kanderior
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Assuming the end of 2000s culture was 2012, 2013-2014 was transitional, and the beginning of the zoomer era (TikTok, Insta, streamer e-celebs, algorithm-driven social media, OLD, etc.) was around 2015, that means people born in 1993 to 1997 were 18-22 when it started. Too old to grow up with it, too young to have had time to thrive in the previous era. Basically stuck between the two generations. People born before 1993 were too old and established in life by 2015 for all this stuff to matter (instagram maxxing for social life, dating with OLD, using social media to make money etc., they never needed it), and people born after 1997 were still in high school so they were able to grow up with it, get molded by it, and figure out how to operate and thrive in today's world.
But someone like me, born in 1997, was born early enough to grow up in the millennial era, but late enough that it ended, and the lessons I learned in it became obsolete, just as I became an adult. I see all these kids on TikTok and Insta making money, playing the algorithm and using it for socialmaxxing and it's frustrating feeling that I missed out on it by just 2-3 years, that I was too old when it started for me to grow up with it but also too young for it not to matter. I feel "technically" young and yet still a boomer due to being born right on the cutoff. Basically I feel like I was raised and educated for a world that stopped existing right when I graduated high school, and I was young enough when that happened to experience the disadvantages of that.
And this goes beyond social media; my childhood had celebs, zoomers don't, at least not the in the original sense. My childhood had "pop culture", e.g. movies, shows, artists etc. that virtually everyone, young and old, knew about, zoomers don't, it's this non-stop avalanche of algorithm-optimized content (I don't even know how normie pop culture really works, where they get informed on current trends etc.). We had clear cultural trends and youth movements, now it's random online meme stuff that lasts for like 2 years tops. The dating market that I was raised with was mainly socialmaxxing-based, now OLD, social media and online indicators of a socialmaxxed life are essential. And ofc, the importance of looksmaxxing, another thing I was taught nothing about growing up, but younger people learn about since before they can drink. Anyone other mid-90scels feel the same way? That we became premature boomers due to being the last millennials? Or should I be grateful I'm not a zoomer?
But someone like me, born in 1997, was born early enough to grow up in the millennial era, but late enough that it ended, and the lessons I learned in it became obsolete, just as I became an adult. I see all these kids on TikTok and Insta making money, playing the algorithm and using it for socialmaxxing and it's frustrating feeling that I missed out on it by just 2-3 years, that I was too old when it started for me to grow up with it but also too young for it not to matter. I feel "technically" young and yet still a boomer due to being born right on the cutoff. Basically I feel like I was raised and educated for a world that stopped existing right when I graduated high school, and I was young enough when that happened to experience the disadvantages of that.
And this goes beyond social media; my childhood had celebs, zoomers don't, at least not the in the original sense. My childhood had "pop culture", e.g. movies, shows, artists etc. that virtually everyone, young and old, knew about, zoomers don't, it's this non-stop avalanche of algorithm-optimized content (I don't even know how normie pop culture really works, where they get informed on current trends etc.). We had clear cultural trends and youth movements, now it's random online meme stuff that lasts for like 2 years tops. The dating market that I was raised with was mainly socialmaxxing-based, now OLD, social media and online indicators of a socialmaxxed life are essential. And ofc, the importance of looksmaxxing, another thing I was taught nothing about growing up, but younger people learn about since before they can drink. Anyone other mid-90scels feel the same way? That we became premature boomers due to being the last millennials? Or should I be grateful I'm not a zoomer?
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