In search of the quarter-life crisis
The Documentary Podcast
BBC
4.3 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 21 April 2020
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We’re told that our twenties are a time when we’re meant to be finding ourselves, having fun, living our best lives and making the most of our freedom before settling down. But are the twenties really like this for millennials around the world? You might have heard of the midlife crisis, said to hit anywhere between a person’s forties and early fifties. But in this programme, we’re trying to find out whether there’s such a thing as a quarter-life crisis. We’ll hear from young people about their experiences of the crisis and the pressures they say led them to it, from finding a fulfilling job, to landing the perfect partner, to fears they’ll never be able to buy a house and start to actually ‘adult’. We’ll hear experiences from Moscow, Cairo, New York, and London to see if this really is a worldwide issue. We’ll speak to experts about the evidence for whether it actually exists, including a pscyhologist who calls the quarter-life crisis a ‘global phenomenon’. Is this true, or are millennials just moaning and trying to find a new label for problems every generation has faced? We’ll dig in to the reasons people are feeling in crisis, and hear words of wisdom from those who have overcome it. This documentary is airing as part of Life Changes, a series of programmes and features across the BBC’s global networks exploring the theme of change - how we change ourselves, our lives, and how we respond to changes in the world around us. Reporting from across the world - from Ethiopia, Korea, Rwanda and Paraguay to Egypt, the US and Russia – it covers everything from sexuality to sustainability, from peace to war, and from neurodiversity to migration. Presented by Katerina Venediktova. Produced by Eleanor Layhe for BBC World Service.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Linda and I'm Mercy and we're the presenters of Parentland and the BBC World Service. |
| 0:06.0 | The Podcast for anyone interested in raising children. |
| 0:09.0 | Before you listen to your chosen podcast, we want to let you know that Parentland is back. |
| 0:13.4 | To help answer any questions you have about parenting during the pandemic. |
| 0:17.7 | From Delhi to Dhaka, Sauita to Shanghai, |
| 0:20.2 | if you have questions about staying healthy, the best way to explain coronavirus to your kids, |
| 0:25.0 | or just surviving the family during lockdown. |
| 0:28.0 | Our Parentland experts might have the answers you need. |
| 0:31.0 | So search for Parentland wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:35.4 | Hi, Captain. |
| 0:36.4 | Hi, Amy. |
| 0:38.2 | So why do you want to create a program |
| 0:41.1 | about the Quarter Life Crisis? I'm 25 myself and it's awful. Do you |
| 0:48.7 | feel grown up? No I think I feel like I'm still 16 or something like this. |
| 0:55.0 | When you're growing up, your parents always tell you that you're special, |
| 0:59.0 | but now, I'm not sure that I am actually. |
| 1:05.0 | I'm Katerina Vinidikova and I've gone in search of the quarterlife crisis |
| 1:12.0 | as part of the Life Changes series on the BBC World Service. |
| 1:18.1 | In this program I'm going to talk to people in their mid-20s all over the world. They'll tell me about their parts of their lives that are causing them anxiety, |
| 1:26.0 | their careers, love lives, their home lives, and their lack of financial independence. |
| 1:31.0 | After years... of financial independence. |
| 1:33.3 | After years of expensive education, a car full of books and anticipation. I'm an expert on Shakespeare and that's a |
... |
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