What do you hope to have achieved by the time you were 25?
One can only go as far as planning where they want to be once they’ve reached their quarter-life milestone, but the matter has become a hugely trending topic on Indonesian social media after financial standards set forth by one Instagram account led to netizens rejecting unrealistic expectations.
At least since yesterday, several accounts on Twitter started sharing screenshots of a paid Instagram post by financial motivation page @menjadikaya — which aptly translates to “becoming rich.”
Contoh untealistic menantu idaman mertua jaman skrg https://t.co/SdnTvYWLix pic.twitter.com/a7nOa7HH4k
— Laywook || FREE CONSULT VIA DM (@laywookcom) May 9, 2021
The post, headlined with “What would 25-year-olds ideally have?,” lists down the four things that young adults should already have at that age: IDR100 million (US$7,043) in savings, a nearly-all-paid mortgage, a private vehicle, and earn at least IDR8 million (US$563) monthly.
That may be unrealistic to most, given that according to 2020 data, the average Indonesian salary in the most lucrative sector, mining and excavation, is IDR5.1 million (US$361) per month.
This incited less than enthusiastic responses from netizens — with most of them resisting the idea that these are markers of success at the age of 25. The discourse expanded further to the point that the interchangeable Indonesian terms “Usia 25” and “Umur 25” (25 years old) trended on Twitter today.
Usia 25 punya apa? Jelas anxiety, overthinking dan insecurity. Me and my quarter life crisis ☺️
— doppio espresso ☕ (@mndlarissa) May 10, 2021
What do 25-year-olds have? Obviously anxiety, overthinking, and insecurity. Me and my quarter-life crisis.
reading all trending topic tweet “usia 25” directly feel offended, like a burden, no changes, so heavy to breathe. quarter-life crisis is real, tho!
— esteh (@itsyunnnn) May 10, 2021
Another user quoted Coldplay’s Fix You to best describe what being 25 actually feels like.
usia 25 itu
When you try your best, but you don’t succeed
When you get what you want, but not what you need
When you feel so tired, but you can’t sleep
When you lose something, you can’t replace
When you love someone, but it goes to waste— ronitoxid paranoid (@ronitoxid) May 10, 2021
Usia 25 idealnya punya 100 juta? Nggak harus gitu kok. Ga ada batasan “ideal”, “harusnya” di usia tertentu, itu cuma buat buatan khayalan kita bareng-bareng aja.
Selama kamu bertumbuh, maka itu cukup.
— Jiemi Ardian (@jiemiardian) May 10, 2021
Does being 25 ideally have IDR100 million? It doesn’t have to be like that. There are no limitations of “ideal,” “supposedly” at a certain age, it’s just made up by our collective fantasy. As long as you’re growing, then that’s enough.
Meanwhile, some pointed out that 25-year-olds should equip themselves with traditional medications such as Tolak Angin or popular massage oil brand Kutus-Kutus, alluding to how people in the age bracket tend to be overworked.
Usia 25 tahun tuh idealnya pic.twitter.com/0ZZVEjrNG1
— txtfrombrand (@txtfrombrand) May 10, 2021
After all the discussions that it has unleashed, it’s a bit of a plot twist that the second slide on @menjadikaya’s paid post actually sounds like what the tweets above conveyed.
Btw, slide selanjutnya kek gini. Wkwk pic.twitter.com/RGstw5FPkf
— Alexander Thian (@aMrazing) May 9, 2021
“…because I only made them up! Don’t let yourself be dictated by what people say, that makes us feel like we have to fulfill their expectations,” the post reads.
