Young people of today are more boring than boomers, Gen X and Millennials

[heartofglass23]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/03/beige-fluencers-life-surprises-young-people-aspiration?CMP=fbgu&utmmmedium=Social&utmsource=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR0PxKouPrXgwdoLlNIulkPxkAZfMF55TNjqjE7yd6x1Kqe4ulSSDRj2ogcaemmAfMVqhItFWdAqtFw9PTAFfXSSXQn74reNvZAThFxOOakwicv-_oDAF7fE3xTokI5GU#Echobox=1688374866

This guardian article points to what I've been observing for a while: really boring youngsters.

They shun sex,drugs and rock 'n' roll.

My young adult DC drink less than I did at their age, go out less, holiday less, work harder, save more, go to fewer gigs, hardly ever go to the cinema. They have boring haircuts, wear minimal make up, are very serious in demeanour.

Then there's the social conservatism. I've heard young people being more anti abortion, pro death penalty, anti benefits, pro marriage, slut shaming, more law abiding, more individualistic.

It's a different world they're making for us and I don't think I like it!

Mine like Bicep, Lana del Rey, that Dave guy who taps his drum machine, loads of grime type stuff, lots of dance music, shoe gazy type indie bands. Youngest dd likes Lewis capaldi and I do think his music is boring but I think it's great that she is interested and thoughtful about his mental health issues tbh. We all like Sam Fender because his lyrics are brilliant.

They'd probably be mortified by this list, tbh they go to a lot of festivals and see bands I've never heard of and can't remember.

I think it's wonderful they drink less, smoke less, and wear less make up. I've also noticed a lot of them are taking far better care of their skin and sun care, which is something to be commended.
They're also a lot more environmentally conscious which again is bloody fantastic. Nothing negative that I can see, they're just making the best of a shitty shitty situation they've had to grow up in.

God I so agree. Its a bit pathetic when people can't see this and basically can't bear that they aren't goths.

I can’t hear any difference between the dance music that’s produced now and the music of 20 or 30 years ago I’m afraid. I do like bicep but again I can’t persuade myself it’s any kind of new direction. I first heard them on Jo Whiley’s show which I think speaks volumes.

There's tons of new dance music out there. Dd was showing me something yesterday from two Asian guys that was really good. I'm too old to remember their name.

Drinking and smoking much, much less than previous generations is a bad thing now, is it?!

I didn't drink or smoke back in the 1990s and was viewed as weird for it. But, like today's young people, I got nothing out of that kind of shit.

And, like today's young people, I certainly took note of the negative health effects of drinking and smoking that was going on.

Result? I'm much healthier than my peers and today's young people are not only healthier than previous generations, but tend to value their health a whole lot more.

Not a bad thing in my book.

Also, you can't blame young people for prioritising saving to buy a house over a weekend getting pissed up the wall. House prices today are well above what they were 25+ years ago.

Good on them, I say!

Yes, it's all a bit shit now, isn't it?

I know there’s tons of it, I just can’t persuade myself it’s anything other than a rehash of what went before. As a genre it does seem to have run out of road.

Yep this 🙌🏻

This

Nail, head 😂

Ok boomer

I think you have to be careful to compare like with like. Mainstream stuff like Ed Sheeran in the 2020s is the equivalent of mainstream stuff like Stock Aitken and Waterman in in the 1990s- there's shit music in every era, we just only remember the good stuff.

Agree about grime.

As an aside, while I notice that while younger (I'm thinking 30 and under) tend to have some different habits to me, I dislike the idea of pitting the generations against each other, or negative stereotyping. Often boomer is used in a derogatory way (potentially being selfish, or everything was easier for them) but also millenials or younger are also criticised for being "snowflakes, less resilient, etc".

Yes, well said. I would have reined it in a fair bit 40 years ago if I’d risked being filmed and ridiculed online.

DH and I were able to buy a 3 bed semi in the early 90s with a mortgage of twice our gross income. Our DS and his girlfriend have just got great graduate jobs with a combined gross income of £70k - but there isn’t anything decent in a safe area for £14Ok. And we had no student debt to pay off.

Life is going to be harder for this generation than it was for mine - it’s hardly surprising that the sensible ones at least are more clued up than I was at their age.

Sounds just like the war generation. They did alright. I’m struggling to see how saving more and going to the cinema less are bad things? Sounds pretty prudent to me.

I was a heavy drinking, chain smoking, party animal in my 20s. Now in my 40s and am teetotal, don't drink, and live a very conservative lifestyle. I'm much, much, much happier, more stable and grounded now without that lifestyle bringing me down. I would be thrilled if my children were morw sensible and mature than I was. I think it's really immature to label Gen Z as boring because they don't drink or smoke. It's like something a 17 year old from 1999 would say

I'm 57 and listen to radio 1 all day, music is great!

That article must have only sampled an incredibly small section of youth. This isn’t the experience where I am at all, they’re pretty wild round here.

Most of the things you've described as "boring" are actually good things. Too bad it's complete bullshit, I'm in my early twenties and I barely know anyone my age who dosent drink themselves into a coma each weekend. As for being "socially conservative" I didn't know that chopping your penis off in order to become a girl was considered socially conservative 😂😂

My friend is always going on about this like the writer she is showing her age every generation has their thing

drug use is far more prevalent it’s more normalised so it’s not seen as being rebellious in the same way drinking less so which is good we ar moving away from loutish behaviour being seen as funny which many did

and we all look back our experiences and remember the highlights it wasn’t all exciting all the time every generation have there stamp on it

Social media is to blame. Where we used to get drunk in a park and it be confined to a cringey life lesson and memory everything they do is filmed and recorded for everyone to judge and laugh at. It makes for a more risk averse youth and is detrimental to us as a society at large.

Hard times creates strong people, strong people create easy times, easy times create weak people and weak people create tough times.

What we have seen since WW2 is a generation that strived to rebuild the country, their children and also their grandchildren then enjoyed these easier times but at the cost of the future for their children.

These children now have no choice but to appear to be boring, shunning alcohol, drugs etc and working hard because times are that much harder now.

I agree to a certain extent. Whilst less drugs, alcoholic etc are good things. It's what they symbolise- being able to let go a bit, take a risk, experiment. Of course there will be young people who are like this, the young people I know spend a lot of time alone. They don't socialise as much as what me and my peers did at the same age. Everything is taken so seriously.

They definitely do drink less but I don’t agree with the socially conservative part. If anything they’re more liberal then anyone else.