One millennial around Gen Zs
Why I am scared for my generation, not the younger ones.
I have a niece who just turned sixteen. She finished her board exams this year and is now in that glorious phase of life where rebellion feels like a moral duty.
She posts Instagram stories that disappear before I can finish reading them, and talks in acronyms I need to Google and thinks I am too old and old-school to “get her”. She's sharp, expressive, and terrifyingly fluent in the language of the internet.
Every time we talk, I feel like I’m stepping into a different timeline, one where people her age are simultaneously freer and more burdened.
It’s not just her. It’s all of GenZ, this generation I keep trying to understand without sounding like I’m throwing a rant. So here I am, documenting my field notes. One confused millennial. Many observations. And a lot of admiration I’m too proud to admit in person
1. Gen Z on the Internet: Everything is Content and Nothing is Private
Gen Z lives in a house of mirrors.
Every angle is visible. Every thought is a potential caption. They’ve grown up watching themselves be watched: recording, reacting, stitching, and duetting their way through everything.
But here's the paradox: they want to be seen, but also hate being perceived. They speak about “cringe” like it's a terminal illness and curate their vulnerability like it's an aesthetic.
They cry on their stories, post healing carousel posts, and then vanish for days with a “taking time off to recharge” slide.
I admire the honesty, but if you’re always broadcasting your emotions, when do you actually sit with them?
2. Gen Z at Work: Boundaries are the New Hustle
I called my intern the other day. She didn’t pick up.
Fifteen minutes later, I got a text:
“Did we have a call scheduled?”
I replied:
“Nope. Just wanted to discuss something. Thought I’d catch you quickly.”
Then, being the millennial I am, I sent her one long voice note and a paragraph text, context, background, tone, all neatly wrapped with a sense of urgency.
She replied with:
“umm cool.”
And then... silence. Until 2 AM.
At 2 AM, I got ten back-to-back messages: all one-liners, all lowercase, full of doubts, suggestions, and three different solutions to a problem I didn’t even mention.
They work on their own terms. They reply when they feel ready. They’re collaborative, just... not in real-time.
They don’t treat work as identity. They don’t do performative urgency. And they’re very clear about boundaries.
No calls unless scheduled. No emails after 6 PM. No “quick syncs.” And definitely no “circling back” unless someone really wants to.
It’s mildly infuriating if you grew up thinking hustling hard was the only way to survive, and skipping lunch meant you were ambitious.
When I was 23, I thought staying late was a personality trait.
Gen Z calls that “poor time management and a lack of self-respect.”
And honestly? They’re not wrong.
But why are they so smug about it?
3. Gen Z and Dating: Love in the Age of Labels and Low Stakes
Dating used to be full of courage.
Now? Gen Z dates like they’re booking a co-working space.
Clear intentions. Flexible timings. Zero emotional clutter.
I asked a cousin once if he was seeing someone.
He said, “Yeah, we’re not exclusive, but we’re emotionally monogamous.”
I nodded.
And I see this more and more around me these days.
All Gen Zs are so casual, it’s confusing.
They’ll text every day, FaceTime while cooking, and plan little trips, but the moment you ask, “So what is this?” they look at you like you just asked for their Aadhaar number.
There’s no official start. No anniversaries. No hand-holding photo at Marine Drive with dramatic lighting. It’s all soft, blurry, low-stakes. Love with a 30-day free trial.
And if you confront them, they will say they’re not anti-relationship. They’re just anti-complication. They want affection, not obsession.
And definitely not the “hum saath saath hain” type of love that shows up with parivaar and pressure.
Honestly, I respect it.
Maybe they’ve figured out how to be close without being clingy, how to move on without making it poetry, how to flirt without losing their entire personality.
But sometimes, just sometimes, I want to shake them and say, fall properly, dammit.
Have a breakdown. Write a bad poem. Stalk an ex. Cry in an Uber.
Do something unhinged!
Because all this is great. But a little heartbreak builds character. Tell me about it 😂
4. Okay So What Am I Trying to Say?
Honestly, I’ve stopped trying to figure them out.
I’m just a millennial trying to schedule a call without sounding clingy, while Gen Z communicates entire relationships through one emoji and a disappearing story.
They’re confident. Unapologetic. Pros at walking away before things get messy.
But part of me still wants to shake them gently and say, you don’t have to turn every feeling into a format. Not everything needs a label, a caption, or closure.
Some things are just… things. Not trauma. Not content. Not growth. Just a Tuesday.
I tried saying this to my niece. She sent me a voice note: “LMAO okay boomer, but go off.”
And that, I guess, was it.
