What a great thread. I really appreciate some of the things being said, especially some of the posts by Neander. Generalizations are all too common these days and they do a lot of damage.
Time to throw my 2 cents in because I have my feet at both ends in a sense. I'm a millenial in my early 30's. I grew up with no rules and almost no supervision. I had a fantastic relationship with my parents (actually wanted to have my dad in my wedding party when I got married, something I still kinda regret not doing) but they went through a lot of hard financial times when we were young so they didn't have the energy for a whole lot of 'hovering'.
I played video games. Lots of video games. I grew up with the nintendo's and lego. Because we didn't have money once I was 14 I got a job and worked so I could buy my own systems and games. I was also the active one of the family. As much as I played video games I also had some good friends. We played on playgrounds, started doing parkour before it was cool when youtube was barely a twinkle in someones eye and crazy russian kids were posting grainy videos of them well... being insane russians and jumping between buildings. We would watch dragon ball z and do pushups and pullups during commercial breaks. Well into my 20's I still went to the pool with friends and we would swim and act like idiots, surrounded only by young families.
When I entered high school I remember seeing the rusty weights in the basement behind the chain link fence and wondering how in the world I could get in there. That was a time however when weights were seen as a high injury risk, so you could only use the weights area with supervision, but the catch was no teachers had any clue how to safely use them so they kinda just sat there. My parents also wouldn't let me get a gym membership because lifting weights would 'stunt my growth'. I started as soon as I was done high school and have never stopped.
Over the years, competing in crossfit and weightlifting, I've had lots of guys tell me how badly they want to be in shape. I used to do whatever I could to help people, which was often a total waste of everyone's time.
Now that I'm in my 30's I realize people are just people. If they want to workout, they'll do whatever they can like I did when I was younger and did pullups and dips on outdoor jungle gyms and pushups between episodes of cartoons. People aren't constrained by lack of access or information in todays world. They are constrained only by desire and drive. People are basically without excuse thanks to how easily available quality content is.
If people want to, they will, and nothing will stop them. It's funny that older generations are quick to jump on 'kids these days' and their laziness. Sure, kids are probably fatter these days, but to me that says more about how cheap food is. Me and my friends like to laugh about how horribly unhealthy our entire parents generation eats. Like... they literally do not understand what a well balanced meal is. My mother to this day still eats desert for supper instead of an actual supper.
I'm one of the few millenials who has this opinion, but people like to talk about the economic boom and how things are harder for millenials. HA! I'm laughing so hard I can't breath. Everyone... and I mean EVERYONE in my cohort has more in their 20's and 30's than their parents do currently in their 50's and 60's, how much more if you compare them to their parents at their age. My first house is significantly nicer than every home I lived in growing up until my parents moved after I was done high school. But the brand new cars, brand new iphones, bigger nicer houses, internet, streaming services, and on and on. We have WAY more than our parents ever did. If a generalization can be made, the only thing millenials are is a people group with a sour attitude, and I say that knowing I have that tendency myself. I catch myself complaining when I'm not moving up at work after a year in my position while the older people at work spent 10 years slaving away and never complained about not getting 'noticed'. Sure, life is hard, especially when you label everything essential. Your broke? Get rid of your iphone that costs you 150$ per month. 'But my iphone precious!! I needs it!'. The biggest difference is the older generations went without, they made sacrifices no millenial would be willing to make in order to save money and get ahead. They barely spent money on anything seen as unessential and the crazy wave of home reno's is a new thing to millenials. Renovating your house? Why? The kitchen cabinets hold the dishes up just fine. Thing is, people love to say how millenials make less everything was cheaper for our parents like only paying $75,000 for their house. The thing no one remembers is that interest rates on that house were what, 15-18%? It's like buying a house on your credit card. I'm sure my numbers won't capture everywhere in canada and the US. But interest rates were never low until the mid 90's to 00's. Now we pay 250k for a house and pay 3% interest. Ya, it's not a perfect match, but it all shakes out in the end. I'm sure this isn't the case for everyone here, but I like to laugh when people say how 'hard' it is for them compared to their parents while they surf on their 1000$ iphone that has a 150$ monthly bill and drive their 2019 F150 home to their 1600 sq. ft house with a 3 car heated garage. Look at me... now I'm generalizing! I don't mean to offend because I know the economy is rough for some people. Opportunity definitely isn't what it once was and I get that. However it's crazy how cheap some stuff is now. I bought my first TV for 2500$ when I was 17. It was a 27" flat CRT TV. Huge deal. Now you can buy a 60" widescreen 4K whatever whatever for like 800 bucks brand new.
Anyways, big rant. Loving the discussion.
Edited by Jordan Derksen on 07-22-20 09:27 PM. Reason for edit: wording
