More and more people are realizing a problem: perhaps in the future, we will also enter a "normalized economic growth rate" like those big European and American countries, and it may not even grow every year, but may be like a K-line, rising for a period and falling for a period.

Since our country's reform and opening up, the economy has basically been rising all the way, so there is very little research on the psychology of groups after economic decline and recession. However, there are many such studies in Japan and the United States, such as the issue of economic decline leading to an increase in the suicide rate. They have a lot of research on this, but the research results are not much different from what people first think of.

Economic decline will definitely lead to unemployment, and unemployment will lead to bad mood. Among people with bad mood, some have milder symptoms, some have weaker symptoms, and those with severe symptoms may become depressed. Isn't it easy to commit suicide when you are depressed? So there is indeed a positive correlation between the unemployment rate and the suicide rate.

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Cross-cultural studies have also yielded the same results. Scholars, in analyzing data from Japan and the United States, found that these two countries have the same conclusion on this point. Europe is much better, perhaps because their welfare is better, and the government is at the bottom, so people are not so panicked after losing their jobs.

Moreover, once the economy slows down, there is a fatal problem: fewer and fewer "new projects."

Those who have climbed the career ladder know that the fastest way to promotion is when the company establishes a new department, you go to the new department, and then start recruiting people. You go from being a little guy to a team leader, and after a while, your department expands, and you are in charge of a project team that becomes two teams. As the business expands, you may become a department manager. This is also why during the years of rapid expansion of the Internet, so many people created wealth myths, which is almost impossible in traditional industries.

But once the crazy period is over and enters the stable period, it's good enough not to lay off people to make room for young people. If you want to be promoted, you have to wait for your leader to leave or be promoted, but where is his leader going? The final result may be "one dies, one fills in," and this ladder is very terrible. In many industries where development has stagnated, this situation has already appeared, and it is common for positions to remain unchanged for five or six years, and not only does the salary not increase, it may even decrease.

This trend has long had a name in the world, called "civilization," which on the one hand, refers to the sunset like the civil engineering profession, and on the other hand, refers to the slow development like a formed building or tree.

It's easy to imagine that under this system, everyone feels like collapsing, but there is one thing that has to be admitted: as the economy becomes more and more mature, the incremental growth in various industries is becoming less and less, gradually turning into a red sea, and more and more industries will gradually complete "civilization," including the Internet that was popular a few years ago.

In this environment, the difficulty for the vast majority of people to leap to a higher level and become superior has increased by several orders of magnitude. If the vast majority of people still want to achieve this leap and continue to roll hard, it is likely that life will be very painful, and they may feel that their life is like this, and suddenly feel that there is no point in living.In the past two years, young people generally feel a sense of loss, which might be the reason for this.

But is there only one way to live?

Not necessarily.

This suddenly reminds me of a senior from the media circle, I won't mention who it is specifically, he doesn't allow it, saying he wants to keep his achievements and fame hidden. He graduated from law school, saved money for two years after graduation, bought a second-hand off-road vehicle to do what he always wanted to do, which is to travel through the length and breadth of the country.

He wandered around and did odd jobs, and now he has explored the entire western region, and has almost traveled abroad. Now he chooses to settle in the west, in Kashgar a few years ago, and in Urumqi these years, being a tour guide while being a photographer, also leading teams to go on self-driving tours, after staying in each place for a while and getting tired, he goes to the next place.

He said he can't compare with his classmates, but he is confident that he is much happier than those people, and he is healthy and has no problems, several classmates have already passed away. There are hundreds of people in his group who live like this, they call themselves "nomadic tribes".

But this is not the key, the key is some of his thoughts I think make sense. Last year, when I was considering going to the Qinghai-Gansu loop after the end of the epidemic, he was one of the people I knew who was more familiar with that area, so I chatted with him, and it was very enlightening, especially during this period, it's just right to share with everyone.

He said he had been wandering in Japan for two years, talked to many people, and had some of his own experiences.

During the years of Japan's rapid economic growth, the whole country was full of hardworking people, everyone thought that through hard work they could stand out, and when they became rich, they could do what they wanted to do. So slogans like "delayed retirement," "financial freedom," and "class promotion" resounded through the sky.

It was indeed much easier to get rich at that time, once a large real estate project was successfully launched, the participants in the project could get a bonus in one night that was comparable to several years of others, and when a major project was put into production, everyone from top to bottom got a raise. There was also the illusion of wealth caused by the appreciation of real estate, at that time the Japanese felt that it was too easy to turn over.All young people are flocking to Tokyo and Osaka, with everyone dreaming of living in a Tokyo house because at that time, this idea was indeed realistic, and there were indeed people who achieved a counter-attack every day.

However, after the end of the rapid economic development, Japan also switched to a low-power mode. People first found that it was increasingly difficult to find a job, and the era of salary increases with job-hopping ended at some unknown time. People began to seek stability, and civil servants and employees of large companies were highly sought after. Due to the large number of applicants, the requirements for these positions became higher and higher. At first, ordinary university graduates still had opportunities, but later, they had to have degrees from prestigious schools, and then they needed prestigious schools plus studying abroad.

It is increasingly difficult to find a job, and many companies do not recruit regular workers, and there are temporary workers everywhere. What's more, the starting salary does not increase for two years, then it develops to five years, and then to ten years.

At this time, the social trend has also made a big turn. Before, people took it for granted that the meaning of life was to change, to counter-attack. But with the slowdown of the economy, everyone began to think, if they are destined not to make a leap in their life, if they always maintain the status quo, how should they spend their life?

In the past, people thought that as long as they worked hard, they could achieve social mobility. But gradually, people realized a problem. With fewer and fewer development opportunities, considering their own mediocre qualifications, no academic background, no background, and not being able to compete, they couldn't run away, and how to spend this life has indeed become a problem.

There are many people on the internet saying that China will not follow the old path of Japan, and I also think so. However, there is a problem that must be admitted, that is, promotion and salary increases are becoming more and more difficult, the threshold for large companies and civil servants is also getting higher, and more importantly, there are a large number of second-generation successors, and social mobility is becoming more and more difficult. I saw a data from Ning Nanshan, taking Shanghai Jiao Tong University as an example:

Aviation Industry Corporation of China recruited 23 masters and 11 doctors from the school in 2022, and did not recruit any undergraduates.

COMAC recruited 15 master students and 3 doctoral students from the school, and only recruited 1 undergraduate.

You should know that ten years ago, these companies would recruit undergraduates from Beihang University, and it was not so troublesome. At that time, only the worst students who couldn't find a job would take the second best and go to take the civil service exam. What's funny is that many large companies have already started to check the "genealogy", that is, it's not enough to have a prestigious school for your master's degree, the competition is too fierce, and you also need to be outstanding in your undergraduate studies. This has already started in Japan and South Korea.

Japan has also experienced these things, and then many people began to think in reverse, what is the goal of striving?If it is for the purpose of having enough food and clothing, it is not difficult to have enough food and clothing with Japan's economic level, and it can even be said that there is no difficulty. Moreover, after the economic slowdown, various Japanese "Datsu-Shari" writers are promoting a concept. They believe that "the marginal return of enjoyment is diminishing", that is, if you go to a restaurant with an average price of 20 or 200 per person, the 200 one may be much better. If you go to a 2,000 one, you will most likely find that the experience has not been greatly improved. They also promote the concept that "real enjoyment is free" and is not expensive. The best visual feast must be the movies made by the top companies at great expense. Is it expensive? Not expensive. The most beautiful scenery must be the magic of nature. Is it expensive? Not expensive. The most delicious thing must be the high-carb and high-fat barbecue rice. Is it expensive? Still not expensive. The best things in the world are to find a lover, watch movies, read books, play games, drive, camp, and eat delicious food. These don't cost too much money, and there are low-priced substitutes. We also have this experience. You can drive a Land Cruiser to Tibet. If you don't have money to buy a Land Cruiser, Wuling Hongguang can take you there and bring you back. If you spend decades and finally get the high-end version of these things, or even many things are not high-end, why not start now? Under the guidance of this concept, more and more people have taken a path of "taking less detours for thirty years", that is, living the life they want in advance. For example, as we all know, millions of people hide at home and don't come out. If they can rely on their parents, they will rely on their parents. If they can't rely on their parents, they will do some basic physical labor, read comics and play games, and live a retirement life in advance. Moreover, as early as 20 years ago, young Japanese people realized a problem that physical labor will only become more and more expensive, but knowledge-based labor must constantly compete with machines in speed, and the final outcome is likely to be completely eliminated by machines. This style, which was incredible at the beginning, has been accepted by more and more people around the world in recent years, mainly because many people have struggled all their lives, and finally they really don't live as well as these people, so many people have expressed a feeling that they were wrong from the beginning. In fact, everyone should pay attention to the fact that on various social platforms, when discussing "stay-at-home families", there was extreme disgust more than a decade ago, but in recent years, there has been very little, and even a lot of envy. The same reason, there was also ridicule for strikes in Europe and the United States in the early days, but in the past two years, there has been very little.Because more and more people are aware of a problem. The "class transition" trend brought about by the Internet explosion more than ten years ago has become less and less cost-effective. Of course, it is not just a cost-effective issue. The more important thing is that it is simply impossible for most people. Especially if you come from an ordinary family, are not smart or good-looking, and have average or very poor education, you may not even be able to enter the bathroom of a large factory or institution in your life. What is particularly cruel is that for many people who do not have a high education, high IQ, or a good family background, if they set their life goal as "class transition", then they will most likely experience all kinds of disappointment and anxiety throughout their lives, and may even get nothing. Because this is a zero-sum game, just like the ranking of the whole class, there must always be someone who is a poor student. The loser naturally feels that he is a loser with no hope of turning over, a pure waste, and then he becomes depressed and depressed, and may even commit suicide in the end. But if the evaluation system is changed to pursue happiness, self-realization, and making oneself happy, then most of them are winners, because everyone knows what they want to do. The purpose of going to work is no longer to compete with others, but to earn enough money to live, and then pursue what they want to do. Moreover, the more society develops, the more it presents a trend that you can only make a name for yourself in the field you like and are good at, rather than in the field that others are good at. Even if you can't do it, at least you can please yourself and avoid wasting time in a place that you are not good at or like, and finally exhaust your body and waste your youth. The key is that you get nothing and you don't do anything you want to do. If you pay attention to some bloggers on B station Douyin, some ride in China, and some have a workshop to repair motorcycles at home. These people can finally become Internet celebrities. You can see at a glance that they are really passionate and spend time doing what they want to do, and then they are liked by everyone, realizing the combination of hobbies and making money. In the future, this will only increase, because everyone's spiritual needs are unlimited. If nothing unexpected happens, the society of the future should be like this: industrial products and food are cheap enough, and everyone can live well at a very low cost. For example, if you live in a third-tier city, you can buy groceries and cook for yourself every day, which doesn't cost much. Then you can take orders through the Internet, or do some physical labor, and then do what you like. Just like in Japan, some people are keen on staying at home, and some people are keen on going out camping whenever they have time. In essence, they are the same thing. They start to pursue what they like and need, not what society wants you to be. Too many people realize that with their own conditions, they will never get ahead under the traditional evaluation system. Do you have a way to make everyone a superior person? Do you have a way to make everyone jump to a higher class? It's impossible. It's even impossible to make "most people" jump to a higher class and become "superior people", because these two are "sorting problems", and most people are naturally destined to be losers.This can only be encouraged towards a "pluralistic goal," which means that in the future, the goals you strive for are not for class mobility or to live a happy life decades later, but to be able to go home to watch movies after work, and go hiking on weekends, making life less difficult.

In fact, the vast majority of people in developed countries live this way, and more and more young people in our country are also living this way.

This is not a question of right or wrong, nor is it related to whether it is conducive to national development, but a question of the trend in reality. Whether you accept it or not, it is happening.

Let's summarize a few sentences at the end.

The economic slowdown will have a greater impact than everyone thinks, and it may even change our social culture soon. The passion of "daring to teach the sun and the moon to change the new day" in the past few years will gradually fade, and more and more people realize that the purpose of their lives should not be to exhaust their lives in pursuit of a goal that is fundamentally unattainable.

Start to turn to one's own heart, that is, no longer engage in the "strive hard now, play hard in the future," but to enjoy the moment, no longer pursue long-term goals, but to have a small goal every week. In fact, if everyone pays attention, they can find that many people in the circle of friends have been living this way after the epidemic.

Of course, there is no shortage of people in this society who hope to struggle. Those who are willing to struggle can go to Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, where there are hard battles to fight, and it is a place to make achievements.

On the other hand, isn't this the ideal society we are pursuing? Those who do not want to struggle can live a relaxed life, and the strong also have a stage to perform. The former is the background color of this society, and the latter is exploring the future of society.

The end of the article, if you think it is well written, then give a thumbs up.