As a Millennial, I’ve worn Gen Z’s jibes with a smile. But this goes too far

What started out with shots about our skinny jeans, side-parts and use of laugh-cry emojis has snowballed into a laundry list of jibes from Gen Z. Another day, another TikTok video pointing out more ways in which us Millennials are cringe.

In 2021, the term “cheugy” was popularised on TikTok by Hallie Cain to describe anything that is essentially no longer on trend, examples including Millennial “girl-boss energy”. Since then, Millennials have been mocked for loving coffee, pets and Harry Potter. Then it was our ankle socks and cross-body bags, the way we dance, pose with the peace sign and decorate our homes in “Millennial grey”.

Sure, Millennials might be cringe. But now Gen Z won’t even let us have the colour green.Credit: iStock

At the same time, TikTok accounts detailing “how to spot Millennials” began to appear, and terms like “Millennial core” and “Millennial coded” began trending.

For the most part, Millennials have taken it all in good humour. We’re often in on the joke and make fun of ourselves, acknowledging our tell-tale signs. One video from content creator Paula Weigel on “how Millennials hide these days” has almost 12 million views, while another by Nicole Main Waring on the “Millennial urge to French tuck” has been watched upwards of 7 million times.

But at the risk of sounding like the geriatric Millennial I absolutely am, the latest perceived misstep of my generation is one too far. Apparently, we love green too much. Sage green, forest green, the shade matters little – they’re all “Millennial green” now, which is code for off-trend and uncool to anyone aged under the age of roughly 32.

I’m sorry, but I can’t with this Gen Z versus Millennial dialogue any more. At this point, it’s starting to feel as old as me, and it’s getting just as tired.

Of course, there’s nothing new about intergenerational ribbing – just ask the Boomers. Every generation needs to carve out their own identity, and it’s no surprise that much of this is done by rejecting the ideals and aesthetics of those that came before us.

“It’s part of making your way in the world, particularly if you want to shape culture and make it your own,” says Dan Woodman, a professor of sociology at the University of Melbourne.

What feels a little different with the Gen Z/Millennial dynamic is when Gen X – who remain suspiciously unscathed in the generational spats – enter the equation.

By contrast to Gen Z, when I was in my early 20s, I can honestly say the number of times my friends and I sat around dissecting the way our Gen X counterparts danced, dressed and decorated their homes was a grand total of zero.

Millennials’ beef has always been with Boomers (and vice versa, for that matter). This is a generational clash that, at least from an economic standpoint, seems understandable. When Millennials came of age, Baby Boomers were our parents, our bosses, the politicians who had all the power and all the investment properties. They told us we were snowflakes who couldn’t afford homes because we bought too much avocado toast, while we told them they had ruined, well, everything.

“Underneath the Millennials versus Boomers wars were some really big questions about how the economy and society works,” says Woodman. Because of this, Gen X and Millennials were essentially in cahoots in railing against the power of Boomers, and, as a result, Gen X were never on Millennials’ radars the way we now are for Gen Z.

As content creator Coco Mocoe said of Gen Z’s “obsession” with Millennials: “I almost feel like it would be a fair fight if Millennials were going after Gen Z, but it’s kind of just a one-sided beef.”

Obviously, social media has a lot to answer for in all of this. Not just in the way trends and hot takes circulate so rapidly, but also the nature of each generation’s place within digital spaces.

For a time, Millennials dominated social media usage. Where we were the first generation to have it, Gen Z are the first to grow up with it being a permanent fixture, and also the first to take ownership of the digital landscape from another.

Perhaps this is just a natural changing of the digital guards, and because it didn’t exist between previous generations, it feels odd. Or maybe it’s just time for Millennials to get off TikTok and stop trying to make fetch happen (if you know, you know). Now please excuse me while I have a little lie-down under my sage-green throw.

Emily McGrorey is a freelance writer and podcaster.

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