Recently, Redditor u/AlmostBarbie reignited the never-dying discussion on the generation gap. On July 18, they made a post, asking, "Gen Z and millennials, what's something you wish the older generations understood?" and millennials especially had a to get off their chest. Below are some of their responses.
#1
I feel damn resentful when older folks tell me I should stay home with my kids. Like, yeah I’d love to if we could afford it, which we can’t. They act like it’s a choice to go back to work, when for a lot of moms, it’s not a choice.
Image credits: Momonthecoast
#2
That the cost of education far outpaced inflation and wage growth in the US. If I had a dime for each boomer who lectured me about working my way through school like they did, I might almost be able to buy a house!
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#3
That $15/hour in 2021 does not give you the same purchasing power that it did in 1985. When I hear an older person say "I used to get by just fine on $15/hour", I wanna slap them.
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#4
Your s****y jokes that objectify women or make fun of minorities won’t fly anymore. Get over it.
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#5
That electronics don't rot your brain,and that vaccines ARE effective.
Image credits: zilla-quesadilla
#6
Just because we're more aware of our mental health and allow ourselves to feel what we want to feel, it doesn't make us weak or "snowflakes". If anything, it makes us better at coping with, well, everything!
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#7
That video games dont cause mass shootings. Things like neglect, bullying,a bad home life, and your s****y parenting are what causes mass shootings
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#8
That just because I don't want to be called something doesn't mean I'm a baby. People are allowed to have boundaries and things they don't feel comfortable with
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#9
Customers ARE NOT always right.The original phrase reeks privilege, and self entitlement.
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#10
Just because someone is Family DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE TO LOVE THEM. Terrible toxic people should ABSOLUTELY be cut out of your life REGARDLESS of their relationship to you
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#11
That it is reasonable to not want kids and enjoy life with your spouse.I can’t have kids, buy a house, and go on vacation even with my $100k+ salary. At least, not if I want to have money saved for emergencies.
Either older generations played it looser with less savings, or s**t was different.
Image credits: LimitedSwitch
#12
Stop telling me directions, I'll just use GPS.No really, just give me the end address. Stop. STOP TELLING ME DIRECTIONS. I'M NOT LISTENING TO YOU. JUST GIVE ME THE ADDRESS AND ILL USE GPS.
But they just keep going "and then at the 3rd light, go left, go straight for about 3.5 miles, then make a right at the farmhouse..."
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#13
Texting is much more convenient, sometimes even better, than making a phone call.
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#14
"I was spanked as a kid and I turned out fine."No, you didn't. You're a narcissist, get mad easily, joke about hitting your own children and even they're sick of your bull crap to the point that they cut you off. F**k you.
Image credits: TurtleGirl_goBrrBrr
#15
Yeah, we know. You rode in the back window of a car that had no seatbelts, you got measles, rode bikes with no helmets, and still turned out just fine.Just because you happened to be in the group of people who survived doesn’t mean any of these were a good idea.
Image credits: etoiles-du-nord
#16
Apparently sleeping till 11 AM makes you lazy regardless of whether or not you had to work until 12:30 AM at your s****y Wendy's location.
Image credits: JokicCheeseburgerMan
#17
Kids use computers/phones for more than just playing video games and scrolling through social media. I basically live on my computer. My best friends are online. My favorite activities are coding and making games. But no, my parents assume the devil computer is rotting my brain and making me stupid. As a wise man once said: phone bad, book good.
Image credits: Afely
#18
that the old work schedule isn’t the best work schedule. i’d get more done in 4 10 hour days and be happier then i would in 5 8 hour days#19
Unless you are extremely gifted and have a way to demonstrate it, social class is becoming more locked in than it has been in generations.The social mobility that started to become available in the first half of the 20th century, but amplified much more so in the 40's, 50's and 60's started to decline in the 80s and by the 2010s was is straight up freefall.
If you do not have parents that are willing and able to support your social and financial progress from childhood through higher education (or through training in a steady trade) you are at very real risk of falling through the cracks of this society through no fault of your own.
#20
That at this rate, my future grandkids will ask me where Santa lives, and I'll sigh when I remember the North Pole melted years ago.
Image credits: Matt11228
#21
That “just get a better job” is not all that easy#22
You told us that if we didn't go to college we would be working at McDonald's or the supermarket. Well we are. Why? Because we are lazy? That's because every "entry level job"s require 5+ years of experience and a degree. You got your foot in with a degree. A degree that may not even have been related.Oh, and you say we need to work temp jobs and internships? Guess what: That experience mysteriously doesn't count when it comes to applying. Apply anyway? Auto trash.
Image credits: CrazyCoKids
#23
Your job is not your life, you shouldn't sacrifice time with friends and family let alone your mental wellbeing just for a paycheck#24
Just because I know where/how to find the answer to something doesn't mean I "think I'm smarter than you."I'm just trying to save both of us from wasting time.
Image credits: WatchTheBoom
#25
School is much harder. In high school, both of my parents only required one algebra class to graduate. Today, I needed algebra I, algebra 2 and geometry to graduate and another math class if you plan on going to college.
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#26
That not everything can be solved with immediate aggression. That being patient and thinking on the right thing to say rather then saying what comes to mind first goes a lot further
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#27
That the American economy is f****d and unbelievably slated against younger generations. Because those with power and money exerted their influence to gain more power and money. So now all the resources have been sucked up to the top and young people are left fighting over table scraps.
Image credits: PolarBearClanGaming
#28
You can’t put yourself through college by working at the supermarket anymore.Our generation is the biggest in US history, so competition for jobs is much harder than it was for Boomers, which causes wages to flatline.
Add to this that housing and food costs are at all time highs and it’s pretty bleak for us, even many of those who have good jobs at Fortune 500 companies cannot afford to purchase homes.
I would really just like Boomers for ONCE just to acknowledge how difficult it is today vs. when they were coming up. It’s a different world and they just can’t see it. It’s very frustrating because most of them still think that anybody willing to swing a hammer 40 hours a week can make a living in America and it’s just not true anymore.
Image credits: Plantayne
#29
How much college and housing really costs compared to when they bought those things.And it's just a domino effect, too. The less reasonable college is, the harder it is to buy a house with all your loans.
And both of those things make it very difficult to have children.
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#30
That I’m not a lazy entitled CHILD. I’m in my mid 30s and most of my peers that are younger than me are smart and hardworking as well. It’s productivity and efficiency that matters, not the amount of time you spend at work.
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#31
We're not lazy, and we don't see anything wrong with "paying our dues." We just want to be fairly compensated for our work, and also the job market is a lot more competitive (so advice that worked for you 30+ years ago simply doesn't work for us today).
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#32
That we're not that lazy and we have a good reason to be depressed, cynical, and pesimistic. People like my grandma always talk how "at your age i was married, had a house, and 2 kids blah blah" not realising they did all that on 1 paycheck, while simultaneously complaining how money isnt worth anything nowadays and they just went grocery shopping and spent 25 % of their income while chanting "dont worry, its gonna get better". How can you not put those two together
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#33
That we aren’t completely oblivious to what happened when we were born, when I was a kid we still had a vhs.
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#34
When I’m depressed that doesn’t mean you need to give me lectures on what’s wrong with me so I can improve
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#35
CLIMATE CHANGE. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Save our planet#36
Throughout our schooling, we had to write research papers using online sources, and our teachers really stressed the importance of being able to identify a credible source before citing it. Don't be offended when you send us an article from Americanpatrioteagle.ru and we dismiss it outright.#37
Dad: “Just go in and ask for a job and keep going every day until they give you one.” Or “This random kid I was talking to at Wegmans (20 years ago) started in the mailroom and worked his way up and he’s making $x hundred thousand per year.”Me: “They just tell you to submit a resume online and never respond.”
#38
You don't need to go to university or college to be successful and if you go there's a massive debt#39
Fox News and Talk Radio did to you what you thought video games would do to us.#40
That technology exists to enable people to work from home, and just because they do doesn't mean they are sat watching Netflix#41
There was hope in your time. You felt like you could change the world. Nowadays, our economy is f****d, our environment is f****d, our privacy is gone, our governments are pitting us against one and other, and the planet is going to kill us off within the next century regardless of what we do about it.So don't look down on us as "weak" or call us "entitled" if we're a little pissed off and/or depressed about it, ok?
#42
Just general cost of living, especially for young families. I was at a baby shower yesterday and the mom mentioned that daycare she looked into near work was $3,000 a month. That’s for an infant so I know that’s always more expensive but, man, that means most of my paycheck would be going there. On top of that, it was a hustle to get where I am, graduating into the recession, and it’s just now really paying off (literally and figuratively). I need to save for retirement so it’s not like I can just stay home. Plus, what if there is a downturn, and my husband loses his job? His parents were totally f****d by the recession. Plus COL is so high. Homes, cars, food, phones…everything costs more. Our whole goal is having a mortgage we can pay off stocking shelves at Trader Joe’s if we have to.#43
That back in their day, one person could work an average 40 hr job and still afford a mortgage, car and a family.Im in my early thirties and my spouse and I both work more than 40 hrs each at well paying jobs. With side hustle jobs and can only afford a house.
We have no kids and have no time to vacation cause we need to work work work to afford our mortgage we millennials were 'oh so lucky' to get. I dont want to work so much just to afford basics.
#44
My ability to find the power button on a computer does not make me anymore a genius than your grasp of the dewy decimal system makes you a genius.#45
That the earth isn’t full infinite resources.#46
That my gender, sexuality, and romantic orientation are valid and not “made up labels to make me feel special.” Also that the US education system is f****d up and desperately needs reform for many reasons. Actually that a lot of systems in the US need reform#47
I know that you were able to get by on $15 an hour, but there’s also been an 800% inflation rate since then, Grandpa.#48
Things change.#49
I wish they could understand that we are not playing edgy...we are legitimately depressed, as the years go by life is supposed to be better, improving ! but no...just because you see us as kids doesn't mean we can't do any good, stop the condescending behavior and let us help fix the mistakes you don't even consider as real.#50
That their "help" isn't help unless I've asked for it. And that they need to stop it with the unsolicited advice.#51
I don't want the moon. I just want what I was promised after doing everything you asked me to.#52
Being LBGTQIA+ doesn’t change who we are and it shouldn’t affect how they treat us.#53
That you can't just walk outside and get jobs stuck in your hair or on the soles of your shoes anymore, also that minimum wage jobs will in no way allow you to earn enough money to get on the property ladder. If you do manage to land a job you have to jump through a billion hoops such as uploading a CV as well as filling in a form asking for the exact same information that's included in your CV, group assessments and all that carry on. It's not enough to just hand a CV over anymore and get an interview. Even if you know how to game the system getting a job is bloody difficult.Maybe back in the 60s you could afford to support a family with a full time job flipping burgers, but not anymore.
#54
Millennials are grown ass adults. Literally the youngest conceivable cut point for millennials (ability to candidly remember pre-9/11 at least for US in my opinion) is in the latter half of their mid 20s. The oldest possible cut point is in their early 40s.Millennials didn’t kill industries. Complacency and a lack of forethought killed them. Taxi monopolies had a decade or more to make an app or whatever that was transparent about pricing, route and at least vastly more secure for riders than an anonymous pickup. We didn’t kill Applebee’s, the world is just more accessible now and I’d rather eat something more interesting than frozen and microwaved dishes I can make at least as well at home for 10% of the cost. Industries committed suicide because they thought being the best when we were 6 was going to be good enough.
You gave us participation trophies although I agree they’re dumb. You were the snowflakes who couldn’t let your precious little angel grapple with the fact that he wont be one of the like 500 NBA players one day.
It is wholly unnecessary to spend 10 minutes giving me directions somewhere.
#55
They took everything. They are still taking everything. Their lifespan is draining our whole society from pensions, healthcare, education housing, tax policy, the list goes on and on. They took advantage and were bad stewards of the society they inherited. The me me me generation is not millennials... it's the baby boomers.#56
I'm not lazy, I'm tired. There's a difference between not wanting to do something and not having the mental capacity to something this very moment.#57
We do need our phones. Yes, there's lots of ways to use them just for fun, but you are not employable or socially viable if you don't have a smart phone. It's not a point of pride to "not mess around with those darn texting machines," it's annoying and dangerous. I can never get a hold of my 72 year old father, and it is not cute because that's not how the world works anymore.from Bored Panda https://bit.ly/3BF6N9t
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