Taylor Swift’s newest album, The Tortured Poets Division, dropped right now, and it’s stuffed with the sorts of astute observations about millennial existence that we’ve come to anticipate from the pop star. Working example: in her duet with Florence Welch, “Florida!!!”, she sings: “My associates all scent of weed or little infants.” Are you able to think about a extra succinct method of summing up the stark divide throughout the friendship teams of most 30-somethings?
Not like the generations earlier than us, millennials have delayed rising up for so long as potential. Whereas school was speculated to be a gateway to maturity, in some ways, it simply stored us youthful for longer, significantly in case you went to the form of college that inspired binge consuming. After I graduated from Durham College in 2009, we have been nonetheless within the midst of an financial downturn, and it was typically stated that we have been getting into the job market at one of many worst intervals in historical past (to which Gen Z stated: Maintain my drink).
This stilted maturity led to countless unpaid internships and an actual despair round profession development, which—when coupled with the housing disaster and hovering rents—meant the possibility of us ever proudly owning property felt non-existent. With no finish objective to deal with, many, significantly in London, as a substitute spent their hard-earned cash on having fun with all the things youth needed to supply (particularly inebriation-wise). The rise of shared housing additionally spurred on unending events and hangovers as we tried to bond with our newfound associates, whereas the invention of Uber meant it was simpler (and cheaper) to get dwelling afterwards, too.
It was on the identical time within the 2010s that courting apps first took off, giving us a seemingly countless conveyor belt of potential companions. This gamification of romance additionally led to extra of us ready to calm down, with an actual “the grass is greener” psychology in place. And many people nonetheless haven’t discovered the one—so, in fact, we’re raving at Fred Once more whereas we nonetheless can. Our dad and mom have been on common 24 (mother) and 27 (dad) after they bought married within the Seventies; in 2019, that age had risen to 37 (girls) and 39 (males). In the meantime, the common age at which individuals have their first youngster is 30.9.
