Generational Archives - Page 10 of 27

Why Have Gen Z Obesity Rates Risen So Sharply?

July 21, 2025 by Riley Clendenin

Health class didn’t warn them about this part of adulthood.

The sudden surge in obesity among Gen Z isn’t just about fast food or skipping gym class. It’s a complicated cocktail of stress, economy, tech, and culture that’s quietly reshaping an entire generation’s health trajectory. They’re not simply making poor choices—many of them feel like they have no good choices to begin with.

Behind the TikToks and plant-based snacks, there’s a deeper, less glamorous story about what it means to grow up in an era of screens, burnout, and unrelenting pressure. Here’s what’s really fueling the spike in Gen Z obesity—and why it’s not just about willpower.

9 Toys That Defined Your Social Status in 1990s Elementary School

July 18, 2025 by Riley Clendenin

Childhood politics weren’t played on the playground—they were played with what you brought for show-and-tell.

There were unspoken hierarchies in every 90s classroom, and they didn’t come down to grades or kickball skills. They came down to what you pulled out of your backpack. Your choice of toys said everything. Were you cutting-edge cool or clinging to last year’s trend? Did you have the rare edition or the knockoff?

Every recess, every lunch break, every birthday party revealed subtle rankings. You knew exactly who had it all—and who just had to pretend.

10 Childhood Experiences Only Middle-Class 90s Kids Remember

July 18, 2025 by Riley Clendenin

It wasn’t wealth, but it wasn’t struggle—it was something oddly golden in between.

Growing up middle-class in the 90s didn’t mean luxury, but it did mean a strange kind of abundance. There were just enough new things to feel modern, but not so many that we weren’t constantly fixing, reusing, or improvising. We weren’t spoiled, but we were never quite deprived either.

It was a tightrope between comfort and caution. Our parents had stable jobs, our bikes were secondhand, and our weekends were filled with VHS marathons and neighborhood games. It felt normal then—but rare now.

11 Frustrations That Cause Gen Z to Have a Live-for-Today Mindset

July 18, 2025 by Riley Clendenin

The future feels broken, so they’ve stopped pretending it’s not.

There’s a difference between recklessness and realism, and Gen Z seems to straddle that line daily. They’ve inherited a world where climate warnings are background noise, housing feels like a fantasy, and jobs ask for gratitude instead of offering stability. So when older generations accuse them of living for today, they’re missing the point—Gen Z is surviving how they can, not checking out.

This isn’t about impulse or laziness. It’s about watching long-term planning collapse in real time and deciding not to play a rigged game. These frustrations aren’t hypothetical—they’re daily realities that have quietly rewritten what ambition, adulthood, and even “success” mean to an entire generation.

How Millennials Want to Work and Live in 2025

July 17, 2025 by Riley Clendenin

They want freedom, not burnout—and they’re building lives that make room for both.

Millennials are no longer just the interns or the ones fighting to be heard. They’re managers, founders, freelancers, and parents—often all at once. But instead of following outdated paths to “success,” they’re reworking what it means to build a fulfilling career and a good life. It’s not about climbing ladders. It’s about designing lives that don’t eat them alive.

The rules have changed, and so have the values. Here’s what work and life look like now—for a generation that’s done pretending balance doesn’t matter.

11 Deeply Painful Reasons Millennials Can’t Stop Romanticizing the 90s.

July 17, 2025 by Riley Clendenin

Nostalgia hits different when the present keeps falling short.

Millennials aren’t just reminiscing—they’re retreating. The 90s weren’t perfect, but they had something today doesn’t: breathing room. There was less noise, less pressure, and less surveillance. Everything felt slower, simpler, and strangely more free. It wasn’t about aesthetics or VHS filters—it was about feeling human in a way that’s getting harder to access.

Now, caught in an endless cycle of economic instability, burnout, and digital fatigue, it’s no wonder they keep looking backward. The 90s weren’t just a decade—they were the last time many of us felt safe being ourselves.

10 “Once-in-a-Lifetime” Events That Only Millennials Have Lived Through

July 17, 2025 by Riley Clendenin

The world didn’t just change—millennials had to grow up in its chaos.

Millennials were promised stability, but got a crash course in survival. Every time things looked like they might settle down, another curveball hit. It wasn’t just bad luck—it was historic disruption packed into a single generation’s coming-of-age story. The world told them to be flexible, but offered little support when the floor kept falling out.

The result? A generation hardened by reality and softened by empathy. They didn’t just watch history unfold—they had to adapt, rebuild, and somehow stay hopeful through it all.

Bleak Reasons Millennials Feel They’ll Never Afford a Home

July 16, 2025 by Riley Clendenin

The dream of homeownership turned into a punchline somewhere around 2015.

Millennials grew up being told to work hard, get a degree, and save—then watched housing prices balloon into sci-fi numbers while wages barely budged. The cozy starter home with a yard became something you see in Zillow fantasies, not actual reality. The open house today isn’t a welcome—it’s a warning. Good luck competing with cash buyers and tech investors when you’ve still got student loans breathing down your neck.

This generation didn’t just miss the housing train—it feels like it never stopped for them in the first place.