Current Events > Millennials are pissed yet again, with Gen Z attacks over TikTok

(+) Yeah! (+)

The more I scrolled through its videos, the more it became clear that TikToks much-reported generational differences from the millennial internet were not just a well-observed detail but rather the whole point. TikTok has become a core way for Gen Z to express its own ethos, aesthetic, and attitudessometimes resulting in outright hostility toward millennials and boomers (though rarely Gen Xers, forever the forgotten middle child). Millennials, especially, are frequently criticized on the app for their perceived immaturity and whining, their predilection for Harry Potter and BuzzFeed, and their overall corniness. In a post under #bullymillennials, a video montage mocks what it calls a millennial core aesthetic. A series of images flashes across the screen: a pile of avocado toast, a mockelection campaign shirt that reads Doggo Pupper 20: Theyre heckin good boys, the definition of the buzzword adulting, and the Harry Potter house crests. In another post, a Gen Z user rips into millennials with the claim that they have underperformed as a generation. Yall were supposed to be saving the climate, starting revolutions and shit. What did you contribute? Mumford and Sons? A craft brewery on every corner?

At the same time as they used the app to poke fun at millennials, Gen Zers were also using it for their own self-identification. While the term millennial is typically used with derision, to signify a supposedly spoiled generation more interested in five-dollar lattes than in home ownership, and used only begrudgingly by millennials themselves, Gen Zers seem proud of their label. In September, the idea of getting a Gen Z tattoo even gained popularity on TikTok until some users pointed out that the tattoo design chosena Z with a line through the middleaccidentally resembled a Nazi symbol still used by the far-right today.

Its hard to say whether TikTok created this generational animosity or simply fanned the flames. But what is clear is that TikTok represents the apotheosis of a digital shift that divides millennialswho lived through the dawn of social mediaand Gen Zers, who have never known life before complete self-digitization. The larger effects of this shift are still coming into view, but however much progress millennials may have made in digital self-creation, Gen Z has far surpassed them in making these online spaces more interestingalbeit, perhaps, at a cost.
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This intimacy may also be the reason for Gen Zs generational allegiance. Where millennials were cloaked in mostly faceless anonymity online (on LiveJournal, Tumblr, Twitter) or highly curated photography (Facebook, Instagram), Gen Zs digital life is dominated by the near-constant production of images and videos of themselves (Snapchat, TikTok), creating a very different relationship between them, their peers, and the rest of the world.
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There is a darker side to TikTok as well: impossibly fit and beautiful influencers; the same fixation on thinness and white, Eurocentric beauty ideals that exists on every other app; and trends that spawn harmful ideas about food and that promote and normalize plastic surgery. Combined with the algorithm, ones own specific insecurities can feel magnified. I tried not to take it personally when midsized girl content and montages of rhinoplasty procedures began to appear on my feed. Perhaps, if I had been younger, the effect would have been different.

Gen Zers are coming of age during a period of intense loneliness. Though their digital lives offer them creative ways to bypass the effects of isolation, they have nonethelessmuch like millennialsbeen deeply impacted by economic downturns, political instability, and a global pandemic. Eventually, as more people join TikTok and Gen Z grows older, they too will be pushed out by an even younger contingent.

full article (remove the space):
https://thewalrus.ca/everybody-hates-millennials-gen-z- and-the-tiktok-generation-wars/

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darn kids get off my internets

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whippersnappers!

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i'm living for this pointless online generational warfare

am i saying it right?

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Gen Zers will also probably fail to save the world. Every generation thinks it will save the world. So far everyone has failed.

I'll be interested in checking back on Gen Z in like 20 to 30 years

Anyway, Mumford and sons? Isn't that more a Gen X thing? Not sure why they are attributing it to millenials

I agree completely about my fellow millennials

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Gen X dodging bullets like Neo

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Do millennials even use tik tok? Thats mainly a zoomer thing with some boomers trying to keep up with the times right?

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Don't feed into these pointless generation war articles imo. 99% of ppl wouldn't know about this stuff if fringe sites weren't constantly slapping these articles everywhere

Lol, speaking as a millennial, those bolded insults are on point.

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Rika_Furude posted...

Do millennials even use tik tok? Thats mainly a sooner thing with some boomers trying to keep up with the times right?

Correct. I think 75% of tik tok users are Gen z or even younger

Rika_Furude posted...

Do millennials even use tik tok? Thats mainly a zoomer thing with some boomers trying to keep up with the times right?

I'm still not entirely sure what tik tok even is

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The generation that ate tidepods doesnt have a lot of room to talk.

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FL81 posted...

I'm still not entirely sure what tik tok even is

It's like YouTube but for very short videos. Like 30 seconds or less. They do lots of memes I think

They're just repeating dumb boomer shit.

Still, Millennials and Zoomers need to get along. I'm for peace.

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FL81 posted...

I'm still not entirely sure what tik tok even is

I'm not sure what Gen Z or Millenials are supposed to be anymore either

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Buzz Killjoy posted...

I'm not sure what Gen Z or Millenials are supposed to be anymore either

Millennial is anyone born from like 1980ish to 1995ish. Gen Z is anyone born after that up until... a few years ago. Generation A is being born now.

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Millennials are gonna turn into boomers and not even realize. I stay connected to the youth so that Im not turning into a pissed off sucker who falls for all the trolling of the newer smarter generation

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As long as we don't blame the generation/people causing all the issues.

Really dislike these articles as 99% of the people on either side of the "issue" likely have no idea the issue even exists. It just serves as clickbait.

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Zikten posted...

Anyway, Mumford and sons? Isn't that more a Gen X thing? Not sure why they are attributing it to millenials

No, the band is made up of millennials. In their early to mid 30s.

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I mean of the most insulting point they can come up with is liking Harry Potter then I'll take it. At least we don't snack on tide pods.

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It's lolzy to see a bunch of 19 year olds bitching about millenials using the word "adulting".

Like, I agree that the word is stupid and overused, but the irony of calling out people older than you for having trouble coping with growing up when you're still living with your parents, is hilarious.

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am i failing my generation by not even having tiktok on my phone?

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uwnim posted...

No, the band is made up of millennials. In their early to mid 30s.

Oh. I guess I mixed it up with Sanford and Son an old 70s TV show

I agree that Harry Potter is cringe inducing.

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LostForest posted...

It's lolzy to see a bunch of 19 year olds bitching about millenials using the word "adulting".

Like, I agree that the word is stupid and overused, but the irony of calling out people older than you for having trouble coping with growing up when you're still living with your parents, is hilarious.

We could also be the adults in the situation, since that's what we actually are. Let them tire themselves out.

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Eat the rich! Our generation will destroy capitalism.

BRB gonna go to McDonalds simply because the receipt has Travis Scotts name on it.

Anybody else feel dumber for reading that

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Gen Z can shut the fuck up already.

Go dance to the words of more songs you uncoordinated weirdos.


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As a zoomer I don't get the millennial obsession over Harry Potter, it's not even that good

Rika_Furude posted...

Do millennials even use tik tok? Thats mainly a zoomer thing with some boomers trying to keep up with the times right?

Is this a joke?

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Hot skinny white girls is the only good thing about Tik Tok

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I tried to make it through that post but started falling asleep.

Gen Z is pretty much amplified millennials. More entitlement. More tech. More social media obsessed.

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cousinvini posted...

As a zoomer I don't get the millennial obsession over Harry Potter, it's not even that good

Same, although I'm a Xer. Harry Potter is the most egregious Mary Sue in modern fiction, and those books ushered in a new era of "no effort identity" fic for young people.

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cousinvini posted...

As a zoomer I don't get the millennial obsession over Harry Potter, it's not even that good

It was a popular thing for millennials when they were younger. Just like Gen Z creams their pants over tiktok, and Gen X loves Star Wars and Indiana Jones

It really doesn't take much thought to figure out

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Does anyone actually invest anything into this? Or is it just a bunch of lame people who spend too much time on the internet trolling each other? I don't think thats specific to any generation.

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I'm glad they found a way to rebel.

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Funcoot posted...

Lol, speaking as a millennial, those bolded insults are on point.

agreed, but also gen z:

CruelBuffalo posted...

BRB gonna go to McDonalds simply because the receipt has Travis Scotts name on it.

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bump

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bump

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Just media sensationalizing generational divides to distract from the rich fucking over the world. Divide and conquer is the oldest trick in the book.

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We're not angry, just disappointed.

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Rika_Furude posted...

Do millennials even use tik tok? Thats mainly a zoomer thing with some boomers trying to keep up with the times right?

This. I get the feeling this is some opinion journalist trying to start shit.

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