I need a rant about millennials

Totally agree, I think as Gen X growing up with freedom, no technology, hitting my teens in the 90s and catching just the end of uni education with a grant and no fees was all pretty good :)

I see Gen X as having the best childhood, free of all of that and to be a teen all through the 90’s was the stuff of dreams

Its well recorded millenials have had a shit adulthood. Most of which has been recessions, crashes, low inflation when trying to save for house deposits, high inflation when spending on houses. It’s been a clusterfuck.

PP is right I reckon Gen Z will have it worst. But my point was millenials had the arguably best childhood (perks of traditional childhood alongside perks of tech without many cons) and the juxtaposition of then having the first worse adulthood in history is quite a jump.

I mean, I get that you don't like it, but there's nothing intrinsically silly about names like Millennials, Gen X etc for a rough categorisation of a generation. I don't know why you seem offended by that bit. You might not like it, but it's not intrinsically silly.

And generally, these categorisations aren't proxies for the happenings of a single decade, that's the point. Talking about Millennials doesn't mean you're talking about the 80s - it allows you to talk about the life experience (at any point in their lives) of people who were born roughly between 1981 and 1996, whether that experience happened in the 80s, 90s, 00s or whenever.

What's frustrating are the sweeping generalisations taken as gospel, with no room for nuance or for different lived experience.

I reckon you’re right. But Gen Z are barely into adulthood yet. So it’s not confirmed.

I do feel for Gen Z.

Gen X were at school - watching news footage and surrounded by scared adults - when Chernobyl blew up. And the AIDS crisis. And Mad Cow disease. And it wasn't just news - it was embedded in entertainment as well. Threads, When the Wind Blows and Red Dawn all reinforced the fear instilled by the Protect and Survive leaflets. Three Mile Island and Windscale being a little earlier perhaps didn't get the same visual coverage. IRA bombs did, though. And Lockerbie, which changed travel rules in a similar way to 9/11.

Those a little older had Vietnam - have you seen the photo of the young girl covered in napalm? Can you imagine seeing that when you're around the same age as she was? Bay of Pigs, Cuban missile crisis. Plenty of opportunities for the world to combust far more dramatically than ISIS could ever manage.

9/11 may be 'the' event for Millennials, but it's one of many for older people. And for everyone, one thing on that list will be 'the' event that changed things forever. And whatever 'the one' was it probably didn't have an objectively more significant effect than many others at a global, long-term scale - but it happened when you were at just the right age for it to shift your personal perspective.

As I've said in my previous replies, it's a trend I've noticed online for years, it's something I've noticed with my Millennial little sister my entire life, it's something I've noticed with work colleagues (again over countless years). I posted today's example because it was a particularly odd one and I wanted people's take on something I find interesting - and for those thinking I'm bashing Millennials, I'm interested in ALL generations and what makes them tick.. I have many thoughts in Boomers but my post wasn't about them, so another day.

Of course, but as my post was about a social media post between the UK/US and not about war and genocide elsewhere I didn't talk about it (obviously) but thanks for the history lesson.

So it's not possible to look at things in a nuanced open-minded way? For me to see a social-cultural trend that annoys me but not remove that from my lived experience? Many Europeans don't have a good opinion of Americans (for example) but that doesn't mean every single American they meet fits that stereotype of what an American is. So because I think some things I've noticed a lot of Millennials do is annoying, I can't have close friends that are Millennials when they don't do the annoying things I've noticed? Very strange of you to think like that.

Secondly, regarding the labels - Gen Z, Gen X etc refer to a loose grouping of people based on years they were born, it refers to experiences those generations had at pivotal moments of childhood that shaped them - for instance, Gen X has the AIDS crisis, Gen Z had Covid etc. It tells us what their loose historical, cultural and tech experiences are and how that shaped them (as a generalisation). What I don't like is how anything happening in culture is often called a 'Millennial thing'. The football fans having fun for example is not a 'Millennial thing'. It's a misuse / misunderstanding of this categorisation firstly. Also, yes, they do 'steal' things from other eras and claim it as their own which is annoying.

On your other point, I am using the labels on this thread as it's easier for reference given the entire thread is about this. If I am chatting to my Gen Z niece however, she doesn't make reference to being Gen Z ever, and I don't talk about being Gen X, we talk about our human experiences. Which is why, on social media, it annoys me when Millennials constantly reference that they are Millennials.

Also by culture-stealing I meant they claim a cultural event from a different generation / era as their own.

So no, not drunk. I hope that answers your rude question.

So it's not possible to look at things in a nuanced open-minded way? For me to see a social-cultural trend that annoys me but not remove that from my lived experience? Many Europeans don't have a good opinion of Americans (for example) but that doesn't mean every single American they meet fits that stereotype of what an American is. So because I think some things I've noticed a lot of Millennials do is annoying, I can't have close friends that are Millennials when they don't do the annoying things I've noticed? Very strange of you to think like that.

Secondly, regarding the labels - Gen Z, Gen X etc refer to a loose grouping of people based on years they were born, it refers to experiences those generations had at pivotal moments of childhood that shaped them - for instance, Gen X has the AIDS crisis, Gen Z had Covid etc. It tells us what their loose historical, cultural and tech experiences are and how that shaped them (as a generalisation). What I don't like is how anything happening in culture is often called a 'Millennial thing'. The football fans having fun for example is not a 'Millennial thing'. It's a misuse / misunderstanding of this categorisation firstly. Also, yes, they do 'steal' things from other eras and claim it as their own which is annoying.

On your other point, I am using the labels on this thread as it's easier for reference given the entire thread is about this. If I am chatting to my Gen Z niece however, she doesn't make reference to being Gen Z ever, and I don't talk about being Gen X, we talk about our human experiences. Which is why, on social media, it annoys me when Millennials constantly reference that they are Millennials.

Also by culture-stealing I meant they claim a cultural event from a different generation / era as their own.

So no, not drunk. I hope that answers your rude question.

Why shittest adulthood though?

I was a young child in the 80’s-E.T, Back to the future, freedom, outside all the time. Teen all through the 90’s-Rave, Nirvana, Brit pop, clubs, no social media…Freedom. 20’s in the 2000’s, social media, phones but not an overload, still some good music, free uni, able to get a mortgage

Personally feel it was the best of everything and feel very grateful, life pales in comparison and feel sad for Dd’s future (Alpha)

Older millennials born in the early to mid 80s have it better than younger millennials as adults and there’s such a big difference between both ends they could be two different generations.

Millennials born in the early 80s reached adulthood when houses were still just about affordable. Those born in the early to mid 90s did not.

Older millennials experienced childhood and teenage years without the internet (a good thing imo). Younger milennials can only just remember life without it.

I don’t think the millennial group as a whole have had the ‘shittiest adulthood’ though. I think it’s worse for Gen Z - look at the number of NEETS and how hard it is to get a job. Rising student loans, insane house prices, covid disrupting their exams or start of their career etc etc.

Exactly this, the Lost Generation - nothing compares to what they went through, although I do feel empathy for younger generations not being able to buy their own homes despite working hard. It's about having security in older age, that's a big worry to not have that with rising cost of living and rents. I know as I was late to buy and it caused me sleepless nights, but of course, not comparable to the horrors of war.

Exactly this, the Lost Generation - nothing compares to what they went through, although I do feel empathy for younger generations not being able to buy their own homes despite working hard. It's about having security in older age, that's a big worry to not have that with rising cost of living and rents. I know as I was late to buy and it caused me sleepless nights, but of course, not comparable to the horrors of war.

It is quite navel gazing to say that you had it uniquely bad because you were scared of the possibility of a thing that didn't actually happen, though... And if we're going to play that game of Top Trumps, Gen Z clearly wins with climate change.

😂on Gen Z (I love that generation). I do remember at the time of 9/11 I had a boyfriend living in NYC (I was in London) and he told me there was so much propaganda and fear-mongering, in contrast when the tube bombings in London followed (admittedly a much smaller attack), everyone carried on the next day like nothing had happened, so perhaps my 9/11 example is a little unfair but its just the most recent example. I couldn't fathom why enjoying the World Cup was a Millennial thing!