Millennial Criticizes Boomers For Competing With Younger Generations Instead Of Trying To Make Life Better For Them
Boomers would rather compete with younger generations than share their resources and help them secure their futures.
Photos: RDNE Stock Project, corelens | Design: YourTango One of the main problems that younger generations seem to have with older generations, like boomers and Gen Xers, is the accusation of incompetence as it pertains to financial independence and freedom. Gen Zers and millennials are constantly being labeled as "lazy" and "entitled" without older generations examining the circumstances that younger generations have had — and continue to — live through.
In a TikTok video, a millennial named Katherine admitted that she's ready for the "boomer show" to end and explained that she's even had to kick boomers out of her life that she knows, including friends and family, because of the problem she's noticed between them and younger generations.
A millennial criticized boomers for competing with younger generations instead of trying to make life better for them.
"Let's talk about what they've been like throughout my life or what they've shared with me," Katherine began in her video. "They've shared with me how they hit the ground running when they were in their 20s and 30s. The issue that I see running in boomer culture, that I think is the biggest problem, is the direction with which resources flow."
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Katherine explained that too many boomers have this mentality of needing everything for themselves instead of sharing things like care and even love with others. Enough is never enough for them, and to Katherine, boomers have seemingly weaponized the concept of respect and shifted that to mean everything will flow to them instead of gradually being passed down to younger generations.
While every generation has its own issues, the one that seems to be impacting boomers is their obsession with relevancy and control, to the point where they're willing to compete with younger generations to get it. Katherine insisted that boomers are willing to "rob" younger generations and even their elders as well, but they don't seem to have an end goal in mind.
Boomers are deciding to keep their jobs well into their seventies instead of retiring.
Proof of Katherine's assessment of boomers can be traced back to the workplace. Instead of retiring and passing the reins to millennials and Gen Zers to take over management positions and have the opportunity to move up in their careers, boomers are choosing to stay until they can't stay anymore.
The number of boomers who have continued to work past 65 has quadrupled since the 1980s, according to the Pew Research Center. Now, almost 20% of Americans 65 and older are employed, nearly double the share of those who were working 35 years ago. In total, there are around 11 million Americans 65 or older who are working today, accounting for 7% of all wages and salaries paid by U.S. employers. In 1987, they made up 2%.
To top it off, there's already this looming fear amongst younger generations in this country that they won't have the means to retire once they reach their old age.
Compared to boomers, millennials and Gen Zers are looking at complicated financial outcomes, which makes it even more frustrating that boomers don't want to just bow out of the workforce and allow younger generations to set up their futures.
The millennial insisted that boomers seem to feed off of a 'victim' mindset.
"They refuse to take accountability, and then they double down on their insistence that everything goes to them," Katherine continued. "But for the rest of us, it is our job to make things better and easier for those coming up under us."
There's no solution when people are constantly punching down instead of punching up because, by that logic, you're making life harder for people who already have it tough. That's why younger generations like Gen Z should make sure to have a sense of community for Gen Alpha, and so forth and so on.
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The truth of the matter is, as human beings, we're all we have. We can't be competing with each other while living in a country that doesn't prioritize its own citizens. Older generations should be setting up younger generations for success instead of hoarding resources and opportunities.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor's degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.