To ask if you're planning for a proper downward spiral of quality of life

[Fragmentedbrain]

I anticipate it and I'm saving up but that will be ofc no use if the financial system collapses

Should probably do something else

This. I think it's appalling that families cannot afford the basics on two salaries now, but it is also true that when I was growing up I remember getting new clothes once when I was about 14. The rest were hand me downs. No car (we walked everywhere - miles everyday. Even if we went on holiday we walked the three miles down to the train station with heavy backpacks on, as small children.) No central heating - ice on the inside of the windows in winter. No telephone. You walked two or three blocks and queued at the phone kiosk. No washing machine or fridge or TV for many years. My dad was a professional. We were considered 'posh and rich' at school. We just didn't have the same level of materialist desire in those days.

Summer holidays were spent playing out, unsupervised, in local countryside or back lanes. If it rained, you read stories in the library or drew pictures or made cut out dolls from old newspapers. If you wanted sweets or money to go swimming you collected empty bottles and returned them to the shop for recycling in exchange for a bit of money.

I didn't berate her about the way she is raising her children. I'm delighted for her and her children. Genuinely, I love to see it and wish we all shared her attitude and approach. I was expressing sadness that me and my partners working weeks are such that we can no longer do these things. I didn't berate her at all. I said she was very fortunate.

So what you're saying is that when society collapses you will sell your excess to survive and your business will be called 'the Tipsy allotment ' as all veg is irrigated with alcohol?

Let’s see what you actually said shall we?

“That's lovely if you have the luxury of time to do that. My kids did over lockdown when I was lucky enough not to work, we were skint, but we all loved the time to spend together. But I have to work due to the cost of living and they're all back on their screens now”.

That’s a great idea! 😀

I already know my quality of life is going to worsen. I’ve been getting UC top ups on my wage for children but this is stopping for one child this month due to her leaving education and the final child will be in two years. Cost of living expects a
house to be run on two wages these days so it is going to be tough as my wage alone doesn’t cover my current outgoings. I’m going to have to make cuts that is going to mean my quality of life will be lower than it is now.

This is so true
i work with young people in the care system and there has been a massive huge change in attitude in my clients.
until 6 years ago we achieved 100% placement in work/training at 18. In 2025 for the first time the majority expressed open hostility to the idea of any type of work and instead demanded, (and I really care deeply about these people, I use that word with caution) help to get diagnosis of mh or nd conditions. Only 45% were persuaded to try work/training.
this is financially unsustainable and incredibly bad for them as well. It’s so sad, we are trying new tactics all the time but social media is an addictive nightmare for vulnerable people.

Can you highlight specifically which bit of text contradicts the other, because they are saying the same thing 🤔

@FortheloveofCheesus and you can go a step further . My dc are really hooked on the fringe benefits of modern life but they also know how to store and germinate seeds and successfully manage a small garden, they can make jams and sew well enough to repair clothes etc. My teen dd wants to buy a small holding with a fresh water supply and have some chickens and be ready to live off-grid if needed. I’m encouraging her.

For myself, I expect life to deteriorate as I head into old age.

Mate, get off the internet and go for a walk. I think you’re spiralling now.

As much as I hate to say this as I’m not a big consumer myself, it is essential for the economy that we consume. I don’t order stuff from the likes of Amazon but I do make sure I support my local book store, hardware store, stationery shop etc. I don’t travel much or very far but I do eat out at my local restaurants and use the local bars and coffee shops. Even when things are tight we’d do ourselves a disservice if we stopped using them as it would increase unemployment and decrease tax money coming in.

There’s an attitude in there that’s in all of your posts and this is the last time I’m going to indulge you because, quite frankly, you’re an irritant.

I do also think it's important to model hope and optimism to my young adult children. Not go on too much about the broken social contract otherwise they will simply stop working hard.

Completely agree.

An attitude? Right.

I'm bewildered

You're right. Not about the spiralling, this is an accurate assessment. But there's not much we can do so might aswell enjoy what we can

Re AI - we need to see AI through the lens of "how can it help us as humankind", use it for good not for negative intent.

make your prompts positive, with good intent, find stuff out using AI. Use it to educate, but revalidate what it tells you, don't accept everything as the only truth. That's what people have not done with social media, they get sucked into the shitstorm crested by nefarious humans and chatbots. Think for yourself, question things.

AI is a great productivity tool, not a technology to fear. The more you learn about it, the better. I use it every day, it has saved me thousands of hours that I use to do the more difficult things that AI doesn't cope with.

We're both in fairly dependable jobs (education and niche healthcare) but dh is retraining into a role that is even more in demand and widening his job opportunities. I'm increasing my work days to ensure we have more household income. And I say no to the kids more than I'd like eg no toys on a day out or ice cream at home. Lucky they're young enough to just adapt.

And I’m not bewildered at all. Maybe take your children for a walk in nature. Clears the mind.

You said that was going to be your last post... you're back again 😂

To be fair, I completely understand why some young people are looking around them, shrugging and saying 'what for?'.

Why should I? What do I get from this? What exactly am I working hard to pay for?

It can be argued that is selfish, but the social contract IS broken. Services not fit for purpose. Increasing feelings of unease and lack of safety. Inept incompotent governments, one after the other, so far removed from the common man they have become a parody act. Patriotism is dead so that can't be appealed to either.

Im worried about quality of life but I'm really not too worried about ai. I work in a very people oriented field and am trying to maximise my use of ai to make myself as efficient as possible. I've got a full copilot license and am about to see what google's offerings can do. So far, it's doing a pretty good first draft of things but can't understand context, gives some really poor advice at times and always includes similar stuff in plans. It's very much a copilot, but it needs a pilot to check its workings and create a workable plan, which of course needs me to actually implement. I worry more about getting lazy as I use it more and wonder how people will develop their skills if they overuse it. Eventually if the majority of information that ai has to learn off is its own work it's going to just write drivel. It's just really big maths, not actual intelligence and it really shows.

And there we have it. The child behind the attitude. ❤️

And again...

Proves my point about how addictive screens are. You can't pretend you're above it.

What kind of support? MH conditions?