Trendspotting: College Installs "Cry Closet" for Stressed Students

NEWSWIRE: 5/7/18

• Ahead of finals week, the University of Utah has installed a “cry closet” designed to serve as “a safe place for stressed-out students.” This type of on-campus safe space is perfect for anxious Millennials—and for the sensitive generation of Homelanders soon to follow. (Fox)
• NH: Sure, this is total click bait for all you snowflake-bashers out there. First, there were "microaggressions." Then there were "trigger warnings" and "safe spaces." And now omg there are... cry closets? Interestingly, this closet was not created by the college, but by a Millennial art student who wanted to do something nice for his stressed-out buddies. Look on the bright side: At least Millennials care deeply about whether they get a good grade--unlike a lot of their Boomer and Xer parents who either disdained what "the system" thought of them or pretended not to care.
• Fully 41% of Millennial men would marry someone who makes more money than they do so that their partner can pay off their debts—compared to only 15% of Millennial women. Rising educational achievement and earning power among young women means that, increasingly, young “gold-diggers” are male. (CNBC)
• NH: This is a confusing poll whose results can be misinterpreted. IMO, the men could be interpreting this as a ceteris paribus question (all other things being equal, wouldn't you rather marry up than down?), while the women could be thinking of this as a means-end question (marrying because the man is rich). It is true that Millennials can be coldly pragmatic about "disqualifying" romantic partners for marriage due to their financial inadequacies. (See: "Trendspotting: 4/30/18.") It is also true that both Millennial men and women (as the stunning popularity of "sugar daddy" arrangements among co-eds suggests) are surprisingly open about relationships that trade companionship for financial support. All that said, few young men and even fewer young women look forward to a marriage in which women permanently outearn men. What's more, Millennial men and women don't differ much from older generations on this question. Statistical analysis of data on "reversed" relationships (women outearning men) shows that this earnings gap is positively correlated with separation, divorce, and male infidelity--and (interestingly) is negatively correlated with male contribution to housework. 
• Nearly three-quarters (72%) of vitamin and supplement industry professionals say that Boomers are key to their business, the highest share of any generation. The same professionals agree that even in ten years, Boomers will still be their most valuable customers as they take their desire for holistic, natural remedies with them into old age. (Vitafoods Europe)
• NH: Among today's Boomers, clearly the dominant consumers of supplements, per-capita consumption is highly correlated with SES--which attracts lots of visitors to surprisingly dense and learned websites detailing evidence on supplement efficacy. Still, for Boomers, alternative medicine remains a self-help industry: You teach yourself, you research yourself, and you purchase yourself. To attract Millennials, the industry over time will have to move toward bigger brands, simpler choices, centralization of research results, and greater government involvement in "credentialing" these "alternatives." We will also see a broadening definition of health (e.g., to include better cognitive and athletic performance) as well as tools to personalize supplements according to consumers' gene markers and biochemistry.
• In China and India, men outnumber women by 70 million—the combined effect of male-favoring public policies and cultural norms. The worrisome consequences of this demographic imbalance (including everything from rising violent crime rates to rampant sex trafficking) are only beginning to emerge. (The Washington Post)
• NH: The emerging gender imbalance in both regions is the result of an age-old tradition of patrilocal marriage (wives leave their parents to join their husbands' families) combined, in recent decades, with declining family size and the universal availability of sex-identifying amniocentesis and abortion. The ancient habit of celebrating male births, because the son would stay with you and take care of you in old age, has now been joined by a tendency to eliminate female births. For many families, the ironic result is sons who cannot get married--and thus no step-daughters to take care of the aging parents. In China, the "bride price" is rising rapidly (supply and demand always works its way), impoverishing rather than rewarding the parents of sons. Since males traditionally "marry up" in these societies, low-status males have become the "bare branches" that could fuel violence, addiction, or rabid nationalism. Some historical evidence suggests that societies top-heavy with males tend to foster authoritarian political leadership and expansionism abroad. The best scholar on this subject is Valerie Hudson. See her foundational book: Bare Branches: The Security Implications of Asia's Surplus Male Population.
• Washington, D.C. could soon become the first major U.S. city to lower its voting age to 16. Legislators clearly are hoping to feed off of the enthusiasm with which young teens have embraced the #NeverAgain movement. (Axios)
• NH: D.C.'s age change could be overruled by the GOP-led Congress. Even if it is not, the change is meaningless. D.C. has no representation in Congress, and its three votes in the electoral college are about as "out of play" in a presidential election as those of Wyoming. Yes, some Democrats are supporting a national age change for obvious partisan reasons. But Congress seems in no hurry to change the minimum age, especially since history suggests it would take another constitutional amendment to avoid different minimum ages for federal versus state and local elections in many states.
• Canadian Millennial males prioritize values such as helping other people (91%) and being open to new ideas and experiences (88%) over traditional masculine traits such as physical strength (75%). Within a society that forwards female-associated traits like cooperation, Millennial males have begun to redefine what it means to be a man. (University of British Columbia/Intensions Consulting)
• Millennial parents are taking a different approach when shopping for their kids—using subscription services for diapers and researching the best car seats online. Today’s cost-conscious and risk-averse Millennials use all of the technological tools at their disposal to ensure they make the best choices when it comes to their children. (National Retail Federation)
• A new Gucci ad campaign, “Gucci in the Streets,” draws upon the spirit of anarchic rebellion in an appeal to today’s student protesters. The ad misses its intended mark by a wide margin: The “tear-it-down” ethos of Boomer firebrands back in the ‘60s bears no resemblance to the calculated, rational discourse that governs the #NeverAgain movement. (Adweek)
• NH: This is even worse than the Kendall Jenner ad--which was eventually pulled by Pepsi. The "radical chic" message, all about oppressed youth who grew up in Scarsdale, would have been "right on"... in 1969.
• Samsung’s new Galaxy J2 Pro “smartphone,” which has no apps or Internet connectivity, is being marketed to students who need to buckle down for exams. Available only in South Korea for now, many U.S. Millennials undoubtedly wish they could get their hands on this therapeutic device. (MediaPost)
• NH: The tech-lash spreads. You were amazed at the cutting-edge iPhone 7 whose newest feature was no headphone jack? Well, here is a hot Samsung phone whose newest feature--no Internet connection--will probably generate less stress and better grades for young users. That's an ROI any parent can live with.
• Fully 70% of Boomers have less than $5,000 in immediate savings. Although most Boomers are making higher salaries this late in their careers, many are still paying off debts as they approach retirement, leaving them unprepared for an emergency. (Insured Retirement Institute)
• NH: Let's take a deep breath here. These surveys make some very old-fashioned assumptions about liquidity constraints. In fact, most households over age 50 have access to a variety of credit lines: home-equity loans, credit cards, personal lines of credit, and life insurance policies, to name a few. So when they acquire cash, they use it to pay down these credit lines--clearly a smart move when demand deposits still generate next to nothing. Sure, this may be a depressing commentary on Boomers' inability to save. But it does not indicate that most of them are one big expense away from skid row.

DID YOU KNOW?

The Young and the Lonely. Millennials have a well-earned reputation as social butterflies. But on the inside, young adults may be grappling with a greater degree of emotional turmoil than their elders. That’s according to a recent Cigna/Ipsos survey, which analyzes loneliness across generations. In the survey, researchers compile an “average loneliness score” for different age groups based on respondents’ answers to questions intended to gauge loneliness. The findings: 18- to 22-year-olds lead the way in loneliness, with an average score of 48.3—three full points above the next-loneliest group (23- to 37-year-olds, with an average score of 45.3). Young adults are far more likely to exhibit signs of loneliness, such as feeling shy or isolated from others. What’s going on? A lack of face-to-face interaction is one likely culprit: The survey finds that loneliness is less pervasive among people who experience meaningful social interaction (e.g., spending quality time with family) on a frequent basis. This finding gives Millennials yet one more reason to step away from their screens. (See: "The Next Big Thing: Tech-Lash Batters Silicon Valley.")