I see a lot of elderly and boomers touting this as a valid argument. I don't think they're really joking about it. They mean it. "Gen Z has a lot to learn, they need to toughen up if they want to live and get on with it. None of this thin skinned sensitivity bullshit ". So are Gen Z too soft, not thick enough skin, and even worrying about things that don't ever matter? Is this the case?
42 comments
Gen z will call Alpha soft in about 10 years. It’s just a thing society does to itself.
Main thing I’ve noticed is gen Z has shit social skills and they let anxiety prevent them from acquiring those skills.
I think every generation thinks the next one is soft. And they’re probably right. I mean, fuck dying at 30 in a coal mine, or because a scratch got infected, or because your canned food has botulism.
Tissue fucking paper.
*Children; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. They no longer rise when elders enter the room, they contradict their parents and tyrannize their teachers. Children are now tyrants* – Socrates.
Older generations have been complaining about younger generations since antiquity, at least.
Someday, Gen Z will complain about younger, yet named generations about how they are soft, lazy, and entitled.
Boomers grew up in a much easier world than Gen Z are growing up in, so I wouldn’t say so, no.
I suspect a lot of it is that for Boomers it was considered weak to discuss things like mental illness. Instead, it was more common for men to drink too much, avoid their families, commit physical abuse, or to “just” bottle it up for as long as possible.
One thing that is different is we would get absolutely berated, bullied and abused at work and we just had to put up with it. It was truly a different world, you couldn’t really complain to your older parents who had it worse. Each generation gets softer and it’s not necessarily bad imo, it’s just worth pointing out when that generation complains.
Kids! What’s the matter with kids these days?
I don’t think they’re soft. I think they’re trying to figure out why this world is so f*&ked. They don’t see a bright future. They only see billionaires stealing the wealth. Countries destroying the planet for profit. Impersonal business that try to cater to them but can’t figure them out. All they want is a fair shot at life, but they don’t see that in front of them.
My kids are in their 20’s. They aren’t going to college, because what’s the point? They aren’t going to have kids because why would you want to bring kids into this hell hole. These are the kinds of conversations I have with them.
This isn’t just me. I talk to people at work that tell me they are having these same conversations with their kids.
I’m a millennial and I remember when we were like 18 years old they were talking s*** about us, putting us in the covers of magazines calling us “generation me”. They basically said we had no hope of surviving in the real world, which I guess was kind of true but not by faults of our own. The economy, housing market, wages and cost of living have all taken turns being an absolute nightmare since before we all started working adult jobs.
I feel that for what we were given and the world we currently live in, we are doing okay. We are a pretty economical bunch by necessity and generally pretty progressive. I’m sure Gen z will be fine. They will struggle and then find their way just like us.
Millennials copped the same from boomers. It’s… partially accurate, so I’d assume the same for the Gen-X/Zoomer rivalry. There’s probably valid points on both sides.
Just as an example, the biggest thing that was specific to Millennials was the cost of education. On one hand we were right (you could fund a 4 year undergrad with a summer job, sit down grandpa), but so were they (we really did double down on some USELESS fucking degrees.)
Idk calling 20 year olds soft is just weird. Like yeah they’re soft, they’re 20.
They said the same thing about millennials when we worked 2 jobs to pay rent because of the recession.
They are bitter assholes who only feel good when they put someone else down. The sooner they are out of the work force the better.
My coworkers are predominantly in their early 20’s and they’re doing just fine in a very insensitive career.
I feel bad because they have even less motivation to strive because the wealth/income gap is insane
[[Old man yells at cloud.]](https://i.imgur.com/91sn32Q.jpeg)
I think every generation thinks that way about the next one after them… I think the kids are alright. Every generation has their problems and Z has different ones than I did as a Millennial. I do not minimize the bullshit they have to deal with.
There has been a movement for the last 50 plus years to make the world less casually cruel.
At the same time, starting a bit later, the standards of behavior of the corporate workplace have become the expected standards of behavior everywhere.
To people who havent been conditioned by these phenomenon, the sensitivities of those who have can seem strange.
However, and this is not so much a generational issue, there are a large number of young people who confuse feeling uncomfortable with threats to their safety. This behavior is expressed in older people as well, but its more common in young people.
So yes, there does seem to be an increase in emotional sensitivity. Its not a bad thing or a good thing, its just a difference. On the one hand, it makes people less cruel. On the other hand, it makes people more risk averse.
When people are observing that many young men are dropping out of society, playing video games all day, not pursuing a mate or career, thats an expression of risk aversion.
Old people thinking poorly of young people? That never happens every single generation since the beginning of time.
My kids are gen z, and they and their friends are lovely humans. They work hard, they care a lot.
Gen x was outright called ‘the slacker generation.’ Now we’re calling newly minted adults basically the same thing.
I do thing gen z and gen alpha have it much harder then gen x or millennials. My kids will never own a home without my help. College is vastly more expensive and less beneficial than it was for me. In spite of that, they’re doing their best and, largely, succeeding.
People always say this about the new generation. My criticism for young people isn’t that they are soft but the manosphere concept of masculinity is horrible and ruining their chances of relating to women their age.
Its a bunch of bullshit those comments usually come from people that’ll have a meltdown over a happy holidays sign. Gen z is growing up in a world where all the fucked up shit is right n their face both via social media showing them all of the worst the world has to offer and everything happening to them personally. They are not soft they are jaded.
I’m not so convinced in whatever generation being whatever else.
My son is 7 and I’ve feared he’d be a young person stereotyped by popular ideas about them. Low attention span, screen obsessed etc.
But he’s able to draw and do physical things like play with toys for hours on end. Sure he plays video games and will watch TV for ages too if left unchecked but he’s probably watching less screens than I did some 30 or years prior.
Gen X here – This kinda inter generational bull shit has been going on forever. There are great people and dip shits and everything in between from all generations.
Well, you’re worrying about things that don’t even matter right now. I am a Gen Xer. My brothers are a little older and are boomers. Regardless of what you may believe, the elderly and older generations treated us with contempt (Google Archie Bunker for the archetype conservative blue collar guy who despised us as weak and too soft). My father used to yell about how “damn idle” his kids were before we were even 16. We had jobs at 13 so we didn’t have to go to school in the crappy Sears clothes they made us wear.
So at least your parents can likely relate to that and don’t pressure you too much. I know my father told me he regretted being so hard on us as kids after seeing how we treated our kids more humanely. lol.
Every generation says this about the next one. It’s the circle of life. Pretty sure they found graffiti in Pompei saying something similar. It’s nothing new.
Are they soft compared to generations 100 years ago? We all are. But even they thought it about the next one.
I do not think this. But they do however. Do whatever the fuck they want. Which is annoying but I can respect it
I don’t know about “too soft”, but they’re definitely soft*er*.
Ignore them. Boomers hate everyone. They’re contemptible people who only care about themselves.
I am currently teach a course at a college, and the students are so soft. I worry about what will happen when they hit the job market/work force. I tell them that they need to show up ready 5 days per week and a lot of them just can’t do it.
Every generation since time began has thought younger generations weren’t as tough as they were. Hearing the stories of how my grandparents immigrated to Canada with a change of clothes and a few dollars kind of confirms the stereotype for me as I was in awe of what my grandparents accomplished in life. However I’m early Gen X and frankly stumped at the lack of confidence and resilience in a lot of Gen Z people I meet. This seems worse than the usual generational divide. My biggest frustration is how to encourage and support them. When I was in my early twenties I felt so overconfident I could do anything. Life over the decades has helped align my abilities and confidence. My problem is with my history I don’t know how to reach out and help the young, anxious, and unsure young people I meet. Telling them to just do it or similar like my parents said to me is counterproductive. All I do right now is try to be super polite and gently encouraging which just doesn’t feel like enough. I wish I could give these young people a top up of confidence so they too can enjoy life in your twenties the way it should be lived. I understand tough job markets and had times when I didn’t know how my life would turn out or which career to pursue but I still made time to have some fun with friends even when we were all broke. It’s an unusual time and I feel powerless to help.
The hippie generation is calling gen z soft. lol. But really they’re just a product of their upbringing. If millennials and gen z are so bad maybe we need to go back and look for the root of why?
If us older ones are quietly quitting, gen z have quietly quit society.
Like honestly, the ladder has been pulled up behind them. iPad babies got conned out of their crucial ages 1-6 development.
Trillionaires (it’s not going to be billionaires anymore) have figured it’s just logical to destroy the working classes.
They are too smart to fall for these cheap tricks
As an “elder” millennial, here’s my take on it. Every older generation has these types of opinions on the younger it’s nothing new. In time gen z will come into their own and likely complain about whatever generation comes in behind them.
Now, from what I’ve seen gen z does have difficulty with social skills. They (for the most part) seem to be super anxious and unable to carry on a conversation. Likely due to being brought up in a digital world gone wild.
One positive thing about gen z I will say though is that they want authentic connection and can smell BS from a mile away. That’s a good thing I think the world needs more of.
as accurate as any gross over simplification of an entire population.
Some people will conform to the characterisation, some will very much not.
I mean, yes, they’re soft, but the world they’re growing up in is fucked, and learned helplessness is fair.
The kids are always too soft when they get out from under mommy and daddy – it’s normal and expected. If they had a good childhood, we spent 20 years protecting them from all the harshness out there.
Over the next few years they’ll start collecting scars like we did and toughen up.
Lol as a millennial who has gone through this before, I’m not talking shit about no generations. They are living in a tough world with very little hope and prospects that things will improve. That’s tougher than any boomers who lived in the best economy, got theirs and said fuck you to all future generations.
Every generation says that about the young. Then the old die out, and the world goes on. Gen whatever is gonna be soft, guaranteed.
Pretty accurate.
Don’t get me wrong every generation had their things, but it seems to me like other generations adapted or changed the world to suit them and got upset when they failed. Gen Z seem to expect the world to change to them, and get upset when it doesn’t. it seems the same but it isn’t quite.
I am 59 and definitely can be accused of saying this. Unfortunately, society has made it true.
A lot is because we have so much under control. People born to parents who never lived through great depression or WW2 never really heard of the struggles to just survive they did. Millennial and later never really lived with fear like we did. In my generation, it was fear of sudden nuclear attack. That was a real fear. During WW2 it was the enemy would invade tomorrow.
Plus, there has never been a real emergency or anything big that affected us all. Gen Z was kids during 9/11, but that was just a localized attack. Yes, there was big fear around the US, but it subsided quickly. There was no fear in Indonesia, but Indonesia suffered greatly during WW2.
We humans have developed a soft world. That is definitely a good thing. No one likes living in caves or hoping they find game or roots for supper. Humanity has progressed and learned and applied this learning. As long as something significant does not occur, it is great. If something significant does occur, I can guarantee you humanity will suffer more than it would have 60 years ago because later generations never had struggles to survive and never learned at the knees of those who did.
Oh, and someday that even will occur.
Older generations will always call younger generations entitled and lazy. We have writing from ancient Athens saying they fear for the democracy because the younger generation has things too easy and doesn’t know how to sacrifice. It is more a reflection of where people are in life than any generation actually being more lazy than the last.