Burning Bandwidth
Older generations made a lot of promises to the youths in the last several decades, but as we’ve seen, a lot of those guarantees didn’t pan out. Parents told their millennial kids that if they took out $150,000 in loans to go to college, they would get a great job immediately that would pay the loans off within the year. They said hobbies were less important than careers, and that fancy coffees and avocado toast were preventing kids from ever owning a house. They promised that our white collar ambitions would yield multiple properties, a fancy car, and a healthy portfolio. Yet, by the age of 30, college-educated millennials who believed their forefathers were still living at home or with roommates, drowning in bills, debt, and a d3ad-end managerial position at the local dive bar. Millennials may still think the goal to success is an Excel-worshipping corporate position, but not Gen Z. They were watching the world change in real time as little kids, noting the millennial downfall and changing their priorities accordingly.
It’s not that millennials weren’t trying to succeed in life, far from it. It’s just that the world was not following the path of their expectations. Therefore, our elders’ promises no longer applied. This made job acquisition for young people extremely competitive and supply and demand trends unpredictable. Many millennial graduates are still in search of a lucrative career, hobbies they enjoy, and a life’s purpose. No pressure for someone going through their fourth quarter-life crisis, right?
However, Gen Z took serious notes on their predecessors' experience when they took the plunge into adulthood. Instead of putting all of their eggs into one oversimplified collegiate basket, Gen Z diversified their endeavors and found that niche efforts yielded better results across the board in their life, careers, and overall wellbeing.
Older generations naturally disapprove, of course, but they’re not faced with the multifaceted pressures of young adulthood anymore. Boomers have no idea what it’s like to be at an 80-way crossroads where one false move could lead to serious consequences for their future. When they were this age, the world was far simpler. Being average and sticking to the status quo was rewarded back then. Now, being extraordinary, extreme, or maxxed out is the only way to make it.
Kids These Days
Boomers think that Gen Z is lazy, narcissistic, and overly emotional.( Does that sound familiar, millennials?) However, a writer on Medium, who goes by “Mansi Writes Here,” says they’re just living smarter. “Gen Z isn’t lazy, they’re just done playing by outdated rules,” she writes. Gen Z doesn’t dream of labor or visions of financial freedom. Instead they have thrown out those dated goals and now prioritize entertainment, exploration, mental health, job-hopping for promotions, and life’s more ephemeral undertakings. Say what you will about Gen Z’s fleeting attention span, but when they’ve latched onto something, whether it’s a trend, a job, a new style, or a specialty drink order, they go all out, leaning into their obsessions with every fiber of their being.
They are not lazy, they’re maxxing in their own way.
Via u/Anastasiya
If Gen Z isn’t Linkedinmaxxing, they’re not getting hired, and if they’re not rentmaxxing, they’re living at their parents’ house. Instead of fixating on nebulous adulthood milestones, Gen Z is matchamaxxing, they’re jobmaxxing, they’re mellowmaxxing, and they’re most importantly lifemaxxing. Strangely, Gen Z’s approach to mega extremeness has translated into a somewhat balanced lifestyle, reflecting the generation’s healthiest response to overwhelming societal pressure.
Recognizing that human beings have a limited bandwidth and therefore only a limited amount of effort to give, Gen Z reshifts their focus into figuring out what areas of their life deserve more attention. With the future proving to be everchanging, unpredictable, and constantly concerning, Gen Z escapes the intensity of future woes (like inflation, career insecurity, and incoming biblical snowstorms), by choosing to give 110% of their attention and energy to the present moment.
Gen Z is not lazy, they’re poignantly chasing offbeat goals, they’re redefining their bandwidth, and they’re certainly not giving up on the future. Taking unconventional or seemingly silly enterprises to their full potential, younger generations are living life to maximum potential, just in ways that their Granny would never understand.
Via u/BlackTrump
I’m in an era of lifemaxxing at the moment, soaking up the 2025/2026 snowboarding season to its full potential. With the future as uncertain as it is and with “responsible” plans threatening to go up in flames anyway, if you could maxx out your favorite moments, why wouldn’t you?