Latest news with #boomers
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
People Are Debating Whether Millennials Actually Look Younger Than They Are, And It's So Interesting
If you're a millennial who's ever been told "there's no way you're that old" or gotten carded well into your 30s, you're part of a bigger trend. The phenomenon of millennials looking younger than their actual age has become a hot topic across social media, with everyone trying to figure out what's behind our apparent age-defying powers. So when u/Logical-Plum-2499 asked if millennials generally look younger than they really are and why, the responses revealed some pretty fascinating insights about everything from our sunscreen habits to lifestyle choices. Here's what people had to say: 1."I have barely ever seen my boomer parents drink a glass of water. Every millennial I know has a giant emotional support water bottle." —u/No_Shelter_4434 2."Let's just talk about air quality. Since the 1970s, we have reduced air pollution by roughly 90% in North America. I'm thinking this is a key factor." "I'm wondering if millennials in other countries with poor air quality also look younger or if they look more aged." —u/douche9000 3."The lip fillers. They age people up so fast. I'm sure there are a lot of women walking around with really well-done fillers so you can't even tell, but why are you fucking with your face in your 20s?!" —u/lasthorizon25 4."In my experience, it isn't plastic surgery or filler — it's mostly that older generations' skin looked rougher and drier, and they styled themselves so dowdy and frumpy. They looked like they'd all had four kids and were too tired to brush their hair." —u/Zizi_Tennenbaum 5."Millennials are younger-looking at the same age than the generations before us because fewer of us smoked, and we were more health-conscious in general. There are definitely millennials in their 40s who are now getting into all the things that are supposed to make you look younger, but we're generally doing it at the age it was designed to help. We are the beneficiaries of the research that was done by boomers looking for the same effect. Gen Z looks older than we did at that age because some of their beauty regimens take an actual toll." "This is my wife's theory that I think holds water. Sunscreen became a thing at an age where it was still going to do us some good. But if you're doing Botox and fillers and removing buccal fat or what-have-you at 20, you are setting yourself up in a race against yourself for the rest of your life. Because if you think you needed that at 20, where do you go when you've been doing that to yourself for 10 years and now you're 30?" —u/faceintheblue Related: "That Sentence Sat In My Head For Months": Men Are Revealing The Most Hurtful Things A Woman Can Say To Them, And It's Actually Fascinating 6."Sunscreens have greatly improved in my lifetime. In the '80s, you could find SPF 4, 8, and maybe 16. They claimed to be waterproof but didn't last very long in water. Parents didn't understand that you need to reapply. I'm Irish, so I had some second-degree burns from a day at the pool or beach. SPF 50 probably came along in time to prevent major burns for millennials and Gen Z. The waterproof factor has also become so much better." —u/jendet010 7."My dermatologist said millennials are her lowest-risk group for skin damage because we were the first kids to have helicopter parents chasing us around with sunscreen. Guess all that embarrassing poolside sunscreen application paid off." —u/CharmingLady22 8."Many of the younger crowd don't go outside nearly as often as people used to — less damage from the sun, so skin stays younger." —u/Firstevertrex Related: Here Are 50 Pictures That Make Me Grin Uncontrollably No Matter How Many Times I've Seen Them, In Case You Need Them 9."My facialist recently remarked on younger people undergoing buccal fat removal, and said this is one of the worst things people can do as 'you'll need that fat as you age.' Otherwise, you end up with a sunken-looking face." —u/TelephoneShot8539 10."Our style of dress plays a big role. I remember growing up, women over 35 often dressed matronly. It was common to give up things like sex appeal or wearing short skirts, spaghetti straps, crop tops, etc. — unless you were a celebrity. These days, women don't really follow the whole 'what to wear when you're over 30' mindset. They're not locked into specific hairstyles or clothing based on age, and that shift changes how old someone looks a lot." "Now, this could be a chicken or the egg thing. If you look younger, you might pull off trends easier than if you look old, and therefore, feel comfortable in them. But I do think it's a contributing factor to the age thing." —u/nononanana 11."Less of us have kids, so we have less stress." —u/Hezza_21 "This is what I have noticed in my peers, late 30s to mid 40s. The lack of sleep and constant worry and stress of raising kids — and/or having them for bio moms — is hugely noticeable. People my age are having fewer kids, or forgoing parenthood altogether, and it definitely shows." —u/abqkat 12."Less of us perform physical jobs that are outside all day, too." —u/ExoMonk 13."Perspective is part of it. The older I get, the younger young people look to me. Same as how sometimes people my parents' age will say I'm youthful-looking, yet I see a badly aging slug." —u/invisiblebyday 14."I don't think millennials look younger than they really are. I think millennials look their age. If anything, previous generations looked older than they were because of smoking, sun tanning, lead poisoning, and haircuts that have aged poorly. Meanwhile, Gen Z thinks millennials look young because they think anyone over 25 is geriatric." —u/Atmosck 15."Gen Z has social media during their teen years, so their style is very curated compared to millennials. That's why when you compare high school pics, Gen Z looks so much older. The poorly put-together outfits and teenage awkwardness (seen with millennials) makes people look properly young." "I also imagine the surgical or near-surgical beauty enhancements will take a heavy toll on Gen Z as they age. That said, Gen Z being sad little homebodies who are obsessed with fitness and not drinking may help out in a big way in a few years. Drinking ages people, and Gen Z are too hyper-aware or afraid of being cringe to drink like millennials did." —u/Xianio 16."I think we look younger because Gen Z makes themselves look so much older." —u/anemia_ 17."The delayed-aging millennial vs. premature-aging Gen Z that kids these days are fretting about is by far my favorite pop culture trend. Warms the cockles of my cold, dead heart." —u/FartChugger-1928 What do you think — do millennials really look younger than previous generations did at the same age? Have you noticed this trend in your own life? Share your theories and observations in the comments below! Note: Responses have been edited for length/clarity. Also in Internet Finds: Holy Crap, I Can't Stop Laughing At These 28 Painfully Awkward And Embarrassing Conversations Also in Internet Finds: I Need To Call My Doc For A New Inhaler After Cackling So Hard At These 41 Funny Tweets From The Week Also in Internet Finds: People Are Sharing How What Happened In Vegas Did NOT Stay In Vegas, And This Should Be A Lesson To Never Go To A Bachelor/Bachelorette Party There
CNA
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CNA
Why I use Gen Z and Gen Alpha lingo with my kids, even when they roll their eyes
'Alright, I think I totally nailed that and aura farmed, am I right?' I said, beaming with pride at the back-cam wefie I'd just taken that had actually turned out well. My 16-year-old daughter Kirsten, bless her, fought off every instinct to roll her eyes – an effort I appreciated deeply – and replied with a straight face: 'No, actually. Just by saying that, you lost aura points.' 'Huh, so it wasn't sigma?' I asked, grinning. 'You didn't like the rizz-sults?' This time, her eye roll came not as a conscious decision but a gag reflex. 'Dad,' she said. 'Just. Stop.' 'Okay, merry rizzmas,' I muttered, dashing away before I cracked myself up entirely. BOOMERS ARE OKAY I envy boomers. And I don't mean that sarcastically. It's not so much for their ability to craft and broadcast 'Good Morning, God Bless You' WhatsApp messages faster than they can open the app, but their complete, unadulterated embrace of being… uncool. I'm talking about the (mostly) utter lack of desire to stay relevant in the face of contemporary cultural shifts – whether it's fashion, pop culture, or TikTok. There's a certain beauty in being completely disconnected from new fads and trends. These are people living their best life, in a very real way. But Gen X dads like me grew up with the currency of cool as a core key performance indicator of our self-identity. It's partly us wanting to define ourselves outside of our parents, and partly our unique positioning as a generation birthed at the dawn of consumerism and globalisation. We grew up with movies centred on exploring the idea and value of 'cool' – Back to the Future, Grease and more. We wanted to 'be like Mike', whether it was Michael Jordan in his Nikes or Michael Jackson with his smooth moves. TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL So here's the tension: I know I don't need to be cool to be a good dad – but still, I can't help but try. And yes, sometimes that effort backfires in the form of second-hand embarrassment (or, occasionally, first-hand). But recently, as I try to keep up with a whole new host of Gen Z and Gen Alpha lingo, I've been realising that this struggle goes beyond the superficial. It's not about being cool for cool's sake. Let's be honest – if you're over 40, trying to make conversation with your own dad often felt like hitting a tennis ball against a wall, but the ball's been made entirely out of cotton wool. You'd serve up a topic, hoping for some traction – and it would hit the wall sadly, and fall lamely to the floor: 'Dad, I saw Mission: Impossible today, it was so good!' 'Oh, is it?' It's even worse if they're the ones serving. 'So… how's school?' 'Did you eat already?' That was pretty much the range. I appreciate the effort – but I don't want that for my own kids. I don't want to be a well-meaning but boring dad armed only with mundane questions that go nowhere. So I try – probably too hard at times – to speak their language, quite literally. My attempts to drop Gen Z lingo aren't about trying to impress anyone. At 45, the only thing I'm 'serving' are bad puns and lame jokes. But it is an attempt at connection. An awkward, cringey, sometimes-effective olive branch. The memes we share, the TikToks we laugh at together, the post-mortem chats after another episode of The Mandalorian – these moments mean something. They're small windows into my kids' world. They let me in, just a little. And in the awkward dance of parenting three teenagers (and two preteens!), the older they get, the more that little bit matters. I TRIED SO HARD, AND GOT SO FAR But here's the catch: There's a fine line between showing interest and trying too hard. There's a version of the 'cool dad' that's plain exhausting – the one who's constantly trying to stay relevant, who shows up at school pickup with a backwards cap and ironic slang, skateboard propped over one shoulder like a youth pastor who went too deep on Urban Dictionary. At a certain point, we have to accept that our cultural peak has passed. That's okay. Coolness is a moving target, and by the time we figure out what's in, it's probably already out. (It's probably out precisely because we figured it out.) So maybe the better question is: What does being a good dad look like now, in the age of TikTok and K-pop? It's not about relevance. It's about relationship. And sometimes, that means exchanges looks like this: 'Man, New Jeans' Super Shy is super catchy huh?' 'Dad. That was like, two billion years ago.' 'Yup, but like, aren't they super slay?' 'Oh, please no.' 'By the way, I did get new jeans.' That last random line actually got a stifled chuckle from her. Cue another small win for Gen X dads – connection topped off with a hint of cringe is still connection. THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT I may not be the authority on rizz or sigma energy. My jokes may be mid at best. But I'm trying. And I think our kids see that, even when they're groaning and sighing through our cringe. There's a kind of dignity in ageing out of the need to be cool. But there's also a kind of love in making the attempt now and then, even if it's obviously 'not it'. It's not about being cool – our kids don't need us to be cool. It's about caring enough to try and connect with them on their level. So, must I be a cool dad to be a good dad? Nah. But if misusing Gen Z slang helps keep the conversation going with my kids, I'll gladly take the L. Who knows – maybe I could even earn back a few aura points.
The Guardian
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘They tell you every minor inconvenience': bartenders on which generation has the worst behavior
Gen Z are used to headlines about the things they've 'killed': writing in cursive, getting their driver's licenses, knowing how printers work, wearing skinny jeans. Their latest offense, according to a recent New York Times article: opening bar tabs. Bartenders and drinkers alike spoke to the Times about young people's hesitancy to leave their credit cards behind the bar, instead preferring to close out and pay after every single drink – no matter how many rounds they order. The piece sparked conversations on TikTok and Reddit about gen Z bar etiquette, which some call nearly irredeemable. 'Working a bar that is almost exclusively Gen Z, we stopped opening tabs altogether because they're so bad at even remembering they have a card,' one person wrote on r/bartenders. But does gen Z have the worst bar etiquette? The Guardian spoke to bartenders across the US about which generation behaves best and discovered that younger folks aren't the horrible customers so many trend pieces set them up to be. Older drinkers often have worse manners – and they don't have the excuse of inexperience to let them off the hook. Michaela Giunchigliani works in Sonoma, California, at a boutique winery where she serves people of all ages. 'By far the most challenging, stressful, taxing – and I say this with love – are the boomers,' Giunchigliani said. 'I find that boomers [roughly those aged between 60 and 80] keep this keen eye on any little thing that they can glob onto and say: 'Well, you didn't bend over backwards for me.' Gen Z doesn't have that same entitlement.' Rachel Phelps, a bartender in Pittsburgh, agreed that the '50-plus' crowd wins the distinction of most demanding. 'They're going to want to pick where they sit, and they're going to tell you every minor inconvenience. I used to work at a bar that didn't have air conditioning, and it was always my fault, according to them.' Gen Z, meanwhile, isn't nearly as fussy. 'If I just perform like the bare minimum of what I'm expected to do, we're good,' Giunchigliani said. Since the legal drinkers of gen Z haven't experienced bar culture for that long (the oldest in the cohort are 28) many of them don't know or care about certain bar rituals. Chloe Richards, who tends bar at dives in Brooklyn and Queens, New York, said gen Z is blissfully ignorant of 'buybacks', the old saloon tradition of getting a free drink or shot after a few rounds. (In 2019, the New York Post eulogized the ritual, saying gentrification and higher rents killed it off.) But 'old heads', as Richards calls her gen X-and-up patrons, come in expecting the quid pro quo. 'They think that after every three drinks, I'm supposed to give them a free one,' Richards said. 'That's not a real thing or a hard rule: it's a privilege. If you're a good customer or a patron, of course, but I don't owe anybody free anything.' Bartenders also said gone are the days when the youngest drinkers wind up the most wasted by the end of the night. Gen Z came of age during a seismic shift in drinking culture: they're imbibing much less than previous generations. This means the getting-sloshed baton falls to an older crowd. 'People in their late 30s to early 40s usually have higher tabs, but it comes at a cost,' said Dimitri Gellis, who manages the Chicago sports bar Fatpour Tap Works. 'They think they can still drink like they're in their 20s, but they can't hang. They'll order whiskey on the rocks like pros, but after a few they're holding onto the wall and they don't take it well when you cut them off.' Gen Z may be drinking less, but that doesn't mean their bar hangs can't last for hours – even if they don't keep ordering. 'Something that drives me fucking nuts is when they get like one drink and use that as an excuse to sit at the bar for five hours,' said a Brooklyn bartender who goes by Priz. 'Why go to a bar? One drink is not access to unlimited space at a place. You have to do a little more.' Gen Z's anxiety manifests at the bar counter, too: some of them haven't yet nailed the quickest way to order a round. 'What's most annoying to me is when people order their drinks one by one when they're in a group, especially when they all have to think about it,' Richards said. 'For me it's like, let's get it going, because you're slowing down the process. Get it together first before you get my attention.' Most bartenders say they understand why gen Z has a hard time in bars. Many spent formative going-out years in the wake of Covid restrictions. 'They're learning how to do this a bit later than the rest of us did,' Richards said. She gets it, but also that inexperience can mess with her tips. 'I think young people are just guessing numbers,' Richards said. Ultimately, bartenders say that there's no magic age for an ideal patron – their work headaches come from people of all generations. Phelps, the Pittsburgh bartender, added that overall, gen Z's looking for 'experiences' on nights out – it's not really about drinking anymore. In some ways, that makes them easier to serve. 'They want to look cute and take pictures,' she said. 'The sloppy behavior is just not there the way it was for us when we were younger. It's definitely better for the people behind the bar. But also, I'm always like, 'Have some fun! Do something stupid.''
The Hill
04-06-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Growing number of Americans say tipping culture is ‘out of control'
Tip screens are everywhere now, and many consumers are fed up. According to a new Bankrate survey, 41 percent of Americans say tipping culture has gotten out of control — up 6 percentage points from last year. Among Gen Xers and baby boomers, that share rises to 45 percent. 'The high cost of living is a headwind, and many people resent all of the tip creep that has occurred in recent years,' Bankrate senior industry analyst Ted Rossman said in a statement. Pre-entered tip screens have become a particular pain point, with nearly two in five respondents saying they find them annoying. That negativity coincides with a rise in digital tipping tech, now appearing everywhere from takeout counters to coffee shops — even self-checkout machines at the airport are asking for tips. New payment terminals have made it easier than ever for businesses to ask for tips — a potential boost for workers — but they also allow employers to funnel more money to their staff without footing the bill, Rossman said. 'It's essentially a way to raise prices without actually raising prices,' he said. Many of those surveyed, 41 percent, said businesses should pay their employees better rather than relying so much on tips. Still, only 16 percent of respondents said they'd be willing to pay higher prices if tipping were eliminated. Older generations are more likely to hold negative attitudes about tipping, but they're also more likely to tip, Bankrate found. More than 80 percent of Gen Xers and baby boomers said they always tip at sit-down restaurants compared to 61 percent of millennials and 43 percent of Gen Zers. The generational tipping gap showed up across other services too, with older generations far more likely than younger ones to always tip barbers and rideshare drivers. As for the size of the tip, about one-third (35 percent) of respondents said they typically tip at least 20 percent at sit-down restaurants, though only 16 percent of Gen Zers said so compared to 49 percent of baby boomers. Bankrate's survey shows fewer Americans always tip compared to the height of the pandemic in 2021, but the post-COVID tipping backlash has mostly leveled off. 'While more Americans are complaining about tipping, the frequency of tipping is stabilizing after declining steadily in recent years,' Rossman said. Here is a breakdown of how many people always tip for various services in 2025, according to Bankrate: Bankrate's latest tipping survey was based on a sample of 2,445 U.S. adults and conducted between April 29 and May 1.
San Francisco Chronicle
26-05-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
Millennials are finally catching up with older generations in this important measure
Millennials are less likely to own a home than the previous two generations — especially in the Bay Area. But that may be starting to shift. Just 30% of millennials in the San Francisco metropolitan area owned a home in 2023, data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows. That put them far behind the 55% of Generation X and 62% of baby boomers who owned their home — an especially large gap compared with most other large metro areas. But older millennials are starting to catch up with their predecessors. Millennials born toward the earlier end of the generation's 1981-96 range — those in their early 40s — are achieving homeownership at nearly the same rate as Gen X did at the same age, at between 40% and 50%. Gen X is defined as people born from 1965 to 1980. That thinning gap is true for both the U.S. and California specifically, an analysis of census data by Apartment List shows. But both generations trail baby boomers, who were born from 1946 to 1964. And with home prices and interest rates still high, experts acknowledge that some millennials may feel left out of their peers' recent rise in homeownership. 'It's all going to be shifted later,' said Eric McGhee, a researcher at the Public Policy Institute of California. 'Your first home is going to be later in life than it did before, because it's going to take longer to save up for a down payment. (And) you're going to have a higher income to afford a mortgage.' The Census Bureau's Current Population Survey doesn't include people who live in institutions such as hospice facilities and nursing homes. That could make some baby boomers' homeownership rate seem somewhat higher than it truly is. But that generation was indeed much more likely to own a home than Gen X or millennials — especially in the most expensive parts of the country. In the San Francisco metro area, baby boomers are more than twice as likely as millennials to own their home. In the Minneapolis metro area, most millennials are homeowners, and boomers are just 1.4 times as likely as those younger neighbors to own their home. It takes people in California much longer than those in most other states to own a home, according to a 2023 report by the UC Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation. That wasn't the case before the 1970s, when a wave of restrictive zoning laws in California led to a major slowdown in housing construction — even as its population swelled — and prices began to rise rapidly. Millennials and Gen X were also hit hard by the 2007-09 recession, causing some members of Gen X to lose their homes and leading to a weaker overall economy for millennials entering the job market, said Rob Warnock, a researcher at Apartment List. In other words, millennials may be catching up, but they're catching up to a generation that had homeownership struggles of its own. The pandemic was another blow for many millennials, also known as Generation Y. Some were able to buy a home before prices and interest rates surged, leading to a wave of wealth for the generation overall. But many others were left out — and could continue to be. 'Both of those things are true,' Warnock said. 'We see the generation growing (in homeownership). We also see the generation kind of falling behind.'
