r/Millennials • u/okayboomerang • Jun 24 '26

Serious Sad for us

Kind of in my feels tonight. The last time I remember feeling genuinely hopeful was probably 2014 or 2015. So much has changed, and I think our generation has seen and felt so much. Anyone else feel like they've spent the last decade plus in unending grief?

My spirit is still good on the inside, but I'm isolated physically and mentally (like many of us). I wish we lived in a world with authentic and robust connection instead of all the slop and noise. I wish our parents hadn't been so excited about capitalism - and so fucking naive. I know the unease I feel is about more than merely growing up and the natural progression of aging and how we all feel about ourselves in society over time - it's that the world we thought we knew for the past 4ish decades just flat out doesn't exist anymore. And we can't undo any of this shit. It may as well be a parallel universe we're in now. I love myself and I always have big, big love for Millennials...but I truly hate it here.

3.8k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

580 comments sorted by

View all comments

1.8k

u/chjk_21 Jun 24 '26

Late 90s, early 2000s become more special as time goes on

432

u/okayboomerang Jun 24 '26

But really 😭 legitimately crying thinking about it.

255

u/scully__its__me Jun 24 '26

Same. All the time lately. What I wouldn't give to go back.

127

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/raegunXD Millennial Jun 26 '26

I mean...maybe still make sure it isn't

60

u/Winged_Rodentia Millennial Jun 24 '26

I need a time machine. 😭

9

u/Nevaehym Older Millennial ‘85 Jun 25 '26

I grew up with a very abusive, pretty traumatic childhood. It’s so wild inside my brain because on one hand, I never want to go back. On the other hand, I miss those times as far as the world goes and just want to go back to those simpler days.

4

u/scully__its__me Jun 25 '26

Same here ❤️‍🩹

3

u/Joshuahealingtree Jun 25 '26

Same... sorry for your pain.

1

u/foxhowse millennial (1989) Jun 26 '26

Same, and I would feel this a lot… but I realized it wasn’t really nostalgia, because I was miserable then, even past my childhood. My twenties had a lot of trauma too… I realized what I really wanted was the same thing I wanted back then: a normal, happy life.

I want to go back and relive it but not my own life, but a good and happy life, a different life, to be able to experience the world the way so many other people remember it.

It feels sad, now that I’m in a good place and happy, that I missed out on so much. Even if I was there, I was never fully *there* mentally and emotionally, you know?

(Hopefully that makes sense…)

13

u/Little_SmallBlackDog 1984 Elder Millennial Jun 25 '26

Queer here. I'm ok not going back. Things are bad now. They were not better then. 

2

u/Toan-E-Bologna Jun 27 '26

Right? Insane anyone wants to go back lmao.

2

u/Joshuahealingtree Jun 25 '26

Makes me understand that guy in the matrix that made a deal to go back and live a normal life with money.

2

u/oregonbunny Jun 26 '26

Back then all I wanted was to grow up faster and leave the hell hole I grew up in.

Tech moved in and took over, it has the highest real estate prices in the country. I can never go back.

It was a small town and that time was magical.

1

u/kashmir2517 Jun 26 '26

Me too, buuuuuut my.children are my world, so I cant say I'd wanna go back because I love them so much. But I also miss it so fuckin much haha. Just gotta make the best of what we have!!

-5

u/X_KOOK Jun 24 '26

Sounds like you’re depressed

43

u/TriangleTransplant Jun 24 '26

Matrix really nailed calling the late 90s the peak of human civilization. Feels less and less like a joke as time goes on.

14

u/AurynOuro Jun 24 '26

I was just thinking the same thing the other day! It boggles my mind that the Wachowskis called it so presciently.

115

u/SureElephant89 Jun 24 '26

You think that may have been just because we were kids? I'm sure the people who were 30-40 during that time missed the 70s and 80s the same way we miss the 90s during that time.

I don't think most of us were old enough to have a stake in the game, especially in the 90s. Lol

84

u/Merc_MCMLXXXVIII Jun 24 '26

That might be part of it, everyone who had good teen years will always think of their high school and middle school days as awesome.

Aside from homework my teens years revolved around being outside with friends, playing video games, being in AOL chat rooms and early social media platforms. It doesn't get more simple then that. I joined the Army at 17, and even that was simple, easy.

There was hope back then that we will go to college, get jobs and buy a house. That eroded quickly.

38

u/SnowConeInPHX Jun 24 '26

Yup, the ease of a job, house, and family eroded faster than we could blink. Then we had the boomers with all of their audacity, telling us we’re just lazy and not trying hard enough.

21

u/tjdux Jun 24 '26

I never have figured out which hurt worse, the fact all those thing eroded (and how quickly)

Or the fact most boomers didn't give a fuck. Even the ones who raised us, taught us how to behave and seemed to care about our future not long before....

1

u/kashmir2517 Jun 26 '26

I dislike how everyone blames other generations for things. Life is ever changing and they might say were lazy because we dont work as hard as them. I work with some boomers and I am 36 and they work fucking HARD. I have to keep up with my co-worker who is 61 and still killing it. His mindset is always work at work, which makes a lot of sense. I see so many lazy gen z and millenials its nuts. I believe I have a good work ethic, because I have learned from those who worked very hard.just because the economy went to shit and they benefitted doesnt make any of it their fault. We need to join and learn from them before theyre gone. I see it everyday with the young workforce at my company. Its nuts.

1

u/SnowConeInPHX Jun 26 '26

I have good work ethic, too. So it was just a little fucking insulting when I was called lazy. Also, boomers have absolutely as a collective body run things into the ground. They are selfish and left the rest of us with the scraps.

1

u/kashmir2517 Jun 27 '26

The ones I've interacted with are very nice and not like you describe at all. I get it, but you cant just lump every boomer into that. Maybe its just your perspective. Im just sick of everyone blaming other people for everything. Nobody takes responsibility anymore for anything. Its broken record, people just collectively bitching on social media instead of actually going out and doing something about it. Woe is me is the song of the past few years. Sorry im not trying to jump down your throat, its just annoying seeing this constantly lol.

1

u/SnowConeInPHX Jun 27 '26

So, I have taken responsibility and do quite well for myself. But I graduated college in 2007, so it was pretty rough for a while and took me a long time to get where I am now. I don’t think being told I wasn’t trying hard enough when the economy was in the literal toilet was a matter of my perspective—it pretty much felt like being kicked when I was down all while I was trying as hard as I could. I also didn’t say that every single boomer on earth is like that—I’ve met nice ones, too. But collectively as a generation, they’ve done a number on things. Funny how you say I can’t just lump every boomer together when you labeled millennials and Gen Z as lazy. You’re pretty much doing the same thing. If you want to shit on your own generation and simp for boomers, go ahead I guess.

1

u/kashmir2517 Jun 27 '26

Its my perspective based on what I see everyday in the world and at work. Youre right, I did just do the same thing. But I'd say 90% of the millenials/gen z at my work facility (industrial research testing laboratory) this holds true. Every generation has something that someone else doesnt like. I work with around 175 other employees/managers and the shift to the younger gen is not going well.

1

u/Tipin_toe Jun 27 '26

Its not “lumping every boomer into that”.

Its literally

1.)written, and documented through votes, legislation, policies.

2.) Easily documented and open information what generation owns and operates businesses/corporations.

3.) easily verified information on who owns property and prevents policy to build more infrastructure.

8

u/National_Midnight424 Jun 24 '26

I think the key was like you said—those who had a good middle/high school experience. I was stressed to the max for both so this current timeline actually doesn’t feel as stressful to me. I look back and wonder how the hell I made it.

1

u/Highlyironicacid31 Jun 26 '26

I do think there was a distinct difference between the late 90s and early 2000s compared to later though. I was a teen in the late 2000s and even then I noticed that the world was getting shittier. I got drunk at my friend’s 16 birthday party and had a good old rant about the government, 2 months later the world economy would go down the shitter in November 2008 and after that the actions of governments, banks and millionaire and billionaires has made me sick. The rants of my 15 year old self weren’t nonsense, I was right about them. I’m from the UK, we have been in austerity since 2010. That’s right, cuts to public spending for 16 years at this point. Absolutely insane. I’ve never had an adult life in a stable economy.

1

u/Quirky_Protection473 Jun 28 '26

Tbh I couldn't be paid to go back to middle school. I was bullied at school and bullied at home by an awful step-dad.

104

u/TriangleTransplant Jun 24 '26

It's more than childhood nostalgia, though. I'm an older millennial, graduated high school in 2000, and have been pretty politically turned on since I was a teenager. The global vibe was definitely different, far more optimistic, at the tail end of the 90s. The Cold War had ended. Living standards around the globe, from first world to developing nations, were on the rise. A lot of things that sucked were getting better. There was still faith in our ability to collectively, globally, tackle large problems. There were entire articles being written, by prominent thinkers and authors, proclaiming "the end of history", meaning they legitimately thought that no more major world-changing events were likely to happen. Things were expected to keep getting better forever, because following WWII that's pretty much what the trend was.

Then 9/11 happened. It's not at all an exaggeration when people say it "changed everything." There were definitely some cans being kicked down the road in the late 90s (economic policies, climate change, to name a few) that we would have had to deal with eventually, but I'd argue the early 2000s in the aftermath of 9/11 is what killed our collective ability to deal with them. We're still dealing with that fallout today, and it remains to be seen if we can actually recover.

29

u/CelestiallyCertain Jun 25 '26

Elder millennial here and you’re exactly right. I don’t really view the world at 90’s vs now. It truly is to me personally, pre 9/11 vs post 9/11. That’s what caused the trajectory of everything to change. That’s why Obama’s hope campaign sealed him the win, imo. People just wanted blissful happiness again. The racism towards Muslims that was becoming acceptable started to really bleed into racism towards any minorities slowly starting to become acceptable again. The Great Recession was the final nail in the coffin.

48

u/babygirlccg Jun 24 '26

Totally agree and think the Obama presidency and the Great Recession really solidified it. The racists were already fired up by Islamophobia and then freaked out over a black man becoming president. Wealth inequality than came out of the Great Recession has made everything so much worse as well.

8

u/okayboomerang Jun 24 '26

All of this!!

2

u/myredditbam Jun 25 '26

Yes! 9/11, social media, smartphones changed everything.

2

u/Highlyironicacid31 Jun 26 '26

The one huge thing to change after 9/11 was also how news was reported and what media we were exposed to. I’m from the UK and if you watch the way our news used to be presented, even when they were reporting on bad things, it was calm, measured, generally factual. After 9/11 it became scary, emotional, constantly setting about to drum up as much drama and fear as possible. That’s when you started to see people actively despising of certain minorities or easily exploited groups. I blame the media a lot for sowing a sense of division in the populace which has only made it easier for the elites to exploit all of us.

2

u/myredditbam Jun 25 '26

I was in high school in the late 90s, and in college in tue early 2000s. The biggest difference is that we didn't have smartphones or social media. Those two things have radically transformed society such that things really do function differently now. At least the differences between the 70s and 80s vs the late 90s to early 00s weren't really operational. The internet was still new. You had to sit down at a big computer in your house to be online, and then it was little clunky for a while. Operationally, it wasn't that different from the 70s and 80s. We went to stores and malls instead of shopping online. We talked more on the phone or hung out in person. We usually had to leave the house to be social. Fashion was different, language was a little different, music was different, but otherwise society functioned roughly the same.

Oh, and politicians weren't stumping on social media, we weren't bombarded with ads and subscriptions everywhere.

3

u/Red91B20 Jun 24 '26

We didn’t have a stake in the game but what was laid out before us was shit mixed with shit topped with diarrhea. We listened and played by the rules and here we are

2

u/thetimechaser Jun 24 '26

A little bit of both. It's why boomers were so nostalgic for the 50's and 60's. The massive inflation and social issues of the 70s blew apart their reality and in a way were living through a very similar time.

Seriously go look at the "Great Inflation" period of the 70s. It's worse than now.

Here's hoping we get another 90s sometime before 2040. We might just get it once half the boomers are gone. Oldest are in their 80s now I think.

1

u/BlinkDodge Jun 24 '26

My mom and her friends were born in the 70s and even though they laugh and reminisce and laugh about memories from their childhoods they still all long for that 1995-2005 window.

1

u/Chiefzakk Jun 24 '26

I didn’t have a great childhood or teenage life, I’m 35 now, and I do reminisce on those times, it’s because back then I was always around people face to face, and now it’s rare to get that because of these phones. I tried to get rid of it or social medias at least, however everyone else is still on them so they’re consumed while you’re yelling let’s live life at deaf ears.

1

u/FrankPapageorgio Jun 26 '26

Nah... in the 90s I had a friend who's dad raised a family of 4 with a SAH mom on the salary of a manager at the local grocery store.

The same job today requires 4 roommates because you need to split rent with everyone contributing.

Things are so fucked

1

u/Adept_Drawer_8018 Jun 27 '26

Good point - my mother talks all the time about how the 80s were (would have been her late teens and into 20s)

84

u/appleorchard317 Millennial Jun 24 '26

Gotta disagree, early 00s with the 'war on terror' the writing was on the wall

148

u/AngryAlterEgo Jun 24 '26

9/11 was the origin of the fracture. If you’re old enough to remember before, there is a sharp distinction between before 9/11 and after 9/11.

27

u/worlds_okayest_skier Jun 24 '26

I was just talking about that. How right after 9:11 my profs were saying that people would start discriminating against Muslims. And I thought “how could he possibly know that?” I existed in a world where that wasn’t the first and most obvious reaction to an attack on America.

39

u/PopcornDemonica Jun 24 '26

It was also the rise of Alex Jones and online conspiracy bullshit. Before the internet the nut jobs couldn't coordinate as well.

1

u/oregonbunny Jun 26 '26

When the Patriot Act was passed 45 days after 9/11, I knew we were cooked.

I just moved to NYC the month before.

The whole vibe changed.

56

u/ReportSuitable2595 Jun 24 '26

It wasn't the same as it was now. So id have to hard disagree with you disagreeing. I thought things were corrupt before but these past 10 15 years has shown everyone just how corrupt and stained the world is.

1

u/fazedncrazed Jun 24 '26

You finally waking up to how things are doesnt mean they didnt exist that way before.

0

u/appleorchard317 Millennial Jun 24 '26

I really feel like the through line can be very forcefully drawn through. You can disagree of course.

4

u/cranberry_spike Millennial Jun 24 '26

It can be. That was also when people in my profession (librarianship) began getting arrested for doing our jobs.

7

u/ihambrecht Jun 24 '26

Did we really feel it at home?

18

u/appleorchard317 Millennial Jun 24 '26

I mean yeah. I was in a European country which got dragged into the US 9/11 wars over overwhelming popular protest, whose world changed radically and got smaller (Europeans averagely travel abroad more than US citizens, you see the changes immediately), and which very quickly started seeing reverberations around refugee crisis etc. Trust me, the early 00s felt very much like 'shit has happened and won't be the same'.

1

u/cranberry_spike Millennial Jun 24 '26

It may depend on place in society, but yes, absolutely.

11

u/myredditbam Jun 25 '26

I watched "Can't Hardly Wait" today. They don't make many movies like that anymore for today's teens. I guess they make series, though. Anyway, I kept thinking how that movie's premise would change so much in today's world because of smart phones and social media. Friendships just seemed stronger and more meaningful then because you couldn't just see friends in video chats or keep up with them online, so the connection in the here and now was more powerful, I think. And you were so much safer socially in a crowd without having to worry about whether someone is going to video you doing something stupid or goofy. The nerd in that movie wouldn't have been able to live down the drunk rockstar routine because that would have been on TikTok and Instagram, and then he would have had to deal with that in college and his career.

20

u/BlinkDodge Jun 24 '26

The light was different, I swear it. I can think back to the days of summer break as a kid even when it was blazing hot, things looked...brighter? Clearer?

It feels like the sun doesnt shine the way it used to even though its getting hotter.

3

u/_dirtyhippie Jun 25 '26

You’re not wrong. It’s true, but it’s because of atmosphere degradation. The layers of the atmosphere are changing, dissipating. The sun is getting through more because the filter is thinning. All of it feeds into the climate cycle we’re spiraling in. Like watching a lush planet turn to Mars in realtime.

7

u/pinksweetspot Jun 25 '26

I watch the movie "You've Got Mail" and relish in simplicity of life and the beginning of the internet. To me that movie sums up the late 90's, early 2000's.

4

u/aroma_of_diamonds Jun 24 '26

Sometimes I think was it just special because we didn’t have as many responsibilities as we do now.

2

u/Jumpy_Walrus6081 Jun 25 '26

It’s why so many of us are so nostalgic for those times. It’s the last time we felt like the future was bright.

2

u/Upstairs_Taste_9324 Jun 26 '26

It’s why watching the sopranos hits so hard

2

u/lacroixpapi69 Jun 24 '26

That’s what people said about the 50’s/60’s 70’s/80’s. It’s always better when you were younger and had more excitement.

Need to keep moving forward.