“It is easy, when you are young, to believe that what you desire is no less than what you deserve,” Jon Krakauer writes in his bestselling book about adventurer Chris McCandless, Into the Wild , “to assume that if you want something badly enough, it is your God-given right to have it.”
And since the rest of us have to interact with them every day, whether it’s at work, in school, or simply in a line at the store, we decided to collect a list of things young people have said that made them seem a little disconnected from reality.
Not to suggest that the new generation is somehow worse than the older ones, but simply to remind ourselves that figuring out the world takes time and requires a bit of patience from everyone around.
A 15-year-old told me she wanted to join the army when she was older because she didn’t like being told what to do.
Yousaf Abbasi , Ok-Masterpiece-4716 Report
Told me he wanted to become a farmer because that seemed like a “chill, easy job”. I think his only experience was from playing Farmville on his phone.
Anna Tarazevich , Psychotic_Jester Report
I was asked if I wanted the senior discount at 36 years old. Yes, I took it.
Max Fischer , Beautiful_explosion_ Report
A teenager once told me, “I don’t understand why you don’t have TikTok.” I explained that I prefer to spend my time reading books, and they responded, “But… Why?” The sheer lack of understanding of alternative interests was pretty out of touch.
Darcy Lis | Photography & travels , WestCaterpillar6623 Report
I’ve worked in education since 2008. The number of kids who literally think they’re going to make it to the NFL, be a TikTok star, etc., is mind-blowing.
greenwish _ , reddit.com Report
The 27-year-old parent of a 13-year-old student told me that she was the only one allowed to tell her child what to do, and if her daughter didn’t want to do her math homework, then I was not to “punish her with bad grades.”
Vanessa Garcia , tiffy68 Report
A teenage girl told me that she wasn’t worried about her GCSE/exam results because she would just marry a rich man. She wasn’t very happy when I asked her what would happen if she couldn’t find anyone who wanted to marry her.
Emma Bauso , readlikeanerd Report
Little cousin thought fast-food jobs were easy. Then he got one to make his own money. He quit in a week.
Caleb Oquendo , Sharpshooter188 Report
That they feel sorry for us, AI does all their homework and reports, we didn’t have that. I responded with, “True, but we actually learned things.” The kid said, “Why does that matter?”
Matheus Bertelli , Fickle-Secretary681 Report
I work at a university. A 20-year-old student came to see me to ask if I would be his dissertation supervisor in the next academic year. I said I couldn’t, since I would be leaving at the end of the semester (to work at another university). He looked me up and down with dawning realization and said, ‘Oh, right, yeah, I guess you are retiring?’. I was 35 at the time.
Pixabay , J8766557 Report
Some people think earning $80,000 - $100,000 a year is ‘average’.
Natasha Chebanoo , beigereige Report
I was struggling to pay bills, and a friend was like, “Don’t worry, your mom and dad care about you, they’ll pay them for you”. I told her I wanted to be a self-sufficient adult, and my parents didn’t have the money to cover my bills anyway. Her mind was blown.
JJY Media , Ithelda Report
It just blows my mind how many people under 30 complain online about feeling old and used up, or they feel like it’s too late to find another path in life. Apparently, feeling old is something for young people to do. I’m 40+ and feel like my life has just begun.
Gustavo Fring , Historical_Guess2565 Report
‘You guys need to learn to adapt.’ A new colleague said to us. DURING a management/staff meeting about her atrocious work ethic.
RDNE Stock project , 1whoisconcerned Report
I told a couple of 18-year-olds that I don’t have Instagram. They called me a liar and said if I didn’t want to be friends, I should just say so.
Abdulkadir Emiroğlu , jarboxing Report
We had a young guest speaker at work who was there to speak to us about mental health. She advised us that if there was a task that we weren’t up for, we should tell our bosses that we weren’t mentally equipped to complete that task that day. For the record, we’re teachers. And her examples were tasks such as lesson planning, grading, and talking to students - the main point of our jobs.
Max Fischer , IllustriousCabinet11 Report
“You wouldn’t have been laid off if you were good at your job. Layoffs don’t affect the ones who are good at their work.” Pipe down, Ashleigh. You just focus on showing up on time before throwing those stones.
CadoMaestro , forever_29_ish Report
I had to stop using cursive at the last place I worked because most of the staff, who were all under the age of 25, didn’t know how to read it.
Abner Navarro , spytez Report
Overheard from 19-year-old coworkers, “I think I’m going to wait to get Botox until I’m old, like 25.” I’m not sure what they think is going to happen in 6 years, but if they lay off the tanning beds and the vapes, they should not need Botox.
cottonbro studio , censorkip Report
“You mean phones couldn’t take pictures?”
cottonbro studio , sentman9 Report
Jonas Thomann , MotherofJackals Report
Almost anything to do with history. I once saw a teen tell an Asian person that rice was “pretty new” to the American diet and that “40 years ago” (so, the 1970s), “most Americans would have heard of rice, but very few would have it in their pantries, and most had not tried it”. Rice. The kid thought rice was a “new, exotic food” in the US… In the 1970s.
MART PRODUCTION , tunaman808 Report
“What do you mean you don’t have summer off? They make you work during summer?!?” Yes, child. Adults don’t get summer break. You know, when you go to the grocery store or the movies all summer? Those people are working. I have to work just like them. The child was 17. Their mind was blown.
Yudha Dwiyoko Putra , Low_Effective_6056 Report
“I don’t care if I get Covid…” Till she did, she regretted it then.
Polina Tankilevitch , South_Hedgehog_7564 Report
You’re old. You don’t need more money. If they only knew.
RDNE Stock project , jtd0000 Report
I asked an intern to help me enter data into spreadsheets for an environmental project we had due soon. This was at an environmental consulting firm. Them: “I am going to pass on that work task because I don’t see that as something I need to do within the realm of what I plan for my career path.”
Mikhail Nilov , FlowingNotForcing Report
Told me that he will never go to work and will instead make money by investing. I asked where he would get the money for investing a large enough sum to live off of it.
Alesia Kozik , tommykiddo Report
When a young person says they don’t vote, I get upset. Everyone should learn about their rights, responsibilities, and how their lives are affected by each level of government. It is more important now than ever to make informed decisions on what you want your future to look like. Around the world, our rights and freedoms are in danger. Young people will be impacted the most by decisions made by the voters in their jurisdiction. They need to be more involved.
Edmond Dantès , jamaicanadiens Report
He thought that because I didn’t pay to listen to music, I was pirating it, even though I clearly wrote in my post that I watch music videos on YouTube or listen to the radio. He didn’t understand that musicians distributing music in that format got their money from advertisers rather than from subscriptions. The whole thing would have been hilarious if it hadn’t been so sad. The younger generation thinks the only legit way to consume content is through subscriptions. They have no clue how to be frugal and find free and completely legal means to listen to their music.
Sanket Mishra , mekat Report
My 16-year-old niece saw my CD collection and asked why I had so many vintage music discs.
Brett Jordan , Naughty-Sweetheart Report
When I was young, I refused a lot of opportunities because I wanted to do a certain job. I was so clouded with my own understanding of how the world worked that I sabotaged myself. I could have easily made good money in my early 20s. But I had this mindset on how I wanted to do things and how I wanted things to happen. I was out of touch.
Monstera Production , reddit.com Report
I had a new temp tell me he doesn’t get why I wouldn’t give my social security number on the phone to the power company in the staff break room. He laughed at me and said I was being too paranoid, and no one cares what some government number is.
Mikhail Nilov , Pm_me_clown_pics3 Report
It’s not fair that just because he (industrial electrician) went to school and studied gets paid that much more than I (working as a barista).
Masud Allahverdizade , Slackerwithgoals Report
“Millennials never take responsibility for anything, the housing market, the environment, or the economy. They blame everything on boomers.”
Gaby Lopez , Asherwinny107 Report
When I was a stepmother to a teenage boy and caught him stealing money from us, I got his dad to take his phone away for a period of time. He flipped out before going to school one day and said, “What am I supposed to do in class??” I said, “I don’t know, learn? Listen to your own thoughts?” He said, “YOU TRY LISTENING TO YOUR OWN THOUGHTS.”
Andrey Matveev , potsandpole Report
“I guess there are poor people in Jamaica, but they are so happy! They’re used to being poor. They’re not hungry. They can always just eat a coconut!” We were both around 19 years old, and I was at a party at her house. We had just met. After we were done talking, I wasn’t invited back, which was fine by me!
Laura The Explaura , No_Goose_7390 Report
Rich people have it harder than poor people because rich people are more “isolated,” hence lonelier.
Jimmy K , Notmuch__1 Report
“Once I learn guitar, I’ll release a demo and get a recording deal.”
Quốc Bảo , LiquidSoCrates Report
If the lottery system has so much money, why can’t they just cut everyone a big check instead of making you pay to play.
Waldemar Brandt , Nothing-tralala Report
“I’m NOT taking a job at Orange Theory… I have a college degree!” - An unemployed recent psych undergrad with restaurant and retail experience to me. Cool…
Yan Krukau , Creepy-Floor-1745 Report
I had a classmate when I was 17 whose father came to collect her from school one day. “Oh God, he’s come in the Porsche instead of the Range Rover, that’s so embarrassing.”
Aryan Prajapati , HelloStranger0325 Report
I need to browse Instagram to know what is happening in the world.
cottonbro studio , reddit.com Report
“I want to go back to an easier time like the 50s or 80s when things like this didn’t exist,” ignoring that a lot of people didn’t have civil rights spanning those decades.
Amine İspir , SeeYouInTrees Report
I’m always hearing about how life was easier like 30-50 years ago, when it wasn’t.
Mick Haupt , AuggieNorth Report
In college, I had a friend who was looking for apartments near our campus, and she came across multiple listings that were close by and under $1000… While showing me pictures, she said, “Wow, look at this, $800 for this whole house.” At first, I thought she was joking, because I thought there was no way in hell she could think that a 4-bedroom, 2-bath, newly built townhouse would be $800. I had to hold back my annoyance as I calmly explained to her that these listings were for bedrooms with shared common spaces around the house. She looked distraught and disgusted by the fact that people would “lie” on the internet and “lure people in with photos of the entire house, making them believe they could have it all.” Not the smartest pickle, but she was a nice girl.
Harrison Haines , Adventurous-Run-5920 Report
“I don’t go to the doctor or dentist, so I don’t need health insurance,” said my 25-year-old stepdaughter when I advised her that, legally, at 26, she’d need to have her own insurance. Edit. To give more context. We were talking about therapy, which she wanted to do after a long discussion. But she didn’t want to pay for it, and we, her parents, offered to cover what wasn’t covered by insurance. She is a grown adult all on her own when she left for college. For the first couple of years of college, she’d have visits for healthcare when she came home until she said she didn’t want to go anymore and refused. As a legal adult, I can’t control whether she goes for healthcare.
8pCarlos Morocho , FruityStrawberry3119 Report
Debating at this Christmas party, it was my cousin’s in-laws. My mistake for debating children; I’ll admit to that (they were high schoolers). Anyways, I was stating facts and frustrating them; their epic comeback was “you don’t know anything, how many Instagram and TikTok followers do you have?” So my points were invalid because I have 100ish followers on Instagram, all of whom I know, and they had thousands of followers liking their thirst trap photos.
Omkar Patyane , throwthatoneawaydawg Report
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