite all available evidence saying otherwise. But that too is nothing new, people have been doing this all throughout history, almost always done by people who have their own ambitions of taking control over some population that doesn't meet their arbitrary, unrealistic, usually (but not always) religiously motivated standards. Right now that'

          • by znrt ( 2424692 )

            You guys keep saying this, but the numbers don't support it. I don't understand this obsession with insisting that we're now living in the worst period in history, despite all available evidence saying otherwise.

            there are many numbers and interpretations, i don't know which ones you're looking at. we (westerners) have indeed enjoyed a great time in history regarding peace, prosperity and even individual freedom ... after ww2. personally, i feel privileged, but that's not even a century ago, and there are clear signs that this system's prosperity came at the expense of other's suffering, and is declining.

            first, colonialism never stopped, it just changed means. to live comfortably in our democratic and free societies

            • there are many numbers and interpretations, i don't know which ones you're looking at. we (westerners) have indeed enjoyed a great time in history regarding peace, prosperity and even individual freedom ... after ww2. personally, i feel privileged, but that's not even a century ago, and there are clear signs that this system's prosperity came at the expense of other's suffering, and is declining.

              This is global, not just western. The late professor Hans Rosling was an activist on this topic.

              https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

              It's actually entertaining watching rsilvergun talk about how bad each industrial revolution was. Yet, look at the data. Hans Rosling addressed this as well, namely he proved that a bunch of chimpanzees are better educated on this topic than people like you and rsilvergun, namely because of your preconceived ideas:

              https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
              https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

              • by znrt ( 2424692 )

                This is global, not just western. The late professor Hans Rosling was an activist on this topic.

                look at the data

                i've known about rosling for many years. he was brilliant in his field, which is visual representation of data and being a quite amusing showman. not so much in accuracy or objectivity. it's funny how he shows the evolution of personal income across the world (your famous camel), while saying en passant "yes, it's a logarithmic scale, but still". still? if you plot that same data on a linear scale it turns out that all those in the middle hump are actually far, far behind. he does concede that averages aren

                • i've known about rosling for many years. he was brilliant in his field, which is visual representation of data and being a quite amusing showman. not so much in accuracy or objectivity. it's funny how he shows the evolution of personal income across the world (your famous camel), while saying en passant "yes, it's a logarithmic scale, but still". still?

                  Do you even know why statisticians use logarithmic scales? Not just this, but for anything.

                  if you plot that same data on a linear scale it turns out that all those in the middle hump are actually far, far behind. he does concede that averages aren't a representative measure, yet most of his show is about averages, and when it comes to drilling down he is very selective about which country to pick. in the first link you gave i had to laugh, i hadn't seen that one: he picked only one: china. ofc, that was for the bbc.

                  Far behind whom? Let me guess, a very arbitrary goalpost, namely the 1%? In other words, the outliers, who you want to emphasize, to fit some kind of ideological message, and the best way for you to do that is make them appear to represent a much larger portion of the chart than they realistically do in order to make it look like the majority get only a tiny share of the page? And you base this criticism on?

                  Here's ano

                  • by znrt ( 2424692 )

                    Far behind whom? Let me guess, a very arbitrary goalpost, namely the 1%? In other words, the outliers, who you want to emphasize, to fit some kind of ideological message

                    if you use a linear scale and play that fancy animation the lower hump actually barely moves, which becomes even more obvious compared to the higher hump which races ahead. so you answered your own question:

                    Do you even know why statisticians use logarithmic scales? Not just this, but for anything.

                    in this case, "to fit some kind of ideological message", namely exalting the virtues of capitalism and glossing over the increasing inequality. though i don't think rosling had really any agenda other than to impress his audience. as i sad, he was a good showman. and there is some truth in what he says, but he probably believed his own bias. the graph wielding slayer of biases! the irony ...

                    You're convinced that income inequality is somehow damaging. It's not. In fact, one problem (among many others, but let's address your concern here) with looking at things in terms of income inequality is that it ignores the fact that most of the "income" the people at the top receive isn't even money. There isn't even enough money in the world for them to even be able to sell all of that

                    besides the fact that this is a really bizarre way of justifying (increasing) inequality ... you're telling me that bi

                    • in this case, "to fit some kind of ideological message", namely exalting the virtues of capitalism and glossing over the increasing inequality. though i don't think rosling had really any agenda other than to impress his audience. as i sad, he was a good showman. and there is some truth in what he says, but he probably believed his own bias. the graph wielding slayer of biases! the irony ...

                      I believe there's more to it than you think. It's interesting that the other guy I linked mentions mental health -- part of the reason for that is people like you, rsilvergun, and basically every politician in the world, go WAY out of their way to convince the masses things are worse for them than they really are. Everybody on this planet has problems. Doesn't matter what your income looks like. Look what social media does to us for instance -- the shit people like to share with each other is generally inte

                    • by znrt ( 2424692 )

                      Nothing about Israel is either apartheid or genocide.

                      sorry but i can't really take you seriously. i wish you a good life inside your mental armor.

                    • Don't you ever notice how I substantiate everything I say, and you don't substantiate anything? It's well past being a pattern. This is exactly what I've come to expect out of you guys -- weasel words building up to a cop-out.

                    • by 2TecTom ( 311314 )

                      insults speak volumes about the insulter

          • by 2TecTom ( 311314 )

            the best time in history for the privileged perhaps but never have so many been hungry, and never have we endangered the biosphere to this degree. No we're on the edge of a collapse based simply on the limits of growth according to Professor Al Bartlett, "The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.”

            Arithmetic, Population and Energy ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

            once you understand this lecture, you will clearly see we're heading for a brick

      • by 2TecTom ( 311314 )

        many civilizations have come and gone, ours is just the next in line but they all died for the same reasons, they became corrupt, decedent and irresponsible

      • by 2TecTom ( 311314 ) on Saturday August 09, 2025 @06:03AM (#65577078) Homepage Journal

        the cycles of rise and decline never really stop, nations do not pull back from the abyss of classism

        Let's look at this through Thomas Jefferson's perspective, shall we?

        “Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.”

        “In every government on earth is some trace of human weakness, some germ of corruption and degeneracy, which cunning will discover, and wickedness insensibly open, cultivate and improve.”

        “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free... it expects what never was and never will be.”

        I'd say Jefferson would agree with me that America is in decline, and Trump is an example of this, wouldn't you?

      • by 2TecTom ( 311314 )

        so how about Abraham Lincoln?

        “If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”

        “Passion has helped us; but can do so no more. Reason, cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason, must furnish all the materials for our future support and defense Let those materials be molded into general intelligence, sound morality, and a reverence for the Constitution and laws.”

        Clearly, Lincoln would be a cr

    • How many cycles has this dirtball had anyways? How many Brahma cycles have there been? We have to guide ourselves out, but greed...
      • by 2TecTom ( 311314 )

        The “American empire” today is better understood as the operational face of a global elite class system whose reach has been planetary. Like Rome’s senatorial oligarchy, these elites have extracted far more than they have maintained, producing a brittle, unequal, and ecologically overdrawn order. Because the empire is now globalized, its decline will not be contained — political, economic, and environmental systems are tightly linked, so collapse in one will accelerate collapse in th

    • This is the inevitable result of classism and the resulting corruption. Civilization as we know it is about to collapse once again because of the moral rot from within. Is civilization doomed by the unethical actions of the upper class? Not inevitably, but quite possibly, unless those actions are curtailed and the systems enabling them are transformed.

      Numerous psychiatric studies correlate low conscientiousness with dark tetrad psychiatric traits (Narcissism, Machiavellianism, Psychopathy, Sadism). They also correlate dark tetrad traits with progressivism, which is a commonly touted antidote for “classism” (as opposed to classical liberal ideals like blind justice and free speech). Here’s a small sampling:

      2023 Understanding left-wing authoritarianism (Current Psychology)
      2024 Critical Social Justice Attitudes Scale (Scandinavian Journal

      • by 2TecTom ( 311314 )

        Obviously things go up and down, in the long run, sure, humanity moves on, but in the short term people suffer

        all you rhetoric only proves that people can't talk about classism without prejudice because most people are complicit in it

        billions are are undercapitalized while most capital is being hoarded, there's no denying how unethical the situation is and that's on un all

        denial is always deepest among the most guilty, the worst lies are the ones we tell ourselves

        and let's not forget that the road to hell i

      • by 2TecTom ( 311314 )

        the kaboom is coming, and all the right wing authoritarians voted him in

        not the first time either, we've seen this all through history, fascism rears its ugly head once again

        • “When certain obstructionists become too [convincing], label them fascist, or Nazi, or antisemitic, and use the prestige of anti-fascist and tolerance organizations to discredit them constantly associate those who oppose us with those names which already have a bad smell.”
          — 1943 directive issued by U.S. Communist Party

          You apparently have the cycle exactly reversed - a DARVO technique common on the left. The psychiatric signs essentially point to a growing need for a natural defense agai

          • by 2TecTom ( 311314 )

            insults speak volumes about the insulter

            left versus right is just divide and conquer when all our political parties are owned and controlled by the upper class

            i think free speech is great, it let's people make mistakes publicly that I can then learn from

  • Is there a link to the article without a Paywall or are we just accepting the summary as the basis for all discussion on the matter?

  • by abulafia ( 7826 ) on Friday August 08, 2025 @02:10PM (#65575694)
    Hm. So folks who were small kids when the US ramped up a massive security panic, kids during a period of economic upheaval, Teens during our global experiment with raising children by cell phone, and are now trying to learn how to adult in another brewing economic mess, with creeping fascism and "AI" weirdness distorting everything.

    All while being forced to go to schools bitter shitbag losers like to shoot up.

    When you're powerless in an environment that is constantly changing and frequently hostile, it does things to you.

  • I don't buy it (Score:3, Interesting)

    by hdyoung ( 5182939 ) on Friday August 08, 2025 @02:15PM (#65575704)
    self-reporting and surveys produce notoriously unreliable data.

    Take a look at the research on the flynn effect. That stuff is pretty solid. The wiki page has data until around 2000. More recent data is a bit harder to find, but from what I see, no serious researchers are reporting major dumbing-down in the population. Things may have reached a plateau in first-world countries, but people aren't getting dumber. Yes there are tons of booger-eating morons in the population, but overall humans are the smartest, and most capable, they've ever been. Covid could produce a small downward blip in the trend, but it's likely to affect a very tight band of age ranges and it'll be temporary.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

    I'm not suggesting that social media and short-form video are the best form of entertainment for your mental health. But they sure beat sucking down a bunch of heavy metal fumes from the tetraethyl-leaded gas while driving home, and capping the evening off with half a pack of cigaretes and a 6-pack of beer.

    Sorry oldsters. At the population level, kids these days are smarter and more capable than we were at the same age. When you actually think about it, you should feel good about that, not grumpy. A lot of this is because of the decisions that were made decades ago by people who are currently boomers and genxers. So, congratulations.

    Now get off my lawn.
  • That we actually tell him to meet us 1 hour before we actually plan to be there. If we say "Dinner at 7", we tell him dinner is at 6. And then sometimes he's still late!

    • I don't get why you or anyone puts up with such people. I'd start the dinner on time. If that person misses it, oh well. Actions should have consequences.
      • by Rinnon ( 1474161 )

        I make allowances for people that I like in the hopes that they do the same.

        I'm a "show up on the dot" type of person too; but I can be an asshole, so it all comes out in the wash.

  • When people get the absolute shit kicked out of them non-stop by life they learn to live in the here and now and the moment.

    You can't make any plans because at any moment the entire economy collapses around. You know that anything you have isn't going to last because you don't have a stable society to live in.

    I see this with my kid despite my best efforts. It's not too bad because I have shoveled money their way in order to make sure they can succeed in a career by getting a good degree and getting
    • That has created a psychopathic society run by a psychopathic government. And it's starting to show up in psychological damage to children.

      Exactly, why are we complaining that people are getting rude when we've decided to make the face of the nation the most rude, divisive and cruel person we've ever had represent a major party. Just look at the social media of the White House and DHS, it's deranged, mean spirited and hateful.

      This is who we are spoiled and repugnant rich kids who have lost all sense of decency and what made us rich in the first place.

      • It's an exclusive club of members who achieved a positive troll mod on slashdot.

        The easiest way to get into the club is to point out that old people are in charge and the world is a hellscape therefore old people, who let's remember go on endlessly about personal responsibility, our responsible for the state of the world.

        It's Schrodinger's boomer. They're in a quantum superposition where they are both completely blameless while at the same time completely in charge.
  • I used to be very detailed in my work. Then my manager said I shouldn't be such a perfectionist and work faster and more sloppy. I did just that. Projects failed, profit was high as we were just a third party and we were still less sloppy than the other contractors. So they got the blame. My manager was right.
    Being conscientious is perceived as a handicap these days. Just shout and cheat your way through. That is the path that leads to profit.
  • by Petersko ( 564140 ) on Friday August 08, 2025 @02:38PM (#65575782)

    That checks. Trying to make any kind of commitment to something casual a week in advance with younger people is annoyingly difficult.

    "Busy next Thursday evening?" Shouldn't be met with, "I don't know. I'll have to see." The right answer is, "Now I am!"

    It's an extension of how people visiting over coffee feel the need to check their phone. It's rude. It's saying that whatever unknown might come along is more important.

  • So I am building a machine that takes the energy from Boomer threads and converts it into electricity and these kind of threads really messed that up.

    The sudden increase in power cause the machine to explode and it's taken out about a half a city block.

    Anywho could we maybe cut back on these threads for just a little bit while I work out the kinks? Thanks.
  • Poor reporting on a paywalled article.
    Surprise.

  • boomers have stolen everything not nailed down for the next 100 years and have their eyes on the nails.
  • by Anonymous Coward

    There's value in being civil, gracious, courteous, respectful, even when disagreeing with someone. Everyone gets along better. For some reason people have stopped teaching and practicing that. We all have differences and will always have differences. These are important skills that need to be learned, practiced, and exercised, in order to maintain civility in any society.

    Instead we have devolved to the order of the elementary school playground, where the loudest bully who successfully shits on everything an

  • Of course this is primarily due to smart phones and social media. Our family has tightly controlled access to both, not allowing a smart phone until 16 for my son and daughter. My son, 22, is thankful and has adopted his parents' views on social media. I think his 13 year old sister alternately pays lip service and begrudgingly agrees. Depends on what day it is.

    I really, really feel sorry for Gen Zs' fucked up social lives and lack of sex. Boomers got the economy, and Gen X got the sex. The rest of y'all we

  • I'm more troubled by the troubling decline of consciousness.

What the world *really* needs is a good Automatic Bicycle Sharpener.

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