Navigating Adulthood: A Gen Z Perspective on Life

Gen Z adults navigate a complex world, feeling caught between youth and responsibility, yet optimistic about their unique challenges.

### Navigating Adulthood as a 24-Year-Old Gen Z
* 🎓 At 24, I reflect on my journey through adulthood, equipped with a college degree, a full-time job, and health insurance, yet I find it **overwhelmingly challenging**.
* 💼 The complexities of adulthood often arise from mundane tasks, like **remembering which insurance card to present at the doctor’s office**, rather than the more daunting responsibilities like taxes or home buying.
* 🧓 I feel caught between youth and maturity, often surprised to receive mail addressed to me and realizing I’m the **youngest on my team** at work, which can create a **disconnect with older colleagues**.
* 🎮 While my coworkers share family milestones, I relate more to gaming, often **downplaying my weekends spent playing Valorant** and avoiding the truth about my lifestyle.
* 👶 The generational gap becomes evident when younger individuals, like a **13-year-old at the park**, don’t recognize shows from my childhood, making me feel **older than I am**.
* 💰 Despite being told that a college degree would lead to financial success, I’m left with **debt and a sense of disillusionment** as younger peers achieve **fame and wealth**.
* 🌐 As a Gen Z adult, I face the unique challenge of navigating a digital world that complicates dating and relationships, where **genuine connections feel harder to find** amidst commodified interactions.
* 🌟 Ultimately, while adulthood feels daunting and unclear, I believe that our generation is **uniquely positioned to tackle the challenges of our time**, bringing **hope for a better future**.

I recently turned 24, which means that I've been an adult for a few years now. I've got a college degree, a full-time job, my own health insurance, and even a 401k. The biggest thing I learned about being an adult is it's freaking hard, man. And it's not even the things that sound like complicated adult things either, like filing taxes or picking the right health insurance plan or even buying a house. I don't have enough money for that yet. It's more like remembering which card I'm supposed to give them when I go to the doctor to prove that I have health insurance. Being a jzy adult is an interesting experience because even though I'm an adult, I don't always feel like one. I'm so used to older generations referring to us as the new generation that when mail comes with my name on it, I still get surprised. It's like I'm somewhere in between being a dumb kid and Unk status, like when I'm at work where I have co-workers who have kids who are my age, and they're all like

oh, you remind me of my grandson, and I'm like, ha, thanks, wait, grandson. But then I come home and hop on Valorant, and there's 18-year-olds calling me Unk and telling me to go file my taxes. Like, I'm only 24. Half the time, I don't even know what I'm going to eat tonight, and I spent all my money on weapon skins. You know, I haven't eaten a vegetable in 3 weeks. Plus, it's July. I fought my taxes back in April. Now that I'm an adult and have a full-time adult job, one thing nobody really prepared me for is being in a mixed environment. You see, when you're in school, everybody's around the same age. So, when you're a freshman in college, seniors seem really mature, but they're really only a couple of years older than you. In real life, there's actual old people, and they've probably been working at your job since before you were born. My supervisor was telling me that this is his 25th year with the company, and

that's crazy because that means he started in my position before my parents even thought about having a kid. So, it took everything in my power when he told me that to not be like, Damn, I'm the youngest person on my team by several decades. And all of my co-workers are really nice, but the age gap kind of makes it hard to relate to them at times. Half the time, I don't even know what to talk to them about. So, uh, what was 9/11 like? It also doesn't help that we have very different lifestyles due to being in completely different stages in our lives. Like, when we meet on Monday mornings and everyone's like, What did you guys do this weekend? and people are like, Oh, my daughter had a soccer game this weekend. My son got his driver's license, so we went to look at cars. Me and my wife celebrated our 30-year anniversary and went to the beach. Oh my God, congratulations, that's amazing. I don't even like my wife. Then they turn to me and they're like,

What about you? What did you do this weekend? And I'm like, the same thing I do every weekend. I slept in until noon, and then I played Valorant for 6 hours. But I usually end up saying something like, Oh, you know, I just took it easy, spent time with the fam. Yeah, but I've been kind of spamming that one a lot lately, so either they think I'm lying or that I just really like hanging out with my family. On the other side of that, sometimes I have to confront the fact that I'm getting older and that people younger than me might not find me relatable either. I was walking my dog at the park one time, and this kid who was probably about 13 came up to me and started talking to me. And at some point, I mentioned I Carly, you know, the TV show that we all know and love. And this kid looked at me and was like, What's that? And for the first time in my life, I felt old. The kids don't know about I Carly, and I don't really

know how to feel about that. There's also the realization that there are people who are younger than you who are more successful, like professional athletes and entertainers making millions. You find out they were born in like 2003. And for me, it's not really about the money; it's more about the fact that I was told that if I went to college and got a degree, I'd be set up for financial success. But instead, all I got was debt, which is the opposite. It feels like as a society, we're finally arriving at the conclusion that college costs way too much money, but you still can't get a job without it. So even though an 18-year-old can't borrow $2,000 to buy a car, it's completely fine to take out 30k to major in art. I don't really envy people who are young and successful, though. I think that's a good thing. Besides, I don't even know what I would do with all of that money anyway. Most of mine goes to DoorDash. Another thing about being a Gen Z.

adult is that we get blamed for a lot of things, like even for stuff that's not even our fault. You hear it all the time when people are like, This new generation is what's ruining America, but like how? I've spent the majority of my life in school so far. You guys were the adults. It's like if I walked into your house and got a bit of dirt on the carpet, and you're like, Ah, you got dirt on my carpet. You're ruining my beautiful home. And it's like, Bro, look at this place. Yeah, I might have messed up a little, but it looked like this long before I got here. Like a man in 2004. I shouldn't have been wasting my time playing Sonic on my Game Boy. I should have been voting. Look, I've been old enough to vote for president one time, and I didn't exactly have the best options. And honestly, they're only getting worse. I'm not saying it's all the older generation's fault the world is the way it is. I'm

just saying it definitely wasn't me. I will admit though that Jin Z is responsible for changing a lot of things. The other day I was reading an article that said that because of gen Z the southern accent is dying which I thought was interesting because I'm from Georgia and I reckon I should be talking like this down over Yonder but really I'm from Atlanta and I grew up on the Internet so I just sound like this type [ __ ] but I honestly can't blame older generations for their lack of faith in us because when it comes to gen Z some of us are kind of dumb. Now that roughly half of the generation is of voting age we're starting to pay attention to Politics. The problem is a lot of people get their information from the wrong places. We all know that one person that gets all of their news from Twitter and Tik to conspiracy videos bro the weather has been crazy the past few days. It's been raining like every day. Yeah it's Bill Gates what. Oh you don't know Bill

Gates has a weather machine that he's using to control the climate so that all of the natural food dies, and we're forced to buy GMO food, and then they'll use it to control our minds and turn us into zombie slaves. Huh, you got a source on that? Yeah, bro, it's been all over my for you page. I can't believe you haven't seen it. Yeah, must have missed it. By the way, are you registered to vote by chance? Me? No way, bro. Those elections are rigged anyway. I saw it on Twitter. Okay, good. I mean, I was just curious, but as bad as we are, no one is more gullible online than the older generations. Sometimes I'll be at work, and they'll be looking at an AI-generated video of a dogfish, like, Oh my God, games, look what they're doing in Japan. Wow, that is insane. I wonder how they got the dog to do that with the fish. Guys, that's fake. It's AI-generated. I mean, are you sure? Like, it looks pretty real. I feel like it could be real. It's

not you know my brother actually said he saw something like this when he was in Korea, cap. Yeah, crazy stuff they got going on out there. Can you send me this? I need to email it to him. Speaking of things that are fake, let's talk about dating. A lot of young adults these days think romance is dead and uh, not quite. Like a lot of things, dating has been commodified by the internet, and instead of the old school meeting someone in your community, asking them out, and getting to know them over time, we have dating apps that skip all of those steps and sit you down with a complete stranger where you both pretend that this isn't awkward and hope that one of you isn't a murderer. I get the idea of dating apps, and I even know some people who are currently in happy, committed relationships with people they met on dating apps. I just don't think it's for me. I'm someone who requires the friends-to-lovers pipeline. However, I'm also a hypocrite because I say I'd like to meet someone in a more traditional

way but I also don't leave my house. Reading has also become really popular among Gen Z too, and I used to look down upon eating and thought it was really cringe, and I still do, but if you found the love of your life in a Discord server, that's wonderful, I guess. Dating as a young adult is really interesting because, despite having so many different ways to connect with one another, finding a genuine romantic connection with someone seems pretty hard. A lot of times, you feel more like an option than a partner to someone, and that's a pretty rough feeling. I think deep down we all want someone who chooses us, but at the same time, we're so afraid to be the one doing the choosing. To me, dating is like a banana split. Hear me out. Look at this. Who has actually ever eaten a banana split? Like, genuinely. Have you ever walked up to the counter and been like, Yeah, let me get the banana split. You're a liar. But you know that a banana split exists and that it's probably really

good, and you've heard from other people who've had one that it's awesome, and you should try it, but you can never find the right moment to have one. Three scoops of ice cream, bananas, and whipped cream is a lot to deal with, and honestly, I can't imagine a scenario where I can justify eating that much ice cream by myself. But maybe one day, when the time is right, you'll get to try a banana split, and I hope it's everything you ever dreamed of. Okay, bro, actually, what am I talking about right now? That might actually be the most burger-dating analogy I've ever said, like, out of my mouth, bro. Like, am I faded? One thing I will say, though, about being a ginny adult is that I genuinely think that no one else before us has had this kind of experience with adulthood. And I know that sounds like the typical ginzer thinking they're special, but if you really think about it, the world really is different. Growing up in the digital age alongside computers and video games and social media is a pretty unique

experience. You haven't been a Ging the adult if your parents haven't told you to go walk into a business and ask for a job just for them to tell you to apply online like everyone else or having to tweak your resume a million times to avoid getting filtered out by AI recruiting algorithms or opening Twitter and seeing someone getting cancelled for something they did when they were 12 or trying to stay up to date on global issues so that you don't seem like a bad person but you also want to take a break from your phone because you feel like a slave to it. I don't think the world was easier 20 years ago but I do think that things were a lot less complicated before the internet. Finding your way as an adult is like walking around your room in the dark. Everything is familiar but you don't really know where you're going. Your parents showed you how it's done but for you it just seems so different than before and on top of it all we're getting older all of us but no

one really talks about it. I think that sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the fact that every day feels the same, but when you look back, everything is different. When I was 18, I thought I had the world figured out, but now at 24, I feel dumber than ever. My mom keeps telling me to go to the doctor, but I'm honestly kind of scared because I'm not 17, and my body isn't made of rubber anymore. They say your brain becomes fully developed when you turn 25, but the world doesn't feel any clearer. When you wake up, go to work, come home, eat, and sleep every single day, you start to wonder what your purpose even is in life. I remember coming home after about 3 months of working my first full-time job out of college and just wondering, Am I really supposed to just do this for the next 40 years of my life? I spent my time in college pushing myself outside of my comfort zone, challenging myself, and growing as a person, and now my diploma

collects dust on the top shelf of my closet while I sign into a computer every day and talk to no one for 8 hours. But you know what? It'll probably be okay. I think that for Gen Z, we live in an unprecedented time with unexpected challenges and circumstances that quite literally nobody could have seen coming. But there are so many positives about living in the era we're in that I believe that in our hands, the world will become a better place. We might have been born too late to explore the world and born too early to explore the stars, but we were all born at the right time to watch Monkey D. Luffy become the pirate king. Could you imagine being 24 100 years ago? No Spotify, no Twitter, no YouTube while I eat. I wouldn't have lasted a day. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time just so I could go up to a Victorian child and put him on to some Playboy Cardi. People from 100 years ago will never know the pain of match

mping in your rank game just to lose because your teammates suck. The modern era comes with modern challenges, but I think that if anyone is equipped to handle the big questions in this life, like climate change or world hunger or when is she going to text me back, it's us. Jin Z. Thanks for watching the video. Also, follow me on Twitter. Peace. [Music]

Coping With Being A Gen-Z Adult

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Being 24 and an adult comes with unexpected challenges, like remembering to show the right health insurance card.

The transition from school to a mixed-age work environment is jarring, with co-workers being decades older and having vastly different life experiences.

The age gap makes it difficult to relate to colleagues, leading to awkward conversations and a sense of being stuck between youth and adulthood.

The speaker's weekend routine consists of sleeping in and playing video games, while trying to relate to younger generations.

They feel a sense of aging when younger people don't recognize shows from their childhood and are confronted by the success of those born after them.

The speaker grapples with the high cost of college and the pressure to succeed, while also feeling unfairly blamed for societal issues.

Gen Z is changing cultural norms, with their influence causing the southern accent to fade.

The generation is becoming more politically aware as they reach voting age, but many struggle to find reliable information.

Dating has also been transformed by the internet, with dating apps replacing traditional methods of meeting people.

The Unique Experience of Dating as a Young Adult

Dating as a young adult is challenging, with many feeling like an option rather than a partner.

The speaker uses a banana split analogy to illustrate the difficulty of finding the right moment for a genuine romantic connection.

Growing up in the digital age has given this generation a unique experience with adulthood, making their struggles and perspectives different from previous generations.

The Struggles of Adulthood in the Digital Age

Navigating adulthood is challenging, with job hunting and resume tweaking made difficult by AI algorithms and online applications.

The pressure to stay informed on global issues and the impact of social media can be overwhelming.

Despite the familiarities of growing up, the transition to adulthood feels complicated and uncertain, leaving many questioning their purpose and future.

The Unique Challenges and Positives of Being Gen Z

Gen Z faces unprecedented challenges in a rapidly changing world, but there are also many positives to living in this era.

The generation has access to modern conveniences like Spotify, Twitter, and YouTube, which were unavailable 100 years ago.

Despite the modern struggles, Gen Z is believed to be well-equipped to tackle major global issues like climate change and world hunger.