Millennials Share 30 Lies They Were Told When Growing Up And They Are Totally Relatable
With the oldest millennials turning 40 this year, our Capri-sun and Harry Potter-fueled generation is officially turning into uncles and aunts. And although it’s hard (and honestly painful to wrap our head around) how little behind we are from boomers, the reality hits and sends you a cold shower—you’re no kid anymore.
So it’s time to reflect on our millennial childhood, which was basically just as surreal and somewhat hyperreal as playing The Sims for the first time. Being the first generation to grow up in the internet age, there were many weird things about the ways we were raised by our parents.
“Millennials of Reddit, what lie were you told growing up?” someone asked on r/AskReddit, sparking a hilarious and all too relatable thread on the level of absurdity we endured. Interestingly, some of the lies will surely hit close to home to kids from latter gens, proving that it may not be about the generation per se, but rather about the fundamental divide between children and parents.
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Money doesn’t buy happiness. Sorry folks. But in the world I’m currently living in, it absolutely does.
i read once "money can't buy happiness, but poverty can't buy sh*t"
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Ecstatic happiness it doesn’t buy - relaxed contentment it certainly does.
I noticed that only people who naver had any real money problems say that!
I remember a study (around ~2010) that found a salary of about $80,000 per person in the US was the ceiling for money which buys happiness. This is enough to eliminate worry from the average person's life - you can live in a safe area, you can send kids to a decent school, you can afford a reliable car, you can financially survive surprises like injury or illness, etc. Below that, those worries would dominate your life. Above that is entering into a game (capitalism) that is an endless chase and competition as people tend to spend the excess on things they don't need but will endlessly want. Food for thought.
Money buys time... (as has been accurately pointed out elsewhere on bored panda) Money buys the ability to choose between a shitty job or being able to take some time off to find a better one... money buys the ability to seek timely healthcare (even in countries with good reasonable health systems, such as Aus - money can still help speed things along) etc... soit makes a huge difference... it doesn't buy happiness, it gives you significantly more chance at happiness though.
I can't think of a single problem I have that money wouldn't make go away.
Me being a teenager, I always tell my parents that this phrase isn’t true, because money CAN buy things that make you happy. It can FOR SURE buy happiness, just not directly, of course.
You are right. Money buys better health coverage , better dental care ,a decent home , a good vehicle ,better food ,better clothes , heat and air conditioning , a good lawyer . Money may not buy happiness {but it is relative by what makes you happy. Poverty doesn't buy happiness either .
I love this one. If it doesn't buy happiness, why do the rich horde it instead of giving it away to everyone e freely. When was the last time you saw any billionaire just give someone $100k no questions asked just to be nice.
I heard this as a kid... But my family was much more realistic, their version: Money doesn't buy happiness but it makes it a whole hell of a lot easier to get to.
Money doesn't buy happiness - True. It's a LOT easier to be happy when you're not dealing with crippling anxiety & chronic depression from having to choose between medication or food and heat or lights... - Also TRUE
No, it doesn't buy you happiness, but it sure as s**t buys you more time and freedom to go out and look for it.
Money doesn't buy happiness. Money pays the rent, buys the groceries, keeps the lights and heat on. Money provides the means to have basic human needs, and that is what brings happiness.
Once all your needs are fully met, and you are stable and want for nothing, then money doesn't buy happiness. But being stable and secure certainly requires money
"Money doesn't buy happiness, but it does buy jetskis, and I've never seen anyone frowning on a jetski" -not original but ai forget the source
Having enough money to pay bills and have some money left over definitely brings happiness and security. But when I was rich, we had all the toys, the big house with a pool. But I was miserable in a bad marriage. Being rich doesn't solve your problems. Having enough brings more happiness.
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Lack of money unbuys freedom from sorrows. Sorrows cause unhappiness. So while money won't make you happy, no money does make you unhappy, and therefore, at least until you're safe and secure, money DOES buy happiness. Beyond the point where worrying about essentials is out of sight, money won't make you much happier most of the times, but until you reach that ... money makes happy is shortened, not exactly accurate to the highest degree, but true enough to work with.
Money will make life comfortable which would in turn leave you with the time to pursue happiness.
Even if it doesn'y buy happiness, it's more comfortable to cry in a car than it is on a bicycle
Ha, I have known a few wealthy people in my time. This one depends on the person. Some are happy, some are unhappy and some are miserable pieces of human s**t. At best, it just makes life comfortable.
Just ask Kurt Cobain or Whitney Houston. All that money made them real happy.
America is the best. It turns out we are ok in many things, but not the best, and in many areas we are not even ok.
Just as being able to learn and accept the truth about oneself is vital to growth and understanding, the same is true for one's own country. Too many rabid so called "patriots" view any criticism or condemnation as anti-American. You can't make anything better until you admit what is wrong.
"You won't have a calculator everywhere you go."
Guess what Mrs. Diaz, I have a portable computer with access to the internet that fits in the palm of my hand.
You need to define yourself by your job. I wasn't told this directly but we live in a culture of dream jobs or people asking "what's your job" when they meet you. My work is cool but it's just work. My hobbies are what I define myself around.
Lucky me. I was raised knowing that "Some people live to work and some people work to live. There's nothing wrong with either as long as you choose it and know it." My mom is and was a wise person.
Be loyal to your company. They'll take care of you.
Also, follow your dreams, get a house with a yard, and you'll be able to retire.
I like experiencing a lot of different places. I've already had more jobs than my mum.
"You'll regret spending so much time on that computer when you're older"
Nope.
That going to college meant you could get a job
Wouldn't it be lovely if going to college was something one did simply because they desired higher learning? I'm Gen X and couldn't afford college so I started working right out of high school. After working my way up, I have the same high paying, mostly satisfying job as many, many uni graduates but I don't have any of that degree debt. While I don't have regrets per se, if I could do it all over again, I'd have chosen a trade. Electricians will ALWAYS be needed! ;)
Everyone in here is forgetting that WE WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE FLYING CARS BY NOW!
My father was always deeply disappointed we didn't have flying cars like he was promised in the 1950s.
Being a good, ethical person will unlock doors. I only become a stepping stone for others.
That some dude is gonna walk up to me and offer me free drugs.
WHERE THE [HELL] ARE MY FREE DRUGS GOD DAMMIT
"Most people on the internet are dangerous weirdos!"
Most people on the internet are really ordinary people.
Eh, I'd argue that a lot of "ordinary people" behave quite weirdly on the internet. People do weird things from the other side of a screen. Sure, there are great communities on the internet of like-minded people with niche interests. It becomes a dangerous problem when those "niche interests" are conspiracy theories, Qanon, and/or anti-vaxxer rhetoric. Even ignoring actual internet predators, there's a grain of truth to this statement.
"It will all make sense when you're older." [Screw] that, everything makes even less sense. Now I'm older and expected to be independent and STILL don't understand half the sh*t I need to accomplish that successfully.
I was told that sex was a reward gifted by women to be bestowed upon deserving men. Growing up it was awkward (and incredibly embarrassing) to understand that women can enjoy and want sex just as much as men.
The idea that guys would have sex with women even when they think women cant enjoy it makes me very uncomfortable
"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me"
Yeah. Those broken bones heal up well enough. Still in counselling for some of those words...
That if I don't have my life figured out by the time I'm 25 then I have some serious problems.
Wait untill you are 30+... Still figuring s**t out, cant really get engaged with a girl that i adore with every single molecule in my body becouse we cant afford to live togehter yet (she is currently uneployed), prices are waay up in my country, taxes are nightmare, paychek is the same for the past 5 years (barely to survive ffs), was told that if i study ill get awesome job LOOOL, politics is everything here - cant even say a word against the ruling party. Average person is f****d, i get deppresed for playing a video game before bed becouse i feel like i am not working that hour, i am wasting time doing something i enjoy and something that helps me cope with reality...
All guys will only want sex from you *all the time. Turns out that kind of thinking is harmful to a young woman's sexual-psychological development.
*Edit to add/specify that this also includes the idea that men are always "ready" to have sex at a moment's notice, and if they aren't, it obviously means there's something wrong with you (or them) or they're cheating (ridiculous, just because it's anecdotally true for some doesn't mean it's a certainty).
THIS!!!! I have absolutely internalized this! It's to the point where even if a guy I'm in a committed relationship with says he DOESN'T want standard sex (which I physically can't do without extreme pain) I can't believe him and I know I'm letting him down sexually. He can't possibly be happy/fulfilled with our relationship as a whole if he's not getting penis/vagina sex.
So many movies growing up have people going to college, finishing at like 21, and already being engaged and married immediately after. Then within like 2 years of working they're already buying a house with like 3 kids by 25.
Like Jesus Christ I'm 26 and just got engaged, only now getting a career in my field, and I'm still living at my parents after living away for like a year. Everything's just so damn expensive and there's just no money to be found. I can't imagine raising kids yet.
"Student loans are normal, don't be afraid to go into debt for that out of state graduate degree"
In consumer math class we were actually told there is "good debt" and "bad debt". I now see it all as just debt that can cripple you for life.
That the government represented the views of the people.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahah😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 tell me another one. Didn't realise this was for satire posts
In Finland, we were told that once the big age group born after WWII retires, there will be jobs everywhere, for everyone. That didn't happen. The number of open positions has remained stagnant for ten years while the unemployment rate is rising.
There's a problem with Boomers not retiring, not downsizing, not sharing leadership positions, etc. It's tough -- tough for both Boomers and Millenials. It's tough that in a lot of places, Boomers don't have the savings or social support network to be able to retire. It's tough that so many are caring for adult children who can't afford to live on their own. It's also tough that in many places, Millennials are being effectively barred from home ownership, political power, and good careers because the Boomers in those positions won't or can't step back.
Don't go into x y or z for the money, you'll end up hating it.
Motherf*cker the only reason I'm even considering career fields is for money. Bonus points if it's interesting, but literally everything gets reduced to a puddle of suck once you start doing it 40 hours per week. I would love to be the delusional sunshine day dream a**hole who comes to work because he likes it, but that just isn't me. Pay me well and I will perform slightly better than average work, and whisper sweet nothing since my ear and I might even stay a little longer than necessary sometimes. But make no mistake. I am only in it for the money. Once that's gone, so am I.
Honestly I like my job. Doesn't even really feel like going to work. I know I am lucky
That this war is worth fighting for. Join the infantry!
Two theaters later and a sh*t ton of baggage. I've been to rehab and have weekly classes dealing with PTSD. Now I get to look back on my handiwork and see it was for nothing. Nothing has changed.
That you are fighting to protect your country. The reality is you are only protecting the rich people's interests around the world, their investments and international corporations. Very rarely are armed forces use for good like to save people from ethnic cleansing atrocities.
That I could be anything I want if I put my mind to it...
That I'm smart. I was smart, sure- for a kid. But as I've gotten older that's evened out significantly. I may know a lot of trivia and a lot about certain key subjects, but those are not actually marketable skills. So I work nights at a hotel and squeak by, living with my parents and racking up credit card debt to make ends meet.
Work warehouse jobs for a little bit until you get to choose a little more. Thank me later
That turning on the lights in the car is illegal
Dad explained it to me in the fifties; the dome light reflects on the inside of the windshield, interfering with the ability of the driver to see ahead. Immediately I turned the light, and it was undoubtedly true. In old cars, with crude bulbs and flat glasses was almost impossible to look ahead from certain angles. Modern cars don't have much of a problem.
Get a Bachelor's Degree and you are set for life as far as a job/career is concerned.
The problem is, everyone else's parents told them the same thing. And when everyone has a degree, they aren't worth s*** anymore. Degrees used to be for people who had a genuine interest in something and wanted to pursue it - once it became the default setting, even for people who had no real interest in studying something, the wheat got lost in the chaff.
"you go to work, earn money, after 50 years you can be happily retired."
No, it doesn't work that way. Not anymore.
I have notice the 'age of retiring' is creeping up. Also, I'm sure they're going to push back the age to qualify for old age pension (Canadian) because we're living so much longer.
Be a doctor, lawyer or engineer and you will be happy and make lots of money.
I know so many underemployed lawyers that it's a little depressing. I don't know a single MD that isn't divorced (although I know a lot of happy DOs).
I do know a lot of happy, wealthy engineers though.
Probably because there weren't as many lawyers when the person giving this advice was younger, so they could charge more within what the market could sustain. Then everyone went to law school hoping to fit into that market, supply outstripped demand and lawyers don't earn as much any more because there are so many to choose from. Give it another decade and the engineers may face a similar glut of workers.
That receiving 'participation trophies' were our fault. No kid was out there demanding a trophy for losing. Some dumbass parent thought it would be nice for their kid to get a trophy so somehow this has become normal and everyone claims some 5 year old masterminded the whole thing.
We did this at horse shows for the toddler ( leadline) classes cause the kids all enjoyed getting something and at that age don't really care about or understand placings. I remember a slightly older group maybe 8-9 year olds showing in hand and a little boy wanting to swap his pink 5th place ribbon with the green sixth place cause he liked green better. So yeah its def the parents who care more about winning than the kids when they are little.
My mom told me to plan to take care of her when she got old, because she wouldn't have retirement money saved up.
She died before I was out of the house.
Most everything else was great advice though:
"Get good grades, because we can't afford to pay for your college."
"Don't marry the first guy who asks, just because you're afraid no one else will."
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My grandma told me that if gay people can get married then the world will collapse. Guess what MARTHA!! I just got married to the most wonderful woman in the world and I have yet to see the earth's core implode.
Congratulations and thank you. Thank you for being brave and being yourself, I am just now coming to terms with this myself late in life and it's because of people like you that I saw its OK to be gay. So thank you.
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As a GenXer, I heard a lot of these "truths". But never from my parents, who said, "Work hard, hope for som eluck, never trust management, and never assume you'll only have one career." Thanks, Parents. And, yeesh, who lies to their kids like this?!
geez, while some of these are quite correct, as a 30yo, I can confirm that MOST of these posts are stupid. As in, it is stupid to complain about advice that you actually did not follow. You just heard them a lot and you think it does not apply to your life, but really, you've never tried to follow it. Screams about how there are certain people of our generation who just like to blame everything on someone else.
and every generation blames the ones before. my generation blamed the war happy Silent Generation and said "Never trust anyone over 30." now young people blame my generation for everything.
Load More Replies... most of these have nothing to do with being a millennial. We were told the same crap back in the 1960s and 1970s.
Sorry millennials but it's not just you. I'm a boomer and heard the same crap. No I haven't got any sage advice, you're pretty much on your own like most people.
Not a millenial, but... "If you believe in yourself, are confident, and work hard enough, you can do it!"
One of the biggest for me was "We're your parents we'll never do anything to hurt you"
Let me guess. You think it's women's fault you can´t get a date?
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My grandma told me that if gay people can get married then the world will collapse. Guess what MARTHA!! I just got married to the most wonderful woman in the world and I have yet to see the earth's core implode.
Congratulations and thank you. Thank you for being brave and being yourself, I am just now coming to terms with this myself late in life and it's because of people like you that I saw its OK to be gay. So thank you.
Load More Replies... As a GenXer, I heard a lot of these "truths". But never from my parents, who said, "Work hard, hope for som eluck, never trust management, and never assume you'll only have one career." Thanks, Parents. And, yeesh, who lies to their kids like this?!
geez, while some of these are quite correct, as a 30yo, I can confirm that MOST of these posts are stupid. As in, it is stupid to complain about advice that you actually did not follow. You just heard them a lot and you think it does not apply to your life, but really, you've never tried to follow it. Screams about how there are certain people of our generation who just like to blame everything on someone else.
and every generation blames the ones before. my generation blamed the war happy Silent Generation and said "Never trust anyone over 30." now young people blame my generation for everything.
Load More Replies... most of these have nothing to do with being a millennial. We were told the same crap back in the 1960s and 1970s.
Sorry millennials but it's not just you. I'm a boomer and heard the same crap. No I haven't got any sage advice, you're pretty much on your own like most people.
Not a millenial, but... "If you believe in yourself, are confident, and work hard enough, you can do it!"
One of the biggest for me was "We're your parents we'll never do anything to hurt you"
Let me guess. You think it's women's fault you can´t get a date?
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