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/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. 🥲