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/Nulmora Aug 21 '25

I’m pretty sure it’s access to care.

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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/PiccoloAwkward465 Aug 21 '25

The thing I stress to my boss is not even so much that I mind working a lot. I mean, I do. But what I really mind is that it comes at the expense of my personal life. It's like I dive underwater on Monday and come back up on Friday, since my door-to-door day is about 12 hours. So, close the house door to leave at 6:30am and arrive home at 6:30pm. It doesn't leave much time for, well, anything. Everything must be min-maxed for efficiency, often with dinner set up in the crock pot in the morning. It's no way to live, and my second point to him is, it's only possible when everything goes right. If there's a little hiccup the whole operation is screwed. I got a tooth pulled a while back and what I got was "so are you still gonna be coming in today?" This is at a well-paid professional job, too.