Job Hunt Sucks, TV’s a Letdown

Ensh*tified, Ghosted, and Coding to the Top

Everything Is Garbage: Welcome to the Age of Ensh*tification

Is quality a thing of the past? If you think young adults and teens haven’t noticed, you’re wrong. Yes, they love fast fashion, fast food, and convenience—but they’re growing increasingly worried about how long what they’re spending money on lasts, how good things taste, and how well-made TV shows and movies make them feel (and no, that doesn’t just mean big-budget productions). More and more, they’re questioning when money spent ends up feeling worth it.

The golden age of entertainment? It’s been replaced by whatever you can binge while scrolling mindlessly. If a show isn’t "second-screen friendly," some executives think teens won't be interested. It’s about distraction, not immersion.

Young people expect more. As their wallets get tighter, it’s clear they’ll be more intentional with their spending, demand higher quality from the platforms and brands they engage with, or even create something better from scratch.

Is Coding the Key to Landing Roles for Job Seekers Under 25?

Young adults have made one thing clear: getting ghosted after multiple rounds of interviews is now a rite of passage. To understand how they’re navigating the job market, we turned to our Youthtellers. While nearly all of them (roughly 95%) are focused on honing their soft skills, a third pointed to something typically associated with tech bros in hoodies: coding.

Turns out, knowing your way around Python or HTML5 isn’t just a niche skill—they see it as a key to upward mobility and higher wages. This makes sense, especially when you consider how they spent their elementary and high school years being introduced to STEM curricula. Of course, coding matters to them! The real takeaway is that they are money-focused and willing to invest their passion in things they believe will help them become higher earners.

Why NextGen Isn’t Watching Apple TV, and What It Would Take to Change That

If young consumers aren’t laughing (or emotionally wrecked) in 15 seconds, they’re already gone. Short-form videos have slashed attention spans to the point where even Apple TV is finding itself in a fight—no, not just with Netflix, Max, or Prime, but with content on social media.

Our Youthtellers (ages 15-27) had some choice words: 54% of them don’t even bother with Apple TV+. Why? Because they’re looking for content that actually demands their attention. "I can rattle off Netflix, HBO, and Hulu shows," one said. "But Apple TV? Never heard anyone say, ‘You have to watch this show.'" This isn’t just a problem for Apple TV—this is a reality check for every streaming service hoping to hook young viewers.

But hey, all is not lost. Generations Z and Alpha know exactly what they want: shows and movies that are too good to ignore, that everyone’s talking about, and that make them say, "I need to watch this now." One subscriber put it like this: "When something new grabs my attention, it’s usually top-tier." Meanwhile, others are just here for "more diverse content" and "actual marketing that doesn’t suck." One even put it bluntly: "I want to subscribe knowing I’ll actually watch it, not to see if I might."

*This article was originally posted on Substack. Click HERE to subscribe