27 Causes That Could Lead To The Millennial Generation’s Downfall
1. DEPRESSION
It’s depression. We are the first generation without a bigger plan, the only thing we have to do is going to school, getting a job and being a worker bee for a society we don’t believe in.
People get suicidal and depressive by their lives because they don’t see what they live for and what they work for. At first we are happy to be able to buy all the stuff we always wanted to buy until we realize that it’s meaningless in the end.
2. APATHY
APATHY. We’re constantly bombarded by sensationalist and bad news, politics that don’t change, no sense of having any influence on our environment at all….
People can’t even be bothered anymore when sweeping surveillance legislation comes in, they don’t feel anything can change. We’re told the environment is dying and that it’s too late to change it, that countless will be dying but everyone keeps going on as normal because no one thinks they can make a difference.
Positive news is flushed out for panic-merchants and ideologues screaming at each other. I’ve noticed it especially; no one has a positive outlook for the future, it’s all ‘I’ll take what happiness I can and leave it at that.’ It seems like the entire generation is genuinely dead inside. The weight of the world’s been dumped on them, but nothing exists for them to do something with it.
3. SOCIAL MEDIA
When the all the emotion and history we’ve collectively poured into social media merges, gains sentience and begins to feed on our psyches, until we are little more than husks carrying out mindless tasks like taking photos of breakfast solely for the appreciation of some unthinking, overemotional, needy collective God.
4. HEROIN
Fact. I went to one of the more shitty high schools on Cape Cod, which recently put out a documentary on HBO called like Cape Cod: Heroin Epidemic.
Out of my graduating class of about 300, in the 5-6 years since graduating, around 30 of them are dead or in jail/prison directly because of heroin. Those it affected were from all ranges. The captain of our hockey team who had a full ride to (I think) Tufts got arrested for holding up a convenience store with a gun. A ton selling, buying of course.
The worst situation I witnessed was very close to home, though. My little league baseball coach, a father in his 40’s or so. Was quick to yell, and was really hard on his kid, but didn’t seem like a bad guy. Well, I can’t remember the exact timeline, but a couple years ago it came out that apparently my old coach and his wife both sold heroin in pretty moderate quantities, and I suppose the apple doesn’t fall far, because their son, who I grew up with, was slinging too. Mom and Dad weren’t too fond of this I guess as they shot and killed their son as there was some dispute over selling.
Another one, a kid (I’m talking 15-17) was killed execution-style on one of the beaches. Two bullets, back of the head—him and his ‘partner’ or whatever. They then took this kid’s body, threw it in a pit, and lit him on fire.
This is all on Cape Cod, not Chicago, not some inner city, nope—all in probably the closest runner-up to retirement capital of the US after Florida. Heroin is disgusting, I’ve watched adults I respected, kids I grew up with, friends, deteriorate until they’re mere husks of who they once were. It’s entirely, without question, due to the Oxy epidemic that took over in the late 90’s early 00’s. On Cape Cod, which outside of the tourist season is entirely made up of retirees and physical laborers, things move very slowly politically. During the Oxy epidemic there was outcry for rehab centers and outlets to help people addicted to this ‘medicine.’ Which of course was met with hostility from I don’t even know who—that adding those rehab centers and facilities would bring more addicts to the Cape, so it never happened, and when all those landscapers, house painters, construction workers, etc., got seasonal unemployment during the winter and could no longer afford the expensive ass Oxy pills, their dealer being the good guy he is, throws them a bone and introduces them to Oxy’s little brother that costs a third of the price and is way stronger.
That’s bad enough, right? Nah. I think starting about 2-3 years ago (though not a new practice by any means) a huge batch of dope came through the Cape that had a shit ton of fentanyl in it and that shit was what killed so many people, so many of my friends. And there’s not really anywhere they can go, there’s some clinics or centers, but they’re so sparse it’s not easy, convenient, and often even possible for them to get help. It’s pathetic. Somewhere along the line we decided as a community to just write off all these addicts as liabilities. Fuck the Cape and fuck heroin. But realllllyyyyyy, fuck the Cape. Don’t vacation there if you ever have the choice to go somewhere else.
5. LACK OF HUMAN INTERACTION
I think a big reason for this is how convenient and efficient we’ve made nearly everything except for real human interaction.
Order through apps, self-checkout, work from home, basically nowadays it’s pretty easy to live life with extremely little to no human interaction ever. Then once friends move away or whatever happens and you realize this, you turn to the Internet for companionship.
Then you see yourself and think ‘well wtf, I’m decent looking/keep reasonable care of my body, smart, and my messages are better/more interesting than 95% of messages that guys are sending, yet I’m getting no response…I guess I must actually be pretty shit.’
So your confidence is drained, making it harder to even come close to initiating conversation in real life because you already know from online experience that you’re probably a worthless piece of fucking shit.
Basically the VERY thing that you loved about yourself when you were a kid being independent and ‘destined for a great life’ becomes your biggest regret/annoyance. You wanted to feel special and better than everyone else, but now you realize how retarded that was and that you instead wish that you were more similar to others and could relate to them.
Or maybe that’s just me. Anyway whatever I’m way too scared to ever even come close to thinking about purposely ending it all, but I’d be lying if I said that I don’t often think about how much nicer nothing would be than living in this hell of my own making.
6. LACK OF OPPORTUNITY
While I certainly agree this is part of it, we also have to look at the climate my millennials grew up in.
We were raised to believe all you had to do was go to college and you’d have jobs just waiting. You’d meet the right girl/guy, get married, buy a house, have kids, and everything would be great.
The 90s were a time where the economy was booming and the Internet and computer technology seemed like it could fix anything.
Then 9/11 happened. Then Iraq happened. Then the recession in ’08, ISIS, etc.
Now many of us are becoming adults, being told we need to move out, get a job, do all the things we were raised to believe we should, but we’re sitting on mountains of student-loan debt that we took on for degrees that aren’t getting us jobs. Those who do get jobs are finding salaries that have barely moved in almost two decades while the cost of living skyrockets, and suddenly all the dreams we were given are crashing down around us while many of the people who put those dreams in our head are now blaming for failing to achieve them.
With little to no support from them, we only have each other to turn to, but then we’re all in the same boat, and that just feeds into your point about the lack of communication.
I think Baby Boomers came up in a time where opportunities were boundless if you just tried hard enough, and if you fell, you always had a community to help pick you back up.
Contrast this to many millennials where opportunities are scarce, but we’re still expected to get by like our parents did, and the closest to community many of us have is online.
I feel like I’m doing reasonably well. I have a good job that pays fairly well. I live a comfortable life with my fiancée and only have a relatively tiny amount of debt left, but I don’t know where I’ll go after that’s dealt with.
I guess I can save up, but detached houses where I live are going for 1m plus at the cheapest, so I don’t know if I could find as good a job somewhere cheaper. I could commute like 2 hours each way but then what’s the point of my day is gone. There are just a lot of unknowns, and it feels like there’s nobody to really help because the older generation is established and doesn’t/won’t see the problems, and the rest of us are stuck with the same shit.
7. LONELINESS
Loneliness—the dissolution of enforced socializing as the inevitable reactionary phase sets in will result in an artificial sense of isolation resulting in range of behaviors associated with depression. These behaviors will result in significant numbers of deaths earlier than predicted by statistical models.
Anxiety—the group has experienced high levels of stress during its development. This condition has resulted in a state of near constant anxiety which will make the group vulnerable to early onset of heart disease, chronic respiratory disorders, and weakened immune systems. Diseases currently likely to appear in older groups will appear earlier and with greater severity in the M-group and will result in significant numbers of deaths earlier than predicted by statistical models.
Despair—the environment has passed a critical threshold which will introduce profound changes to the social structure. Many of these changes will be negative. The social order disruption combined with the unassailable realization that conditions will continue to degrade beyond the horizon of their life expectancy will inculcate a sense of hopelessness and depression which will result in self-destructive behaviors combined with depression resulting in significant numbers of deaths earlier than predicted by statistical models.
Assorted: currently some models predict a pandemic will afflict the world’s population with particular emphasis on the young and individuals of child-bearing age. If the population of the world is reduced by 5% this would result in a death toll around 375 million people (+/-).
Some climate models predict devastating storms will arise as a result of climate change. These storms will be much more powerful than anything previously recorded and will wreak havoc on agriculture and human populations. Some speculative imaginings suggest as many as a billion people may be killed during a single season in the Northern Hemisphere.
It may the case that the M-group will face death on a scale previously un-imagined under circumstances not directly caused by a wide spread nuclear conflict. Certainly the M-group will face a series of challenges complicated by technological and environmental change that previous generations had no experience with.
8. DEBT
It will be debt.
Our jobs don’t grow with inflation anymore.
Can’t get an education; soon that will all be ruined and what is available will be far beyond being able to afford. The few of us who afforded it now did so with help of previous generations of wealth that is just not going to exist for our children.
Health insurance is scarce. Obamacare might have seemed like a great idea but it basically gave the constitutional pen to big pharma/medical. These guys are only getting even more powerful without Obamacare and they will hold our health hostage with impunity.
All of this amounts to sending you straight to poverty with one mishap.
I don’t even want to discuss the housing market. Odds of us having even secured places to live that aren’t owned by still other masters of our futures is slimmer by the day, with homes in any job-accessible areas costing half a million dollars in a lot of places.
We will be living lives that are designed around debt.
Paying mortgages, student loans, and credit card bills until our dying days.
One accident or illness. One bad school loan. One car accident. And the whole house of cards will fall down.
I don’t know what will kill millennials the most effectively. But at the end of the day, whatever it is, will be there because we could not afford…something. Take your pick. This is our world now.
9. INDENTURED SERVITUDE
Indentured servitude.
We are taught to grow up and get an education to put us into an ungodly amount of debt at high interest rates so we can get a mediocre job.
After we have the job we need a car, tack that onto the list of loans.
Let’s not forget to purchase a house as well because what goes better with debt than a sweet mortgage on a house that is overpriced courtesy of the show banks are putting on?
Now we can all live happily ever after working until the day we die to unbury ourselves from the calamity that is our life.
10. LACK OF QUALITY JOBS
I think it’s the lack of quality jobs. A job gives a person a purpose. without decent paying, secure jobs a lot of people are going to say fuck and escape their lives. That could be drugs, suicide, or maybe games like some in China.
11. MENTAL ILLNESS
I’m pretty sure it’s going to be mental instability. Ever since there has been less activity and more leisure amongst millennials, mental illnesses have increased in alarming numbers. There have been multiple studies done on how the current generation has an alarmingly large number of people who are depressed, anxious, bipolar, or another relevant issue. Often times, this is due to the lack of purpose and physical activity from the recent developments in technology. People only a century ago had to endure more manual labor than millennials do now, but they were also far more physically active which boosts mental health and directly correlates to mental stability. This in general leads to a healthier lifestyle and a far more satisfactory life. Nowadays, it takes far more time for people to find their purpose in life as young adults. The number of depressed young adults is by far the most alarming statistic amongst millennials and should be one that garners far more attention than it does today.
12. ONLINE DATING
I believe the real killer, along with drugs, to the millennial generation will be dating apps like Tinder, Bumble, etc. The warped mentality they are imposing upon everyone is borderline disgusting. Practically conditioning people to believe the opposite sex is disposable and always replaceable.
13. OBESITY
Obesity brought on by calorie dense, cheap, processed foods.
14. THE INTERNAL DEATH OF THE SPIRIT
Others have mentioned heroin and fentanyl. But I think the leading killer will be the internal death of the spirit, living in a world inundated by electronic screens and the unrealistic ideals they sell.
15. INDIFFERENCE
The killer for the millennial will be his indifference to his enslavement through high interest rates, income inequality, expensive healthcare, government surveillance of his personal life and the super-rich looting his country’s wealth as long as he can have a smart phone with unlimited access to the Internet.
16. LEGAL OPIATES
Not just heroin. Legal Opiates prescribed from doctors will have you addicted within 7 days. Prescription opiates, illegal heroin, and the worst of them all, fentanyl, are killing tens of thousands per year already and the numbers are still climbing. Our biggest threat isn’t terrorism or North Korea. It’s the drug companies and doctors who are killing our youth and future. Almost like it was planned.
17. SUICIDE
Suicide.
Some studies are showing a correlation between suicidal behavior and the rise of social media. We live in a world that is always connected but that does not make interpersonal connections—where people can have 5000 ‘friends’ and 5 million ‘followers’ and yet be utterly alone, without real interpersonal human contact.
Humanity, as a species, is not designed (regardless of how one believes that design happened–as a product of the natural evolution of a planet’s life cycle or whether by a creator) to live without real human contact. Lack of this contact seemingly correlates (though correlation is not necessarily causation in all cases) to a spike in suicidal behavior.
18. METH
Meth. IV meth, specifically, which is sharply on the rise.
The kids who get hooked on meth quickly find themselves content to be alone, content to do little else but masturbate or game. Which they do in marathon stretches without ever getting board, until they either run out of dope or run out of energy (whichever comes first). Then sleep for 3 days straight and then immediately repeat the process.
A speed freak is generally as useless (if not even more useless) than an opioid addict. And unlike opioid or cocaine, meth is highly neurotoxic. Frequent use doesn’t just downregulate the dopamine reward system, it also causes oxidative damage directly to dopamine receptors. Meth addiction reduces one’s physical capacity to feel pleasure, in ways quite possibly permanent. This is why the rate of relapse amongst meth addicts is higher than that of nearly any other drug.
19. HOPELESSNESS
Suicide from depression caused by loss of all hope for a better life.
You graduate from college with crushing debt and no job opportunities. You work at a dead end low income job and can’t afford housing so you end up living with your parents.
Healthcare is already too expensive, and then health care ‘reform’ causes costs to rise out of control.
Taxes for the rich are cut, and to cover the revenue shortfall, taxes for you go up. A foreigner takes your job and there’s no point getting upset about it because a robot is going to take his job.
At the end of the road: a pension fund that will be legally looted by Wall Street long before you retire, and Social Security that will be cut so deep in the name of ‘austerity’ that it’s just a joke.
Then they’re talking about going to war.
Yeah, but let’s go with drugs. Drugs are the method of choice for the suicidal.
20. POOR FOOD
I’d say food. The kinds and amounts of food that we’re eating right now will end up having lasting effects on our health. I don’t know what they’ll be, but I do believe we’ll start to see the effects in the next 10-15 years…and I’m not talking about fatness. Take margarine for example. A while ago, that was a miracle ingredient that everyone raved over…now those people are dying from heart attacks relatively super early in their lifetimes..
21. POVERTY
Poverty.
Automation leading to reduced work/ opportunities to get private insurance, compounded by decades of government-sponsored undermining of unions and social welfare programs, along with the pathogenic diet consumed by the poor (think processed foods with loads of hypertension-inducing salt, diabetes/obesity/cvd-causing ingredients [fructose derived from government-subsidized corn] may increase the incidence of preventable conditions.
22. SEDENTARY LIFESTYLES
Sedentary lifestyles. At no time in history have so many people spent so much time on their asses.
23. ECONOMIC DEPRESSION
Economic depression. I spend so much money just to cover rent, work as a loan officer for a financial company, and make $12 an hour. I don’t have a car, never had my parents help me get one, don’t have anyone to help me practice, and I work 8:30-5:30pm Monday—Friday with no sick days, no vacation days, and I can’t keep going. I’m 25.
24. OVERWORK
Overworking/extreme stress, or depression. They’re kinda tied together and can both lead to suicide. I mean, from how I’ve grown up and seen the world to this point it’s essentially this. Work your ass off in high school to get in a good college, rack up an insane amount of debt at college to maybe get a good job, work your ass off at whatever job you land to pay off that insane amount of debt. That alone sounds depressing to me, and in no manner how I want to live my life or how I want my children or grandchildren to live. Maybe it’s just my point of view, but this seems to be the case for a lot of people I know.
25. LACK OF MASCULINITY
The utter lack of masculinity is disturbing. Yes, I’m serious. Boys have no masculine heroes to look up to anymore.
The idea with boys is not to try to change them. That’s not really going to happen…all that energy is going to go somewhere. The idea is to channel it towards constructive purposes.
Males today have nothing to model themselves after except total wussies. Why are we trying so hard to feminize them, anyway? It’s an idea that will backfire.
26. WESTERN SOCIETY IN GENERAL
Western society in general. I see a lot of people in this thread have mentioned depression, suicide, drugs (heroin in particular). They all have a common thread, and that thread is hopelessness. I could list a thousand reasons why so many people seem so down; why depression is no longer abnormal but increasingly expected. But I’ll keep this fairly simple.
I think Western society is killing itself, and we’re all killing each other, because we’re bored. As a society we’re just fucking bored. We’re burned out, we have dammed little to do, and it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better.
I’m a big history buff, and that’s where my hypothesis is coming from. Right now we’re in a stagnant phase, socially that is, not scientifically or technologically. We have all these wonderful new things available to us right now, but we really don’t know what to do with any of them. Most of us have smartphones with incredible computing power and access to more knowledge than any of us could ever hope to memorize or use in our lifetimes. Knowledge in general is cheap if not free. Antibiotics and vaccines have saved millions of lives; food is of higher quality and reasonably easy to access; ditto with drinking water and shelter. (Yes extreme poverty still exists, but for most living in the first-world it isn’t the norm.) Violent crime and war has largely tamed down, despite what the media says for it’s own profit. Life should be good, like really fucking good.
But we’re bored, and it’s going to kill us. The West in many ways is still in shock from two world wars, and a 46 year eye-to-eye nuclear standoff after the end of the Second World War. Hundreds of millions dead has really turned off us from humanity’s historic past time of killing each other for sport. The aforementioned abundance of medical care, food, and water means that for most people survival is a given; you’ve got to be in a shitty way to starve to death or die from an infected paper cut.
We’re also between times of conquest and expansion. There are no empires left to expand, no frontiers to settle on this planet; and we’re a long way from colonizing the rest of our solar system, let alone the galaxy.
So what do we do? We get depressed, browse reddit and Facebook, share a few memes, and take antidepressants or maybe shoot up heroin. Or we latch on to a flavor-of-the-week cause like transgender activism, or Black Lives Matter, or the ANTIFA movement. Something, just anything, to make us think we’re doing something other than biding our time.
27. CONSTANT LONG-TERM STRESS
All over this post, it seems that the most popular answers are drugs, suicidal depression, and obesity. However, these are all just symptoms of the real problem; constant long-term stress. The real killer of the millennial is stress. Drugs, suicidal depression, and obesity are just physical manifestations of constant long-term stress.