The internet is a full-on cultural war-zone. It’s most obvious on TikTok, where Gen Z (1997–2012), millennials (1981–1996), and even Gen X (1965–1980)are clashing over trends, fashion, slang, and who had it worse. What started as a Gen Z-dominated app quickly evolved when the pandemic left everyone scrolling. millennials and Gen X joined in bringing their nostalgia and hot takes. Now, even my 70-year-old grandparents are lurking — posts pending.
Gen Z has a tendency to say how cringe millennials are with their skinny jeans, side parts, and drinking too much. Millennials throw it back to them, saying Gen Z are the new Boomers, so sensitive and always blaming millennials for whatever awful culture cycle the world is going through. All while Gen Z is still mocking them for quoting Friends for the umpteenth time.
Gen X has slid in recently with their own trend, ready to fight and stand their ground against Gen Z for how they were raised and how they’re too cool to care. But they do care — clearly. They have stated via various TikTok videos that they will “rise up” and that they are “not to be messed with”. I have done the research, and still can’t quite figure out why this started and what it’s about. That being said, Gen X tends to be on the side of millennials going against the younger generation.
So why are we all fighting? Maybe half is for fun, the other just shifting blame for today’s current political and pop culture environment. There has yet to be an exact pinpoint on when and why we fight via social media digs. However, this is probably more of a sibling rivalry type of bickering than some all out war between generations. One generation didn’t grow up with the internet, but instead they grew into it, whereas Gen Z already had access to more electronics and social media from a really young age. The perspective each generation had growing up is vastly different. This can cause tension and comparing and contrasting as to what was better growing up.
Lately, the tides have been turning due to Gen Alpha (2010-2024) logging into socials, making Gen Z feel old because their humor is something else to understand. They also think twenty-five is old. I’ve seen TikToks where Gen Zers are rallying to team up with millennials because whatever the youngest generation is doing is not it and it’s a little scary.
Gen Alpha is becoming notorious for skincare routine videos, trampling Sephora and bullying others while they do their story times. They’re coming in hot, and honestly, as a millennial, I’m scared of them!
The saying what goes around comes back around again is so true for the clash of millennials and Gen Z. This includes fashion, TV and lifestyle. Gen Z are latching onto millienials’ favorite shows because newer streaming shows with ten episodes every three years just aren’t cutting it anymore. They want full fledged seasons with twenty plus episodes. They’re revisiting shows such as Gilmore Girls, The O.C., Friends and The Office — just to name a few.
While Gen Z does mock the trends of the aughts, some are actually making their way back around. Walk into any clothing section and you’ll see it. Polos, mini jean skirts, lace camis, UGGS and even low rise jeans. This isn’t for millennials, it’s the Gen Zers who gave into those trends.
Thrifting has been a major trend on social media, and may be where the love of this fashion started. However, they do put their own spin on those particular trends so it’s not exactly looking like 2004 out on the streets. I have yet to see anyone wear business casual on the Vegas strip while on the way to the club, but there’s still time!
Lifestyle choices are shifting as well where the younger generation is now starting to embrace maximalism instead of the usual minimalism aesthetic for their homes. On TikTok there have been videos showcasing how even twenty-somethings are craving the club culture that took over Y2K, think Les Deux nights (Google if you don’t know!) or the Jersey Shore cast fisting pumping at Karma.
These days, it’s all phones and people not letting loose. Club culture was something else in the aughts, wild clothing choices, dance and R&B music blasting while everyone drank vodka Redbulls and made bad decisions that lived in secrecy… unless it was 2009 and someone uploaded the whole night on Facebook from their digital camera.
I think the rivalry between different generations is funny and nothing new. If anything, it’s more fun now. Decades ago, as far as I know, older generations would put down what younger generations did with disdain while the younger generation thought the older generations were a drag.
So maybe all of those videos, whether roasting millennials for loving Harry Potter or mocking Gen Z’s emotional vulnerability, feel like petty banter, but they’re actually loaded with meaning. Cultural critics and sociologists have taken note, arguing that generational content online works as a kind of identity formation and low-stakes conflict resolution. It’s a digital mirror that reflects our values, insecurities, and the pressure to adapt in a world that’s constantly changing.
Jean M. Twenge, author of Generations, writes that, “Technology and individualism worked together to form a generation whose needs and wants would change dramatically over their lifetimes but who would always be guided by the idea of placing one’s own views and choices first—a concept that led to both greater acceptance of others and more self-centeredness”.
These so-called culture wars double as digital group therapy where one generation teasing another is sometimes just their way of trying to understand each other. And while Gen X mostly watches from the sidelines, millennials and Gen Z are out here building brands, setting trends, and turning existential dread into punchlines.
So it seems all of these videos poking fun and getting defensive were, in actuality, just good banter for views and social commentary, and not something so serious that it needs to be seriously studied. However, it is still fun to study why people react the way they do. While Gen X may be on and offline, millennials and Gen Z stay steady building brands, trends, and keeping the humor going while the world continues to change and move.
Gen Z can keep calling millennials cringe and cheugy, while millennials can shoot back that Gen Z just wishes they grew up during the era of LimeWire and low-rise jeans. At the end of the day, this cycle will keep spinning because as long as the internet exists, so will generational trauma and drama. And Gen Alpha? They’re already coming in hot. The oldest ones can’t even drive yet, and they’ve already made all of us feel ancient.
