this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2025
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. No politics
    • If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
    • A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS

If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.

Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.

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[–] AcidiclyBasicGlitch@sh.itjust.works 5 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Land owning isn't meant to be for serfs lol.

I had a friend from Germany who mentioned once that owning property there is very rare for most people unless they're from very old conservative generational wealth. He said that houses and property often end up passed down in the same families over and over. He was well educated and happy with his career, but he never had any kind of expectation he would get to own property at some point in his life.

Not sure where you're from, but it kind of feels like the U.S. is becoming more and more like that. Except, we also don't get healthcare, and to even get the privilege of an education people are increasingly having to take on a level of debt that one would expect to take on as an investment in property even though there is no guarantee your investment will pay off. It's concerning though, that when this is pointed out to people, it's often cited as a reason you just shouldn't bother with college.

Owning private property is becoming more and more a privilege reserved for only the elite, not an expectation or "entitlement." Ok, well that kind of sucks, but I guess you don't have to own property to have a decent life.

But, then it's clear we're supposed to accept that healthcare is somehow also becoming a privilege reserved for the elite and not an expectation or "entitlement?"

And, we're hearing conservatives, often from backgrounds of generational wealth, talk more and more about abolishing the department of education. So, that means that soon we could be expected to view education of any kind (not just college) as something we're not "entitled" to.

It's also clear that many of the people creating these policies, and encouraging other people not to waste their time on worthless college degrees, were born into lives where our "entitlements" are simply their default expectations.

However, when they address their voters, it's always the "entitled" and the "educated elites," who are somehow responsible for their hardships, the overall decline in their quality of life, and the lack of opportunities and resources that have gradually become the default expectation for most Americans.

The "entitled" takers who want to be handed what can only be obtained through hard work and sacrifice that will pay off as long as you really try. And if it doesn't, you shouldn't start asking questions of "why," like those educated elites, you should just accept that you must have done something, that those who have what you don't, would have done differently, in order to rise to the top.

I'm smart enough to know that the reason I don't own property and probably never will, isn't because I haven't tightened my belt enough, or pulled myself up by my bootstraps, or because of my worthless college degree that has brainwashed me into believing I'm entitled to something I'm not.

Neither of my parents went to college, yet they were always told the same bullshit when they asked too many questions about why the game always felt so rigged no matter how hard you tried.

[–] jaykrown@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

Let's all spend time learning about construction and planning and build our own housing!

[–] Anonymouse@lemmy.world 0 points 6 days ago

26 Down votes? Who downvotes something like this?

[–] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 238 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Going to college doesnt allow you to buy a house at 30 either lol

[–] AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world 50 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I majored in buying houses

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[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 17 points 1 week ago (2 children)

NOT IF YOU DRINK THE STARBUCKS EVERY DAY.

[–] SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I found a blurb that Americans spend an average of $22/week at coffee shops. That's nearly $1200 per year!

With a median US home price of $410,000 and a minimum FHA loan down payment of 3.5%, all you need to do it save that for twelve years and never have anything go seriously wrong in the meantime. Then you too can pay about $3300 per month for 30 years, ultimately spending nearly $900,000 for your $410,000 loan.

[–] 18107@aussie.zone 9 points 1 week ago

That's ignoring that the house prices are going up by more than $1,200 per year. If you save everything, you'll still be further away from owning a house every year.

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[–] thevoidzero@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago

Rather, it puts you in debt. And now you have even less power. We should normalize everyone being able to live and not force college on everyone. But also make it free/super cheap so people can attend if they want without having to suffer financially

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[–] Monster96@lemmy.world 135 points 1 week ago (6 children)

Op thinks we can afford a house by 30 if we go to college.

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[–] dfyx@lemmy.helios42.de 71 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I went to college, I'm way over 30. Buying a house is a vague dream.

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[–] atcorebcor@sh.itjust.works 47 points 1 week ago (12 children)

What makes you think people with degrees can afford a house by 30?

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[–] trolololol@lemmy.world 28 points 1 week ago (4 children)

You kidding me dude? I'm past 40 and not chance to own a house. Grad and masters degree, working in IT. Ah and uni was good and free. granted that was in the developing world, now living in 1st world, but still no house.

When I was 7 my parents owned a house AND bought a beach house.

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[–] Thedogdrinkscoffee@lemmy.ca 27 points 1 week ago

You don't need to. All you really need is to go for a walk in your desired neighbourhood, find a house you love, knock on the door and introduce yourself. Ask any questions you have about the property, then kill the occupants, flay them and wear their skin as your own as you lead your new charmed life, for as long as you can.

[–] notsosure@sh.itjust.works 25 points 1 week ago (6 children)

Exactly! Learn a good profession like electrician, woodworker, furniture making… any kind of profession where you can create beautiful products and services customers love.

[–] Swaus01@piefed.social 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

When we're at school the teachers never actually take the time to talk about:

  • what non-university educated careers
  • what they involve
  • how to pursue trades based jobs

And it's weird, because I'm sure everyone would love to at least dabble in woodworking or some other form of craftsmanship. But they don't get the chance to.

The school-university pipeline works for a lot of people, but I don't think uni straight after school is the ideal situation for most people. It means we lose sight of what education is actually for, outside of progression to further qualifications

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[–] frustrated@lemmy.world 20 points 1 week ago (1 children)

38 with a masters degree. No house in sight. Good luck. Remember, there is always [redacted].

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[–] Perspectivist@feddit.uk 18 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

You don't. None of my highly educated friends own a house while the ones working in trades do.

[–] daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Where they give you houses for going to college? Did I missed a promotion?

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[–] Vorticity@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago (4 children)

I got an MS in a STEM field and wasn't able to buy a house until I was 36, supervising multiple employees, and married to someone who also contributed.

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[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 week ago

if you go to college you can't even afford to pay for it by 30.

[–] tensorpudding@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

Since you said "house" I'm going to push back a little bit. Housing is unaffordable and we should address it but single-family homes are not a feasible solution for a lot of places and situations.

The only people I know with houses are the ones with rich parents and it doesn’t matter if they went to college or not.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago (4 children)

You shouldn't have to work to be able to live, period.

[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

four people disagreeing because they think if people's place in society is not tied to their productivity, then all the lazy foreigners are gonna come in and take our spot. only our heroic (self-sacrificing) eternal push to increase our bosses' pockets are enough of an excuse to consume oxygen and continue to eat (massive /s)

[–] cRazi_man@europe.pub 20 points 1 week ago

The right to live with dignity should not be dependent on productivity.

Anyone working full time should always be able to easily provide for themselves and a "reasonable size" family.

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[–] Nefara@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I think this post should be home that you own. I'm going to say something controversial in that, in the US, I actually think houses should be expensive. I think a single family dwelling >1500sqft on a half acre or more of land is a luxury, and most people don't need to have that much land and space all to themselves. The problem is that that's ALL that's available for most regions in the US. The US is suffering from foolish post-war suburban centric zoning codes that prohibit building medium density housing ("the missing middle"). We need to change zoning codes across the country to encourage building up "gentle density" and mixed use areas, even in rural regions, because they use land and infrastructure much more effectively and efficiently. They raise more revenue for towns while bringing down home prices. If everyone had the option to buy a place of their own <1000sqft with a small land footprint, I don't think there would be as much dissatisfaction with not being able to afford a "house".

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[–] partofthevoice@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

There was once a time when people educated themselves not because they wanted a particular job in the economy, but because they saw value in education and wanted to participate in the human tradition of advancing the specie’s ability to understand and use nature. You didn’t need school to be a blacksmith, for example, but perhaps just an apprenticeship (experience).

There’s a point to be made here, about how this degrades the value of education. It’s great for capitalism, making survival—or “living well”—contingent on qualifications derived from paid education. But what have we lost in this process? It feels, to me at least, like we’ve created a culture where education is a mere lineitem on a checklist. How might that change what education is, what it’s expected to be, and what sort of innovation comes from it?

[–] SunshineJogger@feddit.org 9 points 1 week ago (5 children)

I'm over 40 and could only buy a house somewhere in nowhere land with massive commute needs.

It's not feasible and I earn way over average salary.

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