In fact, this sleeping arrangement is so degrading, the media has even coined a patronizing name for the losers who do it: boomerangs. They’re the millennials who’ve failed to live up to the idea of success our Protestant work ethic-obsessed society has shoved down their throats. They’re the ones finally doubting our long-held convictions that material gain, self-reliance, and that all important guiding principle – freeeeeeedoooooom – are what determine our sense of worth and give us purpose.
Unlike most of the world, where family is number one and cooperation is valued over competition, Americans tend to think we don’t need family. Or anyone actually. I’m not saying family isn’t important to us. Of course it is. But it’s not quite as important as self-determination and the right to pursue individual happiness (like moving out at 18 and maybe even owning a gun), and we like to shame any millennial who dares to question our collective allegiance to this destructive bootstraps mentality that unbridled capitalism hinges on. [...]
Nobody seems to shame boomerangs as much as we do in America. Not even in Europe, where I currently live and work. Here, it’s totally normal to stay at home until even 30. Almost half of Europeans do, actually. What’s not normal to them is having thousands of dollars of debt right out of the gate.
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