45 Millennials Describe What Older People Will NEVER Understand About Them
1. The world you grew up in is dead.
“The world you grew up in is dead.”
2. I can’t just ‘get over’ my anxiety like that.
“MENTAL HEALTH no dad, I can’t just ‘get over’ my anxiety like that, I will soon but I’m just struggling with it at the moment.”
3. I shouldn’t be living paycheck to paycheck if I have two jobs.
“I shouldn’t be living paycheck to paycheck if I have two jobs.”
4. The way you look at us is the way the previous generation looked at you.
“They don’t understand that the way they look at us is the way the previous generation looked at them.”
5. The planet is absolutely fucked and we need a scientific and technological miracle to fix the issues we inherited from you.
“The planet is absolutely fucked and we need a scientific and technological miracle to fix the issues we inherited from you. Many of us don’t even expect there to be a stable society in the next decade. Sorry we’re depressed, but ignorance is bliss.”
6. You are the cause of most of the problems you attribute to millennials.
“That they are the cause of most of the problems they attribute to millennials.”
7. If you keep doing nothing to help us out, there will be little compassion to help you when you’re old and retired.
“That the older generations’ future is in our hands and if they keep doing nothing to help us out, there will be little compassion to help you when you’re old and retired.”
8. The ‘good ol’ times’ aren’t as wonderful as you think/remember.
“The ‘good ol’ times’ aren’t as wonderful as you think/remember. It’s all nostalgia.”
9. We didn’t tank the economy with money we didn’t have. You did.
“We didn’t tank the economy with money we didn’t have. You did. And stop asking us to breed.”
10. We are all not precious snowflakes.
“We are all not precious snowflakes.”
11. You fucking raised us! Stop acting like you didn’t create the monster.
“You fucking raised us! Stop acting like you didn’t create the monster.”
12. This whole generation is fucking broke, and its mostly your fault.
“This whole generation is fucking broke, and its mostly their fault.”
13. Putting yourself through college with a part-time job is literally impossible.
“That putting yourself through college with a part-time job is literally impossible. The cost of tuition is fucking ridiculous and not at all comparable to what it was 30 or 40 years ago.
I’m 23, graduated last year with nearly 60,000 in debt. I actually had someone tell me ‘if you had bothered to work while in college, you could have been more responsible and wouldn’t have debt.’ Yeah, okay. When tuition is close to $20,000 a year, you tell me where I can get a part-time job that will cover that.”
14. Staying at a company for five years and hoping for a promotion is a fool’s game.
“I’m often told that I need to ‘settle down’ and ‘put in my time’ at a company. I think that a lot of older folks don’t realize that companies these days:
a) Will lay off entire departments at the drop of a hat; there is no such thing as loyalty to your employees.
and
b) Hire managers almost exclusively from outside the company; internal promotions are very rare.
The best way to move your career along these days is to get a job, learn as much as you can, beef up your resume, and use today’s job as a stepping stone for your next one. Staying at a place more than two years is like, ‘Wow, you must really like it there!’ Staying at a company for five years and hoping for a promotion is a fool’s game.”
15. With rent/student loans/car payments/insurance it’s very hard to live on 25,000/year.
“That 40-50 years ago you could save up to buy a car/house/start a family with relative ease but now, even with inflation, the cost of all those increased dramatically, while wages have stayed relatively the same with inflation. Older people don’t understand that with rent/student loans/car payments/insurance it’s very hard to live on 25,000/year.”
16. Unions aren’t there anymore.
“Companies don’t give a fuck about loyalty.
Unions aren’t there anymore.
If the unions were there, they couldn’t protect you from automation and a global labor market.
Almost everyone is less than 700 bucks away from their life falling apart.
The most common living arrangement for 18 to 35 year olds is to live with a family member.
My dad has two houses and a pension; he dropped out of middle school and didn’t know how to read and write until my mother taught him. He got by on ‘muh hard work’ at the same company for 40 years. (with union negotiated breaks every two hours and an hour-long lunch break). I graduated college and my most realistic path to home ownership AND retirement is to move to Seattle and build a tiny home myself.”
17. Half of our generation is in debt; the other half is trying to figure out how to stay out of it.
“SHIT IS EXPENSIVE NOWADAYS. Most of us can’t even afford an OK place to live. Half of our generation is in debt; the other half is trying to figure out how to stay out of it. Shit needs to change, there’s no way I see my kids (If I can afford to have them) living in these circumstances or even worse circumstances trying to educate, live, and have a life all with one income.”
18. I want a lot of the same things in life that you do.
“I want a lot of the same things in life that you do. A house, cars, good job, family, retirement.
I’m not unwilling to put in the work for those things. But the level of work and type of work required to get the same things are much harder, more expensive, and more complicated than they were when you were in your 20s, trying to form yourself and your life.
Cut us some slack, that’s all I’m asking for.”
19. When you’re drowning in student debt, it’s never a right time to buy a house or have kids.
“When you’re drowning in student debt, it’s never a right time to buy a house or have kids.”
20. There’s no factory work anymore.
“Every low-paying job isn’t a stepping stone to working in the factory like you did.”
21. Things are pretty messed up for us these days.
“That the economy and job market are nothing like what they grew up with. Things are pretty messed up for us these days.”
22. With Social Security, we are being forced into a pyramid scheme where we will lose big.
“How pissed I am about Social Security. I am being forced into a pyramid scheme where I know I will lose big.”
23. We are left to survive in the rubble from a generation whose motto was ‘F*ck you, got mine.
“That we are left to survive in the rubble from a generation whose motto was ‘F*ck you, got mine.’
So when we want things like, say, affordable health care, decent wages, and social safety nets it isn’t us being lazy assholes who couldn’t bother to find a job.”
