Is my generation really the bad generation?

[pookie101]

Meanwhile our grandparents had to live under the threat of fucking nuclear war.

But it never happened though, the cold war was basically nothing its like our generation complaining that we have to live in fear of terrorist attacks

The threat of nuclear war was far worse, especially considering that terrorist attacks have always been around.

you arent wrong about the cold war, this was in the days of pre-internet, so the only news you got was off the nightly new and papers, the only time you ever heard of russians was on the news, there was this all encompassing feel in the back of your head that some asshole was going to start something and the first you heard about it was nukes going off. it was a feel of when it was going to happen not if.

compared to that.. the fear of terrorist attacks is up there with getting hit by lightning or getting eaten by a shark.. highly unlikely but could happen.

i dont know if this generation is the worst, the latest one always tends to get labelled as that.

i know mine brought down the berlin wall and for the first time ever the world felt optimistic thats something im proud of

 

[Satinavian]

Actually i think Millenials are quite OK.

Why ?

Because people always complain about the new generation. But only sometimes people complain at the same time about older generations. This is one of the times. I hear more complaints about "Baby Boomers" than about "Millenials". So... Millenials are probably pretty good overall.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

While I would like to say that there never were good times, only times, I can't debate that the modern era is the best one to be alive in, at least in industrialized countries. We don't have to deal with wild wolves coming to eat us, a simple fever killing us dead, the black plague wiping out entire villages, road bandits robbing and killing us, the threat of Nazis etc. But the issues our and future generations will face are much harder to grasp: overpopulation, increasing economic inequality, global warming and climate change, drastic change in world economy (just wait when truck transportation becomes automatic, dozens of millions will lose their jobs), cultural clash, jobs being harder and harder to find, degrees losing relevance etc. These are not problems one can solve by merely throwing more money or manpower at them, or shooting them until they stop. These are issues where the individual hardly matters, yet are made of billions of individuals' choices.

My generation cares more about minority rights than debatably any previous one in history, but on the other hand my generation travels hundreds of miles to wait hours in line for Snapchat spectacles. Something gained, something lost.

One thing I'm waiting with intrigue is the evolution of the internet. As we get older, the content creators we follow also do, and we're close to having the first "generation gap" between youtubers, bloggers etc.

 

[Satinavian]

overpopulation : Don't think so. Birth rate goes down in every country after a certain standard of living is achieve. Half of the first world has had negative growth rate for some time, rest and quite a huge part of the second world is near zero. Even third world is slowing down rapidly. And scientific improvements in agriculture mean we can feed all the people. Overpopulation was a scare of the last century and is not really scary anymore.

increasing economic inequality : Yes, is a problem tfor us to solve. But has been worse at different times in history

global warming and climate change : Yes, is a big problem

drastic change in world economy : Meh, there were far greater shifts in the past. This kind of thing happens all the time.

cultural clash : globalisation means more clashes but at the same time more awareness about other cultures. Don't think this is more of a problem than in every other generation.

jobs being harder and harder to find : That is just economy. Nothing unusual, especcially from a worldwide view

degrees losing relevance : really ? I see the opposite. Low qualification jobs are hardest to find, you need degrees for everything now.

One thing I'm waiting with intrigue is the evolution of the internet. As we get older, the content creators we follow also do, and we're close to having the first "generation gap" between youtubers, bloggers etc.

Yes, i am already feeling this. Pesky youngsters with there social media. When i was a young internet person we used forums and we liked it. How can you express anything important in 140 characters ?

More seriously : Yes, social science shows that the internet lends itself to fragmentisation and building of like-minded circles and echo-chambers more than it really leads to exchange of different perspectives. Regardless which internet medium you use.

 

[Terminal Blue]

I think you're going to be quite hard pressed to find many people in this forum who aren't technically millennials. I mean, I was born in the mid-80s, I was 16 when the millennium happened and apparently I'm still a millennial (albeit just barely).

Overall though, I have a generally good feeling, culturally, about the people who are reaching adulthood now. When I was growing up, things were really cliquey. The internet wasn't really a thing yet (well, it was, but you had to dial it) so there was so little visual or musical culture produced relative to today, and it meant everyone always faced this constant demand to identify really strongly with a given subculture or scene or way of life. Nowadays there's just so much culture out there that I think it's actually quite difficult to stay "pure", it's a much more interesting and diverse world in many ways.

I'm kind of looking forward to living in the world the next generation creates, at this rate.

 

[Wrex Brogan]

Nah, Millennials are alright. Baby Boomers on the other hand...

[sub]distantly: 'thanks for ruining the housing market, you wrinkled old fucks!'[/sub]

 

[MrBoBo]

If you were in the 13th century you would probably be doing horrible things.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

Nothing wrong with millennials, just another generation that are labeled and disliked by those bitter types unable to accept the eternally turning wheels of change. Though I find it hard to hear anything good from the popular bands that are typically fashion over substance, but then again I did also listen to some very shit bands as a fresh-eared teenager. So can't really fault them on that, [small]maybe just quietly (constructively) criticise in the hopes that they can grow out of it quicker than I did.[/small]
*Never underestimate the active, curious mind. Never underestimate who we all can be*

 

[Baffle]

I'm on the back end of Generation X, and I can honestly say I feel bad for the Millenials - the future is neither bright nor orange.

People from previous generations whinge about how much easier it is for the newest generation, but the amount of pressure on kids to do well in education now is ungodly - it certainly wasn't like that when I were a lad. If you knew what angle to lean a ladder safely on a wall, you were practically Mr Pythagoras.

And sure, Millenials spend more money on shite and doo-dads than previous generations. Because (a) there's more shite and doo-dads, and (b) the things previous generations spent all their money on (houses, worthwhile pensions) are now so insanely out of reach there's precious little incentive to set the money aside for those things. Why not enjoy yourself instead? I know I would.

I recieved a strange and unsolicited text the other day (from a family member, not a stranger) telling me how shocked teenagers would be these days if you told them they had to go fight in a war. My first thought was 'Why the fuck are we sending the teenagers first?', my second was 'Hang on! You're in your fifties, you were never part of a military draft!'

 

[Cycloptomese]

I've put a lot of thought into this for whatever reason. I hear a lot of people say that today's kids have it too easy. At the same time, I hear a lot of parents say that they want their kids to have it better than they did. I call that progress.

Also, I'm generation X and we were told that we were all a bunch of drug-addicted losers. Then we popularized the internet, connected the world globally, and completely changed communications.

That said, I think you guys are going to do just fine.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

The argument from the older generations always seems to boil down to "yeah, we lynched gays and black men, destroyed the environment and economy and denied Aids even existed, but kids today have Justin Bieber and Twitter, so they must be worse."

Anyone who thinks millennials are the worse really don't understand history.

 

[happyninja42]

We've all heard that old song and dance, that millenials are spoiled, stupid, lazy, whiny, entitled, and overall worthless. I have to ask, is it really true? Is my generation really the worst one in all of history?

No you're not the worst generation there ever has been. It's just the typical pre-generation bitching that has effected EVERY generation. Don't pay it any fucking attention. The people that whine about hipsters are just fucking twats, and not worth your time.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

My dad blames his own generation (the baby boomers) for basically fucking everything up for my generation (the millennials).

He's actually not the only baby boomer who I've heard that claim from. My boss also thinks millennials are a hard working bunch considering we take historically less vacation time than any previous generation[footnote]https://hbr.org/2016/08/millennials-are-actually-workaholics-according-to-research[/footnote]. The accusation of millennials being lazy always baffles me. How can a generation be both lazy and work so much that they willingly skip out on vacations?

From what I understand, business owners love employing millennials, we work long hours for little pay since we're up to our eyeballs in student loan dept and will take any job we're offered, because the economy is in the toilet.

 

[happyninja42]

My dad blames his own generation (the baby boomers) for basically fucking everything up for my generation (the millennials).

He's actually not the only baby boomer who I've heard that claim from. My boss also thinks millennials are a hard working bunch considering we take historically less vacation time than any previous generation[footnote]https://hbr.org/2016/08/millennials-are-actually-workaholics-according-to-research[/footnote]. The accusation of millennials being lazy always baffles me. How can a generation be both lazy and work so much that they willingly skip out on vacations?

Because the work they are doing isn't "real work" by the standards of the jackasses. "In my day, a man worked for a living! With his own two hands! He made something! He didn't just sit in front of a keyboard...blah blah blah rabble rabble" type shit. At least that's my impression when I hear that kind of sentiment expressed.

Which basically boils back to the "it's different from my thing, so it is inferior!" asshattish behavior.

 

[Parasondox]

The previous generation blame us Millennials for everything wrong with today's society.

Yet they raised us those dumb cunts. Plus they had certain things "free" where as today, well, we now pay for everything and inherit their debt but blame us.

Honestly, I'm getting annoyed with millennials being scapegoats to many fucked up things. Once again passing the blame to someone else and not taking personal responsibility for it.

Oh and to news outlets who assume they know young people and create a fucked up negative stereotype about us...

 

[Fappy]

Nah, as annoying as all my peers are, we're actually pretty okay.

 

[KissingSunlight]

I hate generalizations about generations. No group of traits define everyone accurately who was born within the same 10 - 20 years time period. So, just ignore the noise. However, if some of the complaints are relevant to you. You may want to think about it. Honestly, the generalizations about millennials are apt for most people today regardless of the generations they were born in. Too many people are acting like spoiled, entitled, cry babies.

 

[Avnger]

Alright so you want to know who the worst generation in (relatively recent) history is?

Let's play the game of taking a look at the world between roughly 1970 and today. How has the world progressed?

Also, keep in mind that the millennial generation is the first generation in modern history to be worse off than their parents:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/5-charts-that-prove-millennials-are-worse-off-than-you-are-2016-07-19
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/07/revealed-30-year-economic-betrayal-dragging-down-generation-y-income
http://time.com/3618322/census-millennials-poverty-unemployment/

and which generation has been in charge of the world for the past 30-40 years? Hell, the average age of current U.S. Congress members (the ones who are literally physically incapable of running a government properly) is 61 for senators and 57 for representatives.
https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43869.pdf

[small]Baby Boomers (aka the ones bitching about millennials) is the answer for all of the above[/small]

 

[Marik2]

Every generation is the bad generation

 

[McElroy]

I'm already firmly on board hating the next one.