Generational jealousy

Eighties baby Helen Coffey lobs some praise towards enemy lines in the ongoing Gen Z-Millennial wars. Perfect makeup, no hangovers and the power to understand TikTok? If only...

- Helen Coffey

Boomers, millennials, Generation Z: the only thing we have in common is that we all hate each other, right? (And that we’ve all collectively forgotten Generation X exists. Sorry guys.)

That’s the narrative that gets propagated – that an endless generational battle lies at the heart of the culture wars, stoked every month or so by another grenade lobbed over the parapet. The latest skirmish is firmly between millennials and Gen Z.

You’ll be walking along thinking everything’s fine, only to be hit by a bit of shrapnel: Pow! A 23-year-old bystander points and laughs at your ankle socks decorated with sausage dogs. Boom! A younger colleague rolls their eyes with disdain upon hearing you make another Friends reference. Zap! You get eviscerated by TikTokers for trying to get in on the “brat summer” trend when it’s clear you have only the sketchiest grasp of the concept (something to do with taking drugs and not brushing your hair and voting for Kamala Harris?).

From surface-level nonsense (styles of jeans, opinions on brunch) to deeper differences (work ethic and identity politics), there are many issues that divide us. But as a millennial who has spent the past 15 years hearing that my generation were “snowflakes” whose penchant for avocado on toast was to blame for the world’s economic problems, I have sympathy for our younger counterparts. While our profligate ways were branded the root of all evil and the cause behind our inability to afford houses costing 10 times our salaries, Gen Z’s more frugal approach has seen them condemned for killing the club and pub scene. We can’t win, whichever side of the Nineties divide we were born on.

So join me, an Eighties baby, as I document the Gen Z traits I’m actually quite jealous of…

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