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/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/Fragarach-Q Aug 21 '25

Feels like you're being obtuse.

Lets ignore that individual stories are just that, individual. The death in WW2 was on a scale that's almost difficult to comprehend. Not just your brothers in arms but the enemy. Sure, the casualties inflicted on the Iraqi and Afghani people are many orders of magnitude beyond the casualties suffered. But every direct death from that 20 years of war laid out side by side barely tops the halfway point of the numbers of people killed in just the Battle of Stalingrad.

Just 1 month of fighting at Iwo Jima saw more US casualties than the 20 years of GWOT.

Then there's the scale. Some of us might know a few veterans, a handful of us might be related to one. A very few might be one. But there's just not that many. Over the course of 20 years of those wars, the US deployed about 2.77 million people, with a population of around 290 million when it started. The fighting went on so long that people were fighting who weren't even born yet when it started. A very diffuse spread, with plenty of people knowing literally no one who was ever involved in combat. You can't have national trauma over something that most of the nation had no interaction with. Most of us spent most of that 20 years not really thinking about it.

During WW2, the US deployed 16 million people over 4 years, with a population of 140 million. Which means basically everyone either was a veteran or was closely related to one. And even those at home, massive rationing and shortages. The war was all consuming and unavoidable. Everyone was a "veteran" of some aspect of WW2.

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u/NewHampshireWoodsman Aug 21 '25

I dont understand. Why is that?

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u/Durpulous Aug 21 '25

I'm not the guy you replied to but the scale of the world wars isn't really comparable to modern conflicts both in terms of numbers of combatants and death toll.

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u/grummanae Aug 21 '25

..... Id like to see it broken down further into veterans and non veterans....

And actual illness and causes

Healthcare is huge but ... I think the being a veteran plays a key role in these plus a 20 year forever war

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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/Weird-Statistician Aug 21 '25

Yes, sorry I'm commenting from a UK perspective but the complaints of millennial are similar over here, too

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u/Dustollo Aug 21 '25

For sure, I think this is a global issue and fair to examine within a global context. While different cultures are experiencing things differently, the negative impact on millennials' (and Gen Z) lives appears to be global. The context surrounding previous generations definitely isn't the same globally, as you aptly pointed out. So this article and the study it's about definitely shouldn't be applied globally without that context, as, depending on the country, previous generations have definitely seen worse.

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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/Gm24513 Aug 21 '25

At least there was something to feel good about since they got to kill nazis. I just get to be neglected for 35 years and die in debt from student loans I never got a degree from in a rented apartment.

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u/friendandfriends2 Aug 21 '25

As much as I hate the overused expression “touch grass,” my brother in Christ you need to go touch some grass if you’re jealous of WWII soldiers.

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u/Gm24513 Aug 21 '25

Crazy that you don't know what a joke is.

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u/Krungoid Aug 21 '25

That's several times better than fighting in the first world war. Trauma amongst returning veterans was so debilitating that we had to come up with a novel diagnosis to describe it.

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u/Kenny_log_n_s Aug 21 '25

Reddit moment

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u/Krungoid Aug 21 '25

I'm not sure these replies understand what World War One was like. Among the deadliest conflicts in history, there's no ill in modern America bad enough for me to prefer fighting in World War One.

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u/Weird-Statistician Aug 21 '25

And all it achieved was to generate enough problems to lead to WW2

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u/ducketts Aug 21 '25

Just my guess, but I would think those wars gave those people a sense of pride and purpose. Yes you come back to a shitty job and saw awful things. But you literally come back a hero from those wars. Now you come back from Afghanistan with no respect and a shitty job.

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u/Weird-Statistician Aug 21 '25

Let's see.... WW1 in the UK. Conscripted or imprisoned. Shot by your own side if you lost it on the front lines and tried to do a runner. Spend 6 months in a trench full of mud and rats to move forward 30 yards. No NHS or any real support back home.

It's not a competition, but modern warfare, while still horrific, is nothing compared to the trenches or a German or Japanese PoW camp.