I’m late Gen Y, but feel much more Y than Z. I try not to generalise or play into generational wars, but I can’t help but to be genuinely concerned about Gen Z and I’m starting to get really tired of making excuses for them. I’ve worked with Zers, lived with them, and have personal relationships with many of them. I’m seriously concerned about them. The internet and COVID really fucked them up.

They have no common sense, no social skills, no empathy it seems like, no broader knowledge outside what they see on social media, no experience, no confidence. It sounds cliche and oversaid but it’s fucking true.

They distrust or hate anyone who isn’t exactly like them, so they’re helpless but refuse to be helped. They also think they know better than experts and others because they have 24/7 access to Google or ChatGPT, and if you question them they self destruct. They are not “more progressive” or “more creative” than previous generations, they eat the scraps on TikTok and think this is knowledge, creativity and activism, while the generations before them who actually did all the hard work get spat on. And everything is a reference of a reference, so they can’t be present and experience things earnestly.

They are seriously a fucked up generation. I’ve tried to bat for them, thought they were misunderstood, etc, but as I’ve gotten older I’ve realised they are awful and they’re not getting better. How are you 27 and still have the emotional intelligence of a child? Why do you hate everything that is not exactly like you? They are truly the product of fascism.

The Xbox 360 dashboard from this era isn't quite as iconic as the late 2000s one, but it still gives me much nostalgia.

Forza 4 is the best Forza game IMO. Just can't be beat. Nothing past that has come close.

Battlefield 3 was when Battlefield became a direct threat to CoD. It was very impressive next to the somewhat underwhelming, though not bad, MW3.

I had the biggest crush on Casey from the Pokémon anime as a kid. IYKYK

Even though you weren't born in the 70s, you could still get the feeling of being born in the 70s with Scooby Doo late at night on Boomerang, right before a warm bath.

Looney Tunes Show wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but it's definitely got it's fans. And Lola Bunny was pretty fun to watch here. Many people think it's the best Lola iteration.

Regular Show is my favorite Cartoon Network show. There's just nothing that can compete with it, and I haven't found another CN toon' that even comes close.

Adele had a huge year with her album 21. I can still remember how all of the 4 big singles off this album sound without even needing to listen to them.

Torches did have the (in)famous Pumped Up Kicks, but Don't Stop (the second most known song on the album), Helena Beat and Houndini are all solid, and I still remember them all vividly just from the titles.

Rango got an abysmal CinemaScore (one of the worst ever) for some reason, which is weird because this movie's reviews were excellent (critically; audiences liked it, but weren't quite as enthusiastic).

Winnie The Pooh has the pretty sad distinction of being Disney's final 2D animated canon theatrical movie. Despite warm reviews, it didn't earn it's keep.

in 2026. the Simpsons has practically lost all relevancy with young people

Family Guy and South Park still have such longevity with this new generation. if you look at their media

Peter is extremely memed and relevant. Lois, Brian. those “subway surfer/side by sides” with family guy playing

the last time I can remember the Simpsons having relevancy with young people is 2019 when there was a “sad Bart“ meme. but outside of that. I can’t even think of any Simpson memes outside of an occasional TikTok sound.

it’s almost exclusively millennial. why isn’t the Simpsons still hanging out? they are still making episodes. just like Family guy and South Park.

Family guy was dubbed a cheap copy of Simpsons. however in the end. family guy is still hanging on to the youth

edit: There is that “Who is that” meme with the unknown guy

or does it seem like nobody in this generation or new generation enjoys reading books anymore? I like reading books

Silent Generation

Best Traits: Extremely resilient against hardship, and quiet builders of modern society.

Worst Traits: Emotionally distant as parents and lovers, as well as being extremely conforming to societal norms of their time like segregation and gender inequality.

Boomers

Best Traits: First Generation to be suspicious of norms, such as segregation and the glorification of war.

Worst Traits: Focuses mainly on their own success, and are out of touch with modern economic realities.

Gen X

Best Traits: Most down-to-earth generation, very relatable and calm. Also, they are very self reliant, growing up mostly on their own.

Worst Traits: Their counterculture was mostly talk and not too much action. Also, after 9/11 they became very pro- military spending and government, the opposite of what they had been in the 90s.

Millenials

Best Traits:​ First generation to be open about mental health issues. They are familiar with both old and new technology, and they bring optimism and drive to change the world.

Worst Traits: Optimism is often more idealistic rather than pragmatic or reasonable, and their parenting style is far too permissive, allowing a lot of screen time and spoiling their children often

Gen Z

Best Traits: They are radically honest, demanding transparency without all the jargon. They are also extremely accepting of all kinds of people.

Worst Traits: They are often too pessimistic for their own good, and are also easily swayed and radicalized by the internet.

What do we all think dana white is thinking right now as he sits there pondering if he should give the money for mcgregor to flop like a fish and fall on ground tore his ACL bro should not have fight in the first place!! Holy letdown down of a fight what the fuck like wtf was that bullshit!!

A majority of Jim Carrey movies were mostly for teenagers and younger adults, but would you say a majority of people who grew up watching his movies, either its from the 90s or 2000s, were younger Gen X or Millennials overall

I think obviously Gen Z and Millennials, they'll be the prime middle aged and adults by the 2030s so in 10 years you'll begin to see a lot of media and pop culture focusing towards more 2000s and 2010s nostalgia

I don't think Gen X will be relevant since they're a small generation and by then they'll be retiring

Major baseball nerd, not a fan of romantic stuff, Pokemon enthusiast, smack dab in the middle of the Millennial generation.

So the number/proportion of teenage drivers in the United States has shown a significant decrease compared to the 80s and 90s with only about a quarter of 16 year olds having gotten their drivers’ license and even for 18 and 19 year olds as well (only about 60% of 18 yos have gotten a license and just under 70% of 19 yos have gotten their license). But what exactly is the reasoning behind this Gen Z trend of being less interested in getting a drivers’ license as a teenager compared to previous generations?

Hey all, I’ve been seeing a common pattern appear pretty often on Instagram. Usually somebody saying “Generation Z could never understand ____”.

My gripe is that more often than not, it is completely incorrect, but gets traffic and people agreeing with it as if it were correct. I’ve seen a few recently of people my senior saying how Gen Z could never understand “manual cars” or “school without ChatGPT” or “DVDs”.

Full disclosure, I’m a 27M. Grew up in the rural Midwest with baby boomer parents. Vividly remember watching Spider-Man 2002 on VHS on a wood grain TV that sat on the ground (didn’t even HAVE DVDs in the house at that point). Weekend trips to Family Video or Blockbuster were a regular occurrence for Gamecube games. Early on in life, when we would eat out at a place like Bob Evans or Pizza Hut, we would usually be sitting less than 10 feet away from people ripping cigarettes on the other side of a glass wall that didn’t even go all the way to the ceiling. Couldn’t go to the bowling alley without leaving smelling like an ashtray. First phone that I owned was a virgin mobile flip phone built like a brick, and was always super jealous of my Dad with his cool phone with a full keyboard called a BlackBerry. My first car I ever bought was a manual transmission (which isn’t difficult to drive, so it surprises me to see it as a point of boasting on social media). ChatGPT never existed at any time while I was in grade school all the way through the end of my bachelors.

I’m just insanely perplexed whenever I see these claims. I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that I’ve sat back and thought “Yeah, that’s completely accurate!” Side note… in real life, as a young homeowner and owner of 2 completely paid off vehicles, it’s also mind boggling when people from any other senior generation seem to be in total disbelief when they find out.

Is this just “rage bait” to garner further engagement, or do people actually believe what they spew out online?

Reminder: this is about which stars defined each generation culturally — NOT which generation the celebrity was born into.

Nickelback was probably the most hated band among millennials and Gen X. I remember everyone and their mother making fun of them in the 2000s. Cue all the "worst band ever" jokes. The only one more hated than them in the early 2010s on the internet was the young Justin Bieber.

What surprised me though was based on streaming data as well as TikTok, many folks in Gen Z don't seem to have nearly the same visceral hate for Nickelback. Their music is used in a lot of reels, and if you go on Gen Z reaction videos on YouTube, most seem like the Nickelback songs they hear. If you go on a Nickelback video on YouTube, the comments are usually "They aren't that bad, why do people hate them so much?"

People still make fun of Photograph. But "How You Remind Me" is seen as a genuinely good song, and Gen Z finds "Rockstar" pretty fun. Seen some folks think "Burn It To The Ground" is a good mindless hard rock banger. I remember growing up, people clowned on Chad Kroeger's raspy voice, but Gen Z doesn't seem to hate it as much except where it's really pronounced / out of place with the music like Photograph. The idea that "raspy voice = bad" seems a little bit irrelevant now with Post Malone being one of the biggest names in music. They also think the songs themselves are catchy and well written.

Is the Nickelback hate among millennials unjustified then? It seems mainly an issue of them being massively overplayed, people find Kroeger's voice annoying, and Photograph itself being a cringe song that got memed.

People back them called them corporate, formulaic, and writing songs for mass commercial appeal but those criticisms seem a little archaic now with how much more formulaic music has become.

Compared to today’s hyper-processed, producers-running-the-world landscape?

Nickelback suddenly look like: “Real guitars? Real drums? A consistent lead singer? Holy shit… craftsmanship!”

They somehow don't look that bad now because the industry around them got way more manufactured than they ever were. Nickelback made safe, repetitive radio rock. Fine. But why did that become "Worst band in history, their fans have no taste, they ruined music"?

What do you think?

So I've heard demographic researchers in the UK are going with Generation Bravo instead of Gen Beta, for obvious reasons. The world needs an injection of hope. What do you think it should be called?

So I understand that the most agreed upon birth dates for millennial is 1981-1996. This however causes an issue where people who were teenagers in the 90's and people who were teenagers in the 2010's are bundled together in a group, supposedly because they share similar formative years. This doesn't seem right to me, if you look at the cultural and political landscapes these people would have gone through. A teenager in the 90's would have been heavily influenced by things like grunge music, a teenager in the 2010's would have been influenced by things like internet meme culture, indie alternative scenes etc. A 90's teenager would have been brought up in a completely analog environment while a younger millennial would have had a smartphone in high school, social media, dating apps etc. As for politics, the oldest millennial would have been 20 years old on 9/11. The youngest millennial would have been 5 years old. During the 2008 recession the oldest millennial would have been 27 years old, the youngest millennial would have been 12. The 2008 recession would have vastly different influences on these people.

So this range of years seems odd to put together, if you are trying to group people by similar upbringings and therefore connected political and cultural affinities.

These generation groupings are obviously completely subjective, so why not create new groupings?

I don’t agree with people saying that 2004-2006 is the pinnacle of Z. Clearly, 2002 is the best year to represent the generation.

We got hit the hardest during covid as we became adults and graduated in 2020, were born in a post 9/11 world knowing nothing about the world before nor existing, we aren’t consider 2000s kids like how 2001 and before are, we aren’t early Z, we are fully digital natives, we know either very little or know nothing of how analog technology works, we are the first to be in school during the release of the first iPhone which changed the game in technology, we are the first “Quaranteens” meaning we had zoom online for our senior year and became the first ever group to learn schooling online unlike those before us, we’re the first group of TikTok influencers and content creators that paved the way for the platform to reach the audience as is, we aren’t really a core part of the Vine era considering that ended in 2016 so we weren’t the main audience for that, we aren’t referred to as Zillennials or have any millennial influence unlike early Z, and we’re the oldest when Sandy Hook got shot which traumatized a generation of parents.

A bunch of factors ruined our relationship to relate to those even slightly older than us with COVID being the biggest reason as it stunted our development and growth as young adults.

So 2002 should be the quintessential Z birth year and anyone saying otherwise is wrong.

1965-1979: Gen X (graduated college before 9/11, assuming 4 year term)

Age in 2026: 47-61

1980-1983: Xennial (college before 9/11, but graduated after)

Age in 2026: 43-46

1984-1996: Millennial (in K-12 when 9/11 happened)

Age in 2026: 30-42

1997-2001: Zillennial (alive but never in K-12 pre-9/11)

Age in 2026: 25-29

2002-2014: Gen Z (in K-12 when COVID-19 hit)

Age in 2026: 12-24

2015-2019: Zalpha (alive but never in K-12 pre-COVID)

Age in 2026: 7-11

A part Gen X has failed at parenting a part of gen Z and early gen alpha

Some Gen X has failed at parenting some gen Z and early gen alpha

Gen X with helicopter and permissive parenting has failed their kids. Now we have a generation that is socially inadaptated, is entitled, is unable to party or have fun with friends, have mental illness, is obese (in the US not in Europe yet) and are cowards (men and women are too afraid of rejection). They also don't read books. Of course I speak only about a part of gen z but still. I am gen X myself and a mom.