I Was Wrong about the Average American
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ส.ค. 2024
- In which John falls way down the rabbit hole trying to learn what the average American's life is like--from income to taxation to political ideology to opinion on Taylor Swift.
p.s. MASSIVE THANKS to Sheridan Gibson for teaching me how to color correct!
SOURCES:
Pew and Gallup provided all the political, religious, and other identity stuff:
www.pewresearc...
This is a good article on the federal income tax averages: www.pewresearc...
But to understand state and local taxes, I found this helpful: wallethub.com/...
And the overall averages come from here: www.fool.com/t...
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John's twitter - / johngreen
Hank's twitter - / hankgreen
Hank's tumblr - / edwardspoonhands
I am very surprised by how little Jessica drinks and also by the fact that she drives a pickup truck!!
Same. I am also surprised she drinks more coffee than tap water. -John
I’m surprised that it’s more coffee than tap water. I’m also surprised she lives so close to her family.
You'd think based on the prevalence of the reusable water bottle and boutique bottled water industries we could manage to stay hydrated, alas.
Breaking down alcohol drinking habits by decile is wild. The bottom 3 deciles drink nothing, with the next decile having one drink a year and the one after that having about 7 drinks a year. The top decile, however, consumes 73 drinks a week, which is more than half of all alcohol consumed in the country. So, one in ten people is drinking the equivalent of two bottles of wine or bit more than half a bottle of whiskey a day.
I'm guessing she does not need a pickup
out: writing is John’s passion
in: graphic design is John’s passion
Edit: Graphic design is John's Heavenly Calling
His Tumblr internship gave him the experience he needs to make thumbnails now
++
You are an artist.
Graphic design is johns new way to communicate about tuberculosis
My first thought was "how the hell is a woman with just an AA working 34 hours and week and making $74K a year?" Is she a plumber? But then I realized it was HOUSEHOLD income, so that probably represents the incomes of two working adults. :-/
I have an associates degree in nursing, work 36 hours a week and apparently made $72k last year according to my W2. It feels more like $20k less though to be honest.
I make nearly double with an AAS. It can happen.
2.5 working adults, in fact, considering her household had 2.5 people in it.
This is the answer whenever I think, "I'm making a good income; how come I still can't afford things?"
I'm single.
@@peperoni_pepinoThe 0.5 is usually a child.
Obviously, an adult would be a full number /s
I know Jessica. She commutes into Madison, WI, has two kids and drives a Ford pick up. She’s an administrative assistant.
In a school or healthcare setting?
Hey! I live in Madison, WI too! What are the chances of both of us being completely average?
Always weird to see Madison WI (my hometown) represented in random places like this! Hi!
This has to be targeted
My fellow Madisonians! (Well I'm techinically a Verona resident if we are being pedantic)
Did not have John making a video about me on my 2024 bingo card. But here we are…
This Jessica is younger, more financial stable, and have moved 200+ miles from her hometown- I moved to become more stable. And loves Taylor Swift more than that other Jessica. But maybe this is all because of the 90s kid in me.
@@Jessica6119but we must know the important bit: do you sneeze? I don't know much about this life, but one thing I know for sure. "Sneezing isn't normal, I never sneeze"
Has sneezing become the new farting then?
@@Jessica6119I think this is a big delineator for people who entered the workforce pre/post 2008 collapse. For a lot of people after that, financial stability means leaving home.
This Jessica is younger, makes less money, drinks a little less coffee and a little more alcohol, and also loves Taylor Swift more. And sneezes some days, but not every day.
Can't believe the median American isn't normal, unlike me, who never sneezes
I'm sorry, but even as a European, I know that sneezing is a lie, perpetuated by the deep state.
I am clearly not normal, but I'm surprised by how immensely more normal I am compared to Jessica, who sneezes 4 freakin' times PER DAY! That's the amount I sneeze over a period of maybe two weeks or so.
Apparently normal people count their sneezes, when I can't authoritatively tell you if I had sneezed at some point in the past hour, much less day.
@@LoneWolf343 Some people can also recall what they've had for lunch three days ago.
My sneezes come out in theees and fours.
It's me JESSICA! This was about 80% accurate for me.
I dont know whether to be happy or depressed about this
We need to get away from this poisonous ideology that being average is somehow bad. There would be no civilization, society would collapse immediately, and humanity would be extinct without average people. You cant say that about above average or below average people.
HI AVERAGE JESSICA
I am more educated than Jessica. I work more hours per week than Jessica. I make less money than Jessica.
You should apply for a job with lower education requirements. You can make 70k a year with a high school degree doing labor at a dangerous factory. College is a scam unless you are going to be a doctor, lawyer, or engineer. Maybe a few other degrees.
@@andrewevenson2657 The catch is you have to work in a dangerous factory. There's a reason you can make 70k a year doing it despite it being low entry requirements - most people would rather make less money and keep more fingers. And college isn't really a scam so much as it is falsely advertised. If you go into it with a proper career plan and make good use of your time there, most degree choices are going to pay off - even degrees in humanities can. The problem is that so many people use university as basically a way to put off having to be an adult for three more years, and come out of it no more employable than they were after high school. If legally universities could only have 10% of their admissions be 18 or 19 year olds, it'd solve probably 80% of the problem. Make most people who go to university experience work first, so by the time they're able to get a degree, they've had the opportunity to think about where they'd like to be in the future and where higher education fits into that, if it fits at all.
@@andrewevenson2657 did you just recommend "working at a dangerous factory" as a good career choice?? that would be laughably ridiculous if it weren't the reality many people face. But if the alternatives are college or risking your life for a paycheck then I know which one I'm going for. (there are other options, which I hope is obvious, but your oversimplification is quite bad really.)
Jessica might be making $0/yr. It said household income
@@andrewevenson2657please tell me this is a joke…
You just described my 39 year old cousin Jessica, a nurse, almost exactly. Creepy.
*phone rings* "hi is jessica there? congratulations, you are the actual median person"
Did you send this video to her? Surely you recorded the reaction and uploaded it, right? Link please.
She sneezes? She might want to get that checked out. I hear it isn't normal, a doctor once said so.
Time to tell her she's too average 🙊 sorry, I meant median.
give her a million dollars so we can say that the median American is a millionaire
I'm glad that Jessica adopted those two three -legged dogs from the shelter, they didn't want to be separated.
Truly made me laugh! Best comment of the day! 💜✌️😸🍀
giga clever and extremely underrated comment, bravo 👏
can someone explain the joke?
@@benjaminmurphy377 at 3:12 John says that “she has 1.46 pets, most likely 1.46 dogs”.
The joke is that a three-legged dog would be roughly equal to 0.75 dogs, making 1.50 (or about 1.46) dogs.
@@jacob-magnusonthanks
"Few, if any, people are actually that much like Jessica" okay but I am nearly identical to Jessica in enough ways that I'm having a crises.
At least you're not alone.
I'm gessing your name is not "Jessica".
congrats for being average i guess
Certain parts of Jessica’s bio that match mine are slightly horrifying and simultaneously somewhat comforting? Like okay I live close to where I grew up, which I never planned on, but that’s perfectly normal!
@@tessapal You still can, go move away to mexico if you want. Or sweden or peru or something. Life can very quickly become boring if you let is
This being a John Green video, I half expected the thesis to be something akin to “but really there is no average American, because the average American is all of us and none of us, and we are all equally a part of this great big variegated story called Life” or something
Same!
But that is what he said, just in less words.
"We need to remember that few if any people are actually that much like Jessica, the United States is an extraordinarily diverse nation"
@@drew1564 Fair enough, but I guess what was funny to me is that he *actually talked about a statistical profile of the average American*…like he actually did the thing, and only qualified the exercise with that thought afterwards
@@drew1564 The fact that he didn’t use as many words or that particular phrasing was what was salient to me here. John is always insightful, frequently philosophical, often poetic, and sometimes very lofty in the way he expresses things. I enjoyed the video and found it thought-provoking and entertaining, but it was in the comments that I found the literary mannerism I half-anticipated might be in the video, too. I was delighted to find someone else who was similarly primed.
Well thats pretty much true...
I would love to see a similar video about the median nerdfighter based on census results
Was just thinking the same thing!
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love this
YES!
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I am a Jessica born in 1989 and outside of the year born and the amount of books read this is so accurate to me, it was eery 🤣 Especially that whole "Drinks coffee more than tap water" thing. Oof.
I'm "pretty happy" being average 😅
It's really quite extraordinary to be average in everything.
The coffee thing was where I went, "oh no..."
Coffee = Water+ haha. I should drink more water as well lol. Congrats on your 1.46 pets!
I hate when someone says a stat like this. My first reaction is that's ridiculous, that can't be. Which quickly becomes, oh crap - I definitely do that.
How are the husband and 1.41 kids
about 2 in 5 Americans would not be able to meet a $400 emergency expense with cash or cash-equivalent (i.e. they would need to borrow, sell possessions, etc.). as someone who grew up like that but is now thankfully in the other 60%, this stat really grounds my perspective as to just how precarious a lot of people's financial situations are
And being in the other 60% is still not necessarily great. A $400 emergency expense is not a lot. What portion of people can't afford a still low $1000 emergency expense? Apparently 3 in 5 Americans can't afford to be out of work for just a month.
@@yurisei6732not American but last year my cat got sick and one appointment and tests alone was more than $400, and it took several appointments, tests, medications, and 6 months of an expensive specialty food to finally figure out what was actually wrong (flea allergy, not noticed bc despite it going on for months he had very few fleas) and fix it
When they said she had less than $10k in retirement accounts I got scared. Like... What's the plan?
Terrible financial planning.
@@yurisei6732 I have a friend who had major storm damage to her house one winter. She was complaining about the, very high, cost and I kept saying "at least you can afford it". She didn't want to afford it but she stopped complaining when I pointed out she didn't have to re-mortgage her house to get it repaired.
Saw this video pop up in my feed and I just have to tell you that Aaron Bushnell was my closest friend from basic training, and we loved talking about you guys, he (and I) especially appreciated The Anthropocene Reviewed. I just wanted you both to know that you were a part of his experience on this earth.
Wow, thank you for sharing this! I hope John sees this!
It would be wonderful if you could tell us all a bit about him, so that we can understand why he did what he did (apart from the obvious passionate objection
to injustice).
@@susanmiller7560 he felt like he war responsible for the genocide as he was in the army and knew some *stuff*. otherwise I dunno more, but he seemed like a good man
Thank you so much for sharing this. May his memory be a blessing to all of us
I'm so sorry for your loss.
I don't have references, but after a census, Australia tried to find someone who was their "average" person. There wasn't a single person in the whole country who was average in every area they were looking at.
That's pretty hilarious
It IS extremely specific, but it makes me happy that they tried
Yeah, someone like Jessica would not be reading 1 to 5 books a year, I refuse to believe
I bet we can find Jessica if we try hard enough.
@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721That's the American spirit right there! 💪😄
Jessica has given me a crisis about my instagram vs outside time i hope me and Jessica can both rectify this issue
I live in Sacramento, and I love my city.
And I love that we were your example of a city that is completely and totally MID. I'll take it.
I'm glad you do. Sacramento isn't exactly a place I like to spend time outdoors in while definitely a place I'd use instagram a lot though.
I've traveled all over the United states, I have a lot of family in the greater Stockton area that I visited a lot back in the sixties and seventies. When we were there and wanted to go do something interesting we'd go to Sacramento. I don't think I heard anybody used to description mid back then, but yeah that is a very apt description of Sacramento. LOL
I live in Sacramento, too! It’s big enough to have options and small enough it isn’t insanely busy. I love how close it is to everything, you can be at the beach, the snow, the mountains, forest, and farmland in an hour or two.
I grew up in Dallas and I refute your statement that people are not "that much like" Jessica...Because you almost perfectly described everyone from my home town including the guys. As well as, you know, straight up mentioning DFW at the top.
I lived 3 years in a suburb outside of Dallas and feel exactly the same way. Everyone is remarkably homogenous and wow did I ever not fit in.
I'm from Arlington and how do I put this? Well, we have Black people and Asian people and Mestizos. We are not Jessica and we definitely weigh more than 155lbs because we have successfully completed puberty.
@@sdarling6518 yeah Arlington is more of a major metro area so this is true.
“Jessica does, in fact, sneeze.” Laid me out.
The msot important part of the video!
I feel like I should have seen it coming but, like a sneeze, it caught me by surprise.
I know I’ve sneezed in the past month… just don’t know if it was 2 or 4 weeks ago.
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But an AVERAGE of FOUR times a DAY?!??!
Oh, to be 38.1 years old again...
and 5'4" tall?
The silver in John's hair makes me think way too much.
Twice that, and no desire to go back.
"At least as of late 2023" is a very relevant choice of words lol
This video reminds me of a book that one of my college courses used as a textbook- Material World. It was a photographer's project (published in 1994) to go to a bunch of different countries, find the most average person/family he could, and then convince them to put all their stuff in their front yard for a photo (presumably with help moving things both in and out). The difference between the people in different countries was really stark... makes me wonder how things have changed since (...gosh...) 30 years ago.
(Also the intro was by one of my favorite authors, Charles C. Mann, so that's brownie points for it!)
I find myself wanting a website that has the median person for every year since we could accurately say what the median person is like, and tracking of the changes over time.
My thought was the median person from every country. Like we take Jessica from America and put her in a room with the other 196 countries' median people.
Honestly... That would just be depressing.
inflation adjusted income for 50% of the US has either gone down or barely remained the same for the past 30+ years. People get less time off, work more hours, can't afford things we took for granted 30 years ago, and on and on...
30 years ago I was a temp in a factory while I went to school and I had enough money to buy a cheap home in a reasonable neighborhood. Now look at it.
I would love that!
@@MyName-tb9oz Depressing but important
This would be cool.
“Jessica lives in a household with 2.5 people”
For context, Jessica is a magician who skipped school on “sawing someone in half” day
Or you know someone who has two residences. i.e. like a fiance.
@@dixonhill1108 I think these are averages, which tend to end in imperfect numbers. But no doubt Jessica’s fiancé keeps a bro pad to escape her endless sneezing.
And Jessica’s okay with that. Her relationship doesn’t define her. She’ll just saw him in half if it doesn’t work out.
Hahaha, I AM JESSICA and have a bonus kid!
@@jesicavucasovich well there is that .5 person 😂
Okay, but which of her family members did she try to saw in half, and what happened to the other half?
Jessica also drives in a personal automobile to work, but maybe that goes without saying since she lives in a suburb. Would love to see the medium American taking transit, biking or walking to work in the future!
But most of the medium Americans don't do that. I don't have a figure but most who live in suburbs have limited access to reliable public transit that runs at all hours. And Jessica, with the 1.5 kids, probably needs the flexibility to cart them around.
Never gonna happen, unfortunately. We have too many people in suburban and rural areas for that. Everything is spread out. The infrastructure for effective public mass transportation would be cost prohibitive. Walking and even biking are often time prohibitive. (Biking also a safety risk...due to all the personal automobiles...)
I was a little shocked to learn that I was born in the same year as the median person. I thought I had a few more years before I crossed that particular line.
Jessica is holding this country together.
BARELY
You are welcome
@@vlogbrotherslmao😂
@@Jessica6119git gud
@@Jessica6119 Thank you for your service. I hope your dog(s) is/are doing well.
John is an icon of graphic design
The bold pink contrasting with the blue and black of the text helps draw attention to the video. True genius
Also I still seem to believe that you need to put the thumbnail in the video for it to be the thumbnail? -John
@@Chris_winthers the text block cutting through John's shoulder and being slightly off center creates the perfect eye flow to move your eyes cleanly from the text to his face. Simply brilliant.
Always believe this, John.
FYI, fellow gotta-know types: The flash at 22 seconds is just a black screen, there is no hidden text.
Jessica here. 1995 version. It always amazes me to think about the average American, and this is a cool take on mashing the most average likely aspect of all different peoples..into one people. I don't align with as many of those stats as I thought I would!
I was most surprised to learn about the nearness to family for Jessica! My parents had me and raised me quite far away from their respective families and where they grew up. Now, as an adult, I’ve moved clear across the country from them as well, with no intention of moving back to where I started.
Just so interesting how much family dynamics differ person-to-person.
Yeah for sure. I think it goes with education, too. I grew up low income. Most of us who obtained a degree moved to various parts of the country. All but 1 person with only a HS diploma remained local.
@@NinaDreams81 Interesting! For the peers I grew up with and still keep tabs on, it's about a 50/50 split among the people who received a four-year degree and decided to stay in the hometown. Among those, most of them moved elsewhere for their degree and then moved back upon graduating!
@ManJamLyn27 I lived in a really bad area, so it might be why most people moved and never moved back. I've known 2 people who moved back. One after, he was divorced and moved in with his parents to get back on his feet. The other list everything to addiction. Most people I knew also battled mental health or addiction issues, including myself.
Well that is simultaneously fascinating and terrifying. I am a Jessica who is 37, with a different car, drinks more water as I recently gave up coffee (caffeine addiction is no joke), reads way more books (like close to 100/yr), identifies as agnostic and is grateful to have a bit more in savings (though not that much more). But everything else is pretty close.
That is a lot of books. Wonder what would be the “average” book reader stats be in depth. Such as genre read, average book length read, how long they take to finish a book, book type (ie: ebook, audio book), and where they get their literature from.
How does one have time to read 2 books a week?! And still come on TH-cam for videos like this, even if they're from authors ;)
@@VioletEmerald I mostly listen to audiobooks. I listen while doing chores or driving to work, it makes the boring life stuff go by much easier. Though sometimes I do also like to pause life for a bit and do some old fashioned actual reading. It’s a bit of a mental reset, getting lost in another world for a time. Though these days I don’t have the time for hard reading as much as I would like.
@@popenieafantome9527 as for me I am a sci/fi fantasy reader, preferably with a romance subplot. I mostly listen to audiobooks and I get them from either the library (specifically the Libby app) , Audible, and local book stores when I can.
No offense, but the new trend of people saying they read books when you are listening to them is not a good one. If I try to talk to someone who has listened to a book they universally don't know anything about it! people don't seem to retain much from thousands of hours of audio like you would actually reading. I don't think anyone is lying, but I can't even have a conversation with you about the book if you can't remember the plot points!
This brings to mind the story about the Air Force taking extensive measurements of their airmen/pilots and using averages of those to design the "ideal cockpit" which promptly caused a massive increase in plane crashes, because it turns out essentially no one is perfectly average, so a cockpit designed around the average body size fit exactly no one.
I recall that story too. The version I heard was that they wanted to make cockpits that would fit the most pilots without needing adjustable seats or controls because those add weight and complexity so they created a 'median cockpit' that perfectly fit someone who was completely average among Air Force pilots. Of course when they actually had pilots test it every single one of them complained it was the most uncomfortable thing they'd ever been in because _nobody_ is average in every dimension and so everything was either too close or too far away.
@@Vespuchian @TrevorArchibald Not cockpits. Pressure suits. A cockpit can take variety of sizes and shapes. The real problem is when they started doing enough Gs to need pressure suits so they didn't black out so much. This has to fit you like a glove. They did a study on the average man so that like the cockpit, they could make just one, but they found out that was impossible. Because a body suit has so many more variables than a cockpit.
Ah yes the 'one size fits none' approach 🙄
Fascinating.
Also, as soon as you said female & 1986, I knew it would be either Jessica, Emily, or Brittany. My gracious, there were so many of us.
I cannot believe Jessica sneezes, that is so abnormal! I’ve never sneezed
This was actually so interesting and I feel like I learned a lot... I'm also going to start saying Average Jessica instead of Average Joe.
I was surprised at how similar I felt to Jessica honestly. A lot of her traits were "close but not quite" for me, which was a bit surprising - I'd say most media and many parts of society make me feel different or siloed from others, when that seems to very much not be the case.
I already am averagejoey2000, I gotta find my averagejess1986
Which would make sense, since as the median of political opinion and engagement, Jessica doesn't have much to contribute to the major discussions happening online or in the media, and she doesn't feel much need to say what little she does have to contribute. The multiple hours a day she spends on social media is largely spent engaging with friends and relatives, not jumping into popular controversies and making sure the people arguing about whether or not poor people deserve freedom are aware of the middle class experience.
I felt the same way, except Jessica makes more than I've ever made in my life. Woo California living, it's so easy out here..
@@littlestbroccolithat's household income and she is married. So it's closer to her making 35-40k per year. Much closer.
I checked and can't tell if California is 18 an hour rn or that's purposed and it's currently 15. I will give both at 32 hours as it is a whole number close to what was said. At 15 an hour it's 24,960 raised to 31,200 if you work 40 hours a week. At 18 it's 29,952 raised to 37,440 if you work 40 hours a week.
@@xathridtech727 And rent is $2600+/mo.
Minimum is $15 or 15.50 right now, and it's headed up. But that's good, I missed that it was household income, thanks. Best I have been able to do is $21, and that disappeared into the $400/mo illegal rent raise we were hit with last year. It's just tiring, is what I'm saying.
As an avid Not Just Bikes fan, the pick up truck fact brings me pain
But as a graphic designer, John’s design work brings me nothing but joy
I too heard it and cringed haha! Got vivid flashbacks to the SUV video
Came to the comments to make the same lament
The 27 minute commute is the one that got home even more... 😱
Yeah, and the whole "lives in the suburbs" thing too!
So happy to see other not just bikes fans who thought the same stuff I did ahaha
If I recall correctly it's very likely that there are in fact 0 Jessicas. not just because of her 1.46 pets (though that does help). but because the more factors you keep track of the more likely it is to exclude all people. even if all those factors on their own account for the majority of people. so while the majority of people do share some of the traits that Jessica has, none of them will share all of them
It depends more on margin of inclusion than anything else. Read the comments; there are tons of people (including myself) that fit the majority of these characteristics.
@@DanKascheloh definitely! but that was the point I was trying to make. very few people will fit all characteristics, especially if you are precise with them. and even from all the people that fit a majority of these characteristics many of you will fit a different set of them. like you are not called Jessica or a woman for starters (as far as I can tell from your profile). you don't like like you are close to 38 yet (but maybe your picture is old or you look young so who knows). I'm not going to make a guess about the other factors because even now I feel like doing something dangerously close to stalking 😅. but I'm sure there are a ton more factors that don't match. what job, education, religious believes ect. so taking all the factors together I think I can pretty safely say that Jessica doesn't exist. though some people that are close may do
@@HildeTheOkayish I'm actually exactly 38! It's definitely an ancient picture and I look young anyway.
I think we agree on the facts, but I would say that Jessica exists at some arbitrary level of precision for all the parameters. It's only those levels of precision that are the question.
Considering that “Jessica” is pregnant with her first baby (2.5 people in her house), but also 38 years old, really narrows the possibilities. Unless she lost a child somehow… 😢okay this is getting so dark it’s ridiculous I’ll stop.
You almost described my stepsister perfectly. Absolutely crazy
John is actually very right about the Europeans watching this video saying we don't understand why Jessica spends 15% of her income on healthcare if she has health insurance.
We also feel quite bad for them about it. As you Americans say: our thoughts and prayers are with you
The pitfalls of unsocalized health care, and greedy insurance companies who dictate what treatments and medications are allowed. *sigh*
15% is the median, health insurance for my family of three costs more like 30% of my income. And that's before copays.
One of the things that, having learned about healthcare elsewhere, makes me realise how lucky I am here in Scotland is that I'm 48 years old and I've never signed my name once at a hospital or doctor's surgery. Since 2011 I haven't signed for a prescription either, because they're free too.
This. Especially as a chronically sick and disabled European. It’s terrifying.
To be fair, Europeans spend on average about 33% more on taxes than Americans do. A large part of that is healthcare. People who claim Europeans don't pay for healthcare (something I see commonly claimed) are either ignorant or manipulative. They just do it via taxes.
Not saying the American way is better, but it is important to understand the wider context.
As a Canadian Jessica Im alarmed at how accurate this is for me. Increasingly so as the video goes on.
Another Jessica here. Now I see where my information is being sold to 😅
hahaha As a Jessica, I agree
I love you guys. This video was great, exactly what I needed.
Keep making more :) the world needs this
Wait, FOUR TIMES PER DAY? This is not a "sneezing isn't normal" joke, that is genuinely way more often than I sneeze (maybe 2-4 times per week?????)
I'm in the same boat as Jessica on exercise, but I sleep way more than she does (8-9 hours most nights), and I'm grateful!
RIGHT!? How is this not the top comment? Four times a day? I have never considered keeping track, but I would be surprised if I sneezed more than 100 times a year.
I think the sneezing average is dragged up by sunshine sneezers like me, I get thrown into sneezing fits when I see the sun or bright lights. I get at least 4 in on my drive to work just in the mornings.
He was talking about median i think
@@user-en5vj6vr2u Sunshine sneezers would still drag up the median. Just not as hard as the average.
@@tass466 in any case, half the population sneezes 4 or more times a day--odds are you sneeze a similar amount but simply forget about it since your brain obviously doesn't consider it important information
I'd love to know about the median NERDFIGHTER!! ❤ I've never been able to attend an in-person Nerdfighteria event (due to non-US location) & have always wondered what we're like as a collective. How about doing the same w/ our own census?? 🙌🏼
+1
Me too!’
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I was gonna write a comment about this too! I'd guess that the average nerdfighter would have a bachelors degree.
Hank does a video roughly every year on his channel over an hour long reviewing the nerdfighter census. Many years have I watched the whole thing 😂
JESSICA. PUT DOWN THE COFFEE AND DRINK SOME GODDAMN WATER.
Coffee is like 99% water. He specifically said "tap water" implying that it's water from the tap > cup > mouth.
Hearing that she only sneezes four times a day, I realized that I singlehandedly probably contribute to a large portion of the nation's sneeze count due to allergies
This actually makes me feel a little more reassured! I live in a very rural area of the country so it’s sometimes hard for me to conceptualize what “normal” or average lifestyles and beliefs look like, as my locality can feel like living in a vacuum. This is just a reminder that what your own world looks like is not the same as others, and it might not even be “average”
If I recall correctly, I remember an episode of QI where they mentioned that Australia had done a similar thing, finding the median Austrailan. A 40-something (I think it was 41 years old) woman who worked in public education, owned a house, had 3 kids etc. etc. etc.
But when a newspaper started looking for this person turns out they found no-one who matched that description. The average person didn't exist.
So I wonder if this Jessica exist or if she is just also just to average to be real.
Good luck finding someone who is willing to be labelled "most average". Apply a little lenience and it shouldn't be too hard to match a few people. I've worked with large data sets for people with a number of these metrics and it wouldn't be hard to meet those recorded in a census database.
This is the common case of people who are not social researchers not understanding that Jessica is a persona: a qualitative (descriptive) model based on demographic and psychographic statistics. She is a placeholder aggregate, never meant to represent a real individual who's out there in the world.
@@Sonoadeus I think they meant an average person that fits perfectly into the average traits they found. As in no person has all of the average things in one.
There are a ton of people that fit this description, given a reasonable margin of error.
They couldn't find a household with 2.51 people and 1.46 pets in it?
Well, colour me surprised!
Thank you for this interesting look into who we are. Just a little editing feedback, the little pop-up texts flashed by very quickly…I had to pause and back up on most of them and it interrupted the flow of the video.
This is really a fascinating and relatable way to think about the progress, pitfalls, and possibilities for change when it comes to the average American person. I appreciated this point of view a lot. Thanks for the video
Jessica and are very different. And not just because I'm an American who lives outside the US. But we both need to spend more time outside and drink less coffee. I wish Jessica would get involved politically to help change that whole health care situation.
The sneezing part disrupted my suspension of disbelief
Uhhhhhh..... I had no -idea- just how extraordinarily median I was.....
Hi Jessica!
1:55 she’s a registered independent? I’m confused. That many people aren’t associated with a political party?
I wonder if that factors in states where you don't register, you just indicate each time you go to the polls on primary day if you would like a ballot showing the Democrat slate, the Republican slate, or an issues-only slate.
Only twelve states have closed party primaries, and not living in one of those means there's not really much of a reason to register with a partisan affiliation. In 19 states there's not even an option to put it down.
Jessica is the *median* person, not the mode.. So if there are 100 republicans, 1 independent, and 100 democrats, the median person is the independent.
@@smala017 normally when I think of median (at least with like quantitative data) you order them. So I didn’t realize the “order” would have the two most frequent values at the ends? Do you know what I’m saying? Like if there was a set of numbers {9,9,7,0,0,0,9}. The median would be 7 because you first order the numbers: 0,0,0,7,9,9,9 and then find the middle. What makes the order for qualitative data? Why is independent assigned the number 7 in this example? Why would it not be 0? And then {0,7,7,7,9,9,9} 7 (democrat or repub.) would be the median? Idk if this makes sense
DAAAAAAAAMN JESSICA!!!
This is the ultimate callout. John is out here with the tell-all. /s
But you keep doing you!
Funny quirk about averages. If you were to create the perfectly average Jessica, it is likely that she would look like and sound like nobody you've ever met.
SNEEZING ISN'T NORMAL. #NeversneezerScrooge 😄
(I have nothing of value to add to this conversation in the comments, as an Australian, but was fascinated by this video!)
“Thank you for being awesome” - what a beautiful update to a phrase 🥹
Weird, I literally just listened to You're Wrong About's "The Most Normal Girl in Cleveland" episode. HIGHLY recommend as a companion to this.
What a colorful eye-catching thumbnail. You're so good at graphic design.
no way -- the pick up truck part shocked me the most. I would have guessed there were say... 1/4 as many trucks as cars in America! I guess where I live isn't representative?
this left me with many thoughts but my #1 takeaway is that my new goal is to spend more time outside each day than I spend on social media ☀
Some of y'all are out here sneezing 4+ times per day? I do it maybe once a month unless it's in the heart of spring allergy season.
I think you probably sneeze more often than you notice, I sneeze probably about twice a day, but it's not something that gets remembered because it's not important
I believe this video mixes up median, mean and mode. The median number of children must be a whole number since it is the number of children a person at the exact middle of the distribution has. The MEAN (whether it be arithmetic, geometric or harmonic) American can have fractional children. Likewise names are not a well ordered set, so the name Jessica is the MODE (most common value)
I think John is giving us a prequel of his next novel. Can't wait for this one !
Refreshing, original, well-researched. Thank you. I'm not sure just how to use this information, but I have saved the URL, and will view this piece until such time as I am able to grasp it more fully. Goos stuff.
I am actually SO different from Jessica it feels weird. But this was really interesting. Regular (yearly) updates would be nice, as well as some comparisons with similarly developed nations.
The most popular boy’s name in 1986 was Michael in case anyone was wondering.
This Jessica sounds like a pretty okay person and that gives me a lot of comfort honestly.
This Jessica's differences: bisexual but in a hetero relationship and unmarried. This Jessica is lives in a large town but not a city. This Jessica goes in every election she possible can. This Jessica works from home and has 2 children and 1 dog. Is spiritual but not religious.
Politically Jessica seems pretty far left. This is the AVERAGE American.
0:34 hold on there i want to know more about the the two fiths of a person Jessica lives with
@@user-pl2lv1jp5t no
@@user-pl2lv1jp5t no
0:08 For all the math nerds yelling at their screen: “Median is not the same as Average.”
Both median and mean are different methods of determining an average.
Median is honestly a more representative average for this use case
It sounds to me like Jessica going’s to stumble into a cheesy fantasy adventure
Im 28 this year and starting to feel old, so knowing im still 10 years off the median age made me feel better tbh
If ANYONE knows where John found the choosing "pretty happy" stat at 2:58 from, could you please let me know? I'm a Ph.D. student studying behavioral economics and the finding that people would choose to be "pretty happy" over being "very happy" is blowing my mind and I can't find that stat anywhere I look
4:30 SOCIALISM✊
Exactly my sister Jessica, but a few years older.
Oh my god you are SO good at graphic design.
-an original thought I just had
Wow I didn’t realize how deeply average I am. I was born in 86, married white woman with health insurance through work (public education!), drink coffee every day, and like 15 more of the other points. Pretty wild.
Me vs. Jessica
- I'm younger than Jessica
- I'm a man
- I'm Black
- My name is not Jessica
- I'm not married and I'm childless
- My household income was higher than Jessica
- I don't have a breakdown of taxes, healthcare and housing % of expenses handy
- My savings and retirement account were lower
- I live in a major metropolitan area, but live in an urban neighborhood unlike Jessica
- I work remotely
- I grew up in the same metro area i live in, but was not born there. I do not live near most of my extended family.
- I don't work in public education or healthcare
- My insurance is through my employer
- I have a bachelor's degree
- I'm not a Christian.
- I do not attend a house of worship
- I also believe in an afterlife
- I'm a voting Lefty but not registered as a Democrat, my state does not require me to do so, and I vote in every primary, special and general election
- I identify as straight
- I also believe in marriage equality
- I'm pro-choice
- I'm anti-death penalty unlike Jessica
- I also believe the Death Penalty is unjustly used.
- I also believe gun ownership should be more restricted than it is
- I also have a low opinion of politicians, and Congress especially but my lowest opinion is with Federal court and the Supreme Court
- I have never had a sip of alcohol
- I read generally 1 book per year (sorry John Green)
- I spend several hours per day with social media
- I spend less than 1 hour per day outside
- I work 39 hours a week
- I do not currently own a car
- I've been on 6 airplanes this year
- I don't have a specific category of unhappiness currently
- I'd also pick pretty happy
- I'm significantly taller than Jessica
- I weigh more than Jessica
- I have a neutral opinion of Taylor Swift
- i have 1 pet
- I eat out a few times per week
- I drink more tap water than coffee per week
- I sleep between 5-6 hours a day
- I do exercise for over 150 minutes per week
- I do sneeze around 4 times per day
On the healthcare vs. housing expenses front...
Im a U.S. midwesterner who purchased a modest suburban condominium in 2000. 24 years later toward the end of my mortgage, I now pay more for health insurance...with a multi-thousand deductible, mind you...than I do to keep a roof over my head.
It's astounding to me that this average person makes three times what I do but is still mildly financially insecure.
I was quite physically taken aback at reading only five books a YEAR. I read five books in two months, possibly more
I appreciate the graphic design of the thumbnail, and also wish more graphic designers were being paid fairly for their work
Not sure why I'm crying about my healthcare leading to me actually seeing a doctor and not being put on a months long waitlist
That doesn't happen in universal health care countries, either. That's a myth. It takes a few weeks there just like it takes my doctor a few weeks to have an appointment available for me. They just don't have to pay hundreds of dollars a month or thousands of dollars for appointments.
The part about crying over the cost of health care in America was painfully accurate, John.
I'm a few years older than Jessica, but the same height and weight. I am white, married, work in education, live in the suburban part of a major metropolitan area, have a dog, drink too much coffee and not enough water, and relate to a lot of Jessica's financial circumstances. I think that's about where the similarities end, but that's a lot more than I expected. And as a queer person and the owner of a uterus, I appreciate that Jessica supports my rights.
This is fascinating! Could you do this with other countries? (Maybe Canada?)
Very interested in two follow-ups. the mode and especially the mean! Well done
Can we get a Hank response with the same breakdown of the average Nerdfighter based on the most recent nerdfighter census?
This is the most interesting video I’ve seen in a long time. Thank you for making it, John!
I hope Jessica is having an extremely hypothetical day today.
Of course sneezing is not normal, but I actually exclaimed "per Day?!?" when you said the average person sneezes 4 times daily because I can remember sneezing... maybe 4 times per WEEK? I even have allergies smh lol
"might drink more coffee than tap water" ...why you gotta call me out like that? 😂
This is especially intersting when it comes to things that are either, yes, no or no opinion, or a very nuanced scale of amount. Most of these things I would not have expected to be median.
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You and hank are both killing it lately. Excellent social commentary. People who don't understand what you're trying to achieve here are welcomed, but not living my life.
Kinda depressing that the American dream has failed so categorically when the median person is struggling financially at that age.