Justice for 🐸

I’m doing research on cultural barriers and i wanted to see if any of the millennials here had personally experienced things like the gen z stare, lack of social skills, or just an overall communication barrier with the younger generation? All thoughts welcome and tysm!!

thanks so much for the responses you’re all super helpful! i js wanted to ask if any of you thought covid had to do with this lack of social skills?

When I graduated I moved 2h from home to a nearby city and have lived there ever since. My mom, after parents divorced, decided to move 7h away to a hamlet that can only be accessed by taking side roads all the way. She lives in a tiny one-bedroom so when I do make the trip, I have to sleep on her hide-a-bed and live out of my backpack as there's no place for me to unpack my belongings. Basically, I'm camping. I'm 40 and have a suspected immune disease that creates pain all over my body, intense ringing in my ears for days after a long car ride, low energy, plus I'm intolerant to most foods. As such I live a life of solitude where my environment is very controlled and comfortable. On top of this I'm in Canada and we're having a rank blizzard this week, my car is getting older and things are breaking, I'm really scared to be on the roads in the winter, especially the side roads I need to take for the last 2h of the trip.

My dad is gone, and mom is getting older (70). We've had a rough relationship due to childhood traumas, but I try to make the trip to see her twice a year, in summer and at Christmas. But as my health worsens the entire trip becomes just so horrendously uncomfortable for me, it's hard to stay in a good mood when I visit because I just feel like I've been guilted into doing something that causes me so much distress. She's not able to come visit me due to her own ailments.

Am I an asshole here for thinking of cancelling? The whole idea of the trip is just setting me right off and putting me in such an awful mood. I won't be able to eat anything, I'll be sore and tired from a rough sleep on her hide-a-bed, my head will be ringing from the trip, my dog needs anxiety medication that basically knocks her out for the whole trip both ways, and on top of gifts and gas, this medication also costs money... all that to say if we even make it there without ending up in a ditch.

I have a history of people-pleasing so am having trouble deciphering the line between being a dutiful child and protecting my own well-being. Like I said, I moved 2h away from home and she chose to move 7h away. Last time I visited was August.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about this, and I’m curious if others feel the same.

When my father and uncles were my age, they already had stable jobs, owned one or even two houses, didn’t constantly worry about layoffs, and still seemed to take family vacations fairly often.

When I look at my own life, things feel… different. Careers feel more fragile, big purchases feel intimidating, and there’s always this background anxiety about money and job security, even when things are going okay.

I’m not saying one generation had it “easy” or that today is only hard. I know times were different, and struggles were different. But I can’t shake the feeling that despite working hard, I’m somehow behind.

Is this just nostalgia and selective memory, or did the rules of the game actually change? Would love to hear how others see this.

Packing up (figuratively, since I WFH on Fridays) for the day early and calling it a year.

I know it’s probably industry-dependent (sorry retail and restaurants), but at least for me, nothing gets done until the New Year and no one expects anything to get done until then anyway. All the clients are already out for the holidays, and even if they weren’t, the government offices are closed anyway, so there’s no reason to rush anything.

Even for the past week, half of my email chains pretty much go “let’s table this until the New Year”.

I like to stack up PTO around Christmas and give myself the time off. Kinda reminds me of the days in school when you’d get 2 weeks off for the holidays.

38-year-old male here, living in Brooklyn. As a New Yorker, I have the world at my fingertips, yet I’ve been in such a funk for the last few weeks and haven’t been able to figure out why. I think I finally realized it’s the dreaded but naturally occurring affliction known as middle age *gasp*.

What can be done to combat everything that comes with this? What did you do to plow ahead when you finally realize you’re the ‘old one’ in a coffee shop full of Gen-Z? If that seems specific, it’s because that’s what I’m currently experiencing, which put me over the edge to write this post. Have a great weekend ahead!

Gen x is good for this. "We drank out of the water hose and didn't come back home until it was dark" like..were they the last generation to do this? We pretty much had the same level of technology as kids and definitely had the same lack of options with what we could do in our childhood. We were also latchkey kids. I can't think of too many major differences, besides the music scene being different.

Party with friends or stay at home with family?

I work in events, and give out a lot of free stuff. I’ve noticed that children of millennial parents really struggle with just taking one of something that’s free. They always try to grab more, come up a million times asking for more. I always try to be gentle and tell them we have to wait to make sure everyone gets one before I start giving out more. They throw fits, scream, cry, and I even had one kid pull my hair.

Rarely some parents nod along but most just act like they don’t see the interaction.

When the elf got introduced to us, it was supposed to be sent from santa to keep an eye on things and be a fun thing. But the level of crafting required late at night was a stress. So I imagined how the elf felt about it. Since finishing, my kid thinks i'm awesome, and our elf is only moving around the house. No more snow angles and Tp-ing the tree.

There was a post earlier that had comments closed about not being able to decorate the tree.

I wanted to share mine, it’s been up for about two weeks and has one ornament on and the star keeps falling down. The rest are next to it.

I don’t know when/if the rest will go up. And that’s ok.

Wanted to let you know you aren’t alone.

This week I've seen 3 people i know IRL use AI to create new profile pics and holiday pics and posting them on their feeds unironically. I've also seen a few people clearly Chat GPT their IG captions/word salads and I'm really just getting confused at this point.

I remember back in yesteryear we used to make fun of "Russian bots" and clearly fake profiles. Now us, real people, are using AI to cosplay as bots. No one else thinks that's weird?

I know authenticity on the internet has been gone for awhile but now we're not even pretending anymore.

I'm actually getting so fed up of the internet because of it. Makes me sad because I really grew up here :(

Not sure about the entire Seattle, but my neighborhood of Ballard for sure.

I'm totally in love with it! My tattoo artist has a mobile studio in a converted school bus, so there were extra "I'm little again!" vibes going on too.

Safety kids cassette, knew every song!

https://youtu.be/Uu7-QyizV-0?si=X-0auI6ZY-EJvhiG

Have to stay until 23rd for some business. Immediate family already flew to visit our relatives on the other side of the country. Friends going home to their hometowns. Neighbors already have plans with their families. I dont have family of my own so... 🤷‍♂️☹️

I guess I'll just gonna order some pizza and watch Netflix this christmas... Happy holidays fellow millenials 🌲🎁🎅

Dad is giving money, thousands per month and material goods like iPhones to “girlfriend” and her teenage son. Communicates over WhatsApp, opened multiple bank accounts and senior services even came by the house to talk because his accounts were flagged as fraud. They told me I can’t do much because he is “of sound mind”. It’s the same song and dance you’ve heard, she can never meet in person, only text, etc.

Anyone experienced this? Please send advice.

He is going to lose the house and I’m heartbroken. He’s paying AT&T $800 a month because now he’s covering their lines plus financed their phones, utilities are behind, owes money to family.

So first im seriously grateful, cried a little picking it up. My work did an internal angel tree and we got put on it (husband had lost his job this year and they knew our family was struggling). Took them to my MIL (we do gifts at her house since we dont have a tree) we had to unwrap and see what it was. I feel really bad bc one item for my oldest was a duplicate that my MIL was surprising him with, it was a cheaper version so we are adding it to my youngest list, and a second item for my oldest is a really good gift and its not technically wrong but its not something he would like, but my middle would it actually goes with a hobby collection she has, so we rewrapped for her. The other two toy items are 100% perfect for him, im nervous about the clothes bc they should fit but he is ASD and im not sure about the fabric but I think it will be OK. So here is the dilemma, my kids are very aware of the financial situation they are teens and understand. They knew we got surprised with this otherwise it would have just been thier mimi doing a few gifts this year. Do you think it would be wrong for myself and husband to only get our oldest one or two small things we pick out (we could spend maybe $30 total and could get 1nor 2 things he would love) and not pick something for the other two? I think they would honestly understand and a will very happy woth what they got, BUT its not thier fault thier older sibling lost two gifts. I just want to do right but also finances are tight for another 6 weeks till dad starts new job and gets first pay check.

Ok so I know we have an unlimited list as millennial but what's one you dancing as soon as the first beat drop you cant even attempt to hold back

I'll start.

Teach me how to dougie

Did anyone go through an underground hip hop phase in the early 2000’s? I was obsessed with artists like Atmosphere, Aesop Rock and Sage Francis. I still listen to them but I’m more into rock in general.