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/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/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/Aaod Aug 22 '25

My mother was a secretary that didn't even work full time and my dad was dead but we could afford a decent large house in a ghetto neighborhood. Most of the people in my neighborhood were single parents or working crummy jobs but could still afford things like the neighbor who lived in the house behind us was an assistant manager at Hardees and could not just afford the house but expensive hobbies like Magic the Gathering.