‘She recorded herself crying’: Gen X Share Their Thoughts on Gen Z in Entertaining Thread

Author image for Eleonora Bader
Eleonora Bader
Mar 30, 2024 12:00 PM EDT

I grew up in the '80s and '90s, and life back then was… simpler. Technology didn't rule every aspect of our existence, and social media was just a sci-fi dream. Gen Z on the other hand… Well, they're practically being raised by their smartphones. I definitely admire their spirit to talk back, stand up for themselves, and change social norms, but they're also showing serious signs of communication issues, are overly sensitive, and have the attention span of a goldfish. Plus, they document everything… who wants the world to see them crying? Gen Z does. 

Maybe I think all that because it helps me feel less old and more superior, but that's where I'm at right now. One person uploaded a question, asking older generations what they think of the new ones. Scroll down to read the entertaining thread… See what the adults had to say about the matter. Then check out this demanding couple who came to a restaurant only to try picking a bone with the waiter… their mistake.

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  • 01
    HrabiaVulpes 1 day ago Their dependency on authority and lack of self-reliancy. You have access to all the world's knowledge in your pocket, but you are only using it as a toy and when you need to learn something you are looking for a teacher. NefariousSalamander - 1 day ago The emails I get from my students aged 18-25 are such a mess of incoherent garbage, I can't tell if they are lazy or if it's an actual literacy issue. And I'm barely older than they are so if this is a generational gap, it h
    via Canva
  • 02
    Adults of Reddit, what is something about the newer generations that you can't seem to understand?
    via u/5h0gKur4C4ndl
  • 03
    Blueberry No5363 · 1 day ago Recording yourself crying 7.1k Reply Share thrillmouse 1 day ago THIS IS THE ONE. I do not know how intense your desire for external validation has to be for you to be in the midst of crying and think "Lights, camera, action baby let's make sure as many people see this as possible". 2.3k Reply Share
    via u/BlueberryNo5363, u/thrillmouse
  • 04
    NoobDinosaur 1 day ago Apparently, despite growing up with technology around them, they don't know how to use computers properly because they focus mostly on smartphones and tablets 8.2k Reply Share mochi_chan · 1 day ago · edited 15 hr. ago Teaching every new hire how folder trees work is so weird. "Don't save to desktop. follow naming conventions so we don't have to fix things server side." and so on.
    via u/NoobDinosaur, u/mochi_chan
  • 05
    When I was 12 someone told me that the newer generations will be better at understanding computers than I will ever be, it really put a damper on me because I loved computers. I always imagines I will just be lost while the new kids told me how to fix problems, this is not how it turned out. Edit: This kind of blew up and not in the way I expected, and some of you had some cool perspectives I can keep in mind when teaching newer hires. And to all the millennials (like me), you brought back so ma
    via u/mochi_chan
  • 06
    NefariousSalamander 1 day ago The emails I get from my students aged 18-25 are such a mess of incoherent garbage, I can't tell if they are lazy or if it's an actual literacy issue. And I'm barely older than they are so if this is a generational gap, it happened quickly! 2.3k Reply Share AstroTravellin · 22 hr. ago My daughter was just telling me yesterday how many of her peers can't read. I think it's an actual literacy issue. ☆ 1.0k ⇓ Reply Share
    via u/NefariousSalamander, u/AstroTravellin
  • 07
    scarletuba 1 day ago I'm a middle school teacher. My kids will routinely claim they can't do anything and then shut down and do nothing. And then... It's easy and they do it. It goes like this: "Everybody, here's the assignment. Follow all the steps." I go around the room and one kid forgot their Chromebook, ir a pencil. One kid needs a charger. One kid doesn't understand "any of the steps."
    via u/scarletuba
  • 08
    So basically it's the degree of learned helplessness. They know to ask when I go over, but if there are twenty kids and I get to them last, they will do nothing (no phones, nothing!) for twenty minutes and act surprised I'm irritated they didn't grab a pencil from the freeeee pencils on my desk. And then act surprised they're behind on the assignment! Or I'll ask "okay, which of the 5 steps is tough for you?" "All of them." "K, read step 1." "Oh. That's easy." Rinse and repeat 1.8k Reply Share
    via u/scarletuba
  • 09
    hMJem 20 hr. ago Teachers have never had it harder IMO. When I was in High School cell phones were new, but they still had generally limited capabilities besides texting. Before smart phones were common, your life was basically school as a kid. Anyone you knew was from school. You couldn't just interact with the internet and home life from school. It was easy to separate fun time from school because of limited phone capabilities, and was still a luxury for your parents to even get you an iPod or
    via u/hMJem
  • 10
    Intelligent-Mud1437 1 day ago 37 year old attending college for the first time here. They have negative confidence. They barely speak above a mumble, especially when answering a question from the teacher. Most of them would rather die than talk to someone they're interested in. It's like 90% of them are cripplingly introverted. ✩ 1.0k ↓ Reply Share
    via u/Intelligent-Mud1437
  • 11
    CoverCall 1 day ago We were saying what we would do if we won the big lottery jackpot. The new 22 yr old hire said he'd become an influencer. Can you imagine winning a billion at 22 and that's what you would do. Not start a business, travel the world, charity, sports, property... Learn something….. but become an influencer... with a billion dollars. I mean like he's gonna hire a marketing company to fabricate interest in his social media? He's gonna spend money on stupid things to make people cr
    via u/CoverCall
  • 12
    • Battery6512 1 day ago Yeah, it like the old expression. "You know what's better than being rich and famous?" "What?" "Being rich" Who the hell would want to be famous. 1.4k Reply Share
    via u/Battery6512
  • 13
    LeluWater 1 day ago Why do you want to watch a 100% of a concert, that you payed good money for, through your phone lens? 3.1k Reply Share AlbiTuri05 1 day ago Social media is the worst peer pressure of all. There's a quote I've heard many times and it's true: If you did something and you don't record it, it's like you didn't do it
    via u/LeluWater, u/AlbiTuri05
  • 14
    Distractible You - 1 day ago Everything seems to have to have a label. Not just people and groups, but every concept or just generic thing that is popular has to be given a label or a hashtag. I find it so weird, especially when it's something that people have been doing forever, but now Gen Z have discovered it, it's got some brand new buzzy hashtag label as though it's just been invented. 547 Reply Share
    via u/DistractibleYou
  • 15
    rizlar09 1 day ago edited 1 day ago Taking public calls on speaker phone and sending voice messages. 1.7k Reply Share Loafer75 1 day ago Anyone who plays anything through their phone speakers in an enclosed public space needs a good slap. 734 Reply Share
    via u/rizlar09, u/Loafer75
  • 16
    Reasonable_Human55 1 day ago I'm in my forties and I manage a small group of people who are in their 20s to early thirties. What I notice most is how anxious and fearful they seem to be. Everyone is out to get them. I often get approached by subordinates who want me to do something about a colleague who is doing them wrong in some way. After I gather more information, it almost always is a case of poor assumption about someone else's intentions, coupled with a desire to jump to the worst case sc
    via u/Reasonable_Human55
  • 17
    IAmASurgeon DoctorHan · 1 day ago Why do they go to the movies only to scroll through their phone the entire time? 1.3k Reply Share IamEclipse 1 day ago And then use their phones to complain that the movie they didn't watch didn't make any sense? 538 Reply Share
    via u/IAmASurgeonDoctorHan, u/IamEclipse
  • 18
    420BIF 1 day ago I'm manage a lot of fresh graduates in my job, and I don't understand how in the space of just 2 years (during Cd) we went from great graduates, able to operate independently and work things out themselves to graduates who need their hand held for the most basic tasks. 1.1k Reply Share
    via u/420BIF
  • 19
    Indiana_harris - 1 day ago The absolute lack of capacity to deal with any emotional stress or upheaval without turning into a gibbering mess. I'm being hyperbolic of course, but I have literally now lost count of how many students I've dealt with who cannot under any circumstances be given criticism or negative feedback without utterly falling to pieces. I had someone messing around in a lecture, playing with their phone and being disruptive. I stopped the lecture and told them to put it away an
    via u/Indiana_harris
  • 20
    They looked SHOCKED to have been called out, and sat there quietly for the next 10-15 minutes until suddenly going all "deer in the headlights" when asked a question in relation to the topic and then running the full length of the lecture hall and out the room. I was informed the following day that the student had went to counselling services to complain that I had “put unreasonable pressure on him by asking him questions in class, and set off his anxiety". He then told the University he would n
    via u/Indiana_harris
  • 21
    Illiteratap 1 day ago Tiktok is an actual news source for some. 844 93 more replies Reply Share Silent_End_8591 - 1 day ago The rapid pace of technological advancement leaves me baffled. How do they effortlessly navigate through endless streams of information while maintaining attention spans shorter than a goldfish? 404 Reply Share
    via u/Illiteratap, u/Silent_End_8591
  • 22
    HrabiaVulpes 1 day ago Their dependency on authority and lack of self-reliancy. You have access to all the world's knowledge in your pocket, but you are only using it as a toy and when you need to learn something you are looking for a teacher. 204 Reply Share
    via u/HrabiaVulpes
  • 23
    toby_gray 1 day ago Specifically Gen Z, but how bad their general IT skills have gotten. I thought the most modern generation should be on the bleeding edge of the most modern technology. But most gen z that I meet are clueless about tech that isn't on their phones. Seems like less and less people are using actual computers for stuff so those soft skills are disappearing fast. 90 Reply Share
    via u/toby_gray
  • 24
    Awkward moments 1 day ago How pulling up white socks with sneakers was the most unfashionable middle aged American dad clothing in the entire world. To being fashionable. 154 Reply Share IDigRollin RockBeer - 1 day ago Socks with sandals too. And mustaches. Kids today think dressing like a dorky dad thirty years ago is cool. I laugh at them all the time 96 ⇓ Reply Share
    via u/Awkward_moments, u/IDigRollinRockBeer
  • 25
    xavras_wyzryn 1 day ago They've apparently lost the ability to step outside their comfort zone, I think. All that happens have to be safe and secure, otherwise it gives severe anxiety. No need for exploration, adventure. 625 Reply Share
    via u/xavras_wyzryn
  • 26
    NightSalut 1 day ago To me it seems that they've taken the approach that they should never be forced to go out of their comfort zone and if they are, then their rights and needs are being violated. Which on one hand, I'm happy that they advocate for their rights so strongly.. on the other hand, life is never going to be one comfort ride all along. You WILL experience rough patches and if you've never been challenged or you've been never out of your comfort zone, then of course you're going to ha
    via u/NightSalut
  • 27
    comfort zone occasionally is necessary for life... being forced to operate always outside of your comfort zone is not okay and I'm fully in support of them for advocating against it. But never facing a situation you're not comfortable with is not really comparable to this. 351 Reply Share
    via u/NightSalut

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insensitive documenting kids modern times growing up smartphones millennials nostalgia technology 80s entertaining gen x 90s generations gen z funny crying
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