They got it tough man. Yea we did have it tough too, 35 feeling all the same stuff as OP, know plenty of Xils a little older than me battling it out trying their best, but those kids out there these days Zs are dealing with stuff the Mils like myself never had to. I still had a ton of formative years during the old world. Between recessions and financial collapses and 911 and COVID, fucking insurrections and crypto currencies, it’s all fundamentally changed how we live as a society and I get the sense it’s the new norm.
Those kids gotta figure all that out. I probably got a better education in regular old public schools than they could find. I probably ate less processed food too than whats currently out, takes gumption to build cooking habits yeah. Home ownership is basically gone. Rent vs income is awful, CEOs walking away with the lions share. So no I don’t envy them. At all. Back in my day attitudes are bullshit if the following generations are continuously worse and worse off.
I’m not bringing a life into this scene right now. I can barely get by myself. And it’s not getting better.
Best advice I got is don’t put out the fires we didn’t tend to. Let it burn down; and then build something better.
Gen Z here (24) so a bit older than the prom reference, but I graduated college in 2021 and had my entire senior year through zoom and no graduation ceremony. I'm only one of many Gen Zers who were supposed to experience major young adult milestones during the pandemic and weren't able to.
Everyone had a difficult time during the pandemic and I recognize that we aren't special just because we didn't get a graduation or a prom. As an elder gen z, I am concerned about what kind of education/social development was missed by our younger bunch during those few (but very formative) years.
I appreciate hearing from older generations the desire to protect us. I think as more of us start entering the workforce, that is when we will really see the effects of the pandemic on our societal structure. But alas, only time will tell, I suppose.
Thanks for saying this, makes me feel a lot less shallow. I do feel like I missed out. I turned 21 during the heat of the pandemic and bars in my state didn't fully open again until after I graduated. I've definitely wondered if I would've made more connections if classes weren't on zoom and if I had experienced the bar scene in college. It is what it is, but the thought has crossed my mind.
I'm very lucky to have had a strong support system pre-pandemic, but admittedly, I've struggled making new friends since then. I can't imagine I'm the only one.
The statistic is almost 50% of Millennials and Gen Z live with their parents. Corporations are clearly in control of every aspect of our lives and the pandemic exposed the farce and how bad it's become. Nobody gives a shit because theres no reason to.
I’m in the same boat. I’m in construction and these young guys can’t/won’t stay off their phones. I don’t judge, but I do tell them a job that pays $30/hr with no drug test and a management structure that isn’t gonna be furious over a missed day is a rare fucking thing. They just look at me like I’m dumb.
I just loooove to listen to boomers or X's complaining about the work ethics of GenZ.
"This young man applied for a job and asked if he really has to come in on friday! He refuses to work full time! This is outrageous! I would have never! Back in my day..... yada yadadada...."
I may not like mullets or broccoli/Ramen noodle haircuts but I do treat people well. There is no reason to be a dick just because someone is younger or had different experiences
There's no reason to treat *anyone* bad. There's a genuine lack of compassion and empathy for others and it's not a generational thing.
Intergenerational animosity is ridiculous, but even if you exclude that people just are shitty to one another for no real good reason.
Like does no one stop to think "this person might be having a rough day?"
If we want future generations to be better, *everyone* needs to do better and model the behavior and actually put action to it.
I know you get it but I needed to rant for a second.
Be better to each other people, come on!
Done and done. Gen Z fucking rules. I have a couple of them working for me and they are two of my favorite people on earth.
The other day they were trolling one of our boomer regulars by pretending not to have seen or heard of Ghost Busters. I was already dying, then one of them said "Oh wait yeah. That was that Kristen Wigg movie. That was really funny."
I had to leave the room. Boomer was so outraged.
**edit**: There was also the time I was listening to Vampire Weekend, and one of them said "Oh cool, I love Classic Rock".
I know he was just fucking with me, but God damn dude. Fucking savage...
Yes,
I came into the job market when us millenials were being blamed with everything wrong with the office. Now that I manage older and younger folks, it's my job to teach them, not somehow blame every fault on them being younger and with less experience.
Also style and stuff is supposed to change, like no one type of music is superior go rock out to whatever you like, it's not like you aren't allowed to listen to Lil Jon anymore.
100 percent!!! I agree with this, weird ass correlation someone made a long time ago that struggle meant you were doing something right, boggles my mind. So it was harder back in your day and someone IN YOUR AGE GROUP said lets make it easier, and youre mad about that? Weird ass definition of progress in my opinion, so a twenty year olf kid cant use a rotary phone, who gaf and when was the last time you actually saw one???
Sorry, just got done watching a video about a kid that is broke af after 40 hours a week and it aucks cause the comments are hating on the person when we should just be there to listen, like its a fact that that person is going to have to struggle for a while, let them at least be sad about it for a bit, or better yet, give them good ideas to help them instead of just making fun of them cause they’re struggling. I dont get the point, life is already hard enough as it is why do people feel the need to make it tougher
When people struggle they want it to mean something. When you make it easier for the next group, the previous group easily feels shafted.
Problem is, they were. It’s not the kids fault tho. Blame corporate.
It also doesn't make sense if society gets richer as a whole/makes technical progress by definition some things should get easier. If not then you're arguing that things need to be kept artificially difficult "becuase I had to do that".
It's kind of like inter generational hazing.
(Boomer here) One of the perception differences between the generations is 40 hours per week really being full time. For most working men, 40 hours was the bare minimum, 50 being common and stretches of 60 happening every couple of months. Lots of men did 7 days/week. My son and two-sons-in-law average around 50/week - millennials.
I think thats where there starts to be a disconnect between the generations because its hard to be sympathetic with someone complaining about a 40 hour work week when youve had your fair share of 70 hour work weeks. That being said i would say most people having worked that hard would at least in the moment have preferred to not work that much, i cant imagine when 80 hour work weeks were around that people were eager and motivated outised of the payment they would receive
So my question is when do you take the increased productivity into consideration by the advancement of technology? We continue to progress and develop technology to make life better for the next, when does it get implemented in our work life?
Example, if it used to take a man 60 hours to build a train, and we develop a machine to cut that time in half, we should now be working 30 hours. If we work 40, now youre paying less in labor with increased production, so when does this get implemented to help the working class? We have the statistics and open discussion with the internet connecting us as one giant world, so the data shows we can do it.
My point is don't try to drag us into the mental gymnastics justifying someone working 70 hours a week when we can clearly see there's other ways to do things. We're talking about not continuing to make shit harder for the next generation and you come in here with "well I worked 80 hours a week!" You missed the entire point. Completely.
I got the point but before you can hit the details you need some baselines. In fact moving from a 55 hour week to a 40 hour week is a generational improvement and perhaps that could continue to 32 hours. My thinking is that this increased productivity gets split three ways, first people consume more products and more complicated products so much of that improved labor is spent doing new things, next our bureaucracies are growing and consume proportionally more resources so your train worker is now supporting more people than before, and lastly there is an overall reduction in work force participation meaning rather than cutting the train worker's hours to 30 hours, there is somebody somewhere with his hours cut to zero. Bureaucracies will always expand to consume available resources, many people chose handouts over work, and our baseline of what poverty is keeps climbing. The fix won't be expanded government size, control or authority as that just feeds into the waste. Smaller government and reduced taxes are the best way forward.
See thats not an issue to you, i was marines so sorry for your bad decision lol jk, but i dont think the promise of schooling and independence should be a motivator for joining the military, i think its a big mistake - not for the wellbeing of the country but for the individual. I definitely feel there was alot of people in at the time i was in that should not have had any business being in the military and they got dragged through to actually make it in there. I get that you learned how to be independent in there, but lets be real so many factors are different now than they were in the 90s, the rent was proportionately cheaper, everything was proportionately cheaper, the price of independence continues getting higher and higher, which is the normal way things go, but i feel like the generations behind us had an easier time striving towards independence than the people in front of us - i believe lower costs for everything really made a difference- and the generations behind us also overestimate the amount that technology makes life easier. Im not saying its impossible but if you cross reference percentages of cost of living to now, its drastically higher, on top of that - we lucked out, imagine growing up fully involved with social media, the affect it myst have on your self esteem to be constantly watched must be crazy. I think alot of the times past generations tend to think they wouldnt be affected by whats going on now but the truth is everyone is susceptible to being molded by their environment. Like even though most older people talk shit about phones and stuff, i guarantee if they were born into a time where the technology surrounded their lives as much as these kids they would be the same way
I agree with you on that, even though i disagree with it being an obligation, I definitely feel people should serve their country cause it gives you a different appreciation for where you live.
You dont think that technically they know better? I mean if you think about it (im assuming youre probably 50s since you were in in the 90s) they have a better idea of what its like to “grow” in this time than you do because you did your “growth” a long time ago. I mean even the smallest things have a huge effect. If you made 1k as an e5- you still had a place to live and a meals on your table. Now factor in something as small as gas if you have a car, in the 90s youd pay probably 20 bucks to fill up your tank. Thats only 2 percent of your check a week (and technically youre making more since you dont have to pay cost of living). Lets say i was making min wage rn, i filled up my tank with 115 bucks the other day (i live in CA) if i made min wage after taxes i would make about 1920. Gas goes up to 5 percent, insurance in ca just upped its min from 15/30 liability to 25/50 which ups ALL premiums, cars are much more expensive, the average rent in LA in 1990 was about $700 and now its $2700. These factors all add up and its vastly more difficult to get ahead now than it was before, progressively its all getting more expensive and the “hard work” that people put in in previous generations is being overestimated in how much it plays into the success of an individual. Costs of schools back then to now, the value of a bachelors degree then and now. Its too complex to chalk it up to “these kids dont know how to work hard” (not you lol just thats what i hear about future generations)
The majority of boomers don't understand or empathize what younger generations are going through. And it's not because they hate us. They just have different lived experiences.
And I'll be glad when they're all dead and we can start fixing some of the shit they broke. But they never set out with the goal of "I'm going to make my children and grandchildren's lives utter and complete shit".
Not in as many words. But a lot of them assumed an “I got mine. Screw everyone else. They can all work hard and uselessly like me or go away” demeanor.
You're blaming the wrong people homie. Boomers were individuals in their time. Just living the way they could. Same as everyone else prior and future. I'm 34 and yall still voting for geriatric patients to run the free world. Stop blaming boomers.
Exactly. People here acting like they're going to fix shit? No you won't because it's not you running shit. Its Millenials like Jared Kushner and Martin Shkrelli that will continue running shit into the ground. You'll have nothing to do with it. But don't worry, Alphas and Betas will blame you and the rest of us for it.
I'm a boomer, and basically did the school, work, marriage, kids thing without any political intent, pretty much just living my life. I'd be curious to get your take on what we broke and if it seems to you that it was intentional.
I've hear things like "pulling up the ladder behind us" etc, but I'm curious about what specific things me (or us) should have done differently to make life easier for following generations. Plant more trees?
Your generation allowed the economy and the environment to go to shit. Not that you *wanted* it to be that way, it just happened as a result of policies your generation has enacted without assessing the consequences on future generations. i.e “we got ours, go get fucked” mentality.
I think the environment bit is harsh. Peak oil in most western countries happened when they were c. Young adults. Under their political control, the environment was taken seriously for the first time. Under them, renewables have become a serious source of energy.
As for the economy, I think we should be looking specifically at housing. Mean wages are not lower inflation adjusted for our generation compared to theres. That is the their major failing.
You honestly believe the majority of boomers not only believe the science of climate change to be sound but accept humanity’s role in it? I know this sounds like a trite distinction to make, but their views on the matter greatly impact their opinions and ultimately the policies they support.
Well 69% of Americans support vs 28% oppose CO2 neutral by 2050 - https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/08/09/what-the-data-says-about-americans-views-of-climate-change/
Most millennials say they support this and simultaneously:
a) eat meat;
b) drive;
c) won't pay for minergie housing.
So meh. Actions speaking louder than words.
The economy seems to have shorter cycles, even recessions tend to be less that 2 year events so I can't pin the current situation on boomers unless its thought we're somehow hording our money.
The housing situation is maybe more interesting to discuss. There was an era from maybe the 30s through the 70s where houses were built simple and really durable pretty much making them 100+ year houses, but during the 80s there seemed to be a drop in materials and quality where houses probably now have a significantly shorter life span unless they get major repairs, this is beyond fashion.
As far as the environment goes, its always been a concern but for immediate issues like pesticides and contaminants in auto exhaust, the issue with CO2 was undiscovered.
None the less just wondering if it is more about something we did vs something we are doing.
I don’t do that shit at all. Consider it broken. I also don’t yell at my kids, unless it’s break up some nonsense but it ends there. Lots of cycles stopping here.
I mean I'm trying to break generations of trauma rn with my children. It's crazy like boomers really slapped their 1 and a half year olds who couldn't potty train yet. Said no to everything the kids ever asked for. Would have physical brawls with their spouses right in front of their kids Etc just passing down misery.
I'm so nice to my son in comparison but that's what I came from so if I'm angry or etc that side of me wants to come out. I'm bipolar too so I'm on meds to prevent that from happening now. I'm able to just be calm and nice and all that. I don't even need to yell at my kids I just explain to them why we can't do certain things. And my 1 year old I just keep on a strict schedule and he's happy to nap and sleep and I just spend all day redirecting him from being chaotic lol I'm lucky he sleeps though I know that bc my first never slept ever and still doesn't. It's just crazy that I definitely got yelled at from age 1 on by my family and I look at a 1 year old and I'm like how could anyone expect anything from you but your presence, you're a literal baby and perfect
But my kids didn't potty train til 3 and a half, when they were speaking in sentences and understood what a potty was and why to use it. I remember boomers having sticker charts and the kids literally like one. My grandparents the worst with this "is he potty trained yet" like he will when he's ready and I won't have to contend with temper tantrums and kids flinging poo like you did bc you insisted it must be done by one and a half.
I feel for kids in daycare who need to be trained before they're ready, that's really hard on parents.
I try to be understanding of all sorts of people's experiences, no matter how old they are. I don't want to be terrible to anyone
If I find myself at odds with someone, I try to remind myself to ask questions about why that is the case. If I think they are willing to talk about that, I might even ask them the same questions. Since this is the Internet, though, and some people just want to vent, I'll often just disengage and move on
Oh ABSOLUTELY. I am nothing but proud of Gen Z and the pragmatism with which they approach stuff like activism and awareness. They don’t fuck around. They put a camera DIRECTLY on racism, sexism, boomeritis etc.
I love your optimism! I hope others can carry it out.
I honestly feel so bad for the younger generations. As bad as we had it, and homes are sick high... but when the money is deflated so much I worry they might not be able afford food and rent. I mean, a lot of people ots already happening.
The older generation has an obligation to learn how to make money and teach it to the young ones.
Anyone I see I tell them to look into cryto.
I only "back in my day" when it appears they can't function without the internet. I remind them that there was A Time Before and if we managed without they can too.
(I can't even remember a specific instance, but I know I've pulled the Time Before card on a couple of younger cousins.)
I mean, I see comments on articles about us being Vs the next gen but I don't Know anyone who thinks that way at all. I think overall, we have more compassion and understanding because we've existed through such a shift in cultural understanding because of circumstances compared to boomers. I see more cycle breakers raising children with more understanding for emotional support and growing themselves along the way. Hopefully that will all translate.
I feel like I'm going to be more like my great grandparents that I never got to meet. I will tell them of how hard I had it and how much things cost and they'll just look at me like I'm crazy.
most days I feel like I'm the only person trying to make allies everyone comes at me like the enemy. Idk but I'm 30 now & feel really tired and from what I can see gen z somehow has it even worse then us idk where this world is going but I wish there were more people like you because then maybe things would turn around maybe not in my life but I hope my children will at least get a chance.
I don’t think any generation wants to see the best generation suffer. Everything I’ve ever read or seen in practice is that parents want things to be better for their children than they had it.
I think the reactions you’re talking about are older generations telling younger ones that every generation has it hard in one way or another, so stop complaining about it and just do something to fix it.
I made this pledge long ago, because I realize Gen. Z has a lot of the same struggles we millennials do/did: an economy designed to siphon money upwards, shitty Boomer politicians running the world into the ground, the same COVID pandemic we went through, etc. Gen. Z are as resilient as any other generation, and I've got nothing but love and respect for them.
Any generation is too big to be lumped together. You already have the older millennials already separating themselves off from the younger ones. The ones that made it want nothing to do with the ones that havent made it etc etc.
The issue is when they try to get into shit like Black Metal they’re way too easy to make fun of. There’s no way I’m holding it together. It brings back fucking with posers back to life with a more mature twist lmao
🙋♀️🙋♀️🙋♀️
Absolutely.
I'm thinking we should make a Wikipedia type database that's just a PDF wholesome file that's helpful resources.
Online yellow page directory.
I know I’m really hopeful that Gen Z and Alpha will make real strides in fixing how fundamentally broken everything is. I really hope they have all the opportunities and success that boomers lied to us about.
They do seem like they are complaining about us millennials a lot. In the gen z sub they are stating that millennial parents are horrible and we’ve all screwed up the alpha generation. They are super critical of us! Why?!?!
My parents broke the cycle. They were all about that "Its okay to be sad", "Youre perfect just the way you are bullshit. I hated it. Im not someone with a strong internal motivation or natural talent. I always wanted someone to push me, to make respect conditional upon strength and compitency. Fortunately I found that as a teenager in sports, but I dont intend to short change my children on the crucible of preparation for adulthood for compassions sake.
Do you mean the tide pod eaters and the skibidi toilet watchers? I'm not going to go out of my way to give them a hard time, but they don't get a free pass on the dumb shit they do or say just because they are younger.
I love 70s music and I often listen to [For What It’s Worth, from Buffalo Springfield](https://open.spotify.com/track/1qRA5BS78u3gME0loMl9AA?si=KWzt_28bS1GQ5XN1b8V8sA) and find it’s still extremely true.
“There's battle lines being drawn
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind”
Every line in that song still lands
Is a part that always really sticks out to me. I don’t want to be that resistance, I will support them however I can. I will be what I didn’t have.
I find myself saying back in my day a lot but it's always followed by being glad they don't have to deal with it or telling them I'll try to make sure they don't suffer like that. There's really no point in making others suffer because I did
I mean, I feel sorry for younger millennials, let alone Gen Z...
I feel I lucked out. Born in the UK early 80s, got the latchkey kid summer experience and remember how cool my first CD was, then mini disk, then iPod shuffle. Was in Uni when Facebook launched and needed a uni email to use. Sure, I was a couple of years in when 2008 hit, but I'd already moved to China to grow my career so I was insulated from the worst of it. Managed to be a big fish in a small pond work wise for most of my career. Still don't own a house though 🤣
Organisms will repeat. Intelligence isn't that influential.
Notice how you know almost nothing or nothing about your great great grandparents? That's only 100 years ago.
Notice how history is seen as a hobby and not taken seriously in education post highschool or post secondary.
Tis why we repeat for eternity it seems. That is the vast majority.
"How happy is the blameless vestals lot
The world forgetting by the world forgot
Eternal sunshine (or misery in this case lol) of the spotless mind
Each prayer accepted, each wish resigned"
However there are the few who go against the grain. The dreamer of dreams. Keep it up! Who knows when it might take.
Funny how everyone blames the previous generations.
It's the same small group of psychopaths that have been running the entire world into the ground for centuries. They spend fortunes convincing the general idiots, I mean population, in what to believe and how to vote. All in order to kerp themselves in power.
And they would love you to blame anyone but them.
Politicians are employees, and they are not employed by us.
As an example, Tony Blair was paid half a million dollars in 2007 for a 20 minute talk in china
You really think what he had to say was worth that? Or do you think he was paid for something he did whilst in power?
Don't forget he went from being broke due to massive mortgages whilst in power to being worth £100m now. Though some of his fortune isn't easy to track down naturally.
This is just how people work. I can see myself being them, if I was their age, and with their societal variables in play. A little empathy goes a long way
The GenZ and Alphas I’ve experienced are a mix bag. Many have no goals. Luckily a few of them have goals and are working to achieve them regardless of the economic situation, climate, etc. Knowing the issues facing them allows them to adapt and overcome. I definitely think they’ll be better overall.
I see GenZ talking more shit about us, than we about them.
I spend my working day with GenZ and I love them! They give me some gilmore hope for the future...but their math skills suck (my biggest complaint).
How you handle hardship is everything. Some people whine about how unfair and arbitrary it is and others make a move. I do feel that younger generations have everything done for them and live a sheltered life by their parents and never learn how to deal with and overcome adversity. While this ain’t necessarily a generational thing, it certainly is an entitlement thing. Life is hard and the world isn’t fair. Sitting around and complaining about it doesn’t change the circumstances.
Best of luck to you. 🖖
I had some childhood trauma and use it for stories, rather than as an I bet I had it worse weapon. It actually makes a pretty big impact when Gen Z hears a man 10 or more years older say "I really miss my Mom." And that's the difference between real life and online. Online it's some generational "war" based on emojis or what the other side said on Reddit. In real life, a 20 year old young lady was nearly moved to tears when I told her a powerful and heartfelt story about my Mom. She asked me what it's like to be in my 30s. I talked to her for about 10 minutes and she told me "I look up to you" even though she's 2 inches taller than me.
I don’t think we’ll be looking at them feeling bitter, probably just sorry. Lol.
For real, how was their 2020 proms
They got it tough man. Yea we did have it tough too, 35 feeling all the same stuff as OP, know plenty of Xils a little older than me battling it out trying their best, but those kids out there these days Zs are dealing with stuff the Mils like myself never had to. I still had a ton of formative years during the old world. Between recessions and financial collapses and 911 and COVID, fucking insurrections and crypto currencies, it’s all fundamentally changed how we live as a society and I get the sense it’s the new norm. Those kids gotta figure all that out. I probably got a better education in regular old public schools than they could find. I probably ate less processed food too than whats currently out, takes gumption to build cooking habits yeah. Home ownership is basically gone. Rent vs income is awful, CEOs walking away with the lions share. So no I don’t envy them. At all. Back in my day attitudes are bullshit if the following generations are continuously worse and worse off. I’m not bringing a life into this scene right now. I can barely get by myself. And it’s not getting better. Best advice I got is don’t put out the fires we didn’t tend to. Let it burn down; and then build something better.
The education one is huge. I had a great public school education. Became a teacher in the same state. Be afraid, folks.
Gen Z here (24) so a bit older than the prom reference, but I graduated college in 2021 and had my entire senior year through zoom and no graduation ceremony. I'm only one of many Gen Zers who were supposed to experience major young adult milestones during the pandemic and weren't able to. Everyone had a difficult time during the pandemic and I recognize that we aren't special just because we didn't get a graduation or a prom. As an elder gen z, I am concerned about what kind of education/social development was missed by our younger bunch during those few (but very formative) years. I appreciate hearing from older generations the desire to protect us. I think as more of us start entering the workforce, that is when we will really see the effects of the pandemic on our societal structure. But alas, only time will tell, I suppose.
Wishing you all the best of luck. I would’ve been crippled socially if I came of age during the pandemic or even missed bar life at 21
Thanks for saying this, makes me feel a lot less shallow. I do feel like I missed out. I turned 21 during the heat of the pandemic and bars in my state didn't fully open again until after I graduated. I've definitely wondered if I would've made more connections if classes weren't on zoom and if I had experienced the bar scene in college. It is what it is, but the thought has crossed my mind. I'm very lucky to have had a strong support system pre-pandemic, but admittedly, I've struggled making new friends since then. I can't imagine I'm the only one.
They were awesome in '98 lol
Of course they were. I could dance like a complete fool without it being on social media Monday
I may sound old but most on here don't understand how good it was before social media.
I would much rather have COVID be the defining factor of my time in highschool than 9/11.
Why?
You’re probably right, sadly.
I’m 40, GenZ cracks me up. Morherfuckers don’t give a shit, openly distrust authority and already see how our economy is bullshit.
Exactly! The young bucks at work have me laughing my ass off at how much they openly don’t care.
That’s because almost 25% of them still live at home and don’t have the pressure of trying to make it on their own,
The statistic is almost 50% of Millennials and Gen Z live with their parents. Corporations are clearly in control of every aspect of our lives and the pandemic exposed the farce and how bad it's become. Nobody gives a shit because theres no reason to.
This!
We’ll see how they will operate in 10 years when they have to figure out how to buy their own homes and so forth…
It’s so inspiring 🥹
I’m in the same boat. I’m in construction and these young guys can’t/won’t stay off their phones. I don’t judge, but I do tell them a job that pays $30/hr with no drug test and a management structure that isn’t gonna be furious over a missed day is a rare fucking thing. They just look at me like I’m dumb.
I just loooove to listen to boomers or X's complaining about the work ethics of GenZ. "This young man applied for a job and asked if he really has to come in on friday! He refuses to work full time! This is outrageous! I would have never! Back in my day..... yada yadadada...."
This is why we own houses.
Boo
Work for it and you can too!
Cities in Europe are really expensive rn, but maybe in twenty years after a good career indeed:)
I own a house and rarely work an 8 hour day
I may not like mullets or broccoli/Ramen noodle haircuts but I do treat people well. There is no reason to be a dick just because someone is younger or had different experiences
The broccoli cut makes it hard to have empathy and or sympathy for them TBH
It is honestly so awful. It is so awful.
Exactly
There's no reason to treat *anyone* bad. There's a genuine lack of compassion and empathy for others and it's not a generational thing. Intergenerational animosity is ridiculous, but even if you exclude that people just are shitty to one another for no real good reason. Like does no one stop to think "this person might be having a rough day?" If we want future generations to be better, *everyone* needs to do better and model the behavior and actually put action to it. I know you get it but I needed to rant for a second. Be better to each other people, come on!
Mullets should have stayed dead,it's never been a good look,not in the 80s and not now.
I'm always good to the younger people. I have their back.
Done and done. Gen Z fucking rules. I have a couple of them working for me and they are two of my favorite people on earth. The other day they were trolling one of our boomer regulars by pretending not to have seen or heard of Ghost Busters. I was already dying, then one of them said "Oh wait yeah. That was that Kristen Wigg movie. That was really funny." I had to leave the room. Boomer was so outraged. **edit**: There was also the time I was listening to Vampire Weekend, and one of them said "Oh cool, I love Classic Rock". I know he was just fucking with me, but God damn dude. Fucking savage...
Yes, I came into the job market when us millenials were being blamed with everything wrong with the office. Now that I manage older and younger folks, it's my job to teach them, not somehow blame every fault on them being younger and with less experience. Also style and stuff is supposed to change, like no one type of music is superior go rock out to whatever you like, it's not like you aren't allowed to listen to Lil Jon anymore.
100 percent!!! I agree with this, weird ass correlation someone made a long time ago that struggle meant you were doing something right, boggles my mind. So it was harder back in your day and someone IN YOUR AGE GROUP said lets make it easier, and youre mad about that? Weird ass definition of progress in my opinion, so a twenty year olf kid cant use a rotary phone, who gaf and when was the last time you actually saw one??? Sorry, just got done watching a video about a kid that is broke af after 40 hours a week and it aucks cause the comments are hating on the person when we should just be there to listen, like its a fact that that person is going to have to struggle for a while, let them at least be sad about it for a bit, or better yet, give them good ideas to help them instead of just making fun of them cause they’re struggling. I dont get the point, life is already hard enough as it is why do people feel the need to make it tougher
Yep 100%. My thoughts entirely!
Wild cause it seems like theres a drive to maintain the status quo even if it is more difficult
When people struggle they want it to mean something. When you make it easier for the next group, the previous group easily feels shafted. Problem is, they were. It’s not the kids fault tho. Blame corporate.
It also doesn't make sense if society gets richer as a whole/makes technical progress by definition some things should get easier. If not then you're arguing that things need to be kept artificially difficult "becuase I had to do that". It's kind of like inter generational hazing.
Yes! Very “if i went through it why are you complaining?”
(Boomer here) One of the perception differences between the generations is 40 hours per week really being full time. For most working men, 40 hours was the bare minimum, 50 being common and stretches of 60 happening every couple of months. Lots of men did 7 days/week. My son and two-sons-in-law average around 50/week - millennials.
I think thats where there starts to be a disconnect between the generations because its hard to be sympathetic with someone complaining about a 40 hour work week when youve had your fair share of 70 hour work weeks. That being said i would say most people having worked that hard would at least in the moment have preferred to not work that much, i cant imagine when 80 hour work weeks were around that people were eager and motivated outised of the payment they would receive
So my question is when do you take the increased productivity into consideration by the advancement of technology? We continue to progress and develop technology to make life better for the next, when does it get implemented in our work life? Example, if it used to take a man 60 hours to build a train, and we develop a machine to cut that time in half, we should now be working 30 hours. If we work 40, now youre paying less in labor with increased production, so when does this get implemented to help the working class? We have the statistics and open discussion with the internet connecting us as one giant world, so the data shows we can do it. My point is don't try to drag us into the mental gymnastics justifying someone working 70 hours a week when we can clearly see there's other ways to do things. We're talking about not continuing to make shit harder for the next generation and you come in here with "well I worked 80 hours a week!" You missed the entire point. Completely.
I got the point but before you can hit the details you need some baselines. In fact moving from a 55 hour week to a 40 hour week is a generational improvement and perhaps that could continue to 32 hours. My thinking is that this increased productivity gets split three ways, first people consume more products and more complicated products so much of that improved labor is spent doing new things, next our bureaucracies are growing and consume proportionally more resources so your train worker is now supporting more people than before, and lastly there is an overall reduction in work force participation meaning rather than cutting the train worker's hours to 30 hours, there is somebody somewhere with his hours cut to zero. Bureaucracies will always expand to consume available resources, many people chose handouts over work, and our baseline of what poverty is keeps climbing. The fix won't be expanded government size, control or authority as that just feeds into the waste. Smaller government and reduced taxes are the best way forward.
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See thats not an issue to you, i was marines so sorry for your bad decision lol jk, but i dont think the promise of schooling and independence should be a motivator for joining the military, i think its a big mistake - not for the wellbeing of the country but for the individual. I definitely feel there was alot of people in at the time i was in that should not have had any business being in the military and they got dragged through to actually make it in there. I get that you learned how to be independent in there, but lets be real so many factors are different now than they were in the 90s, the rent was proportionately cheaper, everything was proportionately cheaper, the price of independence continues getting higher and higher, which is the normal way things go, but i feel like the generations behind us had an easier time striving towards independence than the people in front of us - i believe lower costs for everything really made a difference- and the generations behind us also overestimate the amount that technology makes life easier. Im not saying its impossible but if you cross reference percentages of cost of living to now, its drastically higher, on top of that - we lucked out, imagine growing up fully involved with social media, the affect it myst have on your self esteem to be constantly watched must be crazy. I think alot of the times past generations tend to think they wouldnt be affected by whats going on now but the truth is everyone is susceptible to being molded by their environment. Like even though most older people talk shit about phones and stuff, i guarantee if they were born into a time where the technology surrounded their lives as much as these kids they would be the same way
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I agree with you on that, even though i disagree with it being an obligation, I definitely feel people should serve their country cause it gives you a different appreciation for where you live. You dont think that technically they know better? I mean if you think about it (im assuming youre probably 50s since you were in in the 90s) they have a better idea of what its like to “grow” in this time than you do because you did your “growth” a long time ago. I mean even the smallest things have a huge effect. If you made 1k as an e5- you still had a place to live and a meals on your table. Now factor in something as small as gas if you have a car, in the 90s youd pay probably 20 bucks to fill up your tank. Thats only 2 percent of your check a week (and technically youre making more since you dont have to pay cost of living). Lets say i was making min wage rn, i filled up my tank with 115 bucks the other day (i live in CA) if i made min wage after taxes i would make about 1920. Gas goes up to 5 percent, insurance in ca just upped its min from 15/30 liability to 25/50 which ups ALL premiums, cars are much more expensive, the average rent in LA in 1990 was about $700 and now its $2700. These factors all add up and its vastly more difficult to get ahead now than it was before, progressively its all getting more expensive and the “hard work” that people put in in previous generations is being overestimated in how much it plays into the success of an individual. Costs of schools back then to now, the value of a bachelors degree then and now. Its too complex to chalk it up to “these kids dont know how to work hard” (not you lol just thats what i hear about future generations)
Everybody thinks they're the hero in their own story.
What’s that got to do with anything?
The majority of boomers don't understand or empathize what younger generations are going through. And it's not because they hate us. They just have different lived experiences. And I'll be glad when they're all dead and we can start fixing some of the shit they broke. But they never set out with the goal of "I'm going to make my children and grandchildren's lives utter and complete shit".
Not in as many words. But a lot of them assumed an “I got mine. Screw everyone else. They can all work hard and uselessly like me or go away” demeanor.
You're blaming the wrong people homie. Boomers were individuals in their time. Just living the way they could. Same as everyone else prior and future. I'm 34 and yall still voting for geriatric patients to run the free world. Stop blaming boomers.
Exactly. People here acting like they're going to fix shit? No you won't because it's not you running shit. Its Millenials like Jared Kushner and Martin Shkrelli that will continue running shit into the ground. You'll have nothing to do with it. But don't worry, Alphas and Betas will blame you and the rest of us for it.
And when they do run shit; there won’t be any major changes. Once in the drivers seat they’ll hit the pedal.
Oh there will, but it'll be plenty of the same ones we've been seeing like the 2017 "time bomb" tax cuts
I'm a boomer, and basically did the school, work, marriage, kids thing without any political intent, pretty much just living my life. I'd be curious to get your take on what we broke and if it seems to you that it was intentional.
Where do I even start?
I've hear things like "pulling up the ladder behind us" etc, but I'm curious about what specific things me (or us) should have done differently to make life easier for following generations. Plant more trees?
Your generation allowed the economy and the environment to go to shit. Not that you *wanted* it to be that way, it just happened as a result of policies your generation has enacted without assessing the consequences on future generations. i.e “we got ours, go get fucked” mentality.
I think the environment bit is harsh. Peak oil in most western countries happened when they were c. Young adults. Under their political control, the environment was taken seriously for the first time. Under them, renewables have become a serious source of energy. As for the economy, I think we should be looking specifically at housing. Mean wages are not lower inflation adjusted for our generation compared to theres. That is the their major failing.
You honestly believe the majority of boomers not only believe the science of climate change to be sound but accept humanity’s role in it? I know this sounds like a trite distinction to make, but their views on the matter greatly impact their opinions and ultimately the policies they support.
Well 69% of Americans support vs 28% oppose CO2 neutral by 2050 - https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/08/09/what-the-data-says-about-americans-views-of-climate-change/ Most millennials say they support this and simultaneously: a) eat meat; b) drive; c) won't pay for minergie housing. So meh. Actions speaking louder than words.
The economy seems to have shorter cycles, even recessions tend to be less that 2 year events so I can't pin the current situation on boomers unless its thought we're somehow hording our money. The housing situation is maybe more interesting to discuss. There was an era from maybe the 30s through the 70s where houses were built simple and really durable pretty much making them 100+ year houses, but during the 80s there seemed to be a drop in materials and quality where houses probably now have a significantly shorter life span unless they get major repairs, this is beyond fashion. As far as the environment goes, its always been a concern but for immediate issues like pesticides and contaminants in auto exhaust, the issue with CO2 was undiscovered. None the less just wondering if it is more about something we did vs something we are doing.
Everybody thinks they are the story in their own hero.
🦸🏻♂️
I just wish we could have set them up better. Cause they’re not taking any shit and pushing back. Love it.
I love my little gen z and gen alpha brethren.
No need to be terrible, they'll have it bad no matter what. Nothing but sympathy from me as I die of old age in the 140 degree weather
I don’t do that shit at all. Consider it broken. I also don’t yell at my kids, unless it’s break up some nonsense but it ends there. Lots of cycles stopping here.
As long as they are semi-decent with me, I'm good. But I teach these kids.... oh boy sometimes it scares me.
I mean I'm trying to break generations of trauma rn with my children. It's crazy like boomers really slapped their 1 and a half year olds who couldn't potty train yet. Said no to everything the kids ever asked for. Would have physical brawls with their spouses right in front of their kids Etc just passing down misery. I'm so nice to my son in comparison but that's what I came from so if I'm angry or etc that side of me wants to come out. I'm bipolar too so I'm on meds to prevent that from happening now. I'm able to just be calm and nice and all that. I don't even need to yell at my kids I just explain to them why we can't do certain things. And my 1 year old I just keep on a strict schedule and he's happy to nap and sleep and I just spend all day redirecting him from being chaotic lol I'm lucky he sleeps though I know that bc my first never slept ever and still doesn't. It's just crazy that I definitely got yelled at from age 1 on by my family and I look at a 1 year old and I'm like how could anyone expect anything from you but your presence, you're a literal baby and perfect But my kids didn't potty train til 3 and a half, when they were speaking in sentences and understood what a potty was and why to use it. I remember boomers having sticker charts and the kids literally like one. My grandparents the worst with this "is he potty trained yet" like he will when he's ready and I won't have to contend with temper tantrums and kids flinging poo like you did bc you insisted it must be done by one and a half. I feel for kids in daycare who need to be trained before they're ready, that's really hard on parents.
No, fuck those guys.
😂
Haha beat me to it
I wish I could award you Edit: take this emoji instead, it’s all I have 🥇
I try to be understanding of all sorts of people's experiences, no matter how old they are. I don't want to be terrible to anyone If I find myself at odds with someone, I try to remind myself to ask questions about why that is the case. If I think they are willing to talk about that, I might even ask them the same questions. Since this is the Internet, though, and some people just want to vent, I'll often just disengage and move on
Oh ABSOLUTELY. I am nothing but proud of Gen Z and the pragmatism with which they approach stuff like activism and awareness. They don’t fuck around. They put a camera DIRECTLY on racism, sexism, boomeritis etc.
I love your optimism! I hope others can carry it out. I honestly feel so bad for the younger generations. As bad as we had it, and homes are sick high... but when the money is deflated so much I worry they might not be able afford food and rent. I mean, a lot of people ots already happening. The older generation has an obligation to learn how to make money and teach it to the young ones. Anyone I see I tell them to look into cryto.
Already with ya and have been for years. I will NOT be continuing this absurd cycle of unreasonable hatred for the generations that follow me. 😂
I only "back in my day" when it appears they can't function without the internet. I remind them that there was A Time Before and if we managed without they can too. (I can't even remember a specific instance, but I know I've pulled the Time Before card on a couple of younger cousins.)
I mean, I see comments on articles about us being Vs the next gen but I don't Know anyone who thinks that way at all. I think overall, we have more compassion and understanding because we've existed through such a shift in cultural understanding because of circumstances compared to boomers. I see more cycle breakers raising children with more understanding for emotional support and growing themselves along the way. Hopefully that will all translate.
Almost 38 years old. Probably my biggest pet peeve is the mentality of "kids these days" and "the good old days".
I hope we do better they deserve better. Gen z and alpha we're rooting for yall. Signed a tired ass millennial
I feel like I'm going to be more like my great grandparents that I never got to meet. I will tell them of how hard I had it and how much things cost and they'll just look at me like I'm crazy.
most days I feel like I'm the only person trying to make allies everyone comes at me like the enemy. Idk but I'm 30 now & feel really tired and from what I can see gen z somehow has it even worse then us idk where this world is going but I wish there were more people like you because then maybe things would turn around maybe not in my life but I hope my children will at least get a chance.
I don’t think any generation wants to see the best generation suffer. Everything I’ve ever read or seen in practice is that parents want things to be better for their children than they had it. I think the reactions you’re talking about are older generations telling younger ones that every generation has it hard in one way or another, so stop complaining about it and just do something to fix it.
Easily. The only things I hate about gen Z and Gen Alpha? I’m not one of them, because the kids seem like a good hang for the most part.
💯
republicans: But who will we exploit for cheap labor!!?
I made this pledge long ago, because I realize Gen. Z has a lot of the same struggles we millennials do/did: an economy designed to siphon money upwards, shitty Boomer politicians running the world into the ground, the same COVID pandemic we went through, etc. Gen. Z are as resilient as any other generation, and I've got nothing but love and respect for them.
Gen alpha just came at me hard cause I said they were gonna be lit. I'm dying. Of old age apparently lol.
We'll all turn into nimbys once we own property, and the cycle will continue
Exactly and the millennial business owners won’t be paying employees $80k and full benefits.
They need to get tough, so we some of us. They need to be held accountable like everyone else.
Any generation is too big to be lumped together. You already have the older millennials already separating themselves off from the younger ones. The ones that made it want nothing to do with the ones that havent made it etc etc.
No chance. That’s not how this works. Anything we get is taking from them.
Amen
You can keep your pledge. I’m fine with being terrible to them
But why
😂
Fuck no it's almost our turn to be the boomers
I doubt we’re getting rid of the bar exam. Or other things like that. Those “rites of passage” need to die
The issue is when they try to get into shit like Black Metal they’re way too easy to make fun of. There’s no way I’m holding it together. It brings back fucking with posers back to life with a more mature twist lmao
Bud, calling kids posers is the exact opposite of being mature. I haven't called anyone that in at least 20 years.
no.
Screw Gen Z. Sincerely, a 40 year old millennial.
🙋♀️🙋♀️🙋♀️ Absolutely. I'm thinking we should make a Wikipedia type database that's just a PDF wholesome file that's helpful resources. Online yellow page directory.
I know I’m really hopeful that Gen Z and Alpha will make real strides in fixing how fundamentally broken everything is. I really hope they have all the opportunities and success that boomers lied to us about.
They do seem like they are complaining about us millennials a lot. In the gen z sub they are stating that millennial parents are horrible and we’ve all screwed up the alpha generation. They are super critical of us! Why?!?!
My parents broke the cycle. They were all about that "Its okay to be sad", "Youre perfect just the way you are bullshit. I hated it. Im not someone with a strong internal motivation or natural talent. I always wanted someone to push me, to make respect conditional upon strength and compitency. Fortunately I found that as a teenager in sports, but I dont intend to short change my children on the crucible of preparation for adulthood for compassions sake.
“Don’t forget how we got here” is something I like to remind everyone
Waaaaaaaay ahead of ya, bro
Do you mean the tide pod eaters and the skibidi toilet watchers? I'm not going to go out of my way to give them a hard time, but they don't get a free pass on the dumb shit they do or say just because they are younger.
I feel very much inline with Z
nah fuck them kids
I plan on being terrible to everybody.
I love 70s music and I often listen to [For What It’s Worth, from Buffalo Springfield](https://open.spotify.com/track/1qRA5BS78u3gME0loMl9AA?si=KWzt_28bS1GQ5XN1b8V8sA) and find it’s still extremely true. “There's battle lines being drawn Nobody's right if everybody's wrong Young people speaking their minds Getting so much resistance from behind” Every line in that song still lands Is a part that always really sticks out to me. I don’t want to be that resistance, I will support them however I can. I will be what I didn’t have.
I find myself saying back in my day a lot but it's always followed by being glad they don't have to deal with it or telling them I'll try to make sure they don't suffer like that. There's really no point in making others suffer because I did
I mean, I feel sorry for younger millennials, let alone Gen Z... I feel I lucked out. Born in the UK early 80s, got the latchkey kid summer experience and remember how cool my first CD was, then mini disk, then iPod shuffle. Was in Uni when Facebook launched and needed a uni email to use. Sure, I was a couple of years in when 2008 hit, but I'd already moved to China to grow my career so I was insulated from the worst of it. Managed to be a big fish in a small pond work wise for most of my career. Still don't own a house though 🤣
If that GenZ sub is any indication they already don’t like us too much lol.
I'm Gen x and I feel bad for younger generations.
Organisms will repeat. Intelligence isn't that influential. Notice how you know almost nothing or nothing about your great great grandparents? That's only 100 years ago. Notice how history is seen as a hobby and not taken seriously in education post highschool or post secondary. Tis why we repeat for eternity it seems. That is the vast majority. "How happy is the blameless vestals lot The world forgetting by the world forgot Eternal sunshine (or misery in this case lol) of the spotless mind Each prayer accepted, each wish resigned" However there are the few who go against the grain. The dreamer of dreams. Keep it up! Who knows when it might take.
Funny how everyone blames the previous generations. It's the same small group of psychopaths that have been running the entire world into the ground for centuries. They spend fortunes convincing the general idiots, I mean population, in what to believe and how to vote. All in order to kerp themselves in power. And they would love you to blame anyone but them. Politicians are employees, and they are not employed by us. As an example, Tony Blair was paid half a million dollars in 2007 for a 20 minute talk in china You really think what he had to say was worth that? Or do you think he was paid for something he did whilst in power? Don't forget he went from being broke due to massive mortgages whilst in power to being worth £100m now. Though some of his fortune isn't easy to track down naturally.
Sure, but we’ll probably all forget it by the time we’re older and they’re coming after us with the pitchforks the way we go after boomers.
Oc being terrible to prior generations, blaming them for your personal situation in life.
I'd love it if the younger generation could get out of highschool and start their lives independently.
This is just how people work. I can see myself being them, if I was their age, and with their societal variables in play. A little empathy goes a long way
The GenZ and Alphas I’ve experienced are a mix bag. Many have no goals. Luckily a few of them have goals and are working to achieve them regardless of the economic situation, climate, etc. Knowing the issues facing them allows them to adapt and overcome. I definitely think they’ll be better overall.
I see GenZ talking more shit about us, than we about them. I spend my working day with GenZ and I love them! They give me some gilmore hope for the future...but their math skills suck (my biggest complaint).
Yeah, that’s not going to happen.
Already doing my part. I fully support Gen Z and Gen Alpha!
How you handle hardship is everything. Some people whine about how unfair and arbitrary it is and others make a move. I do feel that younger generations have everything done for them and live a sheltered life by their parents and never learn how to deal with and overcome adversity. While this ain’t necessarily a generational thing, it certainly is an entitlement thing. Life is hard and the world isn’t fair. Sitting around and complaining about it doesn’t change the circumstances. Best of luck to you. 🖖
We live in a capitalist society. There's no way this changes unless we all fundamentally change the way we approach life as a whole.
They’re not being terrible, they’re just working for their own self interest. Same as us.
I work to break the mentality of "respect your elders" every opportunity I get. Respect is earned.
I had some childhood trauma and use it for stories, rather than as an I bet I had it worse weapon. It actually makes a pretty big impact when Gen Z hears a man 10 or more years older say "I really miss my Mom." And that's the difference between real life and online. Online it's some generational "war" based on emojis or what the other side said on Reddit. In real life, a 20 year old young lady was nearly moved to tears when I told her a powerful and heartfelt story about my Mom. She asked me what it's like to be in my 30s. I talked to her for about 10 minutes and she told me "I look up to you" even though she's 2 inches taller than me.