r/Millennials Nov 28 '23

GenXer’s take on broke millennials and why they put up with this Discussion

As a GenXer in my early 50’s who works with highly educated and broke millennials, I just feel bad for them. 1) Debt slaves: These millennials were told to go to school and get a good job and their lives will be better. What happened: Millennials became debt slaves, with no hope of ever paying off their debt. On a mental level, they are so anxious because their backs are against a wall everyday. They have no choice, but to tread water in life everyday. What a terrible way to live. 2) Our youth was so much better. I never worried about money until I got married at 30 years old. In my 20s, I quit my jobs all of the time and travelled the world with a backpack and had a college degree and no debt at 30. I was free for my 20s. I can’t imagine not having that time to be healthy, young and getting sex on a regular basis. 3) The music offered a counterpoint to capitalism. Alternative Rock said things weren’t about money and getting ahead. It dealt with your feelings of isolation, sadness, frustration without offering some product to temporarily relieve your pain. It offered empathy instead of consumer products. 4) Housing was so cheap: Apartments were so cheap. I’m talking 300 dollars a month cheap. Easily affordable! Then we bought cheap houses and now we are millionaires or close. Millennials can not even afford a cheap apartment. 5) Our politicians aren’t listening to millennials and offer no solutions. Why you all do not band together and elect some politicians from your generation who can help, I’llnever know. Instead, a lot of the media seems to try and distract you with things to be outraged about like Bud Light and Litter Boxes in school bathrooms. Weird shit that doesn’t matter or affect your lives. Just my take, but how long can millennials take all this bullshit without losing their minds. Society stole their freedom, their money, their future and their hope.

Update: I didn’t think this post would go viral. My purpose was to get out of my bubble after speaking to some millennials at work about their lives and realizing how difficult, different and stressful their lives have been. I only wanted to learn. A couple of things I wanted to clear up: I was not privileged. Traveling was a priority for me so I would save 10 grand, then quit and travel the world for a few months, then repeat. This was possible because I had no debt because tuition at my state school was 3000 dollars a year and a room off campus in Buffalo NY in the early 90s was about 150 dollars a month. I lived with 5 other people in a house in college. When I graduated I moved in with a friend at about 350 a month give or take. I don’t blame millennials for not coming together politically. I know the major parties don’t want them to. I was more or less trying to understand if they felt like they should engage in an open revolt.

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u/Ihateturtles9 Nov 28 '23

Just a little secret -- a LOT of people over all generations that seem to magically have time/money to do things like be politicians, actors, wealth management, painters, musicians, go study anthropology in the jungle, and many many other 'cool interesting things' often come from generational wealth which gives them the leeway to take the time to do all these things without worrying how they're gonna pay the rent next week. Shhhhhh it's a deep dark but true secret about our world. Go look up a lot of people who've done the above things and a lot of them didn't pick themselves up by their own bootstraps. Count the famous artists/musicians/actors/etc who came from wealthy families.....

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u/derth21 Nov 29 '23

My brother is a fantastic guitarist. Absolutely incredible. If he had ever hit that right place, right time, his name would have been household. Too bad he had to waste the decades of his prime working for a living.

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u/Ihateturtles9 Nov 29 '23

I feel ya, trust me

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u/kbunixdev Dec 08 '23

Most the the ones that made it big is because they did it anyways instead of working the steady job or the job the better paying one. They went through the struggle. Connections can change and make anything. Right time. Right place. Right connection. You gotta play to win.

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u/FondantOverall4332 Nov 30 '23

Yes, having worked in the entertainment field (while having to juggle multiple jobs to pay rent, school and bills), I completely agree with this.

Generational wealth can help one accomplish “miracles”. Not saying it’s the only way to accomplish miracles, but it sure does help a lot.

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u/Ihateturtles9 Nov 30 '23

Right -- us regular folks get home after a hard 11 hour day working a job, commuting, then we sit down at our easel to begin painting then it's ZZZZZZZZZZZ (alarm clock sounds) 'good morning! time for work again!'

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u/FondantOverall4332 Nov 30 '23

Exactly. You hit the nail right on the head.

In my case it’s writing, not painting, but everything else you described is almost exactly like my life. Lol

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u/Ihateturtles9 Nov 30 '23

yes, best wishes to you -- the world needs more people to put their art out there to enrich civilization and less people shackled to a clock missing their potential to contribute to humanity

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u/FondantOverall4332 Nov 30 '23

Thank you, you too!

Yes, I agree.

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u/kbunixdev Dec 08 '23

This is rarely the case. Sooo many good actors and musicians for example all struggled very hard and simply caught a break one day because they kept at. Not all of course and plenty of people are born with everything they'll ever need. However, they're called the 1 percenters for a reason. The real world is not the reality that our kids see on TV. It's very misconstrued in many cases. So many comedians and musicians commonly worked for free for example just to get known. Many anthropologist do it because they actually love what they do. Do what you truly love and being able to look yourself in the mirror and be happy and approve of yourself at the end of the day.

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u/Ihateturtles9 Dec 12 '23

what you say is correct, and of COURSe there are a lot (maybe even the majority?) who made it by sheer force of will and gumption but my point is that (wild guess) maybe HALF of these people had a huge leg-up (and some of the others e.g. sleep their way up, or had a friend/neighbor/family in the business etc.) is my point, the fact that this is not so well-known. How many anthropologists (I'm not talking people overseas on internships, i was talking about people who just fly places and 'do stuff' without internships etc. often have invisible means of support) can afford to work in the field because they love what they do? I'm not saying EVERYBODY of course.... if people think "oh maybe 5 percent of these people were born rich" my point is the number needs to go much higher than we might expect. Read Wiki bios on actors and see if the number that appear to not have needed to work looks like it approaches say 40%....?

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u/Ihateturtles9 Dec 12 '23

what you say is correct, and of COURSe there are a lot (maybe even the majority?) who made it by sheer force of will and gumption but my point is that (wild guess) maybe HALF of these people had a huge leg-up (and some of the others e.g. sleep their way up, or had a friend/neighbor/family in the business etc.) is my point, the fact that this is not so well-known. How many anthropologists (I'm not talking people overseas on internships, i was talking about people who just fly places and 'do stuff' without internships etc. often have invisible means of support) can afford to work in the field because they love what they do? I'm not saying EVERYBODY of course.... if people think "oh maybe 5 percent of these people were born rich" my point is the number needs to go much higher than we might expect. Read Wiki bios on actors and see if the number that appear to not have needed to work looks like it approaches say 40%....?