I’m not even sure if this is relevant. What is relevant though: we are all burned out and instead of asking who’s the most burned out we should probably fight the cause, because that’s the same for all generations: capitalism
Because everything that has made life worse for millennials, is not fixed, not even a little bit, and is not going to be fixed. It is going to keep getting worse and it is not clear people are even really trying to fix anything anymore because we are, as the article points out, burned out. There is almost nothing on the horizon that has much potential for making anything any better or easier for anybody, and the few things that do have that potential, like AI and automation, are very clearly (to me) going to be misused for exploiting humans in almost every possible way and making life harder not easier for the vast majority of the human population which likely includes everybody commenting here.
GenZ may instead get burned-out literally -- from their homes, as humanity continues to work mindlessly towards a goal of creating enough heat to set the entire planet on fire, but maybe the rising oceans will put some of the fires out. Families and mental health and the fabric of society will continue to fray. Prices will keep rising. The wealth gap will continue expanding. Lawlessness and homelessness will become rampant. Democracy will continue to slide towards corporate tyranny and fascism, and peace begins to make way for conflict and war.
I hold nothing but compassion and solidarity for those who follow.
I want things to be easier for them, not as hard or harder than they were for us.
Story:
Just had a really painful conversation with my Boomer in-laws. They refuse to see acknowledge how bad things are for us and blame us for our failure to thrive like they got to, after receiving a six-figure cash injection back in the 80s from their parents, which is all gone now with their frivolous spending.
In the US, 1950-1980 is the era of lowest wealth inequality in the countries history. The top tax rate reached 91% in that time period. It is currently around 37%. Us poors had it worse before then, and have it worse after then. They won a birth lottery. Source: Thomas Piketty's 'Capital in the 21st Century'
PEW abandoned generational studies because they aren’t useful. You have more in common with people your age +/- 5 years than you have with your generation
It's because discrete generations aren't a real thing.
You summed it up best: same age give or take a few years. I'm an elder millennial and have more in common with the youngest gen X than with the youngest millennials.
The primary adjective/insult to focus on is them being a fascist; the moment you pull any other, non-related adjective into the insult, they give themselves permission to ignore you.
Fuck fascist assholes, fuck the upper class, no matter the demographic.
Millennial here. Fuck this shit - our enemy is the ultra rich and shitstains that abuse power. Pitching generations against eachother is counterproductive.
As a millennial I give zero fucks about this generational shit with those who come after us. Gen Z and Alpha have the same shit sandwich we do, with their own special horrors we didn't grow up with. We should be working with them to make this better for all of us who come after the Boomers and Gen X.
This headline reads like "kids these days can't get off their phones" as if the Boomers who wrote it aren't sending iPhone gift cards via Facebook messenger to a Nigerian prince.
Of course they're not as burned out as us; they're younger and haven't been beaten down for as long. I'm sure they'll get there in time, but we need to stop this intergenerational infighting and focus on what's really important: putting everyone over 50 in camps and redistributing their wealth.
I want my son to grow up in a world with so much oversight and regulation that he takes government protections for granted and dismantles them for tax breaks. Is that so much to ask?
These generational differences simply do not exist in the way that terms like "Gen X/Y/Z/Millennials" make them appear. Societies don't work that way that everybody in a cohort has the same experiences and biographies.
yeah. the energy and determination of youth has kept GenZ from burning out yet, but they went through covid during what should have been the peak years of their life.
on the other hand, us Millennials are cursed with remembering how things used to be better. sometimes I wish I didn't.
Agreed. I hate the whole generational divide that keeps being pushed by media outlets. There are so many overlapping generations occurring concurrently, that it is essentially a completely meaningless title.
These terms like "Gen X" or "Millennials" are just as meaningful as astrological signs. In other words: They aren't.
These supposed generational differences are utter nonsense. There's no scientific research behind them. There are always people with different experiences and biographical backgrounds, but no entire generation experiences the same background.
Gen X are only just behind millennials according to the trash article, and Gen Z not far behind them.
Just sensationalist generational-war crap to keep us from the class war.. Standard stuff for Fortune.
“About 66% of millennials report moderate or high levels of burnout, according to a recent report from Aflac. Gen X trails closely behind with a reported burnout rate of 60%, and Gen Z follows, with a rate of 56%"
I'll admit I am pretty fucking annoyed by how much fash sympathy there is in gen Z. We were so close to actually being able to make a pretty big political swing to the left swing and they kind of fucked it up in the worst way possible.
Everyone is calling out (rightfully so) the divisive bait but I think there is some interesting reason worth discussing behind this:
Some Gen Z folks used the wisdom of millennials and just said fuck it and checked out, their lives might not be great but it’s probably stress free.
Whereas for millennials, in theory having the American dream was possible, just less likely as time progressed. They are stuck with an almost sunken cost fallacy in which they have tried so hard cause they believed with enough effort they would make it. Now that they are burned out, they are faced with the dilemma of either stop trying and waste the high efforts or keep going and maybe they will get lucky.
So in conclusion, millennials having it better can backfire in some sense.
The only reason this can be even slightly true is strictly because of age. We are ALL burnt out. They will be where millennial are in just a few years. We gotta stop this gen VS gen nonsense.
TBH, I think people are now realising that. Covid was a big help in that regard. People are realising things like working from home was always a possibility etc.
That's because they're younger and haven't earned as much burnout yet! They're just entering the burnout market, back in my day I had just as much burnout as they do but now I've been in the burnout market long enough to earn more burnout! They'll catch up soon, it's not unfair it's just how gaining experience works!
(Read above as: boomers and wealth hand waving) :P
With increased demands on this specific generation of caregivers, other studies have shown that it’s in a company’s best interest to ensure millennials have the resources and benefits that they need to succeed.
That's not gonna happen. Workers must toil to make more profits for the people at the top or they will be replaced.