You ever find yourself talking to someone older (or younger) and feeling like you’re trying to converse with a wall?
The difference in perspective can be so thorough it’s like you’re not even on the same planet, as the posts in this Reddit thread demonstrate.
Let’s see what the younger folks are banging their heads about.
1. What Millennial really means
“Millennials cannot afford houses” doesn’t sound like a big deal if you only see millennials as people in their 20s, but the problem is that the oldest millennials are approaching 40 and they still can’t afford a house.
– ManulCat123
2. Costs of living
That the cost of education far outpaced inflation and wage growth in the US.
If I had a dime for each boomer who lectured me about working my way through school like they did, I might almost be able to buy a house!
– Eli-fant
3. Having a different sleep schedule isn’t laziness
I fixed this when my parents started doing this.
I was working a night shift job and got off at like 6am and they would call me to chat and then give me s**t for sleeping till dinner.
The argument of…I don’t just come home and immediately crash our most days…I got s**t to do after working everyone else and b) do you walke up get ready and go to work, or do you wake up 7 hours early just for the h**l of it.
It finally stopped when I started calling them on my lunch break in the wee hours of the morning. Oh it’s 3am? Lol why are you still sleeping I’ve already been at work for 7 hours get up you’re wasting the day!
– rusty_L_shackleford
4. We’re not killing things
Millennials didn’t kill industries. Complacency and a lack of forethought killed them. Taxi monopolies had a decade or more to make an app or whatever that was transparent about pricing, route and at least vastly more secure for riders than an anonymous pickup.
We didn’t kill Applebee’s, the world is just more accessible now and I’d rather eat something more interesting than frozen and microwaved dishes I can make at least as well at home for 10% of the cost.
Industries committed suicide because they thought being the best when we were 6 was going to be good enough.
– HitEmWithDatKTrain
5. These digital devices are really versatile
Kids use computers/phones for more than just playing video games and scrolling through social media.
I basically live on my computer. My best friends are online. My favorite activities are coding and making games.
But no, my parents assume the devil computer is rotting my brain and making me stupid.
As a wise man once said: phone bad, book good.
– Afely
6. Our minimum wage is not like yours was
That $15/hour in 2021 does not give you the same purchasing power that it did in 1985.
When I hear an older person say “I used to get by just fine on $15/hour”, I wanna slap them.
– DeathSpiral321
7. There’s a reason we’re sad
That we’re not that lazy and we have a good reason to be depressed, cynical, and pessimistic.
People like my grandma always talk how “at your age i was married, had a house, and 2 kids blah blah” not realising they did all that on 1 paycheck, while simultaneously complaining how money isn’t worth anything nowadays and they just went grocery shopping and spent 25% of their income while chanting “don’t worry, its gonna get better”.
How the f**k can you not put those two together
– Sir_Daniel_Fortesque
8. Stuff costs more
Just general cost of living, especially for young families. I was at a baby shower yesterday and the mom mentioned that daycare she looked into near work was $3,000 a month. That’s for an infant so I know that’s always more expensive but, man, that means most of my paycheck would be going there.
On top of that, it was a hustle to get where I am, graduating into the recession, and it’s just now really paying off (literally and figuratively). I need to save for retirement so it’s not like I can just stay home. Plus, what if there is a downturn, and my husband loses his job? His parents were totally f**ked by the recession.
Plus COL is so high. Homes, cars, food, phones…everything costs more. Our whole goal is having a mortgage we can pay off stocking shelves at Trader Joe’s if we have to.
So, yeah, I think if I become a mom, I’ll be solidly in my late thirties. Not ideal but that’s just how it’s working out. Wish they talk more about this s**t when reporting on falling fertility. Obviously, there are people choosing to forgo (which even I debate now) but it’s economic. If you are a regular person, working for a living, you pay through the nose.
– gerdataro
9. It’s not a lack of effort
We’re not lazy, and we don’t see anything wrong with “paying our dues.”
We just want to be fairly compensated for our work, and also the job market is a lot more competitive (so advice that worked for you 30+ years ago simply doesn’t work for us today).
– coffeeblossom
10. Bagging groceries won’t cut it
You can’t put yourself through college by working at the supermarket anymore.
Our generation is the biggest in US history, so competition for jobs is much harder than it was for Boomers, which causes wages to flatline.
Add to this that housing and food costs are at all time highs and it’s pretty bleak for us, even many of those who have good jobs at Fortune 500 companies cannot afford to purchase homes.
I would really just like Boomers for ONCE just to acknowledge how difficult it is today vs. when they were coming up. It’s a different world and they just can’t see it. It’s very frustrating because most of them still think that anybody willing to swing a hammer 40 hours a week can make a living in America and it’s just not true anymore.
– Plantayne
11. Blood’s not always thicker than water
Just because someone is Family DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE TO LOVE THEM.
Terrible toxic people should ABSOLUTELY be cut out of your life REGARDLESS of their relationship to you
– Darth_Velos01
12. We don’t all have to have kids
That it is reasonable to not want kids and enjoy life with your spouse.
I can’t have kids, buy a house, and go on vacation even with my $100k+ salary. At least, not if I want to have money saved for emergencies.
Either older generations played it looser with less savings, or s**t was different.
– LimitedSwitch
13. Diplomacy is legitimately useful
That not everything can be solved with immediate aggression.
That being patient and thinking on the right thing to say rather than saying what comes to mind first goes a lot further
– Bman28345
14. School is harder
In high school, both of my parents only required one algebra class to graduate.
Today, I needed algebra I, algebra 2 and geometry to graduate and another math class if you plan on going to college.
– saltyasss
15. Google maps exists…
It is wholly unnecessary to spend 10 minutes giving me directions somewhere.
– HitEmWithDatKTrain
Yeah…that’s…yeeeeeaaah…
What would you add to this list?
Tell us in the comments.