I'm tired, as an older Gen Z. I'm over it.
I'm tired, as an older Gen Z. I'm over it.
I get it, ok? Gen Z's reputation isn't great. Many people see us as lazy, unmotivated, and broken.
Can you seriously blame anyone who is a millenial or younger? Be honest with yourself here. If you really have to compare the war times to say that these generations had it easy, your metrics are messed up to begin with. That is a terrible bar.
Many people are heavily thinking about using services like MAID (Canada) when they get old because they know that they'll never be able to retire, even if they work 50+ hours every week.
An entire generation is being written off, despite the fact that some of them are barely even in high school. Who was supposed to teach these kids how to act, and what to know? Who was supposed to guide them? You don't just get life skills from a box of cheerios.
I'm heavily disappointed with a certain group of Millenials for following the exact same things that they've complained about for multiple years. You can't complain about being judged as an entire generation while also complaining about another entire generation without being a hypocrite. Millions of people are usually not a single monolith, sorry to tell you. You are not an exception. No one is.
I do feel lucky in the sense that Millenials dispelled the "American dream" way before I had a chance to hope for it, although I do feel unlucky in the sense that that hope was never there to begin with. It's felt grim since elementary school, and it's just gotten worse. "Look at all of these bad problems that we'll leave you to solve, well after it's financially or environmentally feasible!" Yet, supposedly young people are dramatic for complaining about it. Hell, a lot of us can't even legally vote yet. Do we have to follow the footsteps of France?
People actively and happily ignore science everywhere. In fact, many older adults have recently tried to LOWER education funding, yet these same people will still choose to blame the kids when they don't magically know things.
There has been a massive uptick in mental health issues in young people. Instead of wondering "What caused that?", many people are very eager to just dismiss it all as kids being dramatic. A handful of kids, maybe, but THIS many? You're kidding yourself. You should keep thinking about the "why". Why are so many kids too depressed to function at a basic level?
Let's see here:
I'll probably never be able to retire.
I'll probably never be able to own a home.
People are still actively ignore environmental change, yet they whine about the price of foods going up. (Look at how the farmers are faring this year ffs)
People actively fight medical science.
People actively fight to control the lives of complete and total strangers.
I'm done pretending it's all ok. I'm done acting complacent for random people to feel better about doing nothing for decades. I'm done dealing with it. Aside from my loved ones and my hobbies, what is there to look forwards to? I know people who have a freaking masters degree, yet they're stuck working in fast food. University is NOT a magical "fix-all" solution. That poor dude is paying off that schooling with a minimum wage job. There are only so many high paying jobs.
We're expected to care about everyone else's struggle but our own. We're expected to just deal with it in silence. All for the sake of older generation's egos? I think the fuck not. I fuck up all the time. If you do, you should own up to it. I'll always respect someone who owns their mistakes WAY more than someone who just pushes the blame down.
Don't lie to us and tell us that life is better than it's ever been. If you truly believe life is fully affordable on these wages, donate everything you have to charity and start from scratch. No degree, work experience, nothing. If it's so easy, do it. Just do it. Please, start all over again if it's so easy. Show us. Let's see how long you last, especially if you're single.
Be angry at me, idk. I am not alone in feeling like this, by a long shot. This collective anger will just keep growing. You can't just brash people into being happy. That's a great way to get ignored.
Again, this is aimed towards the people who say those things. Awesome people are in every generation.
I've never heard a millennial talk down about Gen Z in real life aside from a few cultural comments that every generation deals with. Stuff like "why are they so into anime?" The rest of what you're talking about seems more like internet drama to me than widely held beliefs.
Get some help with your mental health.
You’ve become wrapped up in this generational wars which is entirely, 100% fake and media generated.
To an extent. But income inequality and the housing crisis is manufactured by the older generations. In my city it's impossible to rent a 3 bedroom house because ALL the houses are being horded by established home owners and rented on Airbnb. They have a VERY comfortable life and don't need the extra income. It's just greed. Meanwhile people under 45 basically have to get assistance from parents and also have good jobs in order to have any hope of buying a home. (A flat/condominium of course, no way we could afford a detached house).
REPEAT. AFTER. ME.
“Capitalism, Did, This”
You're commenting on a post in a community dedicated to venting frustration. What entitles you to tell someone they should get help with their mental health? OP's feelings aren't invalid just because you've generalized their thoughts into being "wrapped up in this generational wars".
God point, thanks. I was going to reply to several and hadn’t noticed
My first reaction was seeing an analogy to an article in c/Science on dementia. The breakthrough was that neurons are not killed directly from protein clumps in the brain, but their stress reaction gets turned on and stays on until they die. The analogy was, imagine bright lights are on, and you can’t turn them off. …. seems like this is the same. Yeah, the world sucks in many ways. (It’s also much better in others but we’ll ignore that for now. ) The point is internet culture and always on electronics keep sending a flood of stressful news, information, and falsehoods ….. your stress reaction gets turned on and you can’t turn it off. You’re under the glare of a spotlight that you can’t turn off. There’s no peace or calm, you can’t make it stop.
How can we make it stop? Can we focus on moderating our constant exposure (wearing shades and sunblock)? Do we have to give it up? Can we redirect it somehow?
All the generational crap is just another "war of the poors". It's foolish to antagonize people based on their age, the real issue is the structure of our society.
It is indeed one of the most succesful "divide and conquer" propaganda tactics reactionaries have ever come up with. People are different and have grown up in different environments regardless of their age. Generation theory is basically the astrology of sociology.
The effects kind of make it obvious too. Blame the other generations regardless of their individual beliefs or their financial and political status. Just wait till they are all dead then magically things will get better.
Man, that sucks that you're getting all that flak about your generation. I'll be honest - I'm surprised to hear it; myself and every other millennial I know is so proud of gen Z. You guys are such genuinely no-nonsense people, it's really refreshing.
I've got a few gen Z coworkers now, and I'm always surprised how they can nonchalantly swear in front of their supervisors, and just straight-up say when too much is being asked of them. And they do it with such confidence that nobody confronts them about it! It's nice to see a generation that hasn't been beaten into submission by the rhetoric that they need to grovel at the feet of anyone that society claims is their "superior."
I don't have a lot of hope for the future of my country, or the world at large, but I think that if anyone can find a way to bring people together and make a change, it's you guys. I wish it wasn't something that needed to be hoisted upon your shoulders, but I really don't see millennials making that kind of positive change. And if y'all want to say "Fuck no, I'm not doing all that." I'd say fair enough, and still think highly of you.
The world sucks, and every generation knows that better than the last. Don't let people who had it easier than you tell you that you should be someone you're not.
I’m a millennial and I don’t blame you one bit, or think any of that shit about you.
It’s the same nonsense the media said about us, and those before us.
I’ve never even met a person in real life that thinks or says the shit the media pushes, but I can imagine there’s a few out there.
I came here to say this -- I admire the younger generation. My generation just wanted good jobs, and past the age of about 25, forgot all about what happened to the world or anything like that.
The "Occupy Wall Street" generation for the most part still had the option of good participation in the economy but quite a lot of them rejected the whole premise and got involved in productive protest, to the point they almost got a socialist elected president.
Gen Z as far as I can tell is a lot more fucked than whatever came before them, and is staunchly refusing to play the game of flipping burgers and renting apartments for their whole life. Not like they have much choice but good on them for reacting accordingly, and fuck the haters
I’m heavily disappointed with a certain group of Millenials for following the exact same things that they’ve complained about for multiple years. You can’t complain about being judged as an entire generation while also complaining about another entire generation without being a hypocrite. Millions of people are usually not a single monolith, sorry to tell you. You are not an exception. No one is.
It's the 1% vs the working class, not generation vs generation.
Although the 1% would sure love it if we divided ourselves in more easily managed groups
It is not just the 1%. I've heard many friends complaining that the younger generation ask for more and refuse to be given less like it is a bad thing.
I'm almost 50 and I feel terribly sorry for absolutely anyone younger than me for what's been done to the world.
I do have a house... but will also probably never retire. I don't envision a long life in part because of climate change and all the reactionary politics that have come with it. (I wanted to add that I'm not sorry to the alt-right kids but... did the world leave them better outlets?)
It's fucked. I didn't break it and can't afford to buy it.
I hope the ants can do well in the inevitable war against the cockroaches.
I'm sorry to hear about your situation. I don't think anyone should have to feel that way, to be honest.
I'm sorry for making you feel that way today. This was intended to be aimed towards the people who do say those things about the younger generations. I'll edit that in. Not everyone who is an older adult is bad, not by a long shot. Many of you are awesome.
Oh shit no, I'm not aiming anything back at you. I'm frustrated at the two prior generations, as are most people in the world.
I'm pissed at the tax cuts for billionaires and their ability to warp our institutions to their interests.
I don't know how to stop, avert, even slow their efforts. I understand the helplessness you all feel but don't have solutions either.
Because there aren't any. I couldn't prescribe one nor detail half a dozen potential ones. Maybe I'll be here to push one forward.
Dunno.
Youre not wrong. The kids are alright. Solidarity, from a gen-Xer
X millennial cusp here. Yep. The kids are mostly fucking cool as hell.
The only real solution is the elimination of billionaires running the world. Do your part
Another Elder Millennial here.
I don't blame Gen Z. My hope is in Gen Z. I know that's a shitty burden to carry, but as others have said I'll do what I can in the time I have.
Don't give up. Motivate others and keep motivated. There is absolutely power in numbers, we just have to stay positive.
I kmow we're in "Mitigation Mode" and it is gonna get shitty, but you will fully inherit this world at some point. Salvage what you can and let the boomers rot.
M8 I'm a millennial and almost 40. I've only just managed to buy property. (The cheapest I could find in my city despite having what would normally be considered a comfortable middle class income). I get it. But on the bright side, the boomers will all be dead soon and as long as gen X know their fucking place, we can fix this shit hole together.
Things will get better, we just need old age to take care of a few of the people in charge.
It'll only get better if the Boomers leave their houses to their kids like has been done for centuries instead of cashing out on their "investment" and selling to a landleech.
Not so, because the real issue is that they won't be around to keep voting for fascists. Millennials aren't skewing further to the political right as they age as was the case with the Boomers.
With Gen Z being so over all this shit already, together we will have a much better starting position for change.
I'm not sure about your country, but at least in my country the most popular political party among young people (especially uneducated men) is the right-wing party so I doubt think things will get better when the boomers die out.
That's fine, same happened to millenials a few years ago.
Take (bizarre) comfort in the fact that all older generations have looked down on the younger generations. We have evidence of it in newspapers from the 1700s.
The oldest will die soon. As will mine (whatever. I'm Gen X, okay?) Eventually your generation will be the oldest, looking down on the younger generations for being dumb and lazy.
Don't feel bad for being tired of the wheel that continually crushes us all.
It goes much further back than that. I believe there are old Roman texts where older people complain about the younger generations.
Almost like the media have latched in to fertile ground for rage bait articles isn’t that funny .
Don't give up now, we need your strong, youthful bodies to hoist the blades on the guillotines.
Elder millennial checking in…
I’m sorry we haven’t been able to do more to make the world better.
Stick with me little bro, I’ll pave the best path I can so you can march on after my time has passed.
Youngest Gen X/Millennial cusp, here.
OP blames Millennials. I blame Boomers. Boomers don't blame Silents. Boomers got the boon, but it's not their fault either.
WWI and WWII created an unprecedented opportunity and glut of wealth. That wealth drove greed. Greed motivated bad behavior, which eroded the notion of worker loyalty in lieu of profits. More greed broke wage and productivity models, broke company loyalty, broke common decency... Rinse, lather, repeat, ad nauseum.
We're all fucked. I wake up nightly when I don't smoke enough weed to keep me sedated. I wake up and wonder why I try daily. I'm treading water. For a pittance.
Fuck our government. Not boomers. Not Gen X. Not Millennials. Not Gen Z. Fuck corporations. Fuck politicians. Fuck the police. Fuck our systemic need for validation and fame.
Fuck.
It's a bit late, but I don't think you saw my edit. I don't blame any one person, expect the people who DO say those things.
Amazing people come from every generation and every walk of life. I'm not going to write of millions and millions of people off of the actions of a few bad apples.
I think I would feel like I failed as a person if I did, to be honest. There are way too many nuanced situations and too many different life stories to even try to fit so many people into one box. That's the exact problem that I was talking about.
No large group is a monolith. Please ignore the poor phone grammar and reread the post, including the edit. I did not blame Millenials for the state of things. I am just disappointed in the specific ones who do the same things that they complained abour boomers doing. That is not all Millenials, and if you happen to feel like it is, you should meet more Millenials. Awesome people come from every background.
If EVERY single older person was bad, WWII would have ended in a much worse state than it did.
It's terrible. This shouldn't have had to be a thing.
As a younger millennial y’all have weird behavior and music and slang and you’re doing ridiculous things with your facial hair. And so did we. Our parents did it too as did our grandparents.
Fixing this world is on all of us and I’m sorry we haven’t been able to save you from having to help or carry that burden. Lot of assholes and all that. You didn’t deserve this any more than we did.
So fuck shit up. We did. I’ll stand with you as you do it. Be angry, but be pointed in your anger and don’t let us discount you. You’ve got more time to live with the consequences than we do.
to be fair the media seem to love creating this generational divide. we had our fair share and you will too.
divide and conquer, i guess.
Millennial here. Your complaints are absolutely justified. FWIW, I fucking love zoomers. At the workplace, y'all are consistently the happiest (infectiously so!), while simultaneously refusing to just bend over and take the bullshit that the rest of us have been conditioned into. We lost or never had the self respect that zoomers wield like fucking armor.
Can't really pitch a good outlook for things like the climate disaster or neonazis coming out of the woodwork. We're kinda fucked there. And you're fucked even harder. And your kids are beyond fucked. Etc.
But even within the turd this planet is becoming, there are still a few gems. YOU give me a hope that not much else does now-a-days: if we can survive long enough to meaningfully tackle the climate, then we can tackle the toxic elements of our society too, and y'all are already pros at that.
👊
Elder gen X. Your generation does seem unmotivated. But I think it's justified. Jobs expect a lot and offer very little to your generation. Why toil for little reward for a company that dump you the moment something better comes along. Why try to save for a house you will probably never be able to buy in world on fire.
It's like when employers say people don't want to work anymore. Well yeah people don't want to work. That's what wages are a bribe to get you to do something you don't want to do. If the bribe isn't good enough then people won't take it.
Your generation does seem unmotivated.
I don't know man, they called us the Slacker Generation at the time. The world Gen Z is inheriting is a goddamn disaster. At least we could get a degree in something silly like Philosophy and still expect to get a well-paying job, because a degree (any degree) was a ticket to a nice life, and it didn't put you in the poorhouse. Gen Z is fucked.
Millennial here. You are completely right. You were born in a world and a system where you are constantly told everything is all right if you just work and consume and yet everything is falling apart and we are destroying our world and ourselves doing so while the "rewards" seem to be further away and feel more shallow than ever. It does not make sense and it's perfectly understandable to get apathetic over it. I only wish you would get more angry about it and less indifferent, but at the same I see that there is already way too much anger in the world and people are already constantly screaming at each other. Also, we didn't do enough either and failed to bring much substantial change. Gen Z ist right in the way they feel. You are not lazy or unambiguous or "lacking drive" or whatever. And it's also not the internet or smartphones or games or anime or whatever. It's a society headed to its doom by living a lie that's rotten to the core and the carrot you are supposed to chase starts to smell foul.
Oh and also don't give a fuck about those millenials who started to play along and kicking down as soon as they got their share of what little is left of the cake. Fuck those pathetic little class traitors.
I don't know where you're at in your career but as an older millenial genx or boomers complaining about your work ethic is a joke dude. They ran these companies into the fucking ground lmao. When I was younger I kind of liked that office space 'nothing matters' affect but man, you do not want to work with/rely on those people at all.
Was kinda nice seeing the shift to writing think pieces about zoomers after all the shit they talked about millennial over the years but they'll move on. Just ignore it. But seriously watch these people at work they're useless. My parents paid for college with a summer job; I worked 40+ hour weeks in high-school. There's no comparison on work ethic here
NO NEWS FOR A WEEK YOUNG LADY.
It's gonna be ok. We're gonna take over at some point and stop this dumbfuckery. We'll do it together.
I mean, hey, that's how Gen X was viewed. Lazy slackers with no faith in the system. You're in good company.
I feel your pain. I've lost faith in humans. I saw a post on here saying something like "I actually think people are great", and just thought wow, ignorance is bliss.
Thankfully older generations are dying. You said some disparaging things about your generation at the beginning of your post, and that's not how I see you. I see hope in your generation. I'm excited for you to grow up and take over from the shitheads running the show now.
For what it's worth, remember that older generations have heavy metal and other pollutants in their brains. Also, it takes time for societies to change.
remember that older generations have heavy metal
Fuck yeah we do 🤘🏻🎸🎙
and other pollutants in their brains
...oh. :(
Maybe it's both!
I'm a 36 year old millennial in the middle of getting my social work degree. I'm here to try to make a difference, and I want to be on your generations team. Of course take care of your mental health, and part of that is finding a way to take action any way you can, big or small, to make things better for you and the people around you. I'll be trying to do the same. I know it can feel impossible when it's hard to see the results, but change has happened before and I belive it can happen again.
Take comfort in the fact that everyone who hated Elvis didn't change their minds, they just got old and died. No one thinks Elvis is literally the devil anymore.
Eventually people who fawn after and put up with billionaires will eventually get old and die, falling into the minority and become forgotten.
I mean, I know I'm raining on an already pretty despairing post, here, in times that very well do lend themselves to despair, but that sentiment has been around as long as I've been alive and I'd bet good money decades longer. It's probably one of those sentiments that's as old as people.
But no one (or at least, comparatively very few) was rewarded for hating Elvis. He hasn't been a thing in a long time. Same with any other risque entertainer that was also satan, they fall by the wayside after everyone gets bored. People are rewarded very well when they bend over for billionaires. As long as sociopathy is rewarded, there will always be rampant sociopathy.
I'm not saying it's so ingrained that there's no point in fighting it -- forcibly changing the culture is of the utmost importance, especially now. But that sentiment, the battle plan can't just be "wait around and it will work itself out." It's not like billionaires either of the actual or the temporarily embarrassed sort don't have kids. I'm starting to see that's the fatal flaw the more liberal-minded seem to have. It's like we believe so hard that everyone is inherently good and that things will work out in the end that we never bother to make a move. It's the death of us.
We're all tired...
Except the breeders.
They're panicking and cannibalizing the rest of us.
Aside from boomers that are literally regressive and are still actively voting for the worst humans available... I don't think generational hatred is really a thing anymore. All my fellow Millennials joke about the weird shit you do (as did we), but actual judgement and condemnation? Naw, it's just not there, IMO. We're all in this together...