I have to admit, even though I hate to see women putting other women down— the drama between millennials and Gen Z mostly on Tik Tok is hilarious. Maybe it’s because an argument was started over something so ridiculous or because people are getting so passionate about it, but I find it wildly entertaining.
I was born in the year 2000, which Buzzfeed says makes me a zillennial (this basically means that I was born in those awkward years that are technically Gen Z but can still relate to a lot of things that millennials experience and vice versa). I’m thankful that our little microgeneration has its own title, because I am definitely too young to relate to most “90s babies” Facebook posts I see, but I did grow up using VHS tapes and renting movies from Blockbuster.
For those of you who don’t know about the drama transpiring on TikTok, I’ll break it down for you:
A bunch of 16-year-olds on TikTok decided to resurface some months old drama mocking millennials for their vehement support of wearing Abercrombie skinny jeans, rocking a deep side part, deeming 5:00pm “wine o’clock,” and saying that they cannot “adult” today as if they’re a broken record. This time, millennials decided to fire back, poking fun at Gen Z for their love of baggy jeans, the resurgence of y2k fashion, eating tide pods and bringing back the middle part. The internet banter started innocent, but quickly turned into a feud as more and more women joined in on the fun.
The main difference between the discourse going on here is that while Gen Z was just having some fun, millennials took it WAY too far. While Gen Z made some videos mostly dressing or doing their makeup like a millennial, the millennials of TikTok turned to cyberbullying literal teenagers. @SarahHesterRoss went so far as to create a song titled “Gen Z You Can Suck It,” while blocking everyone who has any criticism of the song. It seems as if the drama has subsided on the side of Gen Z, but it is still gaining traction among millennials, many of whom are late to the game anyway since they get their daily dose of two week old TikToks from Instagram reels and Facebook.
Here’s the thing for where I stand— I don’t know if I perfectly fit the mold of either. Yes, I do have a middle part and curtain bangs (thank God I got rid of my horrendous side part), but I also still do wear skinny jeans (who am I kidding, I wear nothing but leggings, but at least I have some skinny jeans still in my closet…). I wasn’t a Gen Z who ate tide pods, but I have never unironically used the phrase “adulting” to describe my overwhelming day to day life.
The entire concept of generations is stupid, honestly, and the mere existance of a sub generation within a whole other generation just goes to show that generations are a social construct. Of course the people who are your age all grew up with similar experiences, but some experiences stick around for decades, some experiences don’t exist in different parts of the world, and even people your own age can look, dress and act wildly different than you. Whoever created the concept of generations certainly did not anticipate extra-generational feuding I’m sure.
I get it, millennials. You are struggling to grapple with the fact that you are no longer the “young and trendy” generation, and that the generation who has taken over that title you still see as babies. You feel left behind as younger people take over social media platforms, and reality has hit that you are no longer living your fun high school and college years. But, it is not Gen Z’s fault. Fashion is cyclical, old trends die, and Gen Z is entitled to experience the same fun as you did without you putting them down for it, just as “boomers” had done to you. With that being said, Gen Z should not be age shaming you and making you feel ugly and out of touch for expressing yourself how you want to. Gen Z is supposed to be the generation of acceptance and real change, so we can do better than that.
Overall, I do not want to see women hurting other women. This all stems back to cancel culture, and cancel culture should be reserved for those who actually deserved to be cancelled— and wearing a middle part doesn’t constitute cancelling. If you want to wear skinny jeans, so be it. If you want to wear crop tops and mom jeans, go for it. A little bit of light hearted teasing is okay, but bringing the drama to the point of bullying and shaming others is not. All I want to see is a woman presenting herself in a way that makes her feel confident and worthy, and that does not mean making yourself appear “younger.” Honestly millennials, I promise Gen Z does not care what you look like anyway. I’ll just be here, a zillennial, watching from the outside and hoping my little generation doesn’t get itself involved in the next TikTok drama.