Younger Generations Are Calling Out Things Older Generations Should Know, And Honestly, Everyone Should Read This

"I'm an older millennial. We're not lazy; we're constantly in survival mode."

We recently asked the millennials and Gen Z'ers of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us what they'd like their boomer parents to know — or stop doing — and it started an important conversation. Here are the results:

1. "That their generation is the cause of most of today's problems, especially economic and environmental."

Christian Fischer / Getty Images / EyeEm

"I am a millennial, and I argue a lot with my parents about their shrugging off responsibility, or even worse, defending the people and actions that put us on this path. Their 'easy way of life' was the product of some of the good policies the generation before theirs put in place, and when they grew up in the '80s, they ruined everything. I love my parents, but they are hypocrites."

—luthy_one

2. "That that's not how it works — that's not how anything works now. You can't just find a job, you can't just get a raise, you can't just find a decent place to stay, and you can't just apply for scholarships."

"It's not that simple. It doesn't work like that anymore. What you did when you were my age is irrelevant now."

—justchillman

3. "That I'd like them to vote with my best interests at heart. They've lived their lives, raised a family in conditions I could only dream of, and now enjoy an extremely comfortable retirement. I'd like them to vote now for what would help improve my generation's quality of life, rather than their own."

Seventyfour / Getty Images / iStockphoto

—adventuresnail

4. "That the 'I didn’t have it back in my day, so why should they' argument isn’t as logical as they think it is."

—laidedahunsi

5. "Older millennial here. That we are not lazy. Most of us work really, reeeally hard both in our professional lives and personal lives. We are constantly in survival mode because we keep experiencing disadvantages outside of our control in terms of building long-term financial stability — especially if we didn’t have family wealth to support us as we entered college or the workforce."

Jgi / Getty Images / Tetra images RF

"We are exhausted from having to micromanage every dollar, every hour of our time, every ounce of energy we spend, instead of being able to feel confident and relaxed with our finances, living situation, aging parents, the potential to have (or not have) children, etc. So, we are not lazy; we literally cannot afford to be lazy."

—mishpelle

6. "Being told to smile. I think that it mostly happens to women — older generations telling them to smile in order to present a nice, sunshiny, pretty, feminine image."

"Nobody has any right to tell you what facial expressions you should be using, the old 'you'd look so much prettier if you smiled!' What if that person had just suffered a loss, or, like me, just goes around with a neutral expression?"

—retrocrebbon

7. "Everything is more expensive now. College, buying a home, and even getting groceries and gas! So, no, I can’t just 'pull myself up by my bootstraps.' I’m just trying to survive out here."

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—thisusernameisnotfound

8. "Thinking that we don't deserve privacy just because we live under their roof, but in reality, we do."

—thirumalarp

9. "Technology isn’t a burden, and most of us only use it (phones, for example) because of society and because almost everything is online now."

Maskot / Getty Images/Maskot

"Like everything, technology has both positives and negatives. It makes life easier and harder at the same time. But the moral of the story is, times have changed, and they need to understand that."

—notyouraverageblonde

10. "Just because you don't find something acceptable, it doesn't mean we will, too."

—hobbitgirl96

11. "That it’s not fair to tell children to respect adults that don’t respect them. Children should have every right to stick up for themselves when an adult is being a f**k face."

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—glitterybubble50

12. "That freedom isn't something that they 'give us,' but freedom is something that I already have and you're just limiting it."

—thirumalarp

13. "What our financial reality is. They need to see it in actual numbers: This is what we make, and this is what you made. This is what a house costs, and this is what you paid. This is how much college costs, and this is what you had to pay. They look at the numbers and think we’re making decent money, and we are…if it was 1990."

Astrakan Images / Getty Images

—paladin12

14. "You’re the ones who handed out the participation trophies."

—charlottegracel

15. "For my dad, he needs to know that this is not 1980, and you cannot 'just keep calling until they give you an interview!' when looking for a job. Most places won’t even talk to you until you’ve emailed them first."

Narisara Nami / Getty Images

—colleenh49665d105

16. "That I will probably end up working for the rest of my life, well into my 70s, and they and some old X'er's may very well be the last generations to retire before 65. Everything is going up, and the pay is stagnant."

"Social security will probably not exist anymore in 30 years when I am 67. So, please stop telling me to look for something else, work harder, etc. I don't have the money to go back to school, student loans would end up breaking us, and stop bragging about how great retirement is, because a lot of us millennials are probably never going to be able to until we're back to sh*tting in diapers."

—witchyribbon84

17. And finally: "My parents are older than boomers, but the message still applies: The world is different from your youth. Not better, not worse — just different."

Klaus Vedfelt / Getty Images

"Please stop using your irrelevant experiences as the standard and respect that there are things you don't know."

—kaylachinga

Millennials and Gen Z'ers, what are some other things you think boomers should understand or stop doing? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.