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Interesting comments. As a baby-boomer who did the whole big house in the suburbs thing, the 2.3 kids and rat-race job in the city, I envy the Millennials - well at least those who aren't still living with their parents (that's pathetic).

The 20-something daughter of a co-worker of mine has a tiny apartment in Manhattan less than the size of my living room. Yet it's fully functional for her needs and very cozy. When we were in town on business, we went to see her on a cold, rainy day for lunch (she has a night job) she was curled on the couch/bed by the window overlooking the busy street below. She doesn't need a lot of space. She's got hundreds of books on her Kindle, all her music and video come through a flat screen mounted on the wall.

She's got a fully functional mini-kitchen but hardly needs to use it as she's walking distance to over a thousand restaurants and contrary to what you might think, there's a lot of places there to eat cheap. We went to lunch at a soup place that was tucked in an alley that only locals could find. For under $5, I had a huge bowl of rich sausage soup and all the bread and crackers I could eat.

During lunch, she was in near constant contact with her co-workers and friends through her mobile device. She lined up her weekend plans while we were sipping our soup.

If I could do my life over again, I'd definitely go simpler. Especially if I knew what technologies were coming down the road. You are right, the younger generation are living in a virtual connected world that most of us older people cannot even imagine.

I envy the Millennials - well at least those who aren't still living with their parents (that's pathetic).

Actually, I'm not sure it is an utterly bad thing -- it may be the thing that saves the country. Consider that a lot of them are there because they can't afford to be elsewhere (if that's choice or not is a separate discussion) because it will strengthen the familial bonds [something the government has been working to destroy since at least no-fault divorce]... honestly, what's going to make people want to strike out against government overreach? It's when their families are put in danger, when they see Mrs. Jones hauled out and beaten by the SWAT because of a quarter ounce of marijuana (which might have been planted) on a "wrong number" and they realize that it could happen to them and their family too!

So, as far as that goes, I'm not philosophically opposed to [extended] families living in the same house.

big house in the suburbs ... tiny apartment in Manhattan
So you'd rather "live" in a closet sized apartment staring out at the dreary NY streets, rather than a nice house in suburbia with a lawn, trees, flowers, etc?
I grew up just outside Brooklyn and my family moved to Rochester when I was 17 y/o (1964). It was like we had died and gone to heaven.
I love visiting NY, but to this day, I still wonder HTH anyone can live there.

>>If I could do my life over again, I’d definitely go simpler. Especially if I knew what technologies were coming down the road. You are right, the younger generation are living in a virtual connected world that most of us older people cannot even imagine.

I agree with you. If I was 25 again, I would rent a small apartment and live the high-tech minimalist lifestyle that the millenials are attracted to. They’re basically hippies, but with technology instead of drugs.

As it is, I’m 50 so I grew up in the early days of video games, I became an adult in the MTV/Headline News era, and I work in IT so I’m a techie. I straddle their world and the conventional world. I have a full-time “career” job and a home in the suburbs, but I live a lot of my life in the virtual, connected world.

Since I’m more in touch with them than my own age group, I do some ministry work with the millenials and I find that they also possess a spirituality that our generations do not understand anymore. If it wasn’t for “educators” programming them to be robots, they’d really be better people than we are.

If I could do my life over again, I'd definitely go simpler.

Absolutely...The last thing ya want is some 3,000 square foot home, huge mortgage payments, car payments, etc...

Too much stress, then throw in an unstable economy, unstable jobs, lousy benefits, little or no medical.

Simple, smaller is a whole lot less stressful...

the younger generation are living in a virtual connected world that most of us older people cannot even imagine.

And apparently doing it in a dense, urban environment. I refuse to set foot in such a place. Who wants to live like a freaking ant?

“You are right, the younger generation are living in a virtual connected world that most of us older people cannot even imagine. “

Come again? We BUILT that connected world and use it everyday. I don’t understand this notion that older means less capable. I mean, the older generation has been around longer, should know more, has far more practice at it all, and spent their careers building these technologies. How the Hell do we then claim older means dumber???

Sam, It’s certainly not too late to simplify your life.
I did and it has left me retire. I have a 1997 Blazer and a 1994 TV, both functioning. I really don’t need to buy everything out there and am finding life enjoyable.
When the TV dies, I’ll buy a new one, same with the computer.