People Raised In The 60s, 70s & 80s Did 8 Original Things That Younger Generations Usually Take Credit For
Elzbieta Sekowska | Shutterstock With each generation, past trends resurface, and Gen Z and Gen Alpha are no different. The problem is that people raised in the 60s, 70s, and 80s broke ground with some popular things that younger generations are trying to lay claim to.
What's old always becomes new again, and so few things are truly novel in the modern world, even if packaged with a different name. It's absolutely okay to embrace the trends of the past, but it's also important to give credit where credit is due.
Original things kids raised in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s did that young people think they invented:
1. No-spend months
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The idea of a no-spend month, where you don’t buy anything new or give in to impulsive purchases online, feels radical for Gen Zers who’ve grown up in a materialistic society. However, for their parents and grandparents, that’s just everyday life. Frugality was just part of life.
Spending for fun and on little luxuries every single week just wasn’t typical. While Gen Zers are being partially forced into this mentality because of rising necessity costs, taking credit for basic lessons in financial literacy, like not buying something when you don’t have the money, isn’t novel.
2. A slow living lifestyle trend
Especially for Gen Zers disconnecting from their phones and trying to create a life offline, it’s not surprising that the benefits of the simple life are coming back around. The slow living trend is growing in popularity for younger generations yearning for purpose and meaning.
Whether it’s baking sourdough bread at home or indulging in analog hobbies like knitting and crocheting, they’re leaning into a simpler life that promotes more happiness.
While the term slow living might be new, the concept is timeless. Their parents were even socialized into appreciating simplicity by frugal, mindful parents. The same is true for their grandparents, and probably their parents too.
3. Creating capsule wardrobes
Anyone born in the 1900s knows the importance of having quality staple wardrobe pieces. The perfect little black dress that every woman has in her wardrobe didn't appear out of thin air. This goes for everything from structured suit pieces to a quality pair of boots.
Older gens understood that investing in quality clothing was cost-saving because the pieces would last and the fashions were timeless.
However, for Gen Zers, it’s largely about sustainability. Climate issues are important to them, and a capsule wardrobe exemplifies that. It doesn't mean they created the trend, however.
4. BookTok
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Even though passing around recommendations on TikTok and reading the same books has a new name, known as BookTok, it doesn’t mean that Gen Zers and young millennials created this idea. Before phones, a whole lot of people read for fun, and those older generations liked to get together and talk about those books. In fact, they still do!
Book clubs are what many young people are missing out on today and seeking out online. It can feel reaffirming to believe that they’re the first generation to have a space like this, and they might be online, but it’s just not the case.
5. Using a vision board to manifest
Scrapbooking and collaging were how kids raised in the 60s, 70s, and 80s decorated their rooms and dorms. In between pictures of friends and family were magazine cutouts glued to posterboard. They weren't called vision boards, but that's what they were.
So, as much as Gen Zers might believe they’ve created vision boarding, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes, they’re powerful tools, but no, they’re not original ideas.
6. Wearing mom jeans
Enough said. Many young people forget that trend resurgences, packaged with new names, really happen in a 20-year cycle. The same baggy boyfriend pants and mom jeans their parents wore at the same age are coming around again, but they’re not new.
Yes, they might be thrown into different outfits and shared as something new online, but their parents know better than anyone that they’re just a repackaged version of the trends they followed themselves back in the day.
7. Using astrology and tarot cards to understand life
While many boomers still keep religion at the core of their values and practices, in the 60s, 70s, and 80s many chose to practice privately and form their own unique spiritual beliefs. Yes, astrology has always been around, much longer than the beliefs Gen Zers have labeled as a new connection to spirituality.
Tarot cards and astrology beliefs are circling back around in popularity for young people searching for meaning outside of structured, organized religion, but it’s not a new concept. Whether it’s being too caught up in stereotypes about their older peers or not realizing how spirituality shaped their parents’ and grandparents’ generation, they take credit for something that’s been around since the ancient Babylonians.
8. Detaching from work
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Gen Zers today often embrace a work-to-live sentiment. While many boomers especially grew up in and cultivated their own hustle mentality, the truth is that these generations were often condemned early in life for a similar distaste for work.
The hippie generation and boomers stepping away from traditional work to go out on their own were ridiculed, much like Gen Zers today. Gen X was also made fun of for pushing for work-life balance. It’s not uncommon for younger generations to take on more progressive views than their parents’ generation, even if it takes a different shape with each decade.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a senior editorial strategist with a bachelor’s degree in social relations & policy and gender studies who focuses on psychology, relationships, self-help, and human interest stories.
