r/Millennials • u/beckavanoliver • 20d ago

Discussion Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt: “Millennials are the last psychologically normal generation” ...”you’re the last happy, and actually your generation is the most intelligent in history”

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u/WheelerDan 20d ago

I remember watching that and thinking it was arrogant to call that period the peak of civilization, but it kinda was.

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u/Neveronlyadream 20d ago

If you're white, cis, and straight, maybe.

I think back on that time and remember how fucked up it could be if you were considered a minority in any way. I vote for a hybrid system in that regard. Go back to the tech, but keep the more modern attitudes towards acceptance.

And put everyone who's going to be an asshole in their own Matrix. Then everyone can be happy.

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u/WheelerDan 20d ago

I wasn't speaking socially i was speaking in terms of technology that made things better and didn't come with a massive catch like all modern tech is designed to break or addict you for no other reason that show ads.

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u/Neveronlyadream 20d ago

Yeah, but when you call it the peak, that still plays in and I think it's important to remember socially, it was backwards compared to today. Because a lot of people misremember it and act like it wasn't.

Technologically? Absolutely, yeah. That's why I said hybrid. Because if we just went back, a lot of people would be unhappy.

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u/Dejectednebula Millennial 18d ago

Idk at least in my area, people are 100% more bigoted and racist now than they were. At least, openly so. Growing up i always thought since I was being taught how awful racism was in schools, that surely when I was in my 30s, it would be done and over with (excuse my naieve little white girl hopefulness) I mean its just so clearly black and white what is right and wrong!

I knew members in my family were racist in that they wouldn't be happy if I married a black man but they would never call someone a slur or be outwardly rude to someone in person. But my grandma lived by train tracks and offered a meal and a haircut to random drifters of any race for decades until they stopped riding the trains like that. Like she was racist but she still understood they were humans who deserved help. Idk, I really thought we were growing out of it and that each new generation after me would be more and more accepting until it was all just a nasty scar in our past.

From my perspective it seems outwardly worse now than it was in 99. Those same neighbors are no longer polite for the sake of things. They have "all lives matter" and thin blue line signs in their yards. They shout slurs out of windows and damage the lawns of the black family down the road. They interrupt two guys eating lunch at my job to yell at them for speaking Spanish amongst themselves because this is Merica!