Woman reveals why millennials are anxious
This woman skillfully sums up all the reasons why millennials grew up so anxious. She lists some of the worst events of the 2000s.
I think I was in third grade when the 9/11 terrorist attacks happened. I was in the middle of class when I was suddenly informed that I was being withdrawn from school early. My parents picked me and my brother up and took us straight home. To be honest, I remember being happy at the time that I was able to leave school early, and as far as I remember, my parents just let me stay like that. They didn’t immediately explain the reason why they picked us up, and now I can imagine why.
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They must have been terrified of the Twin Towers collapsing on the news and assumed the worst. To protect their children from everything, they picked us up and wanted to protect us at all costs.
I hadn’t fully processed it at the time, but it took me a while to realize the profound impact this would have on millennials. It was a terrible event that fundamentally changed the world in which my generation would grow up. As one woman on TikTok pointed out, this wasn’t the only such event.
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Millennials are constantly worried, and this woman explains why.
In mid-April 2023, Shantel (@shantelmsmith) posted a video on TikTok that went viral almost immediately. In it, she basically explains why Millennials are constantly worried about the many responsibilities and external stressors we now have to deal with as adults.
Obviously, there is a lot of scope for personal conflict and conflict in an individual’s life. Trauma doesn’t look exactly the same for everyone, no matter who they are, and Shantel makes no assumptions about that. What she does However, we should list all the historical, life-changing events that Millennials have experienced in a lifetime together. And unfortunately, a life-changing event isn’t always a good thing.
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Princess Diana of the British royal family died in a car accident in 1997 at the age of just 36. She was popular and loved internationally, and the news of her untimely death shocked the entire world.
In 1999, a mass shooting occurred at Columbine High School, creating a volatile environment for young students.
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In 2001, the September 11 terrorist attacks ushered in an era of paranoia, unrest and xenophobia. In fact, it directly led to the US declaring war on Iraq in 2003.
Not long after, a global recession led to job losses and a collapse in the real estate market. In 2012, the Black Lives Matter movement was launched following the unjustified murder of Trayvon Martin. And who could forget the infamous 2016 election, the outcome of which almost directly led to a global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020?
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When you see it all on a timeline courtesy of Shantel, it’s easy to see why Millennials are constantly so worried. Each of these events would be worthy of its own lengthy section in a college history curriculum. However, anyone born in 1900 will have experienced all of these moments in a single lifetime, and that would weigh heavily on anyone’s soul.
In fact, the effects of most of these turning points in history are still felt today. The Muslim community in the U.S. still faces prejudice after the 9/11 attacks, Black communities still face racial injustice at the hands of law enforcement, and come 2023, that will be over 300,000 students have experienced gun violence and school shootings that have resulted in dozens, if not hundreds, of deaths.
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As if that wasn’t enough, people in the comments on Shantel’s video had other events to add to the list of common traumas. Many pointed to other attacks such as the Boston Marathon bombings, the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and the anthrax scare shortly after 9/11, to name a few.
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Even Generation Z children born between 1996 and the early 2010s chimed in, recalling most of the traumatizing world events that played a role in shaping some futures.
Even if you were not personally affected by the events above, the fact that we Millennials grew up in a world scarred by these events is certainly an indication of the concerns we have as anxious adults today.
