{"text":[[{"start":5.49,"text":"As families gather for New Year’s celebrations, a little intergenerational friction is to be expected. One familiar faultline will be youthful worries about the state of the world in 2026, against elders — channelling former British prime minister Harold Macmillan — insisting they’ve “never had it so good” and should simply toughen up. “OK boomer” will be the sardonic reply."}],[{"start":31.380000000000003,"text":"It is hard not to empathise with Gen Z. The headlines don’t offer them much hope. Artificial intelligence is supposed to be coming for their jobs. Global temperatures keep rising. Home ownership remains a stretch. Rising taxes are crimping ambition. The long, isolating lockdowns of the pandemic era didn’t help. Unsurprisingly, the global incidence of anxiety disorders among 10- to 24-year-olds has risen by more than 50 per cent in the two decades to 2021."}],[{"start":66.51,"text":"In turn, the notion that being young in the 2020s is a unique disadvantage has become a meme among many teens and twenty-somethings. But a diet of pessimism can also be blinding. There are, in fact, plenty of reasons for young people to look on the bright side."}],[{"start":84.25,"text":"Start with technology. AI may displace some graduate jobs, but youngsters’ tech fluency and capacity to retrain puts them in a strong position. Past waves of innovation suggest as much. Studies of the IT revolution in the US show that older, less tech-savvy workers were hit hardest, often facing pay cuts or early retirement. Today, young workers are already more likely than their older colleagues to use large language models, and find them helpful."}],[{"start":118.94,"text":"Gen Z — and millennials — are also substantially more educated than previous generations. Beyond their abundance of university degrees, the digital age has made it easier than ever for people from all backgrounds to learn a language, launch a side hustle, work remotely, broaden their knowledge and connect across borders. With such reach, it is little wonder that becoming an entrepreneur ranks so highly among young people’s dream career paths."}],[{"start":151.49,"text":"Economic and demographic shifts put a premium on youth, too. As rich countries grey, emerging economies grow, and the rivalry between the west and China intensifies, demand for prodigious (not to mention, fertile) workers is rising, especially in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. Governments and businesses are scrambling for the brightest and best, with destinations from Dubai to Australia luring them with special visas, cash incentives and tax breaks."}],[{"start":187.28,"text":"There are flipsides to young people’s financial woes as well. The marvel of global supply chains and innovation means unprecedented access to superfoods, low-cost electronics and on-demand services, at prices and speeds earlier generations could scarcely imagine. The good fortune (and hard work) of parents and grandparents will also lead to more than $70tn in assets being passed down globally over the next 25 years, estimates UBS. The handover has been dubbed the largest wealth transfer in history. In fact, booming stock markets — and inheritances — mean US millennials and Gen-Zers have roughly double the real wealth of the average Gen-Xer at age 31, on a per capita basis."}],[{"start":236.36,"text":"Youngsters might find scant consolation in this. Climate change, inequality and rising living costs are all formidable issues. Technology that empowers also distracts, disrupts and strains mental health. A proliferation of choice brings its own pressures."}],[{"start":255.95000000000002,"text":"But challenges give each generation its purpose. If today’s youth are to rise to theirs, it is in everyone’s interest to ensure their anxieties do not cloud their vision of the opportunities, advantages and tools already in hand. For a generation raised on bad news there is resilience in remembering that, by the standards of most of human history, the chances of living a healthy, informed and self-directed life have never been better."}],[{"start":291.9,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1767147086_7652.mp3"}