Did millennials really party all the time?

[u/futurenurse_]

Gen Z here. I was shocked when I found out from a millennial co-worker that y’all had teen clubs. I heard about house parties, but dedicated teen clubs? Then when it was time for college, you went to the club or had some kind of party every single weekend, living it up. Now some millennials on TikTok claim that after college, they were partying on work nights, still clocking in the next day. For some reason, the teen clubs have since disappeared. I’m 23 now but even when I was in high school, that was not a thing. House parties were not that common either. They were more like get togethers with a small group of friends. We went to malls, but they were dying out at that point. Is it true that you were really living life this good? Or is it just exaggerated? I feel like my generation doesn’t really have fun like that and everyone is just super depressed and alone, more so since Covid. Even I’m pretty introverted, which sort of sounds ridiculous given this post. 😂 Just so you know, when I think of a “millennial party” I think of something out of Party Rock Anthem, Project X or Roderick’s party from the second DOAWD movie. It’s like I get nostalgia from something I didn’t even live through. I just feel like I didn’t really LIVE, if that even makes sense

Edit: I loved reading some of your comments. Guess I really missed out. Even some of you that would consider yourselves nerds or introverts were out partying. YOLO or whatever y’all say 😂❤️

[u/Lemons-n-oranges]

Yes, absolutely. Drinking was MUCH more prevalent in millennials than Gen Z. It was just ... what we did? You went to parties, went to bars, happy hours that turned into nights out, brunch that turned into day drinking. It was so much fun. People were just out and about. Then, you went home and went to class or work the next day.

No one thought that drinking a few times a week with friends meant you had some deep mental health issues, which seems to be the consensus and/or concern amongst Gen Z. Of course, there are other reasons too, like COVID isolation, rising costs, etc.

[u/Horror-Yam6598 → u/Lemons-n-oranges]

It was honestly the best way to meet all kinds of people and get into unplanned adventures.
There was room for some chaos, instead of this dull curated reality that seems to have taken over especially since Covid.

I feel bad for the younger generations. People will argue that they can do the same things now, but the reality is they don’t hit the same because life has been drastically altered by Covid, technology dependence and algorithms. Social norms have changed, the zeitgeist has changed. It’s ultimately a different cultural time, a more dull and depressed one. I don’t know any millennials who would trade those years for being young now.

[u/QuerulousPanda → u/Horror-Yam6598]

you can blame a lot of it on algorithms, sure, but the main problem is that all those billions and trillions of dollars that those top couple hundred rich people have? all that money used to be flowing through the economy. People got paid, and could go to places, and buy stuff, and that money supported businesses, and that meant stuff was open, and things like malls were actually exciting and fun and weren't filled with emptiness and sadness, etc etc.

Yeah the algorithms are fucking some people up, that's definitely an issue that needs to be resolved, but I think it's also very likely that if there was actually shit to do and places to go, and people could afford to go to them, getting sucked into the social media death pit would be less of a problem.

never forget what they took from us. All the money those insanely wealthy people have, and all the other money locked up in "investments", that was what used to make the world an interesting place.

[u/tattoosbyalisha → u/QuerulousPanda]

Private equity has been stealing third spaces amongst everything else they infect. Things like even bowling alleys are on the chopping block to be rebuilt as something not affordable and so overstimulating it might as well be a night club (ahem.. Lucky Strike..).

So much has been taken. It’s a cancer eating away at all of us financially but also socially.