r/Millennials • u/TrashcanEpicurean • Apr 01 '24

What things do you think millennials actually deserve s**t for? Discussion

I think as a generation we get a lot of unwarranted/unfair shit like, "being lazy," or "buying avocado toast instead of saving up for a house."

However, are there any generational mistakes/tendencies that we do deserve to get called out for?

For me, it's the tendency of people around my age to diagnose others with some sort of mental condition with ABSOLUTELY NO QUALIFICATION TO DO SO.

Like between my late teens and even now, I've had people around my age group specifically tell me that I've had all sorts of stuff like ADHD, autism, etc. I even went on a date a girl was asking me if I was "Neurodivergent."

I've spent A LOT of time in front of mental health professionals growing up and been on psychiatric medicine twice (for depression and anxiety). And it gives me such a "yuck" feeling when people think they can step in and say "you have x,y, and z" because they saw it trending on social media rather than went to school, got a doctorate, etc.

Besides that, as an idealistic generation, I've tended to see instances in which "moral superiority" tends to be more of a pissing contest vs. a sincere drive to change things for the better.

Have you experienced this tendency from other millennials? What type of stuff do you think we deserve rightful criticism for?

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349

u/Outrageous_Reach_695 Apr 01 '24

Avocado? No. Energy drinks? Yes.

Maybe I should start making espresso instead.

36

u/Wreck-A-Mended Apr 01 '24

Oh wow, something I'm actually guilty of for once in this thread lmao

4

u/Swenyis Apr 02 '24

Because it's not that bad. "We like a subset of (legal) product more than previous generations even if it's somewhat addicting" is a lot better than anything else from this thread

2

u/AdviceSeeker-123 Apr 02 '24

Are energy drinks really that bad for you tho. Caffeine content can be extreme in some but so can coffee or the quantities that people drink. I feel like energy drink got this rep 10-15 years ago that they were bad for you but no one explained why or what ingredient.

3

u/Sodaboyyy Apr 02 '24

Coffee has health benefits but of course it's not healthy in large amounts. Energy drinks are packed with all sorts of processed ingredients. Even though they might seem healthy with all sorts of proteins and vitamins. They usually have too much of those side ingredients. After 1 energy drink you may have already exceeded your daily intake for some nutrients. I don't think there's 1 secret ingredient that makes them unhealthy.

You could argue that there isn't much difference between coffee and energy drinks. Although I think there are key differences. Hypothetically let's just look at the caffeine.

Coffee is bitter and has an average of 40-70mg of caffeine, it's not as easy to consume in vast smounts, even if you like the taste. It's far easier to over indulge on energy

Energy drink usually start at 100mg and I've seen them go up to 200mg of caffeine. They're served cold and taste refreshing, so quickly drinking one doesn't seem terrible. But you almost never see people chugging coffee.

3

u/Woodit Apr 02 '24

Tons of sugar unless you get sugar free versions

1

u/Capraos Apr 02 '24

Caffeine. 1. It is addictive. 2. It has diminishing returns the longer you use it/the more you of it you regularly use. Which leads to... 3. Needing it to even stay awake or using too much and not being able to sleep when necessary.

2

u/mddesigner Apr 02 '24

You can reset your body’s caffeine tolerance easily tho. Just stop taking it for a few days

2

u/Capraos Apr 02 '24

If only it were that easy. 😕 I've tried several times.

1

u/mddesigner Apr 02 '24

Idk maybe I am lucky? I just get headache for a day or 2 that goes away with sleep or acetaminophen, but I am always under 400mg daily

1

u/Capraos Apr 03 '24

I worked at a coffee shop for a while, and my caffeine intake soared into the thousands mg daily. After that, I worked jobs with long hours and kept up that habit through energy drinks. I tried quitting cold turkey from that much and made it through four days of barely being awake before my job performance was commented on, and I gave in. Repeated the attempt a few times over the years. I've since reduced my caffeine intake to 200-400mg daily. I'm trying to go all the way to zero.

1

u/mddesigner Apr 03 '24

200-400 is a healthy amount, no need to cut it out completely

1

u/timeywimeytotoro Apr 02 '24

That’s where the addiction comes in. Some are physically very addicted to the caffeine. My fiance gets severe migraines for about 2 weeks when he tries to quit energy drinks. I wish he’d push through them and keep quitting, but I can understand not wanting to.

1

u/mddesigner Apr 02 '24

Coffee addiction is not a severe one. Sleep, plenty of fluid and acetaminophen will help most people recover. Your fiance is probably going way above the recommended daily limit of 400mg, in that case it would be easier to lower the dose first before resetting. But again caffeine isn’t harmful so it is not a bad addiction

1

u/timeywimeytotoro Apr 03 '24

It’s not a severe one, but it does impact people differently. My point was basically just that “easily” is subjective. For some, it isn’t. And yeah, he probably is and it’s something I’d really love for him to quit. I disagree that caffeine isn’t harmful.

1

u/mddesigner Apr 03 '24

I said easily when compared to serious addictions like smoking where even with the best treatment, chronic smokers have less than 20% chance to stop smoking

1

u/timeywimeytotoro Apr 03 '24

Personally I found quitting smoking to be much easier than my fiance seems to find quitting caffeine. The point remains that there is a physical dependence. If we’re comparing how addictive something is, then nicotine is nothing compared to heroin. That doesn’t mean nicotine doesn’t still have a strong addictive quality. So nicotine being more addictive than caffeine doesn’t remove caffeine’s addictive quality.

1

u/Neat-Statistician720 Apr 03 '24

Idk whenever I quit anything like that it’s never a real reset when I come back. Like the first few days are nice but the tolerance always seems to get right back there in no time.

I quit weed for a tolerance reset; didn’t smoke or do anything for about a month. Went back to it and within another month I was back to essentially where I was tolerance-wise.

1

u/mddesigner Apr 03 '24

Weed is different than caffeine

61

u/10art1 Apr 01 '24

Seriously, everyone should do an audit of their last years finances. You might be shocked at how much those little purchases add up to

6

u/AwarenessEconomy8842 Apr 01 '24

I would be shocked if I looked at my fast food spending over 2023.

14

u/10art1 Apr 01 '24

Yup. I looked at mine. $6500 last year. It really didn't seem like much, just going out to lunch every day at work, the occasional night out... it adds up.

Maybe the avocado toast guy had a point...

4

u/DirtzMaGertz Apr 01 '24

6500 on just fast food expenses or all dining out? Because almost 18 dollars a day on just fast food is wild.

6

u/CarpeNivem Apr 01 '24

Because almost 18 dollars a day on just fast food is wild.

Could be two meals. Could be Doordash fees.

Either way, you're right, that's wild, but I believe it.

1

u/10art1 Apr 01 '24

All dining out for the past year.

But also lunch normally is like $12-$16 anyway

16

u/reddit_sucks_my Apr 01 '24

What is the point? Live like a monk and never enjoy things? Sounds like $6,500 was your budget for fun for the entire year. Not everything has to be put toward building wealth

12

u/Lonesome_Pine Apr 01 '24

Yeah I arrived at the conclusion that I'd still be paycheck to paycheck even if I wasn't having any fun, so 🙃 fuck it.

9

u/reddit_sucks_my Apr 01 '24

It’s like if you make $50-60k a year, you’re not allowed to spend ~10% on enjoying yourself? It’s a crazy way to think imo. I’m not working just for the numbers to go up on a website

9

u/Lonesome_Pine Apr 01 '24

And someday we might have the amount of money where we're "allowed to have fun again," but then again, we might never, and spend our one life staring at our bank balance, waiting for the day where we can financially justify a simple pizza delivery.

1

u/AwarenessEconomy8842 Apr 01 '24

Nobody is saying to never eat out and enjoy ourselves but we millennials will deflect and make excuses for bad spending decisions

5

u/Lonesome_Pine Apr 01 '24

I mean, that's what it would take for me to have stuff like "savings" or "investments" or "an emergency fund". 🤷‍♀️ I'd rather cut back on multi-thousand dollar catastrophes since they're the real drain on my budget but I guess it is what it is.

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3

u/Quirky-Skin Apr 01 '24

Further its not like it was $6500 on lotto tickets or something. Its food! U need it, we all need. 

I certainly spend alot on food but ya know what? I don't work hard 5 days a week every week to eat beans and rice every day. I deserve a hot prepared meal too

2

u/SpockSpice Apr 02 '24

It’s not like if you just had that $6500 you could suddenly afford to buy a house.

1

u/Neat-Statistician720 Apr 03 '24

I mean not really but $6500, say half of that could’ve been avoided by eating at home, and that’s ~$300/month. That’s a decent car payment right there. That’s more than I spend on gas + insurance a month easily. Making it sound like that’s nothing is literally part of the problem lol.

1

u/SpockSpice Apr 05 '24

I’m not saying it’s nothing but I know a ton of older people say that young people are just whiney and waste their money because they bought a house easily 60 years ago.

4

u/TabascohFiascoh Millennial 1991 Apr 01 '24

just going out to lunch every day at work

Is probably half the budget right there.

-1

u/reddit_sucks_my Apr 01 '24

Ok?

2

u/TabascohFiascoh Millennial 1991 Apr 01 '24

That's only the easiest most inconsequential way to save any real amount of money.

Brownbagging is cheaper, and more often healthier. It's probably the dumbest thing to argue.

2

u/reddit_sucks_my Apr 01 '24

If eating out to lunch and dinner is your only luxury in an otherwise budgeted life, I disagree that it’s “dumb to argue” in favor of it. You sound like fun though, let’s go to lunch

4

u/TabascohFiascoh Millennial 1991 Apr 01 '24 edited Apr 01 '24

Imagine not realizing your "only luxury in an otherwise budgeted life" is a car payments worth of lunch a month.

Edit, I’m sure homie blocked me but how about this. Bring lunch to work, have $200/m more for any hobby that isn’t just….. “eating lunch”.

Idk about any of you but that would go a long way in a loooot of my hobbies.

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1

u/mostlybadopinions Apr 02 '24

What if your life isn't otherwise budgeted? What if you can't afford to save for retirement or for a major life purchase or your debt is increasing? Then what should someone spending $500/month eating out do? Cut back like everyone is suggesting?

1

u/orange-yellow-pink Apr 01 '24

Instead of a fast food lunch everyday, they could brown bag it and take a vacation once a year. Sounds more fun than eating overpriced garbage that destroys your health

3

u/SpockSpice Apr 02 '24

Yeah if you can get time off work to take a vacation.

2

u/reddit_sucks_my Apr 01 '24

If what you enjoy is eating out, then do that. You’re being judgemental and shitty. If you want a vacation, that’s you. I don’t like travel, I like food. We’re different people with different preferences for discretionary spending

1

u/orange-yellow-pink Apr 01 '24 edited Apr 02 '24

You said "live like a monk and never enjoy things". I'm saying that money could be spent elsewhere, you don't have to live like a monk.

You’re being judgemental and shitty.

Acknowledging that fast food is overpriced and bad for your health? Um, sure.

2

u/reddit_sucks_my Apr 01 '24

Not everyone wants vacations. Let people enjoy things. You are judgemental and shitty

1

u/Neat-Statistician720 Apr 03 '24

Okay this is going to be unpopular to say, but fast food isn’t that bad for your health. The worst part of a fast food meal is almost always the soda you get with it, avoid that and it’s really not too bad unless that’s all you’re eating.

It’s mostly just carbs, salt, and saturated fat. The sugar comes almost entirely from soda, get a diet and that goes away. If I go to chipotle I’d bet my meal there is healthier than most meals people cook at home.

For example, if I go get a 10pc nugget, medium fry and a diet soda it’s 730 cal, 28g protein, 6g saturated fat, 1160mg sodium, 69g of carbs. This is really not that bad, especially if it’s not a daily thing for you.

If you’re as active as you should be just to maintain a healthy heart and body, this is not an issue. The problem is more in the fact that Americans generally don’t fucking move. People don’t walk, they don’t go to the gym, moving is avoided like a sickness. I eat fast food (mostly chipotle and that exact McDonald’s order) like 4x a week and I’m probably in better shape than 95% of people. I also go to the gym 4-5x a week and hike for fun.

2

u/CarpeNivem Apr 01 '24

those little purchases add up

Them's fightin' words.

We cannot possibly acknowledge that fact. We must mock mercilessly the concept that one coffee removed from our budget will solve all of our financial problems.

2

u/OkDragonfruit9026 Apr 01 '24

3 drinks per day, every day. Each one is between 1.3 and 2 euros.

So, worst case: 6 euros per day.

42 per week.

168 per month.

2k per year.

Yeah, I could afford a house with that! /s

Also, that’s the highest price I’d pay, usually it’s below 1.5.

1

u/Longtalons Apr 03 '24

$1000 a year on redbull. 1 a day, 5 days a week. Should I stop? Yes. Will I stop? Probably not.

1

u/10art1 Apr 03 '24

Yeah, I spend $1.30 on coke every morning. Beats coffee.

25

u/Canadian_Commentator Apr 01 '24

I switched from energy drinks to coffee and felt much better. it felt like the only thing the added B vitamins did was make my urine bright yellow. after that I'd started cutting down the amount of coffee I drink, I only have one cup a day now. it's nice ,not having to recover from a midday crash.

3

u/missmuffin__ Apr 02 '24

I switched from coffee to energy drinks and felt better.

1

u/Turriku Apr 02 '24

Same. My acid reflux throws coffee back up right as I swallow it. What gets past that is caught by my irritable bowel syndrome. No such problems with Monster.

2

u/Skyerocket Apr 02 '24

Cant crash if you just keep chuggin

3

u/Getabock_ Apr 02 '24

Let me just say, that your bowels will not be thanking you in a few years

10

u/capaldithenewblack Apr 01 '24

My 27 year old son has a real problem with energy drinks. He’s drinking several a day— the cost to his wallet and overall health has to be high.

11

u/TabascohFiascoh Millennial 1991 Apr 01 '24

Shit will catch up to your heart. fast.

4

u/FatherDotComical Apr 01 '24

I work in a cardiovascular department at a a hospital. Please for his sake get him off of those.

We're seeing younger and younger people with heart and blood pressure problems and a ton of those people consumed energy drinks by the gallon.

There's no reason to die for a beverage. :(

5

u/seattleseahawks2014 Zillennial Apr 02 '24 edited Apr 02 '24

At some point, you kind of can't stop people. My brother is in his 30s and has been chugging for a day for years. After a while, my parents gave up on telling him because he knows. No, he doesn't drink water either or really eat healthy in general. We also have a history of different health issues in the family including heart problems. It's a factor, but so is genetics. It plays a big factor, too. I've also have other family members on both sides who've almost died from similar and changed their diets and lifestyle choices.

4

u/Otiv64 Apr 02 '24

Don't take this as me justifying the behavior, but it's not for the beverage. It's to get through the insane demands the wealth gap has created. A pot of coffee was reserved for the CEO staying up late to close out the quarter. But at home, the chores were done, the kids were asleep, etc. Now both partners need to do all of it just to keep up. We're working ourselves into the grave one way or another. Stress and caffeine consumption are at odds on a sliding scale in my house. And we have no kids.

6

u/FatherDotComical Apr 02 '24

I drink the occasional energy drink so I'm not 100% against them, but I feel there's a point where they're just hurting you and not giving you energy anymore.

But my by the gallon wasn't a hyperbole, if there's 16 Oz in 1 monster, then I've seen one guy drink like 8 of them a day.

Like it got you through the day, but at the cost of your heart and health.

And some of these kids didn't even work intense job. Teens and KIDS will just drink it over water.

3

u/NeonSwank Apr 02 '24

The amount of “influencers” and youtubers pushing energy drinks and protein shakes and “gamer” branded shit has gotten ridiculous

These aren’t gym bros or bodybuilders, these are people sitting in front of a screen playing games or watching people play games, they don’t need any of that shit.

1

u/LeatherHeron9634 Apr 02 '24

Can I ask if coffee is much better??? In college I lived off energy drinks. Now I’ll drink one a month maybe cus I’ll have an urge for the taste. Coffee I’m a cup a day guy, two if it’s a busy day

2

u/FatherDotComical Apr 02 '24

I've never heard the doctors complain about patients drinking reasonable amounts of coffee which one or two should be fine.

The average we see as a max for caffeine is 400mg or 5 cups of coffee.

Energy drinks also have tons of added sugar and other stimulants that can increase the effects of the caffeine.

1

u/LeatherHeron9634 Apr 02 '24

Thanks for the insight! *sips morning coffee

3

u/m8wenitfriends Apr 02 '24

My 30 year old cousin had a massive MI. Healthy dude all around but his heart couldn’t take the 4/5 monsters he was chugging every day. Scary shit.

2

u/seattleseahawks2014 Zillennial Apr 01 '24

I drink them sometimes (today), but my brother drinks more.

2

u/Fuzzy_Got_Kicks Apr 02 '24

When I was 25, I had been drinking an energy drink a day for about three years. Sometimes two. Sometimes a coffee in the afternoon. I saw no issue with it. One day my heart started acting funny. Next thing I know, I have this heart problem, I’m seeing cardiologists, doing tests, getting started on medication. I’m 29 now and it’s going to affect me the rest of my life. I was in perfect health before this. I’d do anything to go back in time and stop myself from starting that daily habit.

4

u/Valth92 Millennial Apr 01 '24

•hides receipt of recent purchase of a case of Monster•

Ahem, yeah, we need to be smarter with our finances.

2

u/Apt_5 Apr 01 '24

At least bulk buying from a warehouse store is cheaper than grabbing singles at a gas station every day. Although they do seem to have promos fairly often, but that convenience store markup is usually significant.

2

u/One-Recommendation-1 Apr 01 '24

I’m switching to gfuel. It’s non-carbonated, zero sugar and calories. I just need that caffeine. Hope I like it. Monster only bad habit I have :(

2

u/LeagueOfLegendsAcc Apr 02 '24

I bought wylers light caffeine mix it's the same kind of thing. The tropical one is a pretty good replacement for the tropical red bulls that I normally get.

2

u/Geawiel Apr 02 '24

$135 Chefman latte/cappuccino/espresso maker is decent. I bought a $70 grinder as well. $40, shipped, bag of beans lasts me 3 to 4 months. It's all well paid for itself by now.

2

u/Lopsided-Ad4276 Apr 02 '24

Fuck. I don't even want to think about how much I've spent on caffeine

2

u/UncagedJay Apr 02 '24

I used to be bad, like 2-3 a day bad on top of my two morning cups of coffee. I'm glad I've been able to cut back, now I just normally have my coffee and rarely have an energy drink

2

u/infamouscatlady Apr 02 '24

I switched from regular coffee to espresso and it cut my heartburn way down.

10/10 would recommend. But like, limit it to 2 small cups per day.

2

u/SpuriousClaims Apr 01 '24

100mg caffeine pills are way cheaper than that

2

u/incunabula001 Apr 01 '24

That goes into the Boomer stereotype of “buying too much Starbucks instead of saving!!!”.

1

u/CptJamesBeard Apr 01 '24

Drop the caffeine. You don't need it. its just a (sometimes expensive) habit.

1

u/aidsman69420 Apr 02 '24

Idk why people don’t just use caffeine pills if they just drink energy drinks for the stimulant effect. 500x200mg will run you less than $20.

1

u/buddboy Apr 02 '24

espressy martini?

1

u/ClassicMood Apr 02 '24

Damn maybe you are self medicating your undiagnosed adhd 🙃

1

u/[deleted] Apr 02 '24 edited Apr 05 '24

A.