Except we’re not talking about meeting strangers, we’re talking about spending time with friends.

Have you never been to a house party before? Friends and friends of friends and dates of friends of friends and occasionally neighbors who just wander in off the street.

not being able to enjoy being around them while sober

Imagine being 16 and going to a party, excited to try beer for the first time, and getting lectured like you're a 40 year old alcoholic.

That's true as well several of those I mentioned are getting into the situation where they're having to care for their parents more and more.

Yeah, that's why that's a career for many people. Because most of us don't have the ability or skills to do that, so we pay someone who does to do it.

Why would I subject my mother to my shitty care, when I can pay a professional who has trained and worked with elder care their entire life who is really really good at it, and therefore she has a WAY higher quality of life in that home, than she'd ever have with me? She's be utterly fucking miserable living with me and me with her. I also literally don't have the time to be changing her diapers 6x a day, because I have a full time job and other responsibilities.

But right, anyone who treats their parents well by giving them excellent elder care from a professional is a fucking asshole, right. Why not force her to sit in her own shit 10 hours a day while I'm at my job.

I suppose I'd have to disagree with that last statement, as someone who lives in a functioning multi-generational household lol. It's not going to work for everyone every time, depending on circumstances, but having 3 generations in the house pooling resources is how most of the world does it.

It certainly helps to have a separate space/entrance for privacy and such, but now that we're settled in, it's far better than it was when we were going it alone. We have everything covered between the 3 adults, and then some: I work, cover utilities, build stuff, cook repair and maintain everything that needs repair and maintenance. The wife stays at home with our toddler. Her mom covers the mortgage and occasionally babysits when we need it. The occasional family friend who needs a place to crash for a while contributes their bit. We make adjustments here and there to keep everyone happy and maintain fairness. Everyone wins in this arrangement, and there's no shame.

Your example is kind of an extreme trope IMO, I've only seen true "failure to launch" scenarios in media. I'm sure they exist somewhere, but it's not too big an issue to be moralizing about.

I actually think this whole concept of independence is pretty bad for society. Americans are so isolated. I get people have shit families but we often have shit families because of this concept of independence being so important.

We have 0 sense of community in America and it stems from the me, me, me, my independence stuff.

You don't understand anything. Your IQ must be fucking in negative numbers.

The fucking problem is that social mobility is a fucking myth, we're not all in the fucking privilege bubble you live in, and we're the majority.

You think finding a job is that easy? Even worse with the AI boom. And even if you find a job, it's more likely to be a bad-paid shit job where you spend more going to your place of work than you get paid in wages. Then there is the issue that house prices are increasingly going up while wages are not only stagnating, but falling.