Millennials Online Are Sharing The Worst Advice And Pearls Of Wisdom They’ve Heard From Baby Boomers And These Are 35 Of The Most Questionable Ones
Learning from older generations is useful and you can receive some valuable advice, but there are also times when you know that older people are wrong. The things they advise you to do might have worked when they were your age, but now it's different and you have to adapt to the changing times.
Reddit user Nursejoyscuntysister wanted to know what advice isn't beneficial and asked, "Millennials of Reddit: What's the worst 'Baby Boomer advice/wisdom' you've ever been offered?" People had a lot to say and showed with which boomer ideas they disagree with a passion.
This is not the first time Bored Panda has talked about boomers' advice that doesn't work anymore, and if you are interested in what out-of-touch wisdom they are telling the younger generation, you can click here after you're done upvoting this list and commenting your own stories.
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I was once told by a baby boomer "If you want a man to stay with you, you'll have to pop out a baby" (or words of that effect). I told her straight up "Any man who would stay for our baby, but not for just me, isn't a man who I'd want staying in the first place".
For f***sakes, is it really that unusual for me to want to be loved for who I am, and not for my ability to procreate? Why would I want to stay with anyone who sees me as nothing but a human incubator?
As a girl: "If a boy bullies you, that means he likes you!"
No. Just... no.
"You don't deserve to make a livable wage at McDonalds, get a real job"
Followed by:
"What, are you too good to work at McDonalds? Grow up and stop being entitled and do what you gotta do."
"Babies just need love, not money."
Sorry, mom, no grandkids until I have a job with a decent paycheck and less student debt.
Boomer here - and I encourage you guys to put off having kids until you're ready (or not to bother at all). There are far too many humans on the planet as it is (and yes, this is my generation's fault, not yours - we talked about Zero Population Growth in the '70s, but it fizzled out after the fiasco with China's 1-child policy) Sigh
The lab tech at one of the schools I teach at is a retired old fella. Comes in maybe 2 hours a day, real early in the morning to set up labs for the day. Basically has the "job" for his own entertainment.
One morning he caught me in the hall and somehow got into telling me how I really ought to find a job with a good pension. Apparently he worked for some commercial chemistry research lab and retired early once he qualified for their pension program. Then, him and some buddies took some of their early retirement money and bought a big parcel of land. They arranged to have it incorporated into a town, that they ran, then sold off pieces of it for housing developments.
So, he's going through this little history lesson in how the economy used to work and I just stand there and nod. In the back of my head, it dawns on me. He thinks I'm an adjunct by choice. He thinks I teach part-time at three different schools with no advancement potential and minimal benefits because I like it.
Hey Boomers, the reason why us god dammed Millenials aren't doing things the way you used to is that those things don't exist anymore. There's no career track jobs in science with just a MS. There's no more salary for life company pensions. I can't just go "buy me some land" and flip it for a profit.
and there are no pension monthly annuity type retirement programs anymore unless you work for the government... in the US, they only have 401k type retirements in the private sector... people are living longer, they got tired of paying a monthly annuity to people who are in their 90s or even over 100..
I love being told "be grateful you /have/ a job!"
Then they look on in horror as I explain that I can't afford to live on my own while working over 40 hours a week. I don't get vacations. I don't get sick days. I get absolutely no paid time off, even for s*** like Christmas. No time to pursue things I enjoy, no money to see a doctor about my deteriorating jaw.
But it's not their problem, you know? They get to walk away from the conversation.
"You know, your generation doesn't understand that you have to buy a house as young as possible to pay it off quickly". No old man, we get it. We're broke as f*** making 1/3 of what you do in the same work place.
What is seen as "necessary" for younger folks in some cultures? Is sheer luxury. To me, too, and I'm Gen X. I don't own a cell phone. Why would I? It's wasteful. Gaming? It's a deck of cards. My priorities are: stay out of debt, stay fed, clothed and housed. The end.
I'm sorry, you're commenting on BP, you're in no position to call a cell phone a luxury.
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Looking up old newspapers in the library for something and I saw a house on my street being sold for $18,000 back in 1970. The same house sold a few months ago for close to $800,000. That's 44 times more expensive. Salaries have only gone up about 10 times.
Same over here. My dad earned about half I earn at my age. He bought a house with a garden for 32,000. If I want to buy the exact same house now (it's currently on sale), asking price is 320,000. Also, he had no college education and no debt. My student debt alone could have paid for two houses in my dad's time.
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and having to spend more than 3x what that person probably paid for a house, too... e_e
This is the thing that pisses me off about my parents. They were always going on about how I should get a place of my own and not be paying "Dead Money" in rent. There are people out there who have a much MUCH bigger wage than I who can't get on the property ladder and if you want to you have to have a deposit of at least 25% first. No way I could come up with that kind of money. Then they go on about how they got their first house in their early 20s. Back then there was literally full employment. In England back in the early 60s if you started a job on the monday, found you didn't like it, you could quit and start a new job on the following Tuesday or Wednesday. My dad knew someone who actually did that. No way you could do that now. So my parents had their own home, job security and a lifestyle that I could only dream about and to this day my mother still thinks life was so tough for her because, back then she didn't have an automatic washing machine. God love them🙄
Until Reagan destroyed unions it was okay to work in a factory or some other job because you had a livable wage and benefits. 70% of the workforce was in a union up until 30 yrs ago, now its less than 5%
This is exactly the problem. Someone is sitting here telling you they don't make enough money. You've probably never worried about money in your life. 80% of ppl in this country make $15 an hour or less. That is NOT enough to be buying a house, let alone renting an apartment on your own.
You can quadriple your investment in crack Everytime yo! Slang some sacks yo !
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I brought this up with my mom and she told me that in comparison with the wages and prices of yore and today's wages and prices it wasn't much better. It was just easier to get a loan from the bank and people were taking out long mortgages, not spending much on leisure, and sacrificed a lot of fun and vacations to pay off their mortgages.
It was better in days of yore. In late 80s minimum wage was half it was today, but rent for a house was 375. Now, minimum wage has doubled, but a one bedroom apartment will cost over 1000. Gas has gone up 4 times. This silly narrative of " oh just cut out the frivolous expenses" is wrong.
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Your generation had schooling paid for and rent paid for and even houses bought by parents. Or they live at home rent free till they can put a down payment on a house
I'm allowing my daughter to stay at home to save up for her own home and just allow her to split rent with me. If she had to move out we would both have to move in with a roommate. Might as well do that with who we know very well than a stranger.
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Boomers were able to buy a house with a week's wages as a deposit. Both parents could work because grandparents looked after their kids, for free. Boomers could also live with their parents longer. Now everyone is expected to move out when they are 18, a deposit for a house is years of wages and boomers refuse to look after their grandchildren unless they are fully potty trained, dry at night, not picky with food and they get paid.
Your generation obviously has no basic concept of economy or how it's changed drastically in the last 50 years. The US dollar has a different value. S**t costs more because of it. Houses cost more. Rent costs more. Mortgages cost more. Gas costs more. Car insurance costs more. Food costs more. Education costs more. Student loans are off the charts. Debt is a real thing. It's 2021, not 1950. Your opinion is no longer valid.
In my country the last years you have to pay an annual amount for your house! So basically it's the same as renting and you end up paying even more!! So why would I want to buy a house even if I had the money?
Annual property tax is a thing here in the US. It's generally far less than you would pay in rent. After all, the landlord also has to pay the property tax on the property they are renting out, so they have to price that in to the rent they charge. Personally, what I pay in property tax on my house wouldn't even rent me a studio apartment. I could rent a room in a share rental for that. It is also deducted from our taxable income when it comes to calculating income tax, though the tax changes instituted by the past administration limited the amount pretty severely.
Load More Replies... As a mum of five (ages 26 - 43), I am going to make an observation. My generation defined "disposable income" quite differently than my children and their friends do. While I do not take exception with the fact that kids these days face difficulties that some boomers did not, the idea that working class boomers came of age in a time of easy going is definitely not the case. We just had different priorities.
What priorities then? Mine are housing, food, clothing, internet connection because I work from home. There is little else we can afford.
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I began working at 17 in 1976 as a clerk in the Circulation Dept. of the local newspaper at $2.15 an hour. Married at 18, had a son at 21, divorced at 22, bought an acre of land & a 14' x 70' mobile home to move on it at age 25. No credit cards. Single mother working an additional job delivering newspapers by 6am, then to work from 8am to 5pm, $125.00 per month child support. Planted a garden, manicured my yard by myself, cooked dinner (full-course meals) every afternoon after picking up my son from day care. Checked my son's homework everyday & consistent parenting, as well as baseball games, & other activities. It wasn't easy, but it is possible if you really want it. Sure, we did without fast food, junk food, drinks, unnecessaries, but eventually 17 yrs. later I was able to upgrade to a better home on the same property. My wages were about $6.00 an hour in those 17 yrs. It didn't used to be shameful to live in a mobile home. It was affordable & it worked for us nicely.
While loads of money is spent for unnecessary crap that could be saved. People bitch about not having health care while smoking 2 packs a day.
I would't want to buy a house at a really young age because I don't want to decide where i'll live for the rest of my life. I wanna travel around and live in diffrent places all over the world.
My first job as a teacher paid $8.5K a year and I was told that I would not have a job at all the next year every year because of declining birth rate. It was not what young people think it was.
You live in a land without inflation, or just posting fantasy?
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"Go outside, get some fresh air! Your mental illness is just in your head! Laugh and smile more, you'll be fine 😊😊😊"
From a family member. 4 years of therapy in and I still struggle daily.
Talking to my dad recently, he was going on about "participation trophies." When I pointed out that we wouldn't have received said participation trophies had his generation not invented them, his response was: "Yep, that's another problem with your generation. Always blaming your faults on other people."
Gen Xer here, if that matters, and I don't recall a participation award for anything. Ever. Nor my hubby or other Gen-X friends, so.... no idea where those started, or why, but they confuse me.
"You'll feel different when they're your own children."
Yeah I'm not willing to take that risk. Also I'm poor.
My mother told me to, "Just get a job. Tons of places are hiring."
Though, she has come to understand the struggle now as she spends all day applying to jobs and not getting a single call back.
In the 80s when I was desperately looking for a job (with 4 million unemployed) my dad told me it was easy. “Just go to a company and ask for a job”. “Dad - it’s the 1980s not the 1950s!” 🙄
"You'll have little ones of your own someday."
No the f*** I won't. Those little bastards tore up my house over the holidays and the mom did nothing but nap on my couch.
I decided at 12 that I didn't want kids, and I never regretted it.
"You can't get a job in management out of college, you have to start in the mailroom."
Uuuh... To get a job in the mailroom you need five years experience. That or work for free because internship. And when we have five figure student loans to repay we can't exactly work for free cause unpaid internships don't put food on the table or gas in our cars...
"You have to go out and pound the pavement, dear. You can't spend all day looking for jobs on the computer."
My mom was like "go in and ask for the boss so you can hand him your documents." Sure mom, the boss of the 4K employee-Company's only waiting for me to hand him some papers. E-Mails are so impersonal...
My first retail job, any time I complained about customers or coworkers to my father I would get, "You just have to suck it up. It builds character, and you'll always have something you don't like about your job or coworkers." A few years ago, he lost his help desk job, and nobody wanted to hire him on for an IT position when he's just a couple years shy of retirement age and doesn't have a degree. After a couple years of being unemployed, he realized the gig was up, and took a part time job working in a grocery store across the street from the one I had in high school.
Now, whenever I go to visit him, I always hear something like, "Can you believe this b****, shikitohno? I just finished building a goddamn corn pyramid, has to be 7 feet tall, and she wants one from the center on the bottom, because she says she can tell those are the freshest. Can you believe it?" No, dad, not a clue at all what you're talking about, but you're character sure seems to be growing.
Marry your own people out of culture and god...
Little did they know I was a Muslim turned Atheist and hated how the women in my country were treated as house wives instead of actual people.
I guess I'm on the old side of the millennials, but I had numerous people tell me not to go into computer science and instead go into some other engineering field because computer scientists didn't make good money, wasn't a good job, not a good fit, etc. Glad I didn't listen to any of them as I make a really good salary now. Why the heck would I take advice on entering a high tech field from people who can barely use a computer?
I finally learned to humour people who give bad advice: "That's a good idea, thanks, I'll check it out." Then do what works for me. Wish I'd figured that out yeeeeeears ago when my MIL bugged me to have kids: "Great idea, I'll go poke holes in your son's condoms right now!" Five years later: "Maybe I need to use knitting needles?"
Don't go to a trade school, that's beneath you.
Thanks, Mom. This Film degree from a Liberal Arts school is really paying the bills.
Dad told me when I was young that interracial relationships would never work. He said that "there's a reason the black birds are with black birds and the red birds are with the red birds. Its just nature." I've been with my ethnically different girlfriend for a long time now. Probably the best person I've ever met.
Black birds aren't with red birds because they're a different species. Unless your girlfriend is a different species you'll be fine.
My boss recently told me my generation was entitled, and began quoting various articles on how we all think we're special and exempt from criticism etc
AS I was shoveling a dead rat out of the doorway.
"Young people don't know how to work" ---- my elderly neighbor, to the granddaughter who cleans his house every day atop her own job/home/family.
Not really advice but my neighbor was complaining about how useless and lazy millennials are after I snowblowed their driveway today. Only, it used to be their snowblower. They misused it, broke it, and I fixed it, and I've been doing their driveway ever since. But whatever I'm just some lazy 20-something full time student with a job and enough time to turn wrenches in the garage.
They have a saying in my country : "trop bon, trop con". It literally means "too good, too dumb". I think they are right. Some people are too good for their own good. Be meaner, it is ealthier for you.
"Just go to college even if you don't know what you want to do."
I was getting my masters degree and we had a guest lecturer come in. He had been CEO of a small company for many years. He basically told us that he stumbled into the job right out of college because he didn't know what to do and gave it a shot. They gave him the assistant CEO position because he had been the assistant manager at a movie theater for a summer. And then 2 years later he became the CEO.
He was basically telling this entire class of people getting their advance degrees in the hopes to get his position that he got his job on a whim 30 years ago.
My mom encouraged me to walk in and give my resume to the manager at our local grocery store because "seeing you face to face makes a difference" thinking it would help. I was given a physical application by a cashier, basically begged to see manager, he showed up, I gave him my resume, shook his hand, he said thank you but looked annoyed at being interrupted and went back to work. Few weeks later they hired a new cashier, she was the cousin of one of the people that worked there. welcome to the new job market, millennials.
My friend's dad got a fantastic job right out of college (with an unrelated bachelor's degree) by LITERALLY GOING INTO A RANDOM BANK DOWNTOWN AND REFUSING TO LEAVE UNTIL THEY GAVE HIM A JOB.
Can you even imagine? Can you??
they still think you can put on your best suit and walk right into any company, shake the CEO's hand and look him right in the eye, and start the next day.
everything is online and entry level positions require 3-5 years experience with no hope for advancement and s*** benefits (if any) and below average salary
"but just start a business if you cant find something!" whatever that means
"Just start a business. -What kind of business? -I don't know. A business, okay ?!"
Get at least a master's degree so you can be successful. Sure, a degree helps, but coming out of school with a massive amount of debt is not the greatest thing to do. My parents owned a home when they were 25 and 23. They didn't have to worry about having 40k in student loans.
The kicker? I work for my parents and they decide my salary. They know damn well I can barely afford rent, much less a house. Also, my degree has nothing to do with my job, but I had to have it.
"Don't take a job unless it gives 4 weeks vacation out of the year"
Because that's what someone can get fresh from college.
by law those of us living in Europe have to get 4 weeks holidays a year, so am thats every job ;)
If your wife makes more than you. She will eventually become to independent and leave you. This from a 65 and 70 yr old coworkers who have stay at home wives. They also tell me that they don't do house work out of principle. Outside work and repairs only.
First thing you should do is always buy a house.
Houses are not the surefire, idiot-proof investment machine they used to be in decades past.
Go to college and get a degree. Employers will be throwing good paying jobs at you. Total bulls***. Baby Boomers told us this c*** and they're refusing to hire us. F*** that.
HE in the UK is like a sausage factory - churning out graduates regardless of their ability to pass the course - but giving them unlimited bites at the cherry to make sure they do and devaluing the degree in the process.
"Have you tried going in in person and giving them your CV?". This was when I was looking for graduate schemes with multi step application processes, usually CV upload > online tests > phone interview > interview/assessment day > sometimes second interview. Me walking into the building with a piece of physical paper would not have helped at all but my parents thought it was my fault that I didn't have a job yet because I didn't do that.
I hardly fit the requirments to be a millennials, but i had huge interest in game devopment but was discouraged saying computers wont get you a job.
Boy oh boy do i like to remind them of that as i now make soundtracks part time and play test games on the side and the entire world is one big computer now.
The people who say "computers wont get you a job." must not realize that the world is becoming digitalized.
When I was in high school looking for a job my grandmother told me to just go to places and fill out applications; she told me it was useless using the Internet to look for a job. This was in 2008 and every place I checked for a job had an Internet-based application.
EDIT: No one seems to quite understand. You can argue going into a store or calling back is useful to being known or improving your chances at getting a job at some companies. That's great. According to my grandmother, it was pointless to use the Internet as a means of finding available jobs. If I were to follow her advice I would go into countless places and ask if they were hiring there.
Also, a lot of places [a] have online-only application processes and [b] make it impossible (or nearly so) to "call back...to being known". HR doesn't want to talk with you unless they start the conversation.
"You should have kids before it's too late."
I'm 26, excuse you?
Honestly, I‘d advise everyone to plan ahead IF they want to have kids at some point. You don’t want kids, that’s fine. You don’t want kids until later, that’s equally fine, but not everybody will be able to produce healthy eggs/sperm later in life. Talk to your doctor and see if cryopreservation is an option for you for example. So many couples in their thirties or fourties want to have children and can‘t.
Note: this post originally had 50 images. It’s been shortened to the top 35 images based on user votes.
I am a Millennial. I've been in the work force for 2 recessions and have felt screwed over, but the level of anger in this post sounds like a 16 year old screaming at their parents. People will always give s**t advise regardless of age. Calm down .
Sometimes the wisest lessons can be learned by listening to music lyrics. And also, it can be very surprising who writes them. Every generation does criticize the music and musicians from the "younger" generation for various reasons. It's just noise. Look how they dress, do their hair. What there music videos are like. Theyre a bad influence etc. Well my fellow Boomers. I remind you of Woodstock and what was said then. Janis Joplin. Jimmy Hendrix. And then there is Bob Dylan. Antiwar trouble maker who makes crap music. The title of one song, " The Times They Are a Changin'". May i remind you that the song was our message to the Establishment telling them just that. Well, now we're that older generation. May i suggest you go back and listen to that song again. Because, guess what? The times, they are a changing. And for those of you who are our future, take note. They always will be.
I’m not even a boomer, but I’m sick of all the boomer hate. I’ve heard some of this advice before. Funny thing is that the world just keeps turning and we’ve all heard it before. Every generation thinks they’ve got it so tough and that prior generations had it easy. Blah, blah, blah
I'm a boomer ca. 1960. I was told a lot of those things too. That means they originated before boomers.
The best thing I ever did was stopped listening to my parents "advice." Of course I never asked them, they just always invited themselves and their opinions, so I stopped telling them. I could see at 21 how irrelevant it was, at 26 i was regretting still updating them.
I got “You don’t have the right to say no to sex just because sex is traumatic for you. EVERYONE else is having it, therefore you have to have it too.” and “Abstaining from sex means you’re not a real woman.” (For the record, I’m not transgender and I don’t look terribly androgynous.) Both from a psychologist who works with children in a school.
Heard a lot of this before myself, I still think most of it is bunk. Everyone should have a say in what they want to do, not let bad advice drive the conversation.
My favorite is what my stepmom told me when I was like 13. She told me I'll be raped so just let it happen and don't fight. Uh no.
I was born in 1990 and the worst advice I ever got from “boomers” (or anyone) was “You should become a street prostitute - it’s legal.” It’s not, where I live, and those police officers had no right to say that to me - especially since I had already said no several times. I’m glad I didn’t take their advice.
I was applying for work in 1996 with my new engineering degree and that was the end of the era of non-internet based job applications. So to suggest it to anyone is the last decade or two is really out of date advice.
sorry young folks, but the world has changed since the WW2 postwar decades... all this advice worked back then... it all seems out of touch now
It doesn't 'seem' out of touch now, it IS completely out of touch. I'm a Boomer and it really makes me angry to hear this kind of cr*p from other Boomers. After everything we lived thru in the 60's & 70's, some of the so-called 'advice is just unbelievable. smh
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Millennials are such entitled fucktards. The world does not owe you s**t.
I am a Millennial. I've been in the work force for 2 recessions and have felt screwed over, but the level of anger in this post sounds like a 16 year old screaming at their parents. People will always give s**t advise regardless of age. Calm down .
Sometimes the wisest lessons can be learned by listening to music lyrics. And also, it can be very surprising who writes them. Every generation does criticize the music and musicians from the "younger" generation for various reasons. It's just noise. Look how they dress, do their hair. What there music videos are like. Theyre a bad influence etc. Well my fellow Boomers. I remind you of Woodstock and what was said then. Janis Joplin. Jimmy Hendrix. And then there is Bob Dylan. Antiwar trouble maker who makes crap music. The title of one song, " The Times They Are a Changin'". May i remind you that the song was our message to the Establishment telling them just that. Well, now we're that older generation. May i suggest you go back and listen to that song again. Because, guess what? The times, they are a changing. And for those of you who are our future, take note. They always will be.
I’m not even a boomer, but I’m sick of all the boomer hate. I’ve heard some of this advice before. Funny thing is that the world just keeps turning and we’ve all heard it before. Every generation thinks they’ve got it so tough and that prior generations had it easy. Blah, blah, blah
I'm a boomer ca. 1960. I was told a lot of those things too. That means they originated before boomers.
The best thing I ever did was stopped listening to my parents "advice." Of course I never asked them, they just always invited themselves and their opinions, so I stopped telling them. I could see at 21 how irrelevant it was, at 26 i was regretting still updating them.
I got “You don’t have the right to say no to sex just because sex is traumatic for you. EVERYONE else is having it, therefore you have to have it too.” and “Abstaining from sex means you’re not a real woman.” (For the record, I’m not transgender and I don’t look terribly androgynous.) Both from a psychologist who works with children in a school.
Heard a lot of this before myself, I still think most of it is bunk. Everyone should have a say in what they want to do, not let bad advice drive the conversation.
My favorite is what my stepmom told me when I was like 13. She told me I'll be raped so just let it happen and don't fight. Uh no.
I was born in 1990 and the worst advice I ever got from “boomers” (or anyone) was “You should become a street prostitute - it’s legal.” It’s not, where I live, and those police officers had no right to say that to me - especially since I had already said no several times. I’m glad I didn’t take their advice.
I was applying for work in 1996 with my new engineering degree and that was the end of the era of non-internet based job applications. So to suggest it to anyone is the last decade or two is really out of date advice.
sorry young folks, but the world has changed since the WW2 postwar decades... all this advice worked back then... it all seems out of touch now
It doesn't 'seem' out of touch now, it IS completely out of touch. I'm a Boomer and it really makes me angry to hear this kind of cr*p from other Boomers. After everything we lived thru in the 60's & 70's, some of the so-called 'advice is just unbelievable. smh
Load More Replies... Millennials are such entitled fucktards. The world does not owe you s**t.
