this post was submitted on 08 Apr 2025
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[–] devilish666@lemmy.world 149 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 37 points 1 week ago

I think the worst part is that we do, in fact, know it will get worse... But we were raised thinking we'd all live in big houses and be free of debt by now.

[–] Asafum@feddit.nl 89 points 1 week ago (3 children)

"We don't know why are all the younger generations depressed! They just need to buy less avacado toast and they can buy a house..."

-clueless boomers.

[–] perishthethought@lemm.ee 44 points 1 week ago (3 children)

First year Gen X-er here. We know why you're depressed. We went through similar things, believe it not. I often wish I could share how scary living through the 80s was -- often fearing a nuclear apocalypse, environmental decline, wars, riots and unrest all over the world, politicians who didn't give a damn or had no idea how to make things better. Nobody listens to you when you're in your 20s. It seems most now think the 80s were just like Family Ties. Not so.

But this too shall pass. You can help make it better by getting out there and working with the good guys. Don't give up.

[–] CarbonatedPastaSauce@lemmy.world 26 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeah there's definitely some rose tint looking back to the 70's, 80's, and 90's. Crime was ridiculous compared to the levels these days, just for a start. But it was just 'normal'. We've made a lot of progress there. Which is about to be undone as people get increasingly desperate.

[–] InputZero@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

There were several energy crisiss that kneecapped a lot of the 70s and 80. Nixon, the Vietnamese war, the fall of the USSR. All those things were monumental moments in history and we survived. The world isn't over yet, but Trump is really trying to make everyone jump to the end game

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[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 75 points 1 week ago (7 children)

Millennial about to turn 41.

I'm tired.

I'm not particularly fond of my fellow Americans anymore.

And I don't have an ounce of patriotism left.

This country can go ahead and fuck itself. Which it appears to be doing pretty thoroughly. Dumbest fucking country in the history of the world if you take into account its wealth and influence compared to its quality of life and happiness index.

Weighing how much effort/money it would take to get Canadian citizenship and whether I have that kind of energy left in me.

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[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 48 points 1 week ago (27 children)

It's not like this is a millennial thing:

And you can keep going back. Also, the plural of crisis is crises.

[–] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 40 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Masks off.

This country has always been pretty awful.

We just had a short golden age where we taxed the fuck out of rich people and were simultaneously benefitting from the spoils of a World War.

[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 20 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (7 children)

I wish I could upvote this more than once.

The economic boom the US experienced in the 1950s and 1960s was the result of:

  • Pro-worker economic policies enacted during the great depression that were kept in place through WWII and remained in place until they started getting killed off in the 1970s and were fully killed off in the 1980s by Reagan.
  • The top tax bracket being set at 90%.
  • The US being one of the only countries that didn't have its infrastructure absolutely trashed during WWII.

Even if the US went back to pro-worker, anti-oligarch policies, we're unlikely to see another golden age unless there's another world war that doesn't damage the US. When people talk about their grandfather supporting 4 kids as a plumber, that was wonderful, but it was never the norm.

Let's see: !lemmysilver

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[–] booly@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 week ago

1987: Black Monday

That one didn't really matter that much to regular Americans. Less than a third of Americans owned stock back then, and that crash didn't have an obvious cause from actual economic fundamentals. And the Fed managed to contain the liquidity crisis, as your linked Wikipedia page describes, so that the broader economy was largely unaffected.

Recessions matter. Stock market crashes only matter when they are caused by, or are the cause of, an actual recession in the real world.

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[–] Cocopanda@futurology.today 41 points 1 week ago (10 children)

I’m about to turn 39. I just want a home or apartment of my own. Why is this happening? Why did the stupids get so powerful?

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

Why is this happening? Why did the stupids get so powerful?

This isn't unique to the modern moment. Your parents called their elders stupid. Alphas will call Millennials stupid. But if we want to get to the real disparity between ideologies - the reason so many people are getting MAGA pilled in the face of seemingly obvious disaster - it really does just boil down to our mass media poisoning our brains.

Fifty years of misinformation, con-artistry, and industrial scale commercial fraud has given birth to a population that is simultaneously desperate for a White Knight to come save them and so steeped in cynicism that they accept idiots and assholes in power as the best we're capable of doing. Whether its Trump or Biden, Bezos or Musk, Wolf Blitzer or Alex Jones, there's this baseline understanding that "My guy might suck but the other guy is so much worse".

And the deadliest poison of them all is the pride - the implicit assumption that you can't trust anyone but yourself because you're surrounded by morons. We're increasingly alienated from one another and exposed to manipulation by computerized algorithms A/B testing us for our biases. Divided from one another, with our hatreds toward The Other inflamed while our access to basic necessities increasingly gated, we're pushed into deeper and more vulgar polarized camps micro-managed by demagogues and other influencers.

"The Stupid" is just the fear - of our looming poverty, of our dangerously polarized neighbors, of declining health and diminished free time. It's not idiocy, its anxiety. We're acting rashly because we all seem to know we're being boxed in for the slaughter and none of us trust anyone else to recognize that we need to work together to escape it.

[–] selokichtli@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

King Crimson's Epitaph lyrics, from 1969, sing:

Well, knowledge is a deadly friend, when no one sets the rules. The fate of all mankind, I fear, is in the hands of fools.

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[–] Pirky@lemmy.world 33 points 1 week ago

I'm tired, boss

[–] eugenevdebs@lemmy.dbzer0.com 30 points 1 week ago (6 children)

I'm on the oldest edge of Gen Z, 27 year old here.

I can maybe handle my parents promising a good life for me before rug pulling that. Well, I can't and that's one of the many reasons why I have mental health issues.

I don't think they could have predicted 3 economic crashes in my life before I turn the age they conceived me.

It's just profoundly sad that there are people who were raised for this planet and the planet has changed fundamentally in the last 20 years alone. The technology, the temperature, the expected job market, the ability to own even basic things, the political climate.

Most people on Lemmy were raised with a bright future that has been dimmed each passing year. The only light we have are those we are close to.

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[–] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 28 points 1 week ago (9 children)

I'm an "elder" millennial.... I'm 40+.

Pretty much everything went to shit right after I got to the workforce. It was somewhat subtle at first, but it's only gotten far worse and far more obvious as time has gone on.

Kids? Nah bro. Have you seen the world? I don't want to live here, why would I subject someone that I care about to a life, living in this hellscape? Like all parents, I'm sure I would love my children if they existed and even though they don't exist, I still love them enough to not subject them to gestures at everything this.

I haven't gotten a meaningful raise since starting work. I was originally hired at basically minimum wage, a bit better than it in my area (ironically, my starting wage in my career is now below what minimum is now), and the only time I went up in salary is when I changed jobs.

With more than half a dozen years of experience (this is a while back) I was fighting for anything over $60k/yr (it gets worse), while housing in my area was skyrocketing above $400k for a modest home....

After the usual expenses of food and rent, I've been robbed blind by being given no choice but to buy things "as a service" and own fucking nothing. I've pushed back against it as much as possible and after years, I paid off my vehicle and absolutely, positively, 100% own this now 13 year-old car. Whoopee....

I've lived through everything from 9/11, to Trump... Twice.... And nothing has ever quantifiably gotten "better" without getting worse in some other way.

Better, faster, more capable computers? You're obligated to run software that spies on you. Better cars with fancy tech that makes them basically drive themselves? Only if you subscribe to activate the seat warmers for a nominal yearly fee.... Phones are more capable, better, faster, more connected and overall significantly improved? These are now devices used by companies to harvest every meaningful ounce of information from you, selling it to the highest bidders (multiple times, I might add), and giving you nothing for your contribution. Congratulations, someone has monetized your existence via an app on your phone.

Everything is worse. You never have time off work anymore. Even if you take vacation, the expectation is that if they call you, you'll answer, then you're working for free. But if you don't answer, then your job is at risk.

Fuck everything. This world sucks. I'm fucking sick of all of this shit and I'm mad as hell about it.

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[–] RubberElectrons@lemmy.world 26 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

I keep telling myself: could be worse. Could also be better, but could be worse 🤷😬

Not sure who I'm trying to convince haha.

[–] smee@poeng.link 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

At least I'm not being boiled alive

🤔

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While being called lazy

[–] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 25 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Stop crying, geez.
(You'll need those tears for your forties)

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 11 points 1 week ago (4 children)

I turned 40 in February. 😭

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[–] leave_it_blank@lemmy.world 25 points 1 week ago (1 children)

In the 2020s alone we had COVID, Russian Nazis, and now Trump Nazis. Oh, and we went past 1.5 degrees.

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[–] HexesofVexes@lemmy.world 21 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Millennials were also the generation that got to watch the surface web turn into an abandoned mall.

Good times.

[–] BreadOven@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Agreed.

But I still debate whether or not unrestricted internet access as a older kid/teen was a good thing or not haha. I'm sure we've all clicked links we regretted or went to those sites (rotten, or other shock sites). If we didn't see all that shit growing up, would we be different? I'm not sure, but would be interesting to see some research on this (there may be some already, I haven't looked).

Anyways, I recently found a great website for lemon-themed recipes. It's www.lemonparty.org, check it out!

[–] HexesofVexes@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

Ah yes, the site for learning more about trump's upcoming plans. Good share.

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[–] exasperation@lemm.ee 21 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Some of us millennials have been extraordinarily lucky.

I'm an old millennial but I avoided any personal impact from the 2001 recession by being in college, on financial aid.

Then the 2008 recession didn't hit me very hard because I wasn't a homeowner was a single childless dude who was flexible enough to just up and move wherever there was a job, across the country if necessary. I had a different job in a different state each year from 2008 through 2011, taking big raises with each move, then eventually back to school.

Then the 2020 recession didn't hit me very hard because my wife and I both had counter-cyclical jobs (I tend to be busier when businesses are failing) and already owned a home, allowing us to bypass much of the inflation of the post-2020 period with a fixed rate mortgage we had refinanced to below 3% in 2021.

Now, the 2025 recession is probably gonna hit us hard. But I've basically escaped the last 3, so maybe I'm due.

[–] capt_wolf@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Clearly you're the catalyst in all of this... Fate has been targeting you and each time you've skated throu..."GUYS! I FOUND HIM! GET THE PITCHFORKS, TORCHES, AND GET THE SACRIFICIAL BONFIRE READY! WE CAN STILL FIX THIS!"

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[–] ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

More than half of millennials are >=37 years old now...hell, the oldest are in their mid forties now

[–] smee@poeng.link 20 points 1 week ago (8 children)

I wonder how many of us have settled for being content with watching the world burn.

[–] ExcessShiv@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

From my own experience, it's mostly just the ones without kids that don't give a shit and have gone apathetic.

[–] smee@poeng.link 13 points 1 week ago

That's a fair point of view. From some meagre research that's about 33% of millenials and GenZ's.

Another fair point IMO, settling for something is not the same as being apathetic. It's more a question about finding the best way of coping with an unacceptable situation.

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[–] FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I feel like I live in interesting times, and understand why it’s used as an insult

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[–] capt_wolf@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Just wait til you're in your 40s...

[–] tacosanonymous@lemm.ee 15 points 1 week ago

I wish I was 35.

Also, "crises."

[–] NeilBru@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (3 children)

I'm turning 42 this summer. I'm considered an "elder millennial".

I'm tired, boss.

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[–] tanukikabuki@lemm.ee 13 points 1 week ago

I had a discussion about this very thing with a Boomer, who proceeded to state they essentially went through more and including the shared recessions that myself as a millennial went through. Gas shortages of the 70s, wars, protests, etc, failing to grasp the point that was being made that their generation has had all the opportunities. They closed it out with, oh well maybe you should work harder and save more... yeah okay, hard to do that when I am overtaxed, inflation is on the rise, were likely entering Great Depression 2.0 thanks to Donvict, can't afford a house when a mortgage would be cheaper than renting where I am at, but sure yea I will just work til I drop with little living in between, that's the fix, its not the system, its me. Their "I got mine" attitude is astounding dismissive and part of the issue with their generation. Not all of them, some of them get it, but a large majority look at millenials and the younger generation as being lazy and that's why there is such a massive homeless population problem. Not that wages have not grown proportionally with the cost of living, its just that we don't work hard enough. I half joked that the greatest thing that could have happened was that COVID wiped a large swath of their generation off the map, it would save Social Security, free up housing, bring down the burden on healthcare, lower GOP voting base of angry bigot whites that hold on to the belief that America is only right if it is white, a large part of politicians that have made a career out of it would be removed ushering in a new more modern means of thinking into politics, and we might actually make some progress in this country. But nope, now we have angry Karens and racist Kyles who blame immigrants for all their problems rather than looking at the disparity between American generations.

[–] SippyCup@feddit.nl 12 points 1 week ago

The generation of "cake or death" seriously starting to consider the death instead of the chicken.

[–] TommySoda@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's all good I just turned 30 and I finally have a job where I can break even with my finances. Now for the second job so I can use the next 30 years to pay off my debt. At this rate I'll be just ahead enough to get my retirement job with no social security. 😎

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[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeah. I want to run for Congress in 2026 on a platform of "I can't trust you fucking fucks to not fuck up this fucking fucker any fucking more."

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[–] AngrySquirrel@lemm.ee 11 points 1 week ago

I'm tired, boss

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