Lin Kuo-chi (not his real name), who will be 30 in a year, has experienced three "booms" in his life. Lin was born in 1978, at the tail end of Taiwan's second post-war baby boom. He was admitted to a technology program at the prestigious National Taiwan University in 1996, just as the Internet boom was getting started. Lin graduated in 2000, in the midst of the negative boom of a bursting tech bubble and a slowing economy that left young people holding the bag.

Lin is a tall, strongly built man with long, neatly trimmed hair who says that music is his life. After his graduation, he spent a year and a half working as an assistant in a recording studio, a job that paid him just NT$13,000 per month. He lived the life of a night owl, going to work at the studio in the evening and not emerging again until dawn had begun to light the sky.

He eventually quit because he "didn't want to waste his life on meaningless work," and hasn't held a job since.

He's now been unemployed for nearly three years, and his parents are regularly asking him what on earth he wants to do with his life. "I still have dreams," he says. "I need to think about what kind of life I want." Lin comes from a well-to-do family. His parents are among the beneficiaries of Taiwan's economic miracle, and have earned enough from their electronics store on a bustling street in an old part of town to raise three NTU graduates.

Lin finished his degree while his older brother was working in China and his older sister was studying in England, but chose not to go abroad himself. He wanted to "stay in Taiwan and make a name for himself in the music business." His parents urged him to go abroad for an MBA or get a regular job, but Lin was interested only in music and preferred to remain at home, training himself for a career as a producer.

During those first months of joblessness, Lin really did build his days around practicing music. But within a year he hit the "wall" familiar to athletes in training and suddenly found that he was no longer mulling his future, but wondering why he should think about his future at all.

With so many questions, he needed more time to think. But then playing online games and downloading MP3s and movies supplanted his musical aspirations and became his time-killer of choice. He has become so intent upon leveling-up in the gaming world that he almost never leaves the house. He turns down invitations from former classmates to get together, and when he can't refuse, he comes and goes alone, usually ducking out five minutes after arriving.

At first, his mother thought he was depressed, but he doesn't have the symptoms--he has energy; he doesn't sleep excessively, he doesn't cry all the time, and he is willing to see people. He's just lazy. When she tries to encourage him or give him advice, he smiles wryly and, at most, responds with an "Ah, you don't understand." Then he goes back to his long days at the computer.

Lin doesn't spend much money and his parents are still working, so money isn't really an issue for his parents. What they can't get their heads around is why a graduate of a top-tier university would waste his precious youth in idleness.

"We aren't saying you have to get a job and support the family," his mother tells him. "We're hoping you'll pick up a trade. Your parents won't be with you caring for you forever. What are you going to do when we're old and sick?"

"Don't be afraid of a little hard work," urges his elder brother. "Don't look down on a low salary. Taking action, taking a stab at something is better than sitting around the house."

Lin is a little apologetic for the trouble he's causing his family and very thankful for their patience. But, he argues, "Everyone is searching for meaning in their lives. Before going to university, I was always a 'good kid'; I always walked the straight and narrow. I wanted to go into music, but I followed my parents' advice and went into a technology program at NTU. But now I'm an adult and I don't want to follow a path laid out for me by others anymore."

Lin points out that Microsoft's Bill Gates and Apple's Steve Jobs both went through a NEET period and are both successful today. He argues that this period was a necessary step on their respective roads to success. "Time is marching slowly on," he admits. "I know I'm gambling with my life, but I'm only pausing to smell the roses. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop here forever, nor does it mean that I'm going to fail."

When you've graduated but aren't working, the future is just a dream. This is Lin to a T. These days, he practices piano for two hours every morning after driving his mother to work. He then plays the latest computer games in the afternoon before spending his evenings on the guitar he bought with the last NT$100,000 of his savings. These days, his MSN signature reads, "The answer will come soon." Clearly, Lin is still thinking about his direction in life. When will he have an answer? That's still up in the air.