Would you say Millennials and Gen Z are the two generations with the least amount of differences between each other compared to other generations?

[Anonymous]

For instance, there are a lot of obvious differences between Millennials, Gen X, and Boomers, but the differences between Millennials and Gen Z seemed to be a few compared others. Both Millennials and Gen Z grew up with digital technology and social media (to a lesser extent for Millennials), and both the average Millennial and Zoomer typically lean politically more on the progressive side.

Yes

No

Depends

Others

[Anonymous]

First of all, different countries and different research organizations define "millennial" and "Gen Z" differently; places like America suggest that the millennials went from 1981 to 1996, while Canada goes with 1981 to 2000; other research firms have suggested 1985 to 2004.

Despite the differences, we're going to find out in a few years who was right, because generations are defined by similar experiences and views on politics, and once we see a change then we know that a generation change has occurred.

Well, we're seeing a change, right now. Millennials are the generation that grew up on MySpace and Facebook. Gen Z are the generation that grew up on TikTok. Millennials grew up having their world shattered by 9/11; Gen Z grew up having their education disrupted by COVID-19, having a hostile attitude towards school as a result. Millennials grew up thinking that weed and pot were the drugs to rebel with; Gen Z grew up vaping.

What about the in-betweeners? The zennials? They were too young to experience 9/11, but old enough to become independent learners before COVID-19 hit. They grew up on Instagram.

Now, the politics: Millennials grew up in a progressive environment; you will see them fighting against racism, sexism, and the poor. Gen Z is also progressive, but in a different way: you see them fighting against homophobia and transphobia, but this has brought them to become much more sexist than the millennials, whereas the millennials are not quite as trans-accepting. Millennials grew up believing that you were born LGBTQ; Gen Z grew up believing that LGBTQ was a thing you tried out to see if you liked it, and that LGBTQ is a decision.

Let's also talk about the landmark events: 9/11 left millennials with a deep distrust of the military and the government. Watching George Bush and Tony Blair declare War on Iraq turned millennials into lifelong liberals. COVID-19 by contrast left Gen Z with a damaged education, a love of protest, and a deep distrust of government control over health care. As such Gen Z is in some ways more conservative than millennials (on health care, education, personal liberties) yet still too progressive for conservative parties (on LGBTQ+). You're likely to see a big shift in the conservative parties of the world once the baby boomers start dying off, and they start to embrace the Gen Z "new conservatism" as a result; in fact you're already seeing the beginnings of it.

In summary: the least amount of differences? Hardly. Give it a decade for Gen Z to find their adult voice and then you'll see.

[mommymommymommy]

i think people just like to complain, just to complain

[Anonymous]

Yes. I think that’s accurate. As the Boomers die off, I think millennials/gen z are going to wield a lot of influence socially and politically in this country. In a decade (maybe less), this country will be much more progressive.

[BeMuse]

Nope.

[BeMuse]

Millennials started being born in 1981 While the first personal computers arrived in 1981 from IBM they were nothing like computers that came out in 1997. Most millennials didn't even have computers when they were young. Some people did... It was the begging of something new. We had floppy disks we had to put into the computer to boot it up. It took like 30 minutes to load a very basic video game into RAM after you waited like 15 minutes to load the operating system. Most of us were not even on the internet until the mid 90s even though I was on back in like 1990. We had 14.4 kbps dial up modems. It was much different... Google didn't even exist until 1997. Social media like FaceBook wasn't around until 2003. Millennials had land lines at home with cords their entire child hood. Millennials grew up in the real world with sports, real friends, in person conversations, etc. Millennials are nothing like Gen Z at all.

[Asker]

Yet society seems to often label both Millennials and Gen Z as the emotionally soft generations.

[BeMuse]

You mean media.

[BeMuse]

Millennials fought wars for 20 years in Iraq and Afghanistan... I guess you missed that party of history...

[Asker]

Wasn't that mostly Gen Xers who fought during the War on Terrorism (Iraq and Afghanistan)?

[BeMuse]

Millennials began graduating High School in the Summer of 2000. War in Afghanistan began Oct 7, 2001. Millennials grew up in the most violent period of American history in the childhood and then went into a 20 year war. Millennials have no feelings...

[BeMuse]

*their

[BeMuse]

[Asker]

Yet Millennials are the ones who championed the loudest for all the snowflakey and woke trends we see festering all over the West today.

[BeMuse]

Average age of enlistment is just shy of 21 years old. Old people don't fight wars, they vote for them...

[BeMuse]

You watch too much communist legacy media. They fed you a brainwashing narrative so that you'd hate young men that are battle hardened who swore to protect the constitution. Why do you think communists that hate the USA and want to destroy it, would want to turn you against the very men that protect you from them?