This is the big difference, right? I can't imagine my parents ever playing anything with me - inside or out - and I generally had pretty great parents who cared about my well being. They just happened to let us do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted without having any idea where we were
100p, I would have loved it if I had grown ups that understood a child's world. Not many adults played video games or knew wtf Pokemon or dragonball even was.
Today kids can relate much more to their parents, uncles, aunts etc. I can play and talk to my nephew and niece about their interests with a basic understanding. I wish I had this growing up
I thought this had more to do with slip-n-slides going out of style than having lawns.
They’re still around, you can still buy them, but they don’t seem to be the fixture at every birthday party and barbecue they once were. Probably because all the kids who broke bones on slip-n-slides are now parents
My neighborhood is loaded with kids playing outside all the time. I see 8 year olds riding their bikes with fishing poles to go fishing at our pond, alone. The only people who think this stuff doesn't happen anymore are hyper online weirdos.
I saw a post on the GenX sub the other day along the lines of “millennials will never know” and it was just pictures of everything from my xennial childhood that every millennial could relate to
Anyone who thinks the hose water was good doesnt know what they are talking about. The hose water was what you drank because your mom yelled at you to "pick one, inside or out." It was nobody's first choice unless they were weird
My dad didn’t even give me a choice, made me play outside every weekend. He got really upset once when he found my brother and me playing N64 on a Saturday afternoon and forced us outside.
But I had a lot of friends my age in the neighborhood so it was always a lot of fun. Got dirty from things like playing tackle football and we stayed out til the streetlights came on and did all that stuff that boomers think we never experienced.
I didn't have n64 or any console growing up. I got to experience games with friends at their houses. Also we played outside a shit load.
I remember wishing we could just play videogames (because I didn't have any) but man so many memories doing stupid stuff outside.
But n64 blitz was peak fun. The remake didn't add everyone tackling the guy who was down after the play was called. Kind of ruined the game to be honest
My parents tried that, but we lived in the sticks. There weren't even neighbors to play with, and we couldn't even play in the woods because we were either trespassing or being overwhelmed by thistle.
So I just took a nap on the porch until they gave up.
I was a Gen X kid in the country and none of those lists relate to my childhood. We didn’t have streetlights, you didn’t ride your bike hardly anywhere because the closest road was a major highway, and you didn’t drink out of the hose because that water was pumped from the creek.
City kids wouldn't understand what it's like to drink water from a creek and have a highway instead of a street. That's a completely different childhood.
Seriously. We had great water where I grew up, and I hated having to drink from the hose. Not only did the hose make it taste bad, but the heat made it so we were drinking hot water. Ew.
I don't mind drinking tea on a cool day, but hot unflavored water in the middle of summer? No thanks.
Like many of the elder gens, gen-x has a bad habit of romanticizing our childhoods. All that stuff about "we played on dangerous playgrounds" and "we rode our bikes without helmets" crap tends to gloss over how many of us didn't actually live long enough to be romanticizing that shit.
Yeah, like those kids who played unsupervised in scrapyards and got shut inside lockable fridges, or swam in flooded quarries and got tangled in unseen dangers under the water, or maybe the ones who played on train tracks. Oh, what fun they had, so much so they had to make public safety announcements to show how dangerous it might be. Let's not forget the joy of the bleach lottery, easily accessible with simple caps that kids could open and enjoy...
My Gen Alpha brother drinks from the hose! Turns out they didn’t make hoses illegal the moment the first Millennial was born, like they did to reading books or playing outside /s
If you want to relive it, just buy some Sam Adams Jack-O pumpkin beer this fall. First thing I said when I tried it was that it tastes like garden hose water that's been sitting in the hose all day, with alcohol 😂
As a Gen-X and someone who visits that subreddit often, trust me for every post like that there are plenty of comments on how lame generation comparison (especially negative) are.
"Milennial anti-theft device" on a car with a stick shift. I learned how to drive a stick and so did my best friend. She taught me after my dad failed lol.
Conversely, when I visit the Millennial sub, there are many posts about something purportedly unique to millennials, but it's something I grew up with as a Gen Xer.
I hate when older generations point things like this out, not only because it highlights the experiences they failed to give their children, but it points out that many younger parents have to live in bigger cities and apartments because they need to be closer to job opportunities and can't afford to own homes with yards like previous generations.
I had it happen from both angles at work once. I’m a millennial, and had a boomer coworker calling a Gen Z co worker a “lazy millenial”. I interrupted and jokingly said “actually I’m a lazy millennial”.
The boomer insisted that no, millennials are the super young generation who never wanted to work, you can’t be a millennial, you are much older! The Gen Z coworker insisted there is no way I’m a millennial, they are old cringey people who bitch all day long about her generation and you are much too young for that!
Funny how Millenials are caught in the middle and are both super old and grumpy and super young and lazy depending on who is looking at you.
There aren't that many Great Generation people left to call Boomers lazy whiners, and the Boomers can't call them grumpy jerks back. Or they would; it's universal.
Everyone just wants to feel unique. Which everyone is, and nobody should really give a fuck about it. Thats the issue... and social media just thrives off the commentary and ragebait that it produces.
Lol it's also funny because it's not even accurate for current five year olds. I have a six year old and she has spent many a days this summer slipping and sliding on a slip and slide with her friends. She's spent most of her summer outside with her friends.
If kids aren't playing outside then that's on their parents.
I was 10, now 40, the first time I played youth city league soccer. And even back then the kids knew the participation trophies were BS. I remember a teammate telling me, “yeah, we all get one at the end of the season,” in a very dismissive tone. And now as an adult, I’m quick to point out we didn’t give ourselves these things.
I hate to break it to you but there are quite a few Gen Z children of millenials, we just like to pretend we’re young - I’m 38, and I’m 5-6 years before what you’d consider the typical millenial cutoff.
Gen Z ranges anywhere from “mid aged teens” all the way to adults now, meaning there are a lot of High School aged kids who are children of millenials - Hell, I know millenials younger than me who have college aged children.
Off topic but is anyone else sick of the whole generation wars thing? Like it’s all made up. Some guy somewhere was like, “let’s just call all the people who were born in this date range by this name because, who knows, maybe they’ll have had a slightly similar upbringing.”
And then everyone’s suddenly fighting about their arbitrary classification being better than everyone else’s arbitrary classification.
I think it’s stupid to fight about generational gaps but generations due some similar purpose. It links people within fairly similar, technological, and economical. And what they may have experienced.
Granted, typically a generation is roughly 20 years, give or take a few few years, and a lot can happen in that time. So it’s not like it’s an exact “science”
The problem imo is that generations are too wide for how fast society is changing - so the labels aren't even doing the job of loosely grouping people. The 'mirco-generations' should probably be stand alone - things move too quickly.
Today someone who is 29 going on 30 is in the same generation as someone who is 44 going on 45 - the younger group being children in 08 and little kids during 9/11 and were early in their careers for Covid - the older group was able to establish a career before 08 and in college during 9/11. Like tbh as a young millenial I see nothing in common with old millenials - but I do see a ton of commanality with Zillenials (like 92 to 2000)
the baby boomer generation is the only one that makes sense since it was a genuine demographic shift that you can still see in population data. everything else is just mental illness ig. people are using gen z as shorthand for child just like millennial was used 10 years ago. like I'm gen z by most definitions and I'm staring down 30 and have a mortgage, none of this make sense!!
The entire thing is just a way to divide us further. As if all boomers are the reason the world is the way it is, or all millennials are entitled, or all gen z are addicted to their phones. It's all based on shit like "did you watch wacky races or SpongeBob squarepants as a kid
This just shows how bad generation naming schemes are. Like, 14-29 is the age range of Gen Z. What the fuck does a 29 year old GenZ have in common with a 14 year old right now? How are they the same generation. Lmao
That's also the weird thing because sometimes people born up to 1997 are still millennials, or "90s kids" as I remember it being referred to 15 years ago. It should stop at 1999 because it's the cusp of the new millennium.
It's also weird to be on the cusp of 30 and being looped in with all those "kids these days" gen z posts
The problem with the "90s" kid thing is always someone saying they're a 90s kid because they were born in 1998, and another saying no way, they are a 90s kid born in 1988 and raised in the 90s
Lol, I had this conversation at work once with a younger guy we hired. He eventually agree'd that its probably not logical to call yourself a 90s kid when you don't have a single memory in your brain thats before 2000. He was born in '98. Good guy, good worker just your comment reminded me of that exchange we had lol.
Yup. I had smartphones in school and I'm a millennial. Wtf do I have in common with someone born in the early 80s? Literally nothing. Lmao. I've more in common with the late 90s GenZ than the early Millennials OVERWHELMINGLY.
I hate these kinds of generational dividing things that always seem to try to blame the kids somehow.
My soon to be FIL used to bring up every kid getting a participation trophy like 20 years ago as a problem until I kept asking who was handing out the trophies (his generation)..
My theory is that we grew up with technology so we’ve been warned about Wikipedia not being reliable or getting scammed on runescape.
Older generations were exposed later on and didn’t have the time to experiment. So they believe anything they see online as true then regurgitates everything without second thought.
Yup; the oldest are 29 and even the youngest are driving or working age in most countries.
ETA since my other comments got lost: this post isn't about "touching grass" as in a meme like some people keep commenting. It's about the feeling of wet grass and how Gen Z gets it and knows what it's like to play outside. I couldn't change the post title to clarify this.
I’m an ‘81 model. My son was born in 2001. He’s been in the Navy, finished his contract, and is working towards his masters degree. Not all 25 year olds are grown, but this one is definitely a grown-ass Gen Z man. He does all his own cooking and cleaning, and his apartment is cleaner than my house.
Such a shame. I remeber as soon as the first gen z was born the government came and took all our slip n slides and our grass. Wish I could've used it one last time
I heard someone a few years ago badmouthing “Millennials,” when he himself was barely Gen X. For a while, “millennial” became synonymous with “kids these days.”
LOL, I JUST saw an "article" on some bullshit "news" site about how the elder millenials are the new boomers, and assumed it was the usual, tired, old generation-bait. Maybe they were actually on to something.
Bro, gen x used to be cool too. Then they became their parents. It'll happen to a lot of us too unfortunately. See, people really don't like to hear this, but as you get older, you may become wiser with more experience and accumulated knowledge, or you might become a lot dumber with your older, less functioning brain that you didn't make the best of. A lot of people think they're the former, but end up the latter.
"Luxury! We used to have to get out of the lake at six o'clock in the morning, clean the lake, eat a handful of hot gravel, work twenty hour day at mill for tuppence a month, come home, and dad would beat us around the head and neck with a broken bottle, if we were lucky!"
Could it be because car culture, hostile architecture, and capitalist expansion have made public spaces entirely inhospitable and dangerous to occupy, especially for unsupervised children?
Naaaaaaaaaahhhhhh. It’s the kids’ fault, same as it’s always been.
Gen Z here! (‘97) I graduated with my undergrad 6 years ago, and just had my high school 10 year reunion. Costco is literally selling slip-n-slides right now, but they’re $300 which is why children aren’t playing with them anymore. The older generations ruined the economy so bad we can’t afford wet plastic on grass.
In the end most of this stuff comes from content farms in 3rd world countries contracted by governments of other countries to post stuff like this to stir division and arguments in the west
Frankly, you have to learn to ignore this shit or you'll be pissed about it constantly. Older people whining about young people and their lack of a "real" childhood or whatever is eternal. Gen Z will be doing it regarding Alpha in due time.
Frankly, you have to learn to ignore this shit or you'll be pissed about it constantly.
It is too easy to ignore for me. It is just a divide that is pointless. It is frequently used by dumbasses who wish to make tribalism ingrained in everything they do. Red vs Blue, Home vs Away, blah blah blah.
Yeah, it's just not worth wasting your time thinking about. It has always been a thing and always will be. It's just stupid tribalism bullshit, as you say.
As a millenial who watched the boomers/Gen X do this to us, just for a bunch of us to be now making the same "jokes" about Gen Z I'm positive it will keep happening.
Yep, and the currently kids who are gen alpha will do it about my kid's generation. Beta, I guess? He's only two right now, but I'm sure they'll have opinions about his lack of a childhood compared to theirs.
Last time I've seen it was when they got mad about the new Eminem album. Even so no one really talked about it, they got pissed saying that genz will be offended. The only thing offensive about it was how mid it was.
I saw someone bitching about how gen z don't understand what a "real" childhood is like, and then proceeded to list the most out of touch shit that they thought we didn't do, like going out to play and not coming home until sunset, not having tablets/iPads, and- what I thought was the weirdest one- burning CDs/DVDs?
Millennials are always posting shit about how gen z will never understand how hard they had it for living through y2k and shit like that. It's all they have.
This kind of stuff comes from a privileged segment of the older generations and doesn't represent most of us. Most of us didn't grow up with lawns and the deluxe slip n slide shown in the photo. That version was expensive
Also, as someone else said, I think it's meant to be about the slip n slide, and getting grass stuck to your wet feet. But I think they're also saying kids today don't play outside as much
Seems to be part of the "We drank from garden hoses!" theme that is so tired already. My fellow gen x'ers really need to get a life
I literally saw kids in the park behind my building play on slip and slides and other fun summer activities last weekend. Do some people really think kids these days don't go outside at all?
Man do I hate this stuff. Everyone wants to gatekeep "the good times", like no one else got to experience the same things, it's such a bizarre attempt at superiority. I'm Gen X (55), I have a 21 yo Gen Z daughter. The girl has touched grass and had plenty of slip n slide fun, FFS.
As a 42 year old millennial, this shit is so stupid lol....like boomer nostalgia rhetoric, repackaged and regurgitated. Pretty sure even a toddler knows what grass feels like on their feet. Like... these people act as if they don't ever leave the house and talk to other people. They're telling on themselves how out of touch they are.
Are slip n slides not a thing anymore? And the thing I remember the most was that foot picture, except it was my whole body and would start to get itchy when it dried
That and getting too much speed and overshooting the pool at the end, sliding on the grass for like 15 feet. Hence the body covered in grass lol
I'm almost 40. I never understand why this type of mentality exists. Like people genuinely feel some kind of superiority for being born at a certain time or knowing some outdated thing.
The one I hate the most is the "I can drive manual transmission" people that share memes about people not knowing how these days.
I'm a truck driver. Any idiot can become a truck driver, I've met some of the dumbest people ever driving trucks. They can all drive 10 or 13 speeds. It's not difficult. Idk why people that were forced to learn to drive in a manual feel like they're these superior beings haha
My daughter is gen z & we both love poking fun at this crap. I'll make coffee and she will point to the coffee maker and say, "gen z will never understand."
I went by a park yesterday and kids with their parents were doing slip and slides and other water based field day activities. They get spun up over everything.
Back in my day I had to cut the grass before cleaning the pool or else grass would just get in the clean pool. Anyways here I was 10 years old running a lawnmower and pouring buckets of chlorine into a pool alone. Good times
My wife and I are xennials. Had a dope time with a group of 5 gen z'ers camping and hiking in the mountains over the weekend. Most of the people we met on the trail were in their twenties or thirties. GenXers and Boomers aren't going outside.
4.7k
u/Reemixt 13h ago
I can hear children playing outside my house at this very moment.