11–20 of 35 posts
Been said before and should be obvious, but as a Gen Z’er, we’re not all like this.
We're told from a young age that if you get educated and work hard you will be successful. You will be able to buy a house.
So, Gen Z gets a degree and is released into the hellscape that is the current state of American society. 40+ hour work weeks that are incredibly stressful, with bosses and companies who do not care about you at all. Rent, health care, child care, student loans - impossible to afford all these things on their low salaries, and when the business they work for is probably making as much profit in the history of the company, they see it as extremely unfair.
Vacation days? Time off? Barely any, deal with it. Getting called in on your day off? Part of the job.
And the worst part is all around them they hear boomers and older people tell them that this is normal. "Oh you're just weak and complaining. I had it worse in my day. You have an iPhone, Netflix, and Starbucks, you're living in luxury!"
Gen Z looks around and says - wait, is this really it? Is this what I've been preparing for my entire childhood? To just be miserable all week and have 2 measly days off that is barely enough time to do all the non-work stuff that needs doing like cleaning, bills, shopping? I see my coworkers 100x more than my family and friends. I get 2 weeks of vacation EVERY YEAR. I can barely afford to share an apartment let alone buy a house.
And I'm supposed to do this for 40 more years??? This is Life?
Fuck that
Oh, and to top it all off, they're inheriting the mess that is climate change.
What makes this Gen Z behavior acceptable? Chiding the next-older generation for their culture is akin to making fun of the accent of your coworker who was born in India. It's just rude.
People are finally realizing that "the hustle" is a fucking scam if you don't have enough equity in your "hustle" that you're on its Board or in the C-suite. Which is almost nobody at this point. We're finally rejecting this glorification of labor at the expense of ourselves, our society, our environment, etc.
I think the core issue is the younger generation sees that the American Dream is bullshit and they aren't putting up with it anymore. We're told from a young age that if you get educated and work hard you will be successful. You will be able to buy a house. So, Gen Z gets a degree and is released into the hellscape that is the current state of American society. 40+ hour work weeks that are incredibly stressful, with…
Yeah, you won't have it easy in other industries that have plateaued or shrunk over the years due to technological shifts, but social mobility towards a very acceptable lifestyle is still plenty possible in the US.
I think the core issue is the younger generation sees that the American Dream is bullshit and they aren't putting up with it anymore. We're told from a young age that if you get educated and work hard you will be successful. You will be able to buy a house. So, Gen Z gets a degree and is released into the hellscape that is the current state of American society. 40+ hour work weeks that are incredibly stressful, with…
As for work? Work is work. That's why people look forward to retirement. In an old Calvin and Hobbes Calvin says "It isn't work if nobody is making you do it." On the other hand, just about anything becomes unpleasant if someone is making you do it and making you do it their way.
What makes this Gen Z behavior acceptable? Chiding the next-older generation for their culture is akin to making fun of the accent of your coworker who was born in India. It's just rude.
IMO it's a form of ageism, but given that most of these articles are written by 20-somethings at Buzzfeed and the Verge, there's zero incentive for that angle to be highlighted, as none of them have personal empathy for it.
Chuckles in Gen X...
As someone right in between Millennials and Zoomers ('92), I find myself really empathizing more with gen Z. I really appreciate that our weird puritan-work-ethic-meets-corporate-capitalism economy has finally produced a generation that is just fucking done with how out of control it's gotten. People are finally realizing that "the hustle" is a fucking scam if you don't have enough equity in your "hustle" that you're…
As someone right in between Millennials and Zoomers ('92), I find myself really empathizing more with gen Z. I really appreciate that our weird puritan-work-ethic-meets-corporate-capitalism economy has finally produced a generation that is just fucking done with how out of control it's gotten. People are finally realizing that "the hustle" is a fucking scam if you don't have enough equity in your "hustle" that you're…
I also appreciate the “f the hustle” mentality but it seems to come from a place of self entitlement, a lot of “and what about me?” less “what about us?”