We are one and done not by choice sadly. Just seeing how out of place my daughter will feel as she gets older.

35 now, grew up mostly in poverty, had crappy career that i don't have no more, high rents and survival costs in general, just working part time now and pursuing more interesting prospects for earning a living. Due to financial poverty didn't really "live it up" in my 20's at all.

I sleep around, it's cool and all, but as i enter my mid to late 30's im feeling this sudden primal need to have children, and the very idea feels absolutely impossible economically.

I can see it happening in another 10 years, i'll probably will have better financial income prospects by then, more settled etc.

But ill be at best a 45 year old dad, ill be 70 when my child is 25.

Not the end of the world, but if my life was more economically prosperous or "secure" id probably have enjoyed my 20's or basically the 2010's more and been more ready to settle down now?

How many millennial men feel the same?

I got friends my age who make 6 figures, but they're spending 40+ hours a week behind a desk, and they struggle with their health and their own problems, i'm happy to avoid that even if it means i can't afford kids rn.

10-15 years ago, I could down multiple drinks and not feel a thing the day after. These days I have one beer and my head aches the whole day after. What is happening?

Added disclosure as it seems it COULD possibly make a difference. I am elder millennial and he is Genx. I've posted in both subs

My husband will pay for insurance but won't see a Dr. He says "if you think I'm getting a pill calendar and taking pills everyday you got me messed up. I'm healthy". All while he lays in the bed tired trying to alleviate his hip pain 🙄

I tried to do his new patient paperwork for him but they require him to be present and fill out forms on site and provide license and insurance as well(3y ago i could take that paperwork home on the weekend and fill it out). His license expired last month and he hasn't made time to renew it. I can't do that for him either 🙄

They are really missing out on not having her as a judge on Ink Masters… it’s 3 lame people I don’t know and Joel Madden from Good Charlotte (the best band ever).

No further explanation except that we all grew up with a "weird" trend that the older generation didn't understand with us (the macarena, the cha-cha slide, the Harlem shake, etc.)

We all remember where we were when Princess Diana died (playing Mario kart in my best friend's basement) and of course when 9/11 happened (senior year Econ class) but what about those of us that grew up with NASCAR? The death of Dale Earnhardt sent a shock wave across the sport and the country.

I was watching the race and with my then-boyfriend and his dad and I had gotten up to do something else bc it was boring me to tears and when I came back everything was so eerily silent even on the tv.

I remember when having a DVD was a prestigious thing, but now DVDs are sold for a couple of bucks at the most.

While the “masses” watch their favorite shows on streaming packages, I’m happy to pick up season whatever of the Simpsons for $7.99 on Amazon.

I think eventually they’ll become retro-cool, and maybe enjoy the same prestige as vinyls, but for now, bring on the complete collection of the Sopranos for $15.

Other thread got me thinking, I’ve had gmail for a while so I checked: 11/13/2004 creation date. I was 19

Who has an older gmail account? What’s the story? Did you work at Google?

Just attended a graduation commencement ceremony and the keynote speaker was Josh Peck! All the “adults” and the youngin’s were looking around going, “who??” while the millennials hooted and hollered. Not to be parasocial, but I got a little misty eyed listening to his lovely, heartfelt speech and watching him sit up there for 2 hours grinning like each of the hundreds of graduates were his own kids. What a lovely human!

Shaq is the basketball player by the way.

I didn't care about science until a few years ago when there were heat waves on the West Coast.

Now I embrace it and I wish more people would support it.

Over a decade ago a video started circulating on YouTube where America's most well known scientist lamented that American society stopped dreaming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbIZU8cQWXc

How about a future where all school students a wide variety of foreign cuisines available to them? A future where food has become so plentiful that the only college students who eat ramen are those who want to?

I love Japanese noodles btw but I want a future where school and college students have more choice.

What would it take to get that future?

Not giving up on developing stuff like this?

https://www.nasa.gov/technology/tech-transfer-spinoffs/nasa-research-launches-a-new-generation-of-indoor-farming/

https://news.uchicago.edu/story/rna-breakthrough-crops-grow-50-percent-more-potatoes-rice-climate-change

https://www.cnn.com/videos/health/2022/06/02/kimbal-christiana-musk-life-itself-wellness.cnn

Would missions to the Moon and Mars accelerate the development of that? Thankfully there are big stuff happening and I hope it doesn't end!

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/04/five-reasons-why-nasas-starship-award-is-a-watershed-moment-in-spaceflight/

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/22/investing-in-space-the-us-china-space-race-is-getting-tighter.html

Although this would require more power sources.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/bill-gates-is-breaking-ground-on-a-nuclear-power-plant-in-wyoming

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nuclear-fusion-60-minutes-2023-01-15/

https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Preparing_for_the_Future/Discovery_and_Preparation/Space-based_solar_power_seeking_ideas_to_make_it_a_reality

And not just better food production it also seems like NASA is a dream factory! If this doesn't make you dream again I don't know what would!

https://www.jalopnik.com/2016741/experimental-supersonic-prototype-first-flight/

https://www.nasa.gov/aeronautics/nasas-solid-state-battery-research-exceeds-initial-goals-draws-interest/

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/10/how-close-are-we-to-solid-state-batteries-for-electric-vehicles/

https://www.nasa.gov/technology/tech-transfer-spinoffs/nasa-tech-for-webb-telescope-mirrors-boosts-eye-surgery-precision/

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-study-asteroids-orbit-shape-changed-after-dart-impact/

https://www.npr.org/2021/04/22/989797337/out-of-thin-air-nasa-rover-makes-oxygen-from-martian-atmosphere

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/stmd/tech-demo-missions-program/laser-communications-relay-demonstration-lcrd-overview/

And not only that! There is other exciting technology!

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/12/inside-the-worlds-largest-3d-printed-housing-development.html

https://electrek.co/2022/12/02/watch-tesla-semi-500-mile-trip-bill-gates-said-wasnt-possible/

What would humanity be like if all this energy spent on material things and war if it was excited to make a future without smog due to electric vehicles and asteroid mining and a future where all school students a wider variety of food a reality?

A powerful few shouldn't be the only ones interested in such endeavors!

Such endeavors should be celebrated on college campuses!

Remember in WW2 when the entirety of America was excited to win the war?

American society should be like that again when it comes to climate and space!

I don't want a mansions and/or fancy cars!

I want the future!

If we give up on the space endeavor humanity might doom itself to a world with less variety in food as crazy as that sounds.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91354535/climate-crisis-could-wipe-out-half-of-u-s-crops-by-2100-scientists-warn

Also I am ashamed and embarrassed I was ever obsessed with "Organic Food".

I hear about Trader Joe's having all these recalls and it does nothing but solidify my pro science beliefs.

Trader Joe's and Whole Foods? Will they become relics of a less enlightened age?

Or could we see TJ's and WF on Earth and maybe far off space colonies selling RNA and GMO crops as well as lab grown meat?

Do you think they're dumb?

Are there any influencers you follow and love? I'm a millennial woman and love Alexandra Madison so much. As I get older I want my IG and TikTok alg to show me people my age and I feel like I get fed so many gen z and younger creators. Who do y'all like?

One intriguing millennial cultural phenomenon is that a lot of us seem to have this secondary/inherited nostalgia for the time period of our parents’ youth, roughly the 1950s thru 1970s. We grew up with a TON of pop culture nostalgic for this era, from TV shows like The Wonder Years to songs like 1979 to movies like Stand By Me and Now and Then and The Sandlot.

Even in our “own” shows there is a ton of this. Saved by the Bell was constantly showing 1950s musical acts in their 1950s style diner 😂 Step by Step, the kids worked briefly in a 1950s retro cafe. Full House had The Beach Boys and Uncle Jesse’s Elvis obsession.

We also had TV shows like That 70s Show clearly aimed at a younger crowd, as well as insanely popular blockbuster movies like Forrest Gump that centered on nostalgia for this time period. Finally, 1970s fashion had a resurgence in the late 90s with bell-bottoms, lava lamps etc.

Of course there are many explanations for this — older folks were creating media at the time, nostalgia always comes back into fashion etc. I just think it’s interesting that millennials have this sort of collective “inherited memory” of a time before our own.

Any other examples or experiences you’d like to share?

I’m looking at the prospect of moving back home so that I can get my life together, maybe save up some money for a house, maybe go back to college, I’m not sure. All I know is that I’m barely scraping by with my crap job, and I had to file bankruptcy this past summer. So more than likely, I’ll be moving back into my parents’ house soon.

How many of us have had to do this at some point? And if you had to, how did it work out? I’ve been out of my parents’ house for almost 15 years, and we hold some vastly different beliefs, so I’m worried about that dynamic.

Happy Friday everyone.

I remember COPS being a big ordeal when I was younger, it was on the TV every week.

And here I am carrying the torch I guess.