Rec
🦷
I need people who are older than me to stop telling me how things were better and more different in their generation. Unless you’ve experienced Tumblr I don’t wanna hear it. Also, I bet Child labor, and an insane amount of sexism existed in your generation, Not to mention the fact that everybody probably had to go to war. My generation and our iPhones are surprisingly doing pretty good, So, leave us alone!
Jul 19, 2025
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🫂I posted a similar anti-rec months ago, but the topic has come up again, this time with the "gen z stare". I'm sure there's a good mix of ages on PI so there are a lot of perspectives on this, but personally I am on the older side of gen z (2002), and this is my take on this. I don't mind the videos that people are making coming at this from a place of empathy, discussing how the pandemic could have stunted people's social skills, especially young kids. that's a valid take, and it's one I agree with. my boyfriend and I have had plenty of discussions about how concerned we are for the people younger than us, growing up in the environment that they did and are now. but the number of videos being straight up nasty are where I draw the line. people are trying to say that "we all went through COVID at the same time, and I adjusted back so they should be able to!!!" as if going through a years long pandemic when you're a younger teen or child would have the same effect as a years long pandemic on a 30 year old. take the youngest millennial, who would have been born in 1996 and started the pandemic at 24 and compare that to the youngest zoomer, who would have been born in 2012 and gone through the pandemic at 8. say you don't want to go to the youngest, let's say the median instead: ages 31 vs 15. like they're in completely different stages of life during a world stopping pandemic, no shit it affected them differently than you. I personally don't think that I was too affected socially by the pandemic, as it started during the last semester of my senior year of hs. I can't say that it didn't affect anyone my age or on the upper end of this generation, just like I'm sure it affected younger millennials- but it probably was not as detrimental as it would be for a child.
and, like usual, a lot of these conversations are turining into circle jerks of people saying "back in my day, I made half the wage they do and I was never like that!!", "I would have gotten fired if I ever acted like those lazy kids!!", and, my favorite comment so far, "when they say they don't understand what we mean when we talk about this they're using DARVO tactics!!! they're gaslighting us!!!!!". ultimately, the world has changed. things were not the same as they were pre-2016 especially. I've talked on here before about how apathy is a big issue within people my age and younger- and I get why. it's very easy to slip into apathy when your future seems so bleak and it's not even your fault- it's just the world you were born into at the wrong time. personally, if teens are socially awkward or seem like they don't care about work (which is not a gen z thing, every generation gets the "you're lazy and ungrateful and blah blah blah" thing when they're this age), I can see why. does that make it okay? no, but ultimately I see it as a symptom of our society and empathize with them rather than make videos making fun of them. let's also not pretend that the only people who give bad customer service are under the age of 29. let's also not pretend that the cost of living wasn't much lower when the older gens (who are saying that these people don't deserve a living wage) were entering the work force.
ultimately, I think that if we come at these topics from a place of empathy rather than lashing out, it would be a lot more productive. if you're participating in this rhetoric, I implore you to think about what people were saying about your generation when you were younger. I remember growing up hearing the same talking points about millennials from gen x and above. perhaps we break the cycle this time instead of being nasty online. discussing how younger people's social skills were stunted by the pandemic is something that should be talked about, however it should be done with care. they didn't ask to be in their developmental years during the pandemic. I do also think it's unfortunate that many people are saying that being mean about this is "revenge" for pointing out the "millennial pause", which I had for a bit because I too used snapchat when there was that one second delay at the start of a video. but when it's said like that, I think that shows exactly the motivations behind some of this discourse: pettiness. yes, a teenager may have made a skinny jeans joke, but does that mean you should say that everyone ages 13-28 is aging like milk and has no social skills?
this turned into a yap, but you get the point. we need more empathy in the world. please don't turn into the same people in older gens who bullied the ones younger than them.
and, like usual, a lot of these conversations are turining into circle jerks of people saying "back in my day, I made half the wage they do and I was never like that!!", "I would have gotten fired if I ever acted like those lazy kids!!", and, my favorite comment so far, "when they say they don't understand what we mean when we talk about this they're using DARVO tactics!!! they're gaslighting us!!!!!". ultimately, the world has changed. things were not the same as they were pre-2016 especially. I've talked on here before about how apathy is a big issue within people my age and younger- and I get why. it's very easy to slip into apathy when your future seems so bleak and it's not even your fault- it's just the world you were born into at the wrong time. personally, if teens are socially awkward or seem like they don't care about work (which is not a gen z thing, every generation gets the "you're lazy and ungrateful and blah blah blah" thing when they're this age), I can see why. does that make it okay? no, but ultimately I see it as a symptom of our society and empathize with them rather than make videos making fun of them. let's also not pretend that the only people who give bad customer service are under the age of 29. let's also not pretend that the cost of living wasn't much lower when the older gens (who are saying that these people don't deserve a living wage) were entering the work force.
ultimately, I think that if we come at these topics from a place of empathy rather than lashing out, it would be a lot more productive. if you're participating in this rhetoric, I implore you to think about what people were saying about your generation when you were younger. I remember growing up hearing the same talking points about millennials from gen x and above. perhaps we break the cycle this time instead of being nasty online. discussing how younger people's social skills were stunted by the pandemic is something that should be talked about, however it should be done with care. they didn't ask to be in their developmental years during the pandemic. I do also think it's unfortunate that many people are saying that being mean about this is "revenge" for pointing out the "millennial pause", which I had for a bit because I too used snapchat when there was that one second delay at the start of a video. but when it's said like that, I think that shows exactly the motivations behind some of this discourse: pettiness. yes, a teenager may have made a skinny jeans joke, but does that mean you should say that everyone ages 13-28 is aging like milk and has no social skills?
this turned into a yap, but you get the point. we need more empathy in the world. please don't turn into the same people in older gens who bullied the ones younger than them.
Jul 17, 2025
Rec
😃i am (early?) gen z so i was very much a child during this period
with that said, don’t be fooled by youtube drum and bass playlists or weepy-eyed disney channel retrospectives - much of the mainstream culture of this era was insanely bad. that is obviously still true today, but the difference is that the monoculture was still alive in the 2000s, so your ability to opt-out and find subcultural niches that had cool stuff going on was significantly curtailed compared to today. you basically *had* to be literally anorexic to be conventionally attractive, there was no political “left” to speak of (not that it mattered to me when i was a literal child but still), and as others have mentioned, insane 9/11 hysteria lasted well into the obama era.
with all that said the thought of having to grow up today is honestly terrifying. i am old enough that social media did not become culturally dominant until high school (i had a dumbphone until freshman year), and i do feel blessed to have grown up on a pre-web 2.0 internet. you still were able to buy things and own them. a huge number of the greatest games of all time came out during this period, and every mainstream multiplayer release wasn’t just a casino with a mid fps attached to it. amazon had yet to completely conquer the earth. the government kind of worked. i don’t think i would go back because i’ve been spoiled by the sheer volume of amazing things that i have access to today and i do think we’ve made some solid sociopolitical progress, but there are definitely some things i miss
with that said, don’t be fooled by youtube drum and bass playlists or weepy-eyed disney channel retrospectives - much of the mainstream culture of this era was insanely bad. that is obviously still true today, but the difference is that the monoculture was still alive in the 2000s, so your ability to opt-out and find subcultural niches that had cool stuff going on was significantly curtailed compared to today. you basically *had* to be literally anorexic to be conventionally attractive, there was no political “left” to speak of (not that it mattered to me when i was a literal child but still), and as others have mentioned, insane 9/11 hysteria lasted well into the obama era.
with all that said the thought of having to grow up today is honestly terrifying. i am old enough that social media did not become culturally dominant until high school (i had a dumbphone until freshman year), and i do feel blessed to have grown up on a pre-web 2.0 internet. you still were able to buy things and own them. a huge number of the greatest games of all time came out during this period, and every mainstream multiplayer release wasn’t just a casino with a mid fps attached to it. amazon had yet to completely conquer the earth. the government kind of worked. i don’t think i would go back because i’ve been spoiled by the sheer volume of amazing things that i have access to today and i do think we’ve made some solid sociopolitical progress, but there are definitely some things i miss
Jul 20, 2025
Rec
🥲i was born in 97, so a lot of my formative memories occured between 2001-2008 - it was a really fun time and i have so much nostalgia for it. the town i grew up in was much smaller during that time and the things we had felt more fun and pure.
i was an only child so i spent a lot of time alone reading and drawing. i also loved cartoons of course, and would get small amounts of computer time that were mostly spent playing flash games. when i was 8 i got really into music and from that point i developed an interest in drumming and started collecting alternative emo rock cds you'd buy at hot topic, all thanks to my friend's older brother.
for years my best friends were the neighbor kids on my block. we'd walk to each others houses and yell over the fence or knock on the door to see if we could play. we'd ride bikes and play "ghost in the graveyard" (reverse hide and seek with a safe point, basically), and go to the pool during the summertime. we would use sticks as swords or lightsabers and bring our stuffed animals with us everywhere.
at my grandmas house in the mountains i would explore by myself as young as 7 or 8 years old.i remember many times being terrified i would get lost and die even though i could see her house. i would make kraft macaroni and cheese for lunch and read my dad's skateboarder and mad magazines from the 70s.
i'm thankful that the internet wasn't fully integrated into people's lives at that point, i know it's a common trope but having "the web" as they used to call it be a thing you could turn off/separate from was really underrated. the times you had to experience things like cartoonnetwork.com were really special and meant something. i'll never forget when my dad told me to fire it up after switching us to high speed internet from dial-up, that day forever changed my life (if you haven't heard the noise dial-up made when you'd log on - search it up that shit is bonkers). also seeing youtube get invented was crazy, before that we used to just watch flash videos on websites like newgrounds or albinoblacksheep, the original forms of brainrot
seeing technology advance was pretty crazy in general. we went from vhs tapes to dvds to on-demand all in the span of like 6 years. in that time we also went from cd players to ipods and saw the invention of the iphone.
cell phones used to be uncommon for people above a certain age and were actually quite devisive - my boomer ass parents had "no cell phones" stickers and i can still remember a time when i was out with my family around 2005 and my dad almost got an altercation with a random man for making a quip about him speaking on his cellphone as he walked past us (so out of pocket now that i look back on it jesus christ)
school was really weird because they were trying really hard to adapt to new technology and it was hard to keep up for a couple of years there - those who remember the transition from those 3M projector things to smartboards will understand
i obviously dont know what its like to be a kid now but it feels like it was easier then - i cant think of anyone who ever had "drip" before middle school, even rich kids - sometimes when i see kids wearing gucci im just like man what the fuck
also adults would hold your ass ACCOUNTABLE when you fucked up, no matter how little you were - i can remember being acosted by grown ass adults when i was maybe 4 or 5 years old and that was just totally normal. some adults were really nice and some were really fucking scary and that's just how it was.
mucho texto i know but man i miss it
i was an only child so i spent a lot of time alone reading and drawing. i also loved cartoons of course, and would get small amounts of computer time that were mostly spent playing flash games. when i was 8 i got really into music and from that point i developed an interest in drumming and started collecting alternative emo rock cds you'd buy at hot topic, all thanks to my friend's older brother.
for years my best friends were the neighbor kids on my block. we'd walk to each others houses and yell over the fence or knock on the door to see if we could play. we'd ride bikes and play "ghost in the graveyard" (reverse hide and seek with a safe point, basically), and go to the pool during the summertime. we would use sticks as swords or lightsabers and bring our stuffed animals with us everywhere.
at my grandmas house in the mountains i would explore by myself as young as 7 or 8 years old.i remember many times being terrified i would get lost and die even though i could see her house. i would make kraft macaroni and cheese for lunch and read my dad's skateboarder and mad magazines from the 70s.
i'm thankful that the internet wasn't fully integrated into people's lives at that point, i know it's a common trope but having "the web" as they used to call it be a thing you could turn off/separate from was really underrated. the times you had to experience things like cartoonnetwork.com were really special and meant something. i'll never forget when my dad told me to fire it up after switching us to high speed internet from dial-up, that day forever changed my life (if you haven't heard the noise dial-up made when you'd log on - search it up that shit is bonkers). also seeing youtube get invented was crazy, before that we used to just watch flash videos on websites like newgrounds or albinoblacksheep, the original forms of brainrot
seeing technology advance was pretty crazy in general. we went from vhs tapes to dvds to on-demand all in the span of like 6 years. in that time we also went from cd players to ipods and saw the invention of the iphone.
cell phones used to be uncommon for people above a certain age and were actually quite devisive - my boomer ass parents had "no cell phones" stickers and i can still remember a time when i was out with my family around 2005 and my dad almost got an altercation with a random man for making a quip about him speaking on his cellphone as he walked past us (so out of pocket now that i look back on it jesus christ)
school was really weird because they were trying really hard to adapt to new technology and it was hard to keep up for a couple of years there - those who remember the transition from those 3M projector things to smartboards will understand
i obviously dont know what its like to be a kid now but it feels like it was easier then - i cant think of anyone who ever had "drip" before middle school, even rich kids - sometimes when i see kids wearing gucci im just like man what the fuck
also adults would hold your ass ACCOUNTABLE when you fucked up, no matter how little you were - i can remember being acosted by grown ass adults when i was maybe 4 or 5 years old and that was just totally normal. some adults were really nice and some were really fucking scary and that's just how it was.
mucho texto i know but man i miss it
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