Millennials don't get to live in the same world as Gen Z — and the reason stretches back to childhood

Millennials don't live life the same way as Gen Zs, and Kristen Shelt (@kristen1942), the author of "A Practical Guide to Coherent Living," has a practical reasoning behind it. She said Millennials were raised in a time when people were obsessed with doing everything at the right time. "They were told to follow the steps, go to school, get a job, buy a house, have the kids, and time would move in a straight, predictable line," Shelt explained. However, she continued, things didn't work out, and Millennials, instead, grew up with the fear of an uncertain future. Gen Z, on the other hand, was raised with a different perception of time altogether. Shelt opened up about it in her TikTok video on December 31. 

Living through economic collapse, technological advancements, and constant social comparison, Millennials became way too uncertain and pessimistic about the future. "When the future feels unstable, the nervous system collapses time inward; that's why they experience urgency and paralysis at the same time," Shelt justified. In fact, she said that for Millennials, time isn't "linear"; rather, it's the "pressure" of constantly achieving something. She continued explaining how Millennials were forced to track time, and they grew up being hypervigilant about it. Millennials instinctively think in systems rather than straight lines; they excel in connecting past experiences with present conditions and future possibilities simultaneously. Shelt explained that Millennials were built for coherence, and not guarantees. "So, if they feel behind, rushed, frozen, or oddly timeless, that's because they are fluent in a version of time that the world hasn't fully caught up to yet," she added. 

In another video, Shelt explained how Gen Z, in contrast to Millennials, experiences time as "compression." While their older generation grew up thinking time was running out, Gen Z knew it was already gone. They don't waste time planning because they know the future isn't constant. "Millennials feel chased by time, and Gen Z feels flattened by it," Shelt said. Likewise, she shared that while Millennials work towards stabilizing the systems, Gen Z questions the existence of the systems. "Neither is wrong, but pretending they are the same keeps both generations stuck," she added. Joyce Pring, a TV personality and a young millennial herself, also confirmed the same. In an interview with Francis Kong, she explained how Millennials are all about "hustle culture," while Gen Z prioritizes living in the moment while taking care of their mental and psychological well-being. 

A survey by Monster found that a majority of Millennials (80%) said hustle culture leads to burnout and/or health issues, while 60% of Gen Z agreed. The same study found that more than half (64%) of Millennial respondents said they'd happily work for a company that prioritizes balance rather than one that honors constant hustle. But here's the difference: while Millennials have already experienced the toxic hustle culture and the pressure of always being ahead of everyone else, Gen Z is assumed to always enjoy sustainable productivity.

A lot of people resonated with what Kristen explained and praised her for her accurate stand on the Gen Z v/s Millennials debate; for instance, @sarirosebud shared, "The previous generations marked time with life milestones. We were raised to expect and desire those milestones, but they very quickly became unattainable for many of us. So a lot of millennials feel trapped in youth but also aging too fast, without anything to show for it." Similarly, @ashmagoo8049 commented, "Born in '87. I heard a Gen Zer say that millennials are not self-aware, which made me chuckle because it is quite the opposite. We are the most self-aware generation, in my opinion." @elle_d33 suggested, "Sounds to me like if we embrace these differences and lean into them, we can make some really amazing positive impacts on the structures we want to move into."

You can follow Kristen Shelt (@kristen1942) on TikTok for lifestyle content.

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