Lost in 2025: Kyle's Story

Apr. 28th, 2025

Kyle Rogers is 23 years old. In 2025, the United States is fast-paced, with intense competition. He once dreamed of finding a stable job through his college degree and living a life similar to his parents'. However, reality is much more complex than he imagined.

Kyle grew up in a small town in Ohio. His parents were ordinary wage earners. As a child, he was always taught to work hard, find a good job, and not make his family worry about him. When he went to college, he earned a scholarship to a public university in Columbus, choosing a business management major. At that time, he was full of hope, believing that by simply following the steps and completing his studies, he would land a respectable job.

However, after four years of college, Kyle's ideal did not come true. First, he found that he wasn’t particularly interested in his classes; the business courses were dry, and the theories taught by professors often seemed disconnected from reality. Though Kyle still worked hard to complete assignments and exams, he gradually realized that the knowledge he was gaining didn’t quite prepare him for the challenges ahead. Upon graduation, he was burdened with a large amount of student debt and was eager to find a job, but society didn’t respond as warmly as he expected.

In the months following graduation, Kyle sent out countless resumes and interviewed with at least a dozen companies. The result was either "we'll keep your information on file" or "you lack the necessary work experience". Every time he was rejected, he told himself to keep going, but over time, anxiety only grew. Even when some companies offered low-paying entry-level positions, Kyle found that these jobs were often unstable — short-term contracts, part-time work, or positions with excessive hours but without reasonable compensation.

Most of the time, Kyle made ends meet by doing odd jobs. He worked as a delivery driver for food delivery platforms, at coffee shops, and even signed up with a few temp labor companies. Every day, his life revolved around figuring out how to avoid falling deeper into debt or unemployment. He gradually realized that despite all his effort, it was hard to find a stable path in such a competitive market.

Kyle’s situation wasn’t unique. His peers on social media constantly shared their success stories, but Kyle knew those were just "highlight reels". The reality for young people like him was that they were dealing with the heavy burden of student loans and struggling to find jobs they didn’t even like, just to pay the bills. More and more people were choosing to stay at home with their parents or share rental apartments with friends. Life was becoming tougher.

At the same time, the United States in 2025 was undergoing unprecedented social change. The job market had dramatically shifted, and many traditional industries were gradually disappearing, while new industries weren’t providing enough opportunities for young people. Although sectors like technology and sustainability were growing, the requirements for those jobs were higher, and competition was fierce. Many people had to accept low-paying and unstable work, especially those without strong backgrounds. Kyle noticed that many people he knew, even those who graduated from prestigious universities, were still struggling to maintain their livelihoods, unable to find jobs that truly matched their interests and abilities.

In addition to work-related challenges, Kyle’s mental state began to deteriorate. The pressure from social media made him feel like he was falling behind, even though he knew it was just part of other people’s lives. His friends also had their own struggles: some were doing temporary jobs, others had quit their work to start their own businesses, but none had seen much progress. Everyone was searching for some opportunity that could change their situation, but it always seemed just out of reach.

Sometimes, Kyle would go out with his friends for a drink and talk about their future dreams. Each of them talked about the ideal job they hoped to have or their plans to travel, but in the end, the conversation always circled back to reality. Life was getting heavier, and dreams were becoming more distant.

For Kyle, the most confusing part was not knowing what the future would hold. He had considered switching careers or learning new skills, but he worried that this would only lead him into another unsatisfying job, perhaps even putting him in a more difficult position. He began to wonder if he had placed too many unrealistic expectations on the "American Dream" and overlooked the complexities and limitations of the social structure.

Kyle was still working hard to make ends meet, but he increasingly realized that, for young people in 2025 America, the struggle wasn’t just about finding a job — it was about maintaining a sense of self-worth and hope for the future in a constantly changing environment.