What’s Wrong with “Today’s Kids”?

An honest look at the ebb and flow of generations and their influence on the political and socioeconomic climate

In short: Absolutely Nothing!

This is a case of “Tale as Old as Time” (cue Beauty and the Beast theme song).

Every single generation, without fail, looks at the one coming up behind them and shakes their head in dismay. If you think the complaints about “kids these days” are a modern invention, think again. The phenomenon of adults blaming the younger generation is a recurring, and frankly exhausting, theme throughout history.

It turns out, people have been complaining about the youth for literally thousands of years. While a famous quote complaining about children loving luxury and having bad manners is often misattributed directly to Socrates, it perfectly captures the spirit of ancient Greek complaints about the youth [1]. Fast forward to the 1300s in Japan, and Yoshida Kenko was lamenting that “modern fashions seem to keep on growing more and more debased” [1]. By the 1700s, Reverend Enos Hitchcock was warning that “the free access which many young people have to romances, novels, and plays has poisoned the mind” [1].

Sound familiar? Replace “novels” with “smartphones” or “TikTok,” and you have the exact same argument happening today.

As a Gen Xer, I remember when my generation was the target. We were the “Slackers,” the “MTV Generation,” the latchkey kids who were supposedly apathetic and cynical. A 1990s Washington Post article literally called us “the first generation in American history to live so well and complain so bitterly about it” [1]. My parents’ generation (the Baby Boomers) couldn’t understand our grunge music or our apparent lack of ambition.

But before the Boomers get too comfortable pointing fingers, let’s remember how the Greatest Generation viewed them in the 1960s. They were called lazy hippies, draft dodgers, and long-haired freaks who were destroying traditional American values.

Then came the Millennials (my kids’ generation), who were branded as entitled, narcissistic, and obsessed with avocado toast. And now, Gen Z is in the hot seat, accused of having the attention span of a goldfish and being “chronically online.”

The truth is, every generation is shaped by the unique socioeconomic and political climate they grow up in. This is called generational imprinting. Major events during adolescence and early adulthood leave a lasting mark on how a cohort views the world.

How Generations Shape Politics

Generational Imprinting: Major socio-economic and cultural events (like the Great Depression, the Cold War, 9/11, or the pandemic) imprint distinct worldviews on cohorts during their adolescence and early adulthood. For my parents’ generation, it was post-war prosperity and the civil rights movement. For my generation, it was the end of the Cold War and the rise of personal computing. For Millennials, it was 9/11 and the 2008 financial crisis. And for Gen Z, it has been a global pandemic, climate anxiety, and growing up entirely in the digital age.

Life-cycle Effects: As individuals move from young adulthood to middle age and beyond, their political and economic priorities typically evolve, sometimes shifting their allegiances. When you buy a house, have kids, and start paying more taxes, your perspective naturally shifts.

Power Dynamics: The gradual exit of older generations and the entrance of new ones constantly alter the electoral base. For instance, Baby Boomers held outsized political dominance for decades, while Millennials and Gen Z are now increasingly altering the trajectory of major parties.

Exploring the Ideological Divide

Political alignments vary greatly across generational lines, but the data shows it is far more complex than just “young people are liberal and old people are conservative.”

Boomers and Silents: More likely to identify with traditional two-party systems and lean conservative, generally controlling a vast majority of political spending and higher-level government positions. According to Pew Research Center data from 2024, voters in their 60s favor the Republican party by a 10-point margin (53% to 43%), and voters 80 and older favor the GOP by an even wider margin (58% to 39%) [2].

Millennials and Gen Z: More likely to identify as political independents, displaying increasingly distinct and often liberal outlooks on social and economic policies. However, sub-generational trends reveal much more complex political tides.

For example, the 2024 election data showed a fascinating split. While young voters overall still favored the Democratic candidate, the margin shrank significantly. More surprisingly, Gen Z men showed a distinct rightward shift. In 2024, men under 50 were completely divided in their preferences (49% Trump, 48% Harris), a massive shift from 2020 when Biden won that same demographic by 10 points [3]. A recent Gallup poll even found that Gen Z teens are twice as likely to identify as more conservative than their parents than Millennials were 20 years ago [4].

The Economic Reality Check

When older generations criticize younger ones for not buying houses or settling down, they often ignore the glaring economic disparities. The financial landscape my kids’ generations are navigating is vastly different from the one my parents’ generation experienced.

Let’s look at the hard numbers. According to Federal Reserve data, Baby Boomers currently hold over half of all U.S. wealth (around $83 trillion), while Millennials and Gen Z combined hold just $17.1 trillion [5]. In the fourth quarter of 2025, 51.2 percent of the total wealth in the United States was owned by members of the baby boomer generation [6].

When Boomers were going to college, they paid an inflation-adjusted average of $3,519 for tuition at a public university. By 2023, that number had skyrocketed to $9,750, a 177% increase [7]. Housing affordability tells a similar story. In the 1970s, the median home price was roughly two to three times the median household income. Today, it is closer to five to seven times the median income.

And what about my generation, Gen X? We are currently the “Sandwich Generation.” We are squeezed in the middle, often financially supporting both our aging parents and our adult children, all while trying to save for a retirement that doesn’t include the pensions our parents enjoyed [8].

So, what is wrong with today’s kids? Nothing. They are simply adapting to a world that is economically tougher, technologically overwhelming, and politically polarized. Just like the Slackers, the Hippies, and the Flappers before them, they will figure it out. And in thirty years, they will be the ones complaining about whatever the new generation is doing.

It really is a tale as old as time.

References

[1] Arapahoe Libraries. “Generational Blame: A Brief History.“

[2] Pew Research Center. “Age, generational cohorts and party identification.” April 9, 2024.

[3] Pew Research Center. “Voting patterns in the 2024 election.” June 26, 2025.

[4] The Up and Up. “An ideological shift? Gen Z teens identify as more conservative than their parents.” March 28, 2024.

[5] Visual Capitalist. “Baby Boomers hold $83.3T in assets.”

[6] Statista. “U.S. wealth distribution over time by generation 2025.” April 9, 2026.

[7] ConsumerAffairs. “Comparing the Costs of Generations.” July 3, 2025.

[8] Pew Research Center. “The Sandwich Generation.” January 30, 2013.