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).

I don’t think the comments of a single person are indicative of the thought process of an entire generation.

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.

Ooh. Some of it does. Impact you directly. Why do you think prices have gone up ?

Two things can be true:

1. You had to work to buy a house
2. You had to work less and it was easier than it would be to do the same thing now.

I bought my first house in 2015. Was that a great or easy time to buy? It didn't feel it. Was I very fortunate to be able to buy then rather than being the same age now? Yes.

Really? I think it was one of the most defining events in modern history. Within my family we literally phoned each other up about it and it was the talking point by everyone I knew. We were in London though and older sibling was working in the City.

I get what you’re saying, op, i’m a Xennial with Millennial friends and Gen X and it’s true, Millenials often claim a lot of things for themselves, it can be really annoying! Recent video on Ig about raves and going to outdoor, secret raves etc that you didn’t know about until the last minute, the millennial claiming old school raving as hers. I was just a bit too young when this was happening, but was around for a lot of the old school house music, Hacienda etc. Older millennials aren’t as bad as younger ones though who had a v different upbringing than Gen X etc

It’s not a competition but again, those who lived through the IRA bombings etc wouldn’t necessary see it as defining event

DC1 is a millennial, as are several nephews and nieces , along with friends adult DCs. I don't recognise what you are saying in comparison to them. I've never heard one of them link healing a major event.

Okay, I'll give you some examples, whenever I have videos come up on my feed about stuff I'm into - dogs, being childfree by choice for example, so often the video is led by text saying 'the Millennial trend of....(insert life choice)'. It's like Millennials claim life experiences as something unique to their generation when it isn't. Another (real life) example, me and my older sister are both Gen X, our younger sister is Millennial, she'll often talk about things being part of her generation like the emergence of rave culture in the early 90s, even though she was a toddler and definitely was never at an illegal rave!

Isn't it part of being young, to think that everything is about you?
I think one of the most important things about growing older & wiser is that you come to see your whole existence in a much bigger context, realising you are a very small part of something that existed long before you and which will go on after you've gone

I did live through them, if you lived in London they were a feature of your childhood My Dad was in the Hilton when it was blown up in 75 (?) I wasn't born then but I am well aware of that.

So you are going to extrapolate from one post on SM by an American that "it's an American thing"? That's as clueless as taking one post and applying it to a whole generation.

Ageism (against the young) and anti-Americanism in one fell swoop.

And since the reference was to "healing," I would like to add that the thing we Americans of all generations need healing from these days is the divisiveness that has plagued us for the last several years. And the influx of so many people from other countries, including and maybe especially, the Tartan Army, has given us a chance to come together, however briefly, to appreciate and be welcoming to people from other cultures and to enjoy how much they appear to love being here. And that has definitely been healing and not just for millennials.

Bostonians have even forgiven the Scots for drinking Boston dry.

So why was 9/11 more of an event?

Ha ha as I said above about raves, it’s so true, they make everything about themselves

Yeah, I do get that and sympathise, I suppose it's more cultural stuff. I think my irritation with it is that things I am into is always seen as a Millennial trend - like on social media videos about treating dogs like kids or being single and childfree by choice. Also, stuff like books. I loved Sally Rooney's debut and the story mirrored by experience of a first boyfriend who also went to the same University as me and my Dad (Boomer) read it also and loved it and felt an emotional pull towards it, yet you read reviews and comments and it's always talks about her being the 'voice of Millennials', when it's a universal coming of age / love story. I suppose we had Gen X authors but perhaps it's the rise of social media / online since then that's the cause, as we didn't get stuff marketing to us 24-7 as 'Gen X this and that'

The problem is the size of these "generation". The upbringing, experiences and outlooks of someone born in 1981 and 1996 are totally different.

Millienials generally are the only generation who COULD have experienced an Internet free/limited (or at least social media free) childhood AND one with unlimited social media. That is huge thing.

Millenials (and very late gen x) were also the first to pay uni fees, but very much encouraged to go.

A lot of millenials are very annoying.... a bit like a lot of Gen X who were the last to benefit from free uni and low housing prices are very annoying.

Millennial here, I have absolutely no idea what that person meant nor have I ever heard anyone of my generation say anything remotely similar

This is what happens when a few individuals make Internet pronouncements on behalf of a whole generation, you can't speak for yourself anymore than a few vocal millenials can speak for theirs. It's a waste of time then lumping a whole generation into the riposte.

They're just trying to find a connection with people. And doing that by honing in on what they see as a shared experience of people of a (pretty wide but) similar age.
In fact as you've pointed out, others of an even wider age share similar experiences and feelings.

I voted that you were U because you're simultaneously telling one group of people that they shouldn't behave as though they can claim or act in a certain way because of their age, while simultaneously telling them that they are behaving and acting in a certain way because of their age.

Just sounds like you're blaming millennials for internet culture existing.

her being the 'voice of Millennials', when it's a universal coming of age / love story

It's both. If you want to talk about your generation talk about them. Don't expect others to be silent though because you feel weirdly disenfranchised and resentful when you hear millennials talk about stuff. I kind of get it because I am so annoyed when I hear that Gen Z are the first to grow up worrying about climate change when I remember hearing about the "greenhouse effect" on Newsround as quite a young kid, have grown up with the climate crisis as a central part of my awareness of the world, as well as being gaslit and ridiculed for caring about if for years before it mainstreamed. But that's my immaturity to deal with, isn't it, because it doesn't really matter who thought of/ experienced things first, and getting uptight about it is just a sign of insecurity.

Millennial here and I’ve got to say I’ve not noticed this. Yes, we’ve been shafted hard by certain huge events but, as you point out, every generation has had huge challenges. I feel sorry for gen Z and my kids who are gen Alpha. God knows what they will see in their lifetime.

I don’t remember the prominent classification of generations until about maybe a decade ago and it feels like another divisive construct in keeping with identity politics.

Millennial here (apparently, I did have to check with Google). I have no idea what the OP is on about. Most people IRL have better things to do than trying to pit the 'generations' against one another and don't know which one they are anyway.

I personally didn’t feel 9/11 was such a culturally defining moment unless you lived in the US.
Events closer to home were much more significant imo.

Yeah I'm with you. It was a huge epoch in the modern era and that was apparent to me even as a teen in a different country.

They already are. Gen Z too.