I need a rant about millennials

[HanG77]

Okay, I may offend millennials but hear me out (and please, millennials, offer me an explanation as to why your generation do this)...I've just had a discussion with a millennial on a thread for a social media post showing the Tartan Army having a blast in Boston, her comment was about how it was "healing the millennials". I replied saying it's lovely for all generations to watch given how divisive the world is, and she said due to 9/11 millennials crave the world healing more. I get this a lot with millennials - like they think every cultural experience is about them or for them - even taking things that are from other generations and claiming it as their era - and they act like no other generation has had any big events to deal with. I argued the Lost Generation (world war) and Gen Z (being children/early adults when the whole world stopped) have had it worse out of all the living generations (in my opinion).

For context, I'm a British Gen X, also I have a lot of close millennial friends so it's not personal, it's about them as a collective. Also, this person was American - I think maybe the American nationalism adds to it (more so than with Brits of this generation).

This. I was born at the end of the 60s, so early Gen X too, and that is exactly what I remember.

My Dad, born in 40, so Silent/Lost Generation, who knows, lost both parents by the age of 2 due to the war and at 6 was moved to a different country to live with a relative he didnt know who spoke a language he didnt understand. And he was probably one of the lucky ones of his generation. So I really don't think one generation has it worse than any others.

Although I do worry about kids growing up now with everything going on in the world/AI etc.

Because the Millennials are the first generation who experienced any social change or serious conflicts 🙄

Anyway I had an analog childhood (cos it was the 80s) and I’m Generation X 🤷‍♀️

Silent. Lost were those of fighting age in the First World War.

I’m not sure millennials claim things that happened to other generations but just that they span a lot of lived experience.

I was 16 when 9/11 happened and my husband (also 16) joined the army 1 week earlier so this echoes widely in my memory and the implications of the following fall out (war) for us. There were 3 at war in Afghanistan on the same street in a small rural town - only my husband wasn’t sent home shot. However it is no exaggeration that his nerves (as the old people would say) are shot to this day.

I remember the troubles in Ireland / Northern Ireland as my cousin served in the British army in the height / a particularly troublesome period and my husband then also served.

Conversely I can sing lots of British wartime songs because my grandfathers served in ww2 (we are all late reproducers).

I finished uni at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.

I cared for an immuno compromised disabled friend (she needs carers and so it wasn’t safe) and shielded in the pandemic. Also home school (oh joy).

I feel we genuinely live our lives anticipating the next disaster.

It is claiming or making things about themselves. It’s just a shared long term oral history / lived experience.

I am an older millenial and didn’t really access the internet to age 12. So not sure if this makes any difference 🤣

I think this is a conceited 'influencer' getting their views thing rather than an actual generational thing. People claiming that Gen this that or the other is a personality trait makes my skin crawl.

Gen Z is already old and broken.
Ignore their shouting at clouds.

Best bit of sense on this topic I’ve ever heard. Thank you. So sick of all this divisiveness.

Haven’t got a clue what you are on about.

I am a Milennial and I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about.

So, my generation, "Generation Jones" lived through the deaths of President Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Challenger, Columbine, AND 9/11. I have no patience with Competitive Trauma. My children are millennials and they don't believe their experiences are any better or any worse than anyone else's. They deal with life as it comes and do what needs to be done.

This. Boomer Bashing is a ridiculous trend. Generalize about any generation is lazy and ignorant. Are you alive? Able to house and feed yourself? Yes? Then you are Fvcking lucky. Stop romanticizing what you know nothing about. Try living under the rule of someone like Margaret Thatcher for a few years and see if you still feel Boomers were "lucky".

Stop referring to yourself a gen-anything. And everyone else for that matter. Get on with your life. Who cares when you were born.

I have noticed this a lot too and it always winds me up.

TikTok is bloody terrible for it.

Some Millennials claiming every cultural event, music, tv shows, films etc as purely for ‘their generation’.

I don’t dislike Millennials overall. I just get irritated by the ones who do this.

You are not the first generation to know and appreciate life before and after social media, 9/11, COVID, recessions. You might be the last generation to remember before and after those things, but you are not the first.

Young Gen X (mid -late 70’s) have the same experiences as older Millennials.

The oldest Millennials are in their 40’s. The youngest Gen X are also in their 40’s. That’s why there’s a micro generation for them called Xennials. Because people of these ages went through and experienced the same things. They were similar ages when things happened.
My Brother is 44 - older Millennial. I am 48 - young Gen X. There’s literally 4 years between us. We grew up in the same era experiencing the same things, same music, same films, same cultural events etc.

Definitely agree that it’s mostly online - predominantly TikTok.

I never see people say this stuff in person, just online and mainly on TikTok.

I don't know about that but I do think most millennials (not all!) are utter twats. Then again, I'm a very grumpy Gen X 😎

I’m an old millennial and don’t think like this, nor have I ever used the expression. I think you’ve just encountered a lone American idiot who spends too much time online.

It's late. I had no sleep last night & im tired, so possibly shouldn't reply to you...
but... I'm 57, born in 69 & could have written your post?!?! I FEEL my millenial family members have less of a contrast than I do.

Im a millennial and I think we're awesome.

I think you give Gen X a bad name - Gen Xers also tend to be a cool bunch.

You sound more like a boomer describing a Gen Z tbh. Maybe you need to have some Avocado on toast and chill the fuck out dude

As a millenial, I did not, in fact, hear you out. You are welcome to try again tomorrow.

What a load of twaddle! One event in America defines a world? No, I dont think so!
You're batshit to think you have/had it worse. It's not a bloody competition. There are awful events in everyone's life. Generational defining changes etc. And blaming others you have it harder - well, my mind boggles! Get over yourself. Respectfully, you are very self indulgent.

I am a millennial and I can say that every single one of us doesn't think like that because I don't.

Most of those are shared experiences across many generations though, not exclusive.

And singing wartime songs is singing - not lived experience. Performing Handel's Messiah doesn't mean I lived through the War of Jenkin's Ear.

What the hell is generation X & Z??
obv millennials is year 2000… but 2000 til when?
How did 9/11 affect them more than older generations? I mean they were too young to even remember it happening!! The only millennials 9/11 affected are surely the ones loosing a parent in the attack? Older gens actually lived through the horror!

Honestly the only thing I’m pissed about is the fact that it feels impossible getting on the property ladder/stagnating wages vs house prices etc. I’m sure every generation had a difficulty though.

Other than that, I’m grateful we weren’t around during the world wars, and I’m grateful I’m not growing up in this new world.