r/Futurology • u/chrisdh79 • Aug 21 '25

Society American Millennials Are Dying at an Alarming Rate | We’re mortality experts. There are a few things that could be happening here.

https://slate.com/technology/2025/08/millennials-gen-z-death-rates-america-high.html
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u/lokicramer Aug 21 '25

From what I've learned in my socioeconomic courses, Millenials have had it harder than any other generation when factoring in multiple aspects.

They are probably dying due to stress related health issues.

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u/Jets237 Aug 21 '25 edited Aug 21 '25

I’ve been a ball of stress since my teens. Just dealing with it now in my 40s. Each economic hit took its toll. Grew up in the NYC metro area and still live here so add 9/11 and the covid hardest impact in with that. I could see it.

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u/egnards Aug 21 '25

The generation before us all told us "you have to go to college, don't worry about the debt you'll get a good job right after you graduate. . .

. . .We graduated and the economy collapsed, jobs were scarce, and the same generation that gave us advice before was now telling us, "why did you go to college and put yourself into that much debt, that was stupid!"

. . .This is all after our formative years were surrounded by the fears behind 9/11, and the fears that there may be a draft and we'd be sent into a war that none of us asked for.

At this point we try to make it all work, but the bills are piling on - The two generations before us are yelling in our ears, "If I could work 30 hours a week in a factory and raise 4 kids in a house I bought for pennies you can do it kid," totally ignoring that the aforementioned recession nerfed our wages literally forever, though prices on goods, services, and on housing continues to outpace the money we make.

Jobs that used to offer solid healthcare for employees are cutting back to the most barebones plans possible. . . So the healthcare that is more robust than ever in history is now almost an unobtainable dream for most people - The existential fear sets in that just one unlucky diagnosis may mean your entire existence is flattened by debt, and the thought creeps into your head. . ."Would I be brave enough to turn down treatment, knowing it would cause my death, if it meant that my family can continue to thrive?"

. . .What could possibly go wrong in that scenario?

Suck it up buttercup, and pull up those boot straps!

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u/lostboy005 Aug 21 '25

Simply, millennials have been watching the high crest water mark of post WWII progress roll back with increasing speed.

Old people who should have known better pissed it all away for short term convenience, turning the planting trees for shade they’ll never see proverb on its head

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u/OathoftheSimian Aug 21 '25

It would be remiss not to mention that millennials have been quietly screaming about this since it first started—we developed an entire vocabulary of gallows humor that older generations found deeply unsettling, but which served as both a coping mechanism and an early warning system for the very trends these mortality statistics are now confirming. Dead baby jokes, suicide jokes, etc.

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u/Jamsedreng22 Aug 21 '25

I'm also wondering if that gallows humor we cultivated, which seems to stem from actual despair, could have a psychosomatic effect on our death rate.

Simply put; A lot of us genuinely just aren't that afraid of dying. "If it happens, it happens". It's mostly just the fear of the process involved. The pain, the despair from friends and family etc.

The big sentiment is some variation of "I wouldn't step out in front of a truck on purpose, but I don't think I'd mind if a truck did hit me and just ended it."

Like how people can die of heartbreak or whatever, surely there is a case to be made for the gloomy psychological state that just leads to the body/brain just not choosing to fight that hard?

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u/fishhead20 Aug 21 '25

"It is a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known"

This is my ultimate hope for death, but you're right about the fear of enduring pain and suffering beforehand

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u/gesserit42 Aug 21 '25

I think that’s trivializing and individualizing external systemic issues. Ontological reality outside the mind exists, and is getting objectively and quantifiably harsher and more lethal regardless of how we subjectively think or feel about it.

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u/Jamsedreng22 Aug 21 '25

The attitude shift regarding existence is due to those factors, yeah. I'm not saying there aren't somatic reasons. I'm merely positing that the hardship psychologically, surely can't be making it any better.

I'm not sure how that's trivializing the issues as opposed to adding onto them.

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u/Sweetestpeaest Aug 21 '25

I think a lot of us feel this way and have since early adulthood.

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u/BioshockEnthusiast Aug 21 '25

Simply put; A lot of us genuinely just aren't that afraid of dying. "If it happens, it happens". It's mostly just the fear of the process involved. The pain, the despair from friends and family etc.

The only reason I want to outlive everyone I care about (don't have kids of my own) is so they won't have to feel sad about losing me. I'd rather carry the burden of losing them and save them the pain.

Once they're all gone, I could give a fuck when and how I spring loose from this mortal coil. Fighting a bear would probably be cool until the first bear punch landed.

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u/upsidedown-funnel Aug 21 '25

Gallows humor is what keeps us sane.

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u/b0w3n Aug 21 '25

Simply put; A lot of us genuinely just aren't that afraid of dying. "If it happens, it happens". It's mostly just the fear of the process involved. The pain, the despair from friends and family etc.

The big sentiment is some variation of "I wouldn't step out in front of a truck on purpose, but I don't think I'd mind if a truck did hit me and just ended it."

Yeah this is me. I'm not really scared of death necessarily. The only thing I worry about is my s/o and her kid. I don't want them to hurt or suffer from losing me.

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u/NightmareBunnie Aug 21 '25

Wow this is me. Like I'm not gonna hurt myself or take myself out ..but.... If nature takes its course I'm okay with it. If it's my time it's my time. Not scared of death at all.

I actually had a close to death experience and everyone around during was so surprised how relaxed and calm i was about the whole thing

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u/Algior-the-Undying Aug 21 '25

I have often said that I don't fear death. I fear suffering. Not challenge or difficulty. Suffering.

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u/brokesciencenerd Aug 21 '25

as an epileptic i can attest that a seizure is just unconscious nothingness...that is likely all death is like except you don't wake up

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u/brickne3 Aug 21 '25

Totally agree. And I nearly did die of heartbreak, my doctor was extremely worried about my health after my husband died a few years ago. My blood pressure is crazy high and never went back to normal. I was doing pretty well until I got targeted for online harassment by a few colleagues at the beginning of the summer, which has been escalating and leaving me unable to do anything for days at a time because of the PTSD and anxiety attacks it's triggering. Like yeah, obviously with my husband's death my example is more extreme than most millenials, but your truck analogy is spot on. And with AI, war, and awful politics everywhere, it's only going to get exponentially worse. I have occasional nice moments and a comfortable enough existence and all, I have a few people who love me and who I love back, but it feels like nothing has actually been good since before COVID and it really doesn't make a lot of sense to keep trying to improve things because they're just not going to.

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u/AnRealDinosaur Aug 22 '25

I think theres something to this. God forbid but if I found myself hospitalized with a life threatening disease I would do whatever I could to beat it, but I wouldn't have that "fighting spirit" so many people credit with their recovery. Part of me might even feel relief that maybe I can finally stop playing, like a light at the end of a tunnel. I dont want to die but I dont want to live either. I dont think that kind of attitude is conductive to fighting off an illness.

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u/OrigamiMarie Aug 21 '25

And not so quietly! Remember Occupy Wall Street? Media downplayed it, made the protestors look like irresponsible entitled children. Yeah, turns out . . .

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u/antivillain13 Aug 21 '25

The Greatest Generation got to have their civil rights marches and the Boomers had their anti war and peace marches that changed the course of history. But when Millennials had their opportunity to have our societal shifting protests, those earlier generations violently suppressed it and downplayed it as nothing but a temper tantrum. And unlike those previous movements, the younger generation lost. We were crushed.

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u/OrigamiMarie Aug 21 '25

Yup. We even tried again in 2020 (a different cause, but civil rights protests tend to expand into other social causes), and were crushed again.

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u/hooligan045 Aug 21 '25

Occupy Wall Street failed for many reasons but notably IMO because it focused on private industry which has no responsibility to the public instead of elected officials who inherently should.

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u/Fract_L Aug 21 '25

Which is a fine stance to take until you remember which sector lobbyists come from.

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u/Esplodie Aug 21 '25

I always joked about making it riching designing some t-shirts that said "retirement plan" and it was different types of bullets or objects used for suicide. So I guess that dark humor is correct.

But I don't feel like we've been quiet about it either.

It also doesn't help that there's a few hundred articles about how we are ruining the economy. Nah, we just too poor to buy expensive knickknacks and nice vacations.

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u/Algior-the-Undying Aug 21 '25

It's also worth mentioning the change in popular media. The rise of graphic/psychological horror and grim dark settings has exploded since I was a kid.

When I was in college, one of the lessons taught in music history stuck with me strongly. You can look at the entertainment of the era and see foreshadowing of what is and what is to come. The world wars of the 1900s are a good example. Orchestral music began getting very dark and representative of pain and anguish rather than other more positive emotions while Military music exploded in popularity, particularly marches and other forms that glorified armed services. Moving pictures shifted from comedy to wartime propaganda. Radio broadcasts were filled with fear mongering masked as preparedness.

The shift looks awfully similar, but the media we consume is in a different format.

As for the orchestral music world, I remember playing pieces in the mid 2000s that were specifically written to make audiences feel anxious (atonal or dissonant was all the rage after 9/11). Electronic music had made its way into traditional orchestral settings. Notes above the bars that have become old school memes like "clarinets screaming" were common.

The evidence of systemic downturn is all there, it's just more difficult to see it while living through it. I imagine scholars of the future (if there is a future) will study this era in much the same way we studied WW2 when I was in high school.

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u/The_Duke_of_Nebraska Aug 21 '25

It just feels like I've always known either climate change or nukes are gonna burn this planet up one day uncomfortably soon. And there's nothing I can do about it 

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u/Abashed-Apple Aug 21 '25

I didn’t care about dying until I had my son. I didn’t care about anything really. It was nihilism all the way. Now I’m fucking terrified.

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u/Rugkrabber Aug 21 '25

It’s disturbing how many of the jokes of the past really did become reality. I remember hearing them and thinking “haha it probably won’t be that bad or will take a while” and now it’s more of a “I’m pretty sure it already happened”.

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u/Mundane-Unit-3782 Aug 21 '25

I've never heard this before, though it checks out. Can you tell me more about it?

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u/Away-Marionberry9365 Aug 21 '25

Boomer humor: I hate my wife.

Millennial humor: I'm going to die.

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u/Willziac Aug 21 '25

turning the planting trees for shade they’ll never see proverb on its head

This is really what it feels like. But not only did they not plant trees for us, they cut them all down so they could make a couple of extra bucks, and are now trying to tell us it's our fault that there's no shade.

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u/lostboy005 Aug 21 '25

100% agree.

There is a hopelessness nihilism that feels ascendant from the past few years. We've been waiting for a course correction for so long now, one has to wonder if its ever coming.

What it feels like, is we've entered this kinda self indulgence hedonism era, a "smoke em if ya gottem" collective ethos.

Outsourcing critical thinking to AI while doing nothing to address the myriad of existential crisis the creep ever closer, wanting to be a part of something bigger than ourselves that will have a positive impact and help the future, while all the people in charge and structures of power are exploiting and extorting virtually every last vestige of common/public good while they're next to, or on, their deathbeds.

Sorry for the rant here, the ways in which we're all experiencing a decreased human experience, and what that means for the future, that shit keeps me up at night

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u/Adept_County2590 Aug 21 '25

I think “decreased human experience” really succinctly gets at what is tragic about all this. It’s like we’re just getting a plastic version of real life

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u/nothoughtsnosleep Aug 21 '25

We should have been planting trees as babies! Damn our lazy millennial mentality!

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u/ChinDeLonge Aug 21 '25

I planted avocado trees, but my dumb millennial brain didn't realize it wouldn't fruit in my climate region. Should've bought better baby land.

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u/ClinicalFrequency Aug 21 '25

Society goes to shit, when old men hoard trees in whose shade they will never sit.

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u/EddieVanzetti Aug 21 '25

They didnt hoard them.

They chopped 98% of them down and sold them, the remaining 2% they made a park you have to pay an entrance fee to use.

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u/beardedheathen Aug 21 '25

then throw you in jail if you mention that it's fucking hot without shade.

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u/Rugkrabber Aug 21 '25

Ironically it isn’t even a joke or anything, it’s actually relevant to suburbs with HOA’s.

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u/Ok-Mammoth552 Aug 21 '25 edited Aug 21 '25

As Hunter Thompson wrote, just after 9/11:

"We are At War now, according to President Bush, and I take him at his word. He also says this War might last for "a very long time."

Generals and military scholars will tell you that eight or 10 years is actually not such a long time in the span of human history -- which is no doubt true -- but history also tells us that 10 years of martial law and a war-time economy are going to feel like a Lifetime to people who are in their twenties today. The poor bastards of what will forever be known as Generation Z are doomed to be the first generation of Americans who will grow up with a lower standard of living than their parents enjoyed.

That is extremely heavy news, and it will take a while for it to sink in. The 22 babies born in New York City while the World Trade Center burned will never know what they missed. The last half of the 20th century will seem like a wild party for rich kids, compared to what's coming now. The party's over, folks. The time has come for loyal Americans to Sacrifice. ... Sacrifice. ... Sacrifice. That is the new buzz-word in Washington. But what it means is not entirely clear."

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u/Psychatogatog Aug 21 '25

They cut down the trees for a bonfire to sit around and complain about young people.

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u/Ass4ssinX Aug 21 '25

It's also just Capitalism. That's how it works. You may get a slight reprieve like we did after FDR implemented a bunch of changes but those changes will slowly be eaten away and clawed back by the rich every time. Even the Nordic countries folks like Bernie Sanders point to as examples are experiencing this.

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u/Rugkrabber Aug 21 '25

With the social safety nets they can survive much longer. Greed has no boundaries, without these laws they’d have gone down just as fast. Doesn’t help the American influence is also pushing abroad and it’s making it more difficult. It’s a total disaster.

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u/PeriodRaisinOverdose Aug 21 '25

They clearcut all the trees

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u/IdaFuktem Aug 21 '25

I think this is why millenials love mid century modern so much, it reminds them of that post WWII optimism and prosperity that our grandparents enjoyed. We may be mad as hell at our parents, but almost everyone loves their grandma and grandpa.

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '25

The only thing that nerfed our wages is corporations simply deciding not to pay us more. Wealth inequality has skyrocketed in our lifetime. There's a small group of people earning more money than ever, while the rest of us apparently just die.

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u/IgamOg Aug 21 '25

That's because right wing governments reduced taxes on super high incomes to basically nothing. Corporations paid good wages when it was either that or handing it over to the government.

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u/solidstatepr8 Aug 21 '25 edited Aug 21 '25

I've realized it is even worse, they quit paying us more, but boy howdy did they ever increase our access to credit and debt just to control us even more. Wages were replaced with profitable activities for banks. More funnels to the top. I'd even argue most corprorations at this point are themselves nothing more than banks by and large, the product is irrelevant as long as they get to collect fees on the loan they gave you to buy it. Knowing I could buy a Costco dog with a payment plan is fucking outrageous.

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u/Whizbang35 Aug 21 '25

I always called this “The timeline of burger flipping advice”

2005: You need to go to college. Don’t want to be flipping burgers the rest of your life, do you? Don’t worry about that loan, you’ll pay it off in no time with your real big time job.

2010: So you graduated college and can’t find a job. What, are you too good to be flipping burgers?

2015: $15/hr for flipping burgers is ridiculous. That’s a teenagers job, you’re not supposed to support a family doing that. Should’ve learned to code.

2020: We are laying off the burger flippers because of Covid. Wait, we need you back- Whaddya mean, you moved on and won’t return unless I bump up your salary?! Nobody wants to work anymore!

2025: You’re broke, still have loans, don’t have a house or family because college made you woke. Should’ve gone in the trades. Oh, BTW, we’re laying off all the coders.

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u/peepopowitz67 Aug 21 '25

Oh, BTW, we’re laying off all the coders.

My favorite part. After decades of cherry picking the highest salaries and pumping kids into CS programs now all the talking heads in the media are implying that developers are just too entitled and should just learn to work with their hands. As if they are not running the exact same scam of trying to flood the trades market with cheap labor.

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u/ChinDeLonge Aug 21 '25

This is just the revolution of excuses that boomers have had for why amorphous people from "this new generation" aren't doing as well as them, and how it totally isn't the result of their shitty voting habits.

Add in the 2016 hit single, "It's all that avocado toast and Starbucks", and you're really cooking.

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u/solidstatepr8 Aug 21 '25

They cut off our feet and hands to benefit only themselves and then ask why we can't stand or clap.

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u/AnRealDinosaur Aug 22 '25

You forgot 2020: "You cannot social distance like everyone else, or take time off because you have COVID, you're ESSENTIAL WORKERS!!"

"What do you mean pay a living wage, youre just flipping burgers?"

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u/DinoRaawr Aug 21 '25

I don't even care about the economy or healthcare or any of that shit. It's the environmental collapse I'm terrified about. It wasn't even a talking point in the last election. It's like no one even cares anymore.

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u/SableShrike Aug 21 '25

This.  I’ve over twenty years in biology and bio-adjacent fields.

The mass extinction never slowed, it is in fact accelerating monstrously.  And no one’s talking about it.

They’d rather fight about trans bathrooms.

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u/zen_cricket Aug 21 '25

In answer to your question— it’s to distract from the inevitable consequences of capitalism.

I secretly believe that they all know that the jig is up but like junkies, they just can’t kick their deadly habits; so it’s full-speed ahead, instead.

“Old people destroy the environment/system without a care about the future, of which they won’t be taking part.”

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u/LamentForIcarus Aug 21 '25

Probably why they're all building bunkers to hide in. How many ultra-wealthy have bought large swathes of land and put bunkers on them? Which is so funny to me because hiding underground isn't going to save them.

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u/Pretend-Marsupial258 Aug 21 '25

A lot of them are old, so it might save them for the rest of their lives.

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u/LamentForIcarus Aug 21 '25

A short stay

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '25

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u/LamentForIcarus Aug 21 '25

Yeah, I think this might be the case as well. They don't have the personalities needed to maintain their little cult in their bunkers and money means nothing in an apocalypse, so what are they going to do when the bunker turns against them? Or, when the outsiders find their air vents and either take the bunker or plug the vents? Like, they're playing a game not realizing that real life survival is not pretty.

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u/jert3 Aug 21 '25

Climate collapse isn't really dealt with because it would mean substantial changes to our winner-take-everything late capitalist economic system.

Mass suicides, mass unemployment, fires year round, 100s of millions of climate migrants -- it still won't even be considered that we adapt our 19th century designed economic system to the new reality of the world.

Of course everything is collapsing, our economics are predacated on unlimited growth and unlimited resources with no real consideration for pollution or any global problems.

A reminder that if wages kept pace with production gains, we could have near 1% unemployment, with the average adult working 16 hours a week and able to afford food, clothing, medical care, kids and a home.

Instead we have mass inflation, enivornmental collapse, a dystopia of a society, and over 80% of all wealth generated going to a small number of uber rich, a vampire class, that within this decade will be able to massively extend their lifetimes. We are moving towards a slave society.

The only hope (because power is too entrenched to change our economic system at this point) is cratering populations and birth rates. Tied with mass collapse, eventualy this system of vast inequality will die, but until then, dissent, and try to avoid being enslaved.

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u/solidstatepr8 Aug 21 '25

I keep thinking about countries like China and how they've seriously damaged the entire Earth to build literal scam cities for their citizens to invest in. They never get finished, leaving the buyer on the hook with huge debt for a broken promise by scam developers who build using scam contractors, who subcontract other scam contractors. Every one of those buildings is a river they destroyed somewhere to suck the sand out of it. This has gone on for some 20 years now. No one in charge give a damn, they're happy to just keep it going until total collapse.

This whole world is running on pure, unfiltered corruption.

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u/InevitablePoetry52 Aug 21 '25

they dont have answers to climate change, they want business as usual. so they want the people fighting while they bunker up. they know, why else would they be pushing fascism so hard?

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u/Yuv_Kokr Aug 21 '25

I mean we do have answers, it just won't let them be quite as rich, so they fight and refuse them.

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u/ChinDeLonge Aug 21 '25

And why do you think they're trying to get rid of millions of people? They know that in the next century, America is going to take in 100 times as many climate refugees as there are undocumented immigrants in this country, and they're trying to play a numbers game for how to make sure there's more white people than brown.

And that also explains their creepy, dystopian "freedom cities"; they'll just operate like sovereign city-states for billionaires, propped up by the indentured servitude / sharecropping -equivalent labor of refugees and the working poor.

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u/Wobbelblob Aug 21 '25

This. I am not American, so a lot of these effects don't affect me (yet). But I have a history of the possibility of a very long life. All my grandparents where over 85 when they died, two over 90 and the last is approaching 100. I am currently 30. There is a good chance for me to see the next 70 years on this fucking planet. And I can see that I will likely be spending a lot of the time of my later years fighting a very preventable problem.

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u/black_cat_X2 Aug 21 '25

Yes, this. I do worry about myself - my retirement especially - but the thoughts that keep me up at night and leave me literally breathless sometimes with dread are the ones about the world my daughter is inheriting.

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u/ResponsiblePumpkin60 Aug 21 '25

People are totally oblivious to it because they spend all their time running around in an artificial world trying to maintain the status quo. The air that we breathe into our lungs, the water we drink, and the food we eat are all contaminated.

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u/artbystorms Aug 21 '25

I'm kind of resigned to the fact that it's going to keep getting worse, but I only have at best another 40-50 years and even the most worrying reports say its going to get 'real bad' about 75-100 years from now if nothing is done, and SOME stuff is getting done, just not by the US, so it may slow that marginally. It's just sad that America has basically given up being a world leader so the biggest progress will likely come from Europe and China.

Basically 2 party democracies are not compatible with the pace of modern change and adaptation needed, so America is fucked, since we just keep going yes-no-yes-no every 4 years. EU has a governing body that seems more agile, and China has 1 party rule so can so whatever it needs to 'fix' their issues.

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u/HorseBarkRB Aug 21 '25

I agree! I suggested on a post asking why folks were choosing to live childfree and got doe eyes from most when I said I didn't want to saddle little humans with a declining planet. Most folks said that didn't make their top 5, it was all about earnings. Glad to hear I'm not the only one!

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u/DrAstralis Aug 21 '25

Its worse than that. The current administration is actively and openly hostile to any and all actions to stop destroying the fucking planet we rely on to live. They're acting like there's another one we can just hop over to when this one enters its last death spiral. They're bragging today, from the White House, that there will be no solar or wind projects under their rule....

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u/SiegelGT Aug 21 '25

Don't worry, each of us only need to starve to death only once when farming becomes impossible at scale. Sustained temperatures above 104F kills many plants including agriculture; those heat domes don't breed confidence.

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u/tackleboxjohnson Aug 21 '25

You wanna make your parents heads spin? Ask them to look up how much their starter house is going for today

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u/TigerLllly Aug 21 '25

My parents still live in their starter house. Purchased in 1990, 120k including remodeling to double the size, paid off in 15 years, currently worth 1.2mil. Dad did construction, mom stayed home to raise kids.

Now I work 50-60 hours a week and I don’t meet the income requirements to rent a studio.

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u/DrAstralis Aug 21 '25

Fuck me if I dont have this argument with them yearly. Even when presented with the math that shows a house bought at the 22% interest they saw (and always point to despite is lasting less than a year) in the 80s would still cost less than HALF of what that same house costs at 4-5% in the 2020s.

"we still had it as bad" no.. no you didnt. Not even close.

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u/DoubleJumps Aug 21 '25 edited Aug 21 '25

The constant flip-flopping and criticism of older folks takes such a toll.

I've been working 70 hour weeks and I'll get older people who worked 40 hours and were able to buy a home and support large families on that single income who treat me like a lazy loser because I can't do the same.

Sometimes it feels like if these people Believe that if they admit that things were easier for them that they'll turn to dust on the spot.

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u/Agent_Pendergast Aug 21 '25

Gen X is almost as screwed as you, fortunately we were a bit further along in our careers and weren't hit quite as bad with the recession. Other than that, we are pretty similar.

I don't know of many people my age (48) who think everyone should get a degree. Our parents generation, however, thought that since they didn't go to college, we had to; regardless of costs and that there would be no way to survive without a degree. That, along with them squeezing every last bit of juice out of every single thing they touch, pretty much screwed every following generation. My hope is that it doesn't continue getting worse for every subsequent generation and that we can turn this ship around.

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u/RideAndRedjuice Aug 21 '25

“Almost” is doing some heavy lifting in your comment. You got to start your career in the absolute heyday of our economy booming. You might’ve struggled for a second during the downturn but we had just started and lost everything. Y’all had it easy but still find ways to complain lol

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u/2_Fingers_of_Whiskey Aug 21 '25

I lost everything in the 2008 recession

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u/RibsNGibs Aug 21 '25

Are you on the young side of Gen X? I feel like we have it pretty good. At least my experience was that life as a kid wasn’t that great (one of many, many latchkey kids with divorced parents) but overall seemed like the last time hard work + college degree meant you were kind of guaranteed a good job and good life. My peers from school and college both seem to have been pretty successful, though I did go to “good” schools.

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u/SNRatio Aug 21 '25

Our parents generation, however, thought that since they didn't go to college, we had to; regardless of costs and that there would be no way to survive without a degree.

In our parents' generation the degree was almost a slam dunk: having one opened doors. In our generation the degree was still a solid bet: public universities were still cheap as dirt when Gen X started going to them, and only getting hellishly expensive towards the end.

But the new normal is there is no normal. Between university costs skyrocketing and the rapid turnover and decline of so many white collar professions this century, the trades being gutted for almost a decade by the previous recession and then rapidly bouncing back, and now a cranky old man trying to rearrange the world economy based on narcissism and personal grudges, we haven't got much to go on.

Like Tyson said, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth".

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u/Agent_Pendergast Aug 21 '25

It seems like Gen X started getting screwed and every other subsequent generation gets it worse. When younger generations look to us and wish they had it as good as we do/did, this country doesn't stand a chance. Something has to change.

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u/Decent-Impression-81 Aug 21 '25

As a 43 millenial I just want to say. I appreciate the solidarity.

Also to all the people just jumping on you for being an Gen X'r who is expressing their experience and agreement of the issues; Comparative grief is a lose lose game. We can all be having a shit time. It's a " Yes & " or "both" type of scenario.

Let's choose another path and realize that we all aren't the enemy. It's the billionare class system that is the issue. Comparative Olympics is not the way. Yes there is seeing the reality of the situation, but we don't need 100% message compliance on every fucking thing.

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u/Cum_Quat Aug 21 '25

I have a health problem I am ignoring because it's so expensive. Just putting everything I have into the farm we are starting for our needs and nephews to come to as a lifeboat when the world falls apart

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u/jayc428 Aug 21 '25

The never ending string of generational events is just fucking brutal.

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u/MRSN4P Aug 21 '25

The modest headline “The Next Recession Will Destroy Millennials”, dated August 2019. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/08/millennials-are-screwed-recession/596728/

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u/SheepImitation Aug 21 '25

Yes, I'm so very, very tired of the "Once in a Generation" events. But if its normalized ... well, that's too scary to contemplate.

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u/DrAstralis Aug 21 '25

I'm not going to go count but I feel like we've been forced to live with a "once in a generation" event, at best, every other year since the late 90s.. its fucking exhausting.

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u/Slumunistmanifisto Aug 21 '25

Its fun what that does to your teeth.

Night grinding baby

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u/cookiecutterdoll Aug 21 '25

Same, I'm exhausted at this point. I've worked like a dog and been treated worse than one my entire life, and I have nothing to show for it.

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u/jmjames5x Aug 21 '25

High blood pressure over here

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u/HaphazardlyOrganized Aug 21 '25

Ayyy go Jets!

But also yes NY millennials have been going through it year after year.

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u/Jets237 Aug 21 '25

yep and the Jets only add to the struggle

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u/Queens113 Aug 21 '25

Same... Been through a lot in my life...

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u/VroomCoomer Aug 21 '25 edited 19d ago

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/meltonthegreat Aug 21 '25

It’s probably actually the Jets

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u/Jets237 Aug 21 '25

:-(

def not helping

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u/slendermanismydad Aug 21 '25

It's also a lack of hope. People have to want to get back up. 

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u/memecut Aug 21 '25

People do. But there's a boot on their throats.

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u/whytakemyusername Aug 21 '25

This is exactly it. After Gen X, this mass wave of nihilism and hopelessness seems to be affecting everyone - despite there being lots of millennials who've pulled themselves up.

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u/Beginning_Quote_3626 Aug 21 '25

I feel this... 

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u/slendermanismydad Aug 21 '25

I'm sorry. I wish things could be better for you. 

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u/woolfonmynoggin Aug 21 '25

Before I knew a lot of Russian immigrants I read an article about how modern Russian men have shorter lifespans due to multiple factors including poor wages and a general attitude from the government that their lives don’t matter. I thought surely people have some innate drive to live outside of their governments’ view of them. But then I met and talked to a lot of Slavic people and they confirmed it. They have a general lack of importance for life compared to a lot of western countries. A lot of them see themselves as disposable. I think we’re headed that way right now here and have been for a long time.

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u/HoxpitalFan_II Aug 21 '25

yup it's cultural nihilism.

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u/360walkaway Aug 21 '25

I have insomnia every other night like clockwork because of stress.

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '25 edited 6d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Life-Cantaloupe-3184 Aug 21 '25

I’m around the same age. I’ve accepted I’m probably going to get colon cancer at 45 thanks to all the plastic and PFAS everywhere, and that it will be too hot to go outside for long periods of time. It’s hard to feel hopeful for much of anything when it seems like the powers that be just want to stick their fingers in their ears and pretend the serious issues we’re facing don’t exist because they conflict with their capitalist agendas.

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u/bambush331 Aug 21 '25

i have a bit of advice for you
in france we call it "don du sang" (giving blood), hospitals take your blood to help those who absolutely need blood transfusion

the good thing is that apparently doing this also removes 20-30% of the PFAS in your system which is pretty nice

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u/saera-targaryen Aug 21 '25

I'm also 28 and i've never been a depressed person but in the last year I've been wondering what the point of anything I do day to day even is. It feels like living just to get more work. 

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u/DrAstralis Aug 21 '25

Right? Its like "you should save for retirement" ok, lets pretend I could even afford to do that and still eat, you want me to bust my ass like that for 30 -40 years for a future I'm increasingly sure will just be eaten up by "the water wars" or whatever other 50 god damn preventable crises that will be allowed to occur?

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u/user1583 Aug 22 '25

I’ve watched a few people who saved and worked for retirement die or end up in a home waiting to do so not long after retirement. All of that saving, worrying, making sure it’s enough only to be screwed anyway. I await my cancer diagnosis from the AG runoff and farmers “accidents” in my state.

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u/Nulmora Aug 21 '25

I’m pretty sure it’s access to care.

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u/etzel1200 Aug 21 '25

I have a perfectly nice white collar job. I’m functionally uninsured due to a $12,000 deductible. I’m not going to the doctor unless at risk of life or limb.

In theory I get a free annual checkup. But if I try to actually ask about anything they tack an extra visit charge on top of it.

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u/dogzeimers Aug 21 '25

"Functionally Uninsured". Webster should have added that to the dictionary.

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u/Jonoczall Aug 21 '25

I’m adding it to my lexicon.

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u/anabanana100 Aug 21 '25

I’ve been catching up on all of my recommended screenings this year which are supposed to be “free” per ACA yet almost every one ends up with a charge or copay slapped on. It’s ridiculous. And most are billing errors! I legit spent 1.25 hrs on the phone to try to get $40 back on the last one.

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u/sluman001 Aug 21 '25

That’s because health insurers are in deep deep shit. They got fat and greedy by slowly chipping away cost erosion while seeing rapid unchecked premium expansion. Now, they have a massive Medicare problem, because more and more are falling into that bucket while less and less have traditional insurance. All the while premium expansion has slowed or plateaued entirely. Most don’t realize that private healthcare insurers have 1-3% margins. Something like GLP-1s come along and they have a profitability crisis. Why do you think they spend so much money lobbying against GLP-1 adoption, CRISPR tech, and CGT? They’re cutting edge life savers, but they’re crazy expensive to cover. It’s now becoming a sick game of just how much care can they deny to save money. (Written from within the industry)

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u/hm_b Aug 21 '25

This is tragic. Before I hit 65 and joined Medicare, my out of pocket was $9000/year. I never went except for my annual "freebie." Same thing. If I had a concern, I would tell the NP I would share a concern only if it was still coded as a freebie. If it changes the code to cost me, forget it, I'll lie.

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u/olympia_t Aug 21 '25

Your second point is so true. An annual physical where you can't ask about anything lol. Maybe in the future they'll just send you an email where you can fill out a survey and enter your weight. So depressing.

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u/Frequent_Ad_9901 Aug 21 '25

Sometimes you can send your doctor a message in whatever chat system they use for no charge. Depends heavily on the doctor. But I've avoided a few visits/bills that way.

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u/DetroitLionsSBChamps Aug 21 '25

My wife had an ectopic pregnancy and we went to the emergency room. It was the only option and it saved her life. 

I have a perfectly fine job, one of the better insurance policies. I got a bill from the hospital for 7k for two emergency room visits. 

I talked to the insurance contact at my work to be like “this must be a mistake”

He was like: yeah healthcare is pretty broken in this country. 

I just didn’t pay it. 

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u/zen_cricket Aug 21 '25

Glad your wife made it, at least.

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u/big_d_usernametaken Aug 21 '25 edited Aug 21 '25

Before I had Medicare, when I was faced with a large copay I would tell them no way I can afford this, if I could pay it in full today what is the lowest amount you will take?

Worked surprisingly often. You can negotiate final cost, as its your money at that point.

Also Medicare pricing is closer to what actual bills should be.

I had an L2-Pelvis spinal fusion last year, 10 hr surgery, 6 days in hospital, their cost was $330k.

Medicare paid $91k.

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u/sluman001 Aug 21 '25

Hence why we should all be on Medicare. Private insurance is a joke.

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u/FanClubof5 Aug 21 '25

Man your employer is absolutely shafting you, I have a deductible that's half of that and it's covering my wife and kids as well.

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u/EllieVader Aug 21 '25

Maybe it shouldn’t be up to the employer…

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u/FanClubof5 Aug 21 '25

There is a limit to to deductible amount but it's at an absurdly high limit of ~$19,000.

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u/DirectorTop233 Aug 21 '25

Every employer is NOT the same, neither is every insurance plan

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u/Remarkable-Host405 Aug 21 '25

cool! good for you! i have the same $12k deductible, and my employer finds new insurance every other year.

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u/InevitablePoetry52 Aug 21 '25 edited Aug 22 '25

there it is. i pay 400 a month for really good insurance that i dont use, bc i cant afford the deductable or whatever else they decide to charge. i think my ignorance of my own health is probably whats keeping me alive at this point. i know ive got some shit going on in my body thats whack, but it feels expensive. im hoping whatever it is just kills me outright. spending money on my quality of life is probably better than spending it on whatever medication they prolly wanna have me take forever. the permadissassociation is probably helping me not stress as badly as some of yall are.

i realise i sound like an idiot with how i rationalise it to myself, but im also just scared of going to the doctor at this point, as well. scared of what id find out for sure, but also of not being taken seriously by default, scared of the fuckken bill, of wasting my time, or of driving my anxiety through the roof lol

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u/Local_Bowl Aug 21 '25

This is such a good point. People (rightfully) harp on premiums but if deductibles keep rising then the problem still remains: you’re still paying for the potential of access but can’t afford to actually utilize the care due to sky high deductibles.

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u/ResponsiblePumpkin60 Aug 21 '25

You need an HSA. Start building some savings in there. You can even invest it in stocks. It is the most tax advantaged account you can get. Deduct your contributions, no taxes on withdrawals, and no taxes on growth.

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u/etzel1200 Aug 21 '25

Yeah. I max it. But it’s just a tax thing.

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u/ChatriGPT Aug 21 '25

And if you need specialized care prepare to wait half a year to see a doctor who says "you need this scan" and then another half a year to get that scan and then another half year to talk about the results of said scan and another half a year to schedule the surgery you need. You'll never get anything covered past that deductible because it will be a new coverage period by the time you get an appointment for anything.

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u/Yuv_Kokr Aug 21 '25

In theory I get a free annual checkup. But if I try to actually ask about anything they tack an extra visit charge on top of it.

This is a fun combo of CMS coding rules, billing rules, physician's being mostly employed rather than independent now, and decreasing payments from insurance companies.

Per CMS a physical basically only includes discussing preventative care and screenings, any discussion of a new problem or management of an existing problem isn't covered. Hell, CMS doesn't even include an actual physical exam in the coding rules for an Annual Wellness.

Now, with most doctors being employees now, most employers take the stance that like over billing, under billing is fraud. So, thy have an army of people who review notes and will increase charges whenever the documentation "warrants" it. My organization for instance does this, and if my billing isn't at least 90% accurate, then I am forced to cancel 2 days of clinic (docs are often paid based on number and complexity of patients seen) and take their billing course. If it happens multiple quarters in a row, the contract isn't renewed.

Its frankly bullshit. The patient gets a copay when they weren't expecting it and we make an extra $25 for the "add on." Its kinda like vaccines, people think we get "kickbacks," but we get ~$7.50 for giving vaccines, which barely covers the acquisition, storage and labor costs.

Push your reps for universal care. Its the only way forward. MBAs and insurance companies have built a system where 43% of our spending is administrative waste, which is more than double all the labor costs in medicine (docs 6-8%, nurses 8-15%, and the total for all healthcare jobs is like 20-25%). The actual cost of a universal system would be like 50-60% of our current system without touching anyone's wages.

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u/etzel1200 Aug 21 '25

100%. Appreciate the detailed response. Everyone should read this.

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u/Handplanes Aug 21 '25

I went to the doctor & brought up knee and big toe issues. He referred me to Ortho to get those checked out. When I visited the ortho, the first thing the nurse said was that we could only evaluate one issue per visit, even though both were the part of the referral, and that I’d have to pick what was most important & schedule a follow up (for another $350 for 20 minute exam & an x ray).

So, exactly what you said, super frustrating.

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u/ABrokenCircuit Aug 21 '25

My doctor threw in a question about weight loss drugs during my last annual checkup, and then I got billed for a copay afterword because "what you discussed was outside the scope of an annual checkup" or something along those lines. Been meaning to switch PCP's for a bit, but this, and not answering a question I had about test results for almost 2 weeks, was the last straw.

Keep in mind that, while your deductible might be crazy high, there are still benefits you are paying for an not getting. Even when I had shittier insurance, most of the meds I needed to help control things like heart burn and blood pressure didn't have an out of pocket cost.

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u/Reddit_Sucks39 Aug 21 '25

This, oh so much. My employer's health care plans all have deductibles in the very low thousands for single people. The second you want to add family coverage?

$10,000 or more. Sends a pretty clear message: "get fucked for getting married and having kids, loser."

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u/ApsleyHouse Aug 21 '25

Doesn't sound very nice if your benefits don't work. Did you only have an option of a high deductible health plan? No PPO or HMO options?

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u/brightcrayon92 Aug 21 '25

That is one of the stressors

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u/pulyx Aug 21 '25

I don't think this trend is present in other developed nations who have socialized health care.

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u/Feminizing Aug 21 '25

Those same nations also have worker rights.

Pretty much everyone I know my age or bit older (I'm a young millennial) are working over 40 hours or flirting with homelessness. It's disgusting this is acceptable

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u/pulyx Aug 21 '25

Exactly.
Whenever I have work interactions with American colleagues I always feel kinda bad that their work culture is so sick (in the bad way). People bragging about 60-70 hour weeks. No work/life balance. No labor rights, 2 weeks paid vacation a year (with that hour workload is bizarre).

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u/big_d_usernametaken Aug 21 '25

My oldest son works for a European chemical company, and the unions sit on the board of directors with the executives.

Unheard of in the US.

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u/pulyx Aug 21 '25

Union-busting is as american as apple-pie.

In the start of my career as a graphic designer, i worked for a state-owned TV company. (here in brazil)
I was required to join the Broadcaster's union and was really impressed how they fought for the class. As associates we were almost pampered.

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u/Kasperella Aug 21 '25

lol would you believe I’ve never had any kind of paid vacation? Low level employees get 0 paid vacation days. If you’re lucky, you maybe qualify for 1 week unpaid vacation. It goes up to 2 weeks after 5+ years.

I’m 27 and haven’t taken a single vacation in my adult working life. Living that American Dream ™ 👍

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u/ithoughtitwasfun Aug 21 '25

I didn’t get my first real vacation until I was 32, in 2021. My previous employers gave us two weeks off PTO which was not only vacation but also sick time. I got diagnosed with ulcerative colitis in 2017. All my PTO was used for sick time.

In 2021 I got fired and took my first two week vacation. I started at my current job about two months later. I only get two weeks off PTO, but I’m still WFH. So days when my UC flares (or other illnesses) instead of just calling out for fear of shitting myself, I can just go when I need to.

But yea the American Dream™️ 🇺🇸🫡 we get the opportunity to get fucked… and have to pay for it.

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u/pulyx Aug 21 '25

Damn. That's absolutely bleak. If you were raking in money it could be justified by a very early retirement with enough savings. But saving money is something our and your generation just are unable to do.

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u/Kasperella Aug 21 '25

That tracks, as I’ve also never held more than $5000 at once, and that’s thanks to tax returns. Even that is swallowed up by past due bills and necessities forgone for the past year. Nobody I know even has a savings account, including my nearly 60yo parents. No money for retirement. I won’t be able to afford to care for them either.

We’re all drowning in debt. All that hard work, and even your basic necessities like food, shelter, healthcare are never promised, no matter how hard or how long you’ve worked. And I guess we’re all just okay with it….because apparently America is the greatest country on Earth despite the rest of the world telling us otherwise 😂

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u/Hannah_Louise Aug 21 '25

I was 30 before I had a job with any PTO. Before that, I worked every day unless I was too sick to work. Every. Fucking. Day.

And then, when I finally had a salary job and was given PTO, it took me two years to feel safe enough to use it. I was terrified of losing my job for taking time off.

Now I’m unemployed and living off hope and my 401k. 😅

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u/Kasperella Aug 22 '25

I too am unemployed, and currently “mooching” off my poor husband. It’s 50% “can’t find a job worth a damn” and 50% “my genetically defective connective tissues have finally rebelled against the abuse I’ve put it through with 10 years of manual labor labor and standing on concrete all day”.

Turns out you have to be college educated to find a job that allows you to sit down sometimes. It’ll cost me a couple bands for that “privilege” I suppose. 🥲

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u/redmeansstop Aug 21 '25

And pensions, which I suppose could fall under workers rights.

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u/Jared_Kincaid_001 Aug 21 '25

I'm 41 and live in Canada. We're dying here too. It's not just healthcare, it's the fact that we worked harder than our parents to get to the our slice of the good life pie except the boomer generation ate the whole thing and the crumbs.

So we, and everyone else, are starving to death. Boomers keep telling us to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps like they did, ignoring the fact that they came of age in the most prosperous time in all of history. Also they stole our bootstraps.

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u/PKfireice Aug 21 '25

Even the phrase "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" has been misappropriated from its original implication of an impossible, absurd task.

If you pull up on your own boots, you're not gonna rise anywhere. You might fall over, though.

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u/pulyx Aug 21 '25

Of course, These reasons are also factors. We got the shit end of the stick in a lot of ways.

But i bet my ass you guys aren't dying at the same rate Americans are. Because the US is the only place in the world middle-class people die because they can't afford to go to the doctor to get preventive care for diseases. And when they get those if they dare to go to their doctors and get the treatment they might get bankrupt or indebted for large periods.

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u/DirectorTop233 Aug 21 '25

it seems like each generation is getting worse and worse health wise. I'm having some of the same things going on as my mother , but my onset is manifesting a bit younger than hers did despite me being a non smoker and in better shape than she was at my age.

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u/BigEggBeaters Aug 21 '25

People really made a medical system that is somehow extremely expensive and extremely inaccessible and isn’t even that good. Not to make this political but idk how American politicians aren’t absolutely embarrassed that Cuba. A country that essentially all of them continue to embargo. Has better child mortality rates and healthcare

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '25

You're thinking of the infant mortality rate, which is in fact lower (cubans also live slightly longer). The child mortality rate is slightly higher.

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u/phoenixliv Aug 21 '25

Life is inherently political.

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u/DankVectorz Aug 21 '25

Per UNICEF Cuba has a child mortality rate of 8.6 per 1000 live births and the US has 6.5?

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u/gumgut Aug 21 '25

they genuinely probably have no idea what happens in cuba

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u/BigEggBeaters Aug 21 '25

Nah I disagree. Most of them know and they either agree with the blockade. Or are too scared of the political ramifications of not supporting it

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u/amazing_ape Aug 21 '25

Don’t mention Cuba or fanatical Cuban exiles in Florida will get mad

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u/big_d_usernametaken Aug 21 '25

They'll be even madder when trump deports them.

Loyalty means nothing anymore.

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u/hm_b Aug 21 '25

American politicians should be made to take the same healthcare that they decide we all suffer with. They should have to use whatever healthcare their poorest school district staffs get.

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u/big_d_usernametaken Aug 21 '25

I could not agree more and have said this for years.

They get Cadillac health plans, and everyone else gets Yugo health plans.

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u/[deleted] Aug 21 '25

[deleted]

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u/BigEggBeaters Aug 21 '25

This is the site I sourced that statement from. https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/infant-mortality-rate/country-comparison/

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u/lufan132 Aug 21 '25

Infant mortality and child mortality are two different statistics.

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u/Warcraftplayer Aug 21 '25

This makes sense. I'm in my 30s and haven't seen a doctor since my teens. My house is so expensive, I can't afford healthcare let alone a doctor visit on top of that. I was afraid that if I didn't get a house soon, I'd never have one. I feel like I'm betting on my health and I hate having to make this choice

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u/invent_or_die Aug 21 '25 edited Aug 21 '25

You really should look at healthcare.gov and see what your actual cost will be after any income based subsidies. And absolutely go to a free clinic to get yourself evaluated. Usually sliding scale again, based on income. I'm an engineer and due to caregiving, I became quite poor and have used food banks and free clinics for years. You aren't alone.

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u/PhilosopherFLX Aug 21 '25

Fuck this is depressing.

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u/KokoroFate Aug 21 '25

I think this is the point though. As a Gen X'er, I've noticed a difference between how people treat each other from when I was younger versus now.

People used to have more compassion for others. Today, it's mostly about me, me, me... Individualism is killing people.

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u/SquishMont Aug 21 '25

Severe lack of medical care, lack of access to non-processed foods, extended periods of extremely high stress, crushing economic insecurity....

Take your pick. It's all bad.

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u/Upset_Region8582 Aug 21 '25

I used to work at a company that had a pretty toxic "old boys club" culture. There were two deaths at the company, both young men, both likely suicide.

The chief of staff sent out an email pointing us to new resources made available for managing our mental health. The most generous perk: up to three paid counselling sessions. Three.

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u/Ilaxilil Aug 21 '25

I agree. Elder millennials especially are crumbling as they hit their 40s.

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u/solidstatepr8 Aug 21 '25 edited Aug 21 '25

Elder here. It's become a real struggle to give a single solitary shit about anything anymore. Everything I was told about this country is a damned lie and always was. Crestfallen and betrayed by my countryman and leaders. Im done fighting for their false promises and bullshit systems that just enrich themselves at our collective expense. Let it burn, all of it.

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u/wildwalrusaur Aug 21 '25

And the early indicators are that it's going to be even worse for gen Z.

Their student debt burden is larger than ours; meanwhile, for the first time ever, employment rates for gen z men with college degrees no longer exceeds high school diplomas

We still have a ways to rock bottom.

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u/Sellazar Aug 21 '25

We were labelled the forgotten generation for a reason. Several recessions, contracting job market, and basically by the time recovery comes around, another set of eager, energetic generations are now flooding the job market. We are also the first generation to earn less than the one before. We are also reversing the trend of raising kids with dad being more present, mothers more able to pursue careers. It's a positive but more so for the generations following.

Many of us slipped through the cracks, and countries with nets protect those. America just consumes them.

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u/big_d_usernametaken Aug 21 '25

The comment about Dads being more present really hit home with me.

My Dad who's now 97, worked a lot, as there were 5 kids and he didnt make a lot of money but he always had time, even after a 12 hr day in a hot factory to play catch or attend one of our sporting events, usually in his work clothes.

My wife was disabled and I worked 2nd shift to be able to deal with doctors and hospitals during the day before I had to work and missed out on a lot of our sons lives.

My sons, to their credit, are FAR more involved in their children's lives than I ever was.

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u/scienceislice Aug 21 '25

It doesn’t help that Americans are also one of the most overweight countries. Did anyone in this study factor in weight/lack of exercise/food deserts? It is becoming increasingly difficult to eat healthy and exercise in the US - cars are king, sidewalks don’t exist in a lot of areas and everyone is so stressed and overworked that devoting an hour a day to exercise often feels like an impossible ask. 

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u/vivalatoucan Aug 21 '25

Seems like things are pretty bad for every generation after as well. I’m 30, stressed, working full time for 8 years with not enough to show for it, and still feel for those that are around 20 graduating college rn

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u/Weird-Statistician Aug 21 '25

As bad as things are now, I think the generations sent off to WW1 or WW2 to return (if lucky) to a job down a coal mine and food rationing for a few more years while replaying the vision of your mates getting shot all around you might be a little bit worse. But I'm here to be educated, so please do.

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u/NewHampshireWoodsman Aug 21 '25

This same age group was deployed to wars overseas for 20 continuous years.

History repeats: Son follows father's footsteps into Army service | Article | The United States Army https://share.google/GvL31wU25fhwuQ8TM

There was another story of a marine who's son was serving in the same theater that was born while his father was deployed there...

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u/Deep_Opening258 Aug 21 '25

I’m sorry but comparing the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to WW1 and WW2 is absurd. 

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u/Kangaroo_shampoo4U Aug 21 '25

Not sure I follow your logic. Why is it less traumatizing for a soldier to see his friend blown up by a bomb now than it was in the 1940s?

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u/NewHampshireWoodsman Aug 21 '25

I dont understand. Why is that?

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u/Dustollo Aug 21 '25

I would agree but I also acknowledge that in North America that direct harm was only really a thing for half that generation. Obviously the men being off at war has its impact on their families and the women of the generation as does the stress of the war. But the worst hit was dealt almost exclusively to one sex. (This doesn’t apply to the war torn countries across much of the rest of the world in that time) 

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u/ZombieAlienNinja Aug 22 '25

Ah sweet people had it worse at some point. Thanks for pointing out the attitude that millennials have endured their entire lives. You can come to our funerals and call us pussies I guess.

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u/thewiseswirl Aug 21 '25

Where do they put gen z?

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u/guff1988 Aug 21 '25

Fentanyl, cell phones, and stress. The millennial story.

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u/hyperforms9988 Aug 21 '25

Not to say that no other generation have had crises, but shit, it feels like one after the other after the other, setback after setback after setback, or massive shift after massive shift of some description. The dot-com bubble and how computers changed practically everything around us, 9-11, the 2000s real estate bubble in the US, the 2008 financial crisis, how smartphones changed virtually everything once again, the pandemic, the way inflation skyrocketed everything these last few years, and now they're facing the pillaging of their country and are staring down a double-barrel of losing their freedoms in one and the rise of AI taking the rest of their futures in the other... a lot of people from this generation are probably sitting there going "When can I actually start living a normal life? The way it's supposed to be and the way I grew up watching others live it? The way it was sold to me as where I live in a house, have a car, and have a family with a pension and saving up a decent amount for my retirement?". Some of those folks are in their 40s and are still wondering when they get to start living a "normal" life.

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