7 Ways Gen X & Millennials Had It Harder Than Gen Z Will Ever Understand
Lyudmila2509 | Shutterstock Something about the debate over which generation had it the easiest gets even the calmest people locked in a heated argument. But Gen X and millennials aren't backing down in this fight.
Actual survey results have shown that older generations are split on whether young people are going through more than they did. Still, there are some struggles that Gen X and millennials had to accept as a part of their lives that would make Gen Z absolutely lose it.
Gen X and millennials had to deal with these hardships that Gen Z will never understand:
1. They learned their technology skills in the computer lab
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For Gen Z, there was really no such thing as learning how to use a computer, unless you compare it to something like learning how to walk or talk. It was a part of their lives from the day they were born, so they knew how to unlock a phone before they could count the numbers in the passcode.
Gen X and millennials had a very different experience. Instead of everyone using their own laptop or tablet at school, they had to go to a separate classroom called the computer lab. Using a computer was an actual skill they had to learn, and technology wasn’t seamlessly built into every aspect of their education.
2. They had to use an actual phone book
Most Gen Zers wouldn’t be surprised to see a thick, yellow phone book displayed in a museum like a historical artifact. Really, they wouldn’t be completely wrong in calling it historic since the first phone book was published in 1878.
They stayed in use for decades after, though. Instead of Googling an address or phone number, Gen Xers and millennials looked it up in a giant book. That also made a phone call necessary when they wanted to know something that seems basic now, like when a store was open or what time a movie was playing.
3. They didn’t have the option to doomscroll yet
Back in the early days of social media, there was no way to endlessly scroll through a platform for hours at a time. After someone scrolled through all of the new posts from their friends, they would just hit a dead end with a message that told them they were “all caught up.”
That changed in 2006 when software developer Aza Raskin invented the infinite scroll we’re all used to now. He’s actually come to regret his creation, but whether you agree with him or not, you can’t argue that Gen X and millennials were going through it when they had to find something else to do.
4. They couldn’t easily check in with people
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Cell phones weren’t available on a large scale until the '90s, so Gen X and millennials had to survive years of life without them. Sometimes they could use a landline or even a payphone, but there were other times when they just couldn't get in touch with people.
A Gen Zer would have panicked if they had been dropped off somewhere when they were a kid without a phone, but that was just what people did back then. And, if no one came back to pick them up when they expected, they just waited patiently. It was like everyone chose the free-range parenting style because they didn’t have another option.
5. They could only look at social media posts in chronological order
Just like social media wasn’t equipped with infinite scroll from the beginning, it also didn’t always have the algorithms we’re used to now that show us all kinds of posts recommended for us based on our interests.
Instead, everyone could look at what their friends posted in chronological order. Nothing else popped up unless they actually searched for it. Gen Z has no idea what it’s like to not automatically know all the latest news just from opening Instagram, even though it used to be the norm.
6. They never knew if the pictures they took were good
Now we all carry our cameras around as a part of our phones, but Gen X and millennials grew up with a very different reality. The first digital camera wasn’t created until 1975.
Before then, and for years after, until they were more sophisticated and widely used, people used cameras that didn’t show them the picture they just took, so they could decide if they liked it or not. There was really no need for Gen X and millennials to try to set up the perfect shot.
7. They had to request their favorite song from the local radio station
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Nowadays, pretty much everyone has a subscription to a music streaming service that lets them play any song they want whenever they want to hear it. Before, unless someone had a CD or record with the song on it, they had to rely on the radio.
People used to listen to the radio hoping they would hear their favorite song, and even called local stations to request the song they wanted. Radio became almost like TV in a way, with different DJs hosting different shows. It’s an entire culture that Gen Z will never understand.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
